Mica for cartelinsider.com
A shooting confrontation, allegedly carried out on February 19, 2024, between alleged members of the criminal groups Los Tlacos and La Nueva Familia Michoacana, left a death toll of at least 17 people in the municipality of San Miguel Totolapan in the Tierra Caliente region of Guerrero.
According to local media reports, on February 20, 2024, citing testimonies from villagers living at the top of the Sierra, the confrontation between armed civilian groups occurred at a location known as Piedra Concha.
“The New Michoacana Family is led by brothers Jhonny and José Alfredo Hurtado Olascoaga, known as “El Pez” and “El Fresa” respectively, while Onésimo Marquina Chapa, alias “El Necho”, is the alleged leader of “Los Tlacos”, a criminal group also known as the Sierra Cartel or Guerrero Federation.”
In a video circulating through various social networks, corpses can be seen thrown around, naked, and even though they were already dead, they were shot at. In addition, their executioners gathered them in a heap and burned them until they were charred.
Likewise, in the recording, you can hear the voice of a man carrying a high-caliber assault rifle and walking through the place where the bodies of at least 16 lifeless men were found. The armed individual claims that the victims belonged to the Michoacana Family and were wearing camouflage military-style clothing.
“José de Jesús González Hernández, Joel Ocampo Gorostieta, Dagoberto Sosa Arriaga, and Leopoldo González González, bishops and archbishop of the dioceses of Chilpancingo-Chilapa, Ciudad Altamirano, Tlapa, and Acapulco, respectively, met with leaders of organized crime to negotiate peace. However, no agreements were reached due to the division of territory within these groups.”
This was revealed by the Bishop of Chilpancingo-Chilapa, from the Catholic Church during a press conference held on February 14, 2024, after the liturgical celebration of Ash Wednesday, held at the Cathedral of the Assumption of Mary, located in the capital of Guerrero.
However, on February 18, 2024, José Filiberto Velázquez Florencio, director of the Minerva Bello Human Rights Center, revealed that in a single phone call, without witnesses, without the intervention of anyone else in the conversation – carried out around 09:00 hours on the 13th of the same month and year – was enough for the leaders of two organized crime groups, Onésimo Marquina Chapa of Los Tlacos, and Celso Ortega Jiménez of Los Ardillos, to come to a supposed truce. “The two groups agreed to the truce because they have common interests, such as the sale of chicken and transportation services,” said the Catholic priest.
On February 20, 2024, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador recognized the “power” that organized crime groups had to mobilize people. With that social base, they negotiated truces to stop confrontations, as did between Los Tlacos and Los Ardillos in Guerrero.
Questioned by a reporter, the head of the Federal Executive Power stated that his government was doing its job to stop crime and address the root causes to remove the social foundation of organized crime.
“Crime is being combated all over the country. The problem is that it grew a lot, and it was allowed to grow. This has been happening for a long time, since two or three presidential terms ago, and it took root, strengthened in communities, and has some social support and backing in certain areas. It also entered through political parties, which has been happening in the country for some time, and it is being fought, but it is a process, and we will continue to do so,” said the national leader.
“But do they have enough power to agree on a truce among themselves in the capital, in Chilpancingo?” the journalist questioned the president of the Republic during his morning press conference, held in the Treasury Room of the National Palace.
“Yes, they have quite a mobilization capacity. About six or eight months ago, they took over Chilpancingo with many people, I don’t know, a thousand, two thousand, and they were looking for a confrontation. What we did was not fall into the provocation; the National Guard withdrew because they wanted a confrontation. So, they took over Chilpancingo, and here I spoke to the people about not letting themselves be manipulated,” added the politician from Tabasco.
“Furthermore, we have placed some photos here of leaders who have just returned, I believe from Paris [France], of these leaders of criminal groups and left, but it is not easy for them to disappear; they are ongoing processes. We are making significant progress, especially because young people are being attended to, especially because the poor are being attended to, because crime has grown so much due to the abandonment of the people and the lack of support for the people”, responded López Obrador.”
The national leader insisted that his Administration was working with the people in the country, especially in the states of Guerrero, Chiapas, and Oaxaca, “where the people are being attended to the most and there is a complete change.” He also announced, without a specific date, that he would soon visit Chilpancingo, Iguala, and Chilapa.
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Mica
Email: mica@cartelinsider.com
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