SUMMARY
The Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel (CSRL) was one of the larger drug cartels battling other cartels for control over territory in Mexico.
The organization can be traced back to the year 2014 when it was led and founded by David Rogel Figueroa, “El Güero”. The group’s main enterprise consisted of so-called “huachicoleo” (oil-theft). It kept a low profile until 2017 when the CSRL leader at the time, José Antonio Yépez Ortiz, “El Marro”, released a video declaring the group’s hostility towards the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), who were expanding their territory in Guanajuato at the time. Since then the CSRL have waged a long and bloody conflict against the CJNG for control of the state of Guanajuato. The Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel had also become a target of Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador who had made ending oil theft a central point of his security policy.
The Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel’s main base of operation was the Mexican state of Guanajuato in an area known as the “oil theft triangle”. This region is a hotspot for petroleum theft in Mexico, in large part due to the PEMEX pipelines and refineries located there. The namesake of the cartel, the town of Santa Rosa de Lima, can be found within this triangle as well as the towns of Apaseo El Grande, Salamanca, León, Irapuato and Celaya. The CSRL reportedly had a presence throughout Guanajuato State, and were most active in the central and southern areas of the state. CSRL also had a presence in the Mexican states of Querétaro and Michoacán.
El Marro was arrested on 2 August 2020. El Marro’s successor was a high-ranking member of the CSRL named Adán Ochoa, “El Azul”. However, El Azul was arrested on 15 October 2020 and it was unknown who became the highest authority of the CSRL after him. CSRL had allied themselves with the La Nueva Familia Michoacana and Grupo Sombra of the Gulf Cartel in their conflict against CJNG.
Photos and videos released by the CSRL show them in possession of heavy weaponry, and was known to make extensive use of tunnels during their operations. The cartel seems to have been able to count on popular support in its areas of control since government operations against the cartel have been foiled thanks to civilian actions in favor of the cartel. The cartel has also been known to use explosives.
The Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel has been involved in the non-state category of UCDP organized violence.
