These Are the Drug Cartels Fighting Over the Tierra Caliente Region of Michoacán

"Sol Prendido" for Borderland Beat 

The CJNG, Viagras, the United Cartels, the Tepalcatepec Cartel, the Templarios Cartel, and multiple criminal cells are fighting for control of Michoacán's Tierra Caliente region, where extortion and murder are on the rise.

The alliance between the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) and the Viagras Cartel and their affiliated criminal cells, such as Los Blancos de Troya and the La Virgen Cartel, is the criminal group fighting over the Tierra Caliente region. Their criminal operations centered on drug dealing, kidnapping, extortion, and murder, are also being fought over by the United Cartels, another criminal group derived from the alliance between the Tepalcatepec Cartel and the Los Reyes Cartel. The remnants of the Knights Templar Cartel are also involved in the dispute.

Both the federal government and the Michoacán State Attorney General's Office (FGE) identify these groups, along with the Zicuirán Cartel, as the main criminal organizations that have caused the constant clashes, violence, and insecurity prevalent in the Tierra Caliente region, particularly in the municipalities of Aquila, Coalcomán, Coahuayana, Aguililla, Tepalcatepec, Buenavista, Apatzingán, and Múgica.

Armed clashes between CJNG cells and Cárteles Unidos keep Tierra Caliente under fire.

According to reports from security authorities, since the creation of the self-defense groups supposedly created to combat the Knights Templar Cartel in 2013, the CJNG has infiltrated them and attempted to expand and take over criminal activities in Michoacán.

Through its alliance with Juan José Farías Álvarez, "El Abuelo Farías," current leader of the Tepalcatepec Cartel, the CJNG attempted to expand into the coastal region, Tierra Caliente, and Uruapan. However, in 2021, the split with the so-called four-letter cartel arose following the attempted assassination of Miguel Ángel Gallegos Godoy, "El Migueladas" or "El Señor de Zicuirán," leader of the Zicuirán Cartel and then an associate of El Abuelo Farías.

Following the incident, El Abuelo Farías made a pact with the Sierra Santana brothers (Nicolás, Rodolfo, and Gabino), leaders of the Viagras Cartel, to prevent the CJNG from entering the Tierra Caliente region.

Vehicles set on fire during clashes at drug-related roadblocks.

Los Viagras maintained several criminal cells operating on their behalf, such as Los Blancos de Troya, led by Cesar Alejandro Sepúlveda Arellano, known as "El Boto" or "El Botox," and Andrés Alejandro Sepúlveda Álvarez, known as "El Jando" or "La Fresa," and the La Nueva Familia Michoacana Cartel, operating in the Bajío and eastern Michoacán regions.

The alliance was short-lived, as Los Viagras and their affiliated cells—Los Blancos de Troya, the Nueva Familia Michoacana, and the Los Reyes Cartel, led by Alfonso Fernández Magallón, known as "Poncho La Quiringua," and Luis Enrique Barragán Chávez, known as "Güicho de Los Reyes" or "El R5"—later joined Cárteles Unidos, a group that brought together the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel of Guanajuato and Guerreros Unidos of Guerrero state, to fight the CJNG for control of Michoacán territories.

However, in August of last year, the CJNG announced its alliance with Los Viagras through a narco-banner placed in Apatzingán. It also declared war on the Teplacatepec Cartel, which it accused of enjoying the protection of the current Undersecretary of the Sedena (National Security Forces), General Enrique Covarrubias. In the narco-banner, they also pointed to the operations of the Knights Templar remnants in Apatzingán.

Currently, the Teplacatepec Cartel is allied with the United Cartels, led by Poncho La Quiringua and Güicho de Los Reyes. Commanders Héctor Zepeda Navarrete, "Tetos," of the Coahuayana Community Police, and Germán Ramírez Sánchez, "El Toro," of the Aquila Community Police, both allegedly under the orders of El Abuelo Farías, are also named.

The Cartels' Dispute Over Extortion and the Tierra Caliente Region

Since then, not only lemon growers, primarily through Bernardo Bravo Manríquez, president of the Apatzingán Valley Citrus Growers Association, have denounced the constant extortion or "fee collection," as they call it, but other sectors of the business community have also been victims of this crime.

Last Sunday, Bernardo Bravo was murdered, after nearly a year of reporting the constant collection of fees by organized crime. His body, with evidence of torture, was found last Monday in his abandoned vehicle on the Apatzingán-El Tepetate highway.

On Monday afternoon, local and federal authorities announced the arrest of Rigoberto López Mendoza, "El Plátano," the extortion-collecting chief of the Blancos de Troya gang. Today, the Secretary of Public Security and Citizen Protection, Omar García Harfuch, announced the arrest of a second suspect in the murder of Bernardo Bravo.

According to the news outlet "El Universal," the murder of the Apatzingán lemon grower leader was coordinated by El Botox and El Jano, leaders of the Blancos de Troya gang, along with Ricardo Madrigal Ávalos, "Señor de Acahuato," "El Señor de la Virgen," or "El Barbas," leader of the La Virgen Cartel operating in that municipality.

Vehicles set on fire during clashes at drug-related roadblocks.

The motive for the murder, in addition to the constant media reports of extortion of which lemon growers were victims, was also due to the announcement that the harvest would be carried out every third day, given the decline in citrus prices and overproduction. This would imply a decrease in the fee charged by organized crime to lemon growers of two pesos for each kilo harvested and another two pesos for each kilo sold.

According to the news outlet El Imparcial, in recent months, at least four lemon growers have been murdered because they refused to pay fees to criminal groups.

In addition to Bernardo Bravo, Ramón Paz Salinas died on January 14 when a mine-type explosive device exploded while he was driving his truck in Apatzingán; Rogelio Escobedo, murdered on November 30, 2024, on the Cuatro Caminos-Apatzingán highway, after reporting extortion and threats, and José Luis Aguinaga, murdered on September 12, 2024, in the Felipe Carrillo Puerto property known as 'La Ruana', in Buenavista, for refusing to pay fees demanded by criminal groups.

Michoacán, México 

Sources: Contramuro, Borderland Beat Archives