From Ascensión To Ojinaga, Migrants Are The Targets Of Seven Criminal Cells

"Sol Prendido" for Borderland Beat 

Los Mexicles call the shots, but different cartel subgroups fight for control of this lucrative business.

The trafficking of undocumented migrants, like the crimes being committed against migrants along the border, is not exclusive to Ciudad Juarez and its surroundings, as legal advisors for victims, activists, as well as the State Attorney General's Office and the Ministry of Public Security are aware of similar incidents throughout the territory bordering the United States.

At the moment, the State Attorney General's Office and the Federal Attorney General's Office have located 9 groups and subgroups that are involved in this type of activities within the border strip, from the limits of the municipality of Ascensión, between the state of Sonora and Chihuahua, to the limits of the municipality of Ojinaga with the state of Coahuila.

Although the incursion and the dispute is centered on two main groups, the Sinaloa Cartel and the Juarez Cartel, both maintain alternate groups or "satellite" groups that are distributed along the border with the United States to extort, cross as "polleros" and even use undocumented migrants as "mules" to transport narcotics. These subgroups include Los Mexicles, Gente Nueva, Los Aztecas, Artistas Asesinos, La Línea, La Empresa and Nuevo Cartel de Juárez.

Regarding these events, the activist and representative of the Women's Human Rights Center, Gabino Gómez Escárcega, recognizes the problem that has "skyrocketed" in recent months in this corridor, in addition to the fact that he is aware of several groups of undocumented immigrants who were abducted by armed individuals and nobody saw them again; there is even a protected witness who experienced these events firsthand and was the one who informed the authorities after they released him.

In the area of the municipality of Ascensión, which borders the municipality of Casas Grandes, Puerto Palomas and Janos, the State Attorney General's Office has identified a subject nicknamed "El 29", who is an operator for the Juárez Cartel, where also a few kilometers away the same criminal group was accused of having murdered women and children belonging to the community of LeBarón in 2019.

Los Mexicles lead migrant smuggling in Chihuahua

The municipality of Ascensión is located two hours from Juárez and is represented by the same criminal organization. Municipal and state authorities report that groups known as La Línea, La Empresa and Los Aztecas, all belonging to the Juárez Cartel, operate from Santa Teresa to Anapra and the north of Juárez.

The La Empresa group became very relevant from 2016 to 2019, as it was a recently created group -- under the orders of René Gerardo G. S., alias "El 300," a former member of Los Aztecas -- that later sought to become independent of the Juárez Cartel due to the internal conflict between the "old" and "new criminals.

René Gerardo was detained by federal elements in 2018, but three years later he was released after obtaining amparos that the federal justice system granted so that the alleged criminal could go free, despite the fact that the State Attorney General's Office had evidence that René had a group of 300 gunmen and that this is where his nickname "300" came from.

The FGE also has information on the presence of criminal groups in the municipalities of Guadalupe and Praxedis G. Guerrero, as critical points for migrant smuggling have been identified along the common border with the United States.

UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS ARE USED AS "MULES" TO SMUGGLE DRUGS INTO THE U.S., EVEN AGAINST THEIR WILL

In Juarez there are several criminal leaders such as "El Neto", who was the main operator of Los Mexicles, who despite being detained in Cereso 3 of Juarez continued issuing orders and directing operations for this group; at the same time there is the presence of another subject nicknamed "El Gnomo", currently a fugitive from justice, who despite operating in Juarez has his center of operations in the city of Chihuahua.

Security reports estimate that Los Mexicles, who are outside or inside a prison, have between 500 and 3,000 active members, however, the number has varied over time, as some have changed organizations, while others have been killed, which is why their numbers are constantly fluctuating.

A couple of months ago, this same criminal organization had an internal division and some of its members formed the "Triple Alliance", which was detected by the Ministry of Public Security, after Mexicles joined with La Linea and La Empresa to fight against Los Chapos in one of the most problematic areas of Juarez.

To the east of the state of Chihuahua, on the same border strip, is a town identified as Lomas de Arena, which is one of the main points of reference for criminal groups to carry out the crossing of migrants, as activist Gabino Gomez himself has dealt with the cases of more than 50 victims who have disappeared while trying to reach the United States.

One of the most emblematic cases in recent months occurred in Lomas de Arena, after the disappearance of 13 undocumented people who were traveling in a group with the intention of reaching the United States, however, the group was detained, because apparently "the coyote" had not paid the "fee" to pass through that strip and instead the armed group held the undocumented people and took them away in several vehicles, without knowing so far if they are still alive or not.

The State Attorney General's Office and the State Search Commission have repeatedly carried out operations in that area of the state (Lomas de Arena), as there is information that both criminal groups use the crossing to reach the town of Van Horn, in Texas, where they sometimes find the undocumented migrants carrying sacks of drugs, according to the same reports received by border authorities.

In this area there is the presence of the two groups and their different subgroups that work in the trafficking of undocumented migrants, as well as sometimes forcing them to carry drug packages to reach the United States, according to reports that the Attorney General's Office had generated in several seizures.

Further east along the border, on the border between the states of Chihuahua and Coahuila, there is a large presence of a criminal group of the Juarez Cartel, which according to the same state corporation, Sergio "El Menchaca" is in charge, a character who has become one of the most wanted, but who has not been captured so far.

In May 2021, the State Attorney General's Office, in coordination with the Ministry of National Defense, seized several vehicles worth around 15 million pesos from this alleged criminal leader, including luxury sports cars such as the Lamborghini Urus, which has a market value of just over 5 million pesos.

Next to Ojinaga is the municipality of Coyame, with the communities of Cuchillo Parado, Las Conchas and Candelaria, which are located less than 60 kilometers from Lomas de Arena, which is one of the main crossings to reach the United States, most of which are covered by the Juarez Cartel groups and are in constant dispute against the Sinaloa Cartel, now more for control of this new market that has been generated by the migration crisis on the border.

El Heraldo de Chihuahua