The 2019 Western Michoacán clashes were a series of armed

confrontation Confrontation is an element of conflict wherein parties confront one another, directly engaging one another in the course of a dispute between them. A confrontation can be at any scale, between any number of people, between entire nations or cul ...

s on 30 August 2019 between the

Jalisco New Generation Cartel The Jalisco New Generation Cartel ( es, Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación) or CJNG, formerly known as ''Los Mata Zetas'', is a semi-militarized Mexican criminal group based in Jalisco which is headed by Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes ("El Men ...

(CJNG) and the El Abuelo Cartel based in

Tepalcatepec Tepalcatepec, also known as Tepeque, is a city and municipality in the state of Michoacán, Mexico, in the southwestern Tierra Caliente region of the state. The municipality borders the state of Jalisco Jalisco (, , ; Nahuatl: Xalixco), o ...

Michoacán Michoacán, formally Michoacán de Ocampo (; Purépecha: ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Michoacán de Ocampo ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Michoacán de Ocampo), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of ...

Mexico Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guate ...

. The clashes began early in the morning, when CJNG launched an attack on El Abuelo after declaring war on the El Abuelo Cartel and stating their intentions to expand into Michoacán and clear the

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * '' Our ...

of El Abuelo. The fight lasted for several hours until

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government ...

forces from the Mexican

National Guard National Guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards. N ...

arrived and broke up the fighting. Fighters from the CJNG cartel were reportedly armed with

Barrett M82 The Barrett M82 (standardized by the U.S. military as the M107) is a recoil-operated, semi-automatic anti-materiel rifle developed by the American company Barrett Firearms Manufacturing. Also called the Light Fifty (due to its chambering ...

s, and as many as 50 were seen in use with the cartel mounted on trucks during the clashes. During the clashes there were a reported 9 people killed and 11 injured; the fighting lasted for 12 hours. During the fighting, local police and armed

civilian Civilians under international humanitarian law are "persons who are not members of the armed forces" and they are not " combatants if they carry arms openly and respect the laws and customs of war". It is slightly different from a non-combatan ...

s fought the cartels in several communities in surrounding areas during the clashes between CJNG and El Abuelo, until the National Guard,

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

and Michoacan State Police arrived. Michoacán's

prosecutor A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the case in a criminal tria ...

said that when the attacks started, roads were

blockade A blockade is the act of actively preventing a country or region from receiving or sending out food, supplies, weapons, or communications, and sometimes people, by military force. A blockade differs from an embargo or sanction, which ar ...

d by CJNG and Cártel del Abuelo vehicles with burning trucks.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Western Michoacan clashes, 2019 2019 crimes in Mexico 2019 mass shootings in North America Mass shootings in Mexico 2019 military operations 21st century in Michoacán August 2019 crimes in North America August 2019 events in Mexico Battles in 2019 Crime in Michoacán Jalisco New Generation Cartel Battles of the Mexican drug war Organized crime conflicts in Mexico Violent non-state actor incidents in Mexico