CJNG Mezcal in Guerrero

"Parro" for Borderland Beat

They denounce that CJNG took the mezcal from Zihuaquio and made residents flee; crime goes for natural resources, they warn

The fall in the price of poppies forced organized crime to snatch the natural resources that were the livelihood of at least 320 families who are sheltered in Vallecitos de Zaragoza, municipality of Zihuatanejo.

Writing / La Voz de Michoacán

Mexico.- "Now mezcal leaves more money than poppies," said one of the residents who fled Zihuaquio, located in the Sierra de Coyuca de Catalán, Guerrero, after the emergence of the Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel.In this town, according to information published by El Sur de Acapulco, written by Lenin Ocampo Torres, the group led by Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, "El Mencho", seized the maguey crops that for years have served for the production of the best mezcal in Warrior.

The testimony of one of the displaced, who is now taking refuge in Vallecitos de Zaragoza, in the municipality of Zihuatanejo, refers that in the town everyone worked the maguey, very few were dedicated to planting drugs; "The whole family worked with the maguey, we produced and sold it, they were good profits without breaking the law."

The fall in the price of poppies caused organized crime groups to opt for the natural resources of the towns; in Zihuaquio they chose to displace the settlers…, details El Sur.

In January 2019, members of the CJNG seized the town, displaced people, burned houses and destroyed the mezcal factories that were the livelihood of 320 families who fled for fear of being killed.

In the area there were 20 mezcal factories; the production process was carried out from January to May, when they produced two to three thousand liters each of the producers; the expense was 50 thousand pesos, with a free profit of at least 100 thousand pesos.

To date there are approximately 6 thousand hectares of maguey ready to be exploited. In total, every year the mezcaleros produced from 20 to 30 thousand liters, everything was lost and now they are looking for how to continue surviving.

The communities of La Cañada, Casas Viejas, La Fragua, La Palma, Santa Ana, La Nogalera and Las Vaquitas, belonging to the ejido of Zihuaquio, were left alone, and now they hope that the president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, and the governor from Guerrero, Evelyn Salgado Pineda, help them to return.

Recently, the state president at an event in Acapulco promised that she would reinforce security for the affected families.

The idea is that there are no displaced persons anywhere in the state of Guerrero, that they are provided with accompaniment, that they be given security, that special attention be given to the inhabitants of this community ”.Evelyn Salgado Pineda, governor.

Salgado Pineda reported that he instructed the entity's secretary general of government, Saúl López Sollano, to visit the community and attend to the displaced.

Another of the inhabitants forced to exodus regretted that now they are without anything and believes that, “as things are, many peoples that live off their natural resources will continue to be displaced so that crime continues to have a place to subsist (due to the fall in the price of the poppy); We really hope that everything changes, we have been at war for many years and I think it is necessary to have some time in peace ”.