Miracle of juarez

A red jeep dodged the heavy morning traffic, speeding as much as possible down Technological
Avenue, the major thoroughfare in the golden zone of Ciudad Juarez, where the US consulate is
located, as well as shopping centers and the city's most exclusive residences.

A Chevrolet Cavalier sedan was in pursuit of the Jeep. On board were two gunmen with
powerful automatic weapons. After half a kilometer, the jeep crashed into a metal fence near a
federal court in Ciudad Juarez.

Dead in the front seats were Gilberto López Mendoza and Omar Antonio Ochoa, 39 and 37,
respectively, both drug traffickers.

Venezuelan stripper 23, Gabriela Figueroa, lay dead on the rear floor of the car, where she
apparently tried to hide. The murderers were sharpshooters. Only 11 bullets were necessary to
kill the three victims from a moving car.

It was the morning of October 23, 2014, and Juarez was horrified.

Just two weeks later, not far from the crime scene, the Governor of Chihuahua, Cesar Duarte,
gave his approval for a meeting of officials and civic leaders from 15 Mexican cities. These
officials, like others before, visited the border city to learn how peace was achieved, in a place
that at one time was the world's capital of crime, where drug-related violence killed 11 thousand
people in just four years.

Governor Duarte said he was proud that other cities would replicate the experience of Juarez,
whose focus was to clean up corruption in the police force.

Duarte insisted that all the police forces of their city are now free of corruption.

"We face the challenge," he told the audience. "There must be a few who think they can get
away with it, but with good intelligence work, we will stop them."

The miracle of Juarez?

Between 2008 and 2012, a war between the Juarez and Sinaloa cartels, resulted in massive
bloodshed in the streets of the city.

The recruitment of members of the police forces as combatants in

the criminal battle, aggravated the situation.

In 2010, the homicide rate reached 300 per month. At that time, a rare coalition was created to
save the city:
Leaders of civil organizations and businessmen, a senior police chief to be hired from the city of
Tijuana, five billion dollars that the Federal Government invested and protected witnesses
working for the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA, its acronym in English), together they
quashed criminal violence in Juarez and cleaned the municipal police and state police.
Mexico claimed victory

But the enticement of the billion dollar drug trade is back and presents a new reality that could
truncate the optimism expressed by the Governor Duarte and others have declared that peace
has come to this city.

In the past year, the Juarez cartel appears to have defeated the Sinaloa group, and is being
restructured with new criminal leaders who seek to restore corrupt connections by the local
police a state intelligence officer confirmed.

The bone of contention are the routes of drug trafficking located throughout the farm belt of the
Juarez Valley “Valle de Juarez” parallel to the Rio Grande area.

After the terrorist attacks in New York September 11, 2001, the U.S. mandated stringent changes
in border entries and beefed up federal forces along the south border. Trafficking through the
Juarez-El Paso border came to a standstill.

The Juarez cartel created makeshift traffic routes on the outskirts of the city, and the Juarez
Valley became critical. During the battle for the city, several parallel struggles took place in the
territorial strip.

Eventually in 2010, the Sinaloa cartel took control of these multi-paths, allegedly with the
support of military forces.

This is the territory that the Juarez cartel has regained, according to intelligence reports.
 "Chuyin", leader of La Linea with family
The murder last October in the Golden Zone was the beginning of a wave of violence related to
control of the drug routes. Since then, Juarez has seen a series of murders and shootings that
show how La Linea -the armed wing of the Juarez cartel- has returned to the streets of the city.

Ochoa, one of the victims found in the red Jeep, operated a chain of strip nightclubs, including
the "El Museo Bar" where the Venezuelan stripper worked. The business ensured strong police
protection.

Apparently, he was linked to the Sinaloa cartel, and his murder was ordered by Jesus Salas
Aguayo -
aka "the Chuyin" - the new leader of La Linea, to send a warning/message to the police working
with the Sinaloa cartel.

Aguayo Salas was arrested in late April 2015, but that does not mean that the takeover of
territory by the Juarez cartel is over.

Four of his followers were on point to take the lead.

Vicente Carrillo Fuentes

Case study
For Mexico, Juarez may be a case study, not a complete victory. The apparent resurgence of La
Linea can mean that recent murders is a return to business as usual, although the cartel boss
Vicente Carrillo Fuentes-alias "Viceroy" - was arrested by police Federal last October.

According to various sources, Carrillo, despite remain the designated leader of the cartel, was
away from the daily operations of the criminal group.

Juarez observers have long contended that big part of the problem, is that the authorities
concentrated its target when ending violence, rather than disbanding drug trafficking
organizations.

"The intention of the current government is to protect public safety and control crime, but does
not put an end to drug trafficking," said Tony Payan, director of the Mexican Center at the James
A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at University Rice.

The analyst Eduardo Guerrero says the factor of success in the fight against organized crime is
dynamic. "We can dismantle them for a while, but if you do not keep your eye on the situation,
things can revert and then we are talking about a failure. For example, a corrupt police force can
re-emerge."Guerrero said.

The Juarez cartel has deep roots in the city, and it was anticipated that the heads of the
organization

would attempt a retake of power. Meanwhile, the arrest of Sinaloa leader Joaquin "El Chapo"
Guzman last year, left his men in the Juarez Valley, tentative, without good direction.

Other leaders of the Sinaloa cartel, as Ismael Zambada Garcia, alias "El Mayo Zambada" sent new
troops known as "Emes" for the letter M of Mayo, to fight La Linea.

But if the Juarez cartel has regained some territories it is thanks to key lieutenants within the
territory of Juarez who worked for Sinaloa but have switched allegiances and joined La Linea,
intelligence sources say.

Similarly, although the alliance between La Linea and the Mexican gang known as Barrio Azteca
gang fractured, there are reports that La Linea is working with members of other U.S. gangs.

The Aztecs still control parts of the city and street crime in several working class neighborhoods
where they recruit young people at risk.

Two other gangs that were at one time partner of Sinaloa, Los AA’s and los Mexicles, still have
some influence in local neighborhoods but do not work for the cartels.

Three years have passed since the violence subsided and the homicide rate dropped from 300 to
30 per month.

In fact, in March and April 2015, the number of homicides in the city was at the lowest point
since 2005. But analysts say the situation may change because the judicial system was too lax
with some of the criminals.

Between 2010 and 2012, US authorities sent leaders of La Linea and Barrio Azteca to prison for
life.

In Mexico, the murderers of 11 youngsters and four adults in the neighborhood of Salvacar also
received long sentences. But many other gang members received short sentences. Some are free,
or soon will be.

Reyes Gamboa
One is Saulo Reyes Gamboa, who according to the DEA, until 2007 was the man who handled the
money for the Juarez cartel. (the former police chief received only 8 years in U.S. Federal Prison)

Head of the municipal police between 2004 and 2007, Reyes Gamboa ended up in jail in 2008,
when he tried to bribe a US customs officer to assist him in smuggling truckloads of marijuana
through the international bridges of El Paso .

Gamboa recently emerged from a minimum security prison after serving seven years in prison.

Total cooperation

Bribing the police is not sufficient for a criminal group thrive. But when the criminal group hires a
police chief that increases the chances of striking gold.

Between 2007 and 2011 in Ciudad Juarez, the ministerial police-the research arm of the state
Attorney worked under the orders of Jose Antonio Acosta Hernandez, alias "El Diego" a former
commander of police operations, who became chief of operations for the Juarez cartel.
 El Diego
Since its inception in the 90s, the Juarez cartel used successful bribery of police chiefs to operate
freely. But when El Diego climbed to the pinnacle of the cartel, he created an inseparable and
crucial alliance between the cartel and police units.

These police units operated in some cases, fully for the criminal group. Diego and his men
protected local and international drug transport networks in Juarez, one of the most important
transshipment points on the border of US and Mexico.

It was a key moment in which the supremacy of the Juarez cartel.

The tragedy of Salvárcar

On Friday January 30, 2010, El Diego answered his phone. Los Artistas Asesinos (The Assassin
Artists), or AA, a street gang with members in El Paso and Juarez, were among his enemies, and
an informant told him of a party that night in the working class neighborhood of Villas de
Salvárcar, in southeast Ciudad Juarez .
The AA worked with Sinaloa selling drugsin the street.

Barrio Azteca did the same for the Juarez cartel. In 2010, four gangs working for the two cartels
worked as assassins or murderers, to eliminate the small drug dealers.

"None of the shootings and killings in that period occurred among senior members of the cartel.
The gunmen concentrated on killing retail drug dealers.

Preserving the territory for their cartel, " said a police source in Juarez.
El Diego gave orders to his group of assassins to go to the party and kill everyone.

Luz Maria Davila, a small woman with a warm smile, was busy in her small house on Villa del
Portal Street, adjacent to a narrow alley.

A few meters away, her teenage children Marcos and Jose Luis were partying at a friend's
birthday with other young neighbors, soccer players in the American football league.

Davila's husband was surfing the Internet on his children’s computer, waiting for his night shift at
the “maquila” (US company) located in Juarez, where he worked as a guard. A few minutes
before 10 pm, a convoy of vehicles entered the alley, with dozens of men, members of La Linea
and Barrio Azteca.

The gunmen, many of them natives of Juarez and all in their twenties, moved fast in a macabre
dance of death. Two cars blocked the exits of Villa del Portal Street while others concentrated on
house where techno music boomed and young couples danced and talked.

Some of the thugs covered their faces with bandanas. Many were exposed, without fear of being
discovered.

Diego was in charge via cell phone: “kill everyone" he ordered.

The murderers walked together toward the house, brandishing heavy weapons. In less than 30
minutes, 15 lay dead and several others wounded.

As were the children of Luz Maria, most of the children were of maquila workers and were high
school students or university students. Some were the first in their family to fulfill the dream of
going to college.
Blood everywhere

Luz Maria told her husband to stay as she ran out of the house, she turned abruptly and ran a
few meters from her home to the party house. Along the way, she ran into one of the gang
members who had stayed behind, she heard the vehicles speed in their flight.

She entered the small house and found blood, broken glass and bodies everywhere, some had
collapsed together. "I first found Marcos, but he was dead. I looked for José Luis. He was lying in
the hallway. He said he was fine.

She recently recalled the tragedy at her home, where she has continued to live after the
massacre. Calmly, she told her story, the one she has repeated countless times to reporters and
government investigators during the past four years.

"We took Jose Luis to the clinic in our car. And he kept telling me he was okay. But he died in the
evening after the surgery”.

Marcos was in the first year of college, studying to be a foreign official. José Luis wanted to
pursue international business.

Since their deaths, Luz Maria and her husband have added a second floor where they have a
room for the possessions of their sons.

Luz Maria receives visitors in a small living room with a big TV. Pictures of Marcos and José Luis
preside over the room. Photos are selfies the young teens took themselves a few days before
their death.
 Advocates Luz and Javier Sicilia their work honors their murdered
sons
Before the slaughter, Salvárcar was a place where residents felt safe because everyone knew
each other. The house where the slaughter took place, a neighbor paid for so the neighborhood
youth would have a place to meet and be safe.

Young people were delighted with this "clubhouse". Salvárcar, like other working class districts
neighboring Juarez lack parks and places for youth and children to play and socialize.

"Finally, now we have a park… now, after they are dead," said Luz Maria.

In the end, young people killed in Villa del Portal were not members of AA who Diego sought. AA
in this case, were the initials that represented the American football team that organized the
party.

Diego was incensed by the news that kids were killed, not AA gang members. He had the
informant executed, who provided the information about the party.

The deaths shocked the city of Juárez and aroused national and international attention on the
city.

Presidential insensitivity

"Do something!"
A week and a half after the slaughter, President Felipe Calderon traveled to Ciudad Juarez with a
large government delegation including his wife.

The people of Juarez were irate when after the murders, initially Calderon said the victims of
the slaughter were gang members. He called a public meeting with victims' families, activists and
representatives of citizen groups to try to minimize the damage.

Luz Maria was invited to attend, she decided to attend at the last minute. She sat with other
"special guests" like her Salvárcar neighbors, loved ones of the victims, the type of people who
are not usually invited to meetings with the President.

When the microphone went to the relatives, she got up took the mic and a maquiladora mother
confronted the nations President.

She vented with a monologue that became part of history.

"Excuse me, Mr. President, I cannot welcome

you. Murders have been committed, I want justice, I
want my children returned to me. I cannot shake hands
with you because you are not welcome.

I want a retraction of what you said, accusing my children

of being gang members, they good boys, they were
students, and they worked…I want you to apologize.

I assure you that if someone had killed your child, you

would have already captured the murderers! You would
have turned over every rock and used everything possible;
I do not have those advantages.

Here the governor and the mayor always say the same,
they promise justice but we do to receive justice. I want
justice. Put yourself in my place, to see what I feel. I love
my children." The president was solemn, nodding
slowly. Sitting next to the president was Mrs. Calderon,
she looked both sick and stunned.

Then, turning her back to the President, she looked at the audience.
"You gentlemen say nothing, you just applaud the President.....Do something!"
Dávila is still shocked by her reaction of five years ago, but her audacity embarrassed the federal
government who then created a social project of five billion pesos called "We are all Juárez".

The program supported social projects and the creation of a round table for justice and, with
representatives from business, civil society, Juarez government who began to meet weekly and
work with the police to clean up the city.

Technology improves the way to kill

But violence continued to increase and El Diego seemed unstoppable. Homicides increased to
300 per month. National and international attention to the struggling city increased. But La Linea
and their criminal cronies gang Barrio Azteca, continued undisturbed.
And then the cartel sought high-technology.

Two Mexican engineers were hired to develop an advanced encryption system of a network of
receivers, transmitters with upright antennas in the highest peak in Juarez, La Bola. The network
had been set up and began operation in March 2010.

To enlarge click on image

La Linea and Barrio Azteca used it to its next big mission, an attack against an American officer of
the Consulate of the U.S., Leslie Ann Enríquez, her husband, Arthur Redelfs, and the husband of
another consular official, after they left a children's birthday party, on March 13, 2010.

El Diego and Arturo Gallegos Castrellón, alias “El Benny”, leader of Barrio Azteca, were
intensifying their operations. They were going after the United States.

There are several theories about the reasons for the attack. One is that Redelfs, an official of the
Regional Detention Center in El Paso, mistreated members of the Juarez cartel imprisoned there.

Another is that Barrio Azteca believed Leslie Ann Enriquez working for the Sinaloa cartel. After
his arrest in 2011, El Diego said that Barrio Azteca simply made a mistake.

The US government responded quickly, ordering the families of members of the Consulate leave
Juarez to El Paso. The U.S. also set their sights on La Linea.

Insanity escalates

In mid 2010, El Diego became even crazier and ordered his people to load a vehicle with 10 kilos
of Tovex, an explosive used for mining and construction.

On July 15, they parked the car on the September 16th Street, in the city center, attracting police
and ambulance to the car by leaving the body of a man dressed as a policeman.
Dr. Jose Guillermo Ortiz, (at left) a doctor in town caring for low-income patients had his office
nearby, and was passing by with his son when he saw the victim.

He sent his son for his medical bag as he continued towards the vehicle. The blast was sudden.
Dr. Ortiz was hit by the blast, and died later in a hospital.

A federal police also died and six federal agents and a television cameraman were wounded. The
bomb was activated by a cell phone.

The bomb did more than scare a city that was tired of violence.

It also sent a message to the U.S.: black spray paint graffiti on the wall of an elementary school
warned there would be more car bombs.

"What happened on September Avenue will continue to

happen to all authorities who support 'El Chapo'.

We have more car bombs

Sincerely,

The Juarez cartel"

The bomb attack petrified one of the engineers who put the encrypted communications
receivers and Linea network. He heard Benny Gallegos, the Barrio Azteca, congratulating his
people: "Good job, boys, well done. They did very well, and we gave a lesson to those pigs .... "
These people are completely crazy, surmised the engineer, and decided he had to alert the
authorities. The engineer, who has never been identified, became the key to the downfall of La
Linea.

In the following weeks, the engineer knocked on the door of the Mexican Attorney General and
the Armed Forces in Mexico. No luck.

He stayed away from the Juarez police since learning through radio conversations that many of
them were on the take.

Then he went to the US Consulate and lied saying he had information about another attack
against U.S., the doors opened and he became a DEA protected witness. Between July and
December 2012 he recorded thousands of hours of radio communications for the US authorities.

La linea

La Línea Part I- Chihuahua

Notable Figures articles try to focus on contemporary cartel operators that have had major
relevance within the last five years. Juárez City is not covered and instead is being treated as its
own seperate entity.
REGION: Ahumada
DESCRIPTION: Villa Ahumada is infamous because it is the land which housed the heads of the
Juarez Cartel such as Rafael Munoz Talavera, Rafael Aguilar Guajardo and Armado Carrillo
Fuentes. (Source) The area is considered to be the “throne” of power for the Juárez
Cartel. Detained drug traffickers arrested in Juárez city have said La Linea stores their drugs in
Villa Ahumada as a last stop before they are sent to Juárez. (Source)
 POSITION: Leader of La Línea - Current
Plaza Boss of Villa Ahumada - Current
ALIAS: El Chuyín
NAME: Jesús Salas Aguayo
OTHER ALIASES: N/A
STATUS: Active
PROFILE: He began as a cartel hitman. In 2008 he was sent to Juárez city to lead
a regional Juárez Cartel group. He was captured by Mexican federal police after
a raid on his Ahumada ranch in April 2015 in which a shootout occurred and
Chuyín’s bodyguard was killed. Chuyín was sent to prison.(Source) US federal
arrest warrant placed on him for drug trafficking, aiding and abetting and
organized crime in July 23 2015 (Source) But in 2020, a judge released him. He is
now believed to be the leader of La Línea. (Source)

POSITION: Leader of La Línea - Former

Plaza Boss of Villa Ahumada - Former
ALIAS: El Borrego (The Lamb)
NAME: Rafael Chavira Renteria
OTHER ALIASES: N/A
STATUS: Inactive, killed August 2015
PROFILE: Was the second-in-command to El Chuyín until Chuyín’s 2015 April
arrest. Borrego temporarily took over Villa Ahumada and La Línea as a whole
while Chuyín was in jail. But in August 2015, El Borrego was killed. (Source)

REGION: Coyame del Sotol, Aldama, Julimes, Benavides, Ojinaga

DESCRIPTION: The north eastern section of Chihuahua with the US Port of Entry of Presidio,
across from Ojinaga city.

POSITION: Leader of Coyame del Sotol, Aldama, Julimes, Benavides, Ojinaga -

Current
ALIAS: El Coyo
NAME: Socorro Ramírez Luján
OTHER ALIASES: N/A
STATUS: Active as of Jan 2020 (Source)
PROFILE: Suspected to be behind muder of two federal agents and four state
agents between 2018 - 2019 (Source, Source)

POSITION: Plaza Boss of Ojinaga - Current

ALIAS: El Menchaca
NAME: Sergio Menchaca
OTHER ALIASES: N/A
STATUS: Active as of Jan 2020 (Source)
PROFILE: Originally from the community of Las Nieves, Durango. After the arrest
of Víctor Manuel CO, a plaza boss of Ojinaga, El Menchaca became Ojinaga’s
new plaza boss. (Source) He is suspected in killing of a Chihuahua State Police
commander. (Source) It is unclear if Menchaca is Coyo’s second-in-command or
just a plaza boss who reports to him. (Source)
POSITION: Plaza Boss of Aldama - Former
ALIAS: El Coman
NAME: Jesús Alberto ‘O.G.’
OTHER ALIASES: N/A
STATUS: Inactive, arrested April 7 2021
PROFILE: Arrested April 7 2021, his hitmen tried to rescue him when he
was captured but they failed at getting him free (Source)

POSITION: Second in Command of Ojinaga - Former

ALIAS: El Quemado
NAME: Neri C. A
OTHER ALIASES: N/A
STATUS: Inactive, arrested 2017
PROFILE: Arrested August 2017 (Source)
POSITION: Head of Sicarios in Aldama - Former
ALIAS: El Lacho
NAME: Hornacio S.G.
OTHER ALIASES: N/A
STATUS: Inactive, deceased May 2020
PROFILE: Was said to be the head of sicarios for La Línea in the Aldama region.
When the National Guard tried to arrest him, Lacho tried to flee, his car
overturned and he died from a shoout out in May 2020. (Source)
REGION: Namiquipa, Bachiniva, Cuauhtémoc, Buenaventura
DESCRIPTION: The centrally located section of Chihuahua. Contains Cuauhtémoc City, the third
largest city in the state of Chihuahua.

POSITION: Leader of Namiquipa, Bachiniva, Cuauhtémoc - Current

ALIAS: El Cachas
NAME: Hugo Fuentes
OTHER ALIASES: El Cacharpas, El 07
STATUS: Active
PROFILE: Began as a La Línea operative specializing in kidnapping and extortion.
Alleged to have orchestrated the murder of El Máster, leader of the Namiquipa,
Bachiniva, Cuauhtémoc area for La Línea and then taken over his territory.
(Source)

POSITION: Leader of Namiquipa, Bachiniva, Cuauhtémoc - Former

ALIAS: El Máster
NAME: Gustavo Chávez Olivas
OTHER ALIASES: N/A
STATUS: Inactive, deceased January 2020
PROFILE: An officer of the Namiquipa Municipal Police from 2004-2006. Started
working under El Ochenta. Máster is believed to have inherited control of
Namiquipa, Bachiniva, Cuauhtémoc areas when El Ochenta went to jail in May
2018. Diario reports El Máster tried to prevent crimes such as kidnapping and
extortion in his areas of control, but El Chachas, another La Línea operative in
the area, specialized and profited mainly from these activities. El Cachas is
alleged to have orchestrated El Máster’s murder. El Máster was found dead on
January 23 2020. (Source, Source)

POSITION: Leader of La Línea - Former

Leader of Namiquipa, Bachiniva, Cuauhtémoc - Former
ALIAS: El Ochenta
NAME: Carlos Arturo Quintana Quintana
OTHER ALIASES: El 80
STATUS: Inactive, arrested May 17, 2018
PROFILE: Ochenta had a conflict with one of his subordinates El Cabo, leader of
Cuauhtémoc. El Cabo left La Línea because of their conflict. Allegedly El
Ochenta’s bodyguard Juan Luis Uribe Range was beheaded by Cabo’s people,
then in retribution El Cabo was killed March 27 2017 by Ochenta’s people.
Ochenta then began to try to take control of Cuauhtémoc after Cabo’s death.
(Source)
When El Chuyín, the leader of all of La Línea, was arrested in 2015, El Ochenta,
who had reported to him, took over temporary leadership. But then Ochenta
was arrested May 17, 2018 in Namiquipa. (Source) El 32 reported to him until
Ochenta's arrest. (Source)

POSITION: Leader of Cuauhtémoc - Former

ALIAS: El Cabo
NAME: César Raúl Gamboa Sosa
OTHER ALIASES: El Tigre (Source)
STATUS: Inactive, deceased
PROFILE: Had a conflict with El Ochenta, see Ochenta for details. He was killed
March 27 2017, allegedly by Ochenta’s men. (Source) Had as his lieutenant Julio
César Escárcega Murillo, alias "109". (Source) His brothers are Édgar Alfredo
Gamboa Sosa, alias “El 11” and Luis Enrique alias “El Muletas”. Can’t find any
photos of him alive but there are post-mortem photos.
REGION: Jiménez
DESCRIPTION: The south eastern area of Chihuahua. Borders the states of Durango and Coahuila.

POSITION: Plaza Boss of Jiménez - Former

ALIAS: El Mocho
NAME: Luis Alberto Méndez Martínez, called Gibrán R.S. in some media
OTHER ALIASES: El Fresa
STATUS: Arrested May 2020
PROFILE: The Chihuahua FGE reports El Mocho has been a part of La Línea since
at least 2010. (Source) He is believed to be responsible and he was detained for
the 2011 killing of Guadalupe Ontiveros Dávila in an auto-repair shop. (Source)
Following the arrest of Piporro, El Mocho became the leader of La Línea for the
Jiménez area.

He was arrested on May 25 2020 along with his girlfriend Daniela Cantón who is
nicknamed “La Reina del Sur”, or The Queen of the South. (Source) El Heraldo
reports she is El Mocho's wife. (Source) She is of note because she is the sister
of Piporro and she is from the Cantón family, a family with a 20 year criminal
history in the region. (Source)

There was a retribution attack on the state Attorney General’s Office (FGE) in
Jiménez city on May 25 2020, vehicles were stolen and set on fire to make
roadblocks. (Source) On May 27 2020 he was sent to federal prison #13 in
Oaxaca. (Source)
 POSITION: Plaza Boss of Jiménez - Current
ALIAS: El Piporro
NAME: Ricardo Arturo Cantón
OTHER ALIASES: N/A
STATUS: Active
PROFILE: He was the leader of La Línea in the Jiménez area. He comes from the
Cantón family, a infamous crime family with a 20 year history in the area. He is
the brother of Alberto Uriel López Cantón alias “El Doctor” (deceased) and
Daniela Cantón, “The Queen of the South”. (Source)

He possibly inherited the position of Jiménez plaza boss after the 2013 murder
of his brother. (Source) As of May 2020 he was incarcerated in the state prison
in Cereso de Aquiles de Serdán. However El Heraldo reports he was out of
prison and returned to criminal activities around September 2020. (Source)

REGION: Casas Grandes, Nuevo Casas Grandes, Ignacio Zaragoza, Madera, Galeana, Gómez
Farías

Unknown who is currently in control of this area since El 32's arrest, likely controlled in some
capacity by El Chuyín but it is contested by Gente Nueva. In 2020, Gente Nueva was thought to
have taken Madera from La Linea and contest Ignacio Zaragoza and Galeana.
POSITION: Lieutenant, Plaza Boss of Madera and Nuevo Casas Grandes -
Former
ALIAS: El 32
NAME: Roberto González Montes
OTHER ALIASES: El Mudo (The Mute), El Coman 32
STATUS: Inactive, arrested November 2020
PROFILE: Reported to El Ochento. (Source) Formed an alliance with El Tolteca
after he had his conflict in Agua Prieta with Los Paredes. (Source) Mexican
government issued an arrest warrant for him in 2020 in connection to the
LeBaron massacre, he was arrested November 23 2020. (Source, Source)

POSITION: Plaza Boss for Nuevo Casas Grandes - Former

ALIAS: El 22
NAME: David Enrique F. S.
OTHER ALIASES: El Cessna
STATUS: Inactive
PROFILE: He was the plaza boss of the city of Nuevo Casas Grandes and
the northwest zone. El Heraldo reports that upon El 32’s arrival in the area,
El 22 was removed. (Source)
POSITION: Plaza Boss of Gómez Farías - Former
ALIAS: El 42
NAME: Alberto Padilla Chairez
OTHER ALIASES: El Chairez
STATUS: Inactive, arrested August 2017
PROFILE: Allegedly responsible for the attack on the police station in Las Varas,
where two state police officers were killed June 24 2017. Reported to El 32.
Arrested August 13, 2017. (Source, Source)
REGION: Janos DESCRIPTION: Hotly contested area right on the border of Los Paredes controlled
Agua Prieta. Also contains the US Antelope Wells Port of Entry, across from El Berrendo.

POSITION: Plaza Boss of Janos - Former

ALIAS: El Mayo
NAME: Mario “H”
OTHER ALIASES: N/A
STATUS: Inactive, arrested Jan 2019
 PROFILE: Not that El Mayo. Arrested January 01 2019 in connection with the
LeBaron case, said to be the plaza boss of Janos (Source, Source)

REGION: Ocampo, Moris, Bocoyna, Guerrero, Uruachi, Maguarichi

DESCRIPTION: Criminal groups in these area are involved in illegal logging and in the harvest and
trade of wood. Bocoyna, for example, has over 200 sawmills, many of them in the town of San
Juanito. These sawmill process both legal and illegal wood from the surrounding area and
provide employment to the town.

According to a 2020 report, about half of these sawmills belong to and/or cooperate with La
Línea. The other half pays extortion fees (known as piso) to operate in the area. (Source - pg.20)

In addition to logging, there is also gold, silver and zinc mining operations that are extorted by
cartels in a similar fashion. The State Attorney General has previously mentioned the gasoline
theft being an activity that Los Hs are suspected of being involved in as well. (Source, Source)

To read more about the CDS groups close by who are contesting this region, please see the
Urique and Bocoyna section, the Guachochi Section, & the Batopilas and Morelos Section of
Notable Figures: Gente Nueva.
POSITION: Plaza Boss of Moris and Ocampo
ALIAS: El H2
NAME: César Daniel Manjárrez Alonso
OTHER ALIASES:
STATUS: Active
PROFILE: El H2 is one of the Manjárrez brothers and he is the leader of the La
Linea cartel subgroup "Los Hs". He is believed to be supporting the Bournes
brothers in their fight against CDS forces.
El H2 controls some of the mountainous areas along the Chihuahua-Sonora
border, including the municipality of Moris and Ocampo. Bocoyna is partially
controlled by El H2. Guerrero, Uruachi, Maguarichi are all contested between
Los Hs and CDS forces. (Source)

POSITION: Lieutenant
ALIAS: El 01
NAME: Eladio Chávez
OTHER ALIASES: El Rojo
STATUS: Active
PROFILE: He is believed to be supporting the Bourne brothers alongside El H2.
Controls some of the mountainous areas along the Chihuahua-Sonora border,
including the municipality of Moris. (Source)
POSITION: Lieutenant and Brother of H2
ALIAS: El H7
NAME: Juan Romero Manjárrez Alonso
OTHER ALIASES: N/A
STATUS: Inactive, arrested June 9 2021
PROFILE: El H7 is one of the Manjárrez brothers who leads the La Línea group
called "Los Hs". El H7 was arrested in an joint operation between the State
Investigation Agency (AEI) and the Army (SEDENA) on June 9 2021. He was
arrested in a hotel in Chihuahua city. The arrest warrant against him alleges that
El H7 was involved in the homicide of four state police officers that occurred in
2018. The quadruple homicide reportedly results from an ambushed launched
on state officers by a group of heavily armed cartel members attacked them
with high powered rifles and grenade launchers. (Source, Source, Source,
Source, Source)

POSITION: Lieutenant and Brother of H2

ALIAS: El Harry
NAME: José Alfredo Manjárrez Alonso
OTHER ALIASES: N/A
STATUS: Active
PROFILE: He is one of the Manjárrez brothers who leads the La Línea group
called "Los Hs".
POSITION: Lieutenant
ALIAS: El H19
NAME: Roy Iván Manjárrez David
OTHER ALIASES: N/A
STATUS: Active

POSITION: Plaza Boss of Ocampo - Former

 ALIAS: El Flaco
NAME: Elizaldo Bournes González
OTHER ALIASES: N/A
STATUS: Inactive, killed July 2020
PROFILE: A Bournes brother who was killed along with his brother Eleazar in
Basaseachi, Ocampo municipality in July 2020. Believed to have been the Plaza
Boss of Ocampo. (Source, Source)

POSITION: Unknown
ALIAS: Unknown
NAME: Eleazar Bournes González
OTHER ALIASES: N/A
STATUS: Inactive, killed July 2020
PROFILE: A Bournes brother who was killed along with his brother Elizaldo, El
Flaco in Basaseachi, Ocampo municipality in July 2020. (Source, Source)

POSITION: Leader of La Línea - Former

Leader of Ocampo, Uruachi, Maguarichi, Guerrero - Former
ALIAS: El Sexto
NAME: Julio César Olivas Torres
OTHER ALIASES: N/A
STATUS: Inactive, arrested 2018
PROFILE: He took over overall leadership of La Linea following El Ochento's
arrest. But he was arrested a few months after Ochento, 2018 (Source)

FED vs MUNICIPAL
How did the fatal shootout start last night in Minatitlán with 3 killed, 2 injured and 1 federal
police arrested ?

The aggressors are federal policemen who a few days ago were sent by the Government to the
"Operativo de Pacificación” in Minatitlán. And would have participated in the detention of El
Pelón; They are chilangos.

Minatitlán, Veracruz - Shortly before 23:00 hours on Friday, the emergency number 911 reported
the presence of at least two armed men inside a well-known "luxury" bar located on Justo Sierra
Avenue ( the owner or manager knows exactly how the event started because they made the
report of aid from there).

When municipal police arrived and tried to find out the facts, two armed men, dressed in civilian
clothes, tried to flee to the premises of a pizzeria located in the sector and in their flight they
attacked a municipal police patrol, leaving María Guadalupe Castillo González, with a shoulder
wound, who was helped by her colleagues and taken to a hospital. The officer had been shot.

The aforementioned , as expected, forced the municipal authorities to request reinforcement

and that is how elements of the Public Security Secretariat (SSP) arrived and the shooting
intensified. During the exchange of gunfire, two state policemen died, including the commander
of Agrupamiento de Recuperación de Vehículos. His partner is in a very serious state of health.

In addition a federal police officer of the SIEDO dressed in civilian clothes, an assailant, has died
after he apparently started shooting at the municipal agents. The official balance is three deaths,
two state policemen, the SEIDO aggressor as well as two wounded policemen of which one of
them is between life and death.

This morning one of the aggressors who started the violent act last night. And who is identified
as an agent of the SEIDO, is already under arrest and at the disposal of the State Attorney
General's Office.

Breaking News: Amost twenty hours after the arrest of Adrian aka El Pelón a video started
circulating of a person being interrogated by unknown subjects who mentions more are involved
in the slaughter of the Obrera suburb in Minatitlan

Video translation is as follows:

Sicario #1: Let's see kid, who gave the order for the chaos that was made in La Obrera?
Detainee: El Commander Cursi, gave it to Commander Chucky, and to Cuco, and to Oaxaco. So
they could create their chaos here in Mina (Minatitlán). They come from Oaxa (Oaxaca). They
charge land tax and kidnap.
Sicario # 1: Are they the ones extorting people?
Detainee: They are the ones who are extorting people.
Sicario # 1: Are they the ones who killed the lady who did not want to pay them land tax?
Detainee: Those are the ones.
Sicario # 1: Were they the ones who made the Obrera mess?
Detainee: Those are the ones who made the Obrera mess.
Sicario # 1: How many were they?
Detainee: It was them and their people.
Sicario: In what van, what vehicle did they drive?
Detainee: CVR truck.
Sicario: Color?
Detainee: White.
Sicario: What do you guys dedicate yourselves to?
Detainee: Theft, kidnappings, extortion
Sicario: Who supports you here in Mina (Minatitlán)?
Detainee: Commander Cursi,
Sicario #1: Who else?
Detainee: Commander Oaxao.
Sicario: And Chucky?
Detainee: And Chucky. And El Vejuco, and his people.
Sicario # 2: Are they the ones who are causing the disruption ?
Detainee: They are the ones who are creating chaos here in Mina. And in the Veracruz area.
Sicario # 2: By who’s order were the people executed here in La Obrera?
Detainee: By orders of Commander Cursi.
Sicario # 2: Who are their H's (Hawks) and where are they more or less located?
Detainee: Their H's? I no longer...
Sicario # 2: His hawks, his little hawks who work for them, who are they?
Detainee: Well, his people operate with them.
Sicario # 2: Where are his people located?
Detainee: Well, throughout the Veracruz area.
Sicario # 1: Where does Chucky live?
Detainee: Chucky? Chucky lives there on Rosalinda.
Sicario # 2: And Becuco?
Detainee: In the new ...