“Morogris” for Borderland Beat
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| Jorge Humberto Guzmán Enríquez |
The former candidate for mayor of Madera, Chihuahua, Jorge Humberto Guzman Enriquez, was murdered on Saturday morning in Vista Hermosa neighborhood in Madera.
According to information from the local Prosecutor’s Office, investigators are considering two theories for his murder: one is for his political activism and the other for personal vengeance.
Eyewitnesses said that several armed men traveling in a red Tahoe vehicle cut off Guzman Enriquez’s car and shot him multiple times. The former mayoral candidate was killed on the scene. His body was found inside his vehicle and taken to the local morgue for an autopsy.
It is worth mentioning that Guzman Enriquez’s was thinking of running again for mayor of Madera for the 2024 local elections as the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) candidate.
He ran for the same party in 2021 but lost the elections to Marcelino Prieto Carreón of the National Action Party (PAN). Prieto Carreon’s predecessor, Jaime Torres Amaya, was criticized by local media outlets for purchasing a MXN$9 million home (approximately US$534,000) in Chihuahua city a year after his mayoral service ended.
Alejandro Domínguez, state leader of the PRI, after expressing his condolences and solidarity to the family and friends, denied that there had been any previous threats against Guzman Enriquez. Dominguez said that Guzmán Enriquez never told the party or authorities that his life was in danger or that he had received any death threats.
In addition, he explained that he was not aware of Guzman Enriquez’s intent to run again for mayor of Madera because the incumbent party is part of a coalition and the local government had not yet determined how the candidacies would be arranged.
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| Municipality of Madera within Chihuahua state. This area is a vital corridor for drug trafficking and potentially lucrative area for illegal logging (image credit: HEARST) |
Background: Cartel war in Madera
Madera has been a heavily contested area between the Sinaloa Cartel and La Línea for many years.
The municipalities of Madera, Ignacio Zaragoza, and Buenaventura was once controlled by Sinaloa Cartel leader Francisco Arvizu Marquez (alias El Jaguar), but La Linea boss Carlos Arturo Quintana Quintana (alias El Ochenta) took control of the area sometime prior to 2017.
El Jaguar sought out the support of major Sinaloa Cartel figures such Jose Crispin Salazar Zamorano (alias El Tío or Tio Pin), the leader of Los Salazar, and others from the group Los Paredes. They agreed to support El Jaguar’s efforts to retake Madera from La Linea.
By 2018, El Ochenta’s network of protection had been diminished enough that he was arrested. El Jaguar reportedly retook Madera in 2020, but he was arrested the following year.