Surge in gang slayings as cartels vie for port
Three are believed to be fighting for control of Manzanillo
The body count is rising in Colima as three criminal gangs fight for control of Manzanillo, a Pacific-coast port that is a crucial stopover on trafficking routes for drugs and other contraband, according to the military.
For several months the Sinaloa Cartel, the Caballeros Templarios and the Jalisco Nueva Generación cartel have been waging war on one another for control of the state and — most importantly of all — its key port, according to army spokesman Commander Francisco Ortiz Valdez.
Around 30 people are thought to have died in gangland killings across Colima between June and September, and many of the victims’ bodies were found bearing signs of torture and in some cases dismemberment.
Evidence of Manzanillo’s importance for trafficking in contraband is in the number of seizures of various goods by authorities. Between 2005 and 2014 there were 2,778 such seizures by the army and police of illegal cargos containing drugs such as crystal meth and methamphetamine, timber, money and mineral ore, while the Attorney General has said that this year alone around 270 kilograms of cocaine from Colombia and Peru have been seized.
Other gangs involved in the bloody turf war in Colima since 2010 include La Resistencia, Milenio and now extinct Colima cartels.
However, Ortiz Valdez was confident that despite the scale of organized criminal activity, measures taken by the authorities had delivered positive results in the region and would continue to do so. “Something abnormal has happened in Manzanillo,” he said. “We have faith that changes in the municipal government have led to changes in policing and that efficiency can improve.”
State officials believe there were links between the previous municipal government and at least one of the cartels.
Colima’s strategic importance is twofold: firstly because of its position on the Pacific coast and its access to foreign countries, and secondly due to its location between Michoachán and Jalisco, both considered major states for the movement of illegal drug consignments within Mexico.
As such, the gangland war in Manzanillo has a global dimension to it, and the rewards for the winning cartel are potentially great.
Last year, naval units deployed by the federal government intercepted 268,000 tonnes of iron bound for China that had been illegally mined by the Caballeros Templarios, while in 2009 federal authorities found two containers filled with bags of cash worth US $11 million bound for Colombia.
An agent who worked that case said it was one of the most impressive cash hauls he had seen in 30 years and that it bore the hallmarks of a Mafia payment.
The Sinaloa Cartel is thought to b
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