Mexico drug cartel violence flares as Mexicles, Gente Nueva war rattles Valley of Juárez
By Daniel Borunda
El Paso Times
June 19, 2019
A war among drug-trafficking groups has intensified in the Valley of Juárez, with dismembered bodies left in ice coolers, shootings and schools temporarily closed.
The fighting in the valley is for control of border drug-smuggling routes in the Mexican farming communities along the Rio Grande east of Juárez.
The violence comes as homicides have topped 700 in Juárez this year, including the death of a 6-year-old girl hit by a stray bullet at a kindergarten this week.
A war in the valley between the Mexicles gang and the Gente Nueva drug-trafficking group is part of a fragmentation of criminal alliances that authorities said has fueled much of the violence in recent years in Juárez.
In an unusual move, the Mexicles last week issued a news release to Juárez news outlets warning the leaders of the rival Gente Nueva to leave the valley.
"It's better (for rivals to leave) and a warning is given to all these people to abandon the Valley of Juárez, if they don't, the lead and bloodshed will continue," the Mexicles stated.
Recent incidents in the valley included:
• Shootings that killed three men, including a maquiladora bus driver, on June 11 in the villages of Tres Jacales and Juárez y Reforma in a region across the Rio Grande from the Fabens area.
• Dismembered body parts were found in ice chests and thrown on the ground on the morning of June 13 along the Juárez-Porvernir highway, according to the Norte Digital news website.
• Schools in the valley were closed and public bus routes stopped running at 7 p.m. last week due to fears of violence, according to the Diario de Juárez newspaper.
• Law enforcement seized an arsenal, including two rifles, two handguns, a grenade and eight Molotov cocktails, after a vehicle chase in San Isidro. The gunmen abandoned a pair of vehicles and escaped.
Drug cartel propaganda
It is not uncommon for Mexican drug cartels to engage in public threats and propaganda, such as videos, banners hung from bridges and signs left at murder scenes.
Mexican authorities have not confirmed the authenticity of the Mexicles news release, which was published by some Juárez news outlets, but have said the violence in the valley is linked to drug groups.
The Mexicles stated in Spanish that they issued the message so the "citizenry of Juárez and the Valley of Juárez are not be alarmed by what is happening and what is about to happen."
The statement featured an image of a skull in a charro hat in front of two crossed rifles above "F.E.M.," meaning "fuerzas especiales Mexicles," or Mexicles special forces.
The group stated that the fight is over drug trafficking and for what it calls "good control," claiming it won't kidnap, extort or intimidate innocent people.
The statement is signed by "El 40 of the Mexicles special forces."
People shouldn't fall for it, an expert says.
“It’s propaganda. They want to get the support of the community, that they are not bad guys," said Robert Almonte, who teaches law enforcement seminars on Mexican drug cartels.
Almonte is a former U.S. marshal and a retired deputy chief with the El Paso Police Department who began researching cartels while working narcotics in the 1980s.
New drug trafficking groups sometimes openly claim they will be protective of the public and even do good deeds, Almonte said.
"A lot of the other cartels say the same thing; they end up becoming more of what they said they were against," he added.
Who are the Mexicles?
The Mexicles is a prison-street gang that was allied with the Gente Nueva branch of the Sinaloa drug cartel during the war with the Juárez cartel a decade ago.
The gang was formed by Mexicans in the Texas prison system who banded together to protect themselves in the late 1980s or early 1990s, said Mike Tapia, a New Mexico State University associate professor of criminal justice who studies gangs.
"They were born in the Texas prison system as a group of Mexicanos that were deported back to Mexico when they did their time. They expanded out into the street, of course," Tapia said.
"Mexicle" can be a term describing a person from Mexico and is used by other gangs, including the Partido Revolucionario Mexicano, or PRM, according to a 2007 Texas Department of Public Safety report on Texas gangs.
The Mexicles gang in Juárez has been known to use tattoos of the "Hecho en Mexico" eagle logo, but not everyone with such a tattoo is a gang member.
For years, the Mexicles were allied with the Sinaloa cartel, but by the start of this year the Mexicles had allied with La Linea crime organization of the Juárez cartel.
In January, La Linea and the Mexicles were accused by authorities of carrying out a series of coordinated attacks on Juárez police.
The Mexicles were rivals of the Barrio Azteca gang, which was allied with La Linea.
The shifting in alliances is believed to be part of the fighting for control of drug markets, including crystal methamphetamine sales, in Juárez, officials have said.
There have been nearly 90 homicides so far in June in Juárez, compared with 151 in all of May, according to a daily tally by Channel 44-XHIJ.
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