On Friday afternoon, March 10, clashes were reported in three municipalities in Michoacán between alleged Jalisco Cartel – New Generation (CJNG) members and Los Viagra, a criminal group that forms part of the United Cartels, which left three people dead and 15 detained.
According to initial reports, the violence began at two o’clock in the afternoon on Friday and lasted until about four o’clock in the afternoon. The confrontations were reported in Uruapan, Buenavista, and Tepalcatepec.
Elements of the Mexican Army, National Guard, and Michoacan Civil Guard deployed a strong operation in the municipalities.
In Uruapan, local media reported that the attacks occurred in Tejeria, Rio Volga, and Santa Rosa. At the latter point, they reported road blockades with cargo vehicles.
Videos on social networks show the battle between these antagonistic groups that maintain a strong dispute for control of the state.
In the afternoon, the Michoacan Public Security Secretariat (SSP) detailed that 3 men were found dead due to gunshot wounds, while 15 people were detained.
“We detained 15 people in Uruapan and secured 10 firearms, cartridges, magazines, and tactical equipment, following reports of gunshots in the Tejerías and Planetario neighborhoods,” the state agency said.
Meanwhile, the newspaper El Universal reported that in the municipality of Buenavista, in the community of Punta de Agua, members of the CJNG attacked residents. According to the newspaper, one person was killed.
Meanwhile, in the town of El Montoso, alleged hitmen from the organization of Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, alias El Mencho, slit the throats of two young men. According to the national newspaper, one died and the other was taken to a private clinic in the municipality of Tepalcatepec.
So far, it is unknown if the murdered people mentioned by El Universal correspond to the bodies reported by the SSP.
Meanwhile, the Citizen Intelligence Unit reported on its Twitter account that members of Carteles Unidos burned vehicles for one of their missing leaders. This is Heladio Cisneros, alias La Sirena, who was allegedly deprived of his freedom on Friday morning.
“After his bodyguards were brutally murdered this morning, family members of Heladio Cisneros asked for help to locate the regional head of Carteles Unidos. It is feared that the Jaliscos took him to do something bad to him,” he wrote on his Twitter account.
This attack comes a day after people shot at the Michoacán state Attorney General’s Office members in the municipality of Tzintzuntzan. The aggression occurred near Lake Patzcuaro’s shores while the agents were investigating missing persons.
The agents of the Michoacan Prosecutor’s Office managed to repel the aggression, and a confrontation that lasted several minutes ensued. The events were recorded in videos shared on social networks.
On February 27, these same drug trafficking groups had a strong confrontation that was recorded on video and shared on social networks, although it is not known in which Michoacan municipality it took place.
In the images, several men in military-style clothing and long weapons can be seen, who took cover with the help of the terrain as they used their weapons.
According to InSight Crime, the United Cartels (CU) organization emerged from an alliance between the Tepalcatepec Cartel, Los Viagras and other groups to repel the advances of the Jalisco Cartel – New Generation in Michoacan.
“They operate under a name that was previously used by other allied groups in the state to confront the Zetas. The CU are known for their involvement in illicit economies in Michoacan’s Tierra Caliente region and for their efforts to keep the CJNG out of the state in a brutal territorial dispute with no end in sight,” the media outlet detailed.