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And each estaca is made up of four assassins, but there were trucks that brought more people in the trailers. September 26, 2019, FiftyYears After Tlatelolco, Censoring the Mexican Archives: Mexico's "Dirty War" Files Withdrawn from Public Access [5]More recently, Lpez Obradorsignaled his intentionto eliminate the autonomous state organ charged with guaranteeing access to human rights documents like these, the National Institute of Access to Public Information and Personal Data (INAI). ProPublica and National Geographic set out to piece together how the U.S. contributed to a massacre executed by a drug cartel in Allende, Mexico. Forensic specialists from the Mexican Federal Police examine one of the primary crime scenes from the 2011 Allende massacre on January 28, 2014. El Pjaro said that a group of victims that had been tied up inside the ranch house were later taken out back to the bodega where they were killed with a shot to the head. There were not many of us. Beginning as a group of deserters from an elite unit of the armed forces at the service of the Gulf Cartel, the Zetas would go on to become one of the most powerful and feared cartels in Mexico before infighting and the loss of leaders started the organization's decline. Netflix series inspired by story of 2011 massacre in Allende, Coahuila Police commander Juan Ariel Hernndez Ramos (who served under police director Trevio) said that Lozano had called top city officials to a special meeting to discuss the ongoing violent attacks around the city. Allende is a small town southwest of Piedras Negras, Mexico and is the site of a massacre by the drug cartel, Los Zetas. Or do you want the same thing to happen to you and your family? And they also told us that we were prohibited from going out to any reports. Warning: violence in San Miguel de Allende : r/digitalnomad - reddit Three and a half years later, what stood out to these firefighters was the conspicuous police presence, the brutal treatment of the captives, and the threats directed at them by Zetas members. He told her about other people from the region who the Zetas had kidnapped and killed, including a pregnant teenager and the nephew of the former mayor of Piedras Negras. Report says Mexico state officials ignored massacre | AP News A fire department volunteer described the scene as they approached. In March 2011, The Zetas They carried out a massacre in the municipality of Allende, Coahuila, which did not receive the attention of the media at the time, until many years later. Somos. Tagged: Allende best of vice news 2014 Border CARTELS Coahuila crime & drugs Diego Enrique Osorno Drugs garza massacre mexico moreira the five springs villanueva zetas VICE News Get the latest . On the night of March 20, 2011, four firefighters arrived at a ranch along a stretch of rural highway linking the northern Mexico towns of Allende and Villa Unin. Subscribe to our newsletter and join other 2,442 Justice in Mexico readers! Meanwhile, criminal violence continues to soar in Mexico, with the Cartel of the Northeast (CDN), successor to Los Zetas, implicated in some of the worst cases. 'We are.', Miniseries of Netflix which is based on the report by journalist Ginger Thompson, fiction this harsh reality. [1] Translations throughout the text by Michael Evans. He said that he and Rodolfo Jr., his brother-in-law, were going out to look for them. Allende, Coahuila, municipio donde se perpetr una masacre, en 2011. She spoke by phone to Fernando Purn, the mayor of Piedras Negras who told her that her son was probably just in the wrong place at the wrong time. He told her the most likely outcome was that Gerardo would be released because it was a mistake. Speaking again later that night, around 3:30 AM on March 19, she said the mayor told her that it hurt him very much, what we were going through, and he hung up. Washington, D.C., March 18, 2021 - Ten years ago, the Mexican municipality of Allende was the site of one of the worst human rights atrocities ever seen in the country: a three-day wave of violence in which the criminal group known as Los Zetas kidnapped, murdered, and later burned the bodies of an estimated 300 . Ten years later, the case has wide-ranging implications after investigative reporting in the U.S. and Mexico have linked the massacre to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and top Mexican security institutions. San Miguel de Allende might be voted the nicest town in Mexico by many travel magazines, but it is not safe at the moment and I advise you not to come here right now. Document 1 August 25, 2007 Shutdown Slows but Doesn't Stop Central Americans Headed North U.S. Embassy in Mexico, cable, sensitive, 3 pp. How a Mexican Cartel Demolished a Town, Incinerated Hundreds of Victims The Tamaulipas massacre: how the American Dream dies in Mexico A story about the 2011 massacre in the Mexican border town of Allende Garza Gaytnwas a member of a Los Zetas cell led by Mario Alfonso Poncho Cuellar, a former Mexican federal police officer. In the worst cases, civilian authorities were little more than subcontractors of the Zetas criminal organization, involved in shakedowns, kidnappings, drug trafficking and numerous murders, not over a period of weeks or months, but for many years. [A]t that time I lived in La Colonia Presidentes, and I knew all of these people because they were from the town. Residents of the small town of Villa Union, 12 miles from Allende, said Tuesday . Witnesses said the recent killings came after CDN members entered the town days earlier in search of rival gang members. Five years on, mystery still shrouds Allende massacre in northern January 28, 2015, Mexico's San Fernando Massacres: A Declassified History According to multiple local media reports, the massacre happened on Wednesday afternoon when an armed group opened fire at the city hall of San Miguel Totolapan, resulting in the . The next day, the wives of other ranch workers came by the Snchez Robles house, looking for their missing spouses. My parents were born in Mexico and every summer we visited and it we had the times of our lives as kids and young adults. And I did not know exactly what happened with them.- Declaration of Allende firefighter Jess Gerardo De Len Ramos, December 17, 2014, 14:50, The former fire department volunteer described a similar scene as the victims, including several elderly captives, were led to slaughter. If you experience a barrier that affects your ability to access content on this page, let us know via ourContact form. But this is the first time that images of records from the case file have been published in their original form (although many of the pages have been redacted by CNDH for public release). It is not a series of drug traffickers, but of their victims: of those who try to survive . The new Netflix series, "Somos.," (We Are), offers a respectful but powerful look at the Allende massacre, one of the most brutal episodes of Mexico's war on organized crime, which sets it apart from other narco-series. Sergio Aguayo is a prominent Mexican human rights investigator at the Colegio de Mexico, which last year launched an independent probe into the Allende massacre. And after five or six hours during which the corpses were cooked it was then around five or six oclock in the morning. Chilling New Report by FXB's Sergio Aguayo Cites Greater Death Toll in In a country where murders and disappearances are troublingly common, the scale and the horrific details of the Allende massacre case still stand out. How US intelligence has helped cartels kill thousands in Mexico Mexico's defense secretary, Luis Cresencio Sandoval, was in charge of the military garrison in Allende when the massacre took place but has deflected responsibility for failing to stop the killings. [12]- Statement of Jos Alfredo Jimnez Aguilar (El Pjaro), June 13, 2014. Triggered a Massacre in Mexico, by Ginger Thompson, ProPublica, June 12, 2017. El Pjaro said it was left to him and El Chucho to set fire to the house, the bodega, and everything inside, including the many dead bodies. He said his hands were tied, so he stepped aside . PICTURED: Victims of Mexico massacre that left 3 moms and 6 children Thompsons reporting and the U.S. investigations strongly suggest that the former SIU chief may have been part of a criminal conspiracy that sparked the Allende massacre. Juan Ariel Hernndez Ramos, commander of the Allende police, who reported to the police director, is the most senior public official sentenced in the case. [T]he municipal police received monthly payments of amounts that ranged from 2,000 to 3,000 pesos, and these were delivered in yellow envelopes [W]hen they arrived to divide it up they said, the little chicks [los pollitos] have arrived.- Declaration of former Allende police official, November 12, 2014, 15:20. " We will try to look upon those individuals who caused the Allende Massacre. The truth is I accepted them, one said of the payments, because I needed to take care of my family, and also because they told us that we had to enter the ring, because if we didnt, they were going to harm us, or kill us or someone from our family. He explained why, after16 years on the force, he finally quit the Allende police late in 2011. His wife, Sarah Angelita Lira, said that Liliana had called to tell him that their uncles ranch was on fire, and that she was leaving the ranch, and that they were closing the gate., So my husband left. Netflix drama series Somos. Chilling New Report Cites Greater Death Toll in Allende Massacre [I]n fact, he sometimes came and went inside the cells to beat those who were locked up. 8 min de lectura. [A]nd how the Zetas were shouting at them and hitting and mistreating them, the then-chief of the department told investigators in his 2014 statement to state prosecutors. In return for the departments cooperation, most officers received 2,000 to 3,000 pesos per month (about $175-260 USD) from Los Zetas. The Zetas started out as an enforcer gang for the Gulf Cartel . Another told investigators that the local Los Zetas chief acted like he was in his own house during frequent visits to the Allende police station. Leave them. The files also include a statement from the caretaker of a Los Zetas safe house where the younger Sergio was held for several days after his abduction in August 2012 and before being killed and cremated by Los Zetas. Others had nothing whatsoever to do with the Garza family and were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. 15 Killed in Mexican Car Wash Massacre | Fox News Washington, D.C., 20037, Phone: 202/994-7000 Jeremy Schwartz. How the U.S. Triggered a Massacre in Mexico ProPublica And when we met with him, he told us that things were going to get hot. A cartel war has transformed once-tranquil Guanajuato into one of Mexico's deadliest states. As ocurri la brutal y olvidada masacre de Allende - BBC News Mundo A fire department volunteer said he also saw many familiar faces among the victims, the Zetas, and the police officials gathered there. I only saw that they had them bent over with their hands behind their backs, and they put them in the back of the truck. And they went to the Ranch but did not find anyone, and told us that they had scoured the place but had not found anyone.- Complaint of Elvira Espinoza, November 4, 2011. Among the evidence posted today are the first complaints filed by the loved ones of those who went missing, the sworn declarations of Zetas members, Allende police and other city officials, the statements of firefighters and others who witnessed the violence, along with hundreds of pages of forensic reports, crime scene photos and related material. Or do you want the same thing to happen to you or to your families?-Declaration of Allende fire chief, December 17, 2014. The horrifying persistence of brazen cartel attacks like these is a reminder of how little has changed in Mexico, especially in the border states of Coahuila, Tamaulipas, and Nuevo Len. That he and the then-mayor of the city had a meeting with people from Los Zetas. He told me that we were not up for parties, she said. [W]e passed by the entrance of the ranch where I saw people practically in the street with hoods and black vests who had rifles [W]e passed by again on the way back to Allende, and through the opening I could seebecause from the road you could see all the way to the backthat there were about five or seven trucks, many people with rifles, and I also saw people piled up, like this was where the fire was coming from [I]t was something big like a bodega. The job netted Jimnez about eight thousand pesos ($700 USD) per month, plus expenses. First published on Wed 6 Nov 2019 16.31 EST. En 2011, cuando el cartel de Los Zetas dominaba el noreste de Mxico, ocurri una masacre en la localidad de Allende, Coahuila, de la que poco se conoci. Sep 28, 2022, 5:00 AM SGT. Descendants of 1918 Porvenir Massacre Fight For Recognition - Time Una nueva serie de Netflix intenta . The wife of another victim, a heavy machinery mechanic who worked for the Garza family, also went looking for her husband on the morning of the March 19. Only a handful the Allende massacre victims actually had ties to the Zetasrunning drugs across the border or, according to some witness accounts, laundering drug money. Later we began to cook the corpses that we were left with, and to do this we looked for a space inside the same ranch near the corrals, and later a truck of Zetas brought some barrels and a pickaxe We made holes in the bottom and on the sides of the barrels, and they were like trash barrels made of sheet metal or iron, and after making the holes, I remember that El Chango and I took one of the bodies from the truck and put it in a barrel. Netflix will release a series next month inspired by a story that revealed . There was a fire coming from a small building inside the ranch alongside armed men who did not seem like they were police, according to the former volunteers statement. The official, town council secretaryEvaristo Rodrguez Chapa, said he called police director Trevio to let him know what was happening, to which he replied: Dont even fart, you asshole. They are included here in brackets. They erected a monument in Allende to honor the victims without fully determining their fates or punishing those responsible. A new detention order for Lozano was issued in March 2018, after the publication of the CNDH report, but little is known about how the case has progressed, and it is unclear whether prosecutors have ever filed charges against police director Trevio, who was seen outside the Garza Ranch and who witnesses say knew about the attacks ahead of time.[16]. See Vanguardia, March 18, 2019.. Just a few people. They erected a monument in Allende to honor the victims without fully determining their fates or punishing those responsible. [W]hen the Zetas realized that we were there, they said to us, Youd better get the hell out of here, motherfuckers! But he never came back. Is Netflix's 'Somos.' a true story? Horrifying Allende massacre still Horrifying Allende massacre still haunts Mexico. The next day,investigators requested, andlater received, a list of Allende police officials active in 2011 and began to interview them systematically. Arts & Culture. Remembering the Allende Massacre. Most importantly, he told her that many of the Allende massacre victims were first brought to a cemetery in Piedras Negras before being taken later to the Garza ranch. Texting with her husband throughout the night, Sarah learned bits and pieces of what he and Arturo were up to. And this began to occur more or less in the years 2010 and 2011, which was about when Los Zetas got started in the region.- Declaration of former Allende police official, November 12, 2014, 15:20. Child survivors of massacred family spent 10 hours hiding in Mexican In a prior incident, testimony revealed that Vasquez participated in the massacre of numerous people in Piedras Negras and Allende, Coahuila, Mexico, at the hands of Los Zetas members in March of 2011. Tracing the missing. U.S. Prosecutions Bring Mexico Corruption into Focus He always knew what was happening here.- Declaration of former Allende police official, November 12, 2014, 17:30. De Len said that he already knew that all of the municipal police of Allende were associated with or worked for the Zetas., When I saw all those police I realized that they were keeping watch or guarding the place, that is to say the [Garza] ranch In addition to the police I already mentioned, I noticed that there were more people wearing civilian clothes, some hooded, some not. . In an act of revenge cartel members in 2011 razed and burned houses and disappeared people just by bearing the last name of the alleged traitor. So I went to my friends house who lives only two blocks away to tell her this; but in the few minutes I was with my friend, my daughter [called] to tell me that her father was going on a trip [S]o I headed home, and when I was about 50 meters away, a white, double-cab, Tundra pick-up truck arrived, and I see my husband leave the house with his dirty clothes on. The 2020 U.S. arrest of Mexicos former defense secretary, Gen. Salvador Cienfuegos, for alleged narcotics ties has led Mexicos president, Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador, tofast-track a new lawimposing strict new restrictions on U.S. personnel in Mexico and that threatens to significantly curtail the exchange of intelligence and law enforcement information. Mass shooting at Mexico's San Miguel Totolapan kills 18, mayor among Many needed the money. Despite the brutality of the case, major U.S. TV and print outlets have largely ignored the kidnapping and murder of hundreds of people from Allende, Coahuila. And there were approximately from seven to ten people that we tied up with rats tails. In the latter group was Csar Alfonso Garca Ramrez, who had just returned home to Coahuila for a visit from his job in Texas. InMilenio, Diego Osorno writes aboutThe Sad Case of the Two Sergio Garzas,Juniors uncle and cousin, who were murdered, along with other family members, in March and August 2012part of a continuing effort by Los Zetas to eliminate loose ends from within the Garza family. The tenth anniversary of the Allende killings comes as allegations of narcotics-related corruption among top Mexican officials have brought U.S.-Mexico security ties to their lowest point in many years. From the highway, smoke could be seen coming from the interior of the ranch. [14] In many cases, the names of the people identified by firefighters Lpez Tamez and De Len Ramos are legible behind clumsily applied redactions. At that moment, I also realized that near a large bodega that was about 70 meters away from where I was there were various people from the town, who the Zetas were shouting at and mistreating, and who I knew because they were from the [deleted] family. Two days after the Zetas caravan of death had gotten underway it had arrived at the residence of Juniors uncle, Vctor Manuel Garza Garza, and his wife Alma Patricia Prez. The attack . Mexican cartel war transforms Guanajuato into a deadly place - Los He didnt have anything to do with crime, nor did his family, since they were kidnapped by mistake.. In exchange, Reyes passed DEA intelligence to the criminal groups, including, in at least one case, sensitive information about a pending DEA investigation. In 2020, a U.S. court also indicted Reyes Arzates boss, former public security minister Genaro Garca Luna, for taking tens of millions of dollars in bribes from Sinaloa Cartel chief Joaqun El Chapo Guzmn. October 2, 2018, Transcripts of intercepted cell phones open new lines of investigation in Ayotzinapa case Witnesses describe in graphic detail how Los Zetas undermined and criminalized the public security forces of Allende, and how the latter routinely participated in kidnappings, murders, and other crimes on behalf of the group. World News Day: A town, a massacre, a decade of silence in Mexico's Allende [9] Literally stake or post, an estaca is a term used by Los Zetas for its assassination teams. That if any citizens asked us for help that we would not pay attention to avoid getting into trouble. Nearly all of those interviewed agreed that the surge in violence and the general pattern of police cooperation with the Zetas was evident for at least a year or two before the March 2011 massacre. He said that as many as ten of his family members disappeared that day, including Vctor, Alma, and their youngest son Julio Csar. Many of the victims were ordinary laborers at the Garza properties. [17] The Zetas member is not identified in the text but from context appears to be El Canelo. ALLENDE, Coahuila - Only abandoned and destroyed farms and the self-imposed silence of the inhabitants of Allende remain after the massacre perpetrated in this city in . Zetas. Despite the unimaginable death toll and visible trail of destruction, for several years the case was largely ignored by federal, state, and local authorities. You know who they are., Still other witnesses said that they saw Lozano standing calmly outside his house on the night of March 20 talking on a mobile phone while the Zetas sacked a house across the street. [5] The Mexican government signaled its intention to soften some of the more severe restrictions imposed by the new law. Reading Pulitzer Prize-winner Ginger Thompson's oral history of a little-known 2011 massacre in the Mexican border town of Allende, and of the role, the U.S. government played in triggering it, is an experience at once intimate and vast.Hearing the voices of survivors, whether they were perpetrators . The perilous path Central American migrants take while traveling through Mexico to reach the U.S. border has been an area of . Elvira Espinoza and her husband were among the first to inform federal authorities about the violence, telling investigators that she and her husband reported the disappearance of Arturo, Liliana and the three children to the military garrison along Highway 57, just outside of Allende. "Somos." de Netflix: as fue la brutal y olvidada masacre de Allende en Allende massacre. Notes Translations throughout the text by Michael Evans. In towns like Allende, Los Zetas relied mainly on local recruits and corrupt officials to protect their narcotics operations, shake down local businesses, and keep watch for rival gangs and other threats. As many as 40 houses and seven ranches were sacked and burned, according to aMarch 2018 CNDH report, the inhabitants beaten and dragged awaykidnapped in broad daylight. Declassified Investigative Dossier Examines Officials' Roles in Cartel Killings, 10th Anniversary of Worst Human Rights Episode in Mexico's Recent History, By Michael Evans, Senior Analyst, National Security Archive, For more information, contact: Inside the gate, a small building was burning. The Massacre In Allende | VICE on HBO (Extra) - YouTube See reference here. They picked me up, and, for having fallen asleep, they gave me ten blows on my buttocks with a board, and they gave me shocks [sapones] to the head [T]hey tied up my feet and hands with tape. That report, sponsored by a government-backed victims' rights commission and undertaken by scholars at the prestigious Colegio de Mexico, says that even now Mexican authorities show "less . I recall that he was light-skinned, thin, of medium height, around 20 or 25 years of age, and they brought him in with his hands and feet tied up and with his face covered with tape.- Declaration of Zetas safe house guard, part 2, March 2, 2016, After a few days, he said, members of Los Zetas came and took him away in the bed of a pick-up truck, adding that he heard that they were going to turn him into roast beef, which is to say, that they were going to cook him..