During the night of this Thursday, authorities of the Mexico City together with Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena) carried out the arrest of José Bernabé Brizuela Meraz, alias the Cow, the Animal and/or the BeastheLeader of the Independent Cartel from Colima either The Mezcals.
“In a coordinated operation by @SEDENAmx and @SSC_CDMX, José Bernabé “N”, one of the main generators of violence in Colima, was arrested at @AlcaldiaMHmx. Mexico City is not and will not be a refuge for criminals. Thanks to @SEDENAmx for their constant support to CDMX”, The head of the SSC Omar García Harfuch wrote on Twitter.
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At the beginning of the year, the violence returned to Colimaafter a dispute in the State Cereso between two cells of the CJNG. The first under the command of Felipe Peñaloza, el Rojo, and Víctor Alexander Torres Brizuela, nephew of José Bernabé Brizuela Meraz, leader of the Mezcals and/or the Colima Independent Cartel.
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The violence left several mangled bodies. Among them that of a subject nicknamed the eyebrow, a lawyer who has been linked to Los Mezcales.
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In a few days, the clashes unleashed in the cells spilled over onto the streets. Brizuela Merazalias the Cow, spread a rumor about the death of the leader and founder of the CJNG, Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, el Mencho and armed a war.
On February 9, after three days of shootings, the supposed message in which Brizuela Meraz talks about the death of the CJNG capo. This rumor grew to the speculation that Oseguera Cervantes died of a cardiorespiratory arrest derived from chronic kidney failure in a hospital in Guadalajara.
“The fart is between you and us, a bunch of treacherous people and no one is afraid of you anymore because Mencho is already dead, they’ve run out of fucking support because Mencho was the one who was respected.”
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There is no information to prove the alleged claims of La Vaca on the death of Mencho. However, the lack of leadership within the CJNG is one of the possible causes of the fracture between Los Mezcales and the Jalisco cartel.
Who is ‘The Cow’?
José Bernabé Brizuela Meraz, the Cow, has been a criminal target in Colima During the last decade, but even with his arrests and convictions, he returned to the streets to ally himself with criminal groups in turn such as the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), who declared the drug war due to internal differences that have unleashed violence in the state at the beginning of this year.
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The Cow, the Animal and/or the Beast, He had been free since the beginning of 2020, when a judge allowed him to deliver the sentence obtained by the Attorney General of the Republic (PGR). As of that date, he was again wanted by the authorities.
linked with the Tijuana Cartel, Juarez Cartel and the forces of Oseguera Cervantes, the Michoacan leads an independent group that has unleashed the wave of violence in confrontations, executions and shootings in the last month
The first data of the then PGR indicates that Brizuela Meraz He joined the Tijuana Cartel. At least until 2010 he was identified in that organization, when he was around 28 years old. He was not linked to any other organization allied to the Arellano Félix brothers.
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It was known to originate from Lazaro Cardenas, Michoacán, was married, 1.65 meters tall, with light brown skin. He had already spent time behind bars at the Cereso de Tijuana, Baja California, for an order carried out in June 2002.
“Caucasian, thick lip, medium-sized mouth, large ear, bushy triangular eyebrow, small dark brown eye, short hair, wide forehead, long face, flat nose”, it read in his criminal file.
By the end of the first decade, its areas of operations were located in Colima, Michoacan and Baja California. The PGR charged him with criminal association, kidnapping, robbery and murder. In 2008 he was charged with more homicides, threats and coercion through the first criminal court.
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In 2010, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel began to consolidate after the Valencia and/or the Cuinistook over the diminished Milenio Cartel to put in front Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, the Mencho. At that time, according to ministerial authorities, the Vaca settled in Comala, Colima.
From being imprisoned in the north of the country, he approached the region from which he came. In February 2010 he had been identified in discussions and as responsible for the murder of Cristian Alejandro Ceja Mayorala 21-year-old, as well as gunshot wounds against another 17-year-old in the capital of Colima.
He was also known to operate under the names of José Bernabé Vaca Villarreal and/or Bernabé Olvera López. The member of the criminal group was accused of being the material author of the murder of Gustavo Javier González de la Cruz, El Parral, and/or El Frijol in March 2008 in the city of Colima.
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Among kidnappings, extortions and uprisings The same was awarded for the executions of the Ventarrón in 2007, at a truck stop; as well as the death of the subjects nicknamed Jhonny and Rat in 2010, in the town of Joyitas de Villa de Álvarez. Thus he established himself as a criminal leader in the sale of drugs.
The head of the consolidated plaza in Colima from the Mezcalito
At the end of April 2011, he was arrested again in the Colima entity after an operation that was highlighted in the local press and led by the Federal Police as the Secretariat of the Navy of Mexico (Semar). But he was released in circumstances that were not clarified despite links that pointed to him.
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Meanwhile, the CJNG It went from an armed wing linked to the Sinaloa Cartel to a transnational crime group. When he fell back into the hands of justice, la Vaca was arrested in the Mezcalito neighborhood along with a couple of local police officers who protected him. Even so, the case did not transcend in major consequences.
Of Tijuana Cartel and with his history of violence in Colima he went on to operate for the Juarez cartel. With this, he became in charge of coordinating drug shipments in Manzanillo and in the Port of Lázaro Cárdenas. He was promoted to head of the plaza in the relevant areas for the departure and disembarkation of shipments of drugs or chemical precursors.
Four months later, in August 2011, the local police seized the brother of la Vaca in the same Mezcalito neighborhood, Adrián Epitacio Brizuela Meraz, the Pistachio. The member of CJNG was linked to the murder and dismemberment of a sex worker who was related to a member of the rival gang. Given this, the woman was executed for fear that she would leak data that would affect the criminal organization.
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However the Pistachio He was released, since he was also arrested on July 25, 2019 for possession of a 38 super caliber squad-type firearm, Commander Colt, black, in the center of Colima. He alleged arbitrary arrest, beatings and seizure at his aunt’s house, but he was not protected against being linked to the process, although the judge withdrew the precautionary measure of informal preventive detention.
