CJNG's El Chucho Arrested in Morelos

"HEARST" for Borderland Beat

Left: El Cucho, Right: Comando Tlahuica video from 2018

Jesús 'N' alias “El Cucho” was arrested on Friday. He was the leader of the Guerreros Unidos group Comando Tlahuica that operates on behalf of the Cartel Jalisco New Generation within the state of Morelos. 

A victim of either kidnapping or extortion (unspecified) came forward to make a report to police warning them about El Cucho. Based on this tip, members of the Specialized Unit to Combat Kidnapping and Extortion (UECS) conducted field work and intelligence gathering in order to document enough evidence to be granted an arrest warrant for El Cucho.  

Arrest warrant in hand, UECS members surveilled a home in the Juan Morales neighborhood in the municipality of Yecapixtla, in the state of Morelos. On the morning of Friday, June 4 2021 the UECS members spotted El Cucho leaving the home where he was alleged to be hiding out and they rushed to arrest him. 

Morales’ State Safety Coordination group established in 2018 that the CJNG was operating significantly within the eastern part of Morelos via a Guerrero Unidos group and began looking for a way to bring down their leaders. In 2018, this same Guerreros Unidos group, sometimes called “Comando Tlahuica”, was led by Raymundo Isidro Castro Salgado alias El Ray. 

El Ray was originally from Acapulco, Guerrero but he lived and operated in Cuautla, Morelos. He was investigated in connection to the crimes of kidnapping, extortion, collection of “de piso” (regular fee to do business), and drug trafficking. On May 7 2019, El Ray was arrested while hiding out in La Noira, in Puebla state. El Ray was ordered to stand trial for the crime of “Express Kidnapping”, which is often forcing someone through threat of bodily harm to go to an ATM and withdraw money which they then steal. El Ray was able to continue to lead Comando Tlahuica from inside inside Atlacholoaya state prison until he was murdered by a rival prison gang on October 30 2019. Of note, El Cucho is currently being sent to this same Atlacholoaya prison while he is awaiting trial.

After El Ray was killed, Irving Eduardo Solano Vera alias "El Profe” or “El Gato” took over leadership of the Guerreros Unidos group. Irving Eduardo Solano was a former municipal police officer who worked for three years in the Homicide Investigation group until leaving in 2003. El Profe was a high ranking member within Los Negros, which was an enforcer unit of the Beltrán Leyva Cartel turned independent organization led by Édgar Valdéz Villarreal alias “La Barbie”. El Profe spent time in prison between 2010 - 2015 and after he got out he joined Comando Tlahuica. He was arrested on February 17 2021 in Cuautla, Morelos.

The next day, El Profe’s second-in-command and presumed successor Iván Alfonso was arrested. Iván Alfonso, who also used the name Fernando Rosas Gómez (referred to as Fernando ‘N’ in reports), was another former police officer. 

It is at this point, following the arrest of El Profe and Iván Alfonso, that El Cucho took over control of Comando Tlahuica although it seems based on his arrest that his tenure as leader lasted only four months. With the quick successive losses of three leadership figures since only February, one might assume that Comando Tlahuica is currently unstable. Only time will tell whether this instability will lead to its collapse or an unleashing of violence.

El Cucho Sources: Milenio, El Universal, Diario de Morelos, El Financiero

El Ray Sources: Economia Hoy, El Sol de Mexico, El Txoro Matutino, El TeleDario 

El Profe Sources: Zona Centro Noticias, Sol Yucatan, Diario de Morelos