Chilpancingo, between the memory of its "president"military and the criminal yoke

Chilpancingo and the criminal dispute

“Los Ardillos” and “Los Tlacos” have origins distant in time, close in geography. While there are reports of the former at the beginning of the century, the latter appeared on the map less than 10 years ago, in 2017.

“Los Ardillos” make direct reference to what is said to be its founder, the former rural police officer Celso Ortega Rosas, nicknamed ‘La Ardilla’. They emerged as an armed group that little by little forged alliances with other regional groups to control the movement of drugs. On the opposite sidewalk, “Los Tlacos”, allegedly led by a man known as Onesimo “El Necho” Marquina, broke away from what was a community police force or what they called themselves.

Both organizations have been blamed for massacres and violent episodes that occurred in the Mountain region and the central municipalities of Guerrero. “Ardillos” and “Tlacos” have a system of “criminal governance” in the state and have a social support base that has intervened when attempts have been made to dismantle them, says political analyst David Saucedo.

“Entering Chilpancingo to capture the leaders of these two groups implies significant bloodshed. It wouldn’t be easy. There would surely be loss of civilian lives. In addition, many political groups there in Guerrero have been nourished and have used the support of these criminal groups. That is, the drug trafficking groups in Guerrero have built political protection rings,” explains the expert.

According to the latest federal security report presented by the administration of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Chilpancingo is one of the 50 most violent cities in Mexico: it ranks 27th. Criminal cells are no longer only involved in the production and distribution of drugs. In recent years, The floor fee and extortion of transporters have attracted the attention of the authoritieswithout favorable progress in this regard. In the markets of that capital, the drug tax that tenants are forced to pay has been documented; if they do not do so, the flames of an arson can destroy their property or the bullets can destroy their life.

The criminal groups that carry out the violence in Chilpancingo use terror practices, such as beheading, to intimidate politicians in the region so that they become part of their criminal synergy. Through fear, they have managed to get addresses from the police, traffic, and inspection; sometimes even the management of the public works budget, in addition to the control of the markets, Saucedo lists.

What they did to Alejandro Arcos is a common practice between “Los Ardillos” and “Los Tlacos”. Only between June 2023 and October 2024, the local press has documented 12 cases of decapitation in Chilpancingo. The mayor’s would be number 13 in that period. But if the search is expanded to neighboring municipalities — where both groups also operate — the figure increases with cases in Tixtla, Chilapa, Iguala and Acapulco.

“Guerrero’s problem is that it is a criminal microcosm. The geography of the place, the semi-arid, mountainous terrain, with many caves, with places to hide, allow practically each municipality to have its own criminal organization, and of course recordings such as that of the former mayor meeting with criminal leaders do not contribute to the State of right of the area,” says Víctor Hernández, professor at the Tecnológico de Monterrey and expert in security issues.

In 2023, the mayor of Morena, Norma Otilia Hernández Martínez, then mayor of Chilpancingo, was filmed in a restaurant in the community of San Martín, in the municipality of Quechultenango, during a meeting with Celso Ortega Jiménez, the criminal leader. . Morena expelled her from its ranks after the media released the tape. She never said exactly what the objective of the narco-political meeting was.

According to Omar García Harfuch, Secretary of Citizen Security, before being murdered, Catalán decided to dispense with his escort to go in a van to the community of Petaquillas, less than 15 kilometers from the municipal seat. I was going to a meeting. No one saw him alive again. The area where he decided to go without his security ring is controlled by Ortega Jiménez, the one who had lunch at least once with the former mayor, Norma Otilia.

“This individual (Alejandro Arcos), for whatever reason, did not serve his interests, and we must see the broader picture: not only did they murder him, they murdered two of his officials. This happens in the municipalities of Mexico and there is the main link of weakness: in the municipal government, and it is precisely the municipal police that are most affected by the militarization and federalization of the security strategy,” adds Víctor Hernández.

“Goodbye, President!”

An element of the National Guard kicks the ball that children play with in the main square of Chilpancingo. Who knows how he manages to give her direction to return it, since almost half of his face is covered with a black cloth. The little soccer players thank him for the pass and he returns to his teammates. A moment later the game resumes. Meanwhile, other minors try to learn to skate in front of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary Cathedral, whose bells ring at dusk so that the people go to mass, which has been dedicated for several days to the person who was the mayor for a few hours. .

About 50 meters away, on the outskirts of the Town Hall, Claudia and Alberto arrive at the end of the day of collecting keys for the statue. They’ll be back tomorrow and maybe next weekend. Before turning off the horn, one of Catalán’s last speeches echoes again in the first frame of the capital city. “Let’s raise our voices and build the future we all deserve. “We are about to make history,” is heard in the voice of the deceased mayor.

The jug used to collect the metal that will later be melted reaches almost its limit. Behind them, a woman begins to light the candles that citizens left during the morning and afternoon.

“He taught us, he guided us. He said that peace was paramount for him. I wanted to be president to set an example that Chilpancingo could get out of the crisis we have had,” says Claudia. There is a lot of love, keys, badges, padlocks are being collected, because people asked for it, it is a citizen initiative,” adds Alberto.

Alejandro Arcos’s face can still be seen in the stickers pasted on the facades of the homes. “Goodbye, President Alejandro!” says a banner that emulates the fences that said goodbye to López Obrador. On election day in June, 48,658 people voted for him.

His office is already occupied by Gustavo Alarcón Herrera, his substitute, who tours the capital under a federal security device and aboard armored vehicles. “With fear,” he says, but for Chilpancingo and “for Alejandro.”

At least during the middle of this October, the capital of Guerrero has nightlife, sales in its markets, dancing in its squares, people in its cinema, public transportation on its roads and headlights lit in the streets that travel over and over again the elements of the National Guard. All while at the bus station mothers paste search cards for their children. All while civil organizations and politicians warn that military deployment is not the answer to stop the violence.

“They could build 200 military barracks, that is not the solution. It is not military deployment, precisely because the military has not been able to handle the package, they do not know how to do public security work. It is not a problem for Guerrero, it is a problem for Mexico, we continue to give the vote to parties of all colors that fail in the security strategy,” says Víctor Hernández.

Chilpancingo, “the place of the wasps”, which one day was used by José María Morelos y Pavón as a strategic site in the independence struggle, Today they live between the boots of the military elements that take care of them and the threat of “Ardillos” and “Tlacos”, who have already demonstrated that they do not respect even the highest-ranking politician in the region. This is how life goes in the capital of Guerrero.