allende mexico massacre victims

premiering June 30. [F]rom the road you could see smoke coming from inside the ranch. 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. See Vanguardia, March 18, 2019.. FOR almost three years residents of Allende, close to the Mexican border with . Remembering the Allende Massacre. Jimnez told authorities that local Zetas leaders sent him to the ranch as part of an all-out assault on people and properties associated with the Garza family. Because if you dont [keep quiet] theyre going to kidnap you too.. December 9, 2020, Six Years On, Ayotzinapa Investigations Advance [7]A2005 FBI evaluationfound that the original Zetas had a military-style organizational structure that included counterintelligence, intelligence and tactical enforcement units. By 2010, Los Zetas had broken with the Gulf Cartel and independently controlled key narcotics smuggling corridors and strategically located cities in northeastern Mexico near the U.S. border. Fax: 202/994-7005Contact by email. When they did not return or respond to phone calls, their wives became concerned. Hours later, his daughter was one of the last people to see him alive. They erected a monument in Allende to honor the victims without fully determining their fates or punishing those responsible. The next day, the wives of other ranch workers came by the Snchez Robles house, looking for their missing spouses. The original Zetas are former members-turned-deserters of Mexicos elite Airmobile Special Forces Group (GAFE), trained in the U.S. at the School of the Americas at Fort Benning, GA. And as I am originally from here in Allende, and this is a small town, for this reason I know these people. 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. 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 . Subscribe to our newsletter and join other 2,442 Justice in Mexico readers! 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. 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. 202-994-7000 ornsarchiv@gwu.edu, Special thanks to former National Security Archiveintern Emily Taylor for her assistance with this collection. 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. 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). However, I'm mortified at the . Subscribe. One U.S. law enforcement officialsaid that [Reyes] Arzates corruption as the highest-ranking officer in the MFPs Sensitive Investigative Unit allowed violent cartels to continue the flow of drugs through the region without consequence.. One of the homes destroyed in Allende in 2011. shares. One of the cooks told investigators that his involvement in the Allende massacre began a few days earlier when he was awakened with dousing of cold water. People from the town stole the furniture, vehicles, and machinery [from the houses] and sold it for scrap metal.- Declaration of Germn Zaragoza Snchez (El Canelo), April 8, 2014, 10:00am. 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. 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: 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. 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. 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 . Elvira Espinoza told investigators about the day, about a week later, when she found two of her three missing grandchildren at an orphanage in Piedras Negras. Mexico has again witnessed a brutal incident of gun violence, where a gunman opened fire and killed at least 18 people at San Miguel Totolapan City Hall on Wednesday. The mayor of Allende in the Cinco Manantiales region of Coahuila said at the time of the slaughter that he was helpless to prevent the massacre. He said he recognized many of the Zetas gathered there.[13]. Among others, I remember that there was Jos [deleted,] the owner of the ranch, [deleted,] his wife, [deleted,] [Vctor Manuel] [deleted,] an employee of the [Garzas] by the name of [deleted,] a man by the name of Hctor [deleted,] among other people from the family of the [deleted] and people from the town whose names I dont remember, but who I know on sight, other people that I had not seen before, and people of advanced age, who they were putting inside the large bodega.- Declaration of former Allende volunteer firefighter, December 17, 2014, 11:37. Netflix will release a series next month inspired by a story that revealed . . 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. December 9, 2020, Advirti EU riesgo ante mandos mexicanos corruptos 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. For the family members, nothing has changed. [A]t that time I lived in La Colonia Presidentes, and I knew all of these people because they were from the town. Jos Alfredo Jimnez was one of the first of the Zetas to arrive at Luis Garzas ranch that night. Mexican Federal Police document bits of teeth recovered at the Garza Ranch, January 28, 2014(Source:Document 41: Forensic Anthropology Technical Report, April 11, 2014). 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. Volunteer Luis Herrera Estrada was one of the four Allende firefighters who responded to reports of a blaze at the Garza ranch, and his statement of November 23, 2014, three and a half years later, is the first detailed account in the file of what the firefighters saw at the ranch that night. Outside the ranch entrance, the firefighters spotted officers and vehicles from the Allende police department. Investigators firstquestioned LozanoandTrevioabout the massacre in 2012. He told her to cancel the birthday party they were planning for her the next week. [9] Literally stake or post, an estaca is a term used by Los Zetas for its assassination teams. Other witnesses confirmed the testimony of the police commander. [12]- Statement of Jos Alfredo Jimnez Aguilar (El Pjaro), June 13, 2014. Washington, D.C., 20037, Phone: 202/994-7000 Jeremy Schwartz. The study sought to determine the treatment and reparations of the State to the victims of the massacre of 72 migrants in San Fernando, Tamaulipas, in August 2010, and the disappearance of an unknown number of people in Allende, Coahuila, in March 2011. 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. Over the course of six episodes, "Somos." gives a platform to the victims of the Allende massacre to tell their stories. Upon seeing us, these people began to shout that we leave the ranch, that we go fuck our mothers, and that we were not to respond to any reports [of fires] that are made.- Declaration of former Allende volunteer firefighter, December 17, 2014, 11:37, De Len said they watched as the Zetas continued to unload large quantities of fuel even as the bodega burned.. October 2, 2018, Transcripts of intercepted cell phones open new lines of investigation in Ayotzinapa case One former Allende police official interviewed during the investigation described how the payments were made. 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. * * * * *. At the moment the cooking of the corpses was finished, the ashes were thrown in a well, and later covered with earth, and they flattened it so that no one could see anything.- Declaration of Zetas member, September 19, 2014, The focus on eliminating physical evidence and destroying crime scenes almost certainly played at least an ancillary role in impeding justice in the Allende case. He got in the truck and returned to Allende, or at least thats what I think I dont know what happened to [Vctor] nor to his parents. She said she later learned he had been kidnapped from their house and turned over to a criminal group, probably Los Zetas. Warning: violence in San Miguel de 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. 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. 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. Texting with her husband throughout the night, Sarah learned bits and pieces of what he and Arturo were up to. Passing by the Garza property, she noticed a group of workers gathered there, waiting to be paid. One installment revealedthat officials from the Mexican Army and the top civilian intelligence agency (CISEN) within days knew key details about the massacre, including that Poncho Cuellar had fled to the U.S. with a stash of cartel money and was talking to the DEA. The attack . 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. "How the U.S. [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. The two had gone to the ranch on March 18 to get medicine for a cockfight that evening. Many victims were brought to a ranch outside Allende, owned by the Garza family. There were not many of us. 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. Oct. 9, 2016. For years after the massacre, Mexican authorities made only desultory efforts to investigate. Of particular importance was the November 2014 testimony of a woman from Piedras Negras whose husband, himself a member of the Zetas, had been kidnapped, detained, and later killed by the group in 2010. Source: ProPublica. Yesterday I heard machine guns right outside my door on Independencia. Meanwhile, Mexico has announced the arrest of police officers allegedly involved in the killings. [16] Exoneran a ex alcalde de Allende, Coahuila, ligado a masacres de 2011, El Financiero, Feb. 10, 2017. Criminals were shooting up the street and two police officers . The next day,investigators requested, andlater received, a list of Allende police officials active in 2011 and began to interview them systematically. One former police official who attended the meeting said that Trevio told them that things were going to get hot that there had been a meeting with Los Zetas and the mayor, and that things were going to get ugly., As a result of the meeting with the mayor and Los Zetas, Trevio ordered police personnel not to leave the offices for anything, even if there were reports. The officer said they were told that if we went out it was under our own risk, and that they would fucking get us.. Another explained how the money was divided up among members of the Allende police. Witnesses said the recent killings came after CDN members entered the town days earlier in search of rival gang members. Schamus presents the trailer and key art for his new drama series Somos. I want to point out that all of the police at that time were getting money from the Zetas, some by obligation and some by choice. [W]hen the Zetas realized that we were there, they said to us, Youd better get the hell out of here, motherfuckers! May 12, 2015, Documenting Mexicos Recurring Nightmare It is estimated that over 300 went missing or killed in March of 2011. The Zetas told the other children he was too little and cried too much to leave him there with them, according to Espinoza. [8]But the initial three-year delay in starting the investigation has complicated the pursuit of justice for the massacre. She toldProPublicathat, after separating the children from their parents, the kidnappers held them for several days before leaving the two older kids at a park. She said Andrea, the six-year-old, blames herself for what happened to him. No one would tell her anything about the person who left the kids at the orphanage.[10]. 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. About five estacas[9]participated, and with [deleted] and [deleted] ten more joined. She told me that around 5:30 in the afternoon she came across the pick-up truck that came for my husband, and that had been circulating up and down Calle Independencia, and that her father was on board the truck together with about five other people, and that he was in the cabin in the back, in the middle, and that the truck was followed by two black late-model cars, Malibu or Impala, and the three vehicles headed for the mountain; this being the last time they saw my husband.- Complaint of wife of victim Rodolfo Snchez Robles, November 10, 2014. They erected a monument in Allende to honor the victims without fully determining their fates or punishing those responsible. The slowly unfolding investigation of the Allende massacre finally gained some momentum with the establishment of a special task force in 2014. Most of them, he said, were killed and cremated inside the state prison in Piedras Negras. 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. See reference here. Since the acts occurred on the dates of March 18, 19 and 20 of 2011, they were committed under the same mechanics not just in the city of Allende, Coahuila, but also in other municipalities in the northern region of the state, among others Piedras Negras, Coahuila.- Memorandum on links between various cases, March 5, 2015. [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 organizational structure includes counterintelligence, intelligence and tactical enforcement units.. 1:07. 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 . In November 2019, CDN gunmenriddled the city hall with gunfireand engaged in a gun battle with federal forces that leftat least 21 dead. 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. He just asked us if we knew about what was happening. Both in charge of Los Zetas, Allende's is a much less known story. Claudia Snchez last saw her son, Gerardo Heath, around 9:30 PM on March 18 when he left their home in Piedras Negras to visit a friend who lived down the street. He told me that inside the jail Los Zetas were burning all of these people that I mentioned as well as my spouse who they burned inside that place after killing him, and more people from other parts of the state. What actions had they taken to guarantee the security of the people of Allende? They watched as gang members led their victims into a larger shed near the back. 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. The George Washington University Among them were the director, Roberto Guadalupe Trevio, shift commander Mara Guadalupe valos, known as La Lupe, and officer Bertha Rosario Tllez Vega, known as La Chayo.[1]. 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. 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. Later we took these people to the Garza ranch where we put them in the same house where we had the others. He recognized some of them: El Pala, El Cubano, El Pjaroall of them local men who worked for the Zetas. In April of 2014 . Based on Ginger Thompson's 2017 oral history, "How the U.S. Beyond criminal prosecutions, the Mexican government also has a specific legal obligation to divulge information related to cases, like Allende, that constitute clear violations of human rights and humanitarian law, raising the hope that additional information may come to light through the countrys access to information law. For reference to U.S. training and other background, see our previous Electronic Briefing Book, especially Document 1 and Document 2. [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. 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. 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. After three days of abuse, on the night of March 20, the Zetas took him to the Garza ranch and put him to work managing the incoming truckloads of corpses along with a few living hostages. The newly released files on Allende, including evidence gathered in the weeks and months immediately following the massacre, show just how inadequate these investigations have been. And you could see that they were unloading large barrels, and the odor of diesel or gasoline was evident. 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. Nine people, including three mothers and six children, lost their lives Monday when they were shot execution-style while traveling to a wedding in Mexico. American authorities eventually helped Mexico capture the Trevios but never acknowledged the devastating cost. She is the goddaughter of Salvador Allende , the first socialist president of Chile who was her father's . The Archive pried open the files using a special provision of Mexicos access law requiring the release of information relating to human rights violations. [13] Bracketed items identified in portions of the Herrera Estrada declaration published by Zcalo. 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.

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