La Plaza Claims Police Chief Ahuir Faked The Attempt On His Life in Guaymas, Sonora

"HEARST" and "Sol Prendido" for Borderland Beat

The police chief of Guaymas, a municipality in southern Sonora, has yet again been accused of planning an allegedly fake attempt on his own life by narco message banners. This time new details as to why he would allegedly fake such an attack on himself are included.

Then new details have emerged about the assassination attempt itself which draw into question the nature of the attack. And then Cano Ahuir’s history of scandals, which includes audio of Cano Ahuir allegedly plotting the murder of a police officer who later was found deceased.

On the morning of December 14, 2021, at least three narcomantas (narco message banners) were discovered to have been placed in the middle of the night in the city of Guaymas. One was located at La Muralla bridge, another at San Carlos bridge, and a third at the theatre. All three banners reportedly had the same message written on them.

Passing motorists called the 911 emergency phone line and police officers were dispatched to check on the reports of narcomantas. But at some point before the officers arrived, photos were allegedly taken of the banners. 

The message seen in one of the photos read as follows, as translated by Sol Prendido: 

Andrés Humberto Cano Ahuir you can’t fool us, the Guaymas citizens. We know that you are responsible for the violent events in Guaymas. On account that for three years you’ve been trying to get other criminal groups here. Your way of operating is based on abductions and murders in the Valle de Guaymas and the town of Empalme.

Now 6 months after you left, you’ve made your latest move, committing an unprecedented act of terrorism for the Navy, the Prosecutor's Office, and the PEI so that they’d support you. And in turn be able to continue in a position that you have shown you don’t deserve. In addition to working freely in the city.

As you carry on to kill innocent people. And violating the rights of Guaymenses with illegal detentions, harassment of businesses and houses. Mr. Presidente] Andrés Manuel López Obrador why is Cano Ahuir removing the cameras from the homes or businesses?

Using the pretext that he’s fighting crime. This idea was put in his head by Alain Zatarain. After several videos were leaked of Marines depriving citizens of money and collecting fees. In addition to executing policemen.

The Caborca Cartel subgroup La Plaza may have been behind the writing and the hanging of this narco message banner, considering their personal vendetta against Cano Ahuir, detailed below.

Andrés Humberto Cano Ahuir is the municipal police chief of Guaymas, which is located in the south western part of the state of Sonora. 

La Plaza allegedly controls Guaymas and Los Salazars, a Sinaloa Cartel subgroup, allegedly have the nearby municipality of Navajoa under their control. For the past few years, Los Salazars have been getting into intermittent territory fights with La Plaza. 

Narcomantas have accused Chief Cano Ahuir and the then-mayor Sara Valle Dessens of using their power within the local government to aid Los Salazars. 

In July 2020, one of La Plaza’s operators Juan Francisco Herrera Ortiz, alias “El Brujo”, was shot while he was out with his family in an attack that left his wife and 12 year old daughter killed. Chief Cano Ahuir was later named in a La Plaza narcomanta as being partially responsible for the attack. 

On November 25, 2021, Karla Córdova, the current Guaymas mayor, Chief Cano Ahuir and eight bodyguards went outside of the city hall (called a municipal palace) to greet a group of women who were peacefully demonstrating in honor of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. A group of armed men opened fire on them and then the mayor’s security returned fire. The attack left a bodyguard and one of the women demonstrating, named Marisol Cuadras, dead. One of the armed attackers was also killed in the exchange.

Multiple officials at three levels of government later stated that the intended target of the attack was Chief Cano Ahuir, because he had received threats.

On December 7, 2021, a narcomanta (covered in full here) was placed which read, in part: “Claudia Indira, don’t fabricate evidence. Tell the truth about who did the attack on the Palace, the person responsible is Commissioner Cano, who orchestrated everything. State your opinions with truth, don’t continue to sell out to the Salazars.”

This narcomanta clearly alleged that Cano Ahuir was behind the planning of the attack however it did not clarify the possible motive Ahuir would have in faking an attack. 

Well in this newest narcomanta, from December 14, they assert that his alleged motive behind “committing an unprecedented act of terrorism for the Navy, the Prosecutor's Office, and the PEI so that they’d support you. And in turn be able to continue in a position that you have shown you don’t deserve.”

Now comes the question, is there evidence to support this claim about Chief Cano Ahuir’s involvement? 

The following is a direct translation of an excerpt from a story written by Héctor de Mauleón Rodríguez, a renowned columnist for El Universal newspaper and the deputy editor of Nexos magazine. 

“That evening, it was 6:40 p.m. and it was beginning to get dark, Mayor Córdova had gone down to talk with the members of the collective. She was accompanied by the Secretary of Security, Cano Ahuir, who had the instruction to ‘let them paint if they wanted to paint’, as well as a staffer. They were surrounded by eight marines, the secretary's escorts.

Then came the attack. Federal sources maintain that the shots had four trajectories, that when it was all over, the façade of the City Hall had 14 impacts of .223 caliber, and that it was Captain Cano Ahuir himself -and not one of his escorts, as has been repeated- who shot at the hitman who lost his life during the attack: a window cleaner with addiction problems, recruited a short time ago by a criminal group.

According to local journalists covering the feminist protest, there were at least two grenade shots, one of which hit a Mini Cooper. These same journalists saw that, amidst the noise of the gunfire, a Navy van traveling along 24th Street, instead of approaching the scene of the shooting, swerved and parked at a nearby gas station.

They also saw that a white car fleeing the scene in the opposite direction was not disturbed by a municipal patrol car.

The testimonies coincide in that at the moment of the shooting activists and officials threw themselves to the ground. The official version indicates that Marisol Cuadros was caught in the crossfire and a bullet lodged in her head, although there is a local press version that indicates that she tried to run and was wounded in the back.

Journalists in Guaymas indicate that, in other violent events, among the very little information released by the authorities, the number of shell casings collected by the experts invariably appears. On this occasion that information has been jealously guarded.

The uncontrolled violence that has filled the state of Sonora with blood, told repeatedly by brave local journalists who risk their lives with every story, has been met with silence, trivialization, promises, chatter, announcements that everything is being fixed or everything is going to be fixed.

None of that has happened.”

It is important to note that Héctor de Mauleón, the writer who is relaying the above allegations about the Navy van, the white car and the death of Marisol, has a 30 year career in journalism and a high degree of credibility. 

In August 2019, the Secretary of Public Security, Alfonso Durazo, placed the leadership of the police departments of the five most violent municipalities in Sonora in the hands of military leaders, hoping their leadership would reform the departments.

Guaymas was one of these five and a frigate captain from the Navy, Andrés Humberto Cano Ahuir became the chief of police in August 2019. 

According to figures from the Secretariat of the National Public Security System in 2018, 48 investigation files were opened for homicide in Guaymas.

In 2019, the figure more than doubled with 107 homicide cases reported to authorities.

In 2020, after a year of Cano Ahuir occupying the police chief position, homicides in Guaymas had shot up to 144 cases for the year. 

For this year, between January and October there have been 110 homicides registered so far. Data from November and what happens in December are not publicly available yet. 

If any of this sounds familiar, it's because a similar situation has been occurring in Cajeme, another one of the most violent municipalities in Sonora.  

Cándido Tarango Velázquez

Cajeme received Cándido Tarango Velázquez, a captain of the Paratrooper Marine Infantry Frigate to lead their police department. His leadership also failed to decrease the number of homicides per year and his personal scandals were covered in a story here two months ago. Of note, Tarango Velázquez has also been accused of colluding with Los Salazars in narcomantas.

But back to Cano Ahuir, in 2020 thirty five Guaymas municipal police officers were dismissed for not passing the “confidence controls”, which is an evaluation used to determine if an officer is susceptible corruption, such as bribes from organized crime. 

Some of the thirty five officers who lost their job due to the confidence controls were unhappy with their dismissal and chose to join together to legally contest the action. 

One of these men, Remberto Gastélum, was killed just hours after the group filed their legal complaint. Remberto Gastélum was shot 30 times as he was watering the plants in his garden. 

Crime scene of Remberto Gastélum's homicide.

Later someone leaked an audio in which Chief Andres Humberto Cano Ahuir had a conversation with a subordinate, known as El Chapo Manjarrez. 

Video Source: Notimxm

The audio call goes as follows, as translate by Sol Prendido:

CANO AHUIR: Who the fuck do we have to hit so that these sons of bitches start trembling?! Who do we have to fuck up, abduct, kill? Whatever has to be done so that they start trembling and chaos ensues within that fucking organization. 

CHAPO MANJARREZ: El Peña is one of those individuals. 

CANO AHUIR: Do we also fuck up Remberto?

CHAPO MANJARREZ: Yes, him also.

CANO AHUIR: Ok, it’s done. Let’s do it sir.

As noted by Héctor de Mauleón, no one ever denied that the voice in the audio was that of Ahuir Cano.

Ricardo López, a local journalist who founded InfoGuaymas as well as collaborated with local media such as Televisa Sonora and others throughout his 20 year career, was shot to death in the parking lot of a supermarket, in July 2021. 

Journalist Ricardo López

Shortly after Ricardo López's death, a video of him talking about receiving threats from Chief Cano Ahuir spread like wildfire online. 

In the footage, which Lopez himself  uploaded to social media nine month before he was killed, he publicly declares "If something happens to me, you [Cano Ahuir] are going to be responsible. So , to the Governor of the state [Claudia Pavlovich] and the Attorney General's Office: pay attention".

The State Attorney General, Claudia Indira Contreras, later indicated that these alleged threats received by Ricardo López from Chief Cano Ahuir were a line of investigation they were pursuing. 

Four months have passed since the murder of Ricardo López. One year and three months have passed since the murder of Remberto Gastélum Barrios. It is not known if the Cano Ahuir has been called to testify in regards to either case. 

Sources: Tribuna, Debate, Sonora Informativo, Calvarie_Locus, Sonora Extrema, Gustavo Valenzuela 

Background Sources: QuidSonora, Hector De Mauleón for El Universal, Sinembargo, El Universal