Mica for cartelinsider.com
Explosive attacks launched from drones, murders of transportation workers, and the Church’s intervention in a call for peace are some of the postcards that make up the current landscape of organized crime in the state of Guerrero.
The settlement of narcotrafficking groups in the entity dates back, at least, to the 1990s when the United States implemented a series of measures to restrict the movement of narcotics through the Caribbean Sea.
Acapulco, known until then as the ‘Pearl of the Pacific’ for its tourist appeal, was the scene of a bloody territorial dispute between groups such as the Sinaloa Cartel and Los Zetas during the first years of this century.
However, violence in Guerrero intensified starting in 2009 after the assassination of Arturo Beltrán Leyva and several of his operators who coordinated the control of territories.
This event marked the fragmentation of the Sinaloa Cartel and the beginning of a “fierce dispute between small groups fighting to take control of the main plaza in Acapulco,” according to a Tlachinollan Mountain Human Rights Center report.
Until 2023, this organization listed, based on reports from various security corporations, a total of at least 16 criminal groups with a presence in Guerrero, distributed as follows:
The mapping of criminal organizations reflects the interaction between nationally-reaching cartels (such as the Jalisco New Generation Cartel) and local cells, such as Los Tequileros, dedicated to the cultivation and trafficking of opium poppy. These two groups announced an alliance in 2020 to take control of the Tierra Caliente region from the Michoacan Family.
However, the dynamics of violence in Guerrero are characterized, primarily, by the participation of local structures that previously formed part of a larger group, or that operate at a regional level for the benefit of larger cartels.
An example of this is Los Ardillos, a criminal organization that has kept the central region of Guerrero under a wave of violence. Emerged around the year 2000, Los Ardillos operated as an armed branch of the Beltrán Leyva and were led by Celso Ortega Rosas, alias ‘El Ardillo’.
After the murder of this man, the control of the group fell into the hands of his son Celso Ortega Jiménez, also known as “El Ardillo Mayor” or “La Vela”, and his brothers Antonio and Jorge Iván.
In the case of Los Rusos, documents from the National Defense Secretariat (Sedena) maintain that their main leader is a subject named Carlos Alberto Navarrete Soriano, also known as ‘El Ruso’.
Until the end of 2023, their presence was recorded in Acapulco and the Costa Chica area as a faction allied with the Caborca Cartel, currently led by José Gil Caro Quintero, aka ‘El Pelo Chino’, cousin of Rafael.
On November 28 of that year, the State Attorney General’s Office (FGE) killed Ramiro “N”, also known as ‘El Marino’ or ‘El Comandante 18’, the alleged leader of Los Rusos who coordinated operations in the central market of Acapulco and has been attributed at least 34 homicides committed in 2023.
Another organization that gained relevance in recent years is Los Tlacos, born in 2017 as a branch of the Community Police of General Heliodoro Castillo municipality.
In addition to their direct confrontation with La Familia Michoacana and Los Ardillos, this organization is pointed out as “the main threat” to the political activities of municipal presidents in Tierra Caliente and the Northern region.
The report from the Tlachinollan Mountain Human Rights Center, published in 2023, states that a total of 11 mayors from these areas requested a meeting with Governor Evelyn Salgado to establish actions aimed at addressing the threats that Los Tlacos had unleashed against them. However, the agreements they may have reached are unknown.
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Mica
Email: mica@cartelinsider.com
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