Fishermen in the municipality of La Paz were attacked by alleged members of organized crime when they were apparently stealing illegal fish in the area of Playa El Coyote in the northern part of the municipality.
Data provided by elements of the State Public Security Secretariat indicate that six fishermen were intercepted who were traveling along a path next to the beach, who were shot by an armed commando.
“They kidnapped six fishermen, they located three barefoot; they burned their car and threw it into the ravine. The report of gunshots was positive. It is also reported that they set fire to a vehicle and the victims managed to escape into the woods, those found were suffering from dehydration,” indicated the elements of the State Police.
The victims were traveling aboard a green 2003 Ford Excursion pickup truck, which was completely lost and on a ravine next to the dirt road; In addition, several bullet impacts were observed, which allegedly forced the occupants to abandon the vehicle and run away into the woods.
This would be the first officially recognized attack against poachers in the municipality of La Paz. In the first instance, an investigation file was opened for the disappearance and/or illegal deprivation of liberty of three of the six fishermen, who the latest report indicates were located alive.
The fishermen are:
*Pedro Antonio Hernández Rivas, 40 years old.
*Casimiro Chávez Gómez, 46 years old.
*Mauricio Cabrera Ricardez, 39 years old.
And those who were missing and located in the afternoon are:
*Miguel Ángel Iglesias Soberanis, approximately 35 years old.
*David Iglesias Soberanis, 30 years old.
*Ángel Soberanis, 22 years old.
By the way, Miguel Ángel Iglesias Soberanis already had a criminal record. The fisherman was sanctioned in 2012 for buying allegedly stolen items and also for crashing and trying to flee.
The “guateros” would be stealing totoaba in the area and were allegedly fishing in an area where a criminal group not identified by the authorities operates that carries out the same activity, according to a source from the National Fisheries Commission (Conapesca).
“Organized crime is behind illegal fishing of totoaba in La Paz, there is no more to say; what is not known is whether the species were captured in San Felipe, Baja California and brought here or right here in the breeding farms in the municipality of La Paz, in any case they were pursued, robbed, shot and their car burned. Until yesterday three of the six were missing, but that is all we know from the outside; “Because it is a criminal act, the corresponding authorities are in charge of determining,” revealed the source from Conapesca.
Despite the presence of an armed group in the area, the State Public Security Board is devoting efforts to investigate and punish mainly illegal fishermen.
The source reported that they are also investigating the warehouse that would be related to the purchase of these products, for which reason they requested the intervention of the Attorney General’s Office (FGR).
“The motive is the totoaba, they were stealing illegal product and they ran into those who were controlling that fishing; what they say is that they had already carried out their activities on some occasions, they say that they were regular, but this time it was incidental. The information we have is that there are those who carry out the shooting, that is, they capture species with a gun and they do it at night and early in the morning. Support has already been requested from the FGR to determine if the product is local or comes from San Felipe; what we do have is that the six were carrying diving equipment,” indicated the source from the Security Board.
In this regard, fishermen from the Bay of La Paz confirmed that there is a presence of criminal groups in the area.
“They arrive, quite simply, those from the gang, shooting at you and you cannot defend yourself. But it is the fault of the authorities; they do nothing to them and if we speak up they screw us. The truth is that we are better off with the gang and they even protect us from the authorities, they do what they want,” said Don Bernardo, a fisherman from the area of El Esterito.
Service providers confirmed that alleged criminals throw nets in core areas of the Espíritu Santo Archipelago National Park
WAR FOR THE TOTOABA
The totoaba is a species that is in critical danger of extinction. Its population distribution is mainly in the upper Gulf of California, however, recently breeding farms for the species have been installed in the seas of the municipality of La Paz.
One of the main companies that controls this activity is SANTOMAR, S. DE R.L. DE C.V., where the main investor is Christy Walton, the Walmart businesswoman, who for some time now has carried out multiple activities to “defend the Bay of La Paz”, and at the same time defending the breeding of totoaba, which has become a business in restaurants.
It is at this breeding point where it is already in the sights of poachers and now organized crime.
“The totoaba has been released in this area for repopulation. What happens is that totoaba are released periodically; There are releases of juvenile totoaba, they also intend to repopulate the south of the Gulf, and we have already found fishermen who are taking out the product illegally,” said one of the fishermen and service provider consulted by ZETA, who also confirmed that this group of fishermen attacked by organized criminals are engaged in illegal fishing in La Paz, and are part of the group of gunmen who extract products from the sea.
Some of them also operate in the area of the Espíritu Santo Archipelago National Park, without inspectors from Conapesca and the Navy itself stopping them.
“Yes, they were illegal fishermen, the famous gunmen; that is how we know them, the so-called guateros who take out products during closed season or prohibited, and these particularly shoot at the totoaba at night. They had already come from fishing, many times what they do is: they go out in a boat, they pick them up, they go to a place to fish for certain hours and they return them to land, where they are already waiting for them, and the boat goes to another point with the product, as in this case when they saw armed people who fought them for the area,” said the service provider.
Different civil associations, fishermen, security guards in Espíritu Santo and also in the area of El Tecolote had already reported the presence of ghost boats, without lights and leaving from points not registered for fishing activities, however, the authorities have limited the tours during the morning.
It was not until this meeting on the morning of December 2 that the criminals themselves resumed the tours to line up fishermen who are not “paying the price.”
“This clearly points to a shady business, because weeks ago guateros were seen intimidating fishermen in the corridor area on the side of San José Island, El Mechudo, San Evaristo, further north of Isla Espíritu Santo, and these fishermen say they belong to the gang,” said the service provider and fisherman.
According to some of the sources consulted in the sector, there are activities from Playa El Tecolote, but especially the group to which the shot fishermen belong, are those who have passed themselves off as members of “the gang” to intimidate other fishermen and force them out of the market.
That is why, they said, some now prefer the service provision sector. They added that until today they have encountered the real criminals who control illegal fishing.
“They intimidate fishermen so that they do not report them, so that they do not do anything to them, that is the flag they carried; So, if they brag and flirt with someone else, then surely that someone else is also involved in stirring up the heat,” the fisherman commented.
One of the service providers who sent information to ZETA said that during the pandemic period to the present, these operations have been more evident: before they were limited to extracting sea cucumber, snail, lobster and some species of fish, but now they have resumed trafficking totoaba due to the high cost of the fish in the market, which in China reaches a value of up to 20 thousand dollars per kilo.
“One of them coincides with a person that we had related to a warehouse that collects illegal fish, it is a warehouse that is on the street of Guadalupe Victoria and Rosaura Zapata. The warehouse seems to be linked to another person, a famous Capi known as such in illegal fishing, who buys products and promotes illegal fishing; he works at API (Integral Port Administration),” the complainant concluded.
FISHERMEN WORK WITH CRIMINALS
After several years of operating silently in the municipality of La Paz, the time came when fishermen got tired of the harassment that criminal groups that control fishing have generated, which have already spread throughout the municipality of La Paz and even affect the provision of tourist services.
Don Bernardo, a fisherman from the El Esterito area, stated that the complicity of the fishing, security and environmental protection authorities with criminal groups is very evident, since he said that in plain sight fishermen operate “rigged” and without any sanction.
“There are many gunmen and trappers there on the island (Espíritu Santo); there are many of those people (from the gang) who go around there at night and early in the morning throwing all that, but one cannot do it, because they have us well checked. Sometimes we return at dawn and there in the Bajito area, we see them lifting their nets; nobody says anything to them, one cannot say anything, that is the work of the surveillance,” said the fisherman.
On the contrary, he said that if they are caught with something irregular, some permit, flag or species caught incidentally, they are sanctioned and many times their boats are seized.
He acknowledged that they must pay “piso” in some way, and that is by delivering their product to some specific warehouses.
“Everywhere they are charging piso. I voted for Morena because they were going to get rid of the gang, and it is worse now; right now the seafood or the fish, everything is in their hands. They put their percentages; for me, I already earn little, I have not even renewed the permits for callo de acha and catarina. Those who are walking around have already been caught; the fishermen here are already taking out fish and they kil them better, and thus they sell a few kilos, some have already sold their motors,” lamented Don Bernardo.
He also reported that they were recently in a meeting with the new military and fishing commanders, and the speed with which the new ones adjusted with the groups that have repressed the fishermen was noticeable.
For this reason, he expressed his discontent, stating that the disappearance of fishing in La Paz is not due to the lack of species or product (because since the pandemic the fisheries had a recovery), but rather because they do not have security at sea to bring sustenance to their homes.
“We were recently in a meeting with the National Guard, the Navy, and all the Generals, and there were the police officers, asking for the names of all those who were there and who were going fishing and that we all had to report, and the authorities did nothing. I told the corrupt people from Sagarpa and Conapesca not to act stupid, that it is very easy to know who they are, just keep an eye on those who have a large warehouse,” Bernardo denounced.
Source: zetatijuana
