San Miguel Totolapan, Guerrero: Jose Hurtado Olascoaga aka 'El Fresa' Talks About Recent Massacre

"Sol Prendido" for Borderland Beat

Who is José Alfredo Hurtado Oloscuaga, 'El Fresa', who threatens war in San Miguel Totolapan?

José Alfredo Hurtado Olascoaga, alias "El Fresa," is one of the leaders of the Familia Michoacana in Guerrero's Tierra Caliente; he was involved in the San Miguel Totolapan attack.

El Fresa, leader of the Familia Michoacana in the Tierra Caliente region of Guerrero.

José Alfredo Hurtado Olascoaga, alias "El Fresa," one of the leaders of the Familia Michoacana in the Tierra Caliente region of Guerrero, said in a video that the armed attack by "Los Tequileros" in San Miguel Totolapan, Guerrero, which left 20 dead, was also directed against him.

In a video posted on a newly created Facebook account, El Fresa claims that the attack on Wednesday, October 5 in San Miguel Totolapan was against him, as well as against Mayor Conrado Mendoza and his father, Juan Mendoza, who died at the scene.

El Fresa maintains that the attack occurred because "someone from the town betrayed him, they had moles inside," but he said he doesn’t know who it could have been.

The leader of the Familia Michoacana had arranged a meeting with the mayor of San Miguel Totolapan, Conrado Mendoza, his father and other officials because of a video published days earlier in which hooded men, calling themselves "Los Tequileros," announced that they had reappeared in the area.

In this way, El Fresa says that the attack occurred when he was about to get out of his armored truck for the meeting. However, he did not have time to get out, which ended up saving his life.

"They had a trap set for us, I arrive at the meeting, thank God I'm in an armored car. If they had let me get out, I would have been there too, I managed to get out, they left the vehicle in ruins," he said.

Finally, he said that after being chased by Los Tequileros, his group confronted them and killed all the perpetrators of the massacre in San Miguel Totolapan.

Who is José Alfredo Hurtado Olascoaga, alias "El Fresa"?

José Alfredo Hurtado Olascoaga, alias "El Fresa" is one of the two leaders of the Familia Michoacana that operates in the Tierra Caliente region of Guerrero.

The other leader of the Familia Michoacana criminal cell is Johnny Hurtado Olascoaga, alias "El Pez," brother of El Fresa.

The Hurtado Olascoaga brothers are originally from the town of Palos Altos, in Arcelia, Guerrero, which in turn, neighbors the communities of Tlatlaya and San Miguel Teloloapan.

From that municipality, El Fresa and El Pez manage drug trafficking, extortion, kidnappings and other crimes.

According to authorities, the Hurtado Olascoaga brothers are related to at least 10 investigation files and are considered among the most wanted criminals by the Prosecutor's Office of the State of Mexico, which offers a reward of 500,000 pesos for information to find the whereabouts of each.

One of them is against El Fresa for the ambush on police officers in Coatepec Harinas, where 13 police officers were killed; authorities accuse him of being the mastermind of the massacre.

In addition, in Tierra Caliente they claim that "El Fresa" created a clandestine prison in the mountains for those who do not comply with extortion fees. Punishment times range from two to three months.

The Familia Michoacana operates in at least seven of the municipalities in the region known as "Tierra Caliente" in Guerrero.

As if that weren't enough, local media reports indicate that "El Fresa" has his own clothing brand called "HH Clothing" with which he pretends to be a textile businessman.

Although the first of the Hurtado brothers to take command of the criminal group was Johny, "El Pez," in 2014, following the arrest of Jose Maria Chavez, alias "El Pony.

Video translation is as follows:

You all know that I’m not the type of person to make a video. But today I have a need to do one in order to comment and explain what all went down on that day. First off that attack was meant for me. In addition against Conrado and his father. Someone from the townspeople, we don’t know who exactly, betrayed us. They had a mole from within. I live in San Miguel. My house is a block away from the mayors office. I believe everyone here knows where it’s at and where I live. 

I left my house because we had a meeting with the mayor, with his dad, and the neutral group that they had. This was being done in relation to recent events that had taken place, for the videos that were released a day before. We believed that this is why everyone had gathered there. We arrived in confidence. We went there without caution. There was nothing else there other than our false sense of security. Just the same they had decided to have a meeting in order to implement safety protocols for whatever. 

Our enemies had setup a good ambush for us. I arrived to this meeting. But thank God I’m always in an armored vehicle. I’m never just with anyone there in that town because I always considered it to be safe. It’s no different with the town of Aracelia or any of the other municipalities. So, what happened? Well, I arrived and the guys are nervous. They wouldn’t allow me to get off of my vehicle. If they would’ve allowed me to descend from my vehicle I’d just as well be lying there dead with the rest of them. 

I managed to get away. My vehicle was left damaged. I didn’t get to see what else happened afterwards. I head out towards the communities of San Francisco and Valle Luz. I have many operatives in Valle Luz among the hills and dirt roads because of what all was being said. We initially didn’t believe anyone would do something of this nature. We went towards San Francisco, we’re followed. It was just Commander Colima and me. There were men there of ours. I arrived there with them. 

Men from the Los Tequileros arrive there. They claim to be a part of that mob. But I don’t really know which group they are. The only individuals we had problems with was with Los Tequileros. Mainly the mayor had beef with them. Well, we also had something to do with that conflict there because we had initiated our fight together, the mayor and us. 

Revenge isn’t any good. I know it’s not a good thing. But things got out of control. They arrived where we were. I’ve got some videos here that I want to show everyone. They had been following me. They actually thought that I didn’t have any personnel and that I was retreating away with no one to help me. This here is one of the videos of the aftermath. And so we were really bothered by what had happened there. We didn’t leave anyone there. I decided that they didn’t deserve to be buried. And why? Because they jumped the gun after having attacked that town. A peaceful town…

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