Armed groups commandeered vehicles, setting many of them on fire, in both metro area Guadalajara and other parts of the state of Jalisco Friday in an apparent response to the arrest of a drug capo earlier in the day.
At a press conference Friday evening, Governor Emilio Gonzalez said gangs appropriated 25 vehicles in 16 separate incidents – 11 of them in the Guadalajara metropolitan zone.
A man burned to death in one of the incidents, although it is not clear whether he belonged to a gang or was a member of the public.
In many of the metro area incidents armed men boarded city buses and forced the passengers off at gunpoint before dousing the vehicles with gasoline and setting them on fire.
The incidents, known in Mexico as narcobloqueos (narcoblockades), took place in the wake of a shootout between Mexican soldiers and a drug gang in the Zapopan neighborhood of Lomas Altas that resulted in the arrest of several suspects.
Mexico's Defense Department later announced the capture of the leader of the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion, along with his second in command.
A spokesperson suggested the disturbances were orchestrated to distract security forces from taking further action against the drug cartel.
Reports of incidents involving buses, trailers and private automobiles came in rapidly one after the other throughout the early afternoon.
Incidents were confirmed at the following locations: SEE MAP
Avenida Las Torres and Puerto Guaymas
Rayon and Miguel Blanco
Avenida de los Maestros and Enrique Díaz de León
Avenida Lazaro Cardenas and Cruz del Sur
Carretera to Nogales, at Fraccionamiento Pinar de la Venta
Carretera to Chapala, at the corner of perifierico.
Islas Razas, by the Tren Ligero Station.
Carretera libre to Colima, at the Atoyac turnoff
Carretera to Zapotlanejo in Tonalá
Carretera to Morelia, at Colonia Villa California in Tlajomulco,
In Sayula, at kilometer 2 on road to San Gabriel.
Other reports of incidents, including shots being fired at private automobiles, were received from Tepatitlan and other towns in the Los Altos (northeasten) part of Jalisco.
Zapopan authorities said nine people were detained in connection with the narcoblockades and had been handed over to the state attorney general's office.
In a press release issued Friday evening, Zapopan authorities said municipal police arrested seven suspects at the intersection of Cinco de Mayo and the periferico (city beltway), where one person died. Another man in possession of two molotov bombs was detained following the incident on the highway to Nogales, where a trailer was set on fire.
A ninth person was detained at the corner of Nicolas Copernico and Simon Laplace. Police said the suspect had a molotov bomb and that his cell phone contained text messages related to the disturbances in the city. They also released the names of the detainees, whose ages ranged from 21 to 43.
At around 9:30 p.m., 15 men detained in connection with the disturbances were presented to local reporters and photographers. They were all handcuffed and none spoke. No questions were allowed.
The blazing buses caused severe traffic jams in several parts of the metro zone and a massive mobilization of police and emergency services.
Gonzalez tweeted around 3 p.m. that the buses "were being removed" and that traffic is "flowing freely" on most of the city's main arteries. Later he said traffic flow in only two key areas of the city was affected by the incidents.
The U.S. Consulate General in Guadalajara sent out messages by email and through Twitter recommending that "all American citizens stay put while we gather more information. Anyone on the road should continue directly to the nearest safe area and stay put."
The diplomatic mission continued to update its advisories throughout the day.
