By “El Huaso” for Borderland Beat
A new video filmed in the city of Tepatitlán, Jalisco, shows four armed members of the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) parading two men stripped down to their underwear, holding hands and carrying signs identifying them as burglars.
The video shows two of the gunmen whipping and kicking the accused burglars, prodding them to march down the street. The spectacle in the video is a clear attempt by the CJNG to posture as an order providing force.
This statement of power is amplified by being filmed on González Gallo street, a heavily transited artery through the city of Tepatitlán. The video was filmed in a busy area; one block from the municipal headquarters of the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI), on the same block as a church, across the street from a children’s nursery, and a short walk from the city center as well as police stations.
Therefore, in this video the CJNG communicates that they are a dominant power in the city and can operate without fear of reprisal from government forces, who inhabit and patrol the same city blocks.
Criminal groups often employ vigilante style justice like this in order to cultivate a myth of bringing order and peace to regions they are involved in. They often focus on punishing civilians alleged to have stolen from businesses, raped people or sold banned drugs. Of course, there can never be any certainty as to the veracity of these allegations.
For example, in March 2023 members of the Sinaloa Cartel kidnapped a man with mental disabilities who worked as a window washer in Culiacan, Sinaloa. They branded his face with a searing hot iron identifying him as a thief, and cut off his right hand before releasing him, as reported by Borderland Beat.
Sources: @JaliscoRojo, Borderland Beat Archives