On June 14th, a video communication circulated through social media where an armed group identified as ‘Grupo Elite del Comandante 88’ attempt to distance themselves from an attack against a clandestine bar in the Villa Benito Juárez community of Macuspana, Tabasco.
The speaker, identifying himself as ‘Comandante 11,’ alleges a figure named ‘El Águila’ was responsible for the massacre and was carried out with the intent to ‘heat up’ the plaza, a term referring to the tactic of intensifying the violence within a region until a security operation is deployed that will target rival criminal organizations based in the area.
(Video Courtesy Of: Macuspana Sin Censura on Facebook, portrays members of the ‘Grupo Elite del Comandante 88’ in military style uniforms)
A translation is as follows:
“Good evening everyone from Tabasco,
I am Commander 11, people of Mr. 88 and this statement is to let all the people know what is really happening in the municipality of Macuspana. We separate ourselves from the events that took place yesterday in the San Carlos Bar where innocent civilians were killed cowardly by a knife attack
We do not cause trouble to the citizens and we do not mess with woman or children…
…’El Águila’ is the principal generator of violence in this municipality because burning of vehicles gave you no results now you started killing innocent civilians to heat up the plaza. Come out and fight with us you gang of scumbags killers of innocent civilians. We are here to finish off all those scums who have the state of Tabasco terrorized. Extortions, kidnappings, thefts, are done all those dirt bags days are numbered.
…unintelligible, Aldama, Rana.
We will see if you guys are so badass we are people of Mr. 88″
Another video communication would circulate around June 15th bearing a similar message to the one previously covered, although recorded with a different presentation and setting the speaker would identify an additional figure, ‘John Rambo,’ and his men as the ones responsible for the violent incident. The message translates to:
(Video Courtesy Of: Tabasco Al Rojo Vivo on Facebook, another video communication by the same group but recorded in a different setting)
“…People of Tabasco, this is a communication to let you know what is going on in the Macuspana municipality. We distance ourselves from the recent events that took place in the San Carlos Bar where the gunmen of ‘El Bolsa’ and ‘El Águila’ cowardly attacked innocent people, but the one responsible is someone known as ‘John Rambo’ and his gunmen.
We’re people of Mr. 88, we have orders to not mess with women, kids, civilians and the government. The people of ‘El Bolsa,’ ‘El Águila,’ ‘Almeida,’ and ‘John Rambo’ we have you located….dirty innocent killers…we’ll stop all of you. We’ve come to work and obey unintelligible and the kidnappings, extortions, threats towards civilians and the government will stop [as] we purge the general population.
[Ladies and gentlemen], don’t be scared, here we respect honorable people, here pure people of Mr. 88 and keep placing banners for….unintelligible.
Pure people of Mr.88!”
On June 13th, gunmen aboard motorcycles would target patrons of the Doña Lucy bar along 27 de Febrero street with knifes, killing five and injuring multiple others in the process before fleeing the scene. According to Jose Raúl Reyes, Journalist for Fuerza Informativa Azteca, after storming the closed off residence that operated as a clandestine bar, the victims would have their hands tied up before being stabbed and mutilated by the armed suspects, but some would manage to break free and seek help managing to flee near the El Sagrado Corazón de Jesús bread shop and a Alcoholic Anonymous facility.
In response, members of the Mexican Military were deployed to the scene to secure the area, with a security operation was deployed in coordination with personnel of the National Guard and Macuspana Municipal Police to locate those responsible. The victims would be transported to multiple hospitals in the region where two would later pass from their injuries, rising the initial death toll of the attack to seven mortal victims and an unconfirmed number of injured.
During the attack a banner was left at the scene claiming ‘El 11’ and ‘Comandante 88’ to be responsible and that it was directed at ‘Chapulines,’ a term referring to individuals who switch from a criminal group to another, a translation is as follows:
Both figures were named on a handwritten banner placed by members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) on June 9th near the grounds of the Agustín Díaz del Castillo Kindergarten alongside three mutilated bodies in Macuspana, Tabasco claiming those who operate under Gerardo Ivan Aguirre Morales ‘El Águila’ would meet a similar fate.
A translation is as follows:
“We are here in Macuspana fuckers, this will happen to all the people that work for Gerardo Ivan Aguirre Morales aka ‘El Águila’ and for ‘Aldama’ we have all your workers addresses hawks (Joto, Pado, La Diabla, Chamo, Juan Carlos, William, and Somba) we will go after all of you, this plaza has an owner all the dealers have 24 hours to align yourselves with us or the same will happen to you Vero, Luki, Pateyro, Carlos Esteban Blecimientos, to all the people that pay tax to this scumbags we will be take that as a negative we do not charge tax and we do not bother the townspeople we are here to clean the municipality of kidnappers, and extorsions of criminal activity.
Sincerely, Commander…CJNG…88″
Although they attempted to cover up certain parts of the banner, by increasing the exposure of the image we can uncover the name ‘Comandante 11’.
