“Itzli” for Borderland Beat.
The Attack
Shortly before 7:00 PM on Wednesday, January
26, 2021, an intense gunfight lasting over 50 minutes started by armed men (some
reports claiming to number around 100) against a base of the Guerrero State
Union of Towns and Organizations (Unión de Pueblos y Organizaciones del Estado
de Guerrero, UPOEG) at their base in Buena Vista de la Salud in the
municipality of Chilpancingo, Guerrero.
Upon receiving phone calls reporting the shootout,
members of the State Police, Mexican Army, Marines, National Guard, and
Attorney General of the State that were stationed together at a Mixed
Operations Base (BOM) nearby responded. As they were driving on the México-Acapulco
highway they crossed paths with three vehicles of attackers near the town of
Acahuizotla. Shots were fired from at least one of the vehicles and State
Police officers returned fire, killing two of the perpetrators.
Upon arrival at the UPOEG base, officials found four of their members were killed, including Mario Zamora, former director of the State Coordinating Committee of Education Workers in Guerrero (Coordinadora Estatal de Trabajadores de la Educación en Guerrero, CETEG) and three others injured.
Outside the base two abandoned armored truck were
found abandoned as well as a pickup truck with a grenade launcher and two AR-15
style rifles inside. The bodies of two of the attackers were found dead nearby
and an unspecified number of civilians injured.
Los Ardillos
In a phone interview with La Jornada, Bruno Plácido Valerio, director of
the UPOEG, blamed the attack on members of Los Ardillos and blamed the
current governor, Evelyn Salgado
Pineda, of ignoring their warnings since October that Los
Ardillos were pushing to control the valley of El Ocotito.
Los Ardillos is a small Beltrán Leyva Organization
(BLO) derived group operating in the Central and Montaña regions of Guerrero. They were founded and named
after Celso Ortega Rosas, alias “El Ardilla”, who was arrested in 2008 and
released after three years, only to be killed by members of Los Rojos a few
days thereafter.
Thereafter it has been reported that Los
Ardillos operate under the leadership of three of his sons, Jorge Ivan Ortega
Jimenez, alias “El Barco”, Celso Ortega Jimenez, alias “La Vela”, and Antonio
Ortega Jimenez, alias “La Parota”.
UPOEG
The UPOEG was formed on January 5, 2013 as a self-defense
(autodefensa) community police group to protect citizens against cartel
activity in the municipalities of Costa Chica, Ayutla de los Libres, Teconoapa San Marcos, Cuautepec, and Cruz
Grande in the Costa Chica region of Guerrero. They were
involved in the search for the 43
missing Normalistas from Ayotzinapa in 2014 and have since expanded their presence
to other parts of Guerrero.
In the fall of 2021 UPOEG was the subject of
social media accusations that some of their members, particularly Pedro Santos
Cruz, alias “El Pino”, were working for Los Rusos, a little known Beltrán Leyva Organization
(BLO) derived group in Acapulco, which recently
signed a message threatening CIDA, as reported by Borderland Beat. Other reports claim that UPOEG
members are working for Crescenciano Arreola, alias “El Chano”, another often
overlooked cartel leader in Guerrero.
Sources: Ahora
Guerrero, Excelsior,
adn40,
El
Universal, La
Jornada
Background: La
Silla Rota, Noticieros
Televisa, El
Tiempo Latino, Trinchera
The squirrels in chilpancingo?? Thought they were main in Acapulco, they must be venturing out. Hot ground for several . .
ReplyDeleteOnce upon a time I thought I had a good grasp on who's who and where in Guerrero but the moment I saw Ardillas in Guerrero Unidos old stomping ground I knew I needed to work on getting up to speed.
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