APATZINGAN, Michoacan — The kidnapping of a local man cleaning a sidewalk by cartel gunmen reveals the level of impunity criminal organizations enjoy in the Mexican state of Michoacan. While government officials try to push an image of safety, cartel gunmen grab innocent victims and carry out battles for local control, killing dozens per week.
Security camera footage from Apatzingan, Michoacan, obtained by Breitbart Texas shows the moment when a team of gunmen apparently kidnapped a local man who was leading a street cleaning crew. The man was spraying the sidewalk as two of his employees swept. Preliminary information indicates the victim is a local businessman.
The gunmen riding in a black crossover vehicle pull up next to him and jump out pointing guns. They force the businessman into the SUV and drive away. The entire kidnapping takes less than 20 seconds.
The kidnapping is one of the many crimes that continue to occur in Michoacan. Despite a record-breaking number of murders, Governor Silvano Aureoles Conejo continues to downplay the security conditions. As Breitbart Texas reports, the state is currently being fought over by members of the Nueva Familia Michoacana and Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG). The two criminal organizations carried out dozens of grizzly executions and dismemberments to leverage control of the port city of Lazaro Cardenas and lucrative drug production territories down-state.
Editor’s Note: Breitbart Texas traveled to the Mexican States of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, Nuevo León and other areas to recruit citizen journalists willing to risk their lives and expose the cartels silencing their communities. Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles are published in both English and in their original Spanish. This article was written by Jose Luis Lara, a former leading member who helped start the Self-Defense Movement in Michoacán.