El Maestro del Espíritu (The Master of Spirit)

Another day, another tragedy in Michoacán and this time, it wasn’t a politician or a cartel boss.
It was a man who made mezcal.

Sergio Rangel Vieyra, a respected maestro mezcalero from the hills around Morelia, was ambushed and shot on May 22, 2025, while driving his own vehicle near Jesús del Monte. He didn’t make it. His passenger was injured.

And before anyone says, “maybe it was a robbery gone wrong,” let’s look at the bigger picture.

A well-known local politician, Memo Valencia (PRI legislator), went public saying he met with Sergio the day before he was killed.

According to him, Sergio came forward to report serious criminal activity in the area extortion, quotas, and forced displacement and even named the man behind it:

👉 Ernesto Rafael Rosales Zepeda, alias “El Señor Sierra” or “El Sierra 1,” alleged leader of a local group calling itself the Cártel de Altozano.

Now tell me… what are the odds that a man who just reported cartel operations to a politician gets shot less than 24 hours later?

Yeah, I’ll let that question answer itself.

Meanwhile, other mezcal producers in the region allegedly have been threatened, extorted, and silenced. Some even had to cancel planned protest marches because “security concerns” suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

So no this wasn’t “random violence.” This was a message.

Sergio wasn’t a soldier or a cop he was a craftsman, a man who worked the land and turned agave into a symbol of Mexican tradition. And for that, he paid the price of courage in a land where speaking up can cost you your life.

So tonight, if you pour yourself a glass of mezcal, raise it for Don Sergio Rangel Vieyra.
A man who stood up even when silence would’ve been safer.