Sonora: the atrocious image of a criminal empire | The universal

It happened this Monday night in the square located on the main street of the town of Benjamin Hill, in the state of Sonora. Armed men tied a stranger to a post and burned him alive. They had tied his hands and feet.

Social media users recorded the scene: a human pyre, a body burning horribly in the most emblematic place on Benjamin Hill: the railroad monument.

To one side of the burning man, the criminals left a message under a stone. It contained a threat to “the treacherous Deltas” and to a subject known as El 8 or El Pelón.

El Pelón has been identified as Omar Félix Loaiza, alias El 08 or El Pelón de Sonoyta. He is at the head of a criminal organization that operates at the service of Joaquín’s children El Chapo Guzmánthe famous Chapitos, and disputes with groups related to Ismael El Mayo Zambada the trafficking of drugs and people in the northern region of Sonora.

In early October, shortly after the capture and extradition of Chapo’s youngest son, Ovidio Guzmanblankets attributed to Los Chapitos They appeared in different parts of Sinaloa: through these, criminal bosses prohibited their people from selling, manufacturing and transporting fentanyl.

A few days later, in northern Sonora, the group of Omar Felix Loaizaknown as Los Pelones, joined the ban, and announced that it was going to extend to Sonoyta and Caborca.

The corridor that starts from Benjamín Hill connects on one side with Magdalena de Kino, Ímuris and Nogales, and on the other with Santa Ana, Altar, Caborca ​​and Sonoyta. Whoever dominates it controls absolutely all illegal traffic.

In 2021 the dispute over that control intensified. Through the person in charge of “managing” it, Felipe de Jesús Sosa Canizales and/or Sergio Valenzuela Valenzuela, nicknamed El Gigio, Mayo Zambada collided with Los Chapitos. According to military reports, El Gigio gave them an ultimatum for the runner to be evicted.

According to the same reports, in order to strengthen itself, Sosa Canizales entered into an alliance with the Caborca ​​Cartel, founded by Rafael Caro Quintero.

The macabre images of a man burning in Benjamín Hill constitute one of the most violent expressions that the struggle between all these groups has unleashed, and that keeps surrounding towns and municipalities under shrapnel: Trincheras, Tubutama, Pitiquito, Oquitoa, Saric, to name only some.

Criminal violence in the border region and the Sonoran Desert has made life impossible for entire communities. Just a few days ago, a mass exodus was reported in the community of Sásabe: after a long day of shootings and before caravans of armed men who roamed the streets in complete impunity, entire families abandoned their homes and fled to the United States. Many others, however, were unable to leave their homes and had to lock themselves up.

The same thing happened in Benjamín Hill, during the Day of the Dead celebration, when as a result of various clashes the Catrinas Parade and the traditional kermes were cancelled. Shootings between criminal groups and clashes against security corporations occurred for several days. Classes were suspended. Through networks, the population was recommended not to leave their homes.

On November 22 he was arrested in Culiacán Néstor Isidro Pérez Salas, nicknamed El Ninihigh-ranking member of the Sinaloa Cartel and head of security for Los Chapitos.

Unlike what happened during El Culiacanazo, the arrest of Nini did not provoke any type of response among the members of the Cartel. He soon spread the version that his own bosses had turned him in: either to relieve pressure from the United States government, or because he continued to manufacture fentanyl on his own.

In any case, immediately after the arrest, narco messages began to spread in the border area: they were directed at the Pelón Loaizaalias El 8: “Chief Iván (Iván Archibaldo Guzmán) has already handed over to Nini, you are still stupid for wanting to keep (sic) what is not and will not be yours.”

This Loaiza is the same one who left a human pyre in the main square of Benjamín Hill last Monday, in a context of violence that has completely overwhelmed the authorities, and where throughout towns, cities and communities spread For hundreds of kilometers, there is no authority other than that of criminals.