"Officials: 3 men kidnapped, murdered in Juárez were US citizens."

Here is an excerpt from Aileen Flores' article in the El Paso Times:

"Chihuahua state police confirmed Tuesday that three of the four bodies found in the back of a pickup in east Juárez on Monday were those of U.S. citizens abducted during a wedding last week... All are from La Mesa, [New Mexico], in Doña Ana County... The Moraleses were kidnapped by gunmen who burst into the wedding ceremony Friday evening at El Señor de la Misericordia Catholic church... On Monday, Mexican police found four bodies with signs of torture in the covered bed of a Toyota Tacoma with Texas license plates... Their father said the wedding took place in Juárez because that is where the bride was raised. He said she is also a U.S. citizen... During the ceremony, a group of armed men arrived, ordered everyone to get down to the ground and kidnapped the victims. Rafael Morales said Mexican and U.S. authorities are assisting the family in the investigation... Chihuahua state police officials said the family did not file a kidnap report with the state police. They said an investigation into the slayings continues. No arrests have been made." Link to Full Article

Analysis: The groom's father has told authorities and the media that he has no idea why his son and the others were kidnapped and killed, but the immediate answer is that they seriously ticked off someone in a major DTO - likely either the VCFO or the Federation, since that's who's fighting in Juárez these days. Initial information indicated there was never a ransom request or contact made by the kidnappers; now we know why. This was a targeted hit against those four people, and although we may never know the exact reason they were targeted, it's most likely there was some sort of DTO link there. 

I have no information at all that indicates DTO enforcers are just randomly kidnapping and killing people for no reason. As I've mentioned before, that type of action would represent a MAJOR shift in DTO tactics - especially if US citizens were being targeted just because they were citizens. Several dozen US citizens have either been killed in Mexico or become victims of cross-border kidnappings. But US citizenship doesn't mean you're clean and invulnerable, or that you didn't have DTO ties before you swore the oath. I hate to be so cynical, but unless I read something solid to the contrary, I'm going to assume that these US citizens in particular were either actively involved in the drug trade, were witnesses to something they shouldn't have seen, or were working as informants for a US agency. All three of these situations are likely to put someone - regardless of citizenship - six feet under in a Mexican dirt pile.

Comments

[P]

Or here are two other possibilities:

1) Since the bride was from Juarez, and since both she and her family went completely unscathed, is it possible that someone in a DTO resented the fact that she was getting married to an American? A personal thing?

OR

2) This hit by the DTO had nothing to do with the background of the victims at all - except that they were US citizens. Instead, it was meant as a message to US law enforcement - maybe a retaliation for something that US authorities have done recently. Wasn't there a Mexican drug lord who was extradited to the US? You should look into this connection.

[Gerardo Carrillo]

As to "P"'s comments- #1 could be a remote possibility but I would discard #2. Plenty of U.S. citizens cross into Juarez, Nvo Laredo, Tijuana, Nogales (Sonora) on a daily basis for business, family, or they may actually live on the Mexican side for various reasons. If U.S. citizens were targets we would have seen these people attacked way before the wedding incident. Yes the reasons stated in the analysis may be cynical but they are very true. The only other scenario possible, although unlikely, would be the "calentar la plaza", where rival cartels go into an area dominated by an enemy cartel and strike randomly at innocent civilians, police and the military in order to ramp up instability and provoke a clampdown to weaken the dominant cartel. As horrible as it sounds this tactic is used by the more ruthless cartels such as the Zetas and the warring BLO factions.

[freemexico]

I found a site that goes into great detail of what is going on in Mexico's Narco-Wars. Be warned because it is graphic in nature.
http://todosobrenarcotraficoenmexico.blogspot.com/

[D]

No update for a while. cat got your tongue?

[Sylvia Longmire]

Hi D, and thanks for missing me :). I'm working hard-core on revisions to a book proposal that my agent is shopping around to publishers right now, so that's taking up the bulk of my writing time. Rest assured, I'm still following the issues every day, and I'm only slacking off a little bit :).

[D]

Meant no disrespect. I enjoy your analysis, and was waiting to hear something about Diego or Nacho's possible arrest. Good luck on your book proposal and take care!

Best,

D