Thursday, February 4, 2010

No Evidence Any Youths Killed Were Connected to Gang Activity: Joint Operation Chihuahua

Enrique Torres Valadez, spokesperson for Joint Operation Chihuahua, told Norte yesterday there is no evidence linking any of the 16 youths killed at a party on Saturday night to the "Double A" (Artistas Asesinos) gang.

José Dolores Arroyo Chavarría, arrested on Monday during a shoot-out, has confessed publicly that he was a lookout ("hawk") for the La Linea organization, and that on Saturday night he was told by his boss to serve as a lookout for an operation in Villas de Salvárcar. He was told there would be an execution of "doblados," members of the Artistas Asesinos (also known as Double A) gang that, he said, work for Chapo Guzman (head of the Sinaloa cartel) in Juarez. After the execution he was told to go home. Mr. Arroyo Chavarria was arrested on Monday during a shoot-out with military personnel in which his boss, Adrián Ramírez, known to him only as "El Rama" or "el 12," was killed. Arroyo claimed in his confession his boss was killed while he and his boss were on an operation to execute a couple belonging to the Double A gang. His confession, reported in Diario, can be found here.

It was apparently on the basis of this confession that President Calderon suggested in Tokyo that the massacre was part of a feud between rival gangs, a remark that has infuriated not only the family members of the victims, but also large sectors of the local community.

Mr. Torres, spokesperson for Joint Operation Chihuahua, said the investigation has not yet pinpointed the person or persons who were the targets of the attack.

A good number of homicides in Juarez are attributed to feuding over turf between the La Linea and the Azteca gangs, on the one hand, who are said to be controlled by the Juarez cartel, and the Mexicle and Double A gangs, on the other hand, who are said to be controlled by the Sinaloa cartel. According to conventional wisdom much of this has to do with control over the expanding retail drug trade in Juarez.

Compiled from stories in Norte and Diario, February 3 and 4.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dr Garcia,

With the legislative session going on now in Santa Fe can you provide us in the valley a recap of things that are going on up north. Other than your blog we get no news from the mainstream media that effects us in the valley of southern New Mexico.

Jose Z. Garcia said...

I will recap what is going on as best as I can tell from here, after I make a couple of phone calls.