Chihuahua/Chihuahua: Public Security Director of Cuauhtémoc Assassinated

Oaxaqueño for Borderland Beat from LaVerdad, El Debate, Tiempo

On Tuesday at around 14:00 hrs, the municipal public security director of Cuauhtémoc, Efrén Peñaflores Rodríguez, was shot while traveling in a white Dodge Ram on a main avenue in the city of Chihuahua. While his driver, identified as Leobardo Alejandro López Rivera, died instantly next to him, Peñaflores succumbed to his wounds in a private hospital shortly afterwards. Reportedly, Peñaflores was on his way from Cuauhtémoc to Chihuahua. In the southwestern outskirts of Chihuahua, at the intersection of Calle 120 and Silvestre Terrazas, his car was blocked off by a Nissan Tsuru. Subsequently, unidentified attackers disembarked the Nissan and opened fire on the victims, shooting at least 30 times with AR-15’s.

 Oaxaqueño Analysis:

Efrén Peñaflores Rodríguez, who was a surgeon before joining the police ranks, has received several threats in recent months. He took office on the 11th of September 2018. A month later in the end of October, a video appeared in which a kidnapped and later murdered Cuauhtémoc municipal police officer, named Jesús Andrade Chagoya, was seen guarded by 12 heavily armed members of La Linea (for video see link in the last paragraph of this article). In the course of the interrogation, he told his abductors that he, as well as 14 other municipal police officers, are working for the “Cartel del Tigre”. Among the 14 officers mentioned was also Peñaflores. The so-called “Cartel del Tigre” (also known as Gente Nueva del Tigre) refers to a Sinaloa Cartel cell led by Julio César Escárcega Murillo “El Tigre”, who was arrested in Cuauhtémoc on the 29th of October 2017. Nowadays, Édgar Alfredo Gamboa Sosa “El 11” is in charge of the cell.

In the beginning of November in response to the interrogation video, the mayor of Cuauhtémoc ordered the suspension of the municipal police officers named in the video “for their own safety”. Ten of them “voluntarily” followed the order. However, Peñaflores remained in office. Peñaflores’ escort, Luis Carlos González Molinar, whose name was also among the 14 mentioned in the video and who refused as well to step down, was found murdered on the 16th of November. On the 28th of November, Peñaflores was temporarily arrested for a short period of time by State Security Commission (CES) for several irregularities alongside with 11 other municipal police officers related to him. This incident was just the tip of the iceberg in a series of wider frictions between the municipal authorities from Cuauhtémoc and their state counterparts. The mayor of Cuauhtémoc, Carlos Tena, accused the CES of having been involved in the kidnapping and subsequent killing of Jesús Andrade Chagoya.

Against this background, it can be assumed that the culprits behind Peñaflores’ assassination are affiliated to La Linea. This assumption is strengthened by a few local news outlets’ which blame La Linea too. In general, both the recent uptick in violence between Gente Nueva del Tigre and La Linea as well as the obvious frictions between the layers of authority (state and municipal) are worrisome. Another issue of concern are the accusations against parts of the state forces being in liaison with La Linea (also supported here: http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2018/12/chihuahua-high-level-officials-paid-to.html) and conjectures of connections between Cuauhtémoc’s municipal police and Gente Nueva del Tigre.

Although Gente Nueva del Tigre appears to be rather on the receiving end of this conflict recently, they are still likely to put up a fight, as seen in clashes between the two groups some three weeks ago in Cuauhtémoc. Furthermore, they might can count on support of Francisco Arvizu Márquez "El Jaguar", commanding another Sinaloa Cartel cell in the state of Chihuahua. Therefore, further violence can be expected in and around Cuauhtémoc until one of the groups significantly gains the upper hand.