New Yucateco Cartel Forms in Mexico’s Yucatán Region

Mérida, Yucatán — Yucatán is experiencing an unprecedented security crisis that criminal groups are capitalizing on, according to intelligence information from the state’s security cabinet revealed to Sol Yucatán. The information confirms that a new cartel is operating in the entity.

This is the Cártel de la Costa, which emerged locally, meaning it operates internally. It is composed of former members of the Cártel de los Epitacio, who lost territory with the arrival of other groups such as the Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación, Cártel del Golfo, and Caborca.

Additionally, there are former state and federal police officers, who have firsthand information that helps them in their operations. At the head is an individual identified with the alias “H.”

Its zone of influence extends from the eastern area of the municipality of Progreso to the limits of Buctzotz, passing through Telchac, Sinanché, Yobaín, and the Dzilanes. That is, in the so-called Riviera Yucateca.

It is a clearly delineated criminal group with its own structure. The informant stated that in that area some problems could be recorded, because in the part of Sinanché, Dzilam González, and Dzilam de Bravo operates the Interián group, which is a cell of the Cártel Caborca.

To which Donato Valdés Rodríguez, alias Nato, and his son Juan Carlos Valdés, who was executed by gunfire last week, belong.

Even Dzilam González is considered the spearhead of the Interián.

Yucatán has traditionally been one of the states with the lowest homicide rate and violence associated with drug trafficking in Mexico, compared to other regions of the country.

However, its strategic location with the Gulf of Mexico and with Quintana Roo has attracted the interest of criminal organizations for drug trafficking to the United States and Europe.

Leaked reports and security analyses point to the presence of various groups already operating on the peninsula, among them organizations with links to national cartels such as Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), with expansion into municipalities of Yucatán.

Cártel de Sinaloa, with historical presence in some distribution routes. Cells of the Cártel del Golfo, Los Zetas, and other minor factions use the region as a logistical corridor, which is why in the entity there is the presence of at least five of the criminal groups.

The most serious issue is that the authorities themselves systematically deny the presence of criminal groups, despite the increase in crimes related to drug trafficking, fuel theft, and harboring criminals.

The governor of Yucatán, Joaquín Díaz Mena, fell into irresponsibility trying to hide the reality lived in the entity, that is, Yucatán no longer enjoys the security of the past.

The governor assured that the massacre recorded in Dzilam González was an isolated incident and that it has no relation to organized crime.

“It was a fight between two families,” Díaz Mena stated.

The statements by the governor, who in 15 months has lost the security compass, contrasted with the security operations after the capture of Don Donato, where the SSP and Prosecutor’s Office building was secured.

What is a reality is that insecurity and violence have increased following the arrival of Morena, where there is evidence that they would have negotiated the plaza in exchange for financing to rise to power, today the price is being paid.

The state lives amid simulated security and where the security bubble has burst.

The attack was clear and there were three collateral victims, who were in the middle of crossfire, two died and one more is hospitalized.

The criminals used weapons exclusive to the Army and armed forces, at the scene, 32 fired atypical casings were recovered for a family fight, as the governor claims.

Juan Carlos Valdés “Nato” received eight bullet impacts, including the coup de grâce in the head, a hallmark of score-settling between criminal groups.

Juan Carlos, along with his father Donato Valdés, alias “Don Nato,” is linked to the Cártel Caborca, which operates in the Bacalar and Chetumal area.

They are pointed out as the architects of the disappearance of antagonistic groups, especially the Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación, and were sought in Quintana Roo territory, however, for months he had acquired a property in Dzilam González, where “Nato” was executed.

The massacre recalled the insecurity episode experienced in 2008, in the first year of Ivonne Ortega’s government, with the 11 decapitated of Chichí Suárez, which was a score-settling between criminal groups.

Unofficially, it is known that there is a detainee, who would have been apprehended at the Villareal hotel in Ticul, however, the SSP or Prosecutor’s Office have not formalized the capture.

Meanwhile, the government insists on denying what is a sad reality in Yucatán, where the security of the past is no longer enjoyed, where cells of criminal groups operate and where criminals have found a refuge to live.