The Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) has accused Jalisco Governor Enrique Alfaro of links to organized crime in a video posted to social media.
Surrounded by more than 20 heavily armed and masked men dressed in military attire, a man who identifies himself as CJNG leader Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes accused Alfaro of breaking a pact that gave the Jalisco cartel criminal control of the state.
He charged that the governor instead plans to give the “plaza” to Martín Coronel, a man known as “El Águila” (The Eagle), and Esteban “El Güerito” Rodríguez Olivera.
Coronel, nephew of a former close associate of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, is believed to be the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel in Jalisco.
“Alfaro made arrangements to remove us from Jalisco, thinking that he could do it overnight . . . Governor Alfaro was a very good friend of [Ignacio] Nacho Coronel and that’s why he has this relationship with his nephew ‘El Águila’ and ‘El Güerito,’ a close friend of ‘El Águila’ Coronel,” the presumed CJNG leader said.
“The governor did a deal with me, Mencho Oseguera, with which he didn’t comply at all. All of you know that before the new government led by Enrique Alfaro came in everything here in Jalisco was very calm and now with his rule, violence started in the whole state.”
The masked man who claimed to be “El Mencho” denied that the CJNG has anything to do with safe houses where dead bodies and bound captives have been found.
Dozens of bodies were found last year inside abandoned houses in the Guadalajara metropolitan area, while dozens more were retrieved from clandestine graves in May of this year.
“Governor Enrique Alfaro is the only person who can tell you who owns those safe houses and [who is responsible] for those dead people since, in reality, they’re houses that are property of Martín Coronel . . . and Esteban Rodriguez Olivera . . . both [of whom are] directly protected by the governor,” the speaker said.
“El Mencho” – who according to a DEA agent is hiding out in the mountains of western Mexico – also denied that the CJNG is responsible for crimes committed in Puebla, Mexico City, Oaxaca, Chiapas, México state, Cuernavaca and Chihuahua.
“. . . We don’t kidnap, we don’t rob people, we don’t charge extortion,” he said.
The suspected CJNG leader called on President López Obrador to launch an investigation into bank accounts that Alfaro allegedly holds in the names of prestanombres, or front men, in Switzerland and the Cayman Islands.
The governor uses the accounts to “move the money he receives from Martín Coronel and Esteban Rodríguez in exchange for agreements with them,” he claimed.
The masked man, who remains seated throughout the almost six-minute video, also claimed that Alfaro has a personal grudge against the CJNG because his “current woman” had a relationship with a high-ranking cartel member.
“. . . The hate and the personal problems that the governor has against our company are personal and because of that he preferred to give his support” to Coronel and Rodríguez, the man said.
The Jalisco government declared that all the accusations made in the video were false.
“For the state government, the fight against violence is a matter of utmost seriousness. That’s why since the beginning of this administration we’ve made it clear that this government doesn’t speak to, nor will it speak to, criminals,” the government said.
“The stunt, put together in a video with false assertions, contains lies that have the sole and clear intention to defame, intimidate, misinform and generate fear among citizens. For these reasons, it doesn’t deserve more than a single response: the government of Jalisco will continue doing its work and will file the corresponding [criminal] complaint with the federal Attorney General’s Office.”
Source: Reforma (sp), Sin Embargo (sp)
