Authorities in the Mexican border state of Coahuila are on high alert after receiving credible threats of imminent violence by one of the country’s most notorious drug cartels. The messages indicate a new turf war and offers accusations of corruption at the highest levels of the state government.

The threats came in the form of a large narco banner that was hung in Saltillo, the state capital of Coahuila by the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG). For years, drug cartels have used narco banners as a way to relay messages to the government and general public.

One of the key messages in the banner names current Coahuila Governor Ruben Moreira of being careless–claiming his Secretary of State, Victor Zamora, and Attorney General Homero Ramos Gloria have allowed four separate drug cartels to operate there.

The “narco manta” warns members and allies of the Gulf, Los Zetas and the Cartel del Noreste (CDN) groups they have 72 hours to leave the Coahuila or face consequences. 

In their message, the CJNG calls out Sinaloa Cartel boss Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada” and the “Menores” or minors, a name given to the sons of jailed Mexican kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. Known as the Menores, Ivan Archivaldo Guzman and his brother Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar have been trying to work with El Mayo to keep together the Sinaloa Cartel after the arrest and extradition of El Chapo.

The CGNJ pokes fun at the Sinaloa Cartel for allowing their criminal organization to crumble and its members to become “starving gangsters”. The push into Saltillo comes after the Sinaloa Cartel set up shop in the metropolitan city of Monterrey, Nuevo Leon–but its members fled to Saltillo and its suburb of Ramos Arizpe. In the banner, they warn that Sinaloa members have 48 hours to turn over their drug trafficking operation in the area, also known as Plaza.

The threatening message is signed by “La Nueva Generacion”,  a faction of the Sinaloa Cartel at odds with El Mayo and Guzman’s family and the CJNG. Under the leadership of Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes, the CJNG went from being an offshoot of the Sinaloa Cartel to one of the top organizations in Mexico. The CJNG earned a reputation for extreme violence toward other cartels and Mexican authorities alike. In 2015, the CJNG was behind a deadly ambush where 15 police officers were killed, Breitbart Texas reported.

Last month, Breitbart Texas reported on a Mexican intelligence report claiming that CJNG had been recruiting Central American guerrilla fighters turned mercenaries and have begun using IEDs. The report warned authorities about changing their tactics to counter the CJNG’s changing strategies.

Robert Arce is a retired Phoenix Police detective with extensive experience working Mexican organized crime and street gangs. Arce has worked in the Balkans, Iraq, Haiti, and recently completed a three-year assignment in Monterrey, Mexico, working out of the Consulate for the United States Department of State, International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Program, where he was the Regional Program Manager for Northeast Mexico (Coahuila, Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon, Durango, San Luis Potosi, Zacatecas.)

This article has been updated.