Borderland Beat

by Alex Marentes

  This was the exact area where we use to ride the remote mountains on our motorcycles during the Christmas break. For some time, I had no clue to what extent the narco influence pervaded the region and made it dangerous if you found yourself involved directly or indirectly by accident.

  Young sicarios driving late model luxurious pickup trucks and almost all of them carrying long rifles, guard the region to keep out rival cartels. This region is a main corridor for the trafficking of drugs targeted for the US. Two Sinaloa cell groups that control the mountains are "Los Salgueiro" and "Los Chavez Matamoros" This area is commanded by Sinaloa bosses Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman Loera and Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada. There is a huge presence of members of the "Los Salgueiro" who can be found in villages like Batopilas around Guachochi and up to Creel. The vast majority of the municipal police provide support to most of the heavily armed sicarios in the region. Through the rugged mountain wilderness of Chihuahua, Sinaloa and Durango, the marijuana and opium poppy make its way to entry ports of Janos and Ojinaga.

  It was not always like that, in 2008 Juarez Cartel controlled the region, where they charged "piso de plaza" or a toll for anyone wanting to do business in the region. It was the same year that a boss of the Juarez Cartel, Anicasio "El Cacho" Cevallos was killed and violence spread from Guachochi to outlining areas of Sinaloa and Durango. Cevallo had been the one responsible for a massacre in Creel that killed 13. Sinaloa Cartel stopped the "cuotas" (protection money) and punished anyone who dare to betray the rules of Sinaloa Cartel. During this time Guachochi was a hot plaza, classified as the most violent in the world.

  Like Pancho Villa did during the Mexican revolution, who hid in the Sierra Madres when he was pursued by US General Pershing, "El Chapo" Guzmán used the same mountains to hide. According to a federal report, Guzmán remained primarily inaccessible in the vast remote areas of the “Golden Triangle.”

  He was the barefoot son of a peasant who became one of the richest moguls in the world, a billionaire entrepreneur with a third-grade education. He controlled a vast drug distribution empire that spanned six continents, but he still carried his own AK-47. He was generous and feared, a mass murderer and a folk hero. He was a ghost who become a legend.

  A general with an incorruptible reputation started to scale the highest peaks of the mountains that form El Triangulo Dorado, or the Golden Triangle. As a military commander of an elite Army unit, he was on a mission for one of the last hunts being undertaken by the government of Felipe Calderón that was seeking a trophy before the end of his failed administration in his drug war. The Mexican president was seeking the capture of El Chapo or El Mayo, the two leaders of the Sinaloa cartel, and they say, the world's most wanted. Any pacts or agreements made previously, did not mean much toward the end of his presidency. But it would not be easy, it would have to be an action of betrayal. He would use the same MO of the cartels themselves, not personal matter, just a business (political) decision.

  It is the Sierra Madre mountains of Mexico that had exhausted the military, consumed the presidency of Felipe Calderon and left more than 43,000 dead in drug violence. In the Sierra Madre Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, the founder of the Sinaloa cartel, reigns supreme.

  El Chapo Reigns; Supreme Capo

  During my time reporting on Borderland Beat (from 2008 through 2013), Joaquín Archivaldo Guzmán Loera otherwise known as El Chapo remained at large. He had escaped from a maximum-security prison, Puente Grande in Jalisco, Mexico on January 19, 2001, in a laundry cart. The planned escape required bribes and cooperation allegedly costing him $2.5 million dollars.

  He had obtained the nickname of El Chapo (Shorty) because of his 5 feet, 6 inches in height. Born in Sinaloa, Guzmán came from a poor farming family and was constantly physically abused by his father. As a child, he sold oranges and dropped out of school in third grade to work with his father. Through his father, Guzmán entered the drug trade, helping him cultivate marijuana and opium poppy for local dealers during his early adulthood.

  After the fall of the Guadalajara Cartel, a summit took place in Acapulco and the group agreed to divide the territory in different organizations.

  The Arellano Félix brothers formed the Tijuana Cartel, which controlled the Tijuana corridor and parts of Baja California. In Chihuahua state, a group controlled by the Carrillo Fuentes family formed the Juárez Cartel. The remaining region of Sinaloa and the Pacific Coast was formed as the Sinaloa Cartel under Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada and El Chapo Guzmán.

  Guzmán always wanted to take control of Ciudad Juárez, a major drug crossing point, which was in the hands of the Carrillo Fuentes family of the Juárez Cartel. Guzmán convened a meeting in Monterrey with Ismael Zambada García ("El Mayo"), Juan José Esparragoza Moreno ("El Azul") and Arturo Beltrán Leyva. In this meeting, they discussed killing Rodolfo Carrillo Fuentes, who was in charge of the Juárez Cartel at the time.

  On September 11, 2004, Rodolfo, his wife and two young children were visiting a Culiacán shopping mall. While leaving the mall, escorted by police commander Pedro Pérez López, the family was ambushed by members of Los Negros, assassins for the Sinaloa Cartel. Rodolfo and his wife were killed.

  Ciudad Juárez found itself in the front line of the Mexican Drug War and would see homicides skyrocket as Sinaloa and Juarez fought for control. El Chapo would be the first drug lord to break the nonaggression "pact" the major cartels had agreed to, setting in motion a fighting between both cartels for drug routes that has claimed thousands of lives.

  Mexican President Felipe Calderón took office in December 2006 and started to go to war against the cartels using the Mexican military and federal police, this was an attempt to stem the increase of violence. After four years in office, Calderon failed to slowed down the flow of drugs or the killings tied to the drug war. Of the 53,000 arrests made from 2010 to 2014, only 1,000 involved members of the Sinaloa Cartel, which led to suspect that Calderón was intentionally allowing Sinaloa to win the drug war. El Chapo’s rival cartel leaders were suddenly being killed and their structure dismantled by the Calderon war on drugs, but the Sinaloa cartel was relatively unaffected. This allowed the Sinaloa to take over other rival's plazas as Tijuana, but also included the coveted Ciudad Juárez-El Paso corridor.

  In a Newsweek investigation, it was alleged that in order for El Chapo to maintaining his dominance among rival cartels, he filtered information to the DEA and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that led to the arrests of his adversaries in the Juárez Cartel.

  El Chapo is alleged to have also filtered information that led to the arrests of some of his top Sinaloa leaders. It is speculated that these arrests of his people were part of a deal Guzmán made with Calderón in exchange for immunity from arrest and prosecution. This would give the perception that the Calderón’s government was heavily pursuing the Sinaloa cartel during his presidential term in office. This was a key factor influencing the breakaway between the Sinaloa Cartel and the Beltrán Leyva brothers, five brothers who served as Guzmán's top lieutenants. The arrest of Alfredo “El Mochomo” Beltran Leyva was attributed to El Chapo. There was also the understanding that El Chapo played a significant role in the death of his top Sinaloa deputy "Nacho" Coronel by Mexican federal forces in Guerreo.

  Guzmán was known among drug lords for his longevity and evasion of authorities, assisted by alleged bribes to high level federal authorities, along with state and local officials. The huge military and federal police presence in Sinaloa for the manhunt of El Chapo failed to capture him for years. His elusiveness from law enforcement made him a legendary figure in Mexico's narcotics folklore. Stories abounded that Guzmán sometimes strolled into restaurants, his bodyguards confiscating peoples' cellphones and after eating his meal, he left paying for everyone's tab. Rumors circulated of Guzmán being seen in different parts of Mexico and abroad.

  We always wonder what he looked like, as the only pictures known of him were when he had been incarcerated in prison in 2001 or old ones from before
. Borderland Beat posted a couple pictures that were exclusive of the supposed Capo, but it was very hard to verify the authenticity.

  For more than thirteen years, Mexican security forces coordinated many operations to re-arrest him, but their efforts were largely in vain as Guzmán appeared to be steps ahead of them.

  Although his whereabouts were unknown, the authorities suspected that he was likely hiding in the mountains of the "Golden Triangle" where he grew up. Guzmán reportedly commanded a sophisticated security circle of at least 300 informants and gunmen resembling the manpower equivalent to those of a head of state. His inner circle would help him move around through several isolated ranches in the mountainous area to avoid capture.

  He would eventually be arrested, only after he made two key mistakes. One grave mistake he made was to finally go public after an infatuation with a Mexican actress from a narco novela (soap opera actress Kate del Castillo). His meeting with the Mexican actress and American actor Sean Penn, allowed the Mexican and US government to pinpoint the location of the capo. This brought attention to the Calderon administration and forced the Mexican government to really go after El Chapo.

  Mistake number two was getting flushed out of the safety of the vast dense mountains of the Sierra Madres while being pursued. El Chapo was on the run around Culiacan and Mazatlan. He would eventually be cornered for the third time by Mexican authorities and he would be ultimately extradited to the US for trial, sealing his fate and no more able to bribe government official using his billions of dollars chest fund.

  Ciudad Juarez Almost a Failed State

  Reputed Sinaloa drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman Loera, accompanied by an army of sicarios, strolled into Juárez one day claiming the city’s lucrative smuggling corridor as his own, so the rumor goes.

  Whether true or not, Juárez and other parts of the state of Chihuahua had become ground zero in a battle over drug-trafficking routes that had been under the control of the Carrillo Fuentes (Juarez Cartel) drug organization for more than a decade.

  The animosity between El Chapo Guzman’s Sinaloa Cartel and the Juárez Cartel was evident as the death toll mounted, including several bodies found with threatening notes aimed at Guzman’s associates.

  “This will happen to those who keep supporting El Chapo. From La Linea and those who follow it,” stated a note found next to two men slain in the Loma Blanca area outside of Juárez.

  The leader of the Juárez drug cartel was Vicente Carrillo Fuentes, who was believed to have taken control of the organization after the 1997 death of his brother, Amado Carrillo Fuentes, who was nicknamed the “Lord of the Skies” because of his use of airplanes to smuggle cocaine.

  Vicente Carrillo Fuentes, 45, was indicted in 2000 by a U.S. federal grand jury on a long list of charges, including 10 counts of murder and the distribution of tons of cocaine and marijuana bound for New York, Chicago and other markets throughout the nation.

  A Mexican federal police commander identification card bearing a photo of Vicente Carrillo Fuentes was recovered by the FBI from in a west El Paso home in 2000.

  To survive the recent upheaval, Vicente Carrillo Fuentes allied himself with reputed drug trafficker Heriberto “Lazca” Lazcano, one of three leaders of the Zetas.

  The violence in Juarez from organized drug organizations fighting for turf intensified by the months. It seemed like murder had become a common theme in Juarez with no end in sight. Drug thugs were killing in daylight, in front of police headquarters, in the centers among the public. The citizenship often times found themselves in the crossfire or were killed at random.

  Every day we would hear of yet more bloodshed on the streets of Juarez and no one was ever brought to justice. More often, drug cartels killed at ease despite thousands of military and federal police in Juarez. As president Felipe Calderon attempted to stem the drug violence in Juarez, it was a futile struggle and it only produced ineffective results against a wave of increased violence.

  Yes, this border city had become the battlefield for warring cartels armed with smuggled American guns and it did not appear it would slow down any time soon.

  There was never a shortage of weapons for the cartels.

  Approximately 75 to 95 percent of the conventional guns -- from AK-47s to .50 caliber rifles capable of penetrating body-type armor -- supplied to the Mexican drug cartels were traced to the United States.

  Mexican drug cartels were at war with the Mexican government and each other over distribution of illegal narcotics into the United States and they needed guns from the U.S. to fight back.

  The deaths were not limited to drug dealers. Businessmen, lawyers and others were also killed in mob-style hits carried out by armed commandos. In addition, nightclubs, car lots and factories were torched.

  The foundation of the drug war in Mexico is a drug-trafficking problem, which grew in size, sophistication and ruthlessness over the decades, all while being funded by the multibillion-dollar U.S. drug market.

  Former Mexican presidents Carlos Salinas de Gortari and Ernesto Zedillo allowed this problem to get worse and worse, and allowed these cartels to get more sophisticated and powerful over time. The number one problem in Mexico, even today, is corruption.

  There are rumors of deep corruption within the political machine, judicial process and more importantly, the police institutions. Corruption has allowed drug traffickers to elude Mexican authorities.

  The government could not possibly be blind to the corrupt police forces operating among the plazas in the light of day? I remember my experience back when I visited Copper Canyon and knew that intervention from within was necessary if anything was going to change. This not only required reforming the police institutions, especial the municipal police departments but a purge of the bad apples that were colluding openly with organized crime would obviously be necessary. Certainly, an intervention in Ciudad Juarez was needed to slow down the flow of violence that was spiraling out of control.

  Some Tourists on Cartel’s Cross Hair

  One question we often got when I was involved with Borderland Beat was “is it safe to travel to Mexico or Ciudad Juarez.”

  Between 2008 through 2013 Ciudad Juarez had a lot of violence. One could then easily say that Juarez would have a higher risk than any other city in the US. But cartels typically did not go out of their way to target tourists without a reason. If it did happen, it was under indirect circumstances, such as getting caught up in the crossfire.

  But if any American got involved in cartel activities in Mexico, specifically in Ciudad Juarez, or if an American associated themselves with people that had ties to drug cartels, the risk would rise tenfold.

  As was the case one day afternoon in 2009 in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. The cracking sound of gun fire was once again heard coming from a motel room of "La Cúpula," located in Paseo de la Victoria and Tapioca. A sound that was way too common on the streets of Juarez, a playground for the battling drug cartels. It was believed that organized crime was responsible in the slaughter of four people.

  Again, another senseless execution happening in the daylight hours, in a very public place with many witnesses and in one of the most reputable motels of the city.

  Government officials from both sides of the border have been warning tourists who visit Juarez to stay in public places, remain vigilant of their surroundings, choose the option to stay in their motels without having to walk the streets and lock their doors.

  But these safety tips mean nothing in Juarez where anyone can kill you at any time, in any place and nothing ever happens.

  The incident happened minutes before 6pm and was reported by employees of the establishment. The unofficial account was that two men and two women were the victims of a killing.

  Police say a group of heavily armed men ordered employees behind the front desk into one room while they searched the hotel register for the two men and women they were looking for.

  The armed men then went inside room number 27 and opened fir
e on the four people. The assailants were described as at least two hooded commandos who were traveling in a Suburban. At the scene authorities found at least 40 spent shell casings fired from assault weapons known in Spanish as "cuerno de chivo" or AK-47 style weapons.

  At least three of the victims received a gunshot to the head at close range or as is known in Mexico, "tiro de gracia." At the scene officials also recovered a 2002 gray Honda car that had been reported stolen.

  The victims were identified as Daniel Ivan Torres Gutierrez of 22 years of age, Jimmy Albert Moreno Macias of 21 years of age, Yolanda Torres Vanessa Fernandez of 23 years of age and Brenda Lissete Fernández Torres of 20 years of age. Both of the females appeared to be sisters. Through unconfirmed sources it was believed that the target of the attack was Ivan Daniel Torres Gutierrez, a Mexican national, who had been in the company of the three others who at this point appear to be US citizens. Both of the females were said to be from the state of New Mexico.

  During the beginning of 2009, the number of Americans executed in Juarez related to drug trafficking soared.

  US State Department records noted that the number of cases of this type of incident since May of 2008 when it first saw eight executions related to drug trafficking of U.S. citizens had seen a drastic increase. From 2002 to 2009 Ciudad Juarez and surrounding areas had register at least 72 murders of U.S citizens, of which about 47 or 65 percent were reported to be potentially executions linked to drug sales.

  As President Felipe Calderon attempted to weed out police corruption and break down drug cartels, it created a power vacuum among narco traffickers - and thus creating a new wave of narco-violence in Mexico. In its travel warning of 2009, the State Department declared that "some recent Mexican army and police confrontations with drug cartels have taken on the characteristics of a small-unit combat." The reason for the rise in crime was the fragmentation of the large cartels into smaller factions fighting for dominance within the cartel. It’s hard to measure the strategy of Calderon making the criminal syndicates smaller, but, it certainly did not stop the flow of narcotics through Mexico and has only fueled the violence. The chances of being an innocent bystander or witnessing something bad in Juarez were higher than ever.