42 ranches and 2 mines recovered from crime; hitmen displaced owners in Sonora

State and federal authorities recaptured an area of ​​Sonora, bordering Arizona, by retaking 42 ranches and two mines from Los Pelones, an arm of Los Chapitos.

Since 2019, this armed group has brutally seized an area of ​​90,000 hectares where residents engaged in mining, hunting, agriculture, and livestock farming.

The gold extracted from the La Ciénega and Cerro Colorado mines was a major source of funding. There were five locations where they had between 80 and 100 people working 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to extract the gold they sold in Caborca, Sinaloa, and Jalisco,” an advisor who participated in the design of the operation explained to Excélsior.

The cattle and hunting ranches were looted and destroyed. Some owners, like Rogelio Lizárraga and his family, have now been able to return to their property, where they serve tourists who come to hunt deer.

To finance La Chapiza with $1.6 million a month from the illegal exploitation of a gold mine in the Sonoran Desert, the armed wing of Los Pelones operated in the border region with Arizona, violently displacing residents, ranch owners, workers, and farmers from the town of La Ciénega and its surrounding areas.

Since 2019, they have been fighting other criminal groups such as the Cartel of Caborca ​​and Los Salazar, but also by threatening civilians, gunmen managed to seize control and profit from more than 42 ranches and two mines, located in a 90,000-hectare area, an area equivalent to the states of Morelos and Tlaxcala, where residents engaged in mining, hunting, agriculture, and livestock farming; but they destroyed everything.

Until September 2024, when an operation by the State Public Security Secretariat, with the support of the Mexican Navy, regained control of the region in an operation designed in conjunction with a group of advisors specializing in mining security, managing to recover 42 ranches and two mines.

An intelligence advisor who participated in the design of the operation explained to Excélsior that for months the Public Security Secretariat had conducted tactical and intelligence monitoring in the region. He established that Omar Félix “N,” known as El Pelón de Sonoyta, the boss of the La Chapiza cartel, sent Iván Archivaldo Guzmán, via small plane, the equivalent of $1.6 million in gold.

The gold extracted from the Ciénega Mine and Cerro Colorado was a major source of funding for the Los Chapitos faction. There were five locations where they had between 80 and 100 people working 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to extract the gold they sold in Caborca, Sinaloa, and Jalisco,” explained the mining security advisor, who asked to remain anonymous.

So-called placer gold is found in deposits of sand, gravel, or other sediments that contain valuable minerals. It is formed when gold is released from deposits in veins, transported, and concentrated to be cleaned and separated from other materials.

Considering that the La Ciénega and Cerro Colorado mines were exploited for five years with an average monthly yield of $1.6 million, it is estimated that the cartel earned more than $96 million, about two billion pesos.

In addition to the mines, the hitmen seized ranches by threatening the owners to demand they leave the area. National and foreign hunters arrived at these properties each year to hunt the mule deer and bighorn sheep.

There were also cattle corrals and plots of land planted with crops, but everything was looted and abandoned by the hitmen. The cattle were slaughtered for food or left to starve; the plots dried up, and the crops were lost because the farmers and day laborers were displaced by the violence.

As evidence of the violence experienced in the region, the Paraíso de Los Cachanillas ranch remained, where the hitmen shot at every building, burned dormitories, set fire to vehicles, and left them in ruins.

Following the operation that began in September 2024, 42 ranches and two mines have been recovered to date. Residents have returned to their jobs because an Operational Base of the State Public Security Secretariat was established to ensure peace and tranquility in the region. Roads and properties are monitored in real time from the C5i (Center for the Defense of the Nation) using video surveillance cameras, aerial surveys with drones, helicopters, and aircraft, as well as constant patrols.

On March 26, a group of gunmen attempted to retake the area but were neutralized by the State Police.

Currently, operations continue in the border area because a dozen ranches still need to be recovered.

After three years of violent displacement, unable to return to his Bamuri ranch in Pitiquito, last season Rogelio Lizárraga and his family were finally able to return to their property to assist more than 25 Americans who come each year to hunt bighorn and mule deer.

Bamuri is one of the 42 rescued ranches currently under real-time monitoring and patrols by the State Police.

We couldn’t assist foreign hunters for fear of something happening. They told me to abandon everything, to forget about it, and to pursue something else. But this is the only way of life I know, and I’m passionate about it. “I was born here, I’m 55 years old, and I’m the fourth generation of my family dedicated to farming,” Lizárraga said.

The owner of El Bamuri, which in the Pima language means “where the water runs,” returned with his wife and daughter. However, he sadly recounted that another son was directly intimidated by criminals and still doesn’t want to return.

When the Lizárraga family was evicted, the ranch had more than 100 head of cattle, crops, large wooded areas, and thousands of acres for hunting. However, the cattle were slaughtered, the trees and crops were left to dry up, and hunting was impossible due to the constant armed clashes and convoys of hitmen passing through the area.

Now peace and tranquility have returned, the American hunters have returned, and the El Bamuri ranch has once again become a source of employment for more than 25 families.

Source: excelsior