Operation Enjambre in Morelos Leaves One Mayor on the Run, Officials Arrested, and Exposes Drug-Linking Politics

Saturday afternoon. Against the clock, the political class is designating a substitute for the fugitive mayor, Jesús Corona Damián, at the Narciso Mendoza Theater. Outside, the streets are heating up.

Supporters holding placards are demanding that substitute Salvador Molina be appointed to lead the government of Cuautla, Morelos. Inside, panic reigns within a municipal government dismantled by “Operation Enjambre.”

The backdrop: the visit of Governor Margarita González Saravia—on Monday the 25th with her Security Cabinet, and on Tuesday, May 26th, with the business sector—coming just as the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) has implicated five detained officials and a fugitive mayor for their ties to the Sinaloa Cartel in the eastern region.

The mounting tension forced the cancellation of the public council meeting scheduled to designate a new municipal president. Outside, protesters were on the verge of storming the building. At the very last minute—without a word—the council session—already under scrutiny for alleged mismanagement—was secretly relocated to the theater’s dressing rooms.

“Let us all meet right here. I told them: ‘I will not meet… in any private room.’ I have always been transparent; I advocated for open council meetings, and I will not agree to closed-door sessions,” declared Municipal Trustee Anita Sánchez Guerrero, before walking out of the venue.

The Hot Seat: Who is stepping in to take the reins in Morelos?

Ultimately, it was approved that Nancy Guadalupe Echeverría would occupy the seat of the implicated mayor—as if nothing had happened, as if the mayor had simply gone on vacation.

In a statement to the media, the Trustee clarified that there are no pending administrative matters—with the exception that they currently lack a Treasurer and a Chief Administrative Officer—and that they would await further instructions from the State government.

Meanwhile, within the Public Security department, Emmanuel Nieto Sotelo was appointed on Sunday, May 24th, to serve as the Acting Head of the Municipal Secretariat of Public Security and Citizen Protection. He is the third police chief appointed in the last year.

Morelos: Caught Between Cartels and Clans

History is repeating itself in the same eastern region. It is a system that has transcended acronyms and political parties for at least fifteen years.

In the past, a photograph—that of then-Governor Cuauhtémoc Blanco inside a church in Yautepec, taken in December 2018—rocked state politics to its foundations; yet, nothing came of it.

Then came a video, recorded in June 2024 at the Los Aguacates estate in Totolapan, in which several regional politicians—hailing from both the PAN and Morena parties—appear meeting with Júpiter Araujo Bernard, alias “El Barbas,” the alleged leader of the Sinaloa Cartel in the region. Among those present were the fugitive mayor Jesús Corona Damián and the former mayor of Atlatlahucan, Agustín Toledano Amaro.

“What is happening in our state? Everything that takes place happens right under our noses—in plain sight—and our state isn’t even that big. These are families that are very well identified; we know their origins. It is inconceivable that this family—which comes from humble beginnings—has today become a monarchy, holding office repeatedly—three or four times over—and moving from municipal presidencies to legislative seats, regardless of the political party,” denounced Andrés Cossette, president of the *Junta Soberana A.C.*

A system of fiefdoms and clans—of politicians who switch parties depending on the season.

“A phenomenon occurs here that is not unique to this state, but is rather characteristic of the political class at the national level: the *chapulines*—or political turncoats—who yesterday wore the PRI jersey, and today don the colors of the PAN or Morena.

“The state has been hijacked. We are witnessing the occupation of the state by a political class linked to organized crime—a class concerned solely with its own interests.”

As a prime example, this phenomenon can be observed in Yecapixtla, the stronghold of the Sánchez Zavala clan. It was there that former municipal president Irving Sánchez Zavala was arrested—brother of the current mayor, Heladio, and of another former mayor, Francisco; all three are sons of yet another former mayor, Francisco Rafael Sánchez Vargas.

Together, they have maintained control over the Jantetelco-Yecapixtla corridor, treating the municipal treasury as their own personal piggy bank while exploiting local commerce.

Merchants have done the math and point out that the fees in this municipality differ from those in the neighboring municipal seat—making Cuautla a much more expensive place to do business.

“If they spot me, it’s 100 pesos; if not, they tell me to pack up and go back where I came from. That particular market area is much more expensive. It’s a daily charge—if you want to work every day, that is… On Saturdays and Sundays, they charge us a modest 20 pesos; “…a holiday—30 little pesos,” recounted a merchant from Yecapixtla, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Atlatlahucan: Women at the Forefront of Silence

While the leadership crumbles, it is the women working in the offices who ensure the municipality doesn’t suffer an administrative collapse. Such is the case in Atlatlahucan. Following the arrest of Mayor Agustín Toledano Amaro, the municipal trustee, Elvia Ovando Vázquez, was appointed as the acting head of the administration.

In the office, official documents are received, copies are made, and female employees come and go. Yet, no one seems to know anything.

MILENIO attempted to secure an interview at the Atlatlahucan municipal hall. The response was telling:

—We would like to speak with someone from the municipal government: Citizen Services, the Government Office, a councilor, the trustee… Anyone we could have a conversation with.

—At the moment, everyone is busy, and there is no one available to receive you.

—What is the topic, if I may ask?

—To provide a sense of security and certainty to the citizenry.

—No, we aren’t available right now. There is no one here to receive you.

Cuautla Endures the Scourge of Narco-Politics

In Cuautla—following the 2017 earthquake and the COVID-19 lockdown—narco-politics has emerged as a new scourge; it has already wiped out traditional businesses and claims new victims every day.

Father Ignacio Ponce Aguilar, parish priest of the Sanctuary of the Lord of the People in Cuautla, described the prevailing atmosphere:

“Dentists, shops, businesses… and right here on the corner—just across the street—there has been so much bloodshed: three people shot here, another three killed over at the pharmacy.” “Anyway, here we go; we don’t know when it will be our turn, too.”

But one need only walk a couple of blocks to witness the devastation plaguing the capital of the eastern region.

“Let us hope this serves as a wake-up call to finally bring order to this country—to these states and municipalities—so that we may once again know peace as we did in times past, and be able to move about at any hour of the night without the threat of assault, kidnapping, robbery, or general insecurity,” the priest asserts.

Jorge Juárez Morales, of the Fund for the Struggle for Democracy (Fondo de Lucha por la Democracia A.C.), demands justice on behalf of the victims:

“This presents an opportunity for the state prosecutor’s offices and the Federal Attorney General’s Office to revisit cases we highlighted at the time—such as the murder of José Luis Chávez Romero, ‘The Naked Poet’; that of the *colonia* Morelos neighborhood representative, Juan Carlos Pérez Fitz; and those of other colleagues who were murdered right here, in this very area—including taxi drivers.”

The latent fear in the eastern region is that the decapitation of local administrations will shatter the precarious balance and reignite indiscriminate violence.

The arrests of public officials could trigger a war in the eastern region of Morelos.

“There is uncertainty because if decisive action isn’t taken through a well-articulated strategy—as has been the case in other states, such as Sinaloa—the only outcome will be, in the end, a war of all against all to determine who will control this region. Let us hope this doesn’t come to pass, for then the cure would prove more costly than the disease itself; the remedy would be more dangerous than the ailment,” declared Cossette.

Meanwhile, the citizenry seeks only a sense of certainty to prevent this swarm from unleashing total war upon the eastern region of Morelos.

“I believe that we, the inhabitants, don’t deserve people of that ilk. What Cuautla deserves is peace—the kind it enjoyed so many years ago,” said Salvador Martínez, a resident of Cuautla.

Sources: Milenio, Cartel Insider Archives