By: Omar Rivera | El Sol de México

The Army recognizes that the Sinaloa Cartel is the one with a “presence in most of the state of Chiapas” and that maintains a territorial struggle against the Jalisco Cartel New Generation (CJNG, Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación) and Los Huistas, a group of Guatemalan origin, according to documents leaked by the Guacamaya group. [1]

In the document entitled Situation of Organized Crime Southern Border, dated June 19, 2022, the Secretary of National Defense (Sedena) states that: “factors such as drug trafficking, trafficking in people, narcotics, weapons and various illicit items, all of which deteriorate security, coupled with the numerous informal crossings, porousness of the border and the scarce surveillance of authorities, facilitate members of organized crime to carry out their activities with impunity.”

 Sedena mentions that the municipalities with the most organized crime activities are: Comitán, La Trinitaria, Frontera Comalapa, Amatenango de la Frontera, Tapachula and Suchiate.

The analysis points out that cells linked to the Pacific Cartel, aka the Sinaloa Cartel, struggles against local criminal gangs and the Guatemalan criminal group known as Los Huistas “for control of activities related to the shipment and commerce of drugs coming from Central and South America.”

The Army warns about the possibility that murders and clashes between members of antagonistic groups, mainly on the border strip will occur, starting with the death of one of the Pacific Cartel’s local leaders.

“In the state of Chiapas, the Sinaloa Cartel is the one that currently maintains hegemony over drug trafficking activities; however, the death of Ramón Gilberto Rivera Beltrán, “El Junior,” in July 2021, caused a leadership vacuum in the criminal group he headed, causing struggles and differences between the cells that make it up, considering a fracture within the structure of the cartel.”

Sedena’s document also points to the leaders of the groups that generate violence. The Pacific Cartel has identified the brothers Isidro and Jesús Gilberto Rivera Ramírez as its main operators, dedicated to the collection and transfer of drugs, money laundering and trafficking of undocumented immigrants.

About the Mara Salvatrucha gang, it is said that it is led by Luis Alberto Ramírez López, alias El Chino, El Chinón or La Chinona, who operates in Tapachula, Ciudad Hidalgo, Mapastepec, Metapa de Domínguez, Cacahoatán, Tuxtla Chico, Frontera Hidalgo, Arriaga and Palenque.

The Secretary of National Defense recognizes that it has not identified the leader of the CJNG; however, “it has information that members of that cartel maintain a presence in the municipality of Tuxtla Gutiérrez.”

The report says that: “military personnel of Guatemalan origin have not been detected incorporated in organized crime groups;” however, last May, after a patrol in the El Lagartero community, Frontera Comalapa municipality, two vehicles and six people with rifles fled towards Guatemala when they saw the soldiers.

“They located two encampments in El Lagartero, in which one of them had parapets, blankets and different types of clothing (military-style uniforms, some with the legend of the Kaibiles).”

Cartels clash in JIQUIIPILAS

Between Sunday night [October 9] and early yesterday morning [October 10], there was a confrontation and also several shootings in the municipality of Jiquipilas, some 183.81 kilometers (approximately 113 miles) west of Tuxtla Gutiérrez, the capital of Chiapas. [2]

Classes were suspended in the municipality and many businesses closed because shots were still heard yesterday, according to local residents.

Members of the National Guard carried out a blockade on the Cintalapa-Ocozocoautla stretch, entrance to the municipality of Las Jotas, where they installed checkpoints.

At the moment, the State’s Attorney General has not issued any statement, nor are there official numbers about the number of people, if any, who died in the clash. [3]

With information from Omar Ruiz/ El Heraldo de Chiapas.

NOTES

[1] A stunning leak of more than 4 million documents from inside Mexico’s National Defense Ministry (known as Sedena, for its Spanish acronym) has revealed collusion between high-level military officials and the country’s organized crime cartels. The leak, published by a group of hacktivists known as “Guacamaya,” the Spanish word for a macaw bird, is one of the largest in Mexico’s history.

[2] The compañeros at Borderland Beat report that 3 men in uniform were injured and that the CJNG and the Sinaloa Cartel dispute the area of Jiquipilas and Cintalapa because it is the route that connects to the coast and towards Oaxaca and for being a strategic point with the El Amate prison, according to police sources.

[3] Isaín Mandujano, reporting for Proceso, reports that municipal police at first responded to calls for help from citizens and that 3 of them were kidnapped (levantado).

Originally Published in Spanish by El Heraldo de Chiapas, Tuesday, October 11, 2022, https://www.elheraldodechiapas.com.mx/republica/sociedad/guacamaya-leaks-cartel-de-sinaloa-domina-en-chiapas-9017615.html and Re-Published with English interpretation by the Chiapas Support Committee