A total of eight men were murdered to gunshots after a series of clashes this Wednesday between alleged hit men of the La Familia Michoacana cartel, in the municipality of Tuzantla, in the Mexican state of Michoacán, west of the country. The State Attorney General’s Office (FGE) confirmed that the eight men were murdered in the main square of Tuzantla, a municipality that is part of the Tierra Caliente del Río Balsas Region in Michoacán, in which municipalities of the State of Mexico and Guerrero converge. .
Information from the security areas of the Government of Michoacán, specify that the clashes began around 2:00 p.m. (7:00 p.m. GMT) due to possible conflicts between cells of the Michoacan Family, according to the testimony of residents. Inhabitants of Tuzantla denounced on social networks that the gunmen used vehicles such as vans and motorcycles to confront each other throughout the municipalitywhere dozens of houses were violently raided by gunmen.
One of the lines of investigation followed by the State Prosecutor’s Office indicates that the clashes stem from struggles between the brothers Johnny ‘El Pez’ and José Alfredo ‘El Fresa’ Hurtado Olascoaga, leaders of ‘La Familia Michoacana’, with one of their ex-collaborators identified as ‘El Chaparro’, who was allegedly in charge of a group of hired assassins to carry out illicit activities in Tuzantla. ‘La Nueva Familia Michoacana’ is a cartel that operates in the territorial triangle formed by the State of Mexico, Michoacán and Guerrero, where control of illicit activities is disputed with the Los Correa and Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) cartels.
On Sunday, authorities reported the disappearance of Jorge Ortega Flores, director of the Police of the municipality of Irímbo, located in eastern Michoacán. Meanwhile, gunmen traveling in a “cloned” (false) patrol shot and wounded two policemen from the municipality of Senguio, also in eastern Michoacán.