The Morelos State Attorney General’s Office (FGE) arrested and released José David “N”—known as “El Güero Gym”—on the same day, following an operation in Totolapan that ended in a swap for three detained agents.
Behind the arrested man operates “Pueblos Unidos,” the latest iteration of a Sinaloa Cartel cell that has changed its name at least three times in recent years.
The exchange took place around 7:35 PM on Monday, as confirmed by the FGE in an official statement. Authorities identify Daniel Vergara—also known by the alias “El Sensual”—as the second-in-command to Júpiter Araujo Bernard (“El Barbas”), the organization’s leader.
“Pueblos Unidos” did not emerge from a vacuum. According to reconstructions by various media outlets, the cell currently operating in Totolapan is a new version of the same group, having gone through the names Gente Nueva, “La Empresa,” and now “Pueblos Unidos.”
Each name change coincided with a wave of arrests that tarnished the previous brand’s reputation—both in the eyes of the authorities and among the local population living alongside the group. An example of this pressure occurred in August 2024, when the FGE, Sedena (Army), and the National Guard carried out an operation in the San Marcos *ejido* (communal land area) within Totolapan, seizing long guns, ammunition, tactical gear, drugs, and vehicles linked to Gente Nueva cells.
In its Monday statement, the Morelos Attorney General’s Office identified the detainee only as a “generator of violence with regional influence” linked to “Pueblos Unidos,” without specifying the group’s structure or leadership.
