Sinaloa Cartel Priority Target 'El Güero Puchas' Arrested in Baja California

"Morogris" for Borderland Beat

Oswaldo Fabián Espinoza, alias El Güero Puchas and/or Kevin Gaona

On August 1, Sinaloa Cartel operator Oswaldo Fabian Espinoza, also known as "El Güero Puchas," was apprehended by the State Security Force in Tecate, Baja California, on kidnapping charges.

According to police reports, at the time of his arrest, Espinoza was found in possession of a pistol, and inside the Suburban in which he was traveling, there was a 25-year-old woman who stated that "El Güero Puchas" had previously held her captive at an address in Rancho Las Flores in Tijuana.

Until 2022, authorities had identified Espinoza as a high-priority target for the Security Bureau in Baja California and as an operative for the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).

However, after a shift in criminal affiliations, he was recruited by Jesus Rafael Yocupicio, also known as "El Cabezon," and began working for the Sinaloa Cartel. This has led to a confrontation with his former criminal associates in the eastern part of Tijuana and Tecate.

On November 28, 2022, authorities discovered a van in the Maclovio Rojas neighborhood in Tijuana containing two bodies. Alongside the bodies, a message was found at the scene threatening El Guero Puchas for supporting other cartel figures.

A Zeta Tijuana article cited by Borderland Beat on July 2023, named a number of the cartel figures that state security forces had identified as working under the Arzate brothers: Alfonso Arzate, alias "El Aquiles" and his brother Rene Arzate, alias "La Rana", the heads of Los Aquiles.

These included: Franklin Ernesto Huezo Hernández, alias "El Ranchero"; Edwin Antonio Rubio López, alias "El Max"; Jesús Rafael Yocupicio, alias "El Cabezon"; José Ángel Flores Ayala, alias "El Mostro"; Fabricio Hernández, alias "El Lic'; Marcial Medina López; three individuals known by their aliases El 300, El 03, El 013; and El Guero Puchas.

On Thursday, August 3, 2023, the Tijuana municipal police arrested Federico Galán Tachiquín, also known as "El Perico." He is the brother of an agent who provides security to the Secretary General of Tijuana, Miguel Ángel Bujanda. Authorities from the Security Bureau have identified Galan Tachiquin as a criminal associate of El Guero Puchas.

Local law enforcement agencies have identified the following individuals as members of this drug trafficking and murder cell: Edgar Rosario González Barrera, known as "El Paniqui," who is also wanted for homicide; Guillermo Torres Galán and Sara Galán Tachiquín, who are relatives of "El Perico"; Ruben Cervantes; Daniel Magallan; Emigdio Garcia Rodriguez; Sam Huerta Cisneros; Sarahi Roldan; and a man only known by the alias "El Apá".

Sources: Zeta Tijuana; Borderland Beat achives