EXCLUSIVE PHOTOS: Narco-Violence Explodes in Western Mexico After Rivals Team-Up In Turf War

Violence exploded in the western state of Michoacan following a shift in alliances that saw bitter rivals join forces to take on another criminal organization that passes itself off as a self-defense group to get help from police and military forces.

The violence began last week when factions of Los Viagras Cartel and others announced that they would be joining Cartel Jalisco New Generation to take on a criminal organization led by Juan Jose “El Abuelo” Farias, known as Cartel De Tepalcatepec. Despite being a criminal organization and El Abuelo having been behind bars in the past, his gunmen pass themselves off as members of a self-defense group and have been getting help from authorities in fighting off their rivals. Due to the ongoing violence, the Michoacan government deployed state police forces and military forces to block the entrances to Tepalcatepec.

Los Viagras is a criminal organization that, in its origins, identified itself as a self-defense group. The cartel was part of La Familia Michoacana and a rival of CJNG but has since joined forces with its rivals to fight El Abuelo’s organization. The group is currently led by Nicolas “El Gordo” Sierra Santana and his relatives.

One of the criminal leaders who also joined that alliance is Cesar “El Boto” Sepulveda Arellano, the leader of the Blancos de Troya criminal organization. Breitbart Texas reported extensively on El Boto after he ordered a hit on one of the writers from the Cartel Chronicles’ project in 2018. Within 48 hours after having ordered the hit, Mexican military forces followed an anonymous tip to his hideout and captured him. By 2020, a Mexican judge suspiciously ordered his release from prison, and he has since returned to Michoacan to continue running his criminal organization.

For several years, Michoacan has seen a steady amount of violence after factions of main cartels such as La Familia Michoacana, Caballeros Templarios, and CJNG fractured into smaller groups local groups that have been constantly shifting allegiances. This has led to high levels of violence and brutality, with gunmen resorting to the use of land mines, improvised explosive devices, armored vehicles, and the use of drones to drop explosives on their rivals.

Soon after the announcement of the team-up, heavy fighting broke out in Michoacan with both sides not only sending gunmen but using a large amount of explosive devices, in one of those attacks, one of the sons of El Boto reportedly died leading to renewed fighting.

Despite the assurances from the Michoacan government, the violence is expected to continue since both sides are trying to control lucrative cocaine routes into Mexico from the Pacific coast, as well as drug production areas used to manufacture large quantities of synthetic drugs.

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.     

Jose Luis Lara from Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project contributed to this report.