D e s e r t E x p o s u r e
June 2010
Danger in the Air
Who's winning the drug war in Palomas?
I've finally heard a rumor that Chapo Guzman has been seen in Palomas. There have been rumors that he's been sighted at restaurants in Juarez, Casas Grandes and even Ascension, but this one is new to me.
This comes from journalist Emilio Gutierrez, who fled from Ascencion to the US in 2008 because of army threats he was getting. The story goes that Guzman, the leader of the powerful Sinaloa cartel, sometimes dresses in a military uniform and has been seen at military checkpoints in Chihuahua.
Emilio talks about these rumors from his small rented house in Las Cruces, where he now lives waiting for his political asylum trial. He's currently a reporter for the Spanish-language Diario de El Paso.
I don't know if this rumor is true, but it is true that the road running from Palomas south through Ascension, Casas Grandes, and all the way to Buenaventura, Zaragoza and Madera is a very important drug trafficking route. Emilio, his immigration lawyer and Juarez human rights representative Gustavo de la Rosa all believe that the route may have the highest per capita rate of murders in Mexico.
The odd thing is, someone taking a drive though these towns would almost certainly be unaware of any violence. It happens mostly at night and between drug traffickers.
Spencer MacCallum, well-known as the US "discoverer" of potter Juan Quezada, says over and over that not a single American buyer of Mata Ortiz pots has ever been attacked or robbed in the more than three decades they've been making and selling pottery there. He lives in Casas Grandes and monitors the situation minutely.
If you picked up the regional editions of the Diario de Juarez in these towns, you probably wouldn't think there's any crisis. The killings are reported, but they don't necessarily make the lead column.
They're scattered among articles about traffic accidents, religious processions to combat the current drought, a drunken brawl, or people arrested for urinating in public. You might read about one or two murders one day and then nothing the next. These are little towns, and while the per capita rate of murders may be high, the numbers are very small.
The Diario de Juarez had a 20-page pullout section for Holy Week — the week before Easter and the main vacation period for Mexicans. The section was titled "The Northeast: Welcome to the land of wonders!" and it was about many of the towns in this drug corridor.
Each page was packed with photos of tourist sites and large images of young women welcoming the prospective visitors. They were wearing skimpy costumes and elaborate headdresses with Indian motifs. It's possible to be completely insouciant in the midst of what could be called a war zone.
Howard Campbell, professor of anthropology and sociology at UTEP, says it's not fair comparing these small towns with Juarez, known as the murder capital of the world. I very much agree.
A few months ago, with research librarian Molly Molloy at NMSU, who has an online border news service, I figured out that the level of violence in Palomas in 2009, using the figure of 50 killings among 4,000 people, ends up being roughly eight times the level of violence in Juarez. That is, the per capita level is higher.
But Palomas is still not as dangerous as Juarez. A recent editorial in the Diario de Juarez referred to "hundreds" of innocent people killed among the "thousands" murdered. It is debated among Palomenses whether there have been any innocent people killed there. Probably there have been a handful.
Palomas has had almost none of the extravagant perversions of human rights that Juarez has seen — the corpse with a pig's mask on it, the sheer innocent bystanders with babies in their arms, the chopped-up cadavers, the large massacres, the body left hanging from a bridge, the men forced to kneel and pull their pants down before being shot, the new practice of leaving men's corpses with women's underwear on, the seven-year-old boy killed last winter, who lay on his side, simply, with his blue winter jacket on.
Palomas has had a few decapitations, but usually people are just shot and killed, or "levantado" (kidnaped). As far as I can tell, very few extortions of businessmen have occurred, while extortions have reached hellacious proportions in Juarez, with 10,000 businesses abandoned as some indication of this practice. Few seem to be afraid of the soldiers in Palomas. It's a different show there in some ways.
It should be mentioned that Palomas has been much quieter since January than it's been in a couple of years. Early in the year there were two or three reports of killings (based on word-of-mouth reports), and in early May there were three, four or five kidnappings, depending on whom you talked to. This level is compared to the 40 or 50 killings there were last year and perhaps 70 in 2008. (There is apparently no reporter writing about Palomas now for the Diario de Juarez.)
Is this quiet spell due to the victory of Chapo Guzman in the drug corridor south of Palomas? This is what Emilio Gutierrez believes. He possibly has inside sources that Americans don't have.
It isn't what others are saying. Campbell says a March federal court case in El Paso with a "Chapo lieutenant" named Fernando Ontiveros Arambula on trial revealed how the latter lived in Texas while he ran the Palomas corridor. He "cleared out the Juarez cartel" in Palomas during the wave of violence a couple years ago. But Campbell says "these victories are never complete." He thinks a cartel struggle is still going on.
Rey Cervantes, the Intelligence Manager at the El Paso field division of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), states that in the Palomas drug corridorstates that in the Palomas drug corridor, it¹s leaning toward the Juarez cartel, but that the situation is fluid.
I had a short talk recently with a member of the policia ministerial (state police investigators) in Palomas, who said the serious violence there is over. I for one don't believe it. Why? Because you can smell it. As Emilio says, "You can feel the danger in the air."
You can sense a penetrating, acrid odor, like ammonia. Its something like having irritating, tiny nits on your scalp and skin, but on the microscopic level of bacteria, invisible to the naked eye.
This atmosphere may seem subtle, but it's as fixed and solid as a building or a tree. I can feel it. Unfortunately, I don't think it's going away soon.
I think I've given up "hope." I keep looking toward signs of hope, but they keep on crumbling away. I'll just believe peace when I see it and feel it.
To help the people of Palomas, you can send a tax-deductible donation to
Our Lady of Palomas/Hunger Project, POB 622, Columbus, NM 88029.
Borderlines columnist Marjorie Lilly lives in Deming.