Guadalajara -
Mexico's attorney general, the Procuraduría General de la República (PGR), has announced that 20 municipal police officers from Vista Hermosa, Michoacán have been charged with being members of the Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), commonly known as Los Matazetas ("Zeta Killers").
CJNG, based in Jalisco state, is one of the country's most powerful organized crime organizations. A sworn enemy of the violent Los Zetas cartel, the Matazetas are also locked in a struggle in nearby Michoacán, trying to wrestle control of the narcotics trade and related criminal enterprises from Los Caballeros Templarios. As a result Michoacán is in a virtual state of civil war, with much of the countryside ablaze in combat between the Templarios, CJNG and local militias, called autodefensas. Community police forces have formed precisely because of rampant corruption in duly authorized units such as those from Vista Hermosa, which is just minutes east of Lake Chapala (map above.)
The PGR alleges that the 20 officers were involved in the murder of two federal agents on Nov. 3, and may be connected to a mass grave in La Barca, Jalisco which was unearthed two months ago. So far 74 bodies have been removed from that site. Authorities believe the victims were Templarios executed by CJNG operatives. Mass grave by Jalisco's Lake Chapala held 67 remains. The officers have been in federal custody since Nov. 7.
Lake Chapala is home to a large community of American and Canadian expatriates. La Barca and Vista Hermosa are about 90 minutes from the Guadalajara metro zone.
Jan. 30, 2014 - Federals capture key Matazeta operative in suburban Guadalajara
July 18, 2013 - Matazeta boss arrested in 2008 case of 12 men decapitated in Mérida, Yucatán
May 14, 2013 - Drug cartels behind three recent Guadalajara attacks
© MGR 2014. All rights reserved. This article may be cited or briefly quoted with proper attribution or a hyperlink, but not reproduced without permission.
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