Knights Templar Cartel Chief Apparently Killed for Second Time

The Mexican government’s battle against the Knights Templar cartel, taking over the mantle and the fight from - and for - the self-defense forces who began it in Michoacan state last year, has taken a bizarre twist for the better.  The Houston Chronicle reports that Nazario Moreno Gonzalez, whose nickname is “the Craziest One” was reported dead by the Mexican government in 2010 after a two-day gunfight during the height of the first drug war.  Back then, Michoacan state, and the La Familia Michocan cartel was the start of the war and its main target.  Gonzalez was reported killed but no body was ever recovered.

 

Nozario Moreno Gonzalez

The war moved elsewhere, up north to the border where the government took on the Zetas, the Gulf Cartel and the Sinoloa Cartel who were vying for the border crossings from Baja California all the way to Brownsville, Texas.  Meanwhile, down in Southwest Mexico, the remnants of La Familia Michoacan had regrouped into the Knights Templar and were erecting statutes and shrines to Gonzalez.  A quasi-religious cult was developed with an odd form of heretical Christianity pushed by the cartel who trafficked methamphetamine and engaged in extortion, theft, and took over the port.

When the self-defense forces started their fight for their state, not many seriously doubted that Gonzalez was actually alive.  The new Mexican government (who wasn’t involved in the earlier report) wouldn’t confirm his death, because they didn’t have a body or any proof of death.

Now there is a body.

The government has gone on the attack.  There was a shootout in Michoacan and the thought is that the man found dead was the leader of the Knights Templar, and it s actually Nazario Gonzalez this time. 

If so, it would be a huge coup for the government.  In the last year, the government, led by the Mexican Navy, has captured the country’s top drug lord, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman of the Sinoloa Cartel.  Last year, the Navy captured Miguel Angel Trevino.  This would be the third cartel chief, and one of the most powerful, if not internationally, the one who formerly had the most complete control over a geographic area of the country.

If it’s true, it’s great news.  It’s also a huge hat-tip to the self-defense forces who had the courage to start the fight with the Knights Templar that lured the government in to do its job.  The people changed this, if they didn’t get the actual collar. They set the stage and forced the hand of the government.  Courage was shown, and courage was rewarded.