THE BORDER REPORT

Q: I've never thought of Cananea as a cartel-infested city. What can ordinary people on both sides of the border do to promote a free press and protect the messengers? Shooting the messenger seems to be a new cartel hobby in Mexico these days. The Committee to Protect Journalists says the only place in the world with more reporter homicides is Iraq. In some instances, these reporters aren't being killed because they were working on deep investigations; they were simply reporting on the day's events. Essentially, cops reporters are the ones being targeted. In some cases, and it's a very uncomfortable truth Mexicans don't like to talk about, reporters get involved with drug cartels, particularly in the turf wars. One side gets blamed for the other's misdeeds, this type of thing. Those reporters are paid off; the Mexicans call that "chayote." I think one way for Americans to get involved in promoting a free press in Mexico is supporting the Mexican media. Now, that's problematic on many levels because you don't know whose version of the truth you're buying (sometimes I think the same can be said of the U.S. media). I hear that El Imparcial is having trouble selling newspapers in Sierra Vista because major grocery stores refuse to carry the paper. That's a bad move; instead of more information coming to us, we're getting less. Q: What exactly did Pedro Emigdio Cordova Herrera do in Ciudad Obregon? Isn't a bit of a drive from Hermosillo to Obregón. Pedro Emigdio Cordova Herrera was a state police commander in Ciudad Obregón. He was the official in charge of ordering arrest and search warrants for the State Investigative Police. According to federal sources in Hermosillo, he was the godfather to Raul Enriquez Parra, the leader of the drug-trafficking gang, Los Numeros aka Los Güeritos. Los Numeros controlled drug trafficking into Arizona through Sonoyta-Lukeville, the Tohono O'odham Indian Reservation, ambos Nogales and ambos Naco. The downfall of Los Numeros started with Raul. He was beaten with a hammer and tossed from an airplane onto his own ranch in Navojoa. (Interesting sidenote: his body was found wrapped in a blanket designed like an American flag). Since then, the entire group has been targeted. Cordova was shot in the back last fall but survived. This time the killers didn't miss; they shot him in the face. He was found outside his wife's home in Hermosillo. Presumably, he was visiting his family. Q: Where were the cars licensed, Sonora, Chihuahua, Baja? Since they came from the West, Caborca, does that mean they a Pacific and the Cananea area is out of Juarez? I always thought the guys running drugs around the Caborca area up to Sasabe were their own gang of thugs. The cars of the Cananea gunmen had license plates from all the northern Mexico states, including Baja California, Chihuahua, Sonora and Tamaulipas. The Mexican government has changed the version of events now, saying that some of the killers were already waiting in Cananea, with others coming in from Caborca and still others from Hermosillo. Caborca and the Sasabe area is controlled by the Quintero Paez family, with threads back to the Caro Quintero family. Rafael Caro Quintero was one of the masterminds behind the kidnapping of DEA agent Enrique Camarena in 1985. The inter-relationships behind the families are extensive. The Quinteros and the Enriquez share numerous blood relations. Q: Where do these gangs get their federal clothing and gear? They were driving around the city with at least one car with police lights, wearing probably federal army fatigues and setting up checkpoints. Does this mean that some of these guys are rogue military, the digs are stolen, or a little bit of both? Sorry if this is a simple question, but I don't know much about the background of these drug gangs. In late February, there was a shootout between state police and a convoy rolling through Magdalena de Kino. Some of the gunmen managed to escape, others were arrested. In their vehicles, police found 300 official uniforms, including 50 AFI (Mexican FBI) outfits, 50 Federal Preventative Police outfits, and 100 military uniforms, among others. I imagine uniform manufacturers are as prone to bribery and threats as anyone else in Mexico. It's become standard fare for the Gulf Cartel in particular to use uniforms and vehicles with official insignia. In the Arizpe hunt, several of the gunmen were found to be former Grupo Anfibio de Fuerzas Especiales, Mexican Army Special Forces. The GANFES were trained by the U.S. at Fort Benning, Georgia. Some deserted to the Gulf Cartel as far back as 1997 under President Ernesto Zedillo. Q: Any thoughts on why they would kidnap civilians? Seems a little out of character. And kind of strange if it truly was retaliation hit. There wasn't much reason I can think of beyond sexual assault on the 14 and 16-year-old girls who were kidnapped in Cananea. But one man who was kidnapped was co-owner of El Oasis Motel in Cananea along with one of the dead police officers. El Oasis is a cheap flophouse used to stash pollos before they are smuggled into Arizona. Q: Is Sonora on the verge of becoming a war state? I guess you could say it's already there, but is all out warfare imminent? What concerns me more isn't all-out war but a supplanting of power. The Sinaloan conglomerate of the Beltrán Leyva family and Chapo Guzmán was fully in control of Sonora narco-trafficking through the first part of this decade. That seems to be changing and those types of changes don't come quietly. If the Gulf Cartel keeps trying to move into Sonora we're going to see more attacks like Cananea. This was no an isolated incident and I think Mexican and American law enforcement will commit a horrendous mistake if they treat it as one. Q: Does the Gray Ranch (in the western boot heel of NM) ever figure into any of this?  For the last 30 plus years I've either had personal odd happenings associated with the Gray Ranch or heard from good sources they use their air field to run drugs. They also seem to be protected by the local NM law enforcement ( Sheriff, Game and Fish and Border Patrol). I've never been to Gray Ranch but geographically it's in the territory of the Juárez Cartel, specifically, in the region controlled by the Paredes Machado family from Agua Prieta. I always find it amusing that corruption among U.S. authorities is rarely mentioned in all this. Q: Have you ever heard that FICO ( the Pecan growers) is associated with money laundering or trafficking out of Sonora. I have not, though haulers get busted carrying dopeloads north from nearly every agricultural company along the border. Q: Why did Arizona not put up permanent Immigration check points like they have in New Mexico? In 1999, the Border Patrol was prohibited from placing permanent checkpoints in Tucson Sector after Congressman Jim Kolbe applied pressure. Kolbe felt permanent checkpoints simply resulted in illegal traffic circumventing one area for another. Q: What happened to the Tacho brother who got arrested for having marijuana in his gas tank and how is his family? Are their other Tacho family members, and if so do they have cartel associations?
Roberto Tacho was police chief in Naco, Sonora, until his February arrest for carrying 59 pounds of marijuana. He, quite literally, threw himself into the hands of the Americans, trying to escape the same death sentence his brother suffered in Agua Prieta. He is in segregated custody in Arizona, awaiting a hearing. His family was in the car with him but was deported back to Naco. As far as I know, they are still alive. I do not know if any other Tachos are involved in the life. Q: What do the mules/backpackers do after they deliver their loads, go back to Mexico or what? Most do return to Mexico, usually along a circular route like Sasabe to Tucson, then back down Interstate 19 to Nogales and over to Altar for example. In spite of arguments to the contrary from Justice Department, I don't believe most backpackers carry dope into the country in exchange for being smuggled in. There are always exceptions of course but drug trafficking usually dictates where people smuggling can take place. For example, in the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, migrant traffic has dropped off while drug mules increased this year, says refuge chief Roger DiRosa. Q: Do either of these cartels traffic in prostitutes? I doubt there's a direct involvement but the money launderers and their affiliates in the U.S. are certainly involved. Q: Do any of the Cartels own property in the USA, and if so where? One of the most interesting details from State Department is who's getting the visas to come into the U.S. To get a visa, you need to prove financial stability in Mexico and narco-traffickers can prove their money-laundering operations in Mexico are legitimate businesses. The best example is Ismael Zambada, wanted in the U.S. on a $5 million bounty. His kids attend school in Phoenix. Q: Who is dealing Crystal Meth out of Sonora/Chihuahua, anyone? Jaime Herrera, a high-ranking member of the Sinaloa Federation, is the name that most frequently pops up for meth production in Mexico. Chemists in Sonora and Sinaloa are now able to produce pounds of the stuff for shipment to the U.S. But the operations seem to be scattered throughout the country. Last March, the third-largest pseudoephredrine importer in Mexico was implicated in a 19-ton pseudo-seizure in Mexico. Q: Who runs the mines now in Cananea now, if international, what nationalities? Grupo Mexico, under the billionaire family of Jorge Larrea, runs the mines in Cananea. Q: What is the final count of the dead? Did they capture any of the gunmen alive?  What has happened to them? Twenty-four people died in Cananea and Arizpe. That includes 16 gunmen, five police officers and three civilians.