The Shooting That Forced The Suspension Of The Fishing Tournament In Choix, Sinaloa

 "Ivan" for Borderland Beat 

The fifteenth edition of the "Huites 2022" bass fishing tournament was scheduled for three days of activities, but on the night of Saturday, February 26, it was abruptly suspended after a shooting that did not leave blood, but material damage, economic losses, bad image for the mountain demarcation, and the suspicion that the mayor's family intervened as the cause of the conflict.

In this, it stands out that the family of the mayor, Amalia Gastélum Barraza, began the confrontation that was aggravated by the alleged theft of an accumulator perpetrated by the State Preventive Police assigned to the municipality.

The municipal president delegated to her secretary, Othón Osuna Soto, the response to the events in which she is involved, despite being in a meeting with her police chief, Juan José Valenzuela Villela, another of those involved.

Faced with the bias that the official version has taken, which is in contrast to that given by witnesses and the community, Josefina Couret de Saracho, dean of Human Rights defenders in Choix, asked the mayor to clarify before the Attorney General's Office of the Republic (FGR ) the participation of his sons-in-law in the shooting on Saturday, February 26, and based on the Eighth Constitutional Article, which enshrines the right to petition, to be informed of the result of the appearance and agreement.

At the moment it is not known if the family of the municipal president was called to testify in the matter or if they appeared voluntarily to do so.

According to Osuna Soto, the events that occurred at 11:00 p.m. on February 26 in Techobampo de los Paredes were orchestrated by a group of unknown individuals who feel they own the plaza to boycott a fishing tournament, whose only The intention was to position Choix as a tourist destination for sport fishing and that would have brought together some 2,000 fishermen from the United States, Culiacán, El Fuerte and Ahome.

The events began with the attack of a woman on one of the mayor's daughters, with the boyfriend intervening, a situation that was controlled with the intervention of policemen who were assigned to guard the event, and almost simultaneously, it was reported that in access to the camp , where the gathering of fishermen was held, reported the presence of an armed group that placed spike strips.

Police rushed to the scene and the group dispersed, leaving a van behind.

The director of the police decided to remove the accumulator to prevent the ignition and recovery of the unit, and after that there was a shooting attack that was repelled by the police, with no known casualties anywhere.

Osuna Soto assured that, after the events, the fishermen dispersed and the event was cancelled.

What was narrated and recognized by the secretary of the commune, retired professor and former treasurer during the second term of Mayor Miguel Ángel Ávila Piña, confirmed what was told by the popular versions and denied by the mayor to local media.

Osuna Soto said that the events were unleashed in parallel, and therefore it is considered organized and orchestrated to destabilize the fishing tournament, and not as an attack on the government.

He ruled out that this had a political origin or revenge against the mayor for her request for a greater police presence at the public security table: “She does not have such enemies, because her proselytizing campaign was not an attack, but a proposal, and the requests they are carried out within the framework of their responsibility to seek the common good”.

He said that the investigation is in the hands of state and federal authorities, since it is considered that an organized crime group participated in the events, without specifying authorship, name or clan.

“We don't know them,” he stated.

After the events, Josefina Couret de Saracho sent the mayor, Amalia Gastélum Barraza, a statement asking her to make her son-in-law available to the FGR and clarify the situation, but a week after that she did not know if she had accomplished.

A Very Violent Area

The mayor's administration has had three violent incidents in the first four months of her administration.

The first occurred on November 14, 2021, during the first fortnight of the incipient government.

That morning, a black Ford Explorer truck with license plates VPG-130-B was found parked on Benito Juárez Street, between the municipal palace and the square, with the bodies of two boys.

A legend was painted on their bodies with a black marker: “IM el 01” and “LEMO”.

The population was outraged by the case, since it involved two young workers, with no public criminal record.

The second case occurred on December 29, 2021, when Omar Guillermo Ramírez, former director of Economic Development in the administration of Omar Gil Santini, was deprived of his liberty from the shopping center, who would have delivered the errand to Gastélum Barraza.

The young man's family claimed that the municipal police to look for him and rescue him, but according to what was said, the Municipal President refused.

Criminal investigators said that the case of Omar Guillermo would be related to the deprivation of liberty and subsequent murder in Los Mochis of the choicense, Héctor Manuel Borbolla Torres, alias el Cheto, whose body was found with torture and bullet wounds under a bridge in the Juarez Drain and Mexico-15 highway. This was followed by a record for being an apparent member of a criminal group that operates in Bacayopa, Choix.

And the third, the shooting on February 26 during the second day of bass capture in the "Huites 2022" tournament.

Article published on March 6, 2022 in the 997 edition of the weekly Ríodoce.

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