Dismembered Body Left in NL With Threats Against Gulf Cartel From El Rodo, Ally of Sinaloa Cartel MZ

Dismembered remains were left in the municipality of Pesquería, in the state of Nuevo León, with a message of threats to Gulf Cartel operatives from hitmen who report to “El Rodo”, a Sinaloa Cartel – El Mayo ally.

The Remains and Narco Message

On Wednesday, May 18, 2022, the dismembered remains of a male were left near the town of Valles de Santa Maria, located in the municipality of Pesquería, which is located the east of the major city of Monterrey. 

Police were alerted to the suspicious items after drivers noticed they had appeared on Highway 181, near a building for the manufacturing company Taehwa Mexico. The remains were inside two foam coolers and a plastic bag.

Warning: Graphic images below this point.

El Norte reports the man’s torso was within the plastic bag. As of the writing of this story, both El Norte and Milenio are currently reporting that the man remains unidentified.

The message read as follows:

Valor por Tamaulipas is currently reporting that the unknown text reads “Chago”, which may be a cartel figure’s alias or just refer to the word’s meaning itself of “a person who does nothing or very little”.

The “Rodo” mentioned in the message is likely Joel Rodolfo Ramones Barba, alias “El Rodo”, who heads the “Cartel Independiente de Nuevo León”, or the Independent Cartel of Nuevo León. Rodo and his group are believed to be currently working under an El Mayo associated Sinaloa Cartel group based on a video greeting, covered in this previous story.

The most current, verifiable information we have on who controls the territories near the city of Monterrey comes from the State Investigation Agency (AEI), cited in a June 2021 article from Proceso. The map below represents the AEI intelligence. 

This state intelligence however, was released before the arrest of El Cano in January 2022. Who currently controls the territories that are marked as belonging to El Cano is unknown at this time. 

Sources: Milenio, El Norte, El Heraldo, Valor por Tamaulipas, Info7, La Prensa, Dominguez