In January 2022, the Los Reyes Cartel (key faction of the Carteles Unidos alliance) revealed the level of submission it imposed in Michoacán.
In the municipal seat of Los Reyes de Salgado, hitmen from the group blocked a road; a driver, upon finding the road blocked, honked her horn asking to be let through.
The criminals’ response was brutal: they subdued the woman in broad daylight and mockingly shaved her in the street.
The video of the abuse outraged the country, exposing how the civilian population lived under the absolute submission of a structure that was believed to be untouchable.
However, the beginning of the end of this hegemony accelerated at the beginning of August 2026, when federal forces managed to capture in Imbarácuaro Alfonso Fernández Magallón “Poncho la Quiringua”, the top historical leader of the Los Reyes Cartel for whom the United States offered 5 million dollars.
His arrest triggered blockades, revealing the operational fragility of the group after losing its main leader.
Far from stabilizing, the structure completely collapsed shortly after, his successor and head of hitmen, Luis Enrique Barragán Chávez “El Wicho” or “El R5” (for whom the US justice system offered 3 million dollars), was killed or detained in an operation by federal forces in Michoacán.
His fall, which occurred just weeks after assuming command after the arrest of “La Quiringua”, has left the organization without visible leadership and disjointed in the face of the advance of rival groups such as the CJNG and official operatives.
That armed group that in 2022 shaved women on public roads for the simple fact of asking for passage today is experiencing the accelerated fall of its leaders. With “Poncho la Quiringua” behind bars and the death or arrest of “El R5”, the Los Reyes Cartel has lost its capacity for territorial control, falling apart.
