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 Editorials | Issues | February 2007 
Reports of Border Attacks Questioned
 Dennis Wagner & Sergio Solache - Arizona Republic
The story is as elusive as a drug runner on the border: Supposedly, Mexican gangs have begun ambushing vanloads of would-be immigrants on the Sonoran side of the international line, assaulting their guides, torching the vehicles and sending occupants into the desert barefoot.
It is a tale that has spread from the Mexican village of Altar, where so-called coyotes stage their human-smuggling operations, into several U.S. newspapers.
According to those accounts, the narcotics cartels have staked out a 15-mile stretch of border near Sasabe, banning illegal immigrants from the area to reduce Border Patrol enforcement so drug loads can get through more easily.
Kat Rodriguez, coordinator with Derechos Humanos, an immigrant rights group, said accounts started coming in 18 months ago.
"The narco groups are becoming more and more territorial. They don't want immigrants moving into those routes."
Participants in a recent information-gathering excursion to Altar were advised that up to two dozen vans have been attacked this year.
"We were told they're pulling (immigrants) out of vans, beating the drivers and guides, burning the vans and sending a message: 'Do not try to cross in this area,'" said Luis Cabrera, an assistant professor of political science at Arizona State University. "There was real fear among the migrants in Altar."
The problem: To date, no one has published a first-person account of the attacks. Authorities on both sides of the border say there is no intelligence, or evidence, to verify the scenario. And sources in Sonora who reportedly made those statements either declined to comment or failed to return phone calls.
Among them: Francisco Garcia Aten, former mayor of Altar and past director of an immigrant shelter in the community. Aten declined to comment, referring inquiries to Marcos Burruel, current shelter director. Contacted twice by phone, Burruel said he was too busy to talk about the matter.
Meanwhile, government representatives are virtually unanimous in casting doubt on the story:
Chuy Rodriguez, a Border Patrol spokesman, said, "We've been asking around, and nobody's heard that vehicles are getting torched on the south side. . . . Nothing has been related to us or through our Mexican counterparts in law enforcement down there."
Steve Comer, assistant special agent in charge for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, said southern Arizona investigators had not heard of the phenomenon.
Ruben Garcia, a Sasabe-area commander with Mexico's Grupo Beta police unit, said, "We have not seen anything, only rumors."
Omar Aros, a police commander in Altar, said he had no reports of vans being set ablaze.
Reality along the border is shrouded in fear and secrecy. Mexican cartels remain at war with one another and police. Bandits roam the no-man's land robbing immigrants and ripping off drug loads. And specialized criminals, known as bajadores, attack human smugglers to kidnap their cargo.
Robin Hoover, founder of the humanitarian group Humane Borders, said he's skeptical.
"I've heard it, and I'm suspicious of where that message is coming from. I see no evidence that there's truth to it."
Cesar Santacruz, director of public security in the Sasabe area, said about eight vans were set afire along the border route late last year, but investigators believe bandits were responsible.
"This isn't a war between narcos and coyotes, it's a war against all, all who pass through." |
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