Blog dedicated to reporting on Mexican drug cartels
on the border line between the US and Mexico

Monday, May 3, 2021

Cartel Violence in Zacatecas, A Vicious Circle

"MX" and "El Zacatecas" for Borderland Beat

Three people were killed in Fresnillo over the weekend. Sources say that the Sinaloa Cartel faction in Zacatecas is headed by lieutenants under Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada. The Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) under Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes ("El Mencho") reportedly has Gulf Cartel members on their side.

The state of Zacatecas is the home to a violent narco-war between the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) and the Sinaloa Cartel (CDS). In 2020 there were more than 1,200 executions in Zacatecas. Killings are on track to be much higher this year.

In the past few weeks, there have been several mass killings in the municipalities of Fresnillo, Jerez, and Monte Escobedo.

A few days ago, the CJNG stole the vehicle of a Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) candidate and left a gruesome surprise once it was recovered. Javier Torres Rodriguez, the candidate for mayor of Fresnillo, denounced last Tuesday that an armed commando stole his vehicle.

The robbery occurred when he was driving with his family and campaign team. Torres said that he was traveling with his entire entourage in a convoy, but the gunmen only targeted his vehicle. In other words, he suggested that the cartel was after him and knew what vehicle he was in.

A few days later, authorities located Torres's vehicle abandoned in Fresnillo. The discovery was gruesome: inside the vehicle were the bodies of two men who had been killed by gunfire. The insignias of the CJNG were also stamped on the vehicle's doors. Citizen journalists in Zacatecas say that the two men killed were members of the CJNG and that they died in a clash with members of the CDS.

The vehicle was recovered by the Zacatecas State Police (photo credit: Infobae)

The day before, these two cartels clashed for several hours in Monte Escobedo. Residents described on social media how gunmen poured through the streets and attacked their adversaries in the town's streets. Rumors on social media said that the CJNG gunmen had the support of the Gulf Cartel (CDG) during this gunfight with the CDS.

No authority issued a statement or was willing to confirm the number of causalities. Once the shootout was over, they cordoned off the areas where some of the vehicles used in the attack were found and nothing else was known.

Areas of dispute

The dispute for the control of Zacatecas started in 2018, when cells of the CJNG, led by Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, "El Mencho", made an act of presence in areas known as Los Cañones de Jalpa and Tlaltenango, which are located on the Jalisco border [Red on map below].

Photo credit: National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI)

As reported by Borderland Beat, El Mencho began displacing and/or absorbing local cells in Zacatecas. Up until then, much of the state had been under the control of Los Zetas and the CDG. In addition to absorbing local gangs, the CJNG was reportedly able to take control of large portions of Zacatecas by corrupting municipal and state police forces.

With the CJNG's aggressive expansion, cells of the Sinaloa Cartel entered through the municipalities of Sombrerete, Miguel Auza and Juan Aldama [Blue on map above].

In an interview, Arturo López Bazán, head of the Zacatecas Public Security Secretariat (SSPZ), assured that the CJNG and CDS have an interest in this region, among other reasons, due to its geographical position.

Through Zacatecas, he refers, cartel cross three main routes for drug and precursor chemicals, as well as arms trafficking and human smuggling. Zacatecas is the obligatory connection between these three routes: to the center (the Bajío and Mexico City areas), to the Pacific (the ports of Lázaro Cárdenas, Michoacán, and Manzanillo, Colima, as well as Guadalajara, Jalisco) and to the Gulf and north of Mexico (Nuevo León, Tamaulipas, and its border with Texas).

“Reality is what we see. I'm not trying to hide what happens out there. It is a readjustment between the two strong groups at the national level," the official said.

According to López Bazán, Zacatecas also became a huge market for drug consumption. Cartels compete for control of puntos, drug sale spots, because there is demand among Zacatecas residents.

There are other illicit businesses that the cartels dispute, he says. There are synthetic drug laboratories in the state. Then there also are extortion and kidnapping opportunities for cartels to tap into.

"If we do numbers, Zacatecas generates a lot of money," he stressed.

Sources: El Sol de ZacatecasExpressZacatecasPeligroZac (1); (2); (3); (4); Infobae (1); (2) Borderland Beat archives


  1. FYI article from NPR about DEA fugging it up again

  2. CDS is allied with CDN while CJNG is allied with the CDG Metros faction.

    Chivis you should look how CDN and CDS have made a alliance of convenience. Sinaloense bands are now playing privately and making corridos for CDN members and Comando Exclusivo is now playing privately and making songs for CDS members. Everybody knows they need permission for that.

    Huevo Trevino let's the Chapitos store and cross jale in Nuevo Laredo while the Chapitos provide Huevo with hielo and Negra and China white at playa prices. Before in Nuevo laredo you weren't allowed to sell tecata or hielo but now the city is flooded todo los cuazitos siempre andan bien enfocados y las cuazitas bien tecatas jajajana

    Both groups are making a killing $$$$$$$$

    1. How would have thought cds and cdn/zetas would have ended up working together against cjng after all those years of fighting each other I think it’s probably because z40 and Chapo became friends in prison and now huevo trevinos nephew and Chapitos have struck an alliance


    2. They both are scambags

    3. Chivis is not present, in Norway on vacation, no wifi, no TV.

    4. @11:29pm...Just so you know chapitos are not the ones fighting cjng it's Mayo Zambada. So why would cdn and chapitos be working toghether?

    5. @ scottish zeta do you remember that video of el muletas from cartel del noreste was forced in jail to give inmates oral, grossss

    6. @3:34AM
      Yes sir Scottish Zeta they are allied now. And yes I kinda suspect 40 and Chapo brokered that deal or at least had something to do with it.

      I agree.

      Que bueno que se relaje y disfrute la hermosa reyna. She deserves it.

  3. I’m sad that the beef has come to Zacatecas... I feel for my gente in my pueblo...

    -Holden D. Cash

  4. METROS and CJNG combined are stronger then the CDS/CDN but many many of the CDS guys in Zacatecas are former CDN Sicarios who have no training and no chance against CJNG LOL

    1. If they are stronger why have they been getting their asses beat and the authorities are with cds/cdn

    2. @12:52 CDN has proven to be brutal as fuck, Grupo Flechas as well.

      The real question is, will Chapitos end up joining CJNG.

    3. LOL @ Chapitos joining CJNG.

    4. Los metros aint shit. They went to their new daddy mencho to ask for a titty cus they know they will get beat by the matamoros cdg

    5. @12:52AM
      I disagree. CDN and CDS are giving major pusahback to CJNG and CDG Metros in Zacatecas. CDN has Fresnillo on lock along with parts in the northern area of the state. While CDS also controls a large part of Zacatecas though I don't know which parts. I don't believe for a second CJNG and Metros alliance is stronger then CDS and CDN alliance. The Metros faction of the CDG has had a major fall of grace. They are more akin to a well organized street gang like the PRM in Matamoros or Barrio Azteca in Juarez.

      Anyways CDN and CDS are also pushing against the CJNG in San Luis Potosi, Oaxaca, Nayarit, Nuevo Leon, Jalisco, Aguascalientes as far as I could confirm. A few other states too but I couldn't confirm it.

      Anyways a lot of cats don't realize this but the reason CDN has their Tropa Del Infierno rampaging in Nuevo Leon and Fox-Coca is because the Metros brought them in because they couldn't handle being hit by CDN from the West and South or from the East by the Matamoros faction. The CDN armed wing and CDG Matamoros along with the GOPES were given the green light by CowHead to go after the Metros and Jalicienses. Como decia el narco mas pasado de Tamaulipas Cabeza de Riata "Tamaulipas sera de los Tamaulipecos"

  5. mexican cartels makes other crime groups around the globe looks like a amateurs

    1. Mexican criminal groups and the weak ass mexican goverment and arm forces are a fucking joke.

    2. @4:57 Research on Mexican army, is one of the strongest of Latin America, the forces are not a joke at all. The "drug game" helps the economy to be stable for both Mex and USA, when you understand those things and the overpopulation of the world, answers you shall get.

  6. In wonder if there is other countries who have soo manny gangland killings..

    1. Well 2:19 let me open the Pandora's Box, Brazil, Venezuela.
      Mexico tops the most curupt Ed and the highest in homicides.

    2. @ 9:14
      The Pandoras box awakening was on point.
      Despite facts and findings nothing seems to changes the status quo.
      Has yet for the Big profits of the war on drugs lie.


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