The roots of Los Guerreros are deeply embedded in Tinaja de Vargas. This town, located in the municipality of Tanhuato, Michoacán, has been for decades the operational center of a violent family clan allied with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG). This clan has not only been key to the cartel’s expansion but has also managed to consolidate a significant social base.
At the head of this wing of the four-letter cartel is Heraclio Guerrero Martínez, better known as Uncle Lako. At over 70 years old, he is considered one of the most important associates of Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, El Mencho, for operating in the border region shared by Jalisco and Michoacán.
According to local media reports, just over a decade ago, in November 2015, Heraclio Guerrero Martínez was arrested after the then-Attorney General’s Office of the State of Michoacán (PGJE) identified him as one of the masterminds behind the murder of Enrique Hernández Saucedo, a former leader of self-defense groups who was running for mayor of Yurécuaro.
“El Tío Lako” was prosecuted for the murder of the Morena party candidate. However, although the conditions of his release are unknown, since 2023 a series of events have once again placed the regional leader of the CJNG cartel in the public eye, both for the involvement of Los Guerreros—as his armed wing is known—in criminal activities, and for his ostentatious lifestyle and the impunity with which he operates in various areas of Michoacán and Jalisco.
