Operation Luz Negro (Creeperian: Ոպերածիօն Լփզ Նեգրո / Operación Luz Negro;[lower-alpha 1] literally "Operation Blacklight") was a Creeperian military operation executed on the night of 3 to 4 November 2012 against a compound operated by the Menjívar Cartel. The operation was conducted by the Creeperian Armed Forces (FAC), National Intelligence Directorate (DINA), Creeperian Imperial Police (PIC), and Zapatista Viceroyal Police (PVZ) in the city of Guazapa.
The operation aimed to dismantle the Menjívar Cartel, one of the largest drug cartels in the viceroyalty of Zapatista at the time, and capture or kill its leaders: Adolfo Menjívar Ussía, Vicente Menjívar Ussía, and Pedro Menjívar Batrés. Hundreds of Creeperian soldiers and police officers carried out the hour-long operation in the Barrio Las'Acacias neighborhood of Guazapa, during which, the cartels leaders and 32 other cartel and allied gang members were killed or executed. The Creeperian government seized a record 25 tons of cocaine worth an estimated ₡13.04 billion colóns,[lower-alpha 2] one of the largest seizures of illegal drugs in history.
Background
The Menjívar Cartel was established by brothers Adolfo Menjívar Ussía and Vicente Menjívar Ussía and cousin Pedro Menjívar Batrés in late 2005 as a splinter group of the Los'Sureños paramilitary group and drug cartel. On 28 February 2007, the Ministry of Intelligence labeled the Menjívar Cartel as a Designated Terrorist Actor (ATD).
By 2009, the Menjívar Cartel had become one of the largest drug cartels in the viceroyalty of Zapatista. Contemporary rumors alleged that local and Zapatistan government officials held stakes within the cartel and contributed to its rapid growth. The Creeperian government suspected that the cartel was headquartered somewhere in the south Zapatistan city of Guazapa where other cartels had less influence in comparison to the Menjívar Cartel. In 2011, Ignacio Herrera Enríquez, the mayor of Guazapa, was arrested by the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA) for "embezzlement and widespread corruption" ("մալվերսածիօն դե ֆոնդոս յ ծորրփպծիօն գեներալիզադա"), but some foreign analysts alleged that the government was attempting to coverup involvement in the Menjívar Cartel.
Planning
Compound
Sometime between 2004 and 2005, Adolfo and Vicente Menjívar Ussía both acquired a two adjacent plots of land in the Barrio Las'Acacias neighborhood in western Guazapa under false names; on one plot they built a mansion for the Menjívar family to live in when overseeing the operations of the compound and headquarters of the cartel located on the second plot. Both the mansion and compound were completed by late 2006, and the compound served the additional role of operating a convenience store named "Súper Mercado Acacia" as a business front. In 2014, an anonymous former member of the Menjívar Cartel claimed in an interview with the ¡Democracia Ya! newspaper that Herrera Enríquez visited the compound and mansion "on several occasions" ("են վարիաս ոծասիոնես") between 2008 and 2011.
Government organization
According to Le Terraconservais, the Creeperian government received intelligence about the Menjívar Cartel's compound and mansion in Guazapa following Herrera Enríquez's arrest, and that throughout 2012, the government planned an operation to capture and destroy both. After the operation, the government disclosed its name was "Operation Luz Negro".[lower-alpha 3] The operation included several branches of the Creeperian government including the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Intelligence, the Ministry of Justice, the Zapatista Viceroyal Police (PVZ), and the Guazapan Municipal Police (PMG). The following is the Creeperian government's order of battle for Operation Luz Negro that has been publicly disclosed in official documents and public conferences:
- File:Flag of Creeperopolis.jpg Empire of Creeperopolis
- File:Flag of Creeperopolis (1729–1771, 1833–1845, 1933).jpeg Cabinet of Creeperopolis
- File:Flag of Creeperopolis (1326–1565, 1771–1778, 1845–1887, 1933–1935).png Ministry of Defense
- File:Flag of the Creeperian Army.png Creeperian Army
- 12th Army Aviation Flock
- 64th Special Forces Company
- File:Flag of the Creeperian Imperial Guard.png Creeperian Imperial Guard
- 2nd Operations Protection Platoon
- File:Flag of the Creeperian Army.png Creeperian Army
- File:Flag of the National Intelligence Directorate.png Ministry of Intelligence
- File:Flag of the National Intelligence Directorate.png National Intelligence Directorate
- Detachment A4 (Protective services)
- Detachment D1e (Affairs of Zapatista)
- Detachment E24a (Paramilitaries)
- Detachment E24b (Organized crime)
- File:Flag of the National Intelligence Directorate.png National Intelligence Directorate
- File:Flag of the Creeperian Imperial Police.png Ministry of Justice
- File:Flag of Creeperopolis (1326–1565, 1771–1778, 1845–1887, 1933–1935).png Ministry of Defense
- File:Flag of Zapatista.png Viceroyalty of Zapatista
- File:Flag of Creeperopolis (1729–1771, 1833–1845, 1933).jpeg Cabinet of Creeperopolis
In total, the Creeperian government forces numbered around 200 soldiers from the Army and Imperial Guard; approximately 100 agents of the National Intelligence Directorate; and over 250 police officers of the Creeperian Imperial Police (PIC), Zapatista Viceroyal Police, and Guazapan Municipal Police. The army also utilized three Maroto Botín H-2 attack helicopters and one Cruzadore III main battle tank throughout Operation Luz Negro. The operation was commanded by Major Víctor Carpio Galdámez (Army), Inspector Francisco Mena Luján (Imperial Guard), Major José Franco de León (DINA), Colonel Director Ignacio Baquedano Perón (PIC), Colonel Director Jaime Domínguez Campos (PVZ), and Colonel Director Óscar Leyzaola Guzmán (PMG). Additionally, Danilo Medina Sánchez, the viceroy of Zapatista, oversaw the operation.
Operation
Initial attack
| External video | |
|---|---|
 Creeperian Army helicopter attacking the Menjívar Cartel compound |
At around 11:30 p.m. TSS (TMB–3:30) on 3 November 2012, Creeperian government forces assumed positions within and around Barrio Las'Acacias in preparation for Operation Luz Negro. The operation was planned to begin at midnight, but 10 minutes before the operation was scheduled to begin, army specialists observing the compound and mansion spotted increasing activity leading them to believe that the cartel had been tipped off to government activity in the area by an informant or sympathetic civilians. At 11:53 p.m., an army H-2 attack helicopter flew over the compound and began the operation seven minutes early by shooting at the compound.
Soldiers advanced to completely surround the compound and mansion. They came under gunfire from defenders within both structures. Soldiers reported heavier resistance than expected; intelligence estimated that around 10 to 20 cartel members would be within the compound during the raid, but the government later discovered that there were in total 64 members of the Menjívar Cartel and the allied Mara Salvatruchos de Guazapa and Conformistos Guazapeños in the compound defending the structure. Independent analysts believe that the initial intelligence may have been correct but that an informant within the government had notified the cartel of the operation ahead of time, giving it time to prepare a defense of the compound.
Shootout and skirmishes
The government intended to raid the compound and mansion within minutes of the operation beginning, but the heavy resistance forced the government to engage in a shootout to weaken the cartel's defenses. Thirty minutes into the shootout, the army deployed a Cruzadore III main battle tank to assist. The tank inflicted severe structural damage to both the compound and mansion during the shootout, and several structures within the mansion's plot of land collapsed, killing several cartel and gang members. H-2 attack helicopters also supported the ground forces.
At around 12:25 a.m., some defenders drove out of the compound in two armored vehicles in an attempt to break the siege. Creeperian forces destroyed both vehicles, killing Vicente Menjívar Ussía in the process who was onboard one of the vehicles.
Raid and capture
Aftermath
Casualties and extrajudicial executions
Impact on the Zapatistan drug war
Post-operation litigation
In popular culture
Depiction in media
Operation Luz Negro has inspired scenes in several films including Calles Limpias 4 (2017), El Campesino (2020), and Joateca (2023). The two-part episode "60 Tons" of the Creeperian television series Eagle Squadron is loosely based on Operation Luz Negro.
Conspiracy theories
See also
Notes
- ↑ Creeperian pronunciation: [opeɾaˈsjon lus ˈneɣro]
- ↑ ₵1.63 billion credits.
- ↑ While translated from Creeperian as "Operation Blacklight", many news publications refer to the operation as "Operation Luz Negro".
External links
- Hernández Portillo, Iván (4 November 2012). Վիդեո | Գոբիերնո Ժեվօ ա Ծաբո'լ "Ոպերածիօն Լփզ Նեգրո" Ծոնտրա'լ Ծըրտել Մենջձվար [Video | Government Conducted "Operation Luz Negro" Against the Menjívar Cartel] (Video) (in Creeperian). Noticiero de Guazapa. Video duration: 0:27. Archived from the original on 21 April 2025. Retrieved 11 January 2022.CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
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