Cartel conflict wreaked havoc across the western state of Michoacán on Wednesday, as organized crime gangs blockaded 10 highways by setting vehicles on fire.
The chaos extended into the states of Jalisco to the northwest and Guanajuato to the northeast.
Order was restored in Guanajuato after six hours of mayhem, state and federal officials declared on Wednesday night. Michoacán authorities worked late into the night removing the vehicles and other obstacles before reopening the highways, while urging motorists to exercise caution.
In a brief statement issued Thursday morning, Federal Security Minister Omar García Harfuch said at least two police officers died in the violence, adding that federal officials defused several explosive artifacts and secured a number of land mines.
”Yesterday, violent incidents occurred in 26 municipalities in Michoacán, two in Guanajuato, and one in Jalisco,” the minister tweeted on X. “These incidents resulted in the burning of several vehicles, three attacks on stores, several roadblocks, and assaults on authorities, resulting in the death of two police officers.”
García Harfuch did not identify the police officers nor did he say to which state force they belonged.
According to García Harfuch, the violence was strictly a cartel conflict between rival gangs. “It is important to note that these attacks are the result of conflicts between two criminal groups fighting over territories,” he wrote.
But the Michoacán Security Ministry attributed the violence to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) reacting to coordinated operations carried out by federal forces that sought to shut down criminal activity in a broad swath of Michoacán.
In recent weeks, the Navy Ministry has conducted anti-crime operations in the Bajío region, Tierra Caliente, the Chapala marsh area, the central plateau and eastern Michoacán. The CJNG reaction began around 2 p.m. Wednesday, just across the state border in Jalisco.
Approximately 50 men erected a barricade by setting fire to six cargo trucks in the municipality of La Barca, Jalisco, shutting down federal Highway 15 in both directions. Highway 15 connects the state capitals of Morelia, Michoacán, and Guadalajara, Jalisco.
Shortly thereafter, armed men appeared near San Andrés Coru, about 100 kilometers west of Morelia and 20 kilometers northeast of Uruapan, Michoacán’s second-largest city. The men shut down federal Highway 14 (the Patzcuaro-Uruapan highway) by setting fire to a tractor-trailer.
Farther south in the Tierra Caliente, the suspected cartel members set fire to two vehicles and two Oxxo convenience stores near Apatzingán.
Explota @GobMichoacan.
Narcobloqueos, incendios, balazos y operativos en este estado y en los límites con @GobiernoJalisco. pic.twitter.com/vzwhTtLsoj
— Antonio Nieto (@siete_letras) April 24, 2025
At the same time, Morelia came under attack as criminals blocked federal Highway 43 — which connects the Michoacán capital with Salamanca, Guanajuato — by setting two engine blocks on fire.
Similar tactics were used to shut down the Uruapan-Chilchota, Vista Hermosa-Yurécuaro, La Piedad-Zamora and Quiroga-Zacapu highways. Automobiles were also set ablaze in the municipalities of Churintzio (northwestern Michoacán), Huaniqueo (90 km northwest of Morelia) and Maravatío (northeastern Michoacán). An additional 25 vehicles were damaged in these three incidents.
The federal government responded to the reports by deploying the military and Security Ministry personnel to suppress the blockades and patrol major cities affected by the cartel attacks.
On Thursday, the Michoacán Attorney General’s Office reported that two men possibly linked to the attacks had been arrested.
In separate incidents in the northern municipality of Álvaro Obregón bordering Guanajuato, officials apprehended two men — one in a pick-up truck, another on a motorcycle — each with a gallon of gasoline and a walkie-talkie.
With reports from Infobae, La Jornada and Periódico Correo
