Ciudad Juarez has been one of the most violent cities in the world for years. Now criminals have managed to free a gang boss in a spectacular way. They apparently benefited from corrupt officials in the penal system.
After the bloody attack on the Cereso 3 prison in Ciudad Juarez, 191 inmates were transferred to prisons in other regions on Tuesday.
Columns of dark smoke rose in the early morning hours of January 1 over the Centro de Reinserción Social (Cereso) detention center number 3 in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez. The security forces of the Guardia Nacional entrenched themselves in front of the prison, while machine gun salvos could be heard from the burning prison. The attack on the prison began around 6:30 am when gunmen in armored SUVs pulled up in front of the prison and opened fire on the guards at the main entrance.
The attack was the signal for a rebellion to begin in the overcrowded complex with over 3,000 inmates. Armed inmates murdered guards trying to control the rebellion. The weapons had apparently been smuggled in by some of the wives during the New Year’s Eve visit the night before. Eyewitnesses said the attackers were better armed than the guards. Amidst the commotion, 30 prisoners managed to escape.
Thanks to the support of the military and local police units, the Guardia Nacional managed to take control of the complex after around five hours. In addition to around two dozen firearms, large quantities of drugs were also seized there. The attack, which resembled a perfectly timed action by a special forces unit, killed ten security officers, seven inmates and two attackers. At least 13 people were injured, according to authorities.
The security authorities began searching for the fugitives on Sunday. A force of 1,000 officers combed Ciudad Juarez and the surrounding area along the US border. Five people were arrested and several weapons were seized. Firefights on Monday killed seven people, including two officers.
Two drug lords managed to escape
The attack on the detention center was aimed at freeing Ernesto Alfredo Piñón de la Cruz, also known as El Neto, who had been arrested in 2009. He is the leader of the Fuerzas Especiales Mexicles gang, a subgroup of the Los Mexicles, long thought to be the armed wing of the Sinaloa cartel of the family of drug gangster El Chapo Guzmán in Ciudad Juarez.
A characteristic of the Los Mexicles is that they sometimes speak to each other in Náhualt, a proto-language from Aztec times to make the work of the Mexican and American authorities more difficult. Piñón de la Cruz has been sentenced to more than 224 years in prison for multiple kidnappings and murders. He’s said to have been in Cereso 3 since 2017. He is said to have ordered a series of bloody attacks in Ciudad Juarez in August in protest at plans to transfer him to another prison. Cesar Vega Muñoz (El Chilin), who also belongs to the Los Mexicles, was also able to flee.
In August, fighting at the same detention center between Los Mexicles and the Los Chapos gang had already claimed three lives. The fights came as a surprise, as both gangs actually worked as armed arms for the Sinaloa cartel. Experts therefore speculate that Los Mexicles is now working for the Juarez cartel and therefore sees Los Chapos as opponents.
A request for the transfer of 180 inmates, including El Neto, to maximum security prisons in other regions has been pending since the August violence, a Chihuahua official said. Mexico’s Defense Minister Luis Cresencio Sandoval disagreed. The state would not have requested the transfer of the gang members. The fact that the central government of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and local governments are blaming each other for the catastrophic security situation is nothing new.
On Tuesday, 191 prisoners from Cereso 3 were transferred to detention centers in other states. In addition, investigations are now underway against the prison administration. There is a suspicion that they were accomplices in the corruption rampant in the prison. So-called “VIP cells” were discovered in the detention center on Sunday, in which the leaders of the gangs lived in relative luxury. 84 cell phones, televisions and a safe containing tens of thousands of dollars in cash were seized.
Overcrowding and corruption is the order of the day
The situation in most Mexican prisons is considered explosive. More than 80 percent of prisons are dominated by gangs who threaten the security authorities and force them to cooperate. In addition, there are precarious hygienic conditions and the chronic overcrowding of the institutions, with up to 15 inmates often having to share a small cell. However, those who join the dominant gang can count on privileges.
President López Obrador has so far failed to stabilize the security situation for which he blames his predecessors. Although in 2019 he created the Guardia Nacional as a special force for maintaining public order. However, critics doubt that the President is serious about fighting the cartels. The attempt by the security forces to arrest “El Chapo’s” son Ovidio Guzmán failed miserably in October 2019. Fearing the cartel’s revenge, López Obrador ordered Ovidio’s release.
His predecessors had also failed in their attempts to combat drug violence. President Felipe Calderón declared the war on drugs in 2006 and sent the military into the fight against the cartels. The result was an increase in violence. Ciudad Juarez played a central role because of its location on the border with the USA. The region is used to transport drugs across the border. With 3111 murders, Ciudad Juarez was the most dangerous city in the world in 2010. She is currently in sixth place.