By Buggs for Borderland Beat
Mexican State authorities have blamed La Línea, the armed wing of the Nuevo Cartel de Juarez as the criminal group responsible for the execution of six children and three women from the Mormon community LeBarón on November 4, 2019. After the LeBaron massacre, violence erupted in Chihuahua, particularly in Ciudad Juarez. Public transportation buses were being burned in the streets of Juarez by Los Mexicles (Street gang allied with CDS) in daylight hours, sometimes with people inside, in attempt to heat up the plaza (no pun intended). This is a cartel tactic "calentando la plaza," meant to put heat on La Línea, who control Ciudad Juarez. The Mexicles, a street gang that has presence in the streets and prisons of Juarez started targeting members of La Línea. Ten members of La Línea were executed in el cereso (jail) in Juarez during the same time.
I was fortunate enough to be able to take a tour of hot spots in the streets of Juarez and el cereso during these times of violent activity. Word on the streets was that El Mayo Zambada (old school boss of CDS) was not very happy with the increase of violence in the neighboring state of Sonora and the attention the LeBaron massacre was generating, in particular the direct intervention by the US. This might have been the cause in increase of violence in Ciudad Juarez, the epicenter of La Línea, who were being hunted down
But now that things have settle down some, La Línea has continued with their criminal activities, literally in the whole state of Chihuahua.
Even in the municipality of Namiquipa, Chihuahua, no businesses are saved from having to pay a fee (pago de piso) And it is La Línea that has exponentially increased extortion of businesses in these towns, mostly in rural regions.
Out of fear, most business owners pay, although the payment of this fee does not guarantee anything. La Línea hitmen executed a couple from Bavispe, Sonora, who moved to the Chihuahuan municipality of Janos to buy gasoline and resell it in their town.
I have seen this practice in this region before, as the Sonoran mountain towns that border the state of Chihuahua there are no gas stations. It is the local people themselves who supply the fuel, even to the vehicles of the municipal police.
