THE BORDER REPORT

Law enforcement and local sources identified two men who died in a gunfight in Cananea this afternoon as Omar Chavez and Bernardo Acosta, local drug traffickers who've been delving into migrant smuggling in this town for some time.

According to El Imparcial newspaper, one of the trucks had as many as fifty bulletholes, but officially, state police have identified Acosta as the lone dead man.

Expreso newspaper is reporting one high school student died, a victim of the crossfire.

The inside politics of this place is really interesting. Sources point to the new linkage in Agua Prieta and Cananea. It seems the Paredes Machado clan, I think there's only one left, Marco, and the Cananean, Francisco Hernandez Garcia, El Dos Mil, have teamed up, which brings this whole story right back full circle to Agua Prieta where it all started in the first place. It was back about three years ago that the Paredes were first wiped out in a shooting that eliminated a brother, sister and a business associate of the Paredes. Earlier this year, their most public consigliere personal, Sergio Limon, was gunned down as he was walking into his famous steakhouse, La Reforma.

"Now they're working for him," says my guy in Cananea, referring to Dos Mil.

I'm going to monitor this situation carefully over the coming week.

Those damned checkpoints have me worried. The crime bosses have been setting up these checkpoints throughout the city all summer, men dressed in Mexican FBI pulling over cars. There've been some seven carjackings as a result, none of which appear to be investigated.

And  of further curiousity, are the old names coming back. Some of you local readers remember Fidel Mancinas, the owner of the decent hotel in the city. Last week his nephew was murdered at one of those fake checkpoints. There'll likely be some retribution for that.

Cananea has been simmering hot since last year's gunfight with the Gulf Cartel and the state of Sonora. There've been 18 kidnappings since mid-June in the city, including one American citizen and a few weeks ago, there was a narco-fosa uncovered up the highway where 11 bodies were uncovered.

I'll keep you posted; you readers who know what's up, you know where to find me.

-- Michel Marizco