Death of Mexican State’s Top Cop Could Rattle Cartel Alliances

MORELIA, Michoacán — The top security official in Michoacán died this week in a helicopter crash that is currently ruled as an accident. The death is expected to strike a deep impact in the operations of regional cartels. Days before, rumors spread about cartel gunmen kidnapping the official’s son.

This week, Jose Martin Godoy and other public officials from Michoacán died in a helicopter crash in the mountainous Villa Madero region. Currently, the crash is considered an accident. Godoy’s death is expected to create ripple effects in the ongoing cartel war for Michoacán since his team was repeatedly singled out for brokering alliances between crime bosses in exchange for bribes and unfulfilled promises of peace. Earlier this month, law enforcement sources revealed Godoy’s son and another relative were kidnapped which set off a large-scale rescue operation–yet the matter was publicly denied.

In 2016, the head of Los Viagras-Familia Michoacana, Nicolas “El Gordo” Santana Sierra, called out Godoy in a series of public interviews for ordering the leaders of some self-defense groups to meet with Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG) to broker a truce in 2014. At the time, several groups of villagers were taking up arms against cartel gunmen after lacking official security efforts. According to Mexico’s El Universal, Santana Sierra refused to fall in line with CJNG, which led to his falling out with Godoy.

In recent years, Santana Sierra and family have built Los Viagras into one of the top cartels in Michoacán and are waging a fierce turf war with CJNG.

Santana Sierra is the same cartel boss who revealed that Michoacán Governor Silvano Aureoles Conejo paid him for votes.

Editor’s Note: Breitbart News traveled to the Mexican States of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and other areas to recruit citizen journalists willing to risk their lives and expose the cartels silencing their communities. Breitbart News / Cartel Chronicles are published in both English and in their original Spanish. This article was written by Jose Luis Lara, a former leading member who helped start the Self-Defense Movement in Michoacán.