Blog dedicated to reporting on Mexican drug cartels
on the border line between the US and Mexico
.

Thursday, January 20, 2022

ELN Hitmen Killing El Sindicato Hitmen For Control of Barrancas - The Battle Between a Colombian Cartel Group & a Venezuelan Cartel Group


The following is the direct text of an article written by the Caracas Chronicles, an independent news organization dedicated to covering Venezuela. The article, titled “The Battle for Barrancas del Orinoco” was published on January 18, 2022.


Warning: Graphic photos below this point.


Barrancas del Orinoco is located at a strategic point of the Orinoco Delta is being disputed by gangs, guerrillas and security forces. The fighting has left several dead and many questions


“Things are still pretty intense here. Barrancas is still taken. We have counted four dead,” texted Javier (his real name, as with other people’s in this story, is kept private for safety reasons) on the night of January 13th. Twelve days earlier, on January 1st, the town of Barrancas del Orinoco, on the southern border of Monagas and the northern shore of the Orinoco River, was under gunfire.


Some rumors of violence had started to spread on the night of December 31st, when the Doña Carmen liquor store, by order of Fundación Hermanos Álvarez (better known as El Sindicato de Barrancas gang), installed a mountain of speakers in the storefront to make the whole town listen to a New Year’s Eve party. Everybody would have to hear the loud music resounding over the flat, hot landscape. Firecrackers, however, were prohibited by the gang: its members needed to know for certain if something exploding or banging was gunfire or not.  


A group of masked men in black camouflage fatigues jumped off several boats from the river shore.



By 3:00 a.m., indeed, something that was clearly not firecrackers broke the party.4


They carried the red and black sign of the ELN (the almost six-decade-old Colombian guerrilla Ejército de Liberación Nacional) and descended upon the town firing assault rifles and throwing grenades. While El Sindicato barricaded the streets that led to its hideouts and armories, ELN men surrounded the town with checkpoints on every possible escape route. 



By noon, for lack of stamina or ammo, the shooting stopped. Javier and his family could finally lift their heads off the ground. Five members of El Sindicato were dead. Two other bodies of guys nobody knew had been left at the cemetery and at the local fish store. All seven were quickly buried, while a large group of wounded people filled the precarious local hospital—but several doctors and nurses fled, fearing the combat would spread to the site. To this date, more people are missing or in hiding. 


On January 1st, the National Guard—which is in charge of protecting the river shores—arrived in Barrancas after 4:00 p.m. with CICPC officers and state police—theoretically to restore order. Two days later, armored cars with CONAS and DGCIM men arrived on site. “Those first days,” Javier says, “the officers entered houses to steal food, mattresses, electronics, just to intimidate us.” No one could be out after 8:00 p.m. 


Barrancas was under further gunfire on January 4th. By 5:00 p.m., the count added two more dead, and on January 5th, El Sindicato fought briefly with soldiers and police officers on Betancourt Ave., leaving a.k.a “El Pollito” dead.


Not Any Village


Barrancas is an old town with around 30,000 inhabitants, and it’s become strategic for the illegal economies of southern Venezuela, since it’s located right where the Orinoco River divides into the labyrinth of waterways that is the Delta. Barrancas is also an important station for gas smugglers headed to the mines, sourced by roads and serving fuel to miner boats on the river shore. Those who control Barrancas del Orinoco, control a hub for people and supplies going to or coming from the gold mines in Bolívar, and a checkpoint on the Orinoco just before the narrow waterways of the Delta can lead drug cargo to the Atlantic Ocean. 


From Barrancas, according to Javier, you can reach Guyana on a motorboat, an exit route for drugs. It’s a difficult region to watch and protect, very popular among the guerillas and gangs who export drugs to Africa, Europe, and the Mexican cartels. “There’s a lot of drug trafficking here,” says Luisa, another villager. “We don’t talk about it, but everyone knows it. Before the fighting in January, we used to sit on the shore to watch the vessels pass, and the National Guard or the FAES would come and order us to leave. Then we knew that something bad was being transported.”



As usual, everything related to the history of El Sindicato and the illegal economy of the region is made of legends, some of them spread by the armed groups themselves, all of them whispered with fear.  


The business of gasoline and drugs in Barrancas was controlled by the “El Piojo” gang, until it was exterminated by El Sindicato in December 2016. They say the battle lasted two days and that even the wives and children of the defeated were massacred and dismembered. 


Some say El Sindicato was formed by former oil industry contractors. Others say the gang was the armed branch of a union linked to the mines. According to Javier, the government tried to exterminate El Sindicato in 2020, but it failed and ended recruiting them to protect the drug business. According to another neighbor, Luisa, “those boys of Fundación Hermanos Álvarez have defended us from robbers, men who rape Indigenous women, drug traffickers who force the fishermen to be their mules… the authorities would do nothing. They cleaned the town. We were living just fine. We went to El Sindicato when someone stole our cattle. True, they asked for some money to feed their men. Now they want to topple them to control the river.”


ELN wants to control the river now. Journalist Sebastiana Barráez, an expert in security matters in Táchira, saw in Barrancas the same pattern of territorial occupation by the ELN, which has a strong presence in the mines and now needs to occupy the strategic post of Barrancas del Orinoco. But Javier thinks the newcomers aren’t guerrilla, but another gang competing against El Sindicato. “Those guys get weapons and kill each other. No one is safe here.” People say that a lot of land in the region has been bought by high-ranking officers linked to drug trafficking. Who can ever say who’s who in that region riddled by all kinds of criminal enterprises? 


“Nobody knows what’s really happening here,” says Luisa, “and what will happen to us, the villagers, but what I want is the authorities to hunt down the guerrillas, not those boys in the Fundación who care for us.”


By January 18th, Barrancas del Orinoco was still occupied by security forces. At the time of writing, no more fighting has taken place. 





Source: Caracas Chronicles


Some graphics by HEARST.


16 comments:

  1. Colombians are the most low key criminals in the world and probably the most powerful among the Latin countries

    ReplyDelete
  2. Venezuela is even crazier than Mexico

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. True. The differences I believe: one, the President isn’t afraid/ashamed/at risk with the world knowing he’s the de facto cartel leader; and two, less news makes it out. Fucking black hole with narcotics and gold galore.

      Delete
  3. With fuel being so cheap in Venezuela I would be shocked if they are not growing and producing they're own Cocaine

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Where have you been BB did cover an article awhile back, Maduro is on USA watchlist. for fees he lets Columbians use his country to deliver drugs up North.

      Delete
    2. 6:34 thats how you know Mexicsn presidents are in cahoits eith the American Givernment.
      Since Maduro wants independence from the U.S, he is now wanted for drug Traffiking..
      On the other hand, Mexico's NARCO-presidents have been dealing wtrh cartels for dacades but U.S tuns a BLIND EYE..
      How many presidents were named to help CDS in chapo's trial? peña nieto and Calderon got some good money from chapo for sure..

      By the way, THERE IS IVEDENCE AND TESTEMONIES of these alegations.
      For all you numb nuts that will defend these idiots.

      Delete
    3. Maduro got busted by US Intel, that he is doing drug trafficking, there's evidence.

      Delete
    4. 6:34 mexican predidents do the same but they are cool with it
      As long as mexico is dedtabiliz3d and stays a 3rd world country its ok

      Delete
    5. 8:18 Mexico and US are close partners idealogically and economically and we share the North American continent along with Canada. Venezuela is South America socialist. Unlike Venezuela, the US and Mexico share a border. We're so tight that many Mexicans view the US as la otra lado. Mexico and US have shared values and a critical mass of citizens in our respective countries. It's no puzzle wondering why the US favors Mexico over Venezuela.

      Delete
  4. These guys are amatuers compared to the Mexican Cartel paramilitary units made up of former military or police such as Grupo Elite o,Grupo Flechas , Tropa del Infierno , Gente Nueva ,Antrax or Los Linces or FEM.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What happened to the Rambo profile picture?

      Delete
    2. He is currently updating the image to his famous Hamtoe profile rather than Rambo pic. His large toe is made out of ham. It's really amazing to see🐷

      Delete
    3. Tropa del infierno are a bunch of teenage rejects that are fed tweak and heroin to do what they do lmao they are not elite. Those guys literslly wear amazon gear 100% and think they are FES

      Delete
  5. No compares to Mexican drug syndicates no one

    ReplyDelete
  6. This is interesting. As somebody who lived in South Africa years ago (extremely dangerous and corrupt on such a level it is difficult to comprehend) everyone knew drugs were brought in from Columbia and Venezuela using the small nation of Guyana as a jump off point.
    If your plane was held up it was announced that a plane disembarcing from Guyana was being checked for contraband. Needless to say, the use of cargo shipping has taken center stage these days.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. some big names from the local underworld there?

      Delete

Comments are moderated, refer to policy for more information.
Envía fotos, vídeos, notas, enlaces o información
Todo 100% Anónimo;

borderlandbeat@gmail.com