The Arrest of Mencho's Relative Sparked A Wave Of Violence In Jalisco And Guanajuato

 "Ivan' for Borderland Beat 

Did a big fish of the Jalisco Cartel fall and that's why the fires were for "the success of the strategy"?

Last Monday, the Secretary of National Defense, Luis Cresencio Sandoval, stated in a press conference that the wave of violence that last week hit Jalisco, Guanajuato, Baja California and Chihuahua, and left a trail of stores, pharmacies, cars and trucks set on fire, was a proof of the effectiveness of the Mexican government's security strategy.

At the same press conference, the Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection, Rosa Icela Rodríguez, said that the causes of the blockades, fires and murders that last Tuesday spread terror in those states were already identified, "of which information will be provided".

On August 9, several municipalities in Jalisco and Guanajuato burned. Around seven o'clock at night, neighbors and motorists alerted about a confrontation on the outskirts of the Guadalajara metropolitan area, right on the highway to Saltillo.

That confrontation between members of the Sedena and members of the Jalisco Cartel - New Generation unleashed a series of fires and drug blockades around Zapopan, and especially near Ixtlahuacán del Río.

Shortly thereafter, the flames had spread to the state of Guanajuato and covered stores and pharmacies in Irapuato, Celaya, Silao, Salamanca, Abasolo, Leon, San Francisco del Rincon and Valle de Santiago.

General Sandoval later reported that the two possible targets of the military, known as Double R and El Apá, heads of the Jalisco Cartel's Elite Group, who, according to information obtained by the Sedena, were to have a meeting that afternoon, were not among those detained.

If the Jalisco Cartel leaders managed to escape - some say they did not even meet - what was the reason for the outbreak of violence that set both states ablaze for more than three hours?

Among the torrent of confusing news that fell on social networks and media that night and in the days that followed, there was talk, not of a capture operation, but of the seizure, in the vicinity of Ixtlahuacan, of an arsenal composed of long arms, magazines, ballistic plates, grenades, homemade explosive devices, more than 1,500 useful cartridges and two dozen vehicles, some of them armored.

It turns out that, while conducting ground reconnaissance in the area of Agua Colorada, San Miguel Arcángel, Agua Prieta and the Las Puentes ranch, the military located a training camp of the Jalisco Cartel - New Generation.

That is where the first confrontation took place that afternoon. According to reports, the Sedena managed to arrest six people.

In a report released days later, Undersecretary Ricardo Mejía Berdeja presented a report on the events that occurred between August 9 and 10, 2022.

The report contains the images, with their eyes covered by a black band, of the six detainees in Ixtlahuacán.

In those images is the probable explanation for the fire that spread like wildfire in Jalisco and Guanajuato.

According to high-level security sources consulted by this columnist, among the six arrested is a direct relative of Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, alias El Mencho, leader of the Jalisco Cartel - New Generation.

This person, a member of the so-called Elite Group of the CJNG, was in charge of the training camp in Ixtlahuacán and, at the same time, of the cells that provide security for the cartel's leaders - who only allow family members to take custody of them.

It is known that among the six arrested last Tuesday, there are two Guatemalan ex-military personnel. At least since 2015, from testimonies given by CJNG members who have been detained by authorities, it has been known that elements of Guatemala's fearsome Army security forces provide strategic training to Mencho's recruits.

These military personnel have been detected on the borders of Michoacan and Jalisco, in the camps where the so-called Pájaros de la Sierra, one of the CJNG's arms, train; real arsenals have been seized in these centers, as recently occurred in Ciudad Hidalgo and Jilotlan de los Dolores.  

Did a big fish of the Jalisco Cartel fall and that is why Sandoval made reference to the fires being produced by "the success of the strategy"? In any case, the person mentioned above has already been indicted.

Rosa Icela Rodriguez has indicated that the causes of what unleashed the terror last Tuesday have already been identified and will soon be revealed.  

 

@hdemauelon

EL UNIVERSAL