They lived 72 hours of Terror in the Mountains

Translated by Otis B Fly-Wheel for Borderland Beat from an El Debate article with added videos
Shout out to Guasa_001 from the BB forum for posting this story

[ Subject Matter: Marines operation in the Sierra Madre Occidental
Recommendation: No prior subject matter knowledge required]

Reporter: Martin Gastelum
Since Tuesday no less than 14 communities and their citizens have been practically effectively kidnapped by elements of the Mexican Marines.

Cosala, Sinaloa: it was a little less than 72 hours that the villagers of 14 communities of the Sierra Madre Occidental lived nightmare existence due to an operation by the Mexican Marines.

Villagers of the said communities, concentrated in the atrium of the Santa Ursula Church in the head town of Cosala, denounced that the said communities and especially its citizens, were left incommunicado, and the Marines stopped everyone leaving or communicating with their families, so they tried to solicit the support of the Municipal Authorities of Tamazula and Concordia, who said they couldn’t intervene as they considered it a Federal operation.

The problem

Stationed on the road that leads from Mexico 15 to Cosala, right in the town of El Salto, and Marine roadblock checked every person that was travelling to the “magic town”, they questioned the purpose of the trip and demanded identification of all the persons travelling, the same being done to everyone leaving the town.

In the community of Cosala, those who were affected by the Marine operation, said that these interruptions to their communities, after the alleged same events in the community of “El Limon”, in the mountainous part of the municipality of Tamazula, Durango, where a confrontation is brewing between the Marines and some alleged criminals, when recently a Marine plane in the area had been damaged by criminals that could have led to the aircraft crashing, resulting in anger on the part of the armed forces, provoking their wish for retribution on the the neighbours of the surround communities.

Recounting the events

Rosario said that in the community of El Verano (the summer), where her family have their roots, that the Marines arrived on Wednesday morning, interrupting the communities firing at the houses and into the air, they were shooting with firearms and grenade launchers, after they fired at the houses they fired into the surroundings, wanting to intimidate the population. The same story is told in a similar way by residents of the communities of La Lagunita, Las Higueras, La Sierrita, El Zaus Viejo and Jacales.

I believe the dreams of my grandson, he dreamed that the “Gauchos” were killing him, they came yesterday evening and started shooting, why are they doing that if we are good people?”, said Donna Maria.

The citizens of the mountain communities living in Cosala, decided to go to the community of Palo Verde, where allegedly the marines were in the way, two units, who assured not to know the facts about what was going on, and that they were just carrying out orders from their superiors, ensuring that the population can travel overland, without guaranteeing their safety from the air.

The marines deny an aircraft was brought down

Yesterday, on their twitter account, the Secretary of the Marines of Mexico, denied that in Durango one of its aircraft had been brought down. In an unofficial report this past Tuesday, in the community of La Borrega, Durango State, it said it had had an armed confrontation in which several people had died, and a supposed helicopter had been downed by armed civilians.

Original article in Spanish at El Debate