“Sol Prendido” for Borderland Beat
Video translation is as follows:
The Tierra Caliente Michoacána and its surrounding municipalities continue to be a war zone between the Jalisco New Generation Cartel and the United Cartels. The criminal conglomerate made up of the Michoacán cartels joined forces to stop the onslaught of the cartel led by El Mencho in a war that has been raging for more than four years. Since August 2019, the four letters cartel publicly declared war on their former ally Juan Jose Farias Alvarez aka El Abuelo accusing him of being a traitor.
One of the leaders of Carteles Unidos who heads one of the battle fronts and maintains a frontal dispute with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel is El R5. Various reports indicate that El R5, also nicknamed Güicho from Los Reyes, is a man named Luis Enrique Barragan Chavez who has assumed leadership of the organization in the municipality of Los Reyes since at least 2021.
A series of clashes between Güicho from Los Reyes and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel were reported on social networks, according to information published on El Blog de Los Guachos through the X plataform. The clashes began on December 26 in the community of Zipoco in the state of Jalisco near the Michoacán state line. El R5’s mob went out in armored vehicles to confront El Mencho’s cartel.
But it seems they were pushed back and returned with several dead, the above-mentioned user published. In one of the videos recorded by one of El R5’s hitmen, it can be heard how they are repelled by a mini machine gun fired by members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. This is how the R5 gunmen were shot from the armored vehicle during confrontations, published by user El Blog de Los Guachos, who posted the following videos.
Yesterday, according to the publication that accompanies this video, the counter-attack of El R5’s mob took place. ‘We are the absolute mob of El Guicho’, one of the hired killers is heard shouting while firing gunfire against his adversaries. According to Michoacan media 90 Grados at least four people lost their lives in the clashes that took place in between the state lines of Michoacan and Jalisco.
In addition, the aforementioned media reported other clashes in the perimeters of the municipalities of Cotija and Tepalcatepec after the Jalisco New Generation Cartel launched a coordinated attack against the Michoacan cartels. The clashes included the use of high caliber rifles such as the Barret .50 Cal and the M-134 Minigun rotary machine gun.
As well as armored vehicles of the so-called Monstruos. Regarding these acts of violence, the authorities have remained silent. So far there is no official information on the matter from the government of Alfredo Ramirez Bedolla, which remains tight-lipped in the face of the wave of violence that is sweeping Michoacan. While the self-proclaimed R5 mob or Los Guichos warn that the town of Los Reyes continues to be a disputed territory due to the Jalisco Cartel New Generation Cartel’s attempts to enter the state.
Distance between Zipoco, Jalisco and Los Reyes, Michoacán
* At this time it is believed that Luis Enrique Barragán Chávez aka Güicho de Los Reyes is from Los Reyes, Michoacán