Page 12 - ARUBA TODAY

A12 WORLD NEWS
Thursday 19 March 2020
In Mexico, a cartel is taking over: Jalisco New Generation

By MARK STEVENSON ending the war on drugs ...
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexi- the use of force is no longer
co's fastest-rising cartel, the the first option."
Jalisco New Generation Indeed, López Obrador
gang, has a reputation for said his administration no
ruthlessness and violence longer seeks to detain drug
unlike any since the fall of lords.
the old Zetas cartel. In parts Meanwhile, many of
of the country it is fight- Jalisco's front-line battle-
ing medieval-style battles, grounds look almost medi-
complete with fortified re- eval.
doubts, to expand nation- On the border between
wide, from the outskirts of Jalisco and Michoacán
Mexico City, into the tour- states, there is a town called
ist resorts around Cancun, Tepalcatepec, a strong-
and along the northern hold of the Viagras that
border. Jalisco has recently tried to
Jalisco so likes violence and take over. The road in from
heavy armament that U.S. Jalisco — the main route of
prosecutors said its opera- attack — is blocked with
tives tried to buy belt-fed piles of dirt and rocks stag-
M-60 machine guns in the gered in a zigzag pattern,
United States, and once forcing incoming vehicles
brought down a Mexican In this Feb. 10, 2020 photo, National Guard patrol vehicles drive through the central square, in to slow down. From a house
military helicopter with a Apaseo el Alto, Guanajuato state, Mexico. on a nearby hill, a vigilante
rocket-propelled grenade. Associated Press with a .50-caliber sniper rifle
But Jalisco is also mounting scans the road, ready to
a propaganda campaign, control with the local Santa today, we haven't seen" about the smell. Experts fire.
using videos and social Rosa de Lima gang — says since Mexico's 2006-2012 say the killings skyrocketed Farther south in Micho-
media to threaten rivals he would prefer that Jalisco drug war, she said, referring after the cartel lost con- acán, in the hamlet of El
while promising civilians take over, because of the to decapitation videos, trol of its local organization Terrero, Jalisco controls
that it won't prey on them local gang's chaotic ways. threats, and social media in Guadalajara, and has the south bank of the Rio
with extortion and kidnap- "Things are quieter when messages warning people been battling that splinter Grande river, while the
pings. It is a promise that Jalisco is around," said the to stay indoors. group. north bank remains in the
cartels in Mexico have long restaurant owner, who also "This propaganda doesn't Jalisco is accustomed to hands of the rival New Mi-
made, and always broken. asked his name not be just seek to intimidate rivals, attacking law enforce- choacán Family cartel and
But Jalisco's onslaught is so used. but the whole population, ment directly. The cartel is its armed wing, the Via-
powerful that the cartel ap- A woman who has lived for as well," she said. "I would blamed for two of the worst gras. The other gangs' ter-
pears to have convinced years under Jalisco cartel even say there may be po- attacks in recent memory: ror of Jalisco is evident; in
some Mexicans, especially rule in a small town says litical goals behind this type in October, cartel gun- September, they hijacked
those who are tired of lo- she seeks out local Jalisco of messages." men ambushed and killed and burned a half-dozen
cal gangs, to accept con- enforcers to solve common To those lured by the prom- 14 state police officers in trucks and buses to block
trol by one large, powerful crime problems. "If you ises of the cartel, Huett said: Michoacán, and there are the bridge over the river,
cartel. have a problem, you go to "We cannot leave the pub- indications they executed to prevent Jalisco convoys
"It seems like the Jalisco them. They solve it quickly," lic in doubt about the crimi- some with gunshots to the from entering in a surprise
New Generation group is she said. nals, these false promises of head. In 2015, cartel gun- assault.
taking over everywhere," It is all a lie, albeit one that protection and these false men trying to protect their Nearby, in the township
said a priest in the west- the cartel likes to repeat. promises of well-being. This leader shot down a Mexi- of San Jose de Chila, rival
ern city of Apatzingan. "It "Beautiful people, continue always ends badly." can military helicopter with gangs used a church as
seems like they allow peo- your routine," the cartel Indeed, the reality of life an RPG. an armed redoubt to fight
ple to work, and they don't said in a banner hung from under the Jalisco cartel Jalisco likes quasi-military off an offensive by Jalisco
prey on civilians, they don't an overpass in 2019 to re- is terrifying: the cartel has tactics, and their hitmen gunmen. Holed up in the
kidnap, they don't steal ve- assure residents of Apatz- made the city of Guada- favor military camouflage. church tower and from its
hicles, they just go about ingan, Michoacán, that the lajara and surrounding sub- In southern Guerrero state, roof, they tried to defend
their drug business." cartel was moving in to kick urbs into a giant clandes- they welded thick armor the town against the incur-
The priest, who is not being out the Viagras. Beneath tine grave site. plating to a truck to make sion, leaving the church
identified to prevent repri- and around the banner a Hundreds of bodies have a homemade tank. In filled with bullet holes.
sals, would rather not have total of 19 corpses hung been found in the last year, many states, they parade One thing is clear: Jalisco
any gang in town. But one from ropes, lay piled on dumped in drainage ca- around in convoys of doz- wants people to know that
of his parishioners was re- the roadway or were scat- nals, buried in fields and the ens of pickup trucks open- they're in town. They hang
cently kidnapped, raped tered, hacked to pieces. patios and yards of homes. ly marked with the letters banners from overpasses
and killed by members of Sofia Huett, the head se- Bodies have been found "CJNG." announcing their arrival,
a local gang, the Viagras, curity official in the central dissolved in acid or lye, Jalisco really only under- offering cash rewards for
even after her family paid state of Guanajuato, has bodies have been found stands force, a tactic that enemies and threatening
a ransom; locals are so sick been on the receiving end in plastic bags. So many Mexico's government has police. They post videos on
of that gang they'd rather of what she calls a pro- bodies have been found in sidelined. On Friday, the social media, usually with a
have anybody else move paganda war between Guadalajara that authori- foreign relations depart- few dozen heavily-armed,
in. Jalisco and the Santa Rosa ties ran out of space at the ment wrote that the admin- camouflage-clad men
He is not the only one. A res- gang. morgue and took to mov- istration of President Andrés with helmets in the back-
taurant owner in the cen- "What is striking is the pro- ing rotting bodies around Manuel López Obrador "is ground, announcing they
tral state of Guanajuato — paganda campaign in all in refrigerated trucks un- committed to eliminating have come to "clean up
where Jalisco is fighting for media. What we are seeing til neighbors complained inequality and violence by the town."q