Dinner at La Leche | Chapter 4 The Kidnapping

Mica for Borderlandbeat.com

Chapter 1 Marriott Vallarta

Chapter 2 Disco

Chapter 3 Guest List

Happy Easter readers. I attempted to cover a lot in this chapter and know you will have questions.  Make sure to ask in the comment section and enjoy.

Dinner at La Leche

Chapter 4 | The Kidnapping

The kidnapping of Los Chapitos 

in Puerto Vallarta

Inside the well-known restaurant visited by tourists, La Leche, the large group toasted and sang happy birthday to the head of Los Menores, Ivan. The group at the 3-hour dinner on Sunday actively engaged and enjoyed the evening at the table as it was now Monday after midnight.

La Leche is on the main tourist avenue of Francisco Medina Ascencio. The five vehicles that traveled in were parked by valet in front of the restaurant and visible to passers of the main avenue.

Shortly after 1:00 AM on Monday, August 15, 2016, two vehicles, a white Toyota Tacoma pickup and a white Chevrolet Suburban arrived at the restaurant without the intention of experiencing the cuisine.

No, these seven sicarios stormed the restaurant by force, looking for the son of "El Chapo" Guzman and his friends, who had no weapons and didn't resist. The well-armed sicarios with tactical long rifles immediately separated the men from the women.

According to the Mexican government, El Chapo's sons had a bodyguard, and the sicarios easily overcame him. Not exactly in an active bodyguard role that evening. Juan Daniel Calva Tapia, 53, a retired Army Captain who owned a security company and was the driver of the police-cloned white Dodge.

The authorities indicated that they have "indications that among the victims, there is a holder of a private security corporation, who has a federal permit,

which operates in the states of Jalisco and Nayarit."

El Chapo would later say that his sons did not have a bodyguard that night. It is reasonable to believe that Juan acted more as a well-connected security liaison that night, if any, role beyond dinner guest. 

Regardless of his role that night, Juan must be very well connected. He and Ivan were the first two to be released days before the others. 

The kidnappers left La Leche and traveled south using the tunnel. Their destination was about 10 mi/16 km, taking around 40 minutes. This area is very remote, between Mismaloya and Boca de Tomatlán, with a few resorts. The drive is a pain in the ass, especially at night!

I know this area well and stayed at Barcelo, hiked through the mountains to eat at Ocean Grill, took a jeep off-roading, and played with baby tigers at the Zoo in Mismaloya. This is the area where cellphone coverage is spotty, making it an ideal location to host kidnappers.

Back at La Leche, the police would arrive 40 minutes after receiving an emergency call about the kidnapping. Enough already; who did it!

There are a few ideas about who kidnapped the people. They are Damaso, El Mochomito, BLO, and CJNG. Here's what I think after looking into it.

First, let's forget about Damaso. He tried to get Los 28 to take out the Guzman brothers, but nothing happened before he got caught.

The kidnapped were set free because of talks led by CJNG boss El Mencho.

BLO leader Daniel Silva Gárate (H-9), who is related to Juan Francisco Patrón Sánchez (H-2), got messages on his Blackberry as things happened, including four pictures.

My research concludes that the intellectual mastermind was El Mochomito, although he would not participate. He proposed what would turn into the kidnapping of Chapitos to BLO leaders, H-2 and H-9. 

El Mochomito wanted revenge, while BLO wanted a strong alliance with CJNG. This intel was gifted to the leader of CJNG, El Mencho. The sicarios who kidnapped Los Menores belonged to CJNG under the order of Juan Carlos Valencia González, R3.

There is no way that BLO sicarios, under the order of El Mochomito, would allow the Chapitos to live in any situation. I also don't believe how men under El Mochomito would just kidnap them and drop them off to sicarios of R3. Include the 40-minute response time to the 911 call by the police, and it could only be the sicarios of CJNG. 

People respect El Mochomito because of his name. Still, he is far from a boss and more like Osiel Cardenas Guillen Jr. Yeah I went there.

Jesús Alfredo Beltrán Guzmán was arrested in a VW Golf in 2016 with 3 kilos and 878 grams of cocaine, a 223 caliber AR-15 rifle, a 5.7 caliber submachine gun, a 9 mm caliber pistol, and two 38 Super caliber squads, as well as ammunition and a fragmentation grenade.

Another factor is the aggressiveness of El Mencho and how he operates. In this period, CJNG was quickly expanding with the goal to be the most dominant cartel in Mexico. El Mencho would not allow anyone but his men to perform the kidnapping so he could use them as bargaining chips.

The last chapter will cover the aftermath, negotiations, and release of the kidnapped.

Thanks for reading!

Mica

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