As many as 21 individuals have been killed in gunfights in a mountain municipality of Sinaloa state since April 8th, according to Mexican news reports.
Saturday a news account which appeared in the online edition of Milenio news daily said that four victims of a series of shootouts in Tamazula were found Saturday between the villages of Chacala and Las Coloradas. Those men were identified as Joel Barraza Chairez, 18, Aurelio Beltran Leon, 39, Nemias Fernandez Lopez, 24, and Jesus Alberto Guzman Garcia, 35.
Last Wednesday news reports indicated that a total of 18 individuals were killed in a series of gunfights between local drug gangs in the municipality. At the time confirmed reports were that four were found dead and three were wounded, even though other publications had said the bloodletting was much worse.
According to a separate news account in Milenio published last Wednesday, starting on April 8th, some of the gunfights in the area lasted about 15 hours and took place in the villages of Chacala, Las Coloradas and Las Trancas.
Those reports also said that three individuals were wounded in the gunfights. They were identified in an April 9th La Jornada report as JosĂŠValdez CastaĂąeda, Alejo Villanueva Zazueta and JosĂŠAngel Arredondo YäĂąez. The Milenio report which was filed Saturday also mentioned three wounded although none of the previous online reports have said if the reported wounded were the same.
Mexico, specifically in Sinaloa are no strangers to large scale armed encounters between drug gangs. Almost two years ago 57 individuals were killed on a month's time span beginning in May, 2012, after gangs aligned with the Sinaloa drug cartel fought against groups of fighters affiliated with the Juarez, Beltran Leyva and Los Zetas mostly in Choix municipality.
Given the nature of the fighting, usually gangs retrieve their dead to prevent rival gangs and Mexican security forces from gaining intelligence. Adding to that the government habit of failing to report everything about a confrontation, the death toll in Tamazula may be much worse than reported.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com and BorderlandBeat.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com