Choix Sinaloa: No Man's Land

Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat   TY GUS  RioDoce

Shortly after 9:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 1, two groups of gunmen clashed in Choix to end their rivalry that began two months earlier, on January 1 (2020), with the murder of Félix Jacobo, and three others in the El Vado sector (foto above).

The action,  put under siege the entire community, including the municipal authorities, mainly police, who did not fire a single bullet despite the fact that they were targeted for hours, and surpassing them in men, vehicles and weapons .

Operations began 6 kilometers before the municipal seat, on a winding area of ​​the Los Mochis-Choix highway.  Right after the chapel to the Virgin Mary in Bajósori, there, two people were killed. One of them identified as Jesús Alonso G.  A motorcycle and a .40 millimeter pistol were seized at the scene.

When the population reported the first shooting, the police were quick to react, but just before reaching the scene, they were taken by the gunmen, who forced them to go into a breach and take refuge in a ranchería. However, they were not attacked, and they even allowed other police officers to come to their rescue, leading them to the Police Directorate, where they sheltered.

By then, the gunmen shut down the municipal seat. They stationed trucks with armed men at the entrance, obstructing the exit of the police and the access of reinforcements.

They then put the executioners into the community and began the hunt for their victims in the neighborhoods Ejidal, Reforma, Francisco R. Serrano, Aguajito, Francisco I. Madero, José Ángel Espinoza "Ferrusquilla", Ampliación Reforma, Benito Juárez, New Population Huites, City Council 89, Conchas, Chula Vista and Huites, attacking some, defending the others.

The shooting lasted up to two hours, when the groups ambushed each other at kilometer 1 of the Choix-San Javier branch. At the site, a 2006 Black Toyota Squad truck, with bullet impacts in the body and flat tires, and a red Ford Mustang, without circulation plates, with shots in the front, were abandoned.

When the police arrived at the scene, the gunmen targeted them with automatic rifles, .50 caliber Barret and .40 caliber grenade launchers, and forced them to withdraw from the scene. The attackers took refuge in the Huites colonia.

By then, the police director, Luis Morán Rodríguez, requested reinforcements from the National Guard, but they did not respond.

Shortly after, the police patrolled the city and found a white Tahoe, 2014 model, abandoned with bullet impacts; a white 2017 Suburban without circulation plates with an automatic 12 gauge shotgun in the rear seat; a Jeep Patriot, white model 2017; a Toyota Corolla car, gray, model 2017, with VSY-1610 plates from Sinaloa; a Silverado van, model 2000, sand color, with theft report; a 1994 Black Chevrolet, without circulation plates.

Blood, marijuana, suitcases with miscellaneous clothing, camouflage, uniforms, balaclavas, tactical equipment, sleeping bags, laundry and cooking oil were found in the vehicles.

The reinforcement to the municipal police did not arrive until the next day, shortly after 11:00 am, when five National Guard patrols arrived. Then began the fight for the Huites neighborhood and surroundings.

Later, at 4:00 p.m., the reinforcement of the State Preventive Police arrived at the municipal seat. This included an armored vehicle.

After almost three hours of the siege of Choix, armed raids preceded it to ranches that are access to the "Golden Triangle". The most recent occurred on March 31, in San Pedro, when the charred corpse of Cuate Miranda was found on board his black Ford truck, completely charred; on March 30, armed groups placed a checkpoint four kilometers from the municipal seat, just in the access arch to the municipal seat; on March 28 Paz CL, nicknamed Payín, was found dead, a resident of the village of El Vado, Choix.

He was tortured and shot to death. The body was wrapped in black plastic  and abandoned on a country road to Techobampo.

On March 27, at the Ranchito de Islas, Guadalupe “N”, 22, was abducted and his father, Monserrat, 52, beaten; and the Real Blanco village was taken by assault by armed men who raided the Diconsa store.

Here, the natives quietly mention a person in charge: Adelmo Núñes Molina, known as Lemo Núñez, a member of the Sinaloa Cartel.

In the municipal seat, the locals breathe with fear, they have been afraid to speak. They know that no one can defend them, and that they are at the mercy of the gunmen.

Young men and mature men admit that there is violence and that the previous night they had been startled because the bursts of heavy caliber were heard in front of their houses.

Luis Morán Rodríguez, Director of the Municipal Police, admitted that he spent an uneasy night, surpassed by the groups that faced bullets, but that did not attack the Police or any government office. "We did what we could to protect the population, which was not affected by the grenades or the shots fired at each other."

The mayor, Omar Gil Santini and his security cabinet were not located anywhere. The Municipal Palace was closed. It was as if the earth had swallowed them, as the gunmen who besieged Choix for three hours retreated.