Las Varas, Chihuahua: A Refuge for Criminals

Translated by Yaqui for Borderland Beat from Debate

 "The Gunfire was heard from up above at the cemetary"

 Entire families are moving or being displaced for fear of death.

July 14, 2017
Extra Material from Milenio
Madera, Chihuahua:

In the face of the critical situation in the state of Chihuahua, residents of the town of Las Varas are abandoning their homes for fear of being victims of criminals in the area.  "Estacion Babicora", as it is known by the locals, is  located in the municipality of Madera and is on the route to the larger city of Cuahatemoc in the Northwest area of what is known as "The Golden Triangle". 

After a confrontation in the community of Rubio, when Cesar Raul Gamboda  Sosa was killed on May 19, one of the leaders of la Linea, Carlos Arturo Quintana, "El 80" took refuge in the area.

Armed groups belonging to the La Línea Cartel, at the service of the Juarez Cartel and the CJNG at the service of the  Sinaloa Cartel have made surrounding communities a grim scenario of deaths, clashes, confrontations and fear.

This week, the families Salazar and Mendoza left in search of a safer place that allows them to sleep in peace, without the prospect that at any moment they will be riddled with bullets.

Madera Township, by its isolated location, has become the favorite territory of the hit men of these criminal groups to transport large shipments of drugs towards the Arizona desert. The mountainous area  facilitates camouflage for poppy planting.

In Madera people no longer speak of illusions, much less of celebrations, because each event can be interrupted by an unexpected shoot-out between the criminal groups that dispute their control of the area, who travel without consideration of whom they leave dead in their wake.

A villager tells Milenio that while they were attending a mothers day celebration they were interrupted by a deadly shootout which broke out and left about 20 dead.

"Suddenly we began to hear the vehicle engines revving and they started shooting amongst themselves, we all had to get to the house and down on the floor.", the man explained. Around 60 armed men, aboard pick/up trucks  and large SUVs began a confrontation with their entire arsenal.

The Community of Las Varas Invoked a Curfew  / Photo: La Cronica de Chihuahua

The most recent confrontation that took place last Saturday, July 2, was the trigger for families to decide to leave the community before death reached them. The authorities said the evidence includes .50 caliber bullet casings, grenade launchers, hand grenades and bullets from AK 47's.

"It was about 5 o'clock in the morning and the shooting was heard up there towards the cemetary, it lasted several hours ....... people are encouraged to leave only when the soldiers come to watch the area, if not, they prefer to remain locked up inside their houses" he added.

Mexican Military "Encouraging" its citizens to leave their communities

The gun caps of AK 47's ( Cuernos de Chivas /"goat horns") are still lying on the ground of the pantheon where the battle was unleashed, bullet holes are now the decoration of most of the walls, there are hundreds and hundreds of them.

"Imagine, there are about a thousand people living here, now I think maybe as many as 500 have gone and some of those are missing,  but others  remain here.''

"Now no one goes out into the streets, there have been many confrontations, many incidents, many dead, many families are leaving town for lack of work and the insecurity," says a woman of Las Varas.

Burnt Cars and Hundreds of bullet holes in their walls: the scene in which the inhabitants live 
Photo: La Silla Rota

While the citizens and families are giving consolation to each other, the municipal president says: "What can be done?" 

People are moving out, the towns are becoming empty, soon there will be only traces of blood and the bullets that ended the lives of so many people. Difficult to believe: currently there is only one business open. 

In a Press Conference,  The AG of Chihuahua, Cesar Augusto Peniche Espejel, said that the confrontations were led by Roberto G.M., "El 32" for the Juarez Cartel, identified as an ex-police officer, who was arrested recently but given "liberty"a few hours later. The side of "Los Chapo's" was    

commanded by a man known as "El Jaguar".

Scott Stewart, VP and Analyst for the Stratfor Intelligence Agency : "This confrontation is due to "La Linea" retaking power in Chihuahua right in step with politics. Organized crime is starting to become  more decentralized in Mexico now, with wars in smaller areas. The fight for key trafficking  areas and routes between La Linea and the CDS is erupting in more and more rural areas and on small turfs , not big cities like Ciudad Juarez."