THE BORDER REPORT

A really interesting hit late last night in Puerto Peñasco, Sonora, two couples taken out, one survivor. The hit went down in the heart of the city, 13th Street and Juárez Boulevard; El Imparcial reports this morning. One of the three dead  was identified as Joel Meza Cázares, of Culiacán, and los pajarritos andan cantando, saying he was related to Blanca Margarita Cázares Salazar, La Emperatriz, El Mayo Zambada's ex-girlfriend and a money-launderer for the Sinaloa Federation. If the info checks out, and we're working on it this morning, then Zambada's been taking some hits. In February, Cázares' brother, Victor Emilio, was targeted by the Feds, when they arrested 750 people working for the Sinaloans here in the U.S. That sprung from an indictment targeting Victor that was filed in 2007. Victor controlled Mexicali and California's Imperial Valley for El Mayo. One of Blanca's son's was murdered in May 2008 along with Edgár Guzmán, Chapo's son, in a bazooka attack in downtown Culiacán. It was a dramatic attack, even by narco standards. Twenty men took part in the murders. Some 25 cars were destroyed, close to 500 bullet casings picked up from the parking lot of the shopping mall where the young men went down. Now, at the time, everybody blamed the Beltrán Leyvas for the murder. Then the rumors began, here and in other places, that Mayo had ordered the hit, fracturing the Sinaloa Federation. Now this one, Joél Meza, goes down. The second thought I have this fine Monday morning is that this not going to go over well with the Sonorans. Drive-bys in the tourists spots are a huge no-no. At least, they used to be. I'll let you know about Joél Meza when I hear something. Now let's all return to the gripe porcina.

THE BORDER REPORT

Well, this is shaping up to be a fairly demonic Wednesday. The bodies of two military intel officers from the Mexican Army were found yesterday in the hills of Durango. Both had been shot several times, a note left with the bodies: "No government, no priest can stand against El Chapo." The bodies were found just outside Guanacevi, the small town where Archbishop Hector González told reporters that Joaquín Shorty Guzmán lives. Hm. Bad business that, turning priests against you. Assuming this wasn't a decoy job by the Beltrán Leyvas, of course. Which could be very possible. Because if Chapo ordered the hit, then he just put the Calderón Administration on notice, mocking the president and the Catholic Church. It's a bit interesting because that doesn't seem to be Chapo's style. He's not necessarily low key, but neither does he clamor for the federal government's attentions. These two murders have all the markings of a challenge and it's going to be one that Mexico City cannot ignore. Couple things to watch for: I expect the military will soon be storming Guanacevi and someone's started the clock on the archbishop. A week ago, I would have said Chapo won't be in Guanacevi, of course. But a week ago, nobody was saying where he makes his home and Chapo wasn't painting giant neon Xes on himself for Calderón to find.

THE BORDER REPORT

Is he or isn’t he? That’s the question to the statements given by Mexico’s craziest archbishop about Joaquín Shorty Guzmán living in Durango. Hector González caused a minor uproar last Friday when he insisted that Shorty lives among the pine trees of the mountains of Durango. Been there a few times; an eight hour haul from Sinaloa, up a winding, narrow road that breaks out into the clouds. I like it there. Scorpions and fog and handmade blades, Pancho Villa’s headquarters while he waged war north in Chihuahua. The state also comprises the third corner of the Golden Triangle, Mexico’s richest marijuana and opium plantations. Shorty married there about two years ago, taking 18-year-old Emma Coronel as his new bride, Los Canelos de Durango performing at the wedding. In my opinion, yes, Guzmán lives in Durango. But he also lives in Trincheras, Sonora, a ranching town just south of the Arizona border where he stopped by a few months ago; and he lives in Santiago de los Caballeros, Sinaloa, and in Guadalajara and in Cd. Obregón. About a year ago, rumors started buzzing around that Shorty had stopped by Nogales where his men had commandeered the entire Frey Marcos Hotel, the finest hotel in the city. The top floor, I was told. He’s staying on the top floor. I went to see; no reason really, just interested, and if I could, it would have served as an opportunity to slip him a business card. Nothing. Of course not. Why would there be? Just one of those ghost whispers that surface from time to time. Something. “Se dice que vino, pero pues quien sabe,” a good friend who works near the hotel. I sat in the bar across the street from the main entrance, just watching. “Anoche, cerraron la calle fuera del hotel,” another ojo told me. Something. The archbishop is running into the same problem, those secretos a voz that I love so much. Friday, he sparked the latest scandal in Mexico, saying, “Beyond Guanacevi, that's where El Chapo lives.” I cannot imagine what instinct could have prodded González to try and out El Chapo. It had to be the same base instinct that makes jackrabbits jump in front of an oncoming car. But whyever he did it, it must have been a long weekend for González. His remarks sparked a federal investigation, questions in Mexico City, in Washington, the governor of Durango and senators demanding that the archbishop be brought before the inquisitors to declare everything he knows. Monday, he redacted his statements, trying to capture his voice back down from the airways and let people know he was merely trying to express the sentiments of Durango as a whole. Context in these matters is important. “The people affirm that he was here, or there, or anywhere,” reads the press statement disseminated Sunday. “This knowledge may sound inside, or ingenious or even fantastic. But this is knowledge of the public domain.” Tuesday morning grew even worse. By today, the poor bastard had nothing to more to say than "I am deaf and mute." Then a bishop from the Yucatan piped up, saying that narcos in general, "respect the consecrated men and women of the church." I hope González doesn't become the crucible of that delicate theory. Everything’s a secret in Mexico. And nothing is. That’s just its charm.

In the meantime, here's 20-year-old narco-guerillera Anahi Beltrán Cabrera, arrested Monday in Sonora with the arsenal of a Somalian warlord. Or a Sinaloan one. Pero no, fue pura Sonora.

Among the weapons seized, an M2 Browning .50-cal machine gun mounted on a Ford F-150 with a home-made turret, a .30-cal  rifle (pictured) and a Barret .50-cal rifle on a bipod, a modified AR-15, a 30-30 rifle, parts for a 37mm grenade launcher and a couple of AK-47s along with about 9,000 rounds and about a pound and a half of coke. What police aren't saying (but we will) is that Beltrán's husband, Jose Martinez Quintar, had left the house half an hour before the PFP arrived. Culero. Still, presumably, Beltrán knew how to fire off a round or 200.

THE BORDER REPORT

A Sinaloa drug lord arrested in the United States for trafficking some of the purest meth ever seen in the Midwest, was also implicated in the 2004 murder of a photojournalist in Mexico, records show.

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