La Tuta captured in a house in Morelia Michoacan

Translated for Borderland Beat from a Milenio article by Otis B Fly-Wheel

Servando Gomez Martinez alias " La Tuta" presumed leader of the Knights Templar Cartel, and one of the criminals who's capture was deemed a primary objective of the Federal Government, was captured by elements of the Federal Police, confirmed authorities of the corporation.

According to preliminary information, "La Tuta", was detained in a house in Morelia, Michoacan without any shots being fired. ( otis: so much for the I won't be taken alive).

The PGR offered a reward of 30 million pesos for information leading to his detention.

This Wednesday past they reported a series of operations  in the Limitrofe zone of the Municipality of
Arteaga, from where he originated, and Tumbiscatio, Michoacan, where colleagues of La Tuta were captured as a result of the capos arrest.

In the next few hours, there will be a press conference on the details of his detention.

The columnist of Milenio, Joaquin Lopez Doriga, informed on his twitter account, the detention of Gomez Martinez

UPDATES WILL BE POSTED ASAP: OTIS

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Alleged Caballeros Templarios Shoot at Police In Morelia

By: Camila Luna

During the early hours of Friday, a group of armed civilians attacked the facilities of the Citizen Protection of the Attorney General of the State (Centro de Protección Ciudadana de la Procuraduría General de Justicia del Estado) in the west of the Michoacán capital.

According to police reports, it was around 4:00 am when two trucks filled with heavily armed men arrived at the Center for Citizen Protection belonging to the Attorney General of Justice of Michoacán, located between avenues Francisco I. Madero and Pedregal.

After getting out of the vehicles, the criminals shot up the building leaving one policeman injured (who was reported as stable) and severe damage to the building structures and the facility located beside it, as well as damaging six police vehicles.

Within the Center for Citizen Protection, there were a dozen ministerial policemen who tried to repel the attack, however, the criminals fled.

After initial investigations were carried out, about 100 shell casings from AK-47’s, 7.62x39mm, and AR-15’s, .223, were found at the scene.

Almost simultaneously, a second attack on a base of the Municipal Public Security located in the north of Morelia near Estadio Morelos was also recorded. 

Sources: Michoacán 3.0, Revolución 3.0

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"Without The Army, the Self-Defense Movement Should Continue In Michoacán"

By: Omar Sánchez de Tagle

Morelia, Michoacán –The self-defense groups should remain in the state as long as the Army doesn’t control and monitor the various municipalities of the state, stated the Mayor of Tancítaro, Salvador Torres Mora, who called on the governor Fausto Vallejo to increase the number of soldiers and reinforcements in the region.

Vallejo answered the mayor’s declarations with security reinforcements, on the night of Wednesday November 20, in five municipalities where self-defense groups operate: Los Reyes, Peribán and Apatzingán, San Juan Nuevo, Uruapan and Tancítaro, areas where clashes have occurred and lives have been lost in recent weeks.

While these municipalities were being reinforced, a new confrontation occurred between the self-defense groups and armed civilians in the municipality of Buenavista Tomatlán, where one person died.

According to first reports from state officials, the confrontation occurred in an area where the Caballeros Templarios don’t want the presence of self-defense groups and thus, fight for control of the area.

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Electrical substations, Gas stations attacked in Michoacan and Morelia, also Water Facility and Wells Damaged in Morelia

Borderland Beat

Assailants early Sunday blew up at least twelve electrical power plants in Michoacan in one of Mexico's most troubled states, triggering blackouts that gunmen then used as cover to torch gasoline stations, residents and authorities said.

The attacks in Michoacan state, west of the capital, did not cause deaths or serious injuries, authorities said. But they served as a pointed reminder of the strength of drug gangs and other criminals.

Shortly after midnight, attackers armed with Molotov cocktails almost simultaneously disabled electrical substations in at least twelve cities and towns in Michoacan, plunging an estimated 1 million people into darkness. The power was out for 15 -18 hours.

CFE in Sahuayo

CFE in Sahuayo

Simultaneously, groups attacked four gas stations in Morelia, one in Apatzingán and another in Patzcuaro, Michoacan, again without any injuries.

Gunmen then torched four gasoline stations, and two in the state capital of Morelia, a popular tourist destination. a pump was burned down in Francisco I. Madero de Apatzingán Avenue and another on the Morelia-Uruapan Highway, 10 kilometers from Patzcuaro, where there was also damage to a convenience store.

The delegation of the Attorney General's Office (PGR) reported that a damage was detected 18 electrical substations, 6 gas station Michoacan and Morelia, as well as there were water facility attacks in Morelia. The mechanical, electrical, operating system for the treatment of drinking water was damaged at the Mintzita Spring. At the Morelia in Salamanca, Guanajuato, where an important plant  is located, the aggressors didn't detonate bombs against any mechanism, but more than 100 petrol bombs were found at the scene.

Along with the attacks to on the CFE electrical plants, the attacks affected the operation of 14 wells in Morelia. There was damage to the water treatment plant of La Mintzita, which supplies water to 35 per cent of the population,  This led to several colonias not receiving water on Sunday, said a  water, and sanitation and sewerage official. Augusto Arriaga Caire, director of water utility and waste water(OOAPAS) reported that after the power outage in 14 wells and Mintizita treatment plant for a period of 16 hours, energy was restored at 18:00 hours on Sunday, and immediately began trial assessment  investigation including computer synchronization, in order restart and restore water service in the city of Morelia.

Michoacan for years has been controlled either by the Knights Templar or its predecessor La Familia Michoacan cartels that specialize in methamphetamine distribution to the United States and have controlled many city halls and police departments. 

More recently, groups of citizens have taken up weapons forming self defense groups to protect communities from CT infiltration and domination.

MILENIO consulted state and federal sources who estimated 420, 000 people were left without electric power for about 18 hours, up to seven in the evening. The service in some affected areas was restored 95 percent.The assaulted CFE electric substations are located in Morelia, Apatzingán, Zamora, La Piedad, Ciudad Hidalgo, Uruapan, Sahuayo Tarímbaro, Zinapécuaro, Queréndaro, Tuxpan and Aguililla.

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