The end of Michoacán’s governorship of Silvano Aureoles’s six-year term was chaotic, and he inherited a state plagued by violence and death. The state, then as now, is gripped by seven drug cartels fighting over territory, unleashing shootouts, persecuting rivals, and displacing residents of dozens of municipalities, causing terror and anxiety everywhere. The so-called “right of floor” (prosecutorial land rights) was also imposed by criminals, a business—spread throughout the country—that causes pain, fury, and helplessness.
Despite calls from the current governor, Alfredo Ramírez Bedolla, for peace in the state and an end to the violence, it continues to be present throughout the state. Despite the above, and despite the presence of police and National Guard members, peace is lacking in Michoacán: organized crime, particularly the Jalisco Nueva Generación, Los Viagras, and Los Caballeros Templarios cartels, cells of the Beltrán Leyva cartels, and Los Correa—the newly identified cartel—established various roadblocks, set fire to official and private vehicles, and attacked members of the National Guard and State Police officers.
The same thing happened yesterday, Wednesday the 23rd. Twelve stretches of highway were blocked in the state by civilians who stole and burned vehicles to disrupt traffic.
Michoacán authorities acknowledged that the blocked highways were Uruapan-Carapán; Uruapan-Pátzcuaro, San Andrés Coru, and Caltzonzin; San Andrés Ziróndaro-Santa Fe de La Laguna; Pátzcuaro-Erongarícuaro; Quiroga-El Correo; Entrance to Tiríndaro, municipality of Zacapu; Occidente Highway, km 280 in Huaniqueo; Maravatío-Atlacomulco Highway, km 142; Morelia-Guadalajara Highway; Vista Hermosa-Yurécuaro Freeway; La Piedad-Zamora Highway; Apatzingán-Buena Vista Highway, among others.
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According to unofficial information, these protests are being carried out by members of organized crime as a protest against the capture of one of the most bloodthirsty leaders known in the underworld as “El Tiro Loco.”
Protest actions multiplied throughout the state. In Uruapan, for example, near the Petróleos Mexicanos station that connects to the Siglo 21 Highway, heading towards Pátzcuaro, a similar blockade was reported. In Apatzingán and the Zamora region, there were also coordinated attacks with burning vehicles.
In Apatzingán—no man’s land—the highway connecting to Buenavista and the road connecting to the community of San Juan de Los Plátanos were blocked; in addition, a vehicle fire broke out in the Hermenegildo Galeana neighborhood. The first incident was reportedly the result of an accident, while the second occurred as a result of criminal protests. An Oxxo store was also set on fire.
At all the aforementioned highway points, according to reports, private vehicles—trucks, sedans, and even cargo trucks—were burned. The violence and protests spread to Jalisco and Guanajuato, where the Santa Rosa de Lima, Jalisco, and Sinaloa cartels rule.
This is the Michoacán that Silvano Aureoles inherited from the current Governor, Alfredo Ramírez Bedolla, who in 2021 was publicly accused of having seized the governorship with the support of the Sinaloa cartel. He denied it.
Aureoles, the fugitive former governor, filed an injunction to avoid arrest, and an appellate judge granted it after paying 52,000 pesos as collateral.
The former governor sought legal protection through an injunction on April 21 against several arrest warrants requested by the Attorney General’s Office. The Eleventh District Criminal Court granted it.
For now, four former officials from the Aureoles administration are detained. They are Carlos Maldonado Mendoza, who served as Secretary of Finance; Mario Delgado Murillo, former administrative delegate of the Ministry of Finance and Administration, as well as Elizabeth Villegas Pineda, former official of the Ministry of Public Security, and José Antonio Bernal Bustamante, former Secretary of Public Security. All of them are implicated in criminal case 118/2025. They are accused of fraud, embezzlement, improper performance of public office, and organized crime.
Regarding Silvano Aureoles, he is accused of having engaged in acts of corruption during his administration (2015-2021), specifically in the overpriced contracting of the lease and construction of seven state police barracks. The sum: just over five billion pesos. A few days ago, a rumor surfaced that Aureoles had been captured, but everything indicates that he managed to escape. He remains at large, although he is now protected.
Aureoles’ legacy in Michoacán
In the four years of Michoacán’s current governor, Ramírez Bedoya, it is clear that the state faces a serious crime problem—one that even impacts the state government itself—which Silvano Aureoles inherited.
Shootings, kidnappings, shootings, deaths, extortion charges, and territorial control are just some of the serious problems the state has faced for several years, which worsened during Aureoles’ administration.
The State Public Security Secretariat itself, through its Facebook account, has acknowledged that organized crime is paralyzing municipalities; it also acknowledges that the population suffers violence and fear due to armed attacks.
With these acts of extreme violence, which overwhelm authorities, organized crime has exposed the impotence of the Ramírez Bedolla administration, which is already facing negative security outcomes: more than 1,500 murders and five cartels in dispute that have caused terror and the displacement of entire families due to the unstoppable violence. An example of this terrifying state is the municipality of Aguililla, taken over by armed men identified as CJNG hitmen.
In addition to being accused of his alleged acts of corruption, the Governor of Michoacán, Ramírez Bedolla, is also accused of providing protection to organized crime operating in the state he governs. Not only that: He has been publicly accused of having risen to the governorship with the support of cells from the Sinaloa cartel. The above was reported to the OAS by former Michoacán governor Silvano Aureoles. According to the former governor, he provided evidence in both the United States and Mexico, but nothing has been investigated.
Ramírez Bedolla has been a figurehead in the face of the violence perpetrated by criminal groups. Every time they try, the cartels seize territorial control, and the governor is reduced to a minor figure, a mere spectator of the disaster.
This was demonstrated last year by the leader of the Jalisco Nueva Generación cartel, Nemesio Oseguera, when he prepared to take control of the municipality of Aguililla—his hometown—which he strangely did after both members of the Army and the National Guard had abandoned the municipality.
The CJNG’s emergence in Michoacán has been violent. This cartel’s attempts to impose its law in a key state for drug trafficking are nothing new: it has clashed with local groups on several occasions. The war has been waged against Los Viagras, La Familia Michoacana, or self-defense groups financed by other cartels. Therefore, not all of them defend the interests of society, but rather those of crime.
The state of Michoacán has always been dominated by crime, and gangsters have demonstrated their power through frequent executions and ambushes by police and military personnel—one of which occurred just last year on a road to Aguililla—making it clear that a complete power vacuum prevails in the state.
State in Crisis
Four years after taking office as Governor, Alfredo Ramírez Bedolla has found the state plagued by cartels and violence. In total, seven criminal groups are operating, causing a high level of deaths. In 2020 alone—when Silvano Aureoles was still Governor—for example, the state recorded more than 2,600 murders, all of them the result of clashes between drug cartels, according to state authorities themselves. And so far this year, 1,200 crimes have been recorded, all of them unpunished.
Crime in Michoacán has a long history. Insecurity spiraled out of control in 2006, when the cartels La Familia Michoacana, Los Zetas, and the Valencia Cornelio brothers clashed for control of the state.
Although then-President Felipe Calderón launched his war on drug trafficking in that state that year with the implementation of Joint Operations, organized crime could not be defeated; on the contrary, it grew stronger to such an extent that violence escalated in a way not seen in previous years.
The high levels of crime began to escalate even further, with no police or military support. Cartels such as Jalisco Nueva Generación, Sinaloa, Familia Michoacana, Caballeros Templarios, Los Valencia, Los Cuinis, and Los Viagras began a war for control of the territory, which continues to this day.
Another example of this relentless battle was the discovery of several narco-banners—a very common phenomenon in a lawless state—which highlighted the degree to which violence has become normalized. The message fueled the war:
“Beautiful people, continue with your routine, serve your country, and kill a Viagra.”
The criminal group “Los Viagras” is one of the protagonists of the cartel war in Michoacán; according to information from the Federal Public Security Secretariat, this cartel is one of the largest producers of methamphetamines distributed in California. It has also been blamed for other criminal operations, such as extortion of avocado growers and businesspeople in the state.
Michoacán and its main seaport, Lázaro Cárdenas, are a strategic point for organized crime; shipments from South America arrive through this state. The drugs arrive through the area known as Coahuayana, a region bathed by the waters of the Pacific, where they arrive by boat, launch—fishermen also catch them floating in the sea—or even by submarines, so-called submersibles, vessels packed with drugs from Colombia or Venezuela.
The route the drugs follow—cocaine, chemical precursors, and even heroin—is the state of Guerrero, an international tourist center; they are then transported to the north of the country and cross the border to reach the United States, the voracious consumer market. Another portion heads south: Morelos and Mexico City, a center of high consumption protected by the authorities.
The Jalisco and Los Viagras cartels have been at odds since 2014, although the war in that state has lasted at least 40 years. Both criminal groups are fighting for control of the state, the synthetic drug market, kidnappings, extortion, and human trafficking.
Drug Traffickers, Unbeatable
The impunity prevailing in the state governed by PRD member Silvano Aureoles—whose legacy continues to haunt Michoacan territory—has unleashed the emergence of dozens of criminal organizations, as they see the state as a legal power vacuum, a breeding ground for crime to flourish.
Authorities accept this reality. According to a study by the State Attorney General’s Office on drug trafficking, a total of seven cartels operate in the state, and their branches extend throughout the state and even reach Guerrero, the State of Mexico, and the nation’s capital.
According to the report, Michoacan territory is controlled by La Familia Michoacana, “The Ceniza Group,” “The Gallito Group,” “The Metro Group,” “The Golden Arm Group,” “Los Viagras,” and “The Jalisco New Generation Cartel.” All of these groups flourished during Silvano Aureoles’ administration and remain a nightmare to this day.
Over the years, drug trafficking has changed its dynamics in the state. After the dismantling of the “Knights Templar” cartel in 2014, which held hegemonic power in the region—this group was weakened by the capture and killing of some of its key figures—organized crime splintered, giving rise to the emergence of new, smaller criminal units operating in that territory and allied with other criminal organizations.
According to police reports, a pitched battle has been raging in Michoacán for several months over control of the territory and the booming drug market.
In this context, the “Los Viagras” cartel declared war on the Jalisco Cartel. Determined not to leave the state in the hands of Nemesio Oseguera, “El Mencho,” the Sierra Santa brothers—founders of the criminal group “Los Viagras”—united the smaller cartels that controlled some Michoacán territories, even though they were enemies, to confront Oseguera.
The war left a bloody aftermath. As a result, the Jalisco cartel emerged as the most dangerous criminal organization and the one that has grown the most in the last fourteen years. So much so that in the most recent reports from the United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), the cartel led by “El Mencho” appears as the most dominant in 22 states across the country, and its expansion is unstoppable.
With the most recent clashes in the districts of Buena Vista and Apatzingán, where gunfire lasted up to six hours—churches were attacked, explosives were used, and residents were forced to abandon their homes for fear of dying—the Sierra Santa brothers and “El Mencho” They did not lay down their weapons; on the contrary, they continued their war, sowing terror and death in the territory governed by Ramírez Bedolla.
These clashes generated scenes of horror, as was the case with the dozens of bodies that were hanged in the municipality of Uruapan. It is alleged that they were subjected to torture; they were interrogated by beatings; then they were shot and then hanged. The scene is pathetic.
The battle between cartels has not let up in Michoacán. From 2011 to 2014, the Knights Templar cartel maintained control of the state’s drug market.
“El Chayo”—the nickname given to Nazario Moreno, the leader and founder of that criminal organization, who was executed—sowed terror, and his criminal power spread throughout the state.
Since then, the residents of most of Michoacán’s municipalities have been unable to sleep in peace. And this is acknowledged by state leader Ramírez Bedolla, who recently acknowledged that the “Achilles’ heel” facing the state is the violence caused by organized crime.
He explained that the impact of intentional homicides is due to the violence generated by organized crime, “due to the war between cartels” vying for control of the state.
He explained bluntly:
“If there’s one issue that has been worsening, it’s insecurity.”
Homicides have doubled. In 2020 alone, 2,600 murders were recorded in Michoacán. Previously, in 2019, the figure was 2,046 deaths, and much earlier, in 2015, 800 executions were recorded, which already demonstrated the magnitude of the legacy Silvano Aureoles would leave behind.
According to police reports, the most violent municipalities in the state are Zamora, Morelia, Uruapan, Ario de Rosales, Jiquilpan, and Tangancícuaro. Violence in Michoacán is nothing new: it was one of the first states to export marijuana, and if there’s one thing that characterizes the state, it’s the fertility of its soil.
The hegemony exercised by the Jalisco cartel in the state was evident once again in a video released on social media by the cartel’s publicists.
El Mencho’s War
Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes has sown violence and death in Michoacán. An example:
“El Mencho” speaks (Nemesio Oseguera, the leader):
“People of Tepalcatepec, I am Mencho. I want to make it clear that my war is against “El Abuelo,” May Parra, and anyone who raises a weapon against my people. I ask all innocent people not to leave their homes; we don’t want to harm them. You know very well that I like to support the people; I always look out for their well-being.”
“El Abuelo,” to whom “El Mencho” refers, is named Juan Farías Álvarez and leads a self-defense group. He is originally from Tepalcatepec and was at one point linked to the Jalisco Cartel.
According to police reports, Farías allegedly allowed the Jalisco Cartel to penetrate the Los Reyes district. He had previously represented another criminal group—”Los Jaliscos”—where he was one of the most important operators.
From being partners, “El Abuelo” and “El Mencho” ended up divided by hatred. The split occurred after the attempted murder of an alleged drug trafficker with whom Farías had an alliance. His name was Miguel Ángel Gallegos Godoy. As a result, “El Abuelo” blocked access to Tepalcatepec and closed the doors of Apatzingán, Buenavista, and other territories to his former associates in Jalisco. Since then, the war has continued unabated.
Farías has been arrested several times by the Army for alleged links to drug trafficking, but has escaped prosecution, according to official arguments, due to lack of evidence.
Thus, in the last two government terms—those of Silvano Aureoles and Alfredo Ramírez Bedolla—the state of Michoacán has been a prize for both politicians of the so-called progressive left—a true farce—and for organized crime.
Source: sinembargo
