New information has been revealed surrounding the fatal plane crash that took the lives of seven people in the municipality of Quitupan, in Jalisco, Mexico.
On Dec. 22, authorities received reports of a small plane that crashed while travelling from Michoacan to Jalisco. The plane reportedly carried seven passengers, including Juan de Dios Farías Villalobos, son of a former mayor in the municipality of Tepacaltepec and nephew of José Farías Álvarez, also known as "El Abuelo," the alleged leader of the Tepacaltepec Cartel, a criminal group with an ongoing feud with the Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación.
Another person identified among the plane crash victims was Iveth Soto Villalobos, half-sister of Juan de Dios Farías. And this is where things get tricky, as Radio Fórmula journalist Miriam Moreno claims that, as family members of Iveth Soto Villalobos traveled to Tlaquepaque to identify and retrieve the body, they were allegedly attacked and kidnapped by members of the Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación.
Moreno also said that the criminal group kidnapped five of Soto Villalobos' family members including her husband, and after arriving at the forensics facility, CJNG members allegedly kidnapped the body of her deceased half-brother, Juan de Dios Farías.
"They went to Jalisco to identify the body and after leaving the facility they were kidnapped by an armed commando that was already waiting for them," she said.
The journalist added that the five hostages were released 24 hours later near the Guadalajara International Airport after both the U.S. Embassy in Mexico and Mexican law enforcement had gotten involved in the case.
What is the Tepacaltepec Cartel?
Infobae Mexico reported that the criminal group known as Cártel de Tepalcatepec was born in 2013 as a sort of selfe-defense unit with the objective to combat criminal organizations, more concretely the Caballeros Templarios Cartel that had been terrorizing residents in the state of Michoacán.
Despite its initial purpose, the militia was slowly infiltrated by people with other interests and later became another drug cartel.
The criminal organization operates in the state of Michoacan and authorities say they are responsible of conducting drug trafficking and extortions in the area.
Rivals of the CJNG
According to InSight Crime, both criminal groups have been fighting each other since at least 2019, when Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes alias "El Mencho" and leader of the CJNG, ordered his subordinates to enter the state of Michoacan and drive "El Abuelo" and his group out of Tepalcatepec due to the municipality's strategic location along drug trafficking routes.
The municipality is located in the border of the states of Jalisco and Michoacan and counts with an easy access to the town of Acapulco and the Port of Lázaro Cárdenas, two places of extreme importance to drug trafficking groups as precursor chemicals and drugs arrive there before transiting north through Michoacan and into Guadalajara, after which the drugs are moved on to the U.S.
© 2024 Latin Times. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
