One afternoon in 2019, local police officers responded to a car accident outside Knoxville, Tennessee. Upon arrival, they noticed Eladio Mendoza, a Mexican man traveling in the crashed car, trying to get rid of a bag of methamphetamine.
A police investigation began through wiretaps on seized phones and a series of searches of Mendoza’s properties in the United States. During a visit to the Mexican man’s home, officers discovered a trailer that had crossed from Mexico days earlier with 850 kilograms of methamphetamine hidden in the truck’s floorboards.
Following these leads led authorities to a hotel in Atlanta, where after waiting for several hours, they saw a man leave with a bag of chips. When they approached him due to his suspicious behavior, a confrontation broke out that ended with the death of one officer and three dealers. The investigations, the confrontation, and long hours of listening to tapped cell phones would ultimately confirm a direct drug trafficking route that would lead them to the heart of Tierra Caliente in Michoacán, Mexico.
Specifically, José Farías Álvarez, alias “El Abuelo,” a man well known in the area for having led the self-defense groups in 2014 and for being the current leader of the Cartels Unidos group, one of the eight cartels that the Trump administration has designated a terrorist organization. It is also one of the groups engaged in a war with the Jalisco cartels, which has led to endless bloodbaths in the border area between the two states.
Mendoza returned to Mexico, to his native Michoacán, and days later was murdered while driving in his town. His trail was followed by US authorities at all times.
Finally, a few days ago, in a joint press conference, the United States Department of the Treasury, the Department of Justice, and the Department of State released details of this investigation and an arrest warrant offering a $10 million reward for information leading to the arrest of “El Abuelo” and five of his lieutenants.
Matthew Galeotti, Acting Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, told the media that they are working very closely with Mexican authorities and hope to continue doing so.
This is another step in the Republican administration’s crusade against drug trafficking gangs in Mexico. Tomorrow, United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected to meet face-to-face with President Claudia Sheinbaum, in a meeting where the only thing on the table is the security cooperation agreement. Expectations are high, and we’ll have to wait for the results of the day, while the only thing that’s clear is that the two countries don’t seem to be in common in the drug war.
Source: informador
