Narcos burn buses after arrest of Jalisco Cartel kingpin
Gang members responded to the military operation – in which the second-in-command of the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG) was detained – by setting three vehicles alight in the south of the Guadalajara metropolitan area.
Ruben Oseguera Gonzalez, alias “El Menchito,” the son of CJNG leader Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, alias “El Mencho,” was captured alongside four accomplices in the raid on a property on William Shakespeare street, the federal government confirmed.
Not a shot was fired in the joint operation conducted by the Mexican Army and the Navy at around 5 a.m. Scores of soldiers closed off the surrounding streets while a helicopter circled above but by 9:30 a.m. virtually all of the military personnel had departed.
The suspects, who were caught in possession of 13 illegal firearms, 500,000 dollars and 10 to 16 million pesos in cash, were taken for questioning at the federal attorney general’s organized crime division (SEIDO).
The most prominent drug-trafficking organization in Guadalajara and the state of Jalisco, the CJNG has close links to the powerful Sinaloa Federation and is at war with rival gangs Los Zetas and the Knights Templar. Oseguera, who is also known as “Junior,” was responsible for coordinating CJNG operations and served as his father’s right-hand man, according to the federal government.
Monte Alejandro Rubido Garcia, the federal chief of public security, said that the detainee was tasked with maintaining control of CJNG territory in the western states of Jalisco and Colima. Oseguera managed the buying, trafficking and selling of drugs shipped from South America; he was responsible for the theft and resale of fuel in Jalisco; and he ordered the killings of people who refused to collaborate with the cartel, Rubido alleged.
Jalisco Prosecutor General Carlos Najera confirmed that criminals reacted by setting three buses on fire in the aftermath of the operation in a bid to “affect the people and government of Jalisco.”
The aim of burning buses is to create enough chaos to disrupt traffic and buy time for related criminals to evade capture. The CJNG employed the same tactics in Guadalajara in March 2012 after the arrest of founding member Erick Valencia Salazar, alias “El 85.”
The vehicles targeted included a milk truck on Avenida El Colli and the Periferico ringroad; a 640 bus on Avenida Las Torres and Calle Cedro; and a 625e bus on Rosas street in Los Cajetes de Zapopan, which only suffered minor damage after a Molotov cocktail that was thrown at it failed to properly ignite. No injuries were reported in any of the incidents.
The U.S. Consulate in Guadalajara issued a warning on Thursday morning noting that it had “received reports of criminal roadblockades in the Guadalajara metropolitan area. At least three busses and cars were hijacked, left in the middle of roads and set on fire to disrupt traffic.”
The Consulate added that it “advises against travel on the periferico highway and to the airport. Please exercise caution on all roads and stay alert to public announcements from Mexican police and authorities.”
Mexico’s gay rights movement is gradually gaining ground
This is my latest feature for Al Jazeera, recounting recent events such as the first ever same-sex wedding in Jalisco and the protest led by members of Guadalajara’s LGBT community after a gay couple were thrown out of a local nightclub on New Year’s Eve.
I also spoke to a Bishop and a congressman from the right-wing National Action Party (PAN) in a bid to understand why they are opposed to LGBT people obtaining the same rights that they already enjoy.
Police bust heavily armed Knights Templars in Guadalajara
Police arrested three alleged members of the Knights Templar cartel and seized a huge stash of firearms and illicit narcotics at a safe house in Guadalajara at the weekend.
Metropolitan police officers stopped the three men as they were driving along Circunvalacion Oblatos late Saturday night. The officers found three pistols and 179 grams of marijuana aboard their red Chevrolet pick-up truck.
The detainees were identified as Eladio Govea Perez, 33, Adrian Agustin Ortega Navarro, 26, and Efrain Vazquez Duarte, 46, all from La Romera, Tepalcatepec in the state of Michoacan. They are believed to be members of the Knights Templar cartel based in Michoacan, and have links to organized crime in Colombia and the United States, said the Jalisco Prosecutor General, Carlos Najera.
The men were captured after the Federal Attorney General’s Office (PGR) provided the state authorities with information on four suspected Templars operating in Jalisco, but the leader of the cell is believed to have evaded arrest, local newspaper El Informador reported.
The arrests led to the discovery of a safe house at the intersection of the Clemencia and Vergel streets in the San Isidrio Oblatos neighborhood on Guadalajara’s east side. There the police found 41 kilos of cocaine, 17 kilos of crystal meth, half a kilo of marijuana and 11 kilos of chemical precursors used in the production of synthetic drugs.
The officers also confiscated an extensive arsenal of 28 guns, including AR-15 and AK-47 assault rifles; 1,189 rounds of ammunition and 34 magazines; two rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) and several RPG launchers; five gold-plated swords; five bulletproof vests; a money counter and 440 dollars; and eight vehicles.
“According to the initial statements given by the detainees, the drugs stored in this property were transported to Piedras Negras, Coahuila and from there to Houston and Chicago in the United States,” Najera said. The suspects had been trafficking drugs through Guadalajara for about a year and were trying to expand their cell, Najera added.
The arrests come amid a wave of violence between the Knights Templar and vigilante groups in Michoacan. Under strong pressure to clamp down on the cartel, which has established itself as the de facto authority in much of the western state, Mexican authorities have now arrested over 40 suspected Templars in recent weeks.
The Tequila Files 