Narcos Control Chihuahua's Sierra

Translated by Yaqui for Borderland Beat from: El Heraldo

                                                   Sierra Tarahumara, Chihuahua
By: Ricardo Holguín

For security reasons, having sawmills in operation in the Sierra Tarahumara, the merchant decided to remain anonymous and explained that there is a quota for some workers who want to enter the business, which has triggered the dispute over the control of wood in the mill, as has happened in recent days.

A family is in charge of the control of drug trafficking and all its sub-activities, identified as “Manjarrez Alonso”, known as “Los H’s”, who have the domain of wood theft, fuel, narcotics and different activities,  are practically the owners of most of the mountain businesses in Chihuahua.

The owner of the sawmill explains that the population has fully identified “El H-2″ as the person responsible for the violence in the place, because nobody can do anything against him, since there is not even a department to file a complaint and in the only ones offices that exist tell them that they should go to the state capital.

He mentions that the security in the place is scarce, because in addition to being very extensive, the necessary elements do not exist to cover or take care of the most conflictive municipalities that currently go through the theft and felling of trees in the mountain area in order to generate more income illegally.

For its part, the Federal Office of Environmental Protection (Profepa), has not made any research folder against elements of organized crime for issues related to illegal logging or wood theft in the mountain municipalities of the state, but instead has insured mainly wood charcoal

The state security commissioner, Óscar Aparicio Avendaño, said that 14 individuals related to illegal clandestine logging in the western zone have been arrested, but none of them belongs to or is said to belong to an organized crime group, who allegedly lead this market from the felling until the sale.