The once powerful Los Valencia (Milenio Cartel), the precursor of the Cuinis and CJNG

Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat From Proceso

The power alliances: Top left clockwise- Armando Valencia aka El Maradona,  Erick Valencia aka El 85 Nemesio Oseguera aka El Mencho, El Mayo Zambada, El Azul and Joaquin Guzman aka El Chapo

Note from Chivis: This Proceso article from 2007 takes us back in time when the Milenio Criminal Organization, were powerhouse traffickers who began as avocado merchants, who began in the marijuana business in the 70's and trafficked drugs until the 1990’s.  They became cocaine lords of the Pacific, moving the most drugs in Mexico, including marijuana cocaine and synthetic…yet under the radar, even the PGR did not know who they were.

Within the Valencias Milenio organization,  there was a kid who began with the organization at a young age. He began  in the avocado fields.  He became hitman and narco with the Valencia. Later he became an operator for the trafficking of marijuana and poppy from the municipality of Aguililla, Michoacán, eventually, he even looked after the patriarch, El Maradonas boss. He married one of the Valencia’s. 

His moniker is “El Mencho”.

This Milenio organization became “Los Cuinis” and the creation of a new  partnership immediately followed, Cartel Jalisco New Generation. Headed by El Mencho….

Noteworthy in this article, it states what has surfaced in the El Chapo case, that El Mayo was the real leader and Chapo an emblematic figure to keep the heat off Mayo. Sinaloa was allied with Milenio. 

Translated for Borderland Beat by "Cruz"

Dec 9th, 2007 Mexico Edition, Special Report

Drug trafficking and violence in the states of Michoacán, Nuevo Leon, and Tamaulipas are being carried by a fearsome network composed of the Valencia Organization and the Sinaloa Cartel. A federal intelligence report names the members of this conglomerate known as the Milenio (millennium) Cartel, with personal information and pictures.

Backed by their alliance with the Sinaloa Cartel, the criminal organization is known as Los Valencia before known as the Cartel del Milenio expands: alongside Joaquin El Chapo Guzman's network. They dominate the state of Michoacán and their powerful ramifications encompass Jalisco, Sonora, Nuevo Leon, and Tamaulipas.

To make matters worse, Los Valencia and their associates from Michoacán already control a good portion of detachments and offices belonging to the federal corporations in that area. Such as the township of Zamora and Los Reyes, where some elements of the Federal Preventive Police have ties with and support the criminal corporation Valencia-Milenio with their drug trafficking.

From avocado merchants, The Valencia transformed into a powerful organization of drug traffickers in the late 90's who the Attorney General's Office had no idea existed.

The leaders of the Milenio Cartel back in the day where Luis and Armando Valencia Cornelio. They started to grow in the drug business and they were seen as the lords of the Mexican Pacific. They transported hundreds of tons of cocaine into the USA by means of tuna boats and during several years their grand business stayed under the radar.

But their luck ran out when their provider: Colombian Gino Brunetti was apprehended and placed in protective custody after revealing information to the PGR about this power cartel who operated in the shadows.

Brunetti asked the anti-drug prosecutors during a ministerial interrogation while in the presence of Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos who was director of the now extinct Unit that Specialized in organized crime (UEDO):

Brunetti: Do you guys have any knowledge as far as which cartel is the one that moves the most drugs currently?

Popo: No

Popo: Which cartel are you referring to? They asked.

Brunetti: Los Valencia. The Millenium Cartel.

Popo: Who are the Valencia? They asked the Colombian witness.

Brunetti: They are the most important and power importers of drugs into the United States.

Brunetti who supplied cocaine to other cartels like the Tijuana Cartel started to talk in detail about the Valencia Organization in Michoacán

This is how the PGR obtained the details about the operations of the Valencia Cartel, their alliances, routes, infrastructure, protection network, companies used to launder money, and above all, their fleet of tuna boats which was their main means of transportation for moving large shipments of coke through the Pacific Ocean.

The Key names

Locating the leaders of the cartel and their main associates was a problem for the PGR because in the state of Michoacán more so in the city of Morelia and Uruapan thousands of people have the last name Valencia. Which made it difficult to penetrate the core of the organization

After several months of investigating, the PGR was able to put the puzzle together and identified Luis Valencia Valencia and Armando Valencia Cornelio as the leaders of the cartel.

The Valencia cartel suffered heavy losses in a 10-year timeframe. In 2003 it was speculated that with the detention of its main leaders, amongst them, Armando Valencia, known as El Maradona, the criminal group would be exterminated.

But currently it not only is active in the drug trade, but their power increased after establishing an strategic alliance with an organization belonging to Joaquín Guzmán Loera, Ismael El Mayo Zambada, Juan José Esparragoza Moreno, El Azul, the Beltran Leyva brothers and Nacho Coronel, the latter operating out of Jalisco and is considered by the PGR and Secretary of Public Security as the third most powerful man of that organization.

Based on an intelligence report elaborated by the PGR and military intelligence personnel in Michoacan, to which this weekly had access to, The Valencia Cartel not only has new faces, but for the first time in the recent history of drug trafficking we are able to see a detailed report not only with names but also pictures of its main operators and hitmen.

Oscar Nava 'El Lobo' Valencia

According to the report, the leader of the cartel goes by the name Salvador Revueltas Ureña and he is known as El Chava Lentes (Salvador lenses/glasses) or El innombrable (the nameless); another leader that has a branch under his command is Luis Valencia Valencia, who is related to Armando Valencia.

According to government intelligence reports from the state of Michoacan, the structure of Los Valencia is made up of Oscar Nava Valencia, El Lobo(the wolf); Salvador Revueltas Barragan, El Borono(who was picked up by rivals); Alfonso Revueltas, El Poncho; Pedro Rebolledo Lopez, La Coya; Armando Valencia Gonzalez, El Tocayo(the namesake); Cruz Valencia, El Cruzon; and Gerardo Mendoza Chavez, Gerardon.

The source also mentions Eleuterio Valencia Valencia; José González Valencia, El Cochi; Erick Valencia Salazar, El Erick; Juan Carlos Nava Valencia; Mario y Ramón Caballero Valencia; Juan Nava Valencia; Alejandro González Rentería, El Guajillo; Librado Villa Gómez Arreguín; Antonio Torres, El Monillo; Rutilo Naranjo Quintero; y Francisco García Silva, El Fran.

The aforementioned report also includes ex-military personnel like Arturo Alanis N, who served as director of public safety in the township of Los Reyes and ex-commander of the Municipal Police; Jose Luis Caballero, El Cementerio(the cemetery); Ernesto Mendoza Alvarez or Alvarez Mendoza, Rodrigo Urbina Garcia and Pablo Angel Vazquez Duarte, El Tupo(the pin).

The document states that Juan Jose Farias Alvarez, El Abuelo (the grandfather), and Salvador Revueltas Ureña, El Chava Lentes, maintain a close relationship with Arturo Peña Muñoz, known as Flaco (skinny) Peña, who is considered by authorities as one of the leaders of the Millennium Cartel and is currently in prison at  La Palma.

The same report indicates that at the time of his apprehension el Flaco Peña was in a meeting with Eloy Treviño Garcia, Arturo Peña Muñoz, Miguel Angel Gonzalez Ruedas, German Oler Rosales, Leonardo Perez Nieto, Javier Martinez, and Alberto Caballero Valencia.

The implication of drug dealers with federal police is shown with an overwhelming document: Jorge Castro Barriga, also known as El Abuelo, "has a sister that works in the offices of the federal preventive police in Zamora, Michoacan"

Organization chart of the Cartel

On the Organization chart labeled: Network Structure "Milenio", is the name Sofia Valencia Cortes, mother of Luis Valencia, and next to that are the names of other siblings: Angelita, Baltasar, Elvia, Albina, Rosa, Amparo, Elias, and Ventura, amongst others.

Included is Jorge Luis Valencia González who was identified as a Cartel operator in Aguililla and it states "that he is the son of Elias Valencia Valencia."

The document also highlights that Jorge, Erika, Alejandra, and Selma Yamira form part of the cartel and are the children of Jorge Luis Valencia Rodriguez and Irma Rodriguez Valencia. Also included is Jorge Luis Valencia Rodriguez and under his picture reads: "Jorge Luis Valencia, alias Fernando Barajas, the day of the assault April 12th, 2001".

On the left side of the organization, chart are pictures of females with a wide smile on their faces, hitmen for the cartel, money launderers, associates and women whose images were taken in palenques, which is the entertainment that the Valencia most enjoy.

On there is, for example, Alicia Sandoval Caballero, who is identified as being the "wife of Armando Valencia Cornelio", who was detained in Guadalajara and is currently in prison at La Palma.

Next to her is a picture of another female with long dark hair; it is Olivia Magaña Guillen, "lover of Armando Valencia Cornelio" Next to her is a female identified as Ines Castañeda Oseguera, who is also said to be "lover of Armando Valencia Cornelio"

Under those pictures, showing for the most part only the face is 8 men, all of them with ties to the cartel, which according to the report, it states that they are "alleged security detail for Luis Valencia Valencia. These are the men that are seen accompanying him at the cockfights where they compete and are yet to be identified."

Further down are the faces of 5 women, supposedly related directly or indirectly with the criminal organization. The PGR document on these women states: "Women who have been seen accompanying Luis Valencia at the cockfights"

Next are the supposed hitmen, amongst them are Alfonso Arreguin Bravo, El Alazan, and Fernando Gonzalez Mejia, El Macho Prieto, "gunman of the Valencia Cornelio"

Ties with Ye Gon foto taken in China

On a box, the report signals: "The structure has institutional protection through government agencies, in specific from the State Attorney General's Office and Department of the Interior. It is not precise whether such protection is through the current state administration or previous administrations. 

Even after 2 agents where identified accompanying Luis Valencia Valencia at the exit of a cockfight in Morelia and during the attempt on April 12th he was facilitated the means to evade the authorities."

According to the PGR, Los Valencia linked with businessmen of Chinese origins Zhenli Ye Gon, whose criminal organization had (or has) important operators in Michoacán because through the port of Lazaro Cardenas is where they would import the majority of their shipments of pseudoephedrine which is the base in the production of synthetic drugs. 

The Sinaloa Cartel and Golfo Cartel are in dispute over Lazaro Cardenas.

The Networks

The Valencia cell in Zamora was led by Jorge Castro Barriga, who is supposedly dead and his sister Laura Elvira worked as a secretary in the PFP office in Zamora. Laura has been denounced for theft and criminal association in damage of the company Transportes Julian, according to the previous ascertainment 304/204/IV, which was integrated into the 4th agency of the Public ministry common law.

This inquiry mentions at least theft to 400 cargo trucks and it is now in the hands of federal authorities, since she "salpico" (paid off) Deputy Attorney General of Zamora, Ignacio Mendoza Jimenez, who supposedly demanded 1 million pesos from Erik Miguel Angel Rios accomplice of Laura Castro in the assault against transporters to let him walk free.

Rios did not agree and he put a complaint before the Secretary of Public Affairs file number 1880069 for extortion and breach of faith amongst other offenses.

In the link of networks for Jorge Castro Barriga, El Abuelo, the intelligence report signals individuals responsible for money launderings, like Guillermo Fuentes Tejeda, Hilda Virginia Romero Zamora, and Sergio Olivares Avalos.

It also signals that amongst Castro Barriga personal security detail are Oscar Guerra, El Porron; Jose Onofre Montes; Daniel Briones, El Coronel; Juan Manuel Onofre Negrete, El Cejas, and 2 other unidentified people.

Other alleged associates of The Valencia, according to the report, are the siblings Rosalinda, Susana, Norma, and Jorge Guizar Zepeda; as well as Sergio Armando, Jaime, Aureliano, and Luis Humberto, brothers of Jorge Castro Barriga, and his parents, Guadalupe Barriga Espinoza and Jaime Castro Ruiz.

The organization chart mentions Claudia Lorena Mendez Chavez, wife of Castro Barriga, it also mentions Erika Guadalupe Manzo Verduzco, who is identified as "lover of Jorge Castro Barriga".

The image states: "This network presumably is involved with a person named Jesus Garcia Torres, and Mr. Torres at the same time with the Tijuana Cartel led by the Arellano Felix brothers."

In the final portion (Annex 2 of the Network Structure for the "Milenio", Institutional Protection), it mentions Javier Perez Solorzano, ex-first commander of the State Attorney General's Office, Alejandro Aguilar Ramos, Carlos Morales, Martin Zambrano Heredia. The latter is identified as an "auto parts salesmen and alleged drug distributor at the service of The Valencia Cornelio"

And at the Secretary of the Interior they are shown as protectors of the Cartel, according to the criminal diagnosis by the PGR and military intelligence, Juan Gaona Gomez, coordinator of government agents in the state, Armando Cuadra Vega, government agent in Uruapan, as well as the "brothers Pablo and Gerardo Sanchez, government agents in the state of Michoacán that accompanied Luis Valencia Valencia at the cockfights in Morelia".

After their alliance with the Sinaloa Cartel, The Valencia are no longer identified by the PGR and SSP as the Milenio  Cartel, because that is the name that they now use for the organization that is led by El Chapo Guzman, although they are starting to learn more and more towards the idea that the real BOSS of this Milenio group is Ismael El Mayo Zambada and that Guzman Loera was only an emblematic figure whose function, aside from still taking part in drug trafficking, is the distraction of authorities. According to data from the PGR and some journalistic articles, El Chapo Guzman has decided to leave his hiding spots and has started to frequent restaurants and public places: a little over a year ago the Assistant Attorney General for Special Investigations and Organized Crime (SIEDO) detected him downtown in a city in the state of Durango.

On that occasion, El Chapo Guzman Loera who escaped the prison in Puente Grande, Jalisco, on January 19th, 2001 was caught on camera by the Department of Public Security when he was riding an ATV with his face having been changed after getting plastic surgery, Guzman Loera looked according to the information from SIEDO less chubby in the cheeks and apparently without "patas de gallo" (wrinkles) around the eyes.

He was dressed casually and wore tennis shoes. He was pursued, but the drug lord, who is classified by the PGR "as the most intelligent", managed to escape. That is not all: recently a message alert to the PGR that he was in the "B" waiting area of the terminal for National Flights at the International Airport in Mexico City.

Go to the airport, El Chapo and his people are there and are about to board a plane headed to Culiacan said the notice. No one at the PGR moved a muscle.

According to the report, "Xray" of the drug trafficking organizations, elaborated by the Secretary of Public Security, the alliance between The Valencia and the Sinaloa Cartel strengthened the latter because it was able to amplify its domains in Michoacán, Nuevo Leon, and Jalisco.

Furthermore, the report says "it is presumed that it had high activity in the south-southeast part of the country and a lesser presence in the northeast zone of the country.

The report of the SSP identifies Luis Valencia Valencia, Óscar Orlando Nava Valencia, José Benavides Martínez, Juan Calixto Ramos Vázquez, and Jose Silverio Martinez Gonzalez as part of the first tier of command of the criminal organization.

In Michoacán and in a good portion of the Pacific corridor, The Valencia where associated, some time ago, with the Gulf Cartel, but a dispute between Armando Valencia and Carlos Rosales, El Carlitos o El Tisico presumably caused by a love affair divided the group to the point of confrontation. This took place in 2004 and because of it, Rosales allied himself with Osiel Cardenas and the Valencias with El Chapo Guzman.

Since then, both groups control the majority of the ports on the Pacific, where they count with allies in the maritime terminals and customs.