La Barredora ("The Sweeper Truck") is a criminal gang based in the Mexican
resort city
A resort town, often called a resort city or resort destination, is an urban area where tourism or vacationing is the primary component of the local culture and economy. A typical resort town has one or more actual resorts in the surrounding ...
of
Acapulco, Guerrero
Acapulco de Juárez (), commonly called Acapulco ( , also , nah, Acapolco), is a city and major seaport in the state of Guerrero on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, south of Mexico City. Acapulco is located on a deep, semicircular bay and has bee ...
and its surrounding territories. The criminal group came into existence during the rapid
decentralization
Decentralization or decentralisation is the process by which the activities of an organization, particularly those regarding planning and decision making, are distributed or delegated away from a central, authoritative location or group.
Conce ...
of Mexico's drug trafficking organizations and as a split-off group of the
Beltrán-Leyva Cartel.
[ Originally, the Beltrán Leyva cartel operated in the city, but the group no longer has presence in Acapulco. After the Mexican military gunned down the top boss of the cartel – Arturo Beltrán Leyva – in December 2009, his brother ]Héctor Beltrán Leyva
Héctor Manuel Beltrán Leyva (15 February 1962 – 18 November 2018) was a Mexican drug lord and leader of the Beltrán Leyva Cartel, a drug-trafficking organization. He was the brother of Arturo Beltrán Leyva (deceased), former leader o ...
took control of one of the factions of the cartel and declared war on Edgar Valdez Villarreal
Edgar Valdez Villarreal (born August 11, 1973), also known as La Barbie ("The Barbie"), is a Mexican-American former drug lord and high-ranking lieutenant of the now-disbanded Beltrán Leyva Cartel. Valdez is serving a 49-year prison sentence ...
, who had long been the right hand of Arturo. Amidst the violence, Valdez Villarreal tried to appoint a successor, but those in Acapulco broke off and formed their own criminal gang: the Independent Cartel of Acapulco. Within weeks, however, the group had splintered too, forming a new and rival group known as La Barredora. Villarreal Valdez was then captured by the Mexican Federal Police in August 2010, but the violence between the groups for the control of Acapulco continued.[http://www.elnuevodiario.com.ni/internacionales/232229, Policía mexicana captura al líder de la banda criminal "La Barredora", EFE, November 4, 2011]
The group's leader, Eder Jair Sosa Carvajal, nicknamed "El Cremas", founded the organization along with Christian Hernández Tarín, AKA "El Chris" (arrested on October 18, 2011) and Víctor Manuel Rivera Galeana, AKA "El Gordo" (on November 4, 2011).
The cartel's area of operations have centered on the resort area and port city of Acapulco. The cartel is known to battle its rival, the Independent Cartel of Acapulco (also an offshoot of the Beltrán Leyva Cartel) and to have links with the Sinaloa Cartel
The Sinaloa Cartel ( es, link=no, Cártel de Sinaloa), also known as the CDS, the Guzmán-Loera Organization, the Pacific Cartel, the Federation and the Blood Alliance, is a large, international organized crime syndicate that specializes in il ...
.Polarization and Sustained Violence in Mexico's Cartel War
, American Security Watch, January 26, 2012
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barredora, La
Organizations established in 2010
2010 establishments in Mexico
Drug cartels in Mexico
Mexican drug war
Acapulco