“Los Rivera”, The Cartel That Conquered Acapulco Nightlife

Mica for cartelinsider.com

While Joaquín El Chapo Guzmán was confined in the Almoloya and Puente Grande prisons, his brother Arturo “El Pollo” took over the reins of the faction of the Sinaloa Cartel that belonged to his family. To achieve this, he was aided by “Los Rivera”, a family of drug lords who established themselves in Acapulco, Guerrero and built one of the largest drug empires.

The Port of Acapulco was living its golden age, hand in hand with the drug lords who controlled nightclubs and bars, as well as governments and municipal police forces. Trendy places like the legendary Baby’O were frequented by celebrities such as Luis Miguel and drug lords like “El Pollo” Guzmán Loera.

In that golden era of Acapulco – during the time of Acafest – Rosita, a masseuse at the Acapulco Palace Spa, attended to a stylish man from Sinaloa who was 1.90 meters tall and had a thin mustache. After finishing her service, her colleague told her that he was a drug lord, one of the “owners of the bay”: “The Riveras”.

The visits from the Elegant Man became frequent, and Rosita soon realized the criminal life of her client; she also quickly learned that his real name was Héctor, with last name Beltrán Leyva, and that his nickname was “El H”.

In the book “The Ladies of the Narco: Loving in Hell”, journalist Anabel Hernández tells the story of Celeste (Rosita), a woman who lived in close proximity to the narco of Acapulco, specifically with Arturo Beltrán Leyva, alias “El Botas Blancas” or “El Barbas”.

Rosita’s story takes place in 2000, during the years when El Chapo Guzmán was imprisoned and before the war with the Beltrán Leyva family had begun, marking the end of the so-called Federation.

There is no exact reason why the brothers Arturo, Alfredo, and Héctor took on the nickname “Los Rivera”, but everyone in Acapulco knew them as such. This even allowed them to hold social events, parties, fashion shows, concerts, and many other activities that celebrities from television and national sports attended.

There are few connections between the Beltrán Leyva family and the Rivera surname; however, in 2009, the National Defense Secretariat (Sedena) arrested Rubén Rivera Ramírez in Cancún, Quintana Roo, who was an operator for the brothers and responsible for kidnapping and organized crime. He was sentenced to 81 years in prison.

Hernández’s book has a long list of actresses, actors, soccer players, and singers who had a relationship, whether laboral, friendship, or romantic, with the Beltrán Leyva Cartel.

These relationships were consolidated, in part, thanks to the Acafest. Still, they ended with its cancellation in 2005, just a few years before the war with the Sinaloa Cartel erupted. However, it is affirmed that the relationships had already been strained after El Chapo Guzman escaped from prison in 2001.

However, the ties of the Beltrán Leyva brothers were not limited to the entertainment industry; other journalistic investigations point to connections between municipal and state leaders during the glory years of the port. Among these relationships stands out the connection between Evelyn Salgado -governor of Guerrero and daughter of Morena senator Félix Salgado Macedonio- with a son of “El Abulón”, alleged financial operator of Clara Elena Laborín Archuleta, wife of “El Elegante” or “El H”.

Rosita’s client earned her trust and then her friendship, he gave gifts to her and her son; later he met “El Pollo” and, later on, “El Barbas”, with whom he had a daughter.

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Mica

Email: mica@cartelinsider.com

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