“El Piwi” Dead in Guaymas, Sonora: Regional Leader of "Los Salazares"

Yaqui for Borderland Beat from: Omnia / radarsonora/ Infobae

Guaymas, Sonora: Today, Tuesday the body of the man who was found on Loma Dorada Boulevard, right in front of the Virgen de Guadalupe Chapel, on a bench , was fully identified after events that transpired yesterday morning.

Shot down was the Guaymas regional head of hitmen of "Los Salazares", the Sonoran family linked to the Sinaloa Cartel. His body was thrown on the boulevard of the Loma Dorada neighborhood, belonging to the municipality of Guaymas.

The victim responded to the name of Edgar Alexis Meza Soto, alias 'El Piwi', 23 years old, originally from Empalme, Sonora, who suffered and died from bullet wounds.

According to the first investigations, at 6:40 in the morning the Municipal Police received a report of a body that had been thrown from a moving vehicle in the vicinity of the San Judas Tadeo and La Virgen intersection.

The police had to be assisted by the National Guard, who pursued a recent model white Jeep brand vehicle where a cell of “Los Salazar” hitmen was traveling, and which had carried out detonations in the Ocotillo II subdivision.

It is important to mention that according to various local media the elements of the National Guard let them go, however, Edgar Alexis could not resist the wounds from the gunshot wounds and was left lifeless by his companions from the Jeep truck, in Colonia Loma Dorada .

"Los Salazars" announced their arrival in the world of drug trafficking in Mexico  in 2005, when violence escalated throughout northern Mexico. However, there are reports that indicate that the criminal group has operated since the 1990s in Sonora. Its members are originally from the municipality of Chínipas, Chihuahua.

A group of armed men, allegedly from the Los Salazar criminal cell, attacked the house of a former command of the municipal police of San Luis Río Colorado, Sonora (Photo: Special)

The members of this cell are involved in the planting, production, and transfer of drugs to Arizona, United States, as well as the trafficking of migrants for the Sinaloa Cartel. The criminal organization was headed, until his arrest in 2011, by  Adán Salazar Zamorano,  Don Adán , who was one of Joaquín El Chapo Guzmán's operators and lieutenants .

The criminal activities of  Don Adán  and that of his sons, Jesús Alfredo,  El Muñeco , arrested in 2012, and Adán , " El Indio"   Salazar, murdered in 2016, forced the forced displacement of 1,200 people in the municipality of Sonoyta, Sonora, and some 300 families in Chínipa in 2015.

Miroslava Breach, a correspondent for  La Jornada , (assassinated in 2017, whose murderer was sentenced to an unprecedented 50 years in prison, as Posted here by Chivas ) uncovered the links between the Sinaloa Cartel, the Salazar criminal group, and police authorities. Also, they attribute to him the murder of the communicator  Alfredo Jiménez , who covered for  El Imparcial,   reports referring to the criminal group. 

Jiménez was also investigating Los Salazar's ties to the Beltrán Leyva family. He disappeared on April 2, 2005, in the city of Hermosillo, Sonora. First street, in the Oriente neighborhood, in the Municipality of Empalme, will bear the name of El Imparcial reporter, Alfredo Jiménez Mota.

The Salazars have a dispute with "Los Memos" , an organization headed by  Adelmo Niebla González,  "El Señor" . Since 2005, the Sonora Attorney General's Office has been conducting an investigation against the criminal cell and politicians of the PRI in Sonora.

Upon arrival, the agents found the lifeless body of Edgar Alexis Meza Soto, alias "Piwi", on the sidewalk , with various bullet wounds. It is worth mentioning that he had recently participated in various clashes in the Colonia Moderne, from which he had managed to get out alive.

He also participated on Sunday night in a shooting in the northern sector of the City and Puerto de Guaymas, where he was injured.

It was passersby who discovered the body of the unfortunate man, so they immediately notified the 911 emergency number.

Last weekend was a bloody one for the Guaymas and Empalme port municipalities , since in less than 48 hours at least 6 homicides were registered , added to the 5 that had been registered a few days before. Around 10:45 p.m., the emergency numbers rang to alert that two men had been executed in Empalme. On Sunday there were 3 more homicides. 

Reports indicate that on Saturday afternoon, around 6:00 p.m., the first of the 6 homicides was registered, when a young man was deprived of liberty in Vícam , to later appear seriously injured, for which he was transferred to a hospital where he died hours later. 

Elements of the Municipal Police went to the place, who were supported by personnel from the National Guard and the State Public Security Police (PESP), to then notify the Public Ministry and Expert Services of the State Attorney General's Office for the proceedings of law.