In the heart of Apatzingán, Michoacán—an area plagued by violence, forced displacement, and control by organized crime—the “singer” Melissa Plancarte, known as “Barby Grupera,” and her husband, fellow performer Pancho Uresti, opened the “Hotel Boutique Menjaz” and “Restaurante Pancho.”
Far from being a legitimate family venture, this luxury, exclusive complex—featuring seven rooms, a terrace, a bar, and promotional services on digital platforms—is built upon the economic foundations of terror. It was constructed and financed directly with proceeds from the dispossession, extortion, protection rackets, kidnappings, and mass robberies inflicted upon the residents of Apatzingán and Nueva Italia by Enrique “Kike” Plancarte Solís—the artist’s father and a top leader of the Knights Templar (Los Caballeros Templarios) cartel. He was killed in Colón, Querétaro, on March 31, 2014, while in hiding, fearing that the *autodefensas* (self-defense militias) would kill him.
It is worth noting that Melissa also fled and went into hiding in a residential development in the city of Querétaro. She inherited a substantial fortune left by her father, waiting years before accessing the full amount to launder it and enjoy the funds.
While the couple promotes leisure and tourist comfort in a municipality that, as of September 2026, has recorded 92 active investigations into intentional homicide, the financial and operational reality of this establishment reveals a blatant money-laundering scheme—especially given that the municipality lacks the kind of tourism infrastructure that would justify an investment of this magnitude. The funds used to build the hotel complex originated from the illicit coffers that Kike Plancarte amassed by violently subjugating the population of the Tierra Caliente region—where merchants, lime producers, and ordinary citizens were systematically squeezed through extortion and the seizure of their assets.
The trail of the Plancarte family’s illicit wealth is not a recent discovery. In October 2012, the Mexican Army secured the “Los Caballos” ranch—owned by the cartel leader—where they confiscated an arsenal, drugs, over 1.15 million pesos, and $312,310 in cash.
Subsequently, in January 2014, self-defense groups and international agencies documented the scale of the Templario leader’s mansions in Nueva Italia and Apatzingán, which featured extravagant luxuries, jacuzzis, and works of art—all acquired with the spoils of extortion against the local population.
