Declassified Documents Released on The Allende Massacre

 “Sol Prendido" for Borderland Beat

Documents from the Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena) dated March 20 and 28, 2011 confirm that the commanders of the Sixth Military Zone based in Saltillo and the Piedras Negras Garrison. 

At that time under the command of General Luis Cresencio Sandoval, were informed about the kidnappings and mass murders that Los Zetas had just committed in the town of Allende and other municipalities in the north of Coahuila

Despite knowing about these crimes, those military commanders did nothing against the criminal group.

The Allende massacre - in which, according to the families of the victims, there were more than 300 people dead or missing - remained hidden for almost two years. No federal, state or municipal authority officially reported on this.

The documents of Sedena were published by the academic organization National Security Archive (NSA), based in Washington, founded in 1985 by journalists and academics, which houses "the largest collection of declassified documents in the world."

The documents, which are dated March 20 and 28, 2011, in the middle of the "war on drug trafficking" of then President Felipe Calderón. The internal reports of the Sedena recorded the complaints received by the 14th Cavalry Regiment based in Múzquiz from people whose relatives were kidnapped by Los Zetas.

They were taken in groups to the Piedras Negras Garrison, under the command of General Cresencio Sandoval, and to the Sixth Military Zone, then commanded by General Dagoberto Espinosa Rodríguez, current director of the Social Security Institute for the Armed Forces (ISSFAM).

Sedena documents confirm that the commanders of the Sixth Military Zone and the Piedras Negras Garrison, under the command of General Luis Cresencio Sandoval. Were informed about the mass murders of Los Zetas in Allende as well as other municipalities in northern Coahuila, and did nothing.

Two days after Los Zetas razed the town of Allende on March 18, 2011. And attacked the city of Piedras Negras along with several municipalities in northern Coahuila - with more than 300 dead and disappeared, according to civilian testimonies - relatives of victims reported the facts to the 14th Cavalry Regiment, based in Múzquiz. 

Which notified these facts to the Sixth Military Zone based in Saltillo and the Piedras Negras Garrison, the latter in charge was General Luis Cresencio Sandoval, current secretary of National Defense. 

Despite the gravity of the events, the military did not act and, like the state and federal governments, remained silent.

"March 20, 2011. Allow me to inform the Superiority that on that date, at approximately 2:30 p.m., Mr. (...) appeared to denounce that on March 18 of this year his wife's parents had been kidnapped, as well as five other members of his family.

And that on Saturday, March 19, his son went (...) to verify that information in Rancho Garza, located in Villa Unión, Coahuila, where he didn’t find his relatives.

They communicated by phone at approximately 1:30 p.m. stating that the municipal police had them.

To this date he doesn’t know anything about them and that armed people were in his father's ranch, he proceeded to inform Command 14 RCM authorizing them to go to the area," says the document dated in Allende, Coahuila.

To verify the complaint, three Army units headed by a cavalry lieutenant went out to the scene, who reported to his superiors the existence of looted houses, burned and abandoned ranches, multiple shell casings, as well as vehicles burned and with evidence of gun fire.

A copy of the report was sent to General Luis Cresencio Sandoval, then head of the Piedras Negras Garrison, and to the commander of the Sixth Military Region.

According to the former governor of Coahuila, Humberto Moreira, the current head of Sedena was also in charge of the  Piedras Negras prison, where members of Los Zetas incinerated the bodies of their victims.

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