CJNG Carbomb Kills Six in Coahuayana, Michoacán - Three Implications

By "El Huaso" for Borderland Beat

The Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación used a carbomb to target a Policía Comunitaria base in the municipality of Coahuayana, Michoacán on Saturday morning, killing six and wounding twelve others. 

The explosive-laden vehicle, a black pickup truck loaded with bananas to conceal the explosives, came from the direction of the town of Cerro de Ortega, in Tecomán, Colima, a CJNG stronghold. CCTV footage tracked the vehicles movement from this area beginning around 7:30 a.m., escorted by two other vehicles and three motorcycles. 

Around 11:40, the vehicle arrived at a building used as a base by the Policía Comunitaria de Coahuayana and exploded, with two men inside. It is improbable that this was a suicide bombing, but rather an explosive that detonated too soon, killing the drivers as well as their targets, sending body parts scattered up to 250 metres away. The other vehicles and motorcycles left the scene. 

Open source research account Pernicious Propaganda geolocated the explosion to the following coordinates: (18.7026826, -103.6641266).

Apart from the human casualties, the explosion damaged ten buildings and a dozen vehicles in the area. Photos show total devastation in the vicinity, with mangled and burned out vehicles and corpses scattered across the road. 

Three Implications of the Attack

The attack does three things:​

1. It once again draws national attention to Michoacán state, a violent region that has become a political pain point for President Sheinbaum's otherwise popular term.​

The killing of Uruapan mayor Carlos Manzo earlier this year started the President Sheinbaum's nightmare in Michoacán. The killing of the highly popular mayor drew attention to the ongoing security crisis in the state, and fomented nationwide youth protests about insecurity and corruption. These protests are a chink in the armor of the president, who has enjoyed high approval ratings.

2. It revives the domestic debate about narcoterrorism. ​

The bombing has once again revived the debate of "narco terrorism" in Mexico, a conversation that surfaces every couple months when an especially gruesome event occurs which captures public attention. The Mexican government's stance on this remains firm, with Secretary of Public Security Omar García Harfuch arguing that acts like this are carried out by criminal groups for economic reasons, not ideological, religious, or social ones. Some commentators argue that the Mexican government is hesitant to label these acts terrorism for fear it would provide the United States pretext to conduct unilateral operations within Mexico.

3. It highlights how criminal use of explosives is on the rise in Mexico. Cartel arsenals increasingly contain drone deployed IEDs, car bombs, landmines, and grenades. ​

According to Víctor Manuel Sánchez Valdés, a security researcher from the University of Coahuila, there have been at least 20 car bomb attacks since 1994 in Mexico. Although relatively rare, according to Valdés, the CJNG is the group that uses car bombs the most in Mexico today.

 

 

 

Sources: El Universal, El Universal Clip of Harfuch, @FiscaliaMich Twitter, Pernicious Propaganda Twitter