Four bodies dumped on main San Carlos boulevard

Early morning discovery on Manlio Fabio Beltrones Blvd. 

 

At approximately 2:00 a.m. on June 4 in San Carlos, Sonora, motorists on Manlio Fabio Beltrones Boulevard reported the sighting of bodies by the side of the road. 

Police located four corpses that showed signs of torture.  

Manlio Fabio Beltrones Boulevard is the main thoroughfare used by tourists and others to drive to the coastal resort town of San Carlos. 

Same location as three other murders 

According to press reports, the location where the bodies were dumped is just feet from where the bodies of three men in an Uber vehicle were found last year.  

The dead included the Uber driver and two passengers from Hermosillo. The Uber vehicle had been reported missing during a trip from Hermosillo to Kino Bay. 

Tourist warning 

In addition to an out-of-control coronavirus outbreak in Sonora, be aware that there are frequent homicides in Sonora, and the Empalme – Guaymas – San Carlos area is a very active zone for killings. 

We do not recommend any travel to Sonora during this time, with the possible exception of brief visits across the border. 

Civilians gunned down at Magdalena toll booth; 3 dead

In a public attack reminiscent of the murder of Sonny Corleone in The Godfather, a brazen afternoon ambush at 4:00 p.m. on Thursday, May 14 at the Mexico highway 2 Magdalena tollbooth resulted in three deaths.  

Prominent politician among those killed 

A prominent Magdalena politician, Luis Alfonso Robles, was one of the three killed in the assault. Robles had twice been the mayor of Magdalena, most recently from 2015 to 2018. He was currently an alderman for the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). 

Also killed were Norberto López Vázquez and one of the sicarios involved in the attack. 

Police hunt other attackers 

After the attack, police recovered weapons, ammunition and 10 vehicles at the scene. 

State and military police began an intensive search for gunmen who had fled the tollbooth area, and they were able to locate a home in Colonia Fátima in the city of Magdalena where two of the other gunmen were located.  

Elements from the Sonora State Public Security Police (PESP) and federal SEDENA agents (from the Mexican Secretariat of National Defense) engaged in a gunbattle with the gunmen at the residence.  

Some of the agents were reported wounded, as well as one of the sicarios, who was taken into custody. The other sicario was killed in the exchange of gunfire. Both sicarios were armed with AK-47 rifles, known in Mexico as cuernos de chivos, or “goat horns” 

Travel advisory 

This violent, lethal event occurred in broad daylight along a public highway used by tourists to drive from Nogales to Hermosillo and other parts of Sonora.  

It was not cartel-on-cartel violence, as far as we know. Tourists traveling near the scene, or caught in the crossfire, could have been seriously injured or killed. 

Because of this, we do not recommend any travel in Sonora, with the possible exception of brief day trips across the border to visit border towns. 

Arizona-Sonora website

Caborca cartel battle leaves destruction, 12 dead

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. 

Arizona-Sonora website