‘El Bótox’ Went From Fighting Drug Traffickers to Becoming Part of Them: This is How he Consolidated his Criminal Rise

In 2013, when Michoacán was under the hegemonic control of the Knights Templar cartel, residents of the Tierra Caliente region began to organize themselves to take up arms and put an end to the extortion, kidnappings, and murders they were suffering.

Figures such as Hipólito Mora Chávez in Buenavista and José Manuel Mireles Valverde in Tepalcatepec led the rebellion during the second week of February of that year.

At MILENIO, we tell you how the self-defense groups began and the path that led to the emergence of figures like El Bótox.

They started in these regions, which provided the most funding for the criminal groups, and spread to 30 more, reaching the eastern part of the state, the rest of Tierra Caliente, and the Michoacán coast.

As the movement grew, other names came to light, such as Luis Antonio Torres, Simón, or El Americano.

This individual controlled the Buenavista region, later having conflicts with Mora Chávez himself, who had accused him of having former Knights Templar members within the group, led by the commander of the Rural Force in that area, including the Sierra Santana clan.

From self-defense to organized crime

The highest point of this internal struggle within the self-defense groups resulted in a confrontation in the town of Felipe Carrillo Puerto, better known as La Ruana, at the end of 2014.  This clash resulted in the death of 11 people, including Manuel, Hipólito’s son.

Among the people led by El Americano, who years later would found the criminal cell nicknamed Los H3, the armed wing of the Colima Cartel, two figures stood out: Nicolás Sierra Santana, El Gordo, and César Sepúlveda Arellano, El Bótox.

In early 2015, after an attempt by the federal government to disarm the self-defense groups, El Gordo, along with his brothers, unleashed an armed confrontation in Apatzingán, which consolidated the emergence of Los Viagra, filling the void left by the Knights Templar. These individuals left, but others arrived.

The nickname stemmed from the fact that one of the Sierra Santana brothers, in his youth, used excessive amounts of hair gel to style his hair upwards, which his acquaintances compared to the effects of the drug.

With the emergence of Los Viagra, another group allegedly linked to the self-defense movement arose simultaneously. They introduced themselves on social media at the end of June 2015.

Five men in white shirts, three of them wearing bulletproof vests, all wearing hats and carrying high-caliber weapons, presented themselves to the public, also displaying two rocket launchers and another long-barreled weapon on a makeshift table.

In that message, they claimed they would defend the population from any criminal group; however, as the months passed, they ended up allying themselves with Los Viagra, with El Bótox as their leader.

This individual, who in 2013 appeared in a town square in Tierra Caliente carrying an AR-15, went from fighting drug traffickers to becoming part of the drug trade himself. From 2016 to the present, that is, for 10 years, they were the armed wing of Los Viagra and, in the last two years, of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).

Dominance of the lime industry with the CJNG

Prior to their alliance with this group, they allied themselves with other criminal organizations, such as the Tepalcatepec and Los Reyes Cartels, to confront Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, El Mencho, through the group known as Carteles Unidos (United Cartels).

The alliance was short-lived, and El Bótox ended up serving the CJNG, who began to dominate the Tierra Caliente region, establishing their stronghold in Buenavista under the leadership of Santiago Quintero Magallón, El Maguey.

To finance their criminal activities, El Bótox assumed the role of extorting money from the lime industry. From demanding 40 cents per kilo of limes, they ended up charging two pesos, and sometimes even four pesos, to packers and producers, who split the drug tax equally.

The Blockades and Orders of Violence from “El Botox”

At the most critical point of the extortion against the lime growers, he brazenly ordered via WhatsApp audio messages when to harvest and when not to.  Likewise, during the first federal operations to guarantee the traceability of the citrus industry, he asked people to identify and attack security forces, in addition to participating in the blockades.

“Everyone get to work, call your friends and everyone get to work making a mess (sic). I just don’t want them to burn any cars, after all, it’s Saturday. Block everything the hell up (sic). Nothing will happen,” he said in an audio message released in mid-2024.

Bernardo Bravo, the Unarmed Enemy

However, his greatest enemy was not found among the soldiers and civil guards who repeatedly deployed operations to arrest him. It was in the person of Bernardo Bravo, who, unarmed and using his voice, confronted his abuses.

“El Botox” responded with threats, which materialized on October 19, 2025, after Bravo was murdered and his body was found a day later inside a van, on the side of the road connecting Los Tepetates with Las Tinajas, in Apatzingán.

“Defender” of the Lime Growers

César Sepúlveda, anticipating his fate, released three videos through social media at the beginning of the year in an attempt to defend himself. In the first, recorded in the middle of the bushes, he claimed to be a defender of the lime industry, while in the second recording he lashed out against the Bravo Manríquez family.

In the last video, recorded inside a house, he requested the intervention of the US government and asked federal authorities for the release of family members, including his partner and his son.

There are seven arrest warrants against “El Botox,” two for homicide, four for extortion, and one for attempted homicide. After his capture in Buenavista, he was flown to Mexico City to be brought before the authorities.

César Sepúlveda will meet the same fate as his partner, Blanca, who was arrested three months ago in Cenobio Moreno; his children, César and Joana, who were captured in October 2024 and February 2025, respectively; and his brother, Cirilo, who was apprehended in June of last year.

El Bótox is survived by three siblings, one man and two women, following the death of Marvin, alias El Mini Bótox, who died of an overdose. Despite the efforts of his family and the residents of Apatzingán to prevent the authorities from acting, they were unable to say goodbye to him.

Sources: Milenio, Cartel Insider Archives, Cartel Insider Archives, Cartel Insider Archives