Baja: The Return of CAF

Translated by "Benny Juarez" for Borderland Beat- From Zeta Tijuana

 

El Javier murdered in Los Cabos

A security source revealed to ZETA that currently “there is a strange sense of calm in the south" of Baja. However, an increase in violence is expected due to the execution of  Guadalupe Acosta Lopez "El Javier" presumed leader of the sale and distribution of drugs in the Los Cabos Plaza.

His murder occurred on Friday, July 8 in the residential development Las Quintas in Culiacan, Sinaloa, event reminiscent of the murder of his predecessor Ranulfo Lopez Portillo "La muñeca" on August 29, 2015 in the same location.

These events, without a doubt, have strongly shaken the criminal organization in Baja California Sur, the last of Los Cabos ("El Javier"). People who were well known that operated for the Sinaloa Cartel, particularly for the Cell of Los Damaso, this is why, according to the police, "All signs point to a new re-shuffle and 'El Babay' (Abraham Cervantes Escareaga) could emerge as the Plaza leader in Los Cabos, fighting for control with Rene el “00” (Alfredo René Bastidas)".

The conflict started since July 31, 2014 and it has yielded many battles, totaling more than 240 executions. According to the criminal map released by military sources, "El Javier" was the visible head of the organized crime groups from the Sinaloa Cartel at the order of Damaso Lopez "El Licenciado”, along with Raul Castillo de la Rosa "El Cochi ", who was considered his armed wing for the control of the Plaza.

However, a judicial source consulted by this weekly publication, was clear to point out that in Los Cabos there is a calmness that is "suspicious", a "calm that could mean two things, one could be an agreement for the Plaza control or, it could be that they are preparing for combat, and I'm leaning more for the latter, which is the most concerning to me”, he said.

Besides "in Los Cabos no one is paying for the right to operate" Military Inquiries, concur about the lack of payment in the Los Cabos plaza, "not even in La Paz, is anyone  paying to operate since Monday (July 11).  This was since the State Preventive Police intervened and stopped payment to municipal employees, or anyone who was being paid."

On Saturday, July 9, in El Cabildo de La Paz, behind closed doors the Joint Command Police, was ratified  in which the Department of Public Safety and Municipal Transit of La Paz informed:

"Currently the sectors in which the city was divided have been merged, with the conjunction of personnel, weapons, vehicles and infrastructure, which will conduct joint patrols, where elements of both corporations will be observed,  aboard both government units and municipal, all under a state supervision " said Alvaro Orlando Gerardo Cabanillas, chief operating officer of the corporation."

But investigations suggest something even more concerning for the military. Since May 5, 2016, when they executed Luis Antonio Montoya Beltran "El Montoya," "El Artista" or "Don Carlos", listed as leader of the northern municipality of La Paz, something was not adding up, because "according to information gathered and text messages between the victim and agents under investigation, Montoya' was betrayed by state agents ", the same that will operate for the newly formed municipal Joint Command.

The imminent return of the Arellano Felix

What draws attention to the armed forces is the presence of members of the Arellano Felix Cartel (CAF), who maintain an alliance with members of the Jalisco New Generation cartel (CJNG) and some small cells left over from the split between cells of  “Los Mayitos”, “Los Pepillos” and “Los Damaso” from the  Sinaloa Cartel;  Juan murillo "El Josesón" or "El Tomatito Cherry".

Ines Zamudio Beltran "El Zamudio" stands out in a supposed merge with the alleged cartel of

"Fanny"

northern Baja California Peninsula. 

Authorities have not been able to identify who is in charge of the CAF in the state. In the relationship that authorities anticipate in Baja Sur they have developed avenues of investigation that started from Mulege, since it was documented that Eduardo Villavicencio Arce "El Lalo" or "El lalillo" and Luis Alberto Echeverría Valdés "El Luisillo" or "El Luisón" presumed leaders of the north Plaza, have been linked to the Sinaloa Cartel.

However, there are indications of the presence of CJNG, this is why military information points to CAF as the controlling entity.

Strategic alliance of El Mayo cells and Mencho

It was presumed this was the door which opened to the Arellano FelFelix,"while the Sinaloa Cartel was fighting for control of the “La Paz plaza". Even in late 2015 and early 2016, members of Public Security at the federal level confirmed a strategic alliance between cells of "El Mayo Zambada", from the Sinaloa Cartel, and Nemesio Oceguera Cervantes "El Mencho" to prevent other criminal groups from entering important plazas such as La Paz and Los Cabos, "of great importance to drug trafficking  to The Americans (United States)", which could tilt the balance of influence to CJNG causing the established cells in the State to “flip flags”, as criminals like to say.

According to a new criminal map of plaza distribution for drug dealing, the CAF is practically in front of the La Paz and Los Cabos Plazas, and with minimal resistance south of the state, but remains in dispute.

In this re-shuffle the following people were identified:

* Alfredo René Bastidas "El 00" who maintains absolute control of Cabo San Lucas and parts of San Jose del Cabo in Los Cabos; while in La Paz has control of the southern part of the capital (from the residential developments of La Fuente to Calafia, and parts of Santa Fe and Miramar)

* Abraham Cervantes Escareaga "El Babay" as the successor to "El Javier" in control of the plaza in San Jose del Cabo. But the surprise for the military the picture was not very clear in La Paz. After the death of Luis Antonio Montoya Beltran "El Montoya," "El Artista" or "Don Carlos" is that the leader who would command the north of the capital could be "El Abogado" an alleged leader who is close to "El Montoya". However, military sources confirmed the appearance of Arely Vizuet "La Vizuet" alleged leader of drug dealing in La Paz, leaving the structure as follows:

"The Vizuet". In charge of the northern territory that expands to residential developments  like El Progreso, Diana Laura and surroundings,  after the struggle for control of the Plaza which forced Damaso to yield on the conflict between the cells of “Los Mayitos”,” Los pepillos” and “Damaso” since 2014 until this current year.

Laura Fernanda Gonzalez Gonzalez "La Fanny" Allegedly in charge of the drug distribution in bars and nightclubs in La Paz In support of “La Vizuet". Also Identified as prostitute at the bar La Playa Bruja.

"Angelus" the known Nickname of who is presumed distributes drugs to drug dealers aligned with "La Vizuet".

Abraham Cervantes

Alfredo René Bastidas "El 00" who operates in some points from La Fuente to Calafia, and parts of Santa Fe and Miramar. In the works of logistics and support to criminal cells in La Paz, especially in the north, "El 00" was involved with a clear and marked support in the purge of Damaso from the plaza in the capital; in the area of the Sanctuary of Our Lady of La Paz, military forces arrested in June Luis Sanchez Castro, alleged operator of “El 00” "in La Paz, to kidnap rival drug dealers and to support the sale and distribution of weapons. In his phone conversations were found where he explained that he had "kidnapped" a woman.

A military source confirmed to ZETA police involvement in this re-shuffle: "Unfortunately the door was left open from the state (police), much  has been said about State commanders betraying 'El Montoya' and that’s why there was retribution against Osorio (Luis Alejandro Osorio Alvarez, General Commander of the State Police who was attacked on May 13, 2016), we have even had reports of units involved in logistics, it was a very unfortunate surprise ... municipal policemen own  those cars and they have seen us, they only hang their heads. " As for what is to come, the source we consulted sees two possibilities: "The first hypothesis is that things will be quiet for a long time until another struggle for control happens, and the second one is, that the Sinaloa Cartel looks to counterattack, I don’t even want to imagine this scenario.”

The Arellano Felix returned to have control of the Plaza?

"They have always existed, at first, when they lost control, the Arellano were there from the Valley (Comondú) and up. They never really left, only now it just seems that they have taken control. And so this is how the execution of 'El Javier' took place. About him it was known thanks to statements by members of his clan, arrested in Baja California Sur, that he had been operating for the criminal structure of Los Damaso for a short time from his ranch in the community of Tegoripa, municipality of Badiraguato, Sinaloa; he rarely went to Los Cabos, which was the plaza he along with his brothers controlled, he would sent the orders to his top leaders from Sinaloa.

When he was arriving aboard a luxury vehicle to the home of  relatives in the exclusive neighborhood of Las Quintas, one of the main drug dealing operators of Los Damaso in Los Cabos, Javier Guadalupe Acosta Lopez, was intercepted by gunmen who riddled him with bullets.

The armed group driving in a dark Ford Lobo truck; Acosta Lopez had no time to react when he saw the masked men who shot him, leaving him lying beside his vehicle.

According to investigators of the Ministerial Police, he was traveling with at least one other person whose identity and whereabouts are unknown, as both doors of the truck “El Javier” was driving "were left open, stuck in one of the sidewalks of the Isla Guadalupe  Street, in from of a residence with a black gate.

"El 00"

The killing of the drug dealers boss, of Damaso Lopez Serrano "El Mini Lic",  took place on Friday, July 8th, when the war which was initiated  between the factions of the Sinaloa Cartel has entered into an apparent break, according to the  State’s Public Security area of coordination.

"At the ranch he will be missed," said a citizen of Badiraguato who was asked about "El Javier" whose family moved his body the day after the murder, on a plane to have a “visitation” at his ranch in the mountains and Sunday July, 10 at noon they returned to the capital for the funeral ceremony in the parish of La Lomita. After the religious homily, he was taken to the Pantheon Gardens Humaya where he was buried.

Only a couple of hours after the crime of Guadalupe Acosta Lopez, on the other side of the city of Culiacan, Sinaloa, a group of inmates of Module 10 of the State Center of Legal Consequences of Crime of Culiacan, located in the union of Aguaruto, broke into the cells of Module 9, where Rafael Gaspar Alvarado "El Rafa" age 30,  was imprisoned. They fired into the air to avoid involvement from other prisoners; he was taken to the yard and hung from an iron beam of a roof of the safety area.

The file of Alvarado says he was serving a 30-year sentence for the kidnapping of a rancher from the El Salado Region, this is where Ismael "El Mayo Zambada” is from; the kidnapping took in April 2004, but the now deceased had been arrested in California for drug trafficking and, after serving five years in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in San Diego, the anti-kidnapping police detained him after he was deported to the country and transferred him to the Aguaruto prison.

The state prosecutor's office confirmed that five inmates of Module 10 grabbed Rafael and hung him until he died of asphyxiation, according to forensic reports.

In the prison’s interior the version between security officers was that "El Rafa" worked inside for the group of "El Chapo" Guzman, specifically "El Cholo" or "50", one of the highly dangerous prisoners who, along with Jesus Peña González "El Peña" and Alfonso Limón Sánchez "El Poncho" control the state penitentiary. The latter two are members of the "Mayo" Zambada faction. "El Peña" was transferred from the federal prison in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, last April, because he obtained an Amparo (Protection Injunction), and "El Poncho", one of the cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin dealers of "El Mayo" had received protection from the federal justice department since December 2015 to be moved from the maximum security prison of Altiplano to Culiacan. "El Poncho" is fighting extradition to the Federal Court of San Diego, California, in an indictment where the recently arrested Enrique Torres Inés Acosta "El Kike Torres' son of Manuel Torres Felix" El Ondeado "appears.

About the crime of "El Rafa", data collected by coordinating state security reports that his death was a result from the murder of "El Javier", intelligence information held by State authorities, indicated that the group of “Los Chapitos” conformed by Ivan Archivaldo and Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar are trying to weaken “Los Damaso”, and in turn, these are trying to strike back among their younger gunmen.

The war fronts

In the struggle being waged for the Sinaloa plazas-the crime of "El Javier" is part of this conflict, the fronts remain in the mountainous area of Badiraguato, Culiacan and Navolato. An army source revealed that the struggle between the Guzman factions against the Beltran continues on the Badiraguato Mountains, and operations are in place in the three villages where more than 250 families have been displaced due to threats of future confrontations, despite the surveillance of the Secretary of National Defense and the Navy. This war has left more than 15 dead that have not been recognized by the government of Sinaloa. According to reports of Badiraguato authorities, so far 20 out of 70 families have returned to La Tuna, not including the mother of the imprisoned leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, Doña Consuelo Loera Perez. In Huixiopa 20 families out of the 50 that abandoned their homes have returned. While in Arroyo Seco, only 25 families have returned out of 60 who live in this community. The report states that 40 out of 50 families have returned to El Potrero de la Vainilla, and 20 out of 30 in La Palma, Villagers find it difficult to return because of the shootings that could unleash for both sides at any time.

They allowed violence to escalate

Meanwhile, in Baja California Sur, for members of the security council, the return of the Arellano Felix Cartel "was expected, it was too much the plaza not being controlled per say, and a resurgence in the north was pointing" for the CAF to expand as it did when it began in the eighties. Meanwhile, in a more general tone, Arturo Rubio Ruiz, president of the Citizen Council for the Care of Victims of Crime, he went straight to question the actions of local authorities: "It is a pity that whoever has the obligation to preserve security and guarantee it, which is the government does not have the tactical, technical, operational capacity and political will, and we have to depend on the cartels agreeing with each other, we are as citizens are hostages of wills beyond the control of the State ".

In other words, it seems that in BCS the cartels decide "with bullets" who claims the territory, and "this is how they reach an agreement and I wonder: Where are the authorities?

This is not easy. "Meanwhile a member of Municipal Public Security of Los Cabos stated: "We do not get into that stuff with drugs and drug dealers, we are more concerned about meeting our tasks and we barely can," with the re-shuffle that has been settling over the last two years and to date it seems uncertain whether they have reached an agreement. Those who remain in constant concern are the entrepreneurs of Los Cabos, as the US government has issued three warnings, in which they advised their citizens not to visit La Paz, mainly, but it affects the entire south destination. Therefore, through the Citizen Council for Public Safety and Criminal Justice there is a search for better alternatives to bring security to visitors, this is why they seek to install the so  called "Safe business button" this initiative was announced by Silvia Lupian, Council president. "The reason is to introduce the program that is in place in Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas, first we want to socialize the program. To help optimize time and give quality service to our citizens, either in prevention or complaints or to request either police, Fire, or Red Cross units, "he explained.

The July attacks

Sources with the Council of Public Security coordination confirmed that the recent attacks in La Paz, one in the mall Soriana La Paz and two more in the residential development Centro, were because "they did not want to work". Monday July 4th, around 9:30 pm, Carlos Manuel Geraldo Sanchez, 40 years old and a native of La Paz, was surprised early when he was about to enter Soriana La Paz; there they riddled him with three bullets. He was linked to organized crime at the service of Raul Castillo de la Rosa "El Cochi," who recruited killers for this character.

On July 6th, in the neighborhood of Marquez and Ramirez of El Centro, Jose Alberto Quinones Marquez, 35, a native of Mazatlan, Sinaloa was chased and gunned down in broad daylight; He was identified as a narco dealer at the service of Los Damaso and exactly on the day he was shot, although a weapon was not found, witnesses claim to have seen him firing against his aggressors; in addition three cell phones and cash were found on him. He received five bullet wounds.

On July 7th at 11:00 pm, in the Heroes of Independence and Rosales streets in El centro, Nolberto Lazcano Rivera was executed with eight shots of 9 mm caliber gun; He was 27 years old and was a native of Badiraguato, Sinaloa; sources indicated that this young drug dealer was way too exposed with weapons and drugs, "he was too visible." Besides he came and went without a fixed place and "to his bad luch, he never sided with any particular group, he was always in the middle and it cost him.”

"CAF's return was to be expected, when there was so much disorganization for command control by the cells of the Sinaloa Cartel scrambling with Beltran Leyva cells, Zetas, CJNG and even Caballeros Templarios, according to records in federal corporations. But more than just a return the Arellano Felix Cartel is taking command because “they always existed” and now has found the right time to control the important points in the traffic of drugs.