Sinaloa Cartel Mastermind Behind Murder of Politician Arrested in Quintana Roo

"HEARST" for Borderland Beat

The leader of a Quintana Roo cell of the Sinaloa Cartel was arrested along with four other cartel members.

El 18, the leader, is alleged by the Attorney General's Office to be the mastermind who planned out the assassination of a mayoral candidate in February 2021. Some allege that the sister of a rival mayoral candidate commissioned El 18 to carry out the killing on her behalf.

Personnel outside the clinic during the arrest of five members of the Sinaloa cartel group.

Arrest of Sinaloa Cartel's El 18

Five alleged members of a Sinaloa cartel cell were arrested on June 29 2021 in a suburb of Cancún, Quintana Roo. The five members were waiting inside the clinic "Unidad Medica Familiar" in the Bonfil area, as one of them required surgery on their leg due to a gunshot injury. Before the procedure began, agents of the Ministerial Police and Quintana Roo Police entered the hospital and proceeded to arrest them.

Cartel member Jairo, from El 18's group, who was about to receive leg surgery.

The agencies had previously put the Sinaloa Cartel cell under surveillance and through intelligence work they were able to anticipate the group's arrival at the hospital. The four men and one woman were then arrested.

The primary target of this police operation was presumably Óscar Melchor “DC” alias “El 18”, who is believed to be the leader of the Sinaloa group operating in Cancún, as the state had three arrest warrants against El 18 in particular. 

Photo of Óscar Melchor 'DC' alias “El 18” taken at some point after his arrest.

The three arrest warrants were in relation to: 

1. Homicide - February 24 2021 - Puerto Morelos

The murder of Ignacio Sánchez Cordero, the secretary of Social Development of Puerto Morelos and candidate for municipal president. Covered in detail in Background below. 

2. Attempted Homicide - March 10 2021- Benito Juárez

The shooting of a woman and her son, who was under the age of five, who were in a car wash  in Region 95 of Benito Juárez. Both survived the attack after being hospitalized and receiving medical treatment.

3. Homicide - April 20 2021 - Benito Juárez

The murder of an alleged Sinaloa Cartel financial operator in the Bonfil neighborhood of Benito Juárez, allegedly due to an internal dispute.

"The now detained is one of the leaders of a criminal organization that has operated for years in the State of Quintana Roo and that has been one of the main generators of violence due to the control of drug sales in the entity," said the ministerial police agency in a statement.

Arrested alongside El 18 was Jairo ‘B’, Néstor ‘A’, Denis ‘B’ and Román ‘O’. All four are being investigated in relation to the murder of taxi drivers in the northern Quintana Roo area. 

One of the detainees named Jairo ‘B’ alias “El Tripa”, is alleged to be a sicario in charge of planning and carrying out the homicides of various taxi drivers in the area, related to an extortion racket. Meanwhile another of the detainees, Néstor ‘A’ is alleged to have been a sicario directly involved in the killing of candidate Ignacio Sánchez Cordero. 

Whereas the Quintana Roo Attorney General's Office said of El 18, Óscar Melchor that his role in the assassination of Ignacio was in more of a mastermind/planning role.

"The events for which this person is being investigated, in his capacity as intellectual and material author, took place on February 24 of this year, in the municipality of Puerto Morelos, in which the victim was a candidate for the candidacy for the municipal presidency of that town."

The detainee's car which was seized in the clinic's parking lot.

In the parking lot of the clinic the car the detainees arrived in, a Ford Fusion, was seized by law enforcement and military authorities.

All of the detainees were transferred to the Special Prosecutor's Office for Narcomenudeo, in Superblock 89. During their transfer to Superblock 89, El 89 tried to escape by jumping out from a moving police patrol car, but he was immediately recaptured by authorities.

🚨 #Entérate | Elementos policiacos trasladan a líder criminal detenido en Alfredo V. Bonfil al Cereso de #Cancún 🚨

Más información: https://t.co/b5ZfN9pYUz pic.twitter.com/3xTuQZRrpc

— Por Esto! Online (@PorEstoOnline) June 29, 2021

Above: Footage of security personnel maneuvering, anticipating a possible attempt to free them. 

The area of the Superblock 89 was surrounded by more than 80 members of the police from three different agencies as they anticipated possible rescue attempts could be made by fellow Sinaloa Cartel members in order to free El 18.

Background

February 24 2021

CDS Assassination of Candidate Ignacio Sánchez Cordero 

As previously covered on Borderland Beat, Ignacio Sánchez Cordero was the secretary of Social Development for the town of Puerto Morelos in Quintana Roo. Ignacio Sánchez Cordero, better known as “Nacho” had been selected as the mayoral nominee by a political coalition of the PVEM, Morena, and PT parties.

Ignacio Sánchez Cordero.

On February 24, Nacho was in a café that he frequented in the Pescadores neighborhood, in the company of three other people, when a gunman entered and shot him six times in the back. The gunman then fled the scene.  Nacho was taken to the hospital however he died of his injuries shortly after being admitted.

Left, crime scene of Nacho's assassination, right, attendees at Nacho's funeral.

March 5 2021 

Ignacio Sánchez Cordero’s widow Blanca Tziu Muñoz Nominated

Although Ignacio Sánchez Cordero’s wife Blanca Tziu Muñoz had never participated in politics before, she agreed to become the new nominee on behalf of the coalition that supported her husband and ran in his stead. 

Blanca had always preferred to stay on the sidelines and was busy raising their two daughters, however the murder of her husband spurred her take action and she campaigned in his honor, calling herself "Nacho's widow."

Nominee Blanca Tziu Muñoz.

May 4 2021

Attack on Blanca Tziu Muñoz

Blanca’s security team was attacked by three armed hitmen when touring Puerto Morelos as part of a campaign event. After the attack, which was successfully repelled by a convoy of the Quintana Roo Police, the authorities chased after the gunmen but the aggressors managed to flee. The gunmen later abandoned a vehicle that they were driving along with the weapons they were carrying and fled towards the nearby mountains.

The abandoned vehicle and weapons found related to the attack on Blanca. 

May 28 2021

Arrest of Karla and Second Attack on Blanca Tziu Muñoz

Police arrest Karla Odethe Vivas Medina, the sister of Yazmín Vivas, who was a rival candidate for the Puerto Morelos mayoral position. Karla was arrested on charges related to the possession of a firearm but the Attorney General stated she was being investigated for her connection to the attacks on Nacho and Blanca Muñoz. This alleged connection may allude to the commissioning of the aforementioned El 18 and the Sinaloa cartel sicarios who work under him.

Photo of Karla Vivas Medina taken after her arrest.

According to the Attorney General's Office, Karla wanted to eliminate the political opponents of her sister Yazmín Vivas. Yazmín Vivas had reportedly failed to obtain the nomination from the PVEM, PT and Morena coalition, so she ran for the Solidarity Encounter Party (PES). 

Reforma newspaper released audio clips in which a woman, allegedly Karla Vivas Medina, can be heard planning with someone else the murder of Blanca Tziu Muñoz with the intention of masking the attack to look like a suicide.

On the same night as Karla’s arrest, there was another attack on Blanca Tziu Muñoz, this time gunmen shot up her home. 

Members of the Investigative Police near the house of candidate Blanca Tziu Muñoz following the attack.

The candidate was inside her home at the time with her two daughters and other family members. Karla's security detail fired back at the gunmen and eventually forced the gunmen to retreat, however two members of her security detail were seriously injured. The two bodyguards – one a member of the National Guard, the other an agent of the Quintana Roo State Attorney General’s Office – were listed in grave condition at Cancun General Hospital.

“My family and I are fine, upset by the situation, but unhurt and united. We all extend solidarity and unite in prayer for the two people who were wounded, who were just fulfilling the order to provide us with protection,” Tziu Muñoz said via social media.

June 6 2021

Blanca Tziu Muñoz wins the election 

Blanca Tziu Muñoz had to stop hosting rallies and even had to leave the state temporarily due to safety concerns over the course of her campaign. And yet, after the June 6 2021 election, she won the mayoral seat and now leads the municipality of Puerto Morelos in Quintana Roo.

Photo taken of Ignacio Sánchez Cordero and Blanca together in better times.

Sources on El 18: La Jornada Maya, El Sol de Mexico, Latin US, Poresto, Luces del Siglo, Linea Directa, La Genesis

Sources for Background: Diario de Yucatan, Excelsior, La Prensa Latina, ZETA, Debate, La Opinion QR, NotiCaribe