By Lourdes Mendoza
Lourdes Mendoza is a renowned Mexican journalist and host. She has worked for various media outlets, including Televisa, Radio Fórmula, the newspaper Reforma, and the Proyecto 40 TV channel. She is known for her economic and financial coverage, as well as for her columns and programs on business and sports. This is Mendoza’s most recent column for ADN 40:
‘El Pez’ and ‘El Fresa’, from the Nueva Familia Michoacana (New Michoacan Family), took over Valle de Bravo after AMLO ordered the removal of the marines guarding the area in Tenancingo
The situation in Valle de Bravo is much more serious than people think.
Valle de Bravo, the jewel in the tourist crown of the State of Mexico, with the Morena party coming to power in 2018, El Pez and El Fresa, from the Nueva Familia Michoacana (New Michoacan Family), took over Valle de Bravo after Lopez Obrador ordered the Mexican Marines headquarters in the area of Tenancingo to be shut down.
A few weeks ago, the United States, after accusing these two drug lords of trafficking heroin, methamphetamines, cocaine, and fentanyl, offered a reward of five and three million US dollars, respectively, for information leading to their whereabouts.
Reading the above, one would think that after this, El Pez and El Fresa would no longer be seen on the streets, but the reality is that these two walk the streets of Valle and Avándaro day and night without a problem.
I ask one of my sources: “Are they hiding?”
The answer: “They no longer walk around in black uniforms; now they blend in, passing or trying to go unnoticed, among the people of Valle de Bravo,” although driving around in luxury cars and escorted by ambulances is a far cry from hanging out like normal people.
The new form of slavery imposed in Valle de Bravo by the New Michoacan Family has threatened and subjugated the townspeople, whom they “punish,” since they no longer call them “kidnappings.”
Currently, there are nearly 180 “punished” people, who are taken away to be used as hitmen or to be part of their construction crews for public works.
Believe it or not, municipalities award these bad guys’ companies contracts to carry out public works in the State of Mexico, and parts of Guerrero and Michoacán.
Since drug trafficking is no longer as profitable, the New Michoacan Family has diversified its lucrative activities.
Other testimonies speak of one of the Michoacan Family’s side businesses being organ trafficking. They seek out migrants who pass through their lands and disappear them with total impunity, knowing no one will claim them.
“They lure them out with lies, telling them they will help them, and then they kill them to get their organs, and the Russians are the ones who manage the organ catalog.”
The right-of-way and protection fees for construction materials are charged by this criminal group in total impunity; it’s a reality, and Michelle Núnez and Horacio Duarte apparently don’t care.
Some incredulous Vallesans, when they mentioned they were going to remodel or build something on their homes, were advised by neighbors who had already gone through the same situation to go to the “union” to negotiate the “right of way.”
Let me explain: all materials entering Valle must pay right of way, and everything else available in Valle must be purchased at the union’s branch stores.
Returning to the incredulous neighbors, they replied, “Negotiate with narcos? Forget it!” And later, they warned, half-horrified and half-angry, “They stopped my truck and are asking for 150,000 pesos to let it pass, or they’ll take the vehicle away and kill the driver.”
Also, there are “hawks” everywhere, traveling around in taxis and on motorcycles, informing their superiors via cellphone of everything that happens in the streets of Valle de Braavo and Avandaro.
By the way, in January 2025, the fees will no longer be fixed. For example, a truckload of gravel, sand, or tezontle costs a homeowner 1,300 pesos, while a homeowner pays up to 4,500 pesos. A thousand blocks cost 17,000 pesos in Valle de Bravo, while the same material costs only 5,000 pesos in Toluca.
During AMLO’s six-year term, civil society proposed to Ricardo Sheffield of Profeco (Profeco) that he open a chicken shop with undercover marines to help root out the bad guys, but Sheffield refused.
Right now, Valle de Bravo has the highest priced chicken in the Mexican Republic; it can cost up to 200 pesos per kilo (the normal price elsewhere is 80 or 90 pesos per kilo).
The farmhands were given sacks of corn, but they are no longer accepted because the bad guys have forbidden them from grinding it and making their own tortillas, as everyone must buy only from them.
The local blacksmiths had to create a chat to report all the work they do and have been instructed to charge a 20% cash to deliver it.
And not to make anybody feel uneasy, but the gas workers are about to go on strike to denounce the extortion.
The New Michoacan Family also runs the sawmill and slaughterhouse, although it remains municipally owned, it’s managed by them.
And Horacio Duarte, Secretary of Government, is also turning a blind eye to this whole unfortunate situation.
“Another witness claims that the worst fire last year was arson. It happened on a high mountain where a close employee of Michelle was burned alive. This terrible crime was committed less than 70 meters from where the Municipal President was attending a public event.”
By Lourdes Mendoza
Source: ADN 40
