The Strategic Alliances of 'El Mencho' with Familia Michoacana, Gulf Cartel and Guerreros Unidos

The alliances of the CJNG are with diminished cartels and even without experiencing their peak, their trafficking operations are considerable (Illustration Infobae / Isaac Vallejo)

According to the DEA, the CJNG has positioned itself to ensure the shipment of narcotics to the United States through the center and east coast of Mexico, although it challenges the Sinaloa Cartel in Baja California.

To strengthen its dominance in Mexico and control drug trafficking routes, the Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel (CJNG) has associated with important groups in the north, center and southeast of the country, according to reports from the US Drug Control Administration. (DEA).

Hence, those led by Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, El Mencho, operate in drug trafficking with Guerreros Unidos, the Familia Michoacana and the Gulf Cartel, according to the DEA analysis.

Although the North American agency doesn’t elaborate on these links, it makes it clear that the expansion of the CJNG is based on strategic alliances, without implying a total co-option by the group that’s located in 23 of 32 states in Mexico.

However, it should be noted that some cells of the alleged partners have already had public differences between them, even with threats of extermination due to the territorial conflict. On the other hand, some leaders have been arrested and only lieutenants remain, as well as operational units at the regional level.

The CJNG is in 23 states of Mexico, while its rivals Sinaloa dominate 15 entities of the 32 of the total (Illustration: Steve Allen)

In turn, these factions are undergoing a process of atomization after going through heydays. Hence, it’s complex to determine the sole leader of each organization, if not operators in areas historically besieged by drug traffickers.

According to DEA reports, the Gulf Cartel maintains its power base in Tamaulipas and Zacatecas, where it could have alliances with the CJNG. The group founded by Juan García Ábrego in the mid-1980s in Matamoros, still operates to ship heroin and cocaine by transporting cargo that enters the United States at points in McAllen and Brownsville, Texas.

Zacatecas is currently experiencing a bloody dispute between the Sinaloa Cartel and the Mencho forces. At the same time, the Northeast Cartel, a remnant of the Zetas, who didn’t give up their regional dominance in the limits of San Luis Potosí, has joined.

Given its dynamic of operations between clans, the Gulf Cartel has several leaders, among whom the heirs of the Cárdenas Guillén family stand out, the surname of the maximum leader when the group maintained dominance at the level of rivals such as the Sinaloa Cartel.

The Guerrero Unidos cartel has resulted in the so-called "La Bandera" (Photo: File)

Consequently, one of Mencho's partners could be José Alfredo Cárdenas Martínez, the Accountant. This capo is the nephew of Osiel Cárdenas Guillén, arrested in 2003, extradited to the US in 2007 and who will be released in 2028 after agreeing to collaborations with the US government in 2010.

El Contador was released by the Mexican justice, for the second time, on October 29 of last year, he is the operator of the group in Matamoros. Another relevant lieutenant who would have negotiated with the CJNG is Evaristo Cruz, alias El Vaquero, a target of the US authorities and alleged leader of the Gulf Cartel.

However, the same criminal group also has fellow Sánchez Rivera brothers: Ernesto, El M22 and Héctor, El M1 / ​​La Mimi, presumably located in the municipality of Reynosa, they are members of Los Metros, a remnant of the Gulf Cartel. Or in his case, Pablo Misael Ramos Lara, El Mezqui / Pantera 24, also linked to the Tamaulipas faction.

Or the Morfín Morfín brothers: César, El Primito and Álvaro Noe, El R-8; who operate in the municipality of Camargo, for the Gulf Cartel. While in Matamoros  the base of operations of José Martín Cárdenas García, El Chiwilly, in Reynosa work Carlos Roel Collazo, El Chuy Sierra. All of them are fugitives and according to DEA reports, some of them have allied with Mencho.

Criminal leaders and their places in Tamaulipas (Map: Infobae México / Jovany Pérez Silva)

The anti-drug agency also points out that the Familia Michoacana (FM) has some ties with the CJNG and works with smaller groups to promote their crimes. The headquarters of operations is in Michoacán and in parts of the State of Mexico, although they live in different parts of Guerrero, in the area known as Tierra Caliente.

One of the last leaders of this cartel was arrested in November of last year after a confrontation with the Army and ministerial agents. This is Ranulfo Zagal Maldonado, El Rani, who was apprehended in Taxco de Alarcón after being wanted for his activities as head of the Michoacan Family in Guerrero.

Rani's son, Roberto Carlos Zagal, El Pelón, was threatened by masked men who said they belonged to the CJNG in a video circulated in early February. Official reports have indicated since 2019 that, in the Tierra Caliente region, there is a bloody dispute between the Familia Michoacana and the CJNG.

Some of the municipalities most affected by these disputes were Coyuca de Catalán and Zirándaro, where there were dozens of murders, disappearances and forced displacement of hundreds of families.

El Pelón, in addition to being the head of hitmen and allegedly responsible for the ambush and murder of six Guerrero police officers in June 2020, worked for Jhony El Mojarro and José La Fresa, the Hurtado Olascoaga brothers, who are leaders of the Familia Michoacana and are established in the south of the State of Mexico, an entity where they are the most wanted drug lords.

On Monday, July 6 of last year, four narcomantas were placed in the main avenues of Edo. Mex. (Photo: Twitter)

It’s not clear if these leaders are the ones who have allied with Mencho according to DEA data, but at least in Guerrero their disputes have been constant. While in urban areas of the State of Mexico and the capital of the country, FM operations as well as the CJNG have also been identified.

Finally, the US authorities point out that the CJNG works with Guerreros Unidos, whose presence in the region unleashed a high degree of violence.

Derived from the Beltrán Leyvas, this group has become increasingly involved in the heroin trade and allied with Oseguera Cervantes' forces use the same transportation network to send drug shipments to the United States and return the profits to Mexico through the same way.

One of his last leaders was José Ángel Casarrubias Salgado, known as El Mochomo, who was arrested in June 2020. Casarrubias Salgado led the cartel with his brothers. This criminal group is directly linked to the disappearance of 43 normalistas from the Ayotzinapa rural normal, events that occurred in September 2014 in Iguala, Guerrero.

Despite the fact that this criminal group was almost dismantled by the authorities, due to the members arrested for their participation in the case of the 43 normalistas, it continues to operate and may even continue to grow.

One of the last leaders of Guerreros Unidos, El Mochomo, was arrested in mid-2020 (Photo: Twitter @ RicardoAlemanMx)

At present they have adopted the name of La Bandera, in an attempt to detach themselves from the identity associated with the Ayotzinapa case, as it was announced in a narcomanta in September last year.

As a consequence the limited reports of the DEA barely allow establishing the link between leaders, it remains undetermined if they were associated before Mochomo or after he fell and they already had activities with La Bandera.

On the other hand, the analysis “National Evaluation of the Drug Threat 2020 ″ of the DEA, warns that the cartel led by Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes maintains control in important drug corridors such as the border city of Tijuana, Baja California and Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas.

It’s characterized by the willingness to participate in violent acts and clashes with the Mexican government, security forces, and rival cartels.

https://www.infobae.com/america/mexico/2021/03/03/las-alianzas-estrategicas-del-mencho-quienes-serian-sus-socios-en-la-familia-michoacana-el-cartel-del-golfo-y-guerreros-unidos/