The Fierce Hunt For 'Mario Calabazas' : Sinaloa

"Char" for Borderland Beat 

This article was translated and reposted from RIODOCE

It is not a war, but a bloody and expensive search for the inhabitants of the sierra.

In the highlands of Sinaloa municipality, Fausto Isidro Meza Flores, Chapo Isidro, unleashed a fierce search for Mario Alberto Lugo Lara, Mario Calabazas.

Chapo Isidro operates for the Beltran Leyva Cartel; and Mario Calabazas is the head of Los Calabazas, a faction of Chapo Isidro's group.

According to residents of San José de las Delicias, Mario Calabazas lives between that community and the town of Calabazas, where he is from.

They say that the confrontations that occurred on Friday, July 28 and Sunday, July 30, were between Chapo Isidro's and Mario's hitmen.

On Friday, July 28, the shootings began minutes before 5:00 a.m., in two houses that were also burned in San José and in the community of Calabazas there were also shootings in two houses. Residents say that the houses are owned by Mario.

The residents say that this is the area where Mario is being taken and now Chapo Isidro's people are looking for him.

When the confrontation occurred in San José, they said, Mario had not been in town for several days.

The confrontations on Sunday 30 took place in El Opochi where there were also blockades with five vehicles burned.

State authorities reported that no one was injured or killed in the shootings.

Residents say they do not know the motives for the rift between Chapo Isidro and Mario Calabazas, which has caused more than 300 people to leave their communities due to the violence.

On Thursday morning, August 3, in Guamúchil and Mocorito they threw flyers that read: "Mario Calabazas, your whole family is suffering because of you! You have already done so much damage to the population! We are not going to stop! We are coming for you! You traitorous rat".

In the afternoon of the same day, Army elements detained three men in San José de las Delicias.

The Ministry of National Defense reported that they were patrolling the area when they located a Jeep and managed to detain three men who were carrying weapons of exclusive use of the Army.

They seized a Barret rifle, eight long arms, 1,620 cartridges, 58 magazines and the Jeep.

DETAINED IN THE MOUNTAINS. With their hands on their guns.

The men also carried flyers with a message against Mario Calabazas, like the ones they had thrown in the morning.

The alleged assassins were handed over to the Attorney General's Office.

The arrest occurred at a time when personnel from the Secretariat of Welfare (SEBIDES), displaced persons who returned to collect belongings and the media were in the village.

The SEBIDES workers, displaced persons and reporters were sheltered in the local high school under National Guard surveillance, who told them that they would return to Guamúchil until there were conditions to do so, without mentioning that they had just arrested hired killers in the area.

The convoy carrying the detainees and the Jeep passed through the school where the civilians were being held; and at around 8:00 p.m., the convoy with Sebides workers, displaced and media, left the place escorted by military personnel, after about two hours of remaining at the telesecundaria.

The State Secretary of Public Security, Cristobal Castañeda Camarillo, said that the aggressions were focused on the homes.

He stated that after Sunday's shootings there have been no more violent acts in the area.

He considered that the people who left their villages can now return to their homes.

"We consider that, except for the communities where this situation occurred, we consider that there are already conditions for them to return, obviously there are some tests, surveys that are being carried out, but we consider that there are already conditions, unfortunately the issue of flyers and social networks generate misinformation," he said.

He assured that there is a deployment of elements of the Army, National Guard and State Preventive Police, which will be permanent so that there are adequate security conditions.

He commented that after the violent events, people from 19 communities have been displaced.

The investigation, he explained, was taken over by the Attorney General's Office.

Those Muds

EL CHAPO DE LAS FLORES 

In 2011, Chapo Isidro waged a bloody war against the Sinaloa cartel and the State Ministerial Police, led by Jesus Antonio Aguilar Iñiguez.

On that occasion, Chapo Isidro accused Governor Mario Lopez Valdez and the PME of protecting the Sinaloa Cartel.

El Chapo Isidro faces charges in the United States, where he is accused of leading a Beltrán Leyva cell, which, according to the FBI, "through strong alliances with other cartels, and the use of violence and corruption, has become the leader of a highly violent transnational criminal organization whose members operate in parts of Mexico, Central America, South America and the United States".

The U.S. State Department's Counter-Narcotics Reward Program is offering a reward of up to US$5 million for information leading to his capture.

In Mexico he had an arrest warrant for organized crime, but a Collegiate Court revoked it.

The U.S. government has not made any public statements about Mario Calabazas and it is not known if he has an arrest warrant in Mexico.

Source: RIODOCE

Article published on August 06, 2023 in the 1071st edition of the weekly Ríodoce.