Agents of the State Prosecutors Office and the Puerto Vallarta Police installed a checkpoint at the entrance of the city after a violent gun battle broke out on Saturday, March 20th, in Rincn de Guayabitos, Nayarit. On Tuesday, he gave a passionate televised address to the nation calling on Mexicans to join in the fight against organized crime. In less than eight years, he went from self-proclaimed rags to being one of Nayarits richest men, or, to use a measure more in keeping with his cowboy image, from having two horses, [to], State attorney general Veytia was the man who made good on Sandovals promises to halt the killing in Nayarit: the sheriff to the governors cowboy. ET Heavily armed gunmen went on a shooting rampage through the city of Culiacn, the capital of Sinaloa state on Mexico's Pacific coast, battling security Dramatic videos of the two-hour battle were widely shared online and broadcast on national television, including footage of a naval helicopter gunship raining fluorescent red fire down on a safehouse. WebThe killings in Zacatecas came one day after prosecutors in Mexicos most violent state, Guanajuato, reported seven men were shot to death at a mechanics shop. [2] Jean Meyer, Breve historia de Nayarit (Mexico: Fondo de Cultura Econmica/El Colegio de Mxico, 2000) He grew up a dual citizen in San Diego, California, The Beltrn Leyva organization were Sinaloans who had once controlled trafficking in Nayarit and several other areas of western Mexico as part of the wider Sinaloa cartel, until a violent break with El Chapo Guzmn and his allies in 2008the same year that Sandoval and Veytia assumed positions in Tepics municipal government. El Chapo was tried this year in a U.S. court and sentenced to life in prison. Subsequently, in early 2019, the, Then, in February 2020, and apparently on the basis of, But it now appears that Sandovals was not the only name Veytia shared with U.S. authorities. There have been signs that the situation in Quintana Roo state, where all the resorts are located, was out of control months ago. Now Zacatecans, including in the state capital of the same name, have awoken on several occasions to corpses dangling from overpasses. For the past month, a shot up pick-up truck has rested here. With a total area of a little under 30,000 km2, Nayarit is roughly the size of Massachusetts, and 23rd out of Mexicos 32 federal entities in terms of size. Among other things, the cartels are battling to control the most lucrative drug: fentanyl. Murders occur daily in Fresnillo, a city that mixes the local offices of major mining companies with farmers working the bean fields. I imagine the situation at wash center at that time. Most of them hail more specifically from the town of Xalisco, just outside the state capital of Tepic, where opium gum from Nayarits mountains was processed into black tar heroin and then sent off north for distribution and sale. On the morning of Saturday, March 20th, a violent shootout was reported in the town of Rincn de Guayabitos, which mobilized the municipal, state as well as federal authorities, who arrived in support of the military personnel coming under attack by armed civilians. He was rumored to have used his bus franchise to smuggle marihuana, as well as heroin processed in laboratories that he operated in Nayarits mountains. The gun battle went on for at least 20 minutes. ..i dont understand all of these killings and no end to it. VALPARASO, Mexico (AP) When they heard gunfire in the valley, residents locked their doors and cowered inside their homes. A San Jose, California woman born in India, Anjali Ryot, and German citizen Jennifer Henzold were apparently hit by crossfire from the Oct. 20 drug dealers' shootout in Tulum, south of Puerto Morelos. He says people heard the shots and started running. Mexico's security secretary, Alfonso Durazo, said the fighting began when about 30 National Guard and army troops patrolling the city were fired on from a house occupied by Ovidio Guzmn Lpez, who is wanted in the U.S. on drug trafficking charges. Posts may contain strong violent material, discretion is advised. Zacatecas 746 murders in the first half of the year, compared to 1,065 for all of 2020, give it the highest murder rate per 100,000 residents in the country through June, according to the Mexican government. And he said to give up in the drug war would be to abandon Mexico and leave it in the hands of organized criminals. In recent months, the Jalisco cartel kidnapped several members of an elite state police force, tortured them to obtain names and addresses of fellow officers and began hunting down and killing police at their homes, on their days off, in front of their families. 'The cartels are not just a U.S.-Mexico problem I think the way most people see them,' a former Texas Public Safety officer said. Armed attackers killed 10 people in a pool hall in an industrial region of central Mexico plagued by drug cartel-related violence, authorities said Thursday. The story of the Narco-Nayarit connection therefore illustrates both the deadly consequences of official corruption in the context of the modern Mexican drug war, and also the dangers of assuming that, in the same context, a pax mafiosa can ever be truly peaceful.. But this fall, the arrest of Mexicos former secretary of defense, General Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda, dragged this small and unassuming state into the spotlight. That Edgar Veytia was eventually arrested, tried and convicted for his part in this story, and that an arrest warrant has since been issued for Roberto Sandoval, is somewhat heartening. Last Wednesday, he announced a special strategy to address the cities with the most murders, among them Fresnillo: more military presence and more social development. In these times, These kind of filth will will only end when EL PUEBLO (THE PEOPLE) stand up. All the businesses locked their doors, Garcia says. Residents abandoning cars and burning vehicles are seen on multiple roads. The story of how that corruption played out in Nayarit brings into focus the interplay between military operations, political maneuvering and drug trafficking. hide caption. Comments are moderated, refer to policy for more information.Enva fotos, vdeos, notas, enlaces o informacin Todo 100% Annimo;borderlandbeat@gmail.com. There were 15 days that we didnt go out for anything, said Claudina Betancourt, a nurse born in San Juan Capistrano. Far from a law enforcement hero, however, Edgar Veytia was in fact the very picture of a miscreant. Opium Crisis,' Journal of Illicit Economies and Development 1, No.3 (2019) Montes de Oca said eight suspects in the Tulum attack had been detained in possession of firearms. Some people were locked in the supermarket for more than a hour. They included two German men and a Dutch woman. "About 15 people arrived on the beach to assassinate two men who had showed up saying they were the new dealers in the area," the head prosecutor of Quintana Roo state, Oscar Montes de Oca, told the Radio Formula station. In November, a shootout on the beach of Puerto Morelos left two suspected drug dealers dead. Anyone can read Conversations, but to contribute, you should be a registered Torstar account holder. It sits halfway up Mexicos Pacific coast, sandwiched between Sinaloa to the north and Jalisco to the south, while its mountainous interior also borders Durango and Zacatecas. All of these activities were overseen by his chief ally and enforcer, Edgar Veytia: the same man charged with the local prosecution of the Mexican states war on the drug cartels., State attorney general Veytia was the man who made good on Sandovals promises to halt the killing in Nayarit: the sheriff to the governors cowboy. Nayarit rarely makes the headlines in Mexico, far less in the rest of the world. The administration of President Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador has pinned its hopes on the so-called Maya Riviera, where it has announced plans to build an international airport and a stop for the Maya train, which will run in a loop around the Yucatan peninsula. One might also conjecture that Cienfuegos protection extended to Patrn Snchezs political partners in crime, too. Rather, it was an organization that not only controlled drug trafficking in Nayarit between 2011 and 2017, but also established close ties with much of the states political elite. Residents said he had been helping them get electricity back after an armed group cut the power to some ranches. Known to many in Nayarit as El Diablo or La Bestia, Veytia was described by witnesses to his abuses as the military arm of Sandovals governorship, using the Polica Nayaritthe black-uniformed, balaclava-clad paramilitary police he set up as the states main anti-cartel forceas his own personal army. hide caption. "It's worth the effort to continue on with this fight," Calderon said. [3] Romain LeCour, Nathaniel Morris, Benjamin T. Smith, The Last Harvest? Cartel map of Mexico. In 2020, some 93,000 people died of fentanyl overdoses in the U.S., a record high. Some 200 armed men had just looted a gas station, according to a witness, and the shooting would continue for hours as an equal number from an opposing group confronted them. We can imagine that if Cienfuegos may well have backed Sandoval, making his pleas that much more persuasive. The Yucatan Times' content is protected by intellectual property rights, its re-publication, distribution, or retransmission is prohibited without the company's prior authorization. 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Through the project Touring the Southeast. But their relations with El Chapo cooled off after Alfredo Beltrn Leyva was arrested in January 2008. In October 2013, Veytia even provided security at a wedding at Santa Mara del Oro lake, where Juan Francisco Patrn Snchez and Hctor Beltrn Leyva, were entertained by famous norteo singer Remmy Valenzuela. Karim Torres/AP Similar violence is occurring in other states like Michoacn and Guerrero, where residents caught between competing gangs suffer extortion, abductions and killings. He also said one person suffered non-life-threatening injuries in the attack, but authorities could not determine whether that person was a hotel employee or a guest because they were still undergoing medical treatment. It would seem that the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, who now moved into Nayarit, Just five weeks later, however, Veytia miscalculated or was perhaps himself betrayed and on one of his twice-monthly trips to San Diego to visit his family was detained at the US border. For many, Cienfuegos arrest and subsequent release is a conspicuous symbol of the intrinsic corruption that plagues the militarized drug war strategy. Mexicos armed forces delivered a spectacular blow on Thursday night against one of the countrys leading drug cartels when an Apache helicopter rained down machine gun fire on a residence in the Pacific resort of Nayarit where the leader of the Beltrn Leyva organization was holed up, killing him and seven members of his organization. The legacy of this political history and the facts of geography together define Nayarits place in the modern Mexican drug trade. It seems that nowhere in the country is immune. WebThirteen Mexican police officers and investigators have been killed in an ambush as they travelled through a rural region marking the latest attack on law enforcement by brazen Rarely seen in public without a sombrero and an embroidered Wixrika shoulder bag, Sandovals self-proclaimed peoples government undertook numerous eye-catching projects, such as building a public sports and concert arena (which soon flooded), huge water-capture tanks in the poor outskirts of Tepic (which were never connected to the local water supply), and a sports center shaped like a giant cowboy hat. The day they (soldiers) leave, we know from experience that quickly the criminal groups are going to fight over territory, said Eleuterio Ramos, Valparasos worried mayor. WebMEXICO CITY Police have discovered at least 33 human skulls buried in western Mexico, authorities said on Tuesday, the latest grisly find in a region that has suffered This copy is for your personal non-commercial use only. By 2010, Tepic had a murder rate of 229 for every 100,000 inhabitants, and was ranked the thirteenth most dangerous city in the world. The four Arturo, Alfredo, Hctor and Carlos began their criminal career in northwest Mexico as hitmen for the Sinaloa cartel, then led by Joaqun El Chapo Guzmn. There was panic, said a 21-year-old man, the oldest of five siblings. Resuelve los ltimos Crucigramas de Mambrino, Juega a nuestros Sudoku para Expertos y mejora da a da tu nivel, Juega a las nuevas Sopas de letras clsicas y temticas de EL PAS. Calderon said this week that the bloody offensive against the drug cartels isn't just his war but is an effort to make Mexico safe for all law-abiding citizens. But it now appears that Sandovals was not the only name Veytia shared with U.S. authorities. "There was a lot of panic. To order copies of The gunfire from what appeared to be sniper rifles and truck-mounted machine guns sent residents of the western city scrambling for cover. Indeed, Nayarit is Mexicos second biggest exporter of mangoes, and primary producer of tobacco. Over the past two weeks, hundreds of people have been gunned down in Mexico as drug violence continues to escalate. One month after the June 24 killings, there have been no arrests. "The bullets were entering the restaurant.". The German Foreign Office issued a travel advisory about the violence, advising its citizens "if you are currently in the Tulum or Playa del Carmen area, do not leave your secured hotel facilities.". Plenty of families left, some for other Mexican cities to wait for the situation to calm, others to the United States where some 1 million Zacatecans the same number as in Mexico reside. Further inland is Tepic, the states slightly gritty capital of 330,000, located in an altiplano zone of cane fields and coffee orchards towered over by huge volcanoes. The operation was a joint effort between Veytias police forces and the Navy, a surprising partnership given previous events. And all this he accomplished, it is alleged, through embezzlement of state funds, extorsion of businesses, overseeing kidnapping for ransom and seizures of land and property, and, of course, close collaboration with drug traffickers. An employee who answered the phone at the hotel said the shooting occurred on the beach near the facility. Republication or distribution of this content is He specializes in modern Mexican history, and is currently studying the connections between the Mexican Revolution of 1910-140, and the Drug War wracking the country today. The lack of control that the country is We do not publish all comments, and we do not publish comments immediately. It is not the first time that tourists have been caught in the crossfire of such battles. Cienfuegos surprise detention, and even more unexpected release, is emblematic of the deeply intertwined nature of military power, political influence and economic opportunity both licit and illicitin Mexico. Instead, they changed form, as murders, disappearances, abduction, extorsion and land thefts were carried out en masse by a united front of state officials, police officers, cartel gunmen, andas US allegations against General Cienfuegos attestmembers of the military. Their activity focused on shipping cocaine from Central and South America to the United States and Europe. Until, that is, a helicopter-load of marines dropped out of the skies, sparking a fierce battle with the Polica Nayarit, which gave Veytias most important guests enough time to escape. The Puerto Morelos shooting comes two weeks after a California travel blogger and a German tourist were killed in a similar shootout in the beach town of Tulum. hide caption. Highways running north to key border cities pass through Zacatecas, providing a direct route for northbound drugs and southbound guns. Prosecutors said Friday they have arrested a suspect in that killing. They stayed only because there wasnt any way to go, nor any place.. While some of the victims of Veytia and Sandovals reign of terror have recently been able to come forward with their stories of kidnappings, disappearances, and torture, such truth telling is cold comfort to those who have been affected by the even deadlier violence that has wracked Nayarit in the years since Veytias detention in the United States. And the killing continued the next day. Disfrute de nuestras lecciones personalizadas, breves y divertidas. For years, attention focused on violence along Mexicos northern border in cities like Tijuana, Ciudad Juarez and Nuevo Laredo. In August 2019, just a month before Veytias final sentencing, an indictment was filed in the same Court of the, Cienfuegos surprise detention, and even more unexpected release, is emblematic of the deeply. A 2014 photo of Joaqun "El Chapo" Guzmn being escorted to a helicopter in Mexico City following his capture. On The Trail Of Mexico's Vicious Sinaloa Cartel. The state prosecutors office said the shop specialized in repairing motorcycles. Guanajuato has Mexicos highest number of homicides, and has been the scene of turf battles between the Jalisco drug cartel and local gangs backed by the Sinaloa cartel. The battle for control of Guanajuato, an industrial and farming hub, have continued despite increased efforts by police and the National Guard to contain the fighting. From the US Fentanyl Boom to the Mexican. Nor were skirmishes between rival traffickers, and the killing of state officials on the orders of organized crime, unheard of in the state. Ovidio Guzmn was indicted in 2018 by a grand jury in Washington, along with a fourth brother, for the alleged trafficking of cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana. If someone doesnt stop, they open fire. The north-central Mexican state holds strategic importance for drugs being shipped to the United States. That Edgar Veytia was eventually arrested, tried and convicted for his part in this story, and that an arrest warrant has since been issued for Roberto Sandoval, is somewhat heartening. He grew up a dual citizen in San Diego, California, before heading south into Mexico to begin a career of violent crime. pic.twitter.com/sLXtMeUTHk. Despite allegations of corruption and human rights abuses, the army has remained legally privileged, closed to all external scrutiny, and at the very heart of the current Mexican presidents nation-wide public security and policing strategy. Ramon Perez, a retired teacher, says the governor did the right thing in closing the schools. After a two-year trial, Judge Carol Amon found him guilty on these charges on 26 September 2019 and sentenced him to 20 years prison. This region is difficult to access, sparsely populated, incredibly poor (even by Mexican standards), and predominantly populated by Indigenous Wixrika (Huichol) and Nayari (Cora) people. The military has sent reinforcements, but killings continue across Zacatecas: a doctor here, a police officer there, a family hacked to pieces, eight killed at a party, two girls shot along with their parents. According to the national newspaper El Universal, 96 people were killed on Monday alone, the highest daily death toll since Calderon declared war on the cartels in December 2006. WebA shootout between rival Mexican gangs has left at least 28 people dead, officials say. After a two-year trial, Judge Carol Amon found him guilty on these charges on 26 September 2019 and sentenced him to 20 years prison. After the brutal murder of his family ordered by his boss Miguel ngel Flix Gallardo, Palma engaged in a string of vicious crimes to The next morning, a joint force of marines and Veytias officers killed the Beltrn Leyva organizations second-in-command, Daniel Isaac Silva Grate (codenamed H-9), in an ambush in another part of Tepic. More troops would be welcome in Zacatecas, though the effectiveness of their patrols is debated. A detective who apparently was investigating the shootout and was pulled out of Valparaso for his safety was later killed. He became municipal president of Tepic in 2008, and succeeded Gonzlez to the state governorship in 2011, using the PRIs impressive local political machine, together with a carefully cultivated cowboy image, and assurances that only he could put a stop to the violence then wracking the state, to appeal to Nayarits beleaguered and predominantly rural electorate. Seems that Sinaloa is battling The Beltran Leyva there and the plaza started to get heated up when they killed EL PEPINO earlier this year. Several cartels are fighting for the area's lucrative retail drug trade, including the Jalisco cartel and the a gang allied with the Gulf cartel. Guests at the nearby Azul Beach Resort also posted videos of people taking shelter or gathering in the lobby. Alleged drug dealers of the Sinaloa cartel are escorted by policemen in Mexico City following their arrests earlier this year. By FABIOLA SNCHEZ November 4, 2021. Since 1970, eighty percent of Mexican tobacco has been grown in the vast plantations of the Nayarit coast, pulling in migrant workers from across central and western Mexico. Nuevo curso 'online', Maestra en Ciencias Ambientales presencial en Benito Jurez, Licenciatura en Administracin de Empresas presencial en Benito Jurez, Maestra a distancia en Lingstica Aplicada a la Enseanza del Espaol como Lengua Extranjera, Licenciatura Ejecutiva en Psicologa Semipresencial. Cinco sedes disponibles, Licenciatura Ejecutiva en Derecho. Zacatecas had it then too as cartels battled for control, but it was overshadowed. The killings in Zacatecas came one day after prosecutors in Mexicos most violent state, Guanajuato, reported seven men were shot to death at a mechanics shop. Nor were skirmishes between rival traffickers, and the killing of state officials on the orders of organized crime, unheard of in the state. WebIt was one of the highest-profile political killings in Mexico in recent memory. Goodness me, why people killed each other in world. As frustration with the drug war grows, Calderon this week tried to rally the Mexican people behind the effort. "The governor is making sure that none of the bullets hit any of the students," Perez says, by basically sending children on summer vacation three weeks early. [3] Similarly, the long coastline and strategic location between Sinaloa and Jalisco that, in the nineteenth century, had made Nayarit a stronghold of the British contrabandists, by the 1960s made the state a strategically important setting for the trafficking of drugs north towards the United States. WebOn the morning of Saturday, March 20th, a violent shootout was reported in the town of Rincn de Guayabitos, which mobilized the municipal, state as well as federal authorities, By Gerardo 10/28/2010 12:02:00 AM 6 comments. hide caption. horrible. Two suspected drug dealers were killed after gunmen from competing gangs staged a dramatic shootout near upscale hotels that sent foreign tourists scrambling for cover. Soon Veytia expanded into trafficking drugs himself. One man and a woman were found wounded at the scene of the attack, along with five children who had not been wounded. hide caption. A rumor circulated that the cartels were forcing youth snatched from the communities to work for them. He used his power to amass enormous landholdings and expand his own personal ranching operations. Several shootings have occurred near schools. Gunmen stop residents and demand their cell phones to look for information that could tie them to the other cartel. "People were yelling, 'They're shooting! He did not rule out that there were deaths, according to The Associated Press. Days after the June 24 shootout, authorities found two more corpses, raising the death count to 20. Drug-related violence is happening all across Mexico. It would seem that the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, who now moved into Nayarit en masse, had outbid Patrn Snchez and become Veytias new paymasters. President Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador accused. Hector Parra/AP [5] Authors own fieldnotes from the Sierra de Nayarit. However mutually beneficial the relationships had been, in 2017 the alliance between Patrn Snchez, Veytia, Sandoval and Cienfuegos fell apart in truly spectacular fashion. Three other foreign tourists were wounded in the shooting at a street-side eatery that has some outdoor tables, right off Tulum's main strip. In Nayarit, he declared, there was no room for organized crime.. The heavily indigenous highlands that were the backbone of 19th-century rebellion, are today one of Mexicos primary opium-growing zones, thanks to a combination of widespread and severe poverty, rugged, mountainous topography, and the limited, ineffective and often corrupt presence of state and federal authorities. And as once the state provided a stronghold from which Patrn Snchez was able to expand his influence over the entire Beltrn Leyva organization, it is rumored that Nayarit is today the headquarters of Audias Flores Silva, alias El Jardinero, widely seen to be the second-in-command of the Jalisco-based organization. Joaquin called the attack "a serious blow to the development and security of the state putting the image of the state at grave risk.". 7. For example, after Veytias police officers spoiled the attempt to capture Hctor Beltrn Leyva in Santa Mara del Oro in 2013, the Navy Secretary apparently demanded Veytias arrest, but Roberto Sandoval successfully interceded on his behalf with the Secretary of the Interior. The public safety department in Zacatecas state said the policemens bodies were found Wednesday morning in the state capital, also known as Zacatecas. rights reserved. Since 1970, eighty percent of Mexican tobacco has been grown in the vast plantations of the Nayarit coast, pulling in migrant workers from across central and western Mexico.[2]. Nayarit put the safety of the state in the hands of organized crime and in the short term, it worked.. When the shootouts rumble across the plains dotted with ranches, farmers often cant go out to feed their livestock. #Ms: El enfrentamiento inici en el Sector Tres Ros, pero se ha extendido a otros puntos de #Culiacn. The difference between a state being a venue for drug production, trafficking, and conflicts between rival cartels, and one in which the cartels have actually taken control of the local authorities (or in which the authorities have in fact become narcos themselves), is an inherently political one.