InSight continues to decode the narco-messages, grenade attacks, narco-blockades and other events pouring from the suddenly embattled state of Jalisco. Today, a video message (see below) from one side of the conflict.
A group calling itself the Jalisco Cartel – New Generation (Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion – CJNG) distributed this nine minute video to the Blog del Narco, the country’s unofficial filter for information on the battles between and among the organized criminal groups in Mexico, among others.
In it, the members of the CJNG, dressed in swat-team garb and with their faces hidden behind ski masks, say they have audio recordings that prove that members of the Mexican Marines and the Mexican Army work with the CJNG’s rivals, the so-called ‘Resistencia,’ or ‘Resistance.’
The CJNG are thought to be remnants of the group run by Ignacio Coronel, alias ‘El Nacho,’ a lieutenant in the Sinaloa Cartel who was killed last July by security forces. The Resistencia are members of what was once known as the Milenio Cartel.
Formerly a powerhouse organization based in the state of Michoacan, the Milenio Cartel is mostly a regional player in the Jalisco and Colima states now. But it has teamed with the more formidable Familia Michoacana and Gulf Cartels, who are seeking a piece of the lucrative methamphetamine market that is at the heart of this rising violence in Jalisco.
The battle has quickly become ideological as well as physical. Last week, the Resistencia hung banners, or so-called ‘narcomantas,’ threatening the Jalisco governor and saying the state would ‘burn,’ if the government did not take some of the pressure from them. This came after a series of street battles, arrests of Resistencia members and blockades that began in mid-January and seem sure to continue this month.
In its video, which is also directed at Mexican President Felipe Calderon, the CJNG says that it is at war with the Resistencia and not the state, although it reveals names of several members it says are working with its rivals.
“If they do not resign by 10 February, we will kill them,” the CJNG reading the comunique says, referring to the security forces allegedly working with its rivals.
In what is becoming a familiar refrain in the narco-world, the CJNG also attempts to distance itself from other criminal activities that are becoming commonplace amongst the increasingly fragmented cartels.
“We don’t kidnap or extort…[We don’t] rape little girls and boys…people who kill families,” the CJNG leader says.
“We will keep the state clean,” he adds.