Three states have been shut down as gunmen burned dozens of buses and vehicles involving foreign terrorist organization Cartel Jalisco New Generation. The attack created blockades along major Mexico highways in Michoacan, Jalisco and Guanajuato. The violence spread to 29 municipalities.
The clash began Thursday afternoon in Michoacan province. There, gunmen from the Ross Virgrass and Cartel Jalisco New Generation set obstacles and began attacking the troops. Within a few hours, the lockdown spread across Jalisco and parts of Guanajuato.
The first information pointed to the Mexican federal forces targeting the top leader of Los Bygrass. The lockdown was a strategy to put pressure on the rescue of that individual, and put pressure on the Mexican government to retreat.
Since then, federal officials in Mexico have argued that the violence is linked to a turf war between rival organizations, not the arrest of a cartel figure.
Mexico’s biggest security officer, Omar Garcia Halfucci, has claimed that since then only six gunmen and two police officers have been killed.
Earlier this year, various small organizations, including CJNG and former rival Los Viagras, joined forces under the name Cartel Michoacán New Generation. In Michoacán, Los Viagras and other cells, as well as the so-called self-defense groups, were joining forces against the CJNG, linked to La Familia Michoacána. However, groups are constantly switching sides.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist for the Breitbart News Foundation. He co-founded with Cartel Chronicles Project, Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart Management of the Breitbart News Foundation. You can follow him Twitter And on Facebook. You can contact him iortiz@breitbart.com.
Brandon Derby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded the Cartel Chronicles Project of the Breitbart News Foundation with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart Management. Follow him Twitter and Facebook. You can contact him bdarby@breitbart.com.
