Fuel Crisis in Mexico
TULA, MEXICO - JANUARY 22: Trucks with gasoline pipes wait to fill the Tula refinery as part of the fuel crisis after an explosion in a pipeline belonging to Mexican Public Oil Company Pemex on January 22, 2019 in Tula, Mexico. Due to the closing of gas lines the distribution of gasoline changed to pipes. In a statement, PEMEX announced that the explosion was caused by the illegal manipulation of the pipeline, as minutes before the accident videos were shot where people could be seen filling drums and car fuel tanks. Photo by Hector Vivas/Getty Images

A Mexican cartel boss, Jose Antonio Yepez Ortiz, also known as "El Marro," has been sentenced to 60 years in prison over kidnapping on Friday, according to state prosecutors in Guanajuato.

Ortiz and his gang were known for allegedly stealing an industrial-sized amount of petroleum and was reportedly involved in a turf battle with the Jalisco cartel.

One of Mexico's Most Wanted

"El Marro" - which means "The Sledgehammer" - was one of the most wanted criminals in Mexico.

The leader of the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel was arrested back in 2020, following a shootout with police.

At the time, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador described the arrest as "extremely important," as Yépez Ortiz has been accused of much of the violence in Guanajuato.

Late Friday, the state Attorney General's Office announced that Yepez Ortiz had been sentenced by a regional court. According to local news outlets, he is still facing allegations of attempted homicide, fuel robbery, and organized crime.

El Marro's Santa Rosa de Lima gang was formed by robbing freight trains and stealing from fuel pipelines but soon expanded into extortion and other crimes, particularly after López Obrador declared war on pipeline taps and temporarily suspended the supply of fuel early in his presidency.

The Mexican President committed to lowering petroleum theft and crime, and Yepez is his most high-profile drug arrest to date.

A Known Enemy of Jalisco Cartel

Yépez Ortiz was uncommon among gang leaders in that he posted videos to his followers with emotional messages, including one a few months before his arrest in which he appeared to cry when some of his supporters and relatives were detained.

Around the same time, he vowed to join forces with the Sinaloa cartel to fight Jalisco in another video.

Guanajuato, with its global auto manufacturers and tourist places like San Miguel de Allende, became the most violent state in Mexico as a result of the turf war with Jalisco.

The Jalisco drug cartel has been fighting local gangs for control of territory in Guanajuato, a farming and industrial state.

Guanajuato has the highest number of homicides in Mexico.

El Marro's gang is not a drug cartel but rather a powerful, violent gang that started in a farming hamlet of Santa Rosa by stealing fuel and robbing trains.

The gang attempted to develop a support network among locals by allowing them to share a small portion of the robberies' proceeds.

When government security measures made fuel thefts more difficult, the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel began extorting money from companies such as tortilla stores, car dealers, and farm equipment.

Just last week, Jalisco New Generation Carte has bombed at least two towns in the city of Tepalcatepec, in the state of Michoacán, Mexico, leaving an appalling history of bodies in its wake - ripping out victims' hearts and dissolving their bodies in barrels of acid.

On Monday morning, the gang reportedly began attacking the communities of El Bejuco and La Romera in a violent bid to seize control of the city.

Disturbing footage circulating online shows people fleeing for their lives after the alleged strike by members of the JNGC on a woodland camp.

Since then, a bloody war has emerged in Mexico between different gangs for control of the drug markets, adding to the violence that has plagued the country for years.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Jess Smith

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