Conflicts between rival cartels resulted in deaths and destruction starting last Friday afternoon and terrorized the city through the night.
Ammunition seizure in Pitiquito
Just two days earlier, on June 17, a vehicle was pulled over by Mexican National Guard troops on the Altar – Sonoyta section of Mexico highway 2 driving near the town of Pitiquito toward Caborca.
Soldiers found more than 56,000 pieces of ammunition inside the vehicle, including 30,000 bullets and 111 high-caliber cartridges.
The seizure may have indicated that preparations were in progress for a gun battle.
Conflict in Puerto Lobos
Local authorities reported that hostilities began in the popular coastal town of Puerto Lobos, Caborca, at approximately 6:30 p.m. on Friday, June 19.
This prompted a massive police movement to Puerto Lobos from Caborca, which left the city with few police resources.
By the time police arrived in Puerto Lobos, the shooting had stopped. They found two bodies, two armored pickups and a Barrett .50 caliber rifle.
Battle moved to Caborca
According to Caborca mayor Librado Macías González, who was interviewed by El Imparcial, after most police elements had left the city of Caborca to go to Puerto Lobos, cartel elements resumed the battle in Caborca.
Conflicts raged in the city through Friday night, as Caborca residents hid in their homes. Four houses, four houses and a tractor-trailer were burned, as well as a gas station.
Saturday’s gruesome discovery
On the next day, Saturday, June 20, authorities encountered a horrendous remnant from the night before. Ten bodies had been stacked on the side of the highway from Caborca to Sonoyta, a popular tourist route for visitors who cross into Mexico at the Lukeville – Sonoyta border crossing.
The corpses’ hands had been bound and they showed signs of gun violence.
April cartel conflict in Caborca
The June violence, killing and destruction followed another Caborca gun battle between organized crime elements one week after Easter Sunday, on April 19. That clash left four dead, and authorities seized six bullet-riddled vehicles (one of them armored), weapons, ammunition and other “various items” at the scene.
After that armed conflict, the state of Sonora’s organization for “Peace and Security in Sonora” had ordered federal, state and local police to intensify surveillance and intelligence of the area by air and land.
Travel advisory
These tragic events an increase of violent activity in Northern Sonora, Mexico, including a May ambush at a Magdalena toll booth where a prominent city official was murdered.
At this time, we do not recommend any travel to or within the state of Sonora because of intensified crime, with the possible exception of brief day trips to border cities.
