150 Gunmen shoot up the home of El Chapo's mother, kill neighbors

Lucio R. Borderland Beat Material from El País-RioDoce and Facebook

Update Below

150 gunmen burst into the sanctuary of Guzman Loera, they killed three neighbors and ransacked maternal home.

Testimonies collected by local media said the large group of gunmen arrived mid-morning, seemingly without fear. One group burst into the mansion of Consuela Loera, (at top)stole two cars, three motorcycles and cut telephone lines.

Consuela was not harmed.

Simultaneously, other parts of town were attacked. One of the neighbors was dragged from his home and killed in the street. Many people, have fled the area in fear.

Who directed the attack remains a mystery. A first version,  by expert  Cynthia Valdez, indicated that the brazen attack was a settling of scores within the Sinaloa cartel. Namely retribution against Guzman Loera’s  sons, Ivan and Alfredo.

Other sources indicate that the attack was perpetrated by the Beltrán-Leyva Cartel, old and fierce rivals El Chapo. For years they fought a war that horrified the country. Guzman Loera had hired BLO initially as armed wing, until in 2008, when Alfredo Beltran Leyva, aka “El Mochomo” was arrested. Mochomo was a lieutenant of Chapo’s at the time.  Chapo was accused of setting Mochomo up by working with the feds, in exchange for his son to be released from prison.

Mochomo was incarcerated and eventually extradited to the U.S. where he pleaded guilty and awaits his sentencing, scheduled on July 11.  Chapo’s son was released within 2 months, after spending 3 years behind bars,the government citing “lack of evidence”.

A subsequent war exploded resulting in run away violence and hundreds of murders, including that of Chapo’s 18 year old son.  Edgar was killed in a Culiacan shopping center parking lot, where he came under attack by 15 gunmen.

After the killing of Arturo Beltran Leyva in December 2009, BLO weakened and entered a decline of power. In this scenario, the imprisonment of El Chapo and his expected extradition, could give new impetus to the cartel.

According to sources consulted by Ríodoce, the aggressors were members of the of the Beltran Leyva and Fausto Isidro Meza Flores Cartels “Chapito Isidro”, is said to  have led the attack, directed against Chapo Guzman, the longtime nemesis of the two cartels.

RioDoce is reporting that residents say there were 8 people killed, and three communities were attacked, they were; Arroyo Seco, La Tuna, and La Palma. The attack occurred last Saturday, but information was just released late Wednesday .

Update Thursday afternoon (added by Chivis)

The Sinaloa governor Mario López Valdez, today addressed the story of gunmen attacking La Tuna and other communities last weekend.

He acknowledged there were “armed men” in the mountains of Badiraguato, Sinaloa.  But he said, the mother of El Chapo as not harmed and was not kidnapped.  He further explained the clash is “between families”, but he did not specify which families.

IMO gave more cred to the story, and chose his words carefully.

He would not confirm or deny there were any deaths, or that there were clashes with security forces.

La Tuna birthplace of El Chapo