Highways running north to key border cities pass through Zacatecas, providing a direct route for northbound drugs and southbound guns. pic.twitter.com/sLXtMeUTHk. Durazo said the security forces took control of the house and found Guzmn, who is also known as "El Ratn," inside. Soon Veytia expanded into trafficking drugs himself. hide caption. The authorities didnt arrive until the next day. Carlos Joaquin said the commando wore ski masks and arrived by boat at the beach. But their relations with El Chapo cooled off after Alfredo Beltrn Leyva was arrested in January 2008. Tepic is my hometown and it has become a disaster, I am saddened by what has become of it. The public safety department in Zacatecas state said the policemens bodies were found Wednesday morning in the state capital, also known as Zacatecas. In August 2019, just a month before Veytias final sentencing, an indictment was filed in the same Court of the Eastern District of New York accusing Cienfuegos of also collaborating with Nayarits H-2 cartel. According to journalist Laura Snchez Ley, Veytia had turned informant in order to secure a shorter jail sentence. 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. 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. The gunfire from what appeared to be sniper rifles and truck-mounted machine guns sent residents of the western city scrambling for cover. Yet the fact of General Cienfuegos recent release is testament to the difficulties of obtaining real justice for the people of Nayarit. The gun battle went on for at least 20 minutes. 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. He used all of the forces at his command to give H-2 complete control of drug trafficking in the state: according to witnesses in Compostela, for example, every week Polica Nayarit officers would escort a truck full of H-2 gunmen into their town to help them to disappear people. Veytia also made sure that any H-2 members who were arrested were always quickly freed. Crime "has gone up a little with extortion, with drug sales to foreigners and Mexicans," the prosecutors office said about the raid. The operation was a joint effort between Veytias police forces and the Navy, a surprising partnership given previous events. As frustration with the drug war grows, Calderon this week tried to rally the Mexican people behind the effort. Everyone ran from beach and swimming pools. Goodness me, why people killed each other in world. Web15 Murdered in Tepic Carwash. WebJuly 25, 2021 VALPARASO, Mexico (AP) When they heard gunfire in the valley, residents locked their doors and cowered inside their homes. WebMexico: The candidate for mayor of Morolen is killed. Last month, a priest was killed in crossfire on the highway. The H-2 Cartel was not some minor group that somehow managed to bribe the countrys top security official. And these practices were so profitable that officials at the heart of President Pea Nietos PRI federal governmentindeed, the commander-in-chief of the same army prosecuting Mexicos war on drug traffickingdecided to get in on the action themselves and take their own cut of the reward. Nayarit put the safety of the state in the hands of organized crime and in the short term, it worked.. For the past month, a shot up pick-up truck has rested here. 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. Joaquin called the attack "a serious blow to the development and security of the state putting the image of the state at grave risk.". Indeed, Nayarit is Mexicos second biggest exporter of mangoes, and primary producer of tobacco. In June, two men were shot to death on the beach in Tulum and a third was wounded. 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. Really it is a nice blog, I would like to tell you that you have given me much knowledge about it. [5] Authors own fieldnotes from the Sierra de Nayarit. Zacatecas, once dominated by the old Zetas cartel, has been the scene of turf battles between a number of cartels. The shooting that lasted for more than half an hour in Rincn de Guayabitos was caused by a criminal group in an attack against agents of the Mexican Army, said the governor of the State, Antonio Echevarra, through his Twitter account. [46] Edgar Valdez Villarreal, the leader of Los Negros cartel enforcement, was arrested on August 30, 2010 outside Mexico City. The installed checkpoint stops vehicles at random and performs preventive checks on their occupants at the Boca de Tomates bridge crossing. "The bullets were entering the restaurant.". Ulyses Ramirez, a cook there, says eight windows shattered but no customers were hurt. Some people were locked in the supermarket for more than a hour. The Mexico Violence Resource Project is a collaborative effort housed at UC San Diegos Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies. Juan Francisco Patrns brother Jess, who also played a leading role in the organization, was arrested six years ago. In the tourist town of Taxco, south of Mexico City, soldiers fought a 40-minute gun battle with alleged cartel hitmen that left 15 people dead. "It's worth the effort to continue on with this fight," Calderon said. However mutually beneficial the relationships had been, in 2017 the alliance between Patrn Snchez, Veytia, Sandoval and Cienfuegos fell apart in truly spectacular fashion. The state prosecutors office said the shop specialized in repairing motorcycles. Smoke from burning cars rises in Culiacn, Mexico, on Thursday, after an intense gunfight between security forces and gunmen linked to the Sinaloa drug cartel. We do not publish all comments, and we do not publish comments immediately. On October 15, Cienfuegos was detained in Los Angeles on charges including conspiracy to distribute heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana in the United States, allegedly working on behalf of the Nayarit-based H-2 Cartel. Cienfuegos denied the charges against him, and after a month of behind-the-scenes wrangling, US attorney general William Barr decided that . There was no immediate information on a possible motive in the shootings, but such attacks in Guanajuato in the past have been related to rivalries between drug gangs or street-level drug dealing. The operation was a joint effort between Veytias police forces and the Navy, a surprising partnership given previous events. Soon after, the house was surrounded by "a greater force" of heavily armed gunmen and the troops withdrew. Veytias arrest led the Mexican Federal prosecutors office and lawmakers in Nayarit to open a joint investigation into Sandoval in mid-2017. What makes Zacatecas worth fighting for is its location. 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.. [3] Romain LeCour, Nathaniel Morris, Benjamin T. Smith, The Last Harvest? 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. Jos Luis Gonzlez Meza, a lawyer speaking on behalf of the Guzmn family, told the AP that "Ovidio is alive and free," but he did not elaborate. 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. Sandovalor simply el Roberto, as he is still known in Nayarit began his political career under the patronage of PRI state governor Ney Gonzlez (2005-2011). The shootout left eight presumed drug cartel members and one policeman dead. The dramatic shooting attack sent tourists scrambling for cover at the resort of Puerto Morelos, just south of Cancun. It is ironic, then, that it was precisely the Federal governments militarized crackdown on the cartelsand the extreme and generalized violence that accompanied itthat allowed the so-called H-2 cartel to extend its influence to the heart of the government itself; first by gaining unprecedented sway over state authorities in Nayarit, and from there suborning General Cienfuegos Zepeda, the very man supposedly leading Mexicos fight against organized crime. Nayarits transformation to an estado narco was tied up with the long history of PRI control in the state, and, more specifically, with the nature of Roberto Sandoval Castaedas tenure as state governor between 2011 and 2017which not coincidentally overlapped with General Cienfuegos term as Secretary of Defense during the PRIista administration of President Pea Nieto, from 2012 to 2018. Nayarits hugely important agricultural sector has made the state a natural stronghold of the PRI, and in particular of PRI strongmen of a particularly brash and populist bent; only two non-PRI governors have ever run the state (once between 1999-2005, while in 2017 the state flipped to current president Lpez Obradors insurgent MORENA party), while the PRIs stranglehold on municipal-level politics has been even more complete. permissions/licensing, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com. This copy is for your personal non-commercial use only. One month after the June 24 killings, there have been no arrests. 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. Plaza Cigarrera looks like a boring strip mall in Tepic, capital of Mexico's Pacific coast state of Nayarit. Then, in February 2020, and apparently on the basis of evidence given by Veytia as part of a sentencing deal, the U.S. State Department indicted Sandoval, alleging he had misappropriated state assets and received bribes from narcotics trafficking organizations, including the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) [and] the Beltran Leyva Organization. On 13 November, at the same time as the Mexican government was pressing for the release of General Cienfuegos in the US, the Mexican prosecutors office issued a warrant for Sandovals arrest on charges of embezzlement, graft and corruption. His name was added to INTERPOLs red list, while Mexican President Lpez Obrador urged him to turn himself in and face justice although to date his whereabouts remain unknown. Far from a law enforcement hero, however, Edgar Veytia was in fact the very picture of a miscreant. A national newspaper reported that on Monday 96 people were assassinated in drug-related violence across the country the highest daily death toll since Mexican President Felipe Calderon declared war on the drug cartels in December 2006. More than halfway through his term and with violence reaching new peaks, Calderon said the drug war won't be easy or quick, but he said it's a war that "we will win. Mexican marines run down a street after a gun battle erupted Wednesday in the Pacific resort city of Acapulco, Mexico. "There was a lot of panic. On 9 February, Patrn Snchez and seven of his men were killed in a joint operation in suburban Tepic. 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. Guests at the Hyatt Ziva Riviera Cancun posted videos and photos of tourists hiding or nervously milling in the lobby and hallways of hotels during the incident. The lack of control that the country is They're shooting!' They included two German men and a Dutch woman. He used all of the forces at his command to give H-2 complete control of drug trafficking in the state: according to witnesses in, 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, Both sides gained from this partnership: Sandoval grew extremely rich, as did Veytia, who earned money from embezzlement, kidnapping, murder-for-hire, extorsion, and the seizure of peasants lands. Montes de Oca's office said earlier in a statement that "there was a clash between rival groups of drug dealers on a beach" near the hotels. Last week, the assistant director of the local prison was gunned down -- along with his wife and his bodyguard -- as he dropped his kids off at a school.