The first major move on the criminal chessboard following the arrest of Audias Flores Silva—known as “El Jardinero” (The Gardener), who was once rumored to be the successor to “El Mencho” at the helm of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG)—is now underway: the armed wing known as “Flechas MZ” (MZ Arrows), a faction of “La Mayiza,” has launched an armed incursion into eastern Michoacán, a longtime stronghold of the “Four-Letter Cartel.”
Residents of Zitácuaro, who requested anonymity when speaking to MILENIO, recount that this past weekend—just days after El Jardinero’s arrest outside his ranch in the Sierra de Nayarit—a group of armed men entered the municipality in armored pickup trucks bearing no license plates. Their sole identifying mark was a blue patch with white lettering that read: “Operativa MZ.”
This is the insignia of an armed group established in 2021 by the Cabrera Sarabia brothers; their operational base lies in Durango and Zacatecas, where they previously served as a security perimeter for Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada and acted as a bulwark against the CJNG’s expansion across northern Mexico.
But now that El Mencho is dead and El Jardinero has been detained, the Flechas MZ are seeking to capitalize on the resulting power vacuum and seize new territory.
“This started some time ago, but it intensified following El Mencho’s death. The situation with El Jardinero was the straw that broke the camel’s back,” a Zitácuaro businessman told MILENIO. The businessman, who is involved in municipal security matters through civil society channels, noted that local police had discovered vehicles containing tactical vests bearing the Flechas MZ insignia just a few weeks prior.
“The situation has left the population extremely tense. We are living under what amounts to a de facto curfew, while everyone watches to see what unfolds in Sinaloa.”
*La Mayiza* Seeks to Seize Control of Michoacán
The incursion by those loyal to “El Mayo” Zambada has been accompanied by a recent wave of disappearances, residents say. Just last week, reports emerged of 10 people who haven’t returned to their families; five of them are already the subject of official missing-person alerts, but the others haven’t been officially reported due to fear of reprisals from the armed outsiders. In total, the number of missing persons in the municipality has already reached the hundreds over the last decade.
“This town has been through many groups: Los Zetas were here, as were La Familia Michoacana, Los Caballeros Templarios, and La Nueva Familia Michoacana; and a while back, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel arrived. Every time that happens—whenever the cartels change hands—the place fills up with dead bodies. And now that another group is coming, what is going to happen to us?” laments a resident who has been unable to move his family away due to a lack of funds.
Trapped in Zitácuaro, all he can do is padlock the door of his family home.
Zitácuaro: A Den of Mafias and Arms Trafficking
Despite being a small municipality—home to some 150,000 inhabitants—Zitácuaro is a key strategic point for any organized crime group. It acts as a hinge connecting Michoacán with the State of Mexico, linking the *Tierra Caliente* region with major urban markets such as Toluca and Morelia.
It occupies an enviable position: it is located approximately 350 kilometers from the seaport of Lázaro Cárdenas—the entry point for chemical precursors shipped from Asia to be used in the manufacture of synthetic drugs, such as fentanyl and methamphetamine.
It also lies in close proximity to areas with local economies vulnerable to criminal capture—specifically, the cultivation of avocados and limes, as well as the harvesting of timber highly coveted on the international market. It features mountain ranges, forests, and rural roads known only to locals—terrain ideally suited as hideouts for organized crime bosses.
Since 2023, authorities in both Mexico and the United States have also been aware that the municipality forms part of an international trafficking network for high-powered weaponry—such as FN M249S rifles and .50-caliber Barrett rifles—capable of penetrating even the heaviest armor plating. In its remote hamlets, food is scarce, but automatic machine guns are not.
That network was identified by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives thanks to a weapon abandoned in the community of Puerto Azul following a shootout between state police and the National Guard on one side, and armed civilians on the other.
Subsequent investigations would reveal that the individuals carrying the weapons were members of the CJNG operating under the orders of an extremely violent *jefe de plaza* (regional boss) who had barely turned 30.
“Back then, the hitmen were people working for a man known as *El Barbas*,” recounts a local resident. “He was the boss around here; nothing moved without his authorization. Even the smallest detail went through his supervision. The CJNG was untouchable with him at the helm of all operations.”
The Kingpins Who Have Controlled Michoacán
William Edwin Rivera Padilla—*El Barbas*—had a bounty of 500,000 pesos placed on his head by the state prosecutor’s office, which accused him of murder, forced disappearances, extortion, drug trafficking, and human trafficking.
His power was laid bare in an audio recording released by the website Narcopoliticos.com, in which he simultaneously threatened—and offered two million pesos to—Michoacán’s then-head of the penitentiary system, Ignacio Mendoza, in exchange for turning the state prisons into his own operational hubs.
However, the bounty was never paid out. Sometime in November of last year, *El Barbas* was killed under circumstances that remain unclear. Some say he was killed by his rivals; others claim he fell victim to his own family.
The news sparked chaos in Zitácuaro. Businesses shut down, classes were suspended, and public transportation ground to a halt. His absence stoked a recurring fear: what kind of violence would the ensuing reshuffling of the cartel bring? Following the death of El Barbas—or the charade of his demise—Zitácuaro fell into the hands of a gunman known as El Árbitro. He wasted no time in presenting his credentials to the municipality: arriving in armored SUVs and flanked by masked hitmen, he introduced himself as the nephew of Heraclio Guerrero Martínez—known as El Tío Lako—a high-ranking boss within the CJNG.
So influential is El Tío Lako that, earlier this year, he organized “El Mencho Fest” with complete impunity in the community of Tinaja de Vargas, within the municipality of Tanhuato, Michoacán—a music festival held with official permits to pay tribute to his criminal leader.
His loyalty to El Mencho ran so deep that one of his sons, Rubén Guerrero, died attempting to defend Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes from the armed forces that ultimately took him down during the operation on February 22, 2026.
According to local residents, El Árbitro believed that his connection to El Tío Lako would be sufficient to reclaim control of Zitácuaro—the territory that El Barbas had previously relinquished. However, three major blows delivered in fewer than 65 days upended his plans: El Mencho died, El Güero Conta was arrested, and El Jardinero was captured as well.
The latter—El Jardinero—served as El Tío Lako’s primary financier. Without him, the flow of cash to Zitácuaro’s new *plaza boss* was cut off. This moment of disruption was seized upon by allies of El Mayo Zambada, who staged their most significant incursion into the town precisely when the CJNG was at its weakest point since its inception.
“As of now, the *Flechas MZ* haven’t revealed the identity of their leader. The prevailing rumor is that it could be a former ally of El Barbas—someone who broke ties with the Jalisco faction and now seeks to seize control of the *plaza* on behalf of *La Mayiza*,” a local resident recounts. “No matter how you slice it, we’re screwed.”
“Don’t Forget Zitácuaro”: La Mayiza—With One Eye on Sinaloa, the Other on Michoacán
The attempt by La Mayiza to displace the CJNG in eastern Michoacán represents the first major challenge for Juan Carlos Valencia—known as *El 03*—the stepson of *El Mencho* and the man whom the U.S. government identifies as the new leader of the “Four-Letter Cartel.”
It is a crisis that, according to the sources consulted, could escalate violence across Mexico’s Pacific region; disputes over municipalities and highways invariably drive up rates of homicide, forced disappearances, and attacks on law enforcement—particularly in rural areas and along the corridors connecting the region to the country’s interior.
This shift would also reconfigure the area’s illicit economies: La Mayiza—currently locked in an all-out war against *Los Chapitos*—could hike up *derecho de piso* (extortion) fees, with direct repercussions for the producers of staple food crops.
“The War in Sinaloa” has now reached its 600th day, and every peso is vital in the fight against the faction led by Iván Archivaldo and Jesús Alfredo—a group currently vulnerable following the recent loss of their alleged political backers, such as Culiacán’s mayor on leave, Juan de Dios Gámez Mendívil, who stands accused in the United States of serving the sons of El Chapo Guzmán.
As a direct consequence, the CJNG could seek to offset its defeat by asserting greater violent dominance in neighboring regions—such as Jalisco, Colima, and the southern State of Mexico—potentially leading them to forge new alliances with local criminal groups, the repercussions of which could be felt all the way from Guerrero to Nayarit.
The seizure of Zitácuaro, local residents assert, would have repercussions extending far beyond the municipality’s borders.
“In Michoacán—as is so often the case for us—we are living through the shifting dynamics of the cartels. Ours is a state that serves as a laboratory. And here in Zitácuaro, we are pleading for help, for we find ourselves in a critical situation,” implores a local business owner who, since the weekend, hasn’t allowed his children to return to school. “Don’t\t forget Zitácuaro; don’t forget Michoacán.”
Source: Milenio
Discover more from Cartel Insider
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
