Police have arrested the presumed heir to the leadership of the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel, Guanajuato Governor Diego Sinhue Rodríguez said Wednesday night.

State and federal forces took Adán Ochoa, alias “El Azul,” into custody in Celaya, the state attorney general confirmed on Twitter.

Ochoa is said to have been in control of the cartel since José Antonio Yépez Ortiz, alias “El Marro,” was arrested in August on charges of fuel theft and organized crime after an 18-month manhunt.

Ochoa is believed to have stepped in to take control in Yépez’s absence, and one of his first orders of business was to post narco-banners threatening to eliminate all those who betrayed him and anyone who allied themselves with the rival Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).

Ochoa is believed to be responsible for last week’s murder of Jesús Tinajero, a former candidate for mayor of Jerécuaro. His dismembered body was found on  a highway along with the remains of three others partially stuffed in black garbage bags.

Also at the grisly scene was a narco-banner from the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel warning public officials to refrain from aligning themselves with the CJNG or risk being “eliminated.”

Ochoa made himself known on August 17, two weeks after Yépez’s arrest, through a video posted to social media where he appeared with a dozen armed men. “Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel is stronger than ever, the war will continue and continue against the fucking Jaliscans, and we will not allow any skinny bitch to settle in the state,” he warned. “Guanajuato is for Guanajuato, you are tourists!” 

Guanajuato is strategically located between the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico on the route to the country’s border with the United States and control of the state is essential to the operations of the CJNG. Before his arrest, Yépez released a video vowing never to let the CJNG pass through Guanajuato.

In February, the CJNG posted 50 narco-banners featuring the faces of Yépez and Ochoa, whose identity was previously unknown, offering bounties on their heads. “We are here in Celaya where we have them located, so come out and face us and stop messing with people, fucking rats, killers of innocents. People of Guanajuato, we only ask for information, we will do the rest,” the banners read. 

Source: Milenio (sp)