Foreign Zeta Plaza Boss in the sight of Veracruz Authorities

Translated by Otis B Fly-Wheel for Borderland Beat from a Proceso Special Report

Subject Matter: Veracruz
Recommendation: No prior subject matter knowledge required

Reporter: Noe Zavaleta
The Government of Veracruz has identified 17 key persons that operate in the Los Zetas Cartel, of which, the most important is a Plaza Boss who is foreign to Mexico, and whose capture has been categorized as a priority.

According to the document called Criminal Structure of Coatzacoalcos, from the Sub-Secretary of Operations of the Secretary of State Public Security, containing the 17 specific objectives, including the Plaza Boss, and Sicarios, one of whom is a foreigner, halcones, kidnappers, gas thieves, extortioners and a woman who is in charge of distribution of drugs in the marginal zones of the federal State.

For three years, this criminal group "has been reduced", because of apprehensions and the death of its criminal leaders in confrontations with the authorities, and confrontations with antagonistic criminal organizations that are disputing territory with them.




Among the gains made by authorities against Los Zetas are the capture of Hernan Martinez Zavaleta, El Commandante H, in Cardenas, Tabasco, and the death of Elias Anguirre Sanchez, El Metro, head of halcones in Coatzacoalcos.

Miguel Angel Yunes, Governor of Veracruz

Violence without pause

Despite the decline of Los Zetas, violent acts have not decreased in Veracruz. Figures from the Executive Secretary of the National Public Security System (SESNSP), account for 2,220 homicides with 163 kidnappings committed during the 11 months of Miguel Angel Yunes Linares leading the governorship.

Only this weekend 16 homicides were reported; among those cases, the five dismembered and abandoned bodies in plastic bags stand out, on Saturday, in the town of Sabaneta, in the municipality of Chacaltianguis, to the south of the State.

In other events, in the penultimate week of November, a few meters from the Center of Auto buses in Xalapa, 11 black bags with human remains were left. Their contents were confirmed by Ministerial Police.

A couple of days before, in a truck used for garbage collection were discovered more bags with human remains in. That discovery occurred a few hours after the State Secretary of Public Security, Jaime Tellez Marie, came to the State Congress as part of the gloss of the first Government report of Yunes Linares.

Meanwhile on the 25th of November, in Poza Rica, Police found at least 30 human remains, assassinations allegedly the work of the CJNG.

In that same week, the municipal Presidents of Hidalgotitlan, Santana Cruz Bahena, and Ixhuatlan de Madero, Victor Manuel Espinoza, were murdered.

The document of the SESNSP also reports that so far in the government of Yunes, there have been 19,343 robberies committed, of which 2492 correspond to acts of violence to remove the vehicle from the driver.

CJNG gains strength

The Veracruz government report also identifies six criminal groups operating in the State: Los Zetas, 35 Z, Sinaloa Cartel, Los Antrax, Grupo Sombra and CJNG, it is the last of these groups that has the major presence and dominates the Plaza.

In respect of the operations against the CJNG there have been  two: a confrontation that occurred on 30th of June this year in which Ricardo Pacheco Tello, El Quino, died, who controlled the criminal activities in the zone adjacent to Veracruz-Boca del Rio, and the capture of Francisco Navarrete Serna, alleged Plaza Boss of CJNG in Papaloapan, which occurred in January of 2016 by Federal Agents in the Tierra Blanca.

Concerning the recent wave of violence in Veracruz, the Governor Miguel Angel Yunes Linares has recriminated in various forums that in the past people were eliminated from the Police corporations in the 23 towns in which 3,000,000 people live.

That is to say, practically 40% of the Veracruz population don't have a municipal Police presence, a force in their proximity, a force that can support and share the work load of the State and Federal forces.

"This lack of one of the three legs of the tripod obviously makes the public safety service in those municipalities not efficient or efficient enough," he said.

According to what has been released, the Ministry of Finance and Planning has request 4 billion pesos in next years budget for the State Secretariat of Public Security, six times more than the Local Congress.