Through social networks, José Antonio Yépez Ortiz, alias “El Marro”, leader of the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel, sent a threatening video message addressed to the “government”, and also to his criminal rival Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, "El Mencho" of the Jalisco Cartel.
“I’m going to be a stone in your shoe. I’m going to blow up, you will see,” Yepez, wearing jeans with a rifle slung over his should, said in the video.
On Saturday, in the city of Celaya, Guanajuato, roads were blocked, vehicles burned, and businesses attacked due to a police operation that ended with the arrest of 26 members of the criminal gang, including the mother of the cartel leader.
The government secretary, Luis Ernesto Ayala Torres, reported that same day that "federal forces, in coordination with local authorities, carried out searches at points related to organized crime in the Laja Bajío area."
He alerted all authorities to the situation, to "prevent and respond to possible reactions" from the cartel. A furniture store, located on Adolfo López Mateos Boulevard, and a vulcanizer in the Ejidal neighborhood, were attacked.
The Secretary of Citizen Security of Celaya reported that the fire department put out "several vehicle fires in different parts of the municipality."
More than 30 reports of attacks were attended by the authorities within the Laja-Bajío region and other municipalities in the south of the state.
The assailants stormed the city to burn vehicles with the aim of blocking avenues and highways, in addition to setting fire to various local businesses. They also tried to set fire to a gas station located in the center of Celaya.
Since November, rumors began to circulate that hitmen from Sinaloa, allied with "El Marro", had arrived in Guanajuato to stop the advance of the Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel (CJNG)
The government denied this information, but various sources confirmed that since 2017 "El Marro" was an alliance with Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada.
As of that year, the CJNG offensive against the “El Marro” organization increased exponentially: in a few months, executions increased 160%.
Jose “El Marro” Yepez, the leader of the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel, has been a thorn in the side of the President Andres Lopez Obrador’s government due to his gang’s industrial-scale siphoning of petroleum from state-run oil company Pemex.
