Alleged Los Cromos leader arrested in Guadalajara

Reporting and context

Federal authorities announced the arrest in Guadalajara, Jalisco, of Iván Sánchez Santiago, known as Comandante Cromo or El Cromo, whom officials identify as the leader of the Los Cromos criminal group in Oaxaca. According to El País México, the operation followed intelligence work by the Mexican Navy's Naval Intelligence Unit and the National Intelligence Center.

Sánchez Santiago allegedly controlled Juchitán de Zaragoza and parts of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Federal Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch said investigators had linked him to organized-crime offenses, extortion, homicides, drug trafficking and possession of weapons reserved for the armed forces. Authorities also say he faced two arrest warrants related to the alleged aggravated killing of three people and another warrant for a 2020 homicide. García Harfuch identified Los Cromos as an operational arm of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel in the region and said the group was responsible for the killing of a four-year-old girl in Juchitán. Those claims remain attributed to the officials cited by the source.

El País México reported that the arrest came three weeks after the detention of Miguel Sánchez Altamirano, then mayor of Juchitán de Zaragoza, whom authorities accused of protecting Sánchez Santiago's operations. The source also reported that Operation Sable captured 53 alleged Los Cromos members late last year over an attempt to seize land along the route of the Interoceanic Train. Authorities have separately linked other alleged members to kidnapping, threats, extortion and drug trafficking in the region.