Morelia woke up in flames; gunmen attacked three bars

This Saturday morning in the city of Morelia, groups of armed men set fire to at least three bars located in the southern area known as Altozano, for which the Michoacán public prosecutor’s office opened an investigation.

The establishments concerned were Vertical, located in el Boulevard Juan Pablo II, while the nightclubs Mint and Luvon the Jefferson Boulevard, points where the emergency services were mobilized to extinguish the flames.

“There Michoacán State Attorney General (FGE) opened an investigation file for the damage perpetrated in the early hours of today, in three bars located in the southern part of the city”, indicated the state agency.

So far, the authorities have not indicated whether one of the lines of inquiry is the possible extortion of local businessmen, also known as land right indictment by criminal organizations.

According to initial reports, in the bar called Upright, an exclusive nightclub, five armed individuals got out of a red vehicle and fired at the facade then threw Molotov cocktails, thus causing the fire which led to the total loss of the premises, according to Civil protection.

As for the Mint bar, the damage was around 50%, said Alejandro Hernández, director of Local civil protection.

We had two simultaneous fires, the first, at La Monnaie at 50%, and at 100% at La Verticale; Work is progressing, but there are very brand new materials and they are being checked to prevent them from reigniting,” the official said.

He added that approximately 15 firefighters showed symptoms of intoxicationhowever, none of them are at risk.

For its part, the Public Prosecutor’s Office indicated that “staff from the various forensic disciplines went on site to carry out the proceedings and undertake the investigative missions allowing the elucidation of the facts”.

So far, no casualties have been reported in attacks by armed groups. Local authorities have decided to close Avenida Juan Pablo II to traffic.

For his part, he Secretary of the Government of Michoacán, Carlos Torres Piña, assured that these attacks had caused no injuries and insisted that it was only material damage. Finally, he explained that the three fires were put out around 9 a.m.

We are in constant communication with the Michoacán State Attorney General who will follow up on what happened; In addition to this, a security operation is already underway in the area,” he said via social media.

Also on social networks, several people shared images of flames and columns of smoke, visible from miles away.

In the afternoon of this Friday, March 10, various clashes were reported in three municipalities of Michoacan by alleged members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) y Viagraa criminal group that is part of United Cartelswhich left three dead and 15 detained.

The violent events began at two o’clock in the afternoon on Friday and continued around four o’clock. The clashes were reported in Uruapan, buena vista there Tepalcatepec.

Due to these facts, the Michoacán Public Safety Secretariat (SSP) detailed in the afternoon that 3 men who died of gunshot wounds have been located, while 15 people have been arrested.

For its part, the Citizen Intelligence Unit reported on his Twitter account that members of United Cartels burned vehicles for one of their missing leaders. It is Heladio Cisneros, aka La Sirenawho would have been deprived of his liberty this Friday morning.

“After his escorts were brutally murdered this morning, relatives of Heladio Cisneros requested assistance in locating the regional leader of United Cartelsit is feared that the Jaliscos will take him away to harm him,” he wrote on his Twitter account.