The surge in killings comes as President Felipe Calderon is ramping up efforts to win more public support for the drug war. Armed attackers killed 10 people in a pool hall in an industrial region of central Mexico plagued by drug cartel-related violence, authorities said Thursday. The heavily indigenous highlands that were the backbone of 19th-century rebellion, are today one of Mexicos primary opium-growing zones, thanks to a combination of widespread and severe poverty, rugged, mountainous topography, and the limited, ineffective and often corrupt presence of state and federal authorities. MEXICO CITY A commando of drug gang gunmen on Thursday stormed ashore at a beach on Mexico's resort-studded Caribbean coast in front of luxury hotels and executed two drug dealers from a rival gang. Although explicit drug war violence such as inter-cartel warfare and gunfights between soldiers and traffickersdeclined during Veytias time as Nayarits security chief, crime and violence did not in themselves disappear. It sits halfway up Mexicos Pacific coast, sandwiched between Sinaloa to the north and Jalisco to the south, while its mountainous interior also borders Durango and Zacatecas. The operation was a joint effort between Veytias police forces and the Navy, a surprising partnership given previous events. Zacatecas had it then too as cartels battled for control, but it was overshadowed. 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 government, if it pays attention, can put a stop to everything.. The public safety department in Zacatecas state said the policemens bodies were found Wednesday morning in the state capital, also known as Zacatecas. "The bullets were entering the restaurant.". On Monday, Calderon published a 5,000-word defense of the strategy in several newspapers. But this fall, the arrest of Mexicos former secretary of defense, General Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda, dragged this small and unassuming state into the spotlight. "Sol Prendido" and "HEARST" for Borderland Beat In Colima, a video shows CJNG hitmen interrogating a CDS member who alle "Ivan" for Borderland Beat Guano Guzman & Seor Guzman News started to emerge on Friday, February 24, 2023 that a joint fede "Sol Prendido" for Borderland Beat The aftermath of an armed attack comes into view. This copy is for your personal non-commercial use only. Far from a law enforcement hero, however, Edgar Veytia was in fact the very picture of a miscreant. Indeed, Nayarit is Mexicos second biggest exporter of mangoes, and primary producer of tobacco. [5] Authors own fieldnotes from the Sierra de Nayarit. However mutually beneficial the relationships had been, in 2017 the alliance between Patrn Snchez, Veytia, Sandoval and Cienfuegos fell apart in truly spectacular fashion. The Fight For Juarez: When Will The Killing End? [2] Jean Meyer, Breve historia de Nayarit (Mexico: Fondo de Cultura Econmica/El Colegio de Mxico, 2000) Dramatic videos of the two-hour battle were widely shared online and broadcast on national television, including footage of a naval helicopter gunship raining fluorescent red fire down on a safehouse. 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. For the past month, a shot up pick-up truck has rested here. [4] Nathaniel Morris, Now the Youngsters are Masters of the Opium Harvest: Opium, Agriculture and Indigenous Identity in the Sierra of Nayarit, NORIA Research, 20 September 2020 [https://www.noria-research.com/the-youngsters-are-masters-of-opium/] On The Trail Of Mexico's Vicious Sinaloa Cartel. Gov. 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. Although the drug trade in Nayarit operated with the direct involvement of government representatives at all levels, the army occasionally attacked traffickers and often arrested, tortured and/or imprisoned peasants caught cultivating poppies and marijuana. For the first time in years, the drug trade in Nayarit received global media attention. For example, after Veytias police officers spoiled the attempt to capture Hctor Beltrn Leyva in Santa Mara del Oro in 2013, the Navy Secretary apparently demanded Veytias arrest, but Roberto Sandoval successfully interceded on his behalf with the Secretary of the Interior. If you do not yet have a Torstar account, you can create one now (it is free), Copyright owned or licensed by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. 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. Last month, a priest was killed in crossfire on the highway. Goodness me, why people killed each other in world. Two suspected drug dealers were killed after gunmen from competing gangs staged a dramatic shootout near upscale hotels that sent foreign tourists scrambling for cover. It would seem that the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, who now moved into Nayarit, Just five weeks later, however, Veytia miscalculated or was perhaps himself betrayed and on one of his twice-monthly trips to San Diego to visit his family was detained at the US border. The bullet-ridden bodies of the cartel members were discovered in the north-central state of Zacatecas. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. With a total area of a little under 30,000 km2, Nayarit is roughly the size of Massachusetts, and 23rd out of Mexicos 32 federal entities in terms of size. As frustration with the drug war grows, Calderon this week tried to rally the Mexican people behind the effort. 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. 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. All Ten people have been killed by drug cartel gunmen in a Mexican pool hall. Their activity focused on shipping cocaine from Central and South America to the United States and Europe. Joaquin called the attack "a serious blow to the development and security of the state putting the image of the state at grave risk.". 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. 12 dead after gunmen open fire on customers and staff at bar in The legacy of this political history and the facts of geography together define Nayarits place in the modern Mexican drug trade. 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. The Yucatan Times' content is protected by intellectual property rights, its re-publication, distribution, or retransmission is prohibited without the company's prior authorization. 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. Gulf Cartel Based in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, it started in 1920. This allowed them, together, to institutionalize corruption, embezzlement, land-grabs and violence, as well as drug production and trafficking, in the area under their joint control. He specializes in modern Mexican history, and is currently studying the connections between the Mexican Revolution of 1910-140, and the Drug War wracking the country today. He was the very image of a Mexican lawman, with a round, jowly face and thick mustache, a pistol shoved into his belt. Since then, H-2 and his men had fought hard against El Chapos group to maintain control of Nayarit and found a vital ally in Veytia, who from 2011 helped them to locate and assassinate their rivals. 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. For years, attention focused on violence along Mexicos northern border in cities like Tijuana, Ciudad Juarez and Nuevo Laredo. Murders occur daily in Fresnillo, a city that mixes the local offices of major mining companies with farmers working the bean fields. The installed checkpoint stops vehicles at random and performs preventive checks on their occupants at the Boca de Tomates bridge crossing. And these practices were so profitable that officials at the heart of President Pea Nietos PRI federal governmentindeed, the commander-in-chief of the same army prosecuting Mexicos war on drug traffickingdecided to get in on the action themselves and take their own cut of the reward. 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. Smoke from burning cars rises in Culiacn, Mexico, on Thursday, after an intense gunfight between security forces and gunmen linked to the Sinaloa drug cartel. WebMEXICO CITY Police have discovered at least 33 human skulls buried in western Mexico, authorities said on Tuesday, the latest grisly find in a region that has suffered Soon Veytia expanded into trafficking drugs himself. BBC News - Mexico gang shootout in Nayarit state kills 28 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]. With his return to Mexico, though, Cienfuegos fate is now tied far more tightly to that disgraced ex-governor Sandovalcurrently a fugitive and likely still on Mexican soilthan it is to Veytia. Shortly after the confrontation, gunmen some wearing black masks took off on a rampage, driving through the city in trucks firing heavy caliber weapons. Arturo Nahle, Zacatecas former attorney general and current state supreme court president, said those policies could be right, but will take years to bear fruit. They're shooting!' Government forces guard the entrance of hotel after an armed confrontation on Thursday near Puerto Morelos, Mexico. The military has sent reinforcements, but killings continue across Zacatecas: a doctor here, a police officer there, a family hacked to pieces, eight killed at a party, two girls shot along with their parents. The following years were even bloodier, and not just for civilians: numerous police officers were also murdered, including a municipal police chief in the Sierra, and two active members of Nayarits Preventative Police Force and one-time close associates of Edgar Veytia. 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, 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, 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.