Valparasos mayor could not confirm or deny figures given by some residents that were double that. He used his power to amass enormous landholdings and expand his own personal ranching operations. cartel Nestled in the foothills of the Sierra Madre, Valparaso sits on one of those critical highways. The gunfight took place at a crossroads near Ruiz in the Pacific coast state of Nayarit, some He was rumored to have used his bus franchise to smuggle marihuana, as well as heroin processed in laboratories that he operated in Nayarits mountains. After a two-year trial, Judge Carol Amon found him guilty on these charges on 26 September 2019 and sentenced him to 20 years prison. 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"It's worthwhile in order to build a free and safe country." Mexico The legacy of this political history and the facts of geography together define Nayarits place in the modern Mexican drug trade. Both sides gained from this partnership: Sandoval grew extremely rich, as did Veytia, who earned money from embezzlement, kidnapping, murder-for-hire, extorsion, and the seizure of peasants lands. This copy is for your personal non-commercial use only. Outbursts of gunfire are common. Far from a law enforcement hero, however, Edgar Veytia was in fact the very picture of a miscreant. Nayarit rarely makes the headlines in Mexico, far less in the rest of the world. Toronto Star articles, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com, Conversations are opinions of our readers and are subject to the, The Toronto Star and thestar.com, each property of Toronto Star A Mexican state suffers bloody fallout of cartel rivalry | AP News On Monday, Calderon published a 5,000-word defense of the strategy in several newspapers. To the east sits San Luis Potosi, a logistics hub filled with shipping companies that can move the tiny pills north. Veytias arrest led the Mexican Federal prosecutors office and lawmakers in Nayarit to open a joint investigation into Sandoval in mid-2017. As frustration with the drug war grows, Calderon this week tried to rally the Mexican people behind the effort. Mexicos armed forces delivered a spectacular blow on Thursday night against one of the countrys leading drug cartels when an Apache helicopter rained down machine gun fire on a residence in the Pacific resort of Nayarit where the leader of the Beltrn Leyva organization was holed up, killing him and seven members of his organization. But there is more to the story. cartel WebMexicos armed forces delivered a spectacular blow on Thursday night against one of the countrys leading drug cartels when an Apache helicopter rained down machine gun fire Since 1970, eighty percent of Mexican tobacco has been grown in the vast plantations of the Nayarit coast, pulling in migrant workers from across central and western Mexico.[2]. Up until May 2019, 130 of the latter had been found buried in 29 mass graves. In August 2019, just a month before Veytias final sentencing, an indictment was filed in the same Court of the Eastern District of New York accusing Cienfuegos of also collaborating with Nayarits H-2 cartel. According to journalist Laura Snchez Ley, Veytia had turned informant in order to secure a shorter jail sentence. Rather, it was an organization that not only controlled drug trafficking in Nayarit between 2011 and 2017, but also established close ties with much of the states political elite. It is ironic, then, that it was precisely the Federal governments militarized crackdown on the cartelsand the extreme and generalized violence that accompanied itthat allowed the so-called H-2 cartel to extend its influence to the heart of the government itself; first by gaining unprecedented sway over state authorities in Nayarit, and from there suborning General Cienfuegos Zepeda, the very man supposedly leading Mexicos fight against organized crime. Earlier this month, a doctor was killed in neighboring Jerez for not stopping. Click here to receive our twice-monthly newsletter. WebThe killings in Zacatecas came one day after prosecutors in Mexicos most violent state, Guanajuato, reported seven men were shot to death at a mechanics shop. WebIt is 10:00 am on Saturday, March 20, and in the tourist area of Rincn de Guayabitos, Nayarit, submachine guns are thundering. The groups structure changed with the death of Arturo who was gunned down in a military operation on December 16, 2009 and the arrest of Carlos, the youngest brother, two weeks later. [4] But violence related to the drug trade only began to surge in Nayarit after President Calderns 2006 declaration of war on the nations cartels. In Nayarit, he declared, there was no room for organized crime.. The shootings were the latest chapter in drug gang violence that has sullied the reputation of Mexico's Caribbean coast as a once-tranquil oasis. Alleged drug dealers of the Sinaloa cartel are escorted by policemen in Mexico City following their arrests earlier this year. Puerto Vallarta Safe? Crime Rate & Travel Warnings [47] Web(Video) Suspected Members of Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) Carried Out a Shooting Attack on a Tourist Police Patrol, Guayabitos, Nayarit, Mexico 04 January Two paramedics carrying a woman in an ambulance from neighboring Jalisco state to a hospital were killed a few days before passing through Valparaso. WebHctor Luis Palma Salazar (born April 29, 1960), commonly known as "El Gero Palma", is a Mexican former drug trafficker and leader of the Sinaloa Cartel alongside Joaqun "El Chapo" Guzmn and Ismael Zambada Garca. If Sinaloans dominated the higher echelons of the Nayarits drug trade, from the 1980s growing numbers of Nayarit natives also began to move from drug production into the more profitable business of trafficking. Mexican marines use helicopter gunship to kill alleged cartel Beltrn-Leyva Organization - Wikipedia Some areas of Mexico have increased risk of crime and kidnapping. Crime "has gone up a little with extortion, with drug sales to foreigners and Mexicans," the prosecutors office said about the raid. The operation was a joint effort between Veytias police forces and the Navy, a surprising partnership given previous events. Country Summary: Violent crime such as homicide, kidnapping, carjacking, and robbery is widespread and common in Mexico. A national newspaper reported that on Monday 96 people were assassinated in drug-related violence across the country the highest daily death toll since Mexican President Felipe Calderon declared war on the drug cartels in December 2006. ..i dont understand all of these killings and no end to it. Nathaniel Morris is researcher at University College London and holds a Ph.D. in history from Oxford University. Camera Crew on US Side of Border Interrupted by Automatic Fire Some 200 armed men had Nayarits transformation to an , Rarely seen in public without a sombrero and an embroidered Wixrika shoulder bag, Sandovals self-proclaimed peoples government undertook numerous eye-catching projects, such as building a public sports and concert arena (which soon flooded), huge water-capture tanks in the poor outskirts of Tepic (which were never connected to the local water supply), and a sports center shaped like a giant cowboy hat. But this fall, the arrest of Mexicos former secretary of defense, General Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda, dragged this small and unassuming state into the spotlight. Tepic is my hometown and it has become a disaster, I am saddened by what has become of it. Its a reminder that residents remain in the line of fire even as the army and National Guard patrol the area. They sometimes beat people or tie them up regardless to instill fear. 06/26/2021. There were 15 days that we didnt go out for anything, said Claudina Betancourt, a nurse born in San Juan Capistrano. Media outlets in Mexico later reported that for government had released the fugitive. Motorists reported on social networks the closure of federal highway 200 in the town of rsula Galvn, where barriers were reported, forcing people to turnaround. Theres no cellular coverage and just two phone booths, isolation that adds to the uncertainty. All Zacatecas sits between the drugs production and its consumers. Durazo did not initially specify whether authorities arrested Guzmn or let him go. It was this indictment that led to the Cienfuegos arrest in the United States and revealed his place in the Nayarit corruption story. Highways running north to key border cities pass through Zacatecas, providing a direct route for northbound drugs and southbound guns. By FABIOLA SNCHEZ November 4, 2021. Several cartels are fighting for the area's lucrative retail drug trade, including the Jalisco cartel and the a gang allied with the Gulf cartel. The minimum tariff for the release of a loved one abducted by Veytias forces was set at 300,000 pesos (approximately $15,000 USD), although sometimes Veytia also demanded property. When he took office in 2012, Mexicos President Enrique Pea Nieto drew up a list of 122 drug cartel leaders, making their capture a priority. Last Wednesday, he announced a special strategy to address the cities with the most murders, among them Fresnillo: more military presence and more social development. A 2014 photo of Joaqun "El Chapo" Guzmn being escorted to a helicopter in Mexico City following his capture. And the killing continued the next day. In 2019, Veytia was sentenced Thursday to 20 years in prison in a U.S. drug-trafficking case accusing him of using wiretaps and other law enforcement tools to protect the turf of a drug cartel. [2] Jean Meyer, Breve historia de Nayarit (Mexico: Fondo de Cultura Econmica/El Colegio de Mxico, 2000) Sandovalor simply el Roberto, as he is still known in Nayarit began his political career under the patronage of PRI state governor Ney Gonzlez (2005-2011). The , While it is too early to know the full story, according to court documents Cienfuegos advised Patrn Snchez about US investigations into his activities; as alerted him to the presence of informants within his organization (which led Patrn Snchez to order at least one murder); and made sure his subordinates in the Mexican security forces refrained from interfering in the H-2 cartels, However mutually beneficial the relationships had been, in 2017 the alliance between Patrn Snchez, Veytia, Sandoval and Cienfuegos fell apart in truly spectacular fashion. ET Heavily armed gunmen went on a shooting rampage through the city of Culiacn, the capital of Sinaloa state on Mexico's Pacific coast, battling security Semipresencial en Madrid, Espaa, Maestra en 'Data Management' e Innovacin Tecnolgica 100% en lnea. The CJNG imposed its control over Tepics local, small-time drug dealers by shooting up any bar or nightclub in which they were rumored to work, killing and injuring scores of innocent civilians in the process. Alleged drug dealers of the Sinaloa cartel are escorted by policemen in Mexico City following their arrests earlier this year. Mexicos two strongest cartels Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation are locked in a battle for control. The north-central Mexican state holds strategic importance for drugs being shipped to the United States. Despite allegations of corruption and human rights abuses, the army has remained legally privileged, closed to all external scrutiny, and at the very heart of the current Mexican presidents nation-wide public security and policing strategy. CJNG, Shooting Attack, Tourist Police, Guayabitos, Nayarit, Mexico All of these activities were overseen by his chief ally and enforcer, Edgar Veytia: the same man charged with the local prosecution of the Mexican states war on the drug cartels., State attorney general Veytia was the man who made good on Sandovals promises to halt the killing in Nayarit: the sheriff to the governors cowboy. 12 dead after gunmen open fire on customers and staff at bar in Videos posted to social media show multiple gunmen shooting down major thoroughfares. On the morning of Saturday, March 20th, a violent shootout was reported in the town of Rincn de Guayabitos, which mobilized the municipal, state as well as federal authorities, who arrived in support of the military personnel coming under attack by armed civilians. He used all of the forces at his command to give H-2 complete control of drug trafficking in the state: according to witnesses in Compostela, for example, every week Polica Nayarit officers would escort a truck full of H-2 gunmen into their town to help them to disappear people. Veytia also made sure that any H-2 members who were arrested were always quickly freed. Newspapers Limited, 8 Spadina Avenue, 10th Floor, Toronto, ON M5V 0S8. Mexico cartel Mexico That same year, the Beltrn Leyvas reached a deal with Los Zetas, El Chapos chief rivals and lords of the Gulf drug routes. Last week, the assistant director of the local prison was gunned down -- along with his wife and his bodyguard -- as he dropped his kids off at a school. One town is controlled by Sinaloa, the next by Jalisco, the next Sinaloa again, said a community leader, who like more than a dozen people interviewed requested anonymity to avoid repercussions. WebA bullet-ridden sport utility vehicle was taken away after a gun battle with Mexican marines in which an alleged regional drug cartel leader was killed in Nayarit state. Montes de Oca said one of the men targeted in the attack fled into one of the hotels before dying. 2 dead in dramatic shootout near upscale Mexican resorts Guests at the nearby Azul Beach Resort also posted videos of people taking shelter or gathering in the lobby. Gulf Cartel Based in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, it started in 1920. Murders occur daily in Fresnillo, a city that mixes the local offices of major mining companies with farmers working the bean fields. The Beltrn Leyva organization were Sinaloans who had once controlled trafficking in Nayarit and several other areas of western Mexico as part of the wider Sinaloa cartel, until a violent break with El Chapo Guzmn and his allies in 2008the same year that Sandoval and Veytia assumed positions in Tepics municipal government. The state, then, remains central to the ambitions of some of Mexicos most powerful drug traffickers, a stage where politics and crime continue a decades-long dance. Anyone can read Conversations, but to contribute, you should be a registered Torstar account holder. This region is difficult to access, sparsely populated, incredibly poor (even by Mexican standards), and predominantly populated by Indigenous Wixrika (Huichol) and Nayari (Cora) people. Thanks for everything. MEXICO CITY (AP) A commando of drug gang gunmen on Thursday stormed ashore at a beach on Mexicos resort-studded Caribbean coast in front of luxury hotels and executed two drug dealers from a rival gang. And he said to give up in the drug war would be to abandon Mexico and leave it in the hands of organized criminals. "People were yelling, 'They're shooting! Government forces guard the entrance of hotel after an armed confrontation on Thursday near Puerto Morelos, Mexico. By Gerardo 10/28/2010 12:02:00 AM 6 comments. El Chapo has been in jail for more than a year Credit: Getty - Contributor. Mexico Indeed, it is in some ways unsurprising that Cienfuegos would be connected with an organization based in Nayarit, where the unique dynamics of local politics, combined with the states low profile as a hub for trafficking, have long permitted a particular brand of what Benjamin Smith has termed narco-populism to flourish. Dozens of skulls found in Mexico's Nayarit state amid cartel battles In October 2013, Veytia even provided security at a wedding at Santa Mara del Oro lake, where Juan Francisco Patrn Snchez and Hctor Beltrn Leyva, were entertained by famous norteo singer Remmy Valenzuela. In Nayarit, he declared, there was no room for organized crime. Homicides fell 75 percent in four years. Public shoot-outs between rival cartel gunmen grew rarer, and by 2016, Nayarit ranked at No 2 on the Mexico Peace Index, and was lauded by President Pea Nieto as an example of PRIista policy success. The difference between a state being a venue for drug production, trafficking, and conflicts between rival cartels, and one in which the cartels have actually taken control of the local authorities (or in which the authorities have in fact become narcos themselves), is an inherently political one. Mexico's security secretary, Alfonso Durazo, said the fighting began when about 30 National Guard and army troops patrolling the city were fired on from a house occupied by Ovidio Guzmn Lpez, who is wanted in the U.S. on drug trafficking charges. If this was the case, we can only imagine what Veytia who thanked Sandoval for his intercession with a gift of Spanish horses worth a million dollars and 300 hectares of recently-seized peasant lands gave to the Secretary of Defense in exchange for his support. For the past month, a shot up pick-up truck has rested here. Several police officers surrendered and were arrested by the marines, but unsurprisingly all were released from a Tepic jail shortly afterwards. The next morning, a joint force of marines and Veytias officers killed the Beltrn Leyva organizations second-in-command, Daniel Isaac Silva Grate (codenamed H-9), in an ambush in another part of Tepic. Hctor Luis Palma Salazar - Wikipedia Armed kids shine light on Mexico's drug cartel violence 06:40. However mutually beneficial the relationships had been, in 2017 the alliance between Patrn Snchez, Veytia, Sandoval and Cienfuegos fell apart in truly spectacular fashion. In the tourist town of Taxco, south of Mexico City, soldiers fought a 40-minute gun battle with alleged cartel hitmen that left 15 people dead. This Tuesday, a series of clashes between presumed hitmen and agents of different security corporations in Tepic, in the She continues working here, but recently moved her belongings to Fresnillo where her daughter and mother live in case she has to quickly leave one day for good. 2 police hanged from bridge in Mexico, 7 killed in shooting That Edgar Veytia was eventually arrested, tried and convicted for his part in this story, and that an arrest warrant has since been issued for Roberto Sandoval, is somewhat heartening. More than halfway through his term and with violence reaching new peaks, Calderon said the drug war won't be easy or quick, but he said it's a war that "we will win. When they did, they found 18 bodies in San Juan Capistrano, a small community in Valparaso, Zacatecas. Agents of the State Prosecutors Office and the Puerto Vallarta Police installed a checkpoint at the entrance of the city after a violent gun battle broke out on Saturday, March 20th, in Rincn de Guayabitos, Nayarit. hide caption. Vean el tipo de armas que se estn usando. There are more than 100,000 guardsmen deployed in the Mexico, plus the military, yet the violence continues apace. A federal grand jury in New York City charged with conspiracy to manufacture, distribute, import and distribute heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana between 2013 and 2017. 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