Los Salazar Chief Distributor El Juanini Gunned Down in SLRC

"Itzli" and "HEARST" for Borderland Beat  

Warning: Graphic images below this point.

The chief retail drug distributor for Sinaloa Cartel subgroup Los Salazar was shot to death inside his truck in San Luis Río Colorado in the state of Sonora, the stronghold city of Los Salazar’s power.

At approximately 3:40 pm on the afternoon of January 13, 2022, the emergency phone line received a report of a shooting which had just occurred in the Campestre neighborhood of the city of San Luis Río Colorado.  

Reports indicate that a 36 year-old man named Juan Lara Robles, alias “El Jaunini”, was parked in front of the home of relatives on Sinaloa Avenue between 26th and 27th street. While he was inside a gray 2019 Ford Raptor pick-up truck, a group of men inside a small white pickup truck shot him with high-powered weapons. Witnesses report that after the shooting, the attacker’s vehicles were seen speeding away, heading to the east. These eyewitness accounts later described the attackers as “very young”.

Police officers were dispatched to check on the reported shooting. When they arrived on scene they found Juanini was no longer displaying vital signs. More officers were dispatched to search the surrounding area for the attackers however they were unable to locate them and no arrests have been reported as of the writing of this story. Agents from the State Attorney General’s Office (FGE) arrived on scene and began collecting and documenting evidence.

El Juanini was a well-known criminal entity within the city of San Luis Río Colorado. Ever since 2009, local law enforcement have believed him to be the chief retail drug distributor for the city, working on behalf of the Sinaloa Cartel.

It is unclear if El Juanini reported to the Sinaloa Cartel plaza boss for San Luis Río Colorado Dimas Díaz Ramos, alias "El Dimas", who was associated with the Ismael Zambada García, alias “El Mayo” side of the Sinaloa Cartel because El Dimas was arrested early in Juanini’s criminal career, having been detained by law enforcement August 10, 2009. 

Following Dimas’s arrest, control of the plaza was taken over by Los Memos / Los Nieblas cell of the Sinaloa Cartel, which was helmed by Adelmos Nieblas González , alias “El Memo".

Two years after El Juanini was identified by law enforcement, he was arrested for the first time, at 26 years old when, on the night February 23, 2011, he was pulled over for a routine stop in the Campestre neighborhood of the city by soldiers who found him to be acting suspicious. 

Inside of his red 2011 Dodge Ram pick-up truck, the soldiers discovered a Norinco MAK 90 semi-automatic rifle (sometimes called the “Chinese AK”) as well as two pistols, one a FN Five-seveN (which has been nicknamed by hitmen as mata policías, or police killers) and a .380, along with ammo for all three firearms. 

The soldiers also found 130 grams of marijuana along with 68 “doses” of crystal meth, all of which were prepped as if for sale. El Juanini was found to be in possession of 2,370 pesos and 645 USD cash on hand.

Video Source: Actividad Policial en San Luis Rio Colorado Channel on Youtube

During the announcement of El Juanini’s arrest, law enforcement stated that two previous operations had been mounted to try to arrest him, however both attempts had failed. 

El Juanini was charged with possession of illegal firearms and crimes against health (legal term for drug charges). While in custody, El Juanini allegedly provided information about which active police officers were currently colluding with Sinaloa cartel operatives. The charges were later, evidently, quietly dropped as El Juanini was almost immediately released from prison and returned to his criminal career. 

On May 27, 2015,  the then-30 year-old El Juanini was arrested again, this time by municipal police officers at Montecarlo, a motel on Obregón Avenue in the Burócrata neighborhood of San Luis Río city after an emergency phone line tip reported the sighting of two armed men. 

El Juanini was arrested alongside 31 year old Reynaldo Jesús Rojas Sánchez, alias “El Metra”. Both men were found to be in possession of a total of 29,000 packets of marijuana, weighing a total of 14.5 kilos. El Juanini was sent to prison in Mexicali for this offense for an unspecified length of time. 

Of note, El Juanini’s wife Xitlálic López Moreno was arrested later that year, in October 2015 after the Toyota Camry which she had illegally parked and received a minor parking ticket for turned out to have a theft report, having been reported as stolen in Arizona on March 22, 2015.

The year 2015 marked a major turning point for drug trafficking in the city of San Luis Río Colorado and surrounding areas. Since 2009 Los Memos, based out of Sonoyta, had operational control in the city in conjunction with Gonzalo Inzunza Inzunza, alias “El Macho Prieto”, who was killed in a shootout with the military in Puerto Peñasco on December 18, 2013.

During this same timeframe another group within the Sinaloa Cartel, Los Salazar, were operating in conjunction with Los Paredes in the Agua Prieta-Nogales corridor and maintained an arrangement with Los Memos and Macho Prieto for access to Puerto Peñasco, Sonoyta, and San Luis Rio Colorado. 

The death of Macho Prieto, as well as the February 22, 2014 arrest of the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, Joaquín Archivaldo Guzmán Loera, alias “El Chapo Guzmán”, led to Los Salazar waging a bloody war against Los Memos for control of their territory, reaching a peak in 2015 and waning following the arrest of Adelmo Nieblas González, alias "El Memo". In 2015 Los Salazar consolidated control of the area and El Juanini began working for Los Salazars. 

It should first and foremost be noted that within Sonora and Baja California, the Sinaloa Cartel’s subgroups appear to fight against each other no differently than as if they were a rival cartel organization. These internal cartel divisions derive largely from whether a group has more history and loyalty to Ismael Zambada García, alias “El Mayo”, or to the sons of Joaquín Guzmán Loera, alias “El Chapo”, called Los Chapitos. 

Los Salazars have historically been considered to be on the Los Chapitos side of the paradigm and their Sinaloa Cartel rivals have tended to fall on the El Mayo side. Now, there have been some recent narcomantas which allege Los Salazars and Los Chapitos have had a falling out however whether that has truth to it or it was purposefully placed misinformation has yet to be seen. For more details on this aspect, please see this previous story. And regardless of the current state of the Chapitos and Salazar relationship, Salazar’s El-Mayo aligned enemies remain. 

Los Salazars are contested in certain areas by Rafael Caro Quintero’s Caborca Cartel. They are also contested by Sinaloa Cartel subgroup Los Gigios, who are in an alliance with the Caborca Cartel and are believed to stronghold the city of Nogales. Salazars are also challenged by Los Rusos, a Sinaloa Cartel subgroup who fall under the El Mayo side and stronghold the nearby city of Mexicali, across the Sonora state border in the state of Baja California. 

In the most recent events, Los Rusos are the group, amongst all the enemies of Los Salazars that have presented threats to Los Salazars within the city of San Luis Río Colorado and therefore the primary suspect behind the killing of El Juanini. 

The conflict between the two all began because Los Salazars reportedly wanted to expand their operations out to the vast flat terrain to the west of San Luis Rio Colorado city that lie between it and Mexicali, however due to region’s specific terrain drug smuggling is highly dependent on knowledge of the numerous rural roads and the many difficult access points. 

Therefore, according to government intelligence reports from early March 2021, Los Salazars formed an alliance with Los Garibays, a historic crime family from the area who Los Rusos had previously successfully pushed out of Mexicali. Los Garibays, now a shell of their former selves, still had valuable knowledge of the area’s drug smuggling routes which gave Los Salazar the needed edge to truly contest Los Rusos for control. For more details on this aspect, please see this previous story. 

Recently the leader of Los Rusos’s Mexicali forces, Felipe Eduardo Barajas Lozano, alias “El Omega”, was arrested on December 27, 2021. Whether the killing of the Salazar’s chief retail drug distributor for their home city, El Juanini, was an act of retribution by them or one of Salazar’s numerous other enemies has yet to be seen. 

Sources: Tribuna de San Luis, Sonora Informativo, Reynosa Código Rojo 

Background Sources: La Prensa Blog, El Zeta1000, La Voz del Pueblo San Luis Rio Colorado, Uniradio Informa Contralínea