THE BORDER REPORT

Did it happen or didn't it? The presumed gunfight that hit the news this morning seems to have disappeared as if it never happened.

Here, belatedly, is a translated summary of a CISEN briefing I received a short while ago from a contact in Culiacán. You can bet those boys are watching this. Keep in mind, this is not a current update. A day old at least.

22 Dic 2009 –

"Several reports were received from residents in Guamúchil de la Noria, Sinaloa, that two rival groups had engaged in a gunbattle and a large number of people had been killed or wounded (Guamúchil de la Noria lies near the border with Durango, up in the Sierras. Popularly, it's Mayo Zambada turf but you can believe that's not in the CISEN briefing). Preliminary reports received at our office stated that a large group of assailants with high-powered assault rifles and fragmentation grenades had fired on several targets, leaving dozens of people wounded and dead. Media reports stated that a bus traveling from Mazatlán had been attacked and at least three houses were incinerated. Elements of the Secretary of Defense were dispatched but found no evidence that a battle had indeed taken place. They also did not find an attacked bus nor did they find burned houses. No bodies, wounded or dead were found."

Here's an odd sentence taken from the report. One that is so bizarre, it's making me think a little about the politics behind the incident. If it even occurred. The report states that CISEN spoke with SEDENA who believes it is possible that two rival gangs had "attacked each other, then left the area after collecting their dead and wounded."

Narco gangs frequently do this, yes it's true. But they can't erase evidence, bullet fragments, blood stains, bullet holes, shells. So why even state that it's possible? It's absurd.

Hours after the initial reports came in, about 7 a.m., four houses were attacked throughout Mazatlán, the report states. Some 200 rounds were fired in colonias Lomas de Mazatlán, Libertad de Expresíon, Mazatlán Uno and in the pueblo of El Habal. Witnesses at one scene apparently told investigators that the killers had arrived in three trucks, stepped out and opened fire from all directions. There were no injuries.

There has been some speculation that the military was involved in the attack. If so, they either brutally wiped out some 40 men – or, and this is something that bears consideration, they lost.

Gonna be a rough Christmas in Sinaloa.