Nearly 30 mayors from the western Mexican state of Michoacan are named as cartel collaborators in a military intelligence brief. The report was one of thousands of documents released by hacktivists last month as part of a Mexican Army data breach known as the Guacamaya Leaks.
The report was drafted for the Mexican Army by the National Intelligence Center (CNI) on September 13, 2021. The report identifies 29 mayors from Michoacan who are linked to cartels. According to Rio Doce, some of the politicians’ connections include campaign funding.
The cartels listed in relation to mayor ties are Cartel Jalisco New Generation (CJNG) with 18; La Familia Michoacana Cartel with nine; and, Carteles Unidos with two. The military report also noted that La Familia was preparing to add 10 new mayors.
Several politicians listed became the subject of scandals and cartel attacks in the months following.
Not listed in the report is the current governor of Michoacan, Alfredo Ramirez Bedolla, who is the nephew of a top drug lord with Carteles Unidos.
In August 2022, authorities in Laredo, Texas, arrested Yeishi Moriya, the daughter of Tacambaro Mayor Artemio Moriya, an ally of CJNG. Yeishi was trying to cross into Mexico with $250,000 cash and two pistols.
According to Rio Doce, unknown gunmen kidnapped and killed Contepec Mayor Enrique Valdez Orozco five months after taking office.
On May 31, 2021, gunmen attacked Cuitzeo Mayor Rosa Elia Millan as she was returning to her home. While Millan survived, her husband died. The military document listed her as being an ally of CJNG.
Several other mayors in Michoacan have been targeted and killed by gunmen in connection with cartel disputes over control of the state’s drug production and shipping areas.
Editor’s Note: Breitbart Texas traveled to Mexico City and the states of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, and Nuevo León to recruit citizen journalists willing to risk their lives and expose the cartels silencing their communities. The writers would face certain death at the hands of the various cartels that operate in those areas including the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas if a pseudonym were not used. Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles are published in both English and in their original Spanish. This article was written by “C.P. Mireles” from Tamaulipas and Jose Luis Lara from Michoacan.
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