In the internal criminal war within the Sinaloa Cartel, “Los Rusos,” authorities say, have relocated with all their resources to areas surrounding Culiacán, exposing a network of police officers in their service in Baja California and revealing the location of clandestine graves. They have even taken local leaders of the criminal group with them.
The evidence includes the discovery of more mass graves containing about thirty sets of human remains in and around the Miguel Alemán neighborhood, as well as police officers who allegedly actively participated in criminal acts.
This is according to Baja California authorities investigating the criminal group led by Jesús Alexander Sánchez Félix/Juan José Ponce Félix, alias “El Ruso,” whom they have identified for at least five years as the ringleader of criminal activities in the Baja California capital and its valley.
Following the arrest of Javier Gabriel Pino Mora, alias “La Piruja,” and Alejandro Avilés Carrillo, “El Grillo” (presumed innocent until proven guilty by a judge’s sentence, just a few weeks ago, the dominant criminal group in Mexicali felt the impact of these losses and contracted.
Investigators believe that much of the money from illicit activities is being spent on purchasing weapons to wage war in various parts of Sinaloa, Durango, Sonora, and Baja California Sur, where the two factions of the Sinaloa Cartel, the Mayiza and the Chapiza, are vying for absolute control after the betrayal and surrender of Ismael “Mayo” Zambada to U.S. authorities by one of the sons of his compadre, Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.
This situation, they say, has caused those in charge of the local operation to become “decapitalized,” a fact revealed by some detainees who collaborated criminally as drug dealers, hitmen, and mid- and low-level operators, who claim they are not being paid, and that the flow of criminal finances has stopped.
THE MASS GRAVES OF MIGUEL ALEMÁN
In early July 2023, the State Attorney General’s Office (FGE) conducted a field investigation in a desolate area of the Miguel Alemán neighborhood, on the south side of the Mexicali-San Luis Río Colorado highway. This area, a large expanse of land bordering the state of Sonora, became the focal point for searching families for several days, especially those connected to the “Shots” case, the name given to the disappearance cases recorded in Mexicali’s nightclub district during 2022 and 2023, where more than ten young people were last seen and remain missing.
In addition to the FGE’s work, collectives formed by families of missing persons began parallel searches in the area, where they recovered a total of 22 perfectly preserved skeletal remains. Some of these remains showed gunshot wounds to the skull, while others were found handcuffed. In total, nine people were identified, most of them from Sonora, one of whom was a woman. The last identity confirmation occurred just last November through genetic testing.
Despite the aforementioned findings, none of the recovered remains belonged to the young people missing from the Shots case.
Two and a half years after this episode, and in response to the persistence of collectives formed by families searching for their loved ones, the FGE reactivated search efforts in the Miguel Alemán neighborhood again, but this time on the north side of the highway, in what is considered the Miguel Alemán Restoration Site, a reserve located in the last section of the municipality.
The Mothers United and Strong collective detected the first findings of bodies buried at shallow depths, which prompted the FGE to cordon off the perimeter and begin excavations. In a staggered manner, authorities and community groups have been working in the rugged area, and as of press time, they had already discovered 11 sets of remains, of which only four have been processed by the State Attorney General’s Office (FGE) and the Forensic Medical Service (Semefo), because several of the bodies were burned and others had been buried for more than two years.
According to official information, the first four sets of remains, found on January 9 in two graves in the Miguel Alemán neighborhood, have already been processed. The first is a male individual between 20 and 40 years old, who sustained a gunshot wound to the head; the other three were classified as having an undetermined cause of death, but were identified as male, without a specific age.
On Saturday, January 10, five more sets of remains were located, four male and one female; and in only one case was the cause of death determined as a gunshot wound to the head, the rest are considered undetermined.
On Monday, January 12, and Wednesday, January 14, the searches and discoveries continued, and these remains haven’t yet been processed. However, in the second discovery, a large, gold necklace with a star was found, which may serve as an identification clue.
Nine .223 caliber shell casings were also found at the scene, which are presumed to be directly related to the bodies.
Prosecutor Ma. Elena Andrade Ramírez commented at the morning press conference on January 14 that the work in the area is arduous and confirmed that there are practically a thousand hectares of land where bodies could be hidden. Therefore, they will have to undertake a lengthy investigation and will also coordinate with authorities in San Luis Río Colorado, given the possibility that some of the missing persons—due to the proximity—may be individuals who disappeared in that state.
The preliminary investigation clearly indicates that the perpetrators of these crimes are hitmen from the Los Rusos criminal group, but due to the timeframe involved (which could be more than two years), they could belong to the cell of Christian Jael Barajas Lozano, alias “El Taquiza,” who inherited the criminal structure from his brother, Felipe Eduardo Barajas Lozano, known as “El Omega,” a former associate of “El Ruso” and currently imprisoned for femicide committed in Culiacán, Sinaloa.
This entire criminal cell was allegedly annihilated on orders from “El Ruso’s” head hitman, Alfonso Cipriano Peralta Cázares, alias “El P1,” because they had allegedly carried out actions that brought law enforcement attention to the territory, in addition to causing conflicts with other allies of the criminal structure.
However, authorities don’t rule out the possibility that this large area of land, known as the “Los Rusos Extermination Camp,” could involve other actors, such as “El P1” himself, Diego Rentería Caro, known as “La Wina”; Heriberto Sosa Leal, alias “El Picudo”—currently imprisoned; and even José Alonso Rocha Lazcano, alias “El Caimán,” since it used to be their area of illicit operations.
CRIMINAL POLICE OFFICERS
On Tuesday, January 13, amidst field investigations related to the Miguel Alemán neighborhood, the FGE (State Attorney General’s Office) carried out the almost simultaneous arrest of three municipal police officers, one of whom was still active, while the other two were suspended—allegedly—for being part of the escort of the convoy led by Josué Godínez Fernández, alias “El Pitufo,” in June 2024. This convoy consisted of 10 high-end vehicles, among which it is presumed that a narco corrido singer and “P1” himself were traveling, in addition to José Godinez, El Pitufo’s son; and Job Fuentes, a young man who also—allegedly—participates in the activities of “Los Rusos.”
In the video initially released by ZETA, the convoy can be seen entering a private residential area, escorted by municipal police patrol cars. At that time, three police officers participating in the operation were identified: Juan Antonio Virgen Cantero, Carlos Alberto Contreras Esparza, and the shift supervisor Hiram Sinhue Figueroa Ochoa. The investigation continued, and another officer, Manuel Alberto Castro Molina, was linked to the convoy.
Figueroa Ochoa and Castro Molina were arrested, along with Isaac Sergio Ortiz Sanchez, for the crime of forced disappearance against four individuals from Tijuana, identified as Juan Gabino Canela Martínez, 37 years old; Isaac Ramiro Canela Martínez, 27 years old; José Alberto Godina Machuca, 21 years old; and Óscar Alberto Perea González, 37 years old. This incident occurred in 2022, when they were traveling in a vehicle on the road to the Mexicali Airport.
The area is quite dark and has little traffic, but according to the FGE investigation, two municipal officers stopped the occupants because they had committed a traffic violation.
The officers spoke with the individuals and were in the process of determining their situation when they were instructed to hand the case over to another officer. It was then that, according to the investigation, the man named Hiram Sinhué Figueroa confirmed via radio that he would handle the case. This was despite the fact that the chief wasn’t located in his operational area.
That was the last time the four individuals were seen who, according to their statements, were going to Mexicali to sell a vehicle, although there were some inconsistencies in the investigation regarding their claims.
According to sources from the Security Tables for Peacebuilding, the preventive police officers allegedly handed the victims over to hitmen working for Jesús Gilberto Peralta Cázares, alias “El 02,” brother of “El P1” due to the suspicion that they might be a cell of a rival group, which hasn’t been confirmed.
Weeks ago, two municipal police officers were arrested because they are also involved in cases of forced disappearance, one of whom, Víctor Alfonso Guevara López, 39 years old, was involved in the disappearance of Édgar Pérez Chairez, a U.S. citizen who was driving through the streets of the Esperanza neighborhood around 2024.
According to the State Attorney General’s Office’s hypothesis, Guevara stopped him, but before that, the victim took a picture of the police car and sent it to his family so they would be aware of the incident. Édgar lost contact with his family and hasn’t been located to date.
This modus operandi wasn’t exceptional; based on these cases and the fact that prosecutor Ma. Elena Andrade Ramírez assures that at least 20 open cases involve police officers in serious criminal cases, it could be inferred that there are other incidents where uniformed officers are responsible for the kidnapping and disappearance of several people.
One of them is the case of young Pedro Cebreros Villanueva, 25 years old, who worked at a gas station located in Ejido Hermosillo.
According to his family, he left work one night in September 2023, heading home, which was very close by, but he never arrived. One of the victim’s friends claimed to have seen a patrol car pull over Pedro’s car as he was driving home. No one knows what happened, but he hasn’t been heard from since.
Sources: Zeta Tijuana, Cartel Insider Archives
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