There were not many of us. 92110 United States [email protected] +1 619-260-2299. 15 Killed in Mexican Car Wash Massacre | Fox News [A]nd how the Zetas were shouting at them and hitting and mistreating them, the then-chief of the department told investigators in his 2014 statement to state prosecutors. See Allende, el infierno: Los testigos de la masacre, Zcalo (Coahuila), July 10, 2017. An Army unit was sent to Rancho Garza to investigate. And from previously I knew that all of the Allende municipal police were linked to or worked for the Zetas.-Revised declaration of Christian Alejandro Lpez Tamez, December 17, 2014, Firefighter Jess Gerado De Len Ramos, too, spotted various units of the municipal police at the entrance to the ranch, including police director, Roberto Guadalupe Trevio Martnez, and shift commanders Maria Guadalupe Avalos Orozco and Rogelio Javier Flores Cruz, who he and others described as key links between the police and the Zetas. American authorities eventually helped Mexico capture the Trevios but never acknowledged the devastating cost. 2018 is on track to be Mexico's deadliest year on record with over 20,000 homicides so far. A self-described foca (lookout) for the Zetas, he had been found sleeping on the job. We continued to advance until we reached the ranch, where I saw that there were a number of blue and white municipal police patrol cars and several police officers And these police, its like they were guarding the place. Large swaths of northeastern Mexico have been under the de facto control of drug cartels for more than a decade despite the promises of successive governments to rein in the criminal groups and root out the corrupt officials who have made it all possible. How the U.S. Triggered a Massacre in Mexico ProPublica The attack . Subscribe. Finally, the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Justice recently confirmed, in a FOIA denial letter to the National Security Archive, that its investigation of the DEAs links to cartel violence in Mexicofirst announced in 2018is ongoing, a probe that may have significant implications for the Allende case and for U.S.-Mexico security cooperation more broadly. Edited by Michael Evans. In a sworn statement, El Pjaro said the Zetas coordinated the kidnappings with high-ranking officials of the Allende municipal police department, who were present during the abductions and who carried the victims from the house to the ranch in a police patrol vehicle. Where did your husband leave my husband? one asked. How the DEA Triggered the Massacre of an Entire Mexican Town jschwartz@statesman.com. Few had the courage to defy Los Zetas. I stopped working for Los Zetas because they disappeared my father who worked as a security guard at a construction site from where they also kidnapped another worker and a woman who I did not know, but she seemed to be a minor At the time of the disappearance of my father I was still with the municipal police and I asked the commander for help And he told me not to involve myself in these matters and that I should go home and go to sleep.-Declaration of former Allende police transit officer, July 31, 2014. In Coahuila we were hearing the word being passed from municipality to municipality, about a large scale Zeta massacre in several towns of "The Five Springs", (Los Cinco Manantiales) including Allende. Several said the police director ordered that officers should not do anything or say anything about the carnage. For this reason, it can be inferred and there exists reasonable certainty that the disappeared people given the time and the place where they disappeared, have been kidnapped by people linked to organized crime, specifically by [deleted] and using the same operational methods. Source: ProPublica. The call lasted for about a minute.-Complaint of Yuliana Lpez Ibarra, October 14, 2014, Shortly after the troubling March 20 phone call with his mother, Vctor Garza and Yuliana Lpez managed to escape to nearby Sabinas, but Vctor insisted on going for his parents, according to Yulianas statement. Since the acts occurred on the dates of March 18, 19 and 20 of 2011, they were committed under the same mechanics not just in the city of Allende, Coahuila, but also in other municipalities in the northern region of the state, among others Piedras Negras, Coahuila.- Memorandum on links between various cases, March 5, 2015. This article was posted in Borderland Beat mainpage on March 26, 2011. Allende, el infierno: Los testigos de la masacre, Zcalo (Coahuila), July 10, 2017. Four years later, and ten years since the Allende massacre, the families of those victimized by the Zetas and other criminal groups in Coahuilaare still waitingto learn whether the ICC will take up the case. But as the investigation picked up steam in 2014, dozens of people, including local firefighters, law enforcement officers, civilian eyewitnesses, and municipal officials, came forward to describe a city government almost completely immersed in the criminal structure of Los Zetas, including the mayor and top police officials. And there were approximately from seven to ten people that we tied up with rats tails. In fact, sometimes [deleted] would come to the municipal jail and take people away. Some of those interviewed during the investigation said the rampage started as an act of revenge by top Zetas leaders against Cuellar, Junior, and other deputies, who they accused of pocketing millions of dollars in stolen drug money. [15] In 2017, Zetas member Marciano Millan Vsquez (El Chano) was convicted on federal charges in the United States that included his involvement in the Allende violence. See Vanguardia, March 18, 2019.. American authorities eventually helped Mexico capture the Trevios but never acknowledged the devastating cost. Outside the ranch entrance, the firefighters spotted officers and vehicles from the Allende police department. On the afternoon of March 20, aman reported the March 18 disappearance of his wifes parents and five other family members. Reading Pulitzer Prize-winner Ginger Thompson's oral history of a little-known 2011 massacre in the Mexican border town of Allende, and of the role, the U.S. government played in triggering it, is an experience at once intimate and vast.Hearing the voices of survivors, whether they were perpetrators . The Zetas started out as an enforcer gang for the Gulf Cartel . Founded in 2002 as the enforcement arm of the notorious Gulf Cartel, the first members of Los Zetas were recruited from a Mexican special forces group known as GAFE (Grupo Aeromvil de Fuerzas Especiales), members of which were trainedat the U.S. Army School of the Americas at Ft. Benning, Georgia. Los Zetas Drug Cartel Sicario and Piedras Negras Plaza Boss Sentenced He told her about other people from the region who the Zetas had kidnapped and killed, including a pregnant teenager and the nephew of the former mayor of Piedras Negras. Nine people, including three mothers and six children, lost their lives Monday when they were shot execution-style while traveling to a wedding in Mexico. It was the case that among them I recognized several, since I knew them, because we were from the same municipality of Allende, Coahuila, where I live.- Declaration of Zetas member Jos Alfredo Jimnez Aguilar (El Pjaro), June 13, 2014. A. U.S. authorities inadvertently helped to cause the deaths of thousands of people in Allende, Mexico in 2011 after information they gathered was leaked to the Zetas cartel's leaders, according to journalist Ginger Thompson. Mexico's defense secretary, Luis Cresencio Sandoval, was in charge of the military garrison in Allende when the massacre took place but has deflected responsibility for failing to stop the killings. It was approximately 7:00 or 7:20 in the evening, which is the hour of the shift change. She toldProPublicathat, after separating the children from their parents, the kidnappers held them for several days before leaving the two older kids at a park. For years after the massacre, Mexican authorities made only desultory efforts to investigate. "Somos." de Netflix: as fue la brutal y olvidada masacre de Allende en Rodolfo Snchez Robles, who worked as a chauffeur and mechanic for the Garza family, seemed to know something was wrong on the day he disappeared. * * * * *. Jos Alfredo Jimnez was one of the first of the Zetas to arrive at Luis Garzas ranch that night. Another told investigators that the local Los Zetas chief acted like he was in his own house during frequent visits to the Allende police station. If you experience a barrier that affects your ability to access content on this page, let us know via ourContact form. [18]Others have called on Mexico to prosecute top Coahuila state officials, including former governors, for allowing criminal violence to flourish. Bri Rooke. However, families of the victims in Allende touted the overdue government efforts as a publicity stunt. Despite the brutality of the case, major U.S. TV and print outlets have largely ignored the kidnapping and murder of hundreds of people from Allende, Coahuila. Beyond criminal prosecutions, the Mexican government also has a specific legal obligation to divulge information related to cases, like Allende, that constitute clear violations of human rights and humanitarian law, raising the hope that additional information may come to light through the countrys access to information law. And what I did, in that place, together with [Chucho] was carry containers filled with gasoline and diesel to the bodega, which was filled with hay. Prosecutors disagreed, arguing that Lozano collaborated with Los Zetas, was aware of the attacks before they began, and had failed in his obligation to protect the people of Allende. El Pjaro said that a group of victims that had been tied up inside the ranch house were later taken out back to the bodega where they were killed with a shot to the head. He didnt have anything to do with crime, nor did his family, since they were kidnapped by mistake.. Cartel Assassin Involved in Allende Massacre Sentenced to Life in Other witnesses confirmed the testimony of the police commander. A 10 aos de la masacre de Allende, recrean la pesadilla para no olvidarla They had brought people from Sabinas, among others an ex-federal highways official and other people from the municipalities of Zaragoza and Morelosthis was weeks after what happened in Allende.- Complaint of wife of murdered Zeta, November 13, 2014. On the evening of March 20, 2011, Yuliana Lpez Ibarra heard the sounds of gunfire and the desperate cries of her mother-in-law coming through the tiny speaker on her husbands cell phone. [13] Bracketed items identified in portions of the Herrera Estrada declaration published by Zcalo. Sergio Aguayo is a prominent Mexican human rights investigator at the Colegio de Mexico, which last year launched an independent probe into the Allende massacre. Sep 28, 2022, 5:00 AM SGT. The situation was especially dire in Piedras Negras, where Los Zetas had turned the state prison into a center of operations. Allende y la masacre de la que no se habla en Mxico - Cultura Colectiva As ocurri la brutal y olvidada masacre de Allende - BBC News Mundo I n the dead of night on Jan. 28, 1918, a group of white Texas Rangers, U.S. military men and local ranchers burst into the homes of Mexican and Mexican American . -Declaration of Allende volunteer firefighter, December 17, 2014. She said Andrea, the six-year-old, blames herself for what happened to him. No one would tell her anything about the person who left the kids at the orphanage.[10]. Much of the worst violence occurred at a pair of ranches owned by the Garza family and located outside of the city center along the highway. Hours later, his daughter was one of the last people to see him alive. Villa Unin, just a 20-minute drive from Allende, has been the site of numerous acts of violence linked to the CDN in recent years. Declassified Investigative Dossier Examines Officials' Roles in Cartel Killings, 10th Anniversary of Worst Human Rights Episode in Mexico's Recent History, By Michael Evans, Senior Analyst, National Security Archive, For more information, contact: Police acted as lookouts (halcones) for the group, collected extortion payments from local club owners on their behalf, and participated in the Zetas drug trafficking activities. He always knew what was happening here.- Declaration of former Allende police official, November 12, 2014, 17:30. Did United States Trigger a Drug Cartel Massacre in Mexico? The original Zetas are former members-turned-deserters of Mexicos elite Airmobile Special Forces Group (GAFE), trained in the U.S. at the School of the Americas at Fort Benning, GA. Criminals were shooting up the street and two police officers . Jeremy Schwartz. Descendants of 1918 Porvenir Massacre Fight For Recognition - Time Garza Gaytnwas a member of a Los Zetas cell led by Mario Alfonso Poncho Cuellar, a former Mexican federal police officer. Warning: violence in San Miguel de Allende. The official, town council secretaryEvaristo Rodrguez Chapa, said he called police director Trevio to let him know what was happening, to which he replied: Dont even fart, you asshole. LAS CRUCES - On Feb. 10, 1990, two men walked into a Las Cruces bowling alley and shot seven people execution style including four children robbed the bowling alley's safe and set . Her brother-in-law, who also worked for the Garzas, arrived later and told her that her husband had been kidnapped. The job netted Jimnez about eight thousand pesos ($700 USD) per month, plus expenses. El 18 de marzo de 2011, sicarios de Los Zetas irrumpieron en el pequeo municipio fronterizo buscando venganza porque alguien les haba . Some cooperated more than others. Allende massacre. December 9, 2020, Advirti EU riesgo ante mandos mexicanos corruptos [T]he director, who almost never left his office, knew all about this. Is Netflix drama Somos. based on a true story? - Radio Times Through the gate, she could see what appeared to be bodies piled up next to a burning building. Garcas friend, Everardo Elizondo, worked part-time at Luis Garzas ranch and also raised fighting cocks. According to testimony, Vasquez did so because he and other Los Zetas wanted the father to suffer. In 2011, Drug Enforcement Agency officials informed Mexican . Prosecutors said at least a dozen specially trained police officials may also have been involved. How one reporter uncovered the U.S. role in a massacre in Mexico [A]t that time I lived in La Colonia Presidentes, and I knew all of these people because they were from the town. And together with the patrols there were many cars and trucks both inside and outside the ranch, and these people carried long arms from which I deduced that these people were from Los Zetas.- Declaration of Allende firefighter Jess Gerardo De Len Ramos, December 17, 2014, 14:50. Police commander Juan Ariel Hernndez Ramos (who served under police director Trevio) said that Lozano had called top city officials to a special meeting to discuss the ongoing violent attacks around the city. In July, Coahuila state investigators gave them a nearly identical set of questions; among them: Did they know about the disappearances as they were happening? De Len said that he already knew that all of the municipal police of Allende were associated with or worked for the Zetas., When I saw all those police I realized that they were keeping watch or guarding the place, that is to say the [Garza] ranch In addition to the police I already mentioned, I noticed that there were more people wearing civilian clothes, some hooded, some not. First published on Wed 6 Nov 2019 16.31 EST. He said the process reduced the corpses to pure butter., [I]n those days they kidnapped many people [Where] they killed them and burned them was a ranch There, they made me burn one body since I saw what was happening Others were burned at the [deleted] ranch, but nothing was left, because they told me that only pure butter remained after cooking them.- Declaration of Germn Zaragoza Snchez (El Canelo), April 8, 2014, 10:00. Isabel Allende - Books, Life & Career - Biography People from the town stole the furniture, vehicles, and machinery [from the houses] and sold it for scrap metal.- Declaration of Germn Zaragoza Snchez (El Canelo), April 8, 2014, 10:00am. To date, prosecutors have managed only a handful ofconvictions in a case that involves dozens of crime scenes, hundreds of victims, and the documented participation of numerous Zetas and public officials. I still love Mexico. Many of the victims were ordinary laborers at the Garza properties. And as I am originally from here in Allende, and this is a small town, for this reason I know these people. What they saw, before fleeing for their lives, was the beginning of the grimly methodical process often used by the Zetas to destroy the bodies of their victimsto eliminate the primary evidence of the crime.