La guerra entre cárteles en el Aguaje, Michoacán

[Music] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] ah this audio is from an ambush by the jalisco new generation cartel that left 14 police officers dead in the mexican state of michoacan the police massacre took place in el aguaje a town on a key drug smuggling route from the pacific coast it's also near the hometown of the jalisco cartel's leader a fugitive kingpin known as el mencho cartel de jalisco nuevonne cj ng is the single criminal organization most responsible for these deaths on both sides of the border the jalisco new generation cartel took the fight to the next level shooting down a military helicopter with a rocket propelled grenade tonight the dea is offering 10 million dollars for information leading to the arrest of the mexican drug kingpin known as el mencho el mencho sent his forces to take over el agua but michoacan's local gangs joined forces to take it back we visited el aguaje one year after the police ambush and found a ghost town las casas this is juan carlos he's from here do you know the family that used to live here este la podesira dona [Music] [Music] how many people were fighting here loser juan carlos isn't just a friendly concerned citizen that's not even his real name and he's not wearing that mask because of covid juan carlos is a member of the united cartels the group fighting el mencho cartels claim to be an auto defensive a bunch of farmers who have formed a militia to protect their villages but these guys have makeshift tanks known as monsters and they strap explosives to drones to use as bombs they don't exactly seem like the good guys but juan carlos says the government is still on their side [Music] do you think the families who lived here will ever be able to come back she [Music] dates back to the early 2000s dozens of cartel leaders have been killed or captured since then the cartels splinter and form new groups and those groups fight each other but the jalisco cartels invasion made the smaller groups join forces turf wars like this are playing out across mexico causing record murders the jalisco cartel has been blamed for fueling that violence and the united cartels claim michoacan is better off under their control and that brings us to this guy padre goyo he's a priest who got involved in the cartel war back in 2013 when the first towns formed auto defenses to protect themselves when he took sides in the cartel war he started wearing a bulletproof vest out in public and he's still risking his life by talking openly about the government and the cartels [Music] almost is it really true that the the cartels are are not the lesser of two evils in this situation okay [Music] there's some evidence to back up padraig's claims about corruption this cartel boss released a video saying he'd taken money from michoacan's governor a claim the governor has denied padre goyo says the cartels are crippling the economy in michoacan most of the limes and avocados consumed in the u.s come from this part of mexico but the cartels extort farmers making them pay taxes to get their crops to market abandoned factories and warehouses are everywhere economical when did you start seeing families displaced by the violence here in the passing game physique [Music] [Music] this is a woman we'll call rita she and her kids had to flee their home in el aguaje she's afraid of what would happen if we showed her face or used her name what was it like there before the violence [Music] was there always violence was that part of of living where you were simple establishment what was the hardest thing to leave [Music] [Music] where's the government in all this are they helping you know mexico's president andres manuel lopez obrador campaigned on a promise to de-escalate the drug war my producer miguel fernandez asked him about michael khan claro [Music] is [Music] says the government isn't helping displaced people like rita he's taking care of them by himself helping them get food and shelter and diapers for their babies he took us to a homeless shelter he runs buscando casas he says at least 525 families have been displaced from malagua when do you think all of these displaced people are going to be able to go back to their homes are they ever going to be able to go home foreign foreign [Music] even with help from the military making ellaguaja livable again won't be easy this is the jalisco cartel commander in the area fighting from his armored truck this is the first time that anyone this high up in the jalisco cartel has given an on-camera interview he showed up to our meeting in the same armored truck he was driving in that shootout can you please introduce yourself however you want to be identified um on the other side of this conflict the people you're fighting there's as we've been told a group of united cartels who say that they're fighting against you because you're extorting people you're robbing people what do you say to what they told us is how do you feel about the people who are civilians who live in these areas we're fighting who've been displaced we've met some of them they've had hard lives who've been affected by this battle history personally it's been said that cinderella is fighting this fight here because it's where he was born and wants to to come back to his land is that true ignorant [Music] 15 years ago the government under president calderon launched a war against narco and that's basically how we got to where we are today where do you see mexico and the state of michoacan 15 years in the future from now especially in foreign [Music] hold on the jalisco cartel might claim they're the real good guys but we know that's not the whole story about a hundred miles west of la guaje in the town of aquila another out of defense has been under constant attack from jalisco cartel these guys claim they're not affiliated with the united cartels or any other criminal group they're the community police here this commander was a construction worker before all this now his full-time job is fighting off the jalisco cartel which attacks them with drones [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] um this part of michoacan is prime territory for drug smuggling but the land here is valuable for other reasons too there's a large iron mine that provides jobs and money for the town and that makes them a target for cartel extortion it sounds to me like this isn't so much of a situation with with drugs here it's about control of this community and just petty crime of robbing people is that right do you think that there's an end to this fighting it's been going on for years now and it seems like there's no end in sight is there a way out las garros has the government helped you at all with this have they provided any of these rifles or equipment or is this all from the community dinero [Music] the police help protect the nearby indigenous community of astula their land is rich with natural resources like forests that are full of rare timber hills that contain iron ore and a coast that is lined with papaya farms and pristine peaches [Music] [Music] don ezekiel grajeda is the head of the town council he's with community volunteers fixing up the roads the government has neglected during the rainy season do you feel safer because the government isn't here and that you're doing this work yourselves and taking it into your own hands [Music] [Music] to protect themselves the people of estoula have set up checkpoints on all the roads into their territory nobody goes in or out without permission not the cartels and not even the mexican police and military this is raminije macias an elementary school teacher it feels very safe here how's that possible were you personally affected by this fight foreign is made by direct vote of the whole town every member of the community gets free land homes get built with wood from the forest between fishing and farming and hunting there's enough food that nobody goes hungry they don't need the government they don't want them either it seems like a little slice of paradise but the jalisco cartel still wants a piece of estoula locals say one of their former leaders has joined forces with the cartel the community banished him and demolished his home the farmers manning the checkpoints are on high alert the town leaders still receive threats a few years ago this beach was cartel territory now it's a tourist attraction a sanctuary for migrating sea turtles managed by the community of estula while the turtles crawl up the beach to lay their eggs community police officers stand guard with their assault rifles tourism used to be a big part of the economy here now it's coming back do you have hope that other communities in mexico can organize like you have and take up arms like you have and achieve the same security that you've achieved or is that the problem too big for that being so [Music] [Music] even if other places can't copy astula at least what they're doing works here it's not perfect the front lines of the cartel war are just a few miles away but these days in michoacan this is what peace looks like you

Channel: VICE en Español

Views: 8,104,121

Rating: 4.8050427 out of 5

Keywords: cárteles, Aguaje, Michoacán, Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación, CJNG, El Mencho, Cárteles Unidos, guerra contra el narcotráfico, vice, vice en español

Id: EEtNvHHz4sk

Length: 24min 55sec (1495 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 17 2021