War for the Plaza Baja Ca: Los Salazares After the Death of “El Vaquero”

Yaqui for Borderland Beat from: Zeta

Zeta Investigations:

The Sinaloa Cartel cell war that prevails over the power of the drug route that encompasses the municipality of San Luis Río Colorado, Sonora and the Mexicali Valley, has intensified violence in recent months. On the night of September 7, heavily armed gunmen shot down Julio Cesar García Aguilar, “El Vaquero”, and linked a chain of murders of traffickers operating for Ismael “Mayo” Zambada García. 

The main line of investigation indicates that Crispín Salazar Zamorano, who heads a criminal cell in Sonora, is allegedly responsible.

The incursion of criminal cells of Sonora linked to the Sinaloa Cartel, in the southern zone of the Mexicali valley, is the origin of the increase in homicides perpetrated with heavy weapons in the border of this municipality with San Luis Río Colorado, Sonora, that is the hypothesis of the authorities in the capital of Baja California.

None other than "Don Adan" from Chinipas, Chihuahua; think the murder of Miroslava Breach

Mug Shot February 2011

Currently there is a 'war' between gang members recruited by Crispín Salazar Zamorano, historically close to Joaquín Guzmán Loera, "El Chapo" is facing the ''Los Cuates'' cell headed by the Lara family. And although the representative of Los Salazar is not yet identified in Mexicali, the confrontation has left around 50 dead in the first 7 months of 2019, which represents a significant increase based on the premise that thirty murders were counted throughout 2018, ” he said an investigator.

San Luis Rio Colorado, Sonora:

“El Vaquero”, the main operator of the drug transfer in the Mexicali Valley, was arrested in the Gulf of Santa Clara, town of San Luis Río Colorado, Julio César Aguilar García aka “El Vaquero” , allegedly responsible for the transfer of drugs by air in the Mexicali Valley.

At the time of the arrest "El Vaquero" was accompanied by five other people, also linked to crime.

This is Jorge Ignacio Arana Zárate, Jesús Armando Gutiérrez Monje, Brienda Huerta Jiménez, Francisco Adolfo Zamora Higuera and Jesús Manuel Gómez Torres.

Municipal police officers arrested these people during a routine inspection in the fishing village.

Unofficial sources detailed that "El Vaquero" had dyed hair, apparently to avoid being recognized, because he has an arrest warrant for crimes against health, he transcended.

The detainees confiscated eight cell phones and a recent model Maxima vehicle,  in which they were passing through the port town. It was reported that the alleged criminals were made available to elements of the Secretariat of National Defense and sent to Mexicali.

With "El Mayo":

Allegedly Julio César Aguilar García aka "El Vaquero" works with " Mayo" and transported drugs, which arrived in the Mexicali Valley on clandestine airstrips, which are prevalent in the area , allegedly the Municipal Police officers detained in operations earlier this week were the ones responsible for the protection of Aguilar García.

"El Vaquero" Recently Released

Julio César Aguilar, “El Vaquero”.

Following his arrest, "Los Salazar" have become the main suspects in the armed attack in which Julio César Aguilar García, aka "El Vaquero", 40, former lieutenant of Ismael "Mayo" Zambada in the Valley, died. from Mexicali and northeastern Sonora. He was killed when he was on the outskirts of a rural pantheon located in New Colonies on September 7, 2019. In the same attack, one of his main operators, Rodolfo Antonio Galindo "El Chupacabras", was killed.

The presence of "Los Salazar" in the region - which has historically controlled much of Sonora - has left sequels in the Mexicali Valley, where the month of July registered a substantial increase in murders, reaching 21, when on average the municipality counts 12 monthly.

Mayor Gustavo Sánchez Vásquez, was interviewed on the subject and, accustomed to evading it, said that the only information they have about homicides in that area is the fight between rival drug cartels.

"We are on the lookout and in coordination in recent weeks, the murders in San Luis have intensified, especially the southern part of Mexicali, Kilometer 57. We will continue working in this direction, be in permanent coordination," he said.

Although he did not need details, he acknowledged that this point requires special attention in matters of security, however, state investigators believe that at least five other homicides could be linked to the murder of the "El Vaquero", in the Valley of Mexicali and San Luis Río Colorado, Sonora, where he normally operated before being captured in February 2011. This trafficker had been released recently and intelligence reports indicate that he intended to reactivate in his former area of ​​influence.

Days after the murder, a cell of young hitmen killed an individual in San Luis and later confronted municipal police while on the run; the thugs were killed and four other individuals involved in the crime were captured. The same sources of intelligence affirm that the deceased today would have attacked opposing cells in the Mexicali Valley.

Officially, the main hypothesis of these struggles is the lack of leadership within a fraction of the Sinaloa Cartel, the vacuum which was left after the capture of "El Chapo” Guzmán, Dámaso López “El Licenciado” and the reduction of activity criminal of "El Mayo" Zambada. Currently, only "Los Chapitos", sons of Guzmán Loera, are seen as leaders of the group.

The Murder of "El Vaquero":

Baja California authorities did not have Julio César Aguilar García on the radar ”; they did not even know that he would have regained his freedom months ago, after spending eight years in prison in Sonora, but his presence in the southern zone of the Mexicali Valley generated disagreement among drug traffickers who had taken criminal control of that area.

In criminal terms, Aguilar García was an important operator of the Mexicali Valley, having the backing of “Mayo” Zambada, who was in charge of protecting the “loaded” planes that landed - and continue to land - in that area.

In March 2011, when he was captured by Sonoran authorities in the Gulf of Santa Clara, “El Vaquero” had dyed his hair red and intended to go unnoticed, since he had been under the harassment of Mexicali state police for months.

After their capture by Sonora municipal and military elements, 9 ministerial agents of Mexicali were rooted by alleged links with the Sinaloa Cartel's boss; all regained their freedom, but were tortured by the military members for several days.

“El Vaquero”, already 40 years old, with little hair and some gray hair on his mustache, went on September 7, 2019 to a funeral held in the pantheon of the Colonias Nuevas settlement, also called Kilometer 57.

This all increases the executions in the Mexicali Valley, product of the narco's struggles.

According to information provided by sources of the Coordination Group, he went with two people to the cemetery, where the last two goodbyes would be given to the two deceased subjects in the Ejido Sombrerete -community located very close to the municipality of San Luis Rio Colorado , aka SLRC-, the dead were Juan de Dios Guzmán Hernández and Juan Amezcua; the first of them linked to Aguilar García, and the second, accidentally murdered.

The newly released trafficker was barely arriving at the cemetery when several individuals descended from a vehicle - that for which there is not more data - and shot them in the back. They were surprised and that is why Aguilar failed to respond with the Beretta pistol he wore among his clothes. .223 and 9 mm caps were located at the crime site.

Aguilar García and Antonio Galindo lost their lives there, but a third person who walked with them was urgently transferred to a hospital in San Luis; further details of his condition are unknown.

The Municipal Police of Mexicali set up an operation of great proportions in Colonias Nuevas for the wake and burial of the "El Mexicali", because they feared another armed attack could take place while the funeral was carried out.

The Baja California investigators presume that the perpetrators of the crime could be the young people killed during the confrontation on Sunday, September 8 - a day after the assassination of Aguilar García - in San Luis, which reduced the possibility of other crimes of the same nature.

The Roads Point to "Los Salazares":

Although the scenario is diffuse for the Security and Pacification Coordination Group, the clearest hypothesis is the intervention of hit men linked to “Los Salazar” to end an impending rival.

In the first versions it was established that they could be members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, CJNG,  that intended to occupy the San Luis-Mexicali-Imperial drug corridor, “… but it has not been possible to establish a relationship between the 'Jaliscos' and this area of the State ”, representatives of the security forces told ZETA .

Deputy Attorney Fernando Ramírez Amador

Therefore, the Mexican authorities redirected the investigation and found certain patterns that could establish a struggle between the same cells of the Sinaloa Cartel.

As of July, high-impact crimes began to be registered in the rural area of ​​the municipality. Three of these are directly related to the "El Vaquero" because they were identified as their former operators.

On July 25, José Israel Guzmán Machado was murdered on the outskirts of a plant located on Cuba Street and Sixth Kilometer 57, three blocks from the pantheon where "El Vaquero" Aguilar García was killed.

The hitmen waited for him outside the place and unloaded several firearm projectiles against him, then escaped aboard a white van; Guzmán Machado died in a clinic in San Luis. Intelligence groups referred to Guzmán Machado as  an operator in other crimes.

In circumstances that could not be clarified by the police, a man residing in the rural area was killed by a stranger who shot him with a firearm, as reported.

According to the report of the municipal police, this violent homicide was reported by medical personnel of the 9 Social Security clinic of the Ejido Luis B. Sánchez, Sonora, where the victim died.

Relatives of the now deceased who in life bore the name of José Israel Guzmán Machado, 40 years old and residing in Colonias Nuevas Valle de Mexicali, reported that the events occurred on Cuba Street and Sixth Avenue, in Coahuila Station in front of the Llantera "Muv."

They said that a subject arrived aboard a 2000 Honda black car and without saying a word shot José Israel who was injured with a shoulder-length wound with an armpit outlet. Still alive he was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. The State police took charge of the investigation aimed at clarifying this violent crime.

Weeks later, the deprivation of liberty of another individual in the same area, named José Miguel Mendoza García, 36, whose body was located in the Bacanora drainage of San Luis Río Colorado; it is presumed - the investigations are not finished yet - that he was also the operator of the "El Vaquero"; his body was found on September 7.

Then he added the double execution committed on Tuesday, September 3 in the Ejido Sombrerete, also linked to the deceased lieutenant of the "Mayo" Zambada. Particularly one of them, Juan de Dios Guzmán, was linked to this chain of homicides; his body was located with multiple impacts of firearm inside a white Ford F150 pick-up, model 1996, ZJL044A circulation plates, parked at the Zacatecas Airfield.

Sources of the Coordination Group establish that “Los Salazar” and not the local cells, would have committed the crime, since years ago, the territorial extension in which “El Vaquero” operated included a large part of San Luis Río Colorado and specifically the Gulf of Santa Clara.

The Attacks in San Luis Rio Colorado:

Since the beginning of the year, "Los Salazar", led throughout Sonora by Crispín Salazar Zamorano, historically close to Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán Loera and with operation mainly in areas such as Navojoa, Hermosillo and Cajeme, expanded their horizons and began fighting with local criminal groups that they also had protection from the Sinaloa Cartel.

A lieutenant has not been located in this area, but the information from Sonoran authorities is that the group has recruited young gang members from San Luis, to whom they provides weapons and support to fight for the plaza against “Los Cuates”, a group operating in San Luis Río Colorado for several years.

In May Luis Alfonso Lara “El Cuate”, one of the leaders of the Plaza in San Luis, was killed. When his body was veiled at Funeraria del Valle , a heavily armed group arrived and began firing at the assistants, leaving two people killed, both without background or criminal relations.

                                            Murders Rate Exceeds 100 executed per year.

Since then, multiple clashes have been registered in San Luis and the Gulf, in which even a municipal police officer was killed. Most of these crimes are related to the confrontation of these cells.

One of the most important occurred on Sunday, September 8, when a group of assassins murdered a person on Mazatlan Avenue, between 11th and 12th streets, and then fled aboard two vehicles, a Cherokee and a Tahoe.

Municipal policemen undertook an operation and managed to find the gangsters on the outskirts of the city, with whom they had a confrontation that ended with the detention of Armando Flores, Moisés Ortega and Alexis Rodríguez, three young minors who were heavily armed, according to reports San Luis Police officially.

In addition, they captured another group of thugs identified as members of "Los Salazar." However, Sonoran authorities did not report more details about those captured, except that one is originally from Navojoa.

This criminal group has operated since the 1990s in Sonora and maintains a majority control in the areas of said entity and the mountain area of ​​Chihuahua.