Guerreros Unidos

Mexican organized crime group

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Criminal organization

Guerreros Unidos

Cartel de los Guerreros Unidos

Founded| 2010
Founded by| An alliance in 2010 signed by La Familia Michoacana remnants with Beltrán-Leyva Organization, Tijuana Cartel, Juárez Cartel, and Los Zetas
Founding location| Guerrero
Years active| 2010-present
Territory| Mexico: Guerrero, Oaxaca, Edomex, Morelos, Distrito Federal, Puebla
United States: New York State, Miami, Chicago
Ethnicity| Mexican
Leader(s)| Esther Yadira Huitrón Vázquez
Criminal activities| Drug trafficking, corruption, extortion, kidnapping, murder
Allies| La Familia Michoacana
Beltrán-Leyva Organization
Los Zetas
Juárez Cartel
Tijuana Cartel
La Barredora
CIDA
Los Talibanes Cartel
CJNG
Iguala Municipal Police
Rivals| Gulf Cartel
Knights Templar Cartel
Popular Revolutionary Army
Sinaloa cartel
Los Rojos
La Nueva Familia MichoacanaLos Tlacos

Guerreros Unidos (English: United Warriors, lit. 'Warriors Unified') is a Mexican criminal syndicate in the states of Southern Mexico.

In 2014, the cartel kidnapped 43 students from Ayotzinapa College in Iguala, Guerrero. A witness confirmed that soldiers in the Mexican Army were involved in the kidnapping, by interrogating the students at the army base in the town of Iguala and then handing them over to the cartel.[1]

Much of what is known about the gang comes from investigations into the disappearance of the Ayotzinapa student teachers, and 23,000 text messages from BlackBerry communications among the gang members obtained by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.[2]

## History

[edit]

In December 2009, a drug cartel lord of the Beltrán-Leyva Organization, Arturo Beltrán Leyva was shot and killed by the Mexican Marines, splintering the Beltrán-Leyva Organization into smaller operations.[2]

Guerreros Unidos was founded in 2010 as two factions from La Familia Michoacana merged an alliance with different cartels. One faction chose sides with the Tijuana, Beltrán-Leyva, Juárez and Los Zetas cartels. Another chose alliances with the Gulf and Sinaloa Cartels.[3] It splintered off from another gang, los Rojos (“the Reds”). It established itself in Guerrero state, near the Ayotzinapa campus.[2]

The faction that chose sides with the Sinaloa and Gulf cartels rivals formed Guerreros Unidos with the remains of the Beltrán Leyva Cartel. Before the kidnapping of the 43 students, it was suspected of attacking a bus of Ayotzinapa activists on 11 December 2011, with Guerrero state militia and police.[3]

## Mode of operation

[edit]

According to The New Yorker magazine, the "specialty" of Guerreros Unidos was smuggling drugs in hidden compartments it fitted in passenger buses traveling to Chicago, Illinois in the United States. In Chicago, a contact of the group (Pablo Vega), would unload and distribute the drugs, according to text messages collected by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.[2]

The gang had many police on its payroll. According to a sworn deposition of a member of Guerreros Unidos (who eventually testified against the gang),

> “The purpose of every person who belongs to the organization [is] to send drugs to Chicago, and to keep watch and do what is necessary. ... That is why there should be support by public officials like police officers at every level.”[2]

The gang also employed many lookouts to keep track of movements by the Mexican army, and used real estate and other "traditional" methods to launder money.[2]

## 2014 Iguala kidnapping

[edit]

On 26 September 2014, students from Ayotzinapa College were assisting a protest in Mexico City to commemorate the 46th anniversary of the Tlatelolco massacre. Under orders from the mayor, Iguala Municipal Police, Federal Ministerial Police, Mexican Federal Police, various members from SEDENA, and Guerrero State Police carjacked a bus carrying them to Mexico City. They shot the bus windows killing six students. Witnesses that survived the ordeal described they were taken to the Mexican army base in town, and then the commander decided who would be killed or left alive. The mayor was then arrested a few months later on November 4, 2014, by PGR and SEIDO agents.[4]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Mexican president confirms witness implicated soldiers in kidnapping of 43 college students". www.nbcnews.com. Reuters. 22 January 2021.
2. ^ a b c d e f Guillermoprieto, Alma (4 March 2024). "Letter from Mexico Forty-three Mexican Students Went Missing. What Really Happened to Them?". The New Yorker. Retrieved 10 April 2024.
3. ^ a b "Comisión Nacional de los derechos Humanos México" (PDF). www.cndh.org.
4. ^ "Detienen a José Luis Abarca, ex edil de Iguala, y su esposa, en Iztapalapa, DF". www.aristeguinoticias.com.

* v
* t
* e

Mexican drug war (2006–present)

Names in italics represent dead or arrested individuals.

Timeline

Federal forces

* Mexican Army
* Mexican Air Force
* Mexican Navy
* Fuerzas Especiales (special forces)
* Policía Federal Ministerial
* SEIDO (organized crime investigation)
* Federal Police
* National Guard

Beltrán-Leyva Cartel

disbanded 2010

Armed wings|

* Los Mazatlecos
* South Pacific Cartel

Founders|

* Arturo Beltrán Leyva
* Alfredo Beltrán Leyva
* Carlos Beltrán Leyva
* Edgar Valdez Villarreal
* Sergio Villarreal Barragán
* Héctor Beltrán Leyva

Leaders|

* Héctor Beltrán Leyva
* Fausto Isidro Meza Flores

La Familia Cartel

Disbanded 2011

Founders|

* Nazario Moreno González
* Carlos Rosales Mendoza
* Arnoldo Rueda Medina
* Dionisio Loya Plancarte
* Rafael Cedeño Hernández
* Alberto Espinoza Barrón
* Enrique Plancarte Solís
* José de Jesús Méndez Vargas
* Servando Gómez Martínez

Gulf Cartel

| Factions|

* Los Metros
* Los Rojos

|

Founders|

* Juan Nepomuceno Guerra
* Juan García Abrego

Leaders|

* Óscar Malherbe de León
* Osiel Cárdenas Guillén
* Antonio Cárdenas Guillén
* Jorge Eduardo Costilla Sánchez
* Mario Ramírez Treviño
* Homero Cárdenas Guillén

Juárez Cartel

| Armed wings|

* La Línea

|

Founders|

* Rafael Aguilar Guajardo
* Pablo Acosta Villarreal
* Amado Carrillo Fuentes

Leaders|

* Vicente Carrillo Fuentes
* Juan Pablo Ledezma

Knights Templar Cartel

| Armed wings|

* La Resistencia

|

Founders|

* Enrique Plancarte Solís
* Servando Gómez Martínez

Leaders|

* Enrique Plancarte Solís
* Servando Gómez Martínez
* Nazario Moreno González

Sinaloa Cartel

| Armed wings|

* Gente Nueva
* Jalisco New Generation Cartel
* Los Ántrax
* Artistas Asesinos

|

Founders|

* Héctor Luis Palma Salazar
* Adrián Gómez González
* Joaquín Guzmán Loera
* Ismael Zambada García

Leaders|

* Joaquín Guzmán Loera
* Ismael Zambada García
* Juan José Esparragoza Moreno
* Ignacio Coronel Villarreal

Tijuana Cartel

| Founders|

* Ramón Arellano Félix
* Benjamín Arellano Félix
* Francisco Rafael Arellano Félix
* Carlos Arellano Félix
* Eduardo Arellano Félix
* Francisco Javier Arellano Félix

|

Leaders|

* Enedina Arellano Félix
* Luis Fernando Sánchez Arellano
* Edgardo Leyva Escandón

Los Zetas

| Founders|

* Arturo Guzmán Decena
* Jaime González Durán
* Jesús Enrique Rejón Aguilar
* Heriberto Lazcano
* Galindo Mellado Cruz

|

Leaders|

* Heriberto Lazcano
* Miguel Treviño Morales
* Omar Treviño Morales

Jalisco New Generation Cartel

| Founders|

* Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes
* Érick Valencia Salazar
* Abigael González Valencia
* Martín Arzola Ortega

|

Leaders|

* Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes
* Jorge Luis Mendoza Cárdenas
* Érick Valencia Salazar
* Martín Arzola Ortega
* Rubén Oseguera González
* Abigael González Valencia
* Antonio Oseguera Cervantes
* Elvis González Valencia
* Julio Alberto Castillo Rodríguez
* Gerardo González Valencia
* José González Valencia
* Rosalinda González Valencia

* Other cartels and drug lords
* Corrupt officials

| Other cartels|

* Guadalajara
* Sonora
* Colima
* Oaxaca
* Milenio
* Los Rojos
* Nueva Plaza
* Santa Rosa de Lima
* Los Negros
* Los Viagras
* Independent Acapulco

|

Early drug lords|

* Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo
* Rafael Caro Quintero
* Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo
* Héctor Luis Palma Salazar
* Jesús Amezcua Contreras
* Pedro Avilés Pérez
* Juan Nepomuceno Guerra
* Juan García Ábrego

Corrupt officials|

* Miguel Nazar Haro
* José de Jesús Gutiérrez Rebollo
* Arturo Durazo Moreno
* Noé Ramírez Mandujano
* Raúl Salinas de Gortari
* Julio César Godoy Toscano
* Tomás Yarrington

* Projects
* Operations

| Projects|

* Coronado
* Delirium
* Gunrunner
* Shadowfire
* Southern Tempest
* Wildfire

|

Operations|

* Baja California
* Bishop
* Black Swan
* Blue Storm
* Chihuahua
* Community Shield
* Coyote
* Diablo Express
* Escorpión
* Fast and Furious
* Jump Start
* Kruz Control
* Lince Norte
* Michoacán
* Nuevo León-Tamaulipas
* Phalanx
* Quintana Roo
* Sinaloa
* Solare
* Terminus
* Wide Receiver
* Xcellerator

* Massacres
* Deaths

| Massacres|

* Juárez rehab center
* Villas de Salvárcar
* Chihuauha
* Nuevo León
* Guerrero
* 2010 San Fernando
* 2011 San Fernando
* 2011 Durango
* Coahuila
* 2011 Monterrey
* Altamira
* Apodaca
* 2012 Nuevo Laredo
* Cadereyta Jiménez
* 2014 Iguala
* San Sebastián
* Topo Chico
* Salamanca
* Minatitlán
* Uruapan
* Coatzacoalcos
* LeBarón & Langford
* Cieneguillas
* Irapuato
* Camargo
* Coatepec Harinas
* Las Tinajas
* Celaya
* Juárez prison

|

Deaths|

* Politicians killed
* Journalists and media workers killed
* Enrique Camarena (DEA agent)
* Rodolfo Torre Cantú (physician / politician)
* Édgar Eusebio Millán Gómez (police commander)
* Jaime Jorge Zapata (US agent)

* Books
* Other topics

| Books|

* Cartel: The Coming Invasion of Mexico's Drug Wars
* El Narco: Inside Mexico's Criminal Insurgency
* The Fight to Save Juárez

|

Other topics|

* Allegations of CIA drug trafficking
* Blog del Narco
* Juárez house of death
* Most-wanted Mexican drug lords
* Piracy on Falcon Lake
* War on Drugs
* Narco-submarine
* Narco tank
* Manhunt of Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán (2001–2014)
* 2015 Amado checkpoint protest
* 2018 Chimney Canyon shootout

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