Mexican cartel boss 'El Mencho' uses new tactic in war against rivals: bombing by drone
Reports indicate that Mexican cartels, long known for using military-grade weapons in their wars against the state and each other, have now moved onto drone warfare.
A report by Forbes , citing Mexican media, indicates that a citizen militia in the troubled Michoacán state has uncovered two drones laden with explosives, ready to be flown over enemy territory, targeting those below.
Local farmers in Tepalcatepec, having heard unexplained explosions in the region in July, are reported to have found an armoured cartel car containing the drones. They were equipped with plastic tupperware containers holding C4 explosive, Forbes reports, as well as ball bearing shrapnel. The homemade bombs also came with systems that allowed them to be detonated from afar.
El Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación usa drones cargados con explosivos para atacar a sus rivales | @marcocoronel #enPunto pic.twitter.com/aTTYBV6FQE
— Denise Maerker (@DeniseMaerker) August 18, 2020
In recent years, farmers in Michoacán have taken up arms to defend themselves against the cartels, with differing results. In some areas the so-called Autodefensas vigilante groups have been credited with successfully combating the drug gangs. In others, the Autodefensas have been accused of being co-opted by the cartels they were designed to fight.
In this case, the drones found by the Autodefensas group are said to belong to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, which is at war with the state as well as the Sinaloa Cartel and another outfit, the upstart Santa Rosa de Lima cartel. The CJNG is led by Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, a former policeman known as “El Mencho” who has risen to prominence in recent years to become Mexico’s main drugs capo.
Cartels in Mexico already use .50 calibre machine guns, grenade launchers and other heavy weaponry, and drones have long been used to smuggle drugs into prisons. But drones being used as weapons is a relatively new departure. Reports from Mexico indicate that the CJNG had, in April of this year, turned to small planes to attack its enemies the Tepalcatepec area, but later switched to drones as they were harder to detect.
“The CJNG has been involved with such devices since late 2017 in various regions of Mexico,” Dr. Robert J. Bunker, Director of Research and Analysis at C/O Futures LLC, told Forbes. “This cartel is well on its way to institutionalizing the use of weaponized drones. None of the other cartels appear to presently even be experimenting with the weaponization of these devices.”
Forbes reports that three such drones, all believed to be CJNG weapons, were found last year. Bunker told the outlet:
“The limiting factor is not so much the availability of military grade explosives—commercial or homemade explosives can be substituted—but the basic technical knowledge necessary to create improvised explosive devices or IEDs.”