Deadly Cartel Should Change Its Name to Protect Jalisco’s Image, Says Mexican President

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Tuesday that one of the most violent cartels in the world, Cartel Jalisco New Generation (CJNG), should change its name to not give the state of Jalisco a bad image.

The comment came one day after CJNG gunmen lined up and executed 17 people against a wall in the state of Michoacán. The gunmen removed the bodies and tried to clean the scene. The victims were attending a funeral at the time. Officials initially tried to deny the case happened but, thanks to viral video of the incident, they are now re-framing the case as cartel-on-cartel violence.

During his morning news conference, Lopez Obrador said the CJNG should change its name since its criminal activities were “affecting” Jalisco. Rather than address the raging violence nationwide, Lopez Obrador said it was the fault predecessors who allowed cartels to entrench and prosper.

In Michoacán, state authorities claim to be close to finding the funeral murder victims, Proceso reported. The most recent information points to a cartel figure named Alejandro “El Pelon,” who traveled to the town of San Jose de Gracia with 15 gunmen and a group of musicians to attend his mother’s funeral. That figure had previously been warned to stay away from the town due to a rivalry with a local crime boss known as “El Toro.”

El Toro sent a superior force and disarmed Pelon’s group before killing them.

Despite video showing the victims lined up and shot, Michoacán officials have been trying to minimize the incident by claiming it was not a coordinated shooting similar to a firing squad.

Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com. 

Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.