The death of a Mexican cartel boss during a shootout with police is expected to increase the raging violence in the state of Guanajuato. The state’s governor already called the violence perpetrated by the cartel “terrorism.”
This week, authorities in Guanajuato killed a man they claim is a local leader of Cartel Jalisco New Generation. Authorities identified the man as Emmanuel N, known as El Zermeno. According to Mexico’s Undersecretary of Public Safety Ricardo Mejia, the killing took place when agents with Guanajuato’s Attorney General’s Office tried to arrest Emmanuel on a warrant for murder.
The man and his bodyguard clashed with authorities in a shootout and then tried to escape. After a short chase, the man police claim is Zermeno died in the neighboring state of Queretaro, El sol de Queretaro reported. The death of El Zermeno sparked controversy as various law enforcement sources revealed that Zermeno is in fact another individual.
According to Mexican authorities, El Zermeno was the leader of a faction of CJNG that had been behind a large part of mass killings in the state. As Breitbart Texas reported, CJNG has been waging a fierce turf war with Cartel Santa Rosa de Lima over the local distribution of drugs as well as lucrative fuel theft operations.
The fighting between the two cartels led to numerous killings at local bars where innocents have been gunned down.
Earlier this month, Guanajuato’s Governor Diego Sinhue Rodriguez described the two main cartels that are fighting for control of his state as narco-terrorists. The harsh words from the governor came after members of CSRDL torched numerous vehicles and businesses in the state to pressure Mexico’s government to release one of their top leaders.
Just days before, authorities in Baja California had arrested Juan Rodolfo “El Rudy” Yepez Ortiz in another state. El Rudy had been acting as the de facto leader of the organization following the 2020 arrest of his brother Jose Antonio “El Marro” Yepez Ortiz, the founding leader of CSRDL.
The arrest of El Rudy, as well as the death of El Zermeno, are expected to increase the violence in the region in the coming days.
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.