Narco Production and Violence Displaces Thousands in Sinaloa's Sierra

Translated by Yaqui for Borderland Beat from Riodoce By: Miriam Rodriguez of Riodoce

Violent territory control shifts thousands of families again : Interactive Map

NOTE: You MAY have to GO to the LINK to actually access the INTERACTIVE Version of the Map but we think it works now.  Get to know "our ", ie, that of Riodoce's interactive map with information about people displaced by violence in 2017 in the Municipalities of  Concordia, San Ignacio and Badiraguato in the Sierras of the State of Sinaloa just so far this year in 2017.

When you open the map you will find icons in red, which represent the inhabitants that have left their  villages and the icons in black represent the violent events that have marked the mountainous area, in chronological order.

The control of the territory for the sowing and production of drugs by criminal organizations has generated violent acts that force the villagers to flee the place and the few productive options in the area like the mining have had to stop work, admitted the Secretary General of Government, Gonzalo Gómez Flores.

From the first minute of January to the present, violent events in the mountainous area of the state have not stopped. According to the records of newspaper reports, only 26 violent events have been reported in the Concordia mountains so far this year, yet they are clashes, murders with torture and mutilations and assaults on the villages.

In a geolocation exercise, violent events have been located in the villages where they occurred and coincided with each of the communities that have suffered the exodus of their inhabitants. The same happened in San Ignacio and Badiraguato.

According to official figures reported by the Secretariat of Social Development of the Sinaloa government, in 2007 Concordia have displaced 977 settlers; in San Ignacio there are 208 displaced people and in Badiraguato 148 inhabitants of the mountain range fled.

From Concordia, the inhabitants of the towns of Chirimoyos, La Petaca, Pánuco, El Coco, La Guayanera, Potrerillos, Mesa del Carrizal, Hacienda de Urías, El Encinal, Las Charcas and Santa Lucia fled.

A Group of Families/ Friends hoping for a ride and preparing to walk out of their villages in the Sierras
Once Again

Just last Friday, September 22, 2017 in the community of Santa Lucia in Concordia, an armed group intimidated the villagers, robbed their homes and forced them to prepare food.

In an interview, the Secretary General of Government, Gonzalo Gomez Flores, admitted that violent acts and the displacement of the inhabitants are related to the control of the territory that imposes organized crime to be able to plant and produce drugs.  "They intend to have the territory free for their activities, those related to organized crime. The planting and production, mainly, is what they control  that area for , " explained Gómez Flores.

Yet Another Group of Displaced Citizens Walking out of the Sierras

Meanwhile, Economic Development Secretary Javier Lizárraga Mercado admitted that mining groups have paused their operations in the mountains of Concordia due to the strong climate of violence that has also reached them through extortion and "collection of piso."

The SEDESO registry numbers of 2017, indicate that in San Ignacio 59 families left the villages of Ajoya, El Sauz de Ajoya and Santa Apolonia. In that area, at least 10 murders have been reported so far this year.

While in Badiraguato 37 families were expelled from Huixiopa and La Tuna, the old stronghold of "El Chapo Guzman", towns that in 2016 had also registered a strong displacement especially during the search for the now extradited capo but then fugitive, after his infamous escape from the Altiplano Prison. 

According to the Social Development Secretariat of the Government of Sinaloa, the families of displaced people who have had to leave their homes this year have been supported by one thousand "dispenses ", ie supplies, mainly foodstuffs and 1440 pieces black tar corrugated roofing panels.

Displaced from the Municipalities in the southern part of the State of Sinaloa so far in 2017 , the official numbers , ie : Concordia: 977 people = 200 families, San Ignacio: 208 people = 59 families, Badiraguato: 148 people = equaling 37 families.