Los Chapitos and Los Salazar form a truce with Los Garibay to enter Baja California

 "MX" for Borderland Beat

Manuel Garibay Espinoza ('Don Manuel', left) and Luis Alfredo Garibay Felix ('El Wicho', right) are the two leaders of Los Garibay. They were arrested in 2010 and 2018, respectively, but both were released.

The narco-war in Mexicali, Baja California, and the adjacent municipality of San Luis Río Colorado, Sonora, has taken a deadlier shift.

At dawn on Tuesday, February 23, an armed commando broke into two homes located in the Mexicali Valley and murdered two people, wounded a 6-year-old boy, and kidnapped three siblings.

The criminals then continued their bloody endeavor in San Luis Rio Colorado, where they perpetrated another attack on a home before escaping to Sonoyta, Sonora, where the attackers are presumed to have driven from.

The attack was perpetrated by a large number of heavily armed assassins traveling in over ten armored pick-up trucks. According to local reporters, this modus operandi was atypical in the Mexicali Valley.

Investigators say the attack was carried out by Los Salazar, a Sonoran-based criminal group affiliated with Los Chapitos, the sons of infamous Sinaloa Cartel drug kingpin Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman. The people they targeted worked under Felipe Eduardo Barajas Lozano ('El Omega'), a local drug kingpin.

Government intelligence officials say that Los Salazars and Los Chapitos could not operate alone in the Mexicali Valley. They sought and made an alliance with the decimated group known as Los Garibay, currently led by Manuel Garibay Espinoza ('Don Manuel') and Luis Alfredo Garibay Felix ('El Wicho').

"Los Garibay are opening the doors of Baja California for [Los Salazar and Los Chapitos]," Zeta Tijuana reporters wrote. 

 

Since the start of 2020, there has been a large uptick in murders in Mexicali, especially in the southern part of the valley. Most of the murders are attributed to clashes with El Omega, a close collaborator of Jesús Alexander Sánchez Félix ('El Ruso'). El Omega and El Ruso work for the faction headed by Ismael 'El Mayo' Zambada.

Security forces in Mexicali, Baja California (source: Zeta Tijuana)

The Hypothesis 

Due to their lack of a strong criminal base in Mexicali, a flat area with few escape routes, Los Chapitos and Los Salazar required the support of a local cell to carry out the attack on February 23. Therefore, investigators say that they sought the support of Los Garibay.

Zeta Tijuana reporters say that Los Garibay help Los Salazar and Los Chapitos move through the Mexicali Valley via rural routes (brechas). These routes cover several municipalities and are considered difficult to navigate without local support.

Knowing that El Omega was shutting down Los Garibay's drug routes and stopping rival cartels and independent smugglers in the Mexicali Valley, Los Garibay sought for external support.

With this alliance, Los Salazar and Los Chapitos will have the capacity to hide and move between Sonora and Baja California with less issues, while Los Garibay regains some of the power they lost against El Omega's faction.

Previous Incidents in Mexicali 

In November 2020, a group of 12 sicarios recruited from a drug rehab center in Mazatlan, Sinaloa, were arrested in Mexicali for murdering two people. The attacks were conducted in eastern Mexicali, one of the most important city sectors for drug sale spots (puntos) controlled by El Omega.

A few hours before the February 23 attack, state officials arrested El Omega's associate Jose Fernando Aguirre Barrera ('El Guero') in Miguel Aleman, a rural community that connects Mexicali with Sonora. Officials say that most of the arrests in the area are against those in El Omega's faction.

Two weeks before, security forces clashed with gunmen working for El Ruso and killed two of them.

Los Salazar are responsible for the double homicide of two San Luis Colorado ex-police officers, Marco Polo and Fernando Marquez Tamayo. Both were murdered in Mexicali in May and October 2020, respectively. In one of the attacks, Marco Polo's 3-year-old son was killed.

Earlier this year, Los Salazar decapitated two men and dumped their bodies in two different locations in Mexicali. One of the victims was identified as Juan Carlos Perez Quintero, a suspected drug dealer. According to forensic experts, both victims were decapitated alive.

Police officers and military arrive at a crime scene in Mexicali to gather evidences

The Highway of Death 

The experience that entire families lived through at around 6:30 a.m. on February 23 on the San Luis Colorado - Sonoyta federal highway was traumatic.

Almost 100 armed individuals dressed in military clothing and wearing ski-marks set up a checkpoint at Kilometer 39 heading to Sonoyta. They allowed cargo and passenger vehicles to go through, but they stripped every drive of their belongings. They took phones, money, clothes, and virtually anything they could get a hold of while holding everyone at gunpoint.

Two and a half hours later, security forces arrived at the federal highway once everything had concluded.

The Highway of Death (Carretera de la Muerte) crosses through Biosphere Reserve El Pinacate, an UNESCO-protected area. Zeta Tijuana reporters advise their readers to not access El Pinacate through the northern sector since that is a known area controlled by cartels.

Approximately 50 years ago, this area was known as the Highway of Death for its narrow roads, which caused many accidents. Due to pressure from several newspapers in Sonora and Baja California, federal authorities expanded the highway under the presidency of Felipe Calderon (2006 - 2012), and even included a road that led to Puerto Peñasco.

However, given the government's inability to stop the violence in this area, it is virtually impossible for drivers to travel through the San Luis Colorado - Sonoyta federal highway when the sun goes down. Areas such as Caborca, Sonoyta, San Luis, Peñasco, El Golfo de Santa Clara, El Saric and La Nariz have been struck by violence and dangerous conditions imposed by waring drug cartels.

 

What happened that February 23 at Kilometer 39 of this federal highway was unprecedented.

Murder of 'El Indio' in Mexicali

Miguel Angel Beltran Munguia, alias 'El Indio', was one of the most discreet lieutenants of the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexicali. Although he had been operating under Ismael “Mayo” Zambada for over 20 years, he was sort of like a ghostly figure for authorities.

That lasted until January 9, 2020, when his body was found in a vacant lot near a road leading to Islas Agrarias. Investigators suggests that he was likely assassinated by members of his own cartel due to an internal conflict derived from a stolen cocaine deal last December. Another hypothesis brought forward is that Los Salazar killed El Indio to displace the current Sinaloa Cartel faction in Mexicali.

Whichever version it may be, the murder of 'El Indio' was not a minor issue in Mexicali. Anyone bold enough to order his murder likely had the backing of a senior cartel member.

Miguel Angel Beltran Munguia, alias 'El Indio', as depicted in his Baja California driver's license (source: Zeta Tijuana)

Investigators only knew of El Indio through informants and detainees who confessed that he existed under the shadows.

Unlike 'El Omega', who was clearly identified as a Sinaloa Cartel local leader for many years and even had some narcocorridos that mentioned him, El Indio preferred to be discreet. His death suggests that the Sinaloa Cartel is going through a restructure in that municipality.

Days before his death, El Indio visited Guadalajara, Jalisco, and stayed there for several days. He then flew from Guadalajara to Mexicali and went to his house. El Indio then told his family he was meeting some people and left his house. He was found dead the next day.

El Indio had no criminal record in Baja California despite being a top Sinaloa Cartel operator for 20 years. He had several properties and vehicles under his name, as well as a driver's license published by Zeta Tijuana reporters.

Source: Zeta Tijuana (1); (2)