He always knew what was happening here.- Declaration of former Allende police official, November 12, 2014, 17:30. [17] The Zetas member is not identified in the text but from context appears to be El Canelo. 'Somos.': One of Mexico's Worst Massacres Told Through its Victims The call lasted for about a minute.-Complaint of Yuliana Lpez Ibarra, October 14, 2014, Shortly after the troubling March 20 phone call with his mother, Vctor Garza and Yuliana Lpez managed to escape to nearby Sabinas, but Vctor insisted on going for his parents, according to Yulianas statement. They watched as gang members led their victims into a larger shed near the back. With the passing of the days, the identity of 14 of the victims from Guatemala have been confirmed (the police estimate there are 15, and the rest are possibly Mexicans). The recent violence is also a reminder that Mexican authorities have largely failed to protect the countrys civilian population from historically high levels of violence or to alleviate the effects of an ever-deepening security crisis. 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. In written statements, both themayorand thepolice director said they had only limited contemporaneous understanding of the events of March 18-20, 2011, and claimed that they did not receive any reports about the violence as it was happening. The story of the Allende Massacre from the words of eye witnesses Police witnesses described a variety of illegal activities they facilitated for the Zetasfrom the most shocking to the most mundanein exchange for relatively modest bribes. So the moment that we were leaving the place out of fear from the threats made by these people, and because the police were attending to them, the people of Los Zetas put the entire [deleted] family into the bodega or large barn I mentioned, along with various other people who I saw clearly but who I did not know. Netflix will release a series next month inspired by a story that revealed . Elizondos wife,Etelvina Rodrguez, said she soon realized that many of the wives of those who worked at the Garza ranch were looking for their husbands.. Thats the last thing I know about my family., Almas brother, Hctor Reynaldo Prez Iruegas, also witnessed part of the attack and was one of the first to file a missing persons report in the case. First published on Wed 6 Nov 2019 16.31 EST. Zcalo, a regional paper in Saltillo, Coahuila, also published portions of the testimony. Known as El Pjaro (The Bird), Jimnez was hired by the Zetas in the summer of 2010 as a halcn (hawk) to monitor the movements of rival gangs, state and federal security forces, and anything else that might threaten Los Zetas. follows the lives of an ensemble group of fictional characters, all inspired by real-life . Garcas friend, Everardo Elizondo, worked part-time at Luis Garzas ranch and also raised fighting cocks. His mother had called around 9:00 PM to tell her son, Vctor Manuel Garza Prez, that her house was under assault. Document 1 August 25, 2007 Shutdown Slows but Doesn't Stop Central Americans Headed North U.S. Embassy in Mexico, cable, sensitive, 3 pp. De Len also remembered the moment, as they were leaving, when he saw the Zetas lead the victims into the bodega. That they did not want to see us going out to extinguish the houses. I still love Mexico. 'We are.', Miniseries of Netflix which is based on the report by journalist Ginger Thompson, fiction this harsh reality. 'Somos.' Summary & Ending, Explained - How Allende Massacre Was Leaving aside the role of the DEA and the wider implications of the case, todays posting focuses on the most revealing documents among the facts-on-the-ground evidence gathered by the state of Coahuila. From the highway, smoke could be seen coming from the interior of the ranch. That if any citizens asked us for help that we would not pay attention to avoid getting into trouble. Some of those interviewed during the investigation said the rampage started as an act of revenge by top Zetas leaders against Cuellar, Junior, and other deputies, who they accused of pocketing millions of dollars in stolen drug money. Somos ("We are" or "We Exist" in English) is a Spanish Television Mini-Series based on the ProPublica article " How the U.S. triggered a massacre in Mexico. Arts & Culture. 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. A study from the Human Rights Clinic of the University of Texas Law School examined the trial transcripts of Zetas members prosecuted for drug trafficking, money laundering, and homicide in U.S. federal courts. 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. They massacred 26 people in two days, including women and children . [13] Bracketed items identified in portions of the Herrera Estrada declaration published by Zcalo. [H]e was telling me that he wanted to look for the Zetas to see what they were asking for the return of his family. The Zetas told the other children he was too little and cried too much to leave him there with them, according to Espinoza. I dont know who those people were, just that they were people that the police detained or his own people that he ordered be locked up when they handled themselves badly, or people with whom he had a disagreement [tuviera pedos]. Allende, el infierno: Los testigos de la masacre, Zcalo (Coahuila), July 10, 2017. 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 . [4]Mexicos National Commission of Human Rights (CNDH) has sinceposted the declassified volumeson its website, but they are not easy to find without a direct link. [1] Translations throughout the text by Michael Evans. 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. Police acted as lookouts (halcones) for the group, collected extortion payments from local club owners on their behalf, and participated in the Zetas drug trafficking activities. Mexico Mormon massacre: US victims were shot at point-blank range For years after the massacre, Mexican authorities made only desultory efforts to investigate. Investigators firstquestioned LozanoandTrevioabout the massacre in 2012. Lilianas brother, Rodolfo Garza, Jr., last heard from her around six or seven oclock that evening. [12]- Statement of Jos Alfredo Jimnez Aguilar (El Pjaro), June 13, 2014. Later we took these people to the Garza ranch where we put them in the same house where we had the others. History. The slowly unfolding investigation of the Allende massacre finally gained some momentum with the establishment of a special task force in 2014. Early in the morning on March 19, Arturo called his own mother, Elvira Espinoza, and told her that neither Liliana, who worked for her fathers ranch business, nor her parents were answering their phones. [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. 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. Zetas. And together with the patrols there were many cars and trucks both inside and outside the ranch, and these people carried long arms from which I deduced that these people were from Los Zetas.- Declaration of Allende firefighter Jess Gerardo De Len Ramos, December 17, 2014, 14:50. 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]. Hundreds Believed Disappeared in Allende Massacre - Al Jazeera He said that he and Rodolfo Jr., his brother-in-law, were going out to look for them. So I left the ranch in my truck and went home, and since that date I dont know anything about what happened to my husband.- Declaration of wife of heavy machinery mechanic for Rodolfo Garza, July 23, 2014. Zaragoza said up to 60 Zetas assassins may have participated in the Allende operation, sweeping up people in the surrounding towns and dropping them off at the Garza Ranch. He did not take my opinion into consideration, and no one else said anything. Access request to Mexicos National Commission of Human Rights (CNDH), Freedom of Information Act request to DEA. 0:04. They had brought people from Sabinas, among others an ex-federal highways official and other people from the municipalities of Zaragoza and Morelosthis was weeks after what happened in Allende.- Complaint of wife of murdered Zeta, November 13, 2014. MEXICO CITY (AP) Mexican drug gang bosses furious at suspected turncoats sent commandos aided by local police to seize dozens perhaps hundreds of people, murder them and dispose of their bodies in a town near the Texas border, yet state and federal officials ignored the massacre for years, according to a government-backed report released Sunday. And as there were three barrels we put one dead body in each barrel. Armando Castilla, the publisher of the newspaper Vanguardia de Coahuila, says his publication was the first to report the case, in December 2013. 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 rampage that punctuateda larger wave of violencein which theLos Zetas criminal groupkidnapped, murdered, and later burned the bodies of as many as 300 victims, many of them from Allende but also from nearby towns like Villa Unin and Piedras Negras, a city 35 miles to the north that lies just across the border from Eagle Pass, Texas. About five estacas[9]participated, and with [deleted] and [deleted] ten more joined. Many of the victims were ordinary laborers at the Garza properties. In Coahuila we were hearing the word being passed from municipality to municipality, about a large scale Zeta massacre in several towns of "The Five Springs", (Los Cinco Manantiales) including Allende. 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. But as the investigation picked up steam in 2014, dozens of people, including local firefighters, law enforcement officers, civilian eyewitnesses, and municipal officials, came forward to describe a city government almost completely immersed in the criminal structure of Los Zetas, including the mayor and top police officials. Netflix series inspired by story of 2011 massacre in Allende, Coahuila They found that the Zetas committed numerous human rights abuses in Coahuila with impunity and that public institutions and officials played a role, by actions or omissions in the abuses (p.24). Is Netflix's 'Somos.' a true story? Horrifying Allende massacre still To date, prosecutors have managed only a handful ofconvictions in a case that involves dozens of crime scenes, hundreds of victims, and the documented participation of numerous Zetas and public officials. He recognized some of them: El Pala, El Cubano, El Pjaroall of them local men who worked for the Zetas. Tracing the missing | The Economist For reference to U.S. training and other background, see our previous Electronic Briefing Book, especially Document 1 and Document 2. But there was not any kind of response from the police or any other authority.. [N]othing remained of them at all, in addition to which they burned and razed their houses. Source: ProPublica. [4] The thinking behind the special exception measure is simple: Human rights crimes affect both the immediate victims and society as a whole, and in such cases there is a society-wide interest in full transparency to ensure that such grave abuses do not reoccur. [T]here was a red truck with wooden enclosures that was parked near the bodega or large barn that was inside the ranch. They erected a monument in Allende to honor the victims without fully determining their fates or punishing those responsible. The cartel allegedly turned this storage shed, which held equipment and animal feed, into an incinerator for the . Mauricio, the infant son of Liliana lvarez and Arturo Espinoza, was never seen again. A cartel war has transformed once-tranquil Guanajuato into one of Mexico's deadliest states. 202-994-7000 ornsarchiv@gwu.edu, Special thanks to former National Security Archiveintern Emily Taylor for her assistance with this collection. What is clear is that the failure to do so sealed the fates of an untold number of victims who were murdered at the ranch later that night. The human rights exception applies even to records from an ongoing criminal investigation, the kinds of files normally only accessible through high-profile leaks, such as the Panama Papers, or in piecemeal fashion and after lengthy delays through access to information laws. "This new law is requiring all foreign agents to report any interaction with Mexico. The two had gone to the ranch on March 18 to get medicine for a cockfight that evening. Triggered a Massacre in Mexico" was published in 2017 by the investigative news agency ProPublica.. When the Zetas arrived in Allende a decade ago, they infiltrated the very . What they saw, before fleeing for their lives, was the beginning of the grimly methodical process often used by the Zetas to destroy the bodies of their victimsto eliminate the primary evidence of the crime. Hit especially hard was the extended family of Jos Luis Garza Gaytn (also known as Junior and El Wichin). In 2019, the state had a homicide rate of about 61 . In July, Coahuila state investigators gave them a nearly identical set of questions; among them: Did they know about the disappearances as they were happening? State investigative police in Coahuila said her testimony pointed to the method of operations of organized crime at that time in relation to the kidnappings in the northern region of the state of Coahuila and was one of the first clear signals that the Allende massacre was connected to many other cases around the region. Her brother-in-law, who also worked for the Garzas, arrived later and told her that her husband had been kidnapped. Bone fragments found among the burned out ruins of the Garza Ranch, January 28, 2014 (Source: Document 41: Forensic Anthropology Technical Report, April 11, 2014). 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 rampage that punctuateda larger wave of violencein which theLos Zetas criminal groupkidnapped, murdered, and later burned the bodies of as many as 300 victims, incinerating the remains into piles of ashes, bits of teeth, and tiny bone fragments. Criminals were shooting up the street and two police officers . Other witnesses confirmed the testimony of the police commander. This same Allende city officer tried once more the following day, advising the mayor to tell someone about what was happening; that he talk to the governor. Yesterday I heard machine guns right outside my door on Independencia. 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. 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. 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. See Allende, el infierno: Los testigos de la masacre, Zcalo (Coahuila), July 10, 2017. Gunmen Storm Wake in Mexico, Killing at Least Nine When the Zetas became aware of our presence, and that we were there to put out the fire, they said to us: You guys get the fuck out of here! Netflix will release a series next month inspired by a story that revealed the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's role in setting off a massacre in northern Mexico in 2011, leaving dozens of people dead or missing. Las Cruces bowling alley massacre still unsolved after 30 years December 9, 2020, Six Years On, Ayotzinapa Investigations Advance For which reason I left the circus and I parked about two blocks from the house And outside the house I saw a red, four-door, Chevrolet pick-up truck with a bull bar [tumba burros] on the front. It is estimated that over 300 went missing or killed in March of 2011. I didnt know which of them woke me up with cold water since Id been asleep. Some portions of these files have been excerpted elsewhere, including in reports from the CNDH and the Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI), which cites many of these same records.But this is the first time that images of records from the case file have been published in their original form (although . Netflix's 'Somos.' gives a human face to unspeakable tragedy Another explained how the money was divided up among members of the Allende police. Allende, Coahuila, municipio donde se perpetr una masacre, en 2011. [11] A portion of the Prez Iruegas complaint was previously published by Zcalo, revealing some of the parts that were redacted in the version released by CNDH (shown here in brackets). 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. Suite 701, Gelman Library 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. He went on to say that now that Mexico has reformed its National Security Law, authorities from the U.S. could find themselves connected to another massacre similar to the incident in Allende. The mini-series is created by James Schamus, who divides the real-life emotional fable into 6 . [15] In 2017, Zetas member Marciano Millan Vsquez (El Chano) was convicted on federal charges in the United States that included his involvement in the Allende violence. THE DOCUMENTS. 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. They began to see Allende not as an isolated spasm of violence but rather as one of the most explosive episodes of a wider problem of criminal violence and systematic subversion of legal authorities throughout the region. Just a few people. When they did not return or respond to phone calls, their wives became concerned. Among other evidence is thestatementof a former Allende police official, Fernando Hernndez Reyes, who gave a vivid account of his involvement in the kidnappings. The six-part miniseries examines the lives of the victims of a cartel massacre at the Mexican border town of Allende. It's tranquil now in Allende, but 300 are still missing - Mexico News Daily Triggered a Massacre in Mexico,, Allende, el infierno: Los testigos de la masacre,, Exoneran a ex alcalde de Allende, Coahuila, ligado a masacres de 2011, this report from the University of San Diegos Justice in Mexico program, Mexicos bloody drug war is killing more people than ever,, Masacre de Allende: el silencio del general, U.S. Prosecutions Bring Mexico Corruption into Focus, Advirti EU riesgo ante mandos mexicanos corruptos, Six Years On, Ayotzinapa Investigations Advance, FiftyYears After Tlatelolco, Censoring the Mexican Archives: Mexico's "Dirty War" Files Withdrawn from Public Access, Transcripts of intercepted cell phones open new lines of investigation in Ayotzinapa case, US: Mexico Mass Graves Raise "Alarming Questions" about Government "Complicity" in September 2014 Cartel Killings, Mexico's San Fernando Massacres: A Declassified History. The same year, the Zetas member known as El Cubano was arrested in the U.S. and later extradited to Mexico in connection to the case. The Archive pried open the files using a special provision of Mexicos access law requiring the release of information relating to human rights violations. Garza Gaytnwas a member of a Los Zetas cell led by Mario Alfonso Poncho Cuellar, a former Mexican federal police officer. Other witnesses said that the citys top official ignored urgent pleas that he request assistance from state or federal law enforcement to help quell the violence. That was just one week in late January when the government said Guanajuato, which has around 5% of Mexico's population, suffered 20% of its homicides. 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). [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. Mexico's San Fernando Massacres: A Declassified History In 2011, Drug Enforcement Agency officials informed Mexican . Members of the criminal group Los Zetas could be seen unloading barrels next to a storage shed near the back of the property. He said the process reduced the corpses to pure butter., [I]n those days they kidnapped many people [Where] they killed them and burned them was a ranch There, they made me burn one body since I saw what was happening Others were burned at the [deleted] ranch, but nothing was left, because they told me that only pure butter remained after cooking them.- Declaration of Germn Zaragoza Snchez (El Canelo), April 8, 2014, 10:00. Victim associations report about 300 people dead or missing from the Allende massacre. [18]Others have called on Mexico to prosecute top Coahuila state officials, including former governors, for allowing criminal violence to flourish. That is to say, the [Garza] ranch. 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. September 29, 2020, Five Years Later, the Search Continues In March 2011, gunmen from the Zetas Cartel slaughtered innocent men, women and children in the small Mexican town of Allende in retaliation for the betrayal. US Intelligence Helped Cause 2011 Massacre in Mexico Much of the worst violence occurred at a pair of ranches owned by the Garza family and located outside of the city center along the highway. The soldiers found doors torn off, the building sacked, spent shell casings, dead animals, burned buildings, and a pick-up truck riddled with bullet holes, but no people. Some cooperated more than others. And he told me to get out of the house and to go to my moms house [W]hen I got to my moms house, my husband called again to tell me that things were getting really ugly; that they had broken into my house and stolen our truck.- Complaint of Sarah Angelita Lira, November 11, 2014. Isabel Allende - Books, Life & Career - Biography A story about the 2011 massacre in the Mexican border town of Allende Published September 10, 2021. He told me: "The United States . Four years later, and ten years since the Allende massacre, the families of those victimized by the Zetas and other criminal groups in Coahuilaare still waitingto learn whether the ICC will take up the case. If you experience a barrier that affects your ability to access content on this page, let us know via ourContact form. 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 . And once they had killed the people, between [Chucho] and I we began to spray the diesel and the gasoline all around the house and the bodega with the bodies inside After this, we set fire with the help of diesel and gasoline to the bodega with all those dead people inside, and we were there for many hours until we cooked all the people, and with so much fire that it melted the roof of the bodega.- Declaration of Jos Alfredo Jimnez Aguilar (El Pjaro), June 13, 2014, El Canelo admitted to having helped burn the body of at least one victim. Bri Rooke. How US intelligence has helped cartels kill thousands in Mexico Prosecutors disagreed, arguing that Lozano collaborated with Los Zetas, was aware of the attacks before they began, and had failed in his obligation to protect the people of Allende. Few had the courage to defy Los Zetas. Amunicipal official present at the March 22 meetingsaid that the mayor was upset because various members of staff had left the offices on Monday [March 21, 2011], [and] that he had not given any indication that they should go out. About the violence, the mayor reportedly said, Well, thats between them, which is to say, alluding to members of organized crime, you have to stay calm. But the group did not take or agree to take any type of action with respect to what was happening or to notify someone else about what was happening in the city, according to the testimony. [6] CDN is reportedly led by Juan Gerardo Trevio Chvez (El Huevo), nephew of former Zetas leaders Miguel ngel Trevio Morales (Z-40) and Omar Trevio Morales (Z-42), according to this press release from the U.S. Department of Justice. Justice in Mexico 5998 Alcal Park, San Diego, CA. American authorities eventually helped Mexico capture the Trevios but never acknowledged the devastating cost. However, families of the victims in Allende touted the overdue government efforts as a publicity stunt. And that if we didn't obey, they were going to fuck us and our families. [15], Despite a raft of damning testimony about his role in the massacre, a Mexican court released former Allende Mayor Sergio Lozano from pre-trial detention in February 2017, finding the evidence insufficient to reach a conviction. He didnt have anything to do with crime, nor did his family, since they were kidnapped by mistake.. Or do you want the same thing to happen to you or to your families?-Declaration of Allende fire chief, December 17, 2014. So they formed them into rows of people and later took them to the ranch of the [deleted] where they killed and burned them together with people from Allende. [14] In many cases, the names of the people identified by firefighters Lpez Tamez and De Len Ramos are legible behind clumsily applied redactions. Child survivors of massacred family spent 10 hours hiding in Mexican MEXICO CITY The killers went to the town of Allende one weekend in March 2011 with orders to exact revenge. The money went through the [police] commander, which he then delivered to the RTs [shift commanders] and from them to the rest of us police officials. SALTILLO, Mexico In the waning days of January 2014 state and federal security forces along with military troops fanned out across the scrubland of Coahuila in northern Mexico, reportedly in search of human remains.. Over 20 days, some 250 masked agents combed the ranches and towns of Allende, Nava, Acua and Piedras Negras, across the border from Eagle Pass, Texas, for the victims of a .
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