Culiacan update

The Sinaloa cartel's traditional home city sees 11 more murders this weekend.


As deadly cartel violence is leveling off in Tamaulipas, Veracruz and Guerrero due to ongoing heavily reinforced military operations in those states, Culiacan has become the latest Mexican plaza to explode to levels of extreme violence and insecurity.

This weekend saw at least another 11 execution style murders and multiple armed clashes throughout Culiacan and neighboring communities.

Sunday morning at approximately 7:30AM the bodies of three unidentified men were discovered alongside a reservoir in the community of San Pedro, located on the the outskirts of Culiacan on the road to Navolato.

The men were bound and showed evidence of severe torture before being shot and killed with what authorities said was a "matapolicia" high powered FN Herstal firearm due to the presence of seven 5.7x28mm empty cartridge cases at the scene.

A memorial service was held Sunday morning at the headquarters of the Sinaloa State Police (Policia Estatal Preventiva) for Officer Rafael Castillo Segoviano of the PEP's Grupo Elite.

The police officer was murdered Friday night during an attack by unknown gunmen on a Grupo Elite patrol vehicle that had stopped at an Oxxo convenience store in the Pradera Dorada sector of Culiacan. Another police officer, a private security guard and a Universidad del Occidente professor were wounded by gunfire during the attack.

The professor of economics and business administration, Gustavo Oswaldo Lopez Reyes age 44, suffered a head wound and died of his injuries Saturday in a local hospital.

Culiacan's academic community was in shock over the loss of their companion professor.

In the words of Aaron Sanchez, rector of the Universidad del Occidente, "This is a loss that hurts us deeply. This is a difficult, complex situation. Unfortunately we are living at a time when this can happen to any of us at any minute."

Victor Antonio Corrales, rector at the Universidad Autonoma de Sinaloa, added, "What is happening to teachers outside of the university classrooms is lamentable. What we have is a situation where our citizens can no longer travel with any security, without the fear of being killed."

The private security guard, who remains unidentified, is in critical condition and may not survive.

More than 100 rounds of AK-47 AND AR-15 ammunition were fired at the victims of the convenience store attack, according to the crime scene investigation.

Victor Antonio Corrales, rector at the Universidad Autonoma de Sinaloa, added, "What is happening to teachers outside of the university classrooms is lamentable. What we have is a situation where our citizens can no longer travel with any security, without the fear of being killed."

In the early predawn hours of Sunday four other men were murdered in Culiacan.

Several men were gathered outside a home in the colonia Lazaro Cardenas when armed attackers arrived and opened fire on the group. Three men died of their wounds including Diego Rivas, a well known singer of "narcocorrido" ballads that specialized in celebrating "narco cultura" and the exploits of Sinaloa cartel personalities such as Mayo Zambada, los Antrax, el Machoprieto and others.

At least four other men were wounded in the Lazaro Cardenas attack.

In addition to Rivas, the other fatalities were identified as Jefrie Olguin Garcia and Alfredo Herrera Gomez.

Another man was executed in the colonia Diaz Ordaz by gunmen who attacked him as he was arriving at his residence. The victim was identified as Francisco Araiza Jimenez.

Saturday morning the bodies of two murder victims were discovered in different areas of Culiacan.

Francisco Javier Quevedo Sánchez was found in the Lomas de San Isidro with a gunshot wound to the head. Another unidentified male body was found in the colonia Las Coloradas in the city's southside.

In the meantime Sinaloa Governor Mario Lopez Valdez vowed in a news conference to send a second Grupo Elite state police tactical team to Culiacan to help regain control of the security situation in the city.

According to the Governor the team will reach the city in two weeks when a group of 40 officers graduates from a police academy in San Luis Potosi.

"This is what the state can offer Mayor Cuen (mayor of Culiacan) and his citizens", said Lopez Valdez.

Lopez Valdez, or Malova as he is commonly known, announced that he does not intend
to ask the federal government for any further assistance above and beyond the Army, Marine and Federal Police forces already in the state.

"We are confidant with the federal forces already in the state, we have a large deployment. We have no need to ask for further assistance"

Malova may not have been aware that the Sinaloa newspaper "El Noroeste" reported Saturday that a convoy of over 25 Federal Police vehicles, some of them armored cars, had passed through Mazatlan and were leaving the state to redeploy in Guadalajara.

According to one official in the convoy, the unit had left the northern area of the state.

Northern Sinaloa is the site of a continuous war of attrition between Sinaloa cartel cells in Guamuchil led by Orzo Iván Gastélum Cruz, el Cholo Ivan, and the "Limpia Mazatleca" faction of Beltran Leyva loyalists led by Fausto Isidro Meza Flores, el Chapo Isidro, that controls the neighboring municipality of Guasave and the area up to Los Mochis.

Malova also announced that the past few weeks had seen a dramatic decrease in crime in Mazatlan.


Sources:
http://www.debate.com.mx/eldebate/Articulos/ArticuloPrimera.asp?IdArt=11496269&IdCat=6087
http://www.debate.com.mx/eldebate/Articulos/ArticuloGeneral.asp?IdArt=11496839&IdCat=12302
http://www.debate.com.mx/eldebate/Articulos/ArticuloGeneral.asp?IdArt=11492994&IdCat=6112
http://www.culiacanam.com/policiaca/6428-matan-a-tres-en-la-lazaro-y-a-uno-en-la-diaz-ordaz
http://www.lineadirectaportal.com/publicacion.php?noticia=58788
http://www.noroeste.com.mx/publicaciones.php?id=733515
http://www.debate.com.mx/eldebate/Articulos/ArticuloGeneral.asp?IdArt=11492523&IdCat=12302