“Char” for Borderland Beat
The Michoacan state attorney general’s office in western Mexico opened several lines of investigation Thursday into the murder of Hipolito Mora Chavez, founder of the civilian self-defense groups, and three of his bodyguards.
A source from the Attorney General’s Office, consulted by EFE, informed that the main hypothesis being followed by investigators is the quarrels that Hipolito Mora had with former members of the self-defense groups who are now part of the group of hitmen known as Los Viagras, the armed wing of the La Nueva Familia Michoacana cartel (Carteles Unidos).
The Attorney General’s Office confirmed that Mora Chavez was killed while returning from his lemon orchard to his home in the town of La Ruana, in the Michoacan municipality of Buenavista Tomatlan, where on February 24, 2023 he took up arms against the cartel calling itself Los Caballeros Templarios (The Knights Templar).
Mora Chávez was attacked by at least 15 hired assassins who with two vehicles blocked the way to his armored car, property of the Government of Michoacán, in which he was traveling with one of his bodyguards. Four more bodyguards were guarding him on board a patrol car of the Civil Guard (State Police).
Mora Chavez’s car caught fire due to the impacts of the Barret rifles, so the bodies of the self-defense leader and one of his bodyguards were burned.
Hours after the attack, Alfredo Ramirez Bedolla, Governor of Michoacan, who is sympathetic to President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, told the media that his administration had asked Mora Chavez not to live in La Ruana, due to the threats against him.
“Hipolito Mora was asked by the Secretary General of Government (second in command in the State Government) to try to stay in Morelia (capital of Michoacan), that it was better for his safety, because of the disputes, because of the personal fights he had, precisely derived from his self-defense period with other gangs,” said Ramirez Bedolla.
The Michoacan Public Security Secretariat revealed that around 300 agents of the Army, National Guard and the Civil Guard (State Police) are patrolling various points of the Tierra Caliente region, to which La Ruana belongs, in search of the group of hired assassins who attacked Mora Chavez.
Meanwhile, relatives of Hipolito Mora are waiting for the State Prosecutor’s Office to hand over the body of the self-defense fighter, in order to carry out the funeral this Friday.
Mora Chavez was originally from La Ruana, where he took up arms on February 24, 2013, against the drug trafficking cartel known as “Los Caballeros Templarios”, whose main leaders were the drug traffickers Nazario Moreno “El Chayo”, Jesus Mendez “El Chango Mendez”, Servando Gomez “La Tuta”, Enrique Plancarte “El Kike” and Dionisio Loya “El Tio”.
Hipólito Mora had survived two attacks: the first one occurred on November 26, 2022, and another one on March 4 of this year, both in the town of La Ruana.
The Tierra Caliente region is currently home to criminal groups known as the United Cartels (Los Vagras), the Knights Templar and the Jalisco Cartel – New Generation (CJNG), which are fighting for control of illicit activities in the area in blood and fire.
Source: THE SAN DIEGO UNION TRIBUNE
My thoughts:
The following are some of the videos that where shared on twitter on June 29, 2023, from the brutal ambush that Hipolito Mora Chavez suffered by Carteles Unidos (Abuelo Farias, Los Viagras, and so forth). Audio and videos shared by twitter account Noticias (@Jalisciense1cc)
