“I have been asked how I would like people to remember me the day I am no longer on this Earth? I have asked them Remember me as a promoter of peace, happiness and developmentthat’s what I aspire to. I was born in this city (…) I have lived here all my life, I have never left and here I want to diebut I also want to die fighting for my city for my municipality,” he mentioned to Alejandro Arcos Catalán in a video that went viral just a few hours after his body was located inside a vehicle in Chilpancingoan entity that has been suffering for years from the ravages of presence of at least three criminal groups.
It was around 5:30 p.m. on Sunday, October 6, when residents of the Villa Roble neighborhood, located west of the capital of Guerrero, reported to the authorities that a Volkswagen brand van with a human head on the awning. The rest of the body was located in one of the seats covered with a blanket.
Just seven days after taking possession,That gloomy scene frustrated the intention that Alejandro Arcos Catalán had to make a change in Chilpancingo, in addition to showing how the violence has become a constant in the region.
Political alternation: trigger of violence
Three days before Alejandro Arcos Catalán was murdered, in the center of Chilpancingo a was recorded armed attack which had another public official as a fatal victim: Francisco Gonzalo Tapia Gutiérrez.
The newly appointed general secretary of the City Council was intercepted by armed men who detonated firearms against him and later flee leaving his body on the sidewalk on José María Morelos y Pavón street.
From June 2023 and until the electoral elections of June 2, 2024, the civil organization Common Cause accounted for a total of 36 applicants or candidates for public office murdered in Mexico. Of this figure, 31% contended for Morena (plus 8% for the Green Party and 6% for the Labor Party) while the 42% did so for the opposition coalition (PRI, PAN and PRD), 8% for the Citizen Movement and the remainder to local parties. In 92% of cases it was confirmed that They belonged to the municipal level.
Although the events made the last elections a day marked by violence, crimes against political actors continued to be perpetuated with the murder of three winning candidates in their respective races, two of them for the presidency of their municipalities.
Months later and with the recent swearing-in of various elected municipal presidents -as was the case of Alejandro Arcos Catalán-, attacks against political actors continue and, in some cases, they are linked to the operations that criminal groups maintain in the respective states or municipalities where they would begin their mandate.
And, although the investigations of the State Attorney General’s Office (FGE) of Guerrero or even those of one’s ownAttorney General’s Office (FGR) those that determine whether a criminal cell is behind the murder of the mayor of Chilpancingo; since previous periods, alerts have been raised about the possibility of organized crime spreading its tentacles in the municipal government from the capital of Guerrero.
The most remembered example is a video that was spread through social networks where the former Morenoista mayor was observed, Norma Otilia Hernández Martínezhold a meeting with Celso Ortegaleader of The Ardillos.
On that occasion and under pressure from public opinion, the former mayor of Chilpancingo confirmed the meeting, however, He ruled out that he had reached any type of agreement with the head of one of the criminal cells. that control of the capital of Guerrero is disputed.
FACT:
The sociological vision of political and criminal power
In an interview with MILENIO, the Doctor in Sociology, Luis Astorga, explained that in Mexico there is a structural subordination of the criminal field to political power. That is, criminal groups depend directly on the existing political power at the municipal, state or federal level to survive.With political alternation, political reconfiguration has the consequence that the criminal field achieves greater autonomy by depending not only on a single political party but on several.
Throughout his administration, the alleged links of Norma Otilia Hernández Martínez with organized crime They navigated between agreements and discrepancies, therefore, although in the video broadcast for the first time in July 2023 he is seen with one of the leaders of The Squirrelsthe bishop emeritus of the diocese of Chilpancingo – Chilapa, Salvador Rangelassured that the former mayor had dealings with The Tlacosanother rival criminal group.
“For me the Chilpancingo solution is that the government of the Lords of Tlacotepec is disengaged (…) The day the president separates herself from them, that day peace comes, they have peace,” declared the priest in an interview he gave to the local media. Quadratín.
In February 2024, the same bishop narrated in an interview with the journalist Oscar Balderas for MILLENNIUM that Norma Otilia Hernández failed to fulfill the promise she made during the electoral campaign to deliver the control of the Chilpancingo trail to The Squirrelswhich unleashed violence again in the capital of Warrior.
The role that the former mayor played among the criminal groups vying for control of Chilpancingo left a uncertain outlook for Alejandro Arcos Catalánwho was robbed of the opportunity to do something about it just seven days after taking office.
What criminal groups operate in Chilpancingo de los Bravo?
Guerrero is one of the states that suffered the most from the outbreak of Beltrán Leyva Cartel after the assassination of their leader, Arturo Beltran Leyvain December 2009.
Following the fall of The Barbashis criminal organization fragmented into multiple criminal cells that unleashed violence in different municipalities, which in turn caused the emergence of self-defense groups that, eventually, ended up becoming criminal organizations, as was the case of the General Heliodoro Castillo Community Police.
With the intention of expelling criminal cells, the then self-defense group designated an armed wing that they called The Tlacos. Local press reports place 2017 as the year in which the armed group consolidated under the command of Onesimo Marquina Pin -alias Necho-, who located its operations center in the General Heliodoro Castillo municipality and in its capital Tlacotepec.
Information of the Tlachinollan Mountain Human Rights Center realize that The Tlacos managed to expand their presence and criminal activities to municipalities such as Leonardo Bravo, Eduardo Neri, Apaxtla, Teloloapan, Independence Day, Buenavista de Cuellar, Huitzuco de los Figueroa and Juan R. Escudero.
Because it is the capital of the state, Chilpancingo It also became a coveted territory for Los Tlacos, however, they were not the only division of the Beltrán Leyva Cartel that thought the same.
The Ardillos, whose origin dates back to the organization of poppy planters in Quechultenango in 2008, were led by Celso Ortega Rosasalias The Squirreluntil his murder in 2011.
After the death of the criminal leader were his children, Celsus, Jorge Ivan, Anthony and Bernardo Ortega who took control of the group and extended their criminal presence to at least eleven municipalities in the low mountains of Guerrero as well as Chilpancingo.
“The group is one of the main generators of violence in the regionin a permanent dispute for territorial control and criminal activities with different groups, such as ‘The Reds‘ either ‘The Tlacos‘, and even with the community police (…) The Ortega Jiménez family has entered politics. In 2002 Bernardo Ortega “He was elected municipal president of Quechultenango by the PRD, and has been a local deputy four times (2005-2008, 2012-2015, 2018-2021 and from 2021 to date)”, details an article published on the Alejandro Encinas page, current Secretary of Planning, Territorial Planning and Metropolitan Coordination.
Specifically in Chilpancingo, The Tlacos and The Squirrels They have been involved in an incessant dispute for control of various criminal activities, among which extortion stands out. However, analysts and local media have also reported the presence of the New Michoacan Family which, little by little, is gaining ground in the area.
From the municipal trace controluntil the carrier network or the same routes that mark the entrance or exit of the municipality have been the reason of quarrels between both criminal cells.
“Criminal groups have extended the extortionate charges to public transport, shops, tour operators, religious events, mining companies and even shops selling everyday products. With this, violence has expanded towards these sectors, since those who refuse to pay the charges or comply with the rules run the risk of being murdered,” explains an InSight Crime article about the criminal dynamics of Los Tlacos and Los Ardillos.
Added to this panorama is the factor of political alternation and the existing subordination of both criminal groups to a certain party or public official, resulting in violence that not only threatens citizens but also the authorities themselves.
The lack of State and protection They have turned Chilpancingo into “no man’s land” and in a constant epicenter of attacks where impunity continues to be the protagonist.
ATJ
