HERMOSILLO - ARMED ATTACK AT COUNTRY CLUB LINKED TO HOSPITAL

UNCLAS HERMOSILLO 000440 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV ASEC ALOW PREL SNAR MX CASC SUBJECT: HERMOSILLO - ARMED ATTACK AT COUNTRY CLUB LINKED TO HOSPITAL NARCO-RAID REF: A) HERMOSILLO 279; B) HERMOSILLO 350 ¶1. (U) SUMMARY: In an early morning raid on November 10th, approximately eighteen men shot their way into the exclusive Los Lagos neighborhood in Hermosillo, firing about 400 high-caliber bullets into the house of a local resident. Although they did not shatter the bulletproof windows of the house, they did shatter the sleep of consulate personnel, many of whom live adjacent to the neighborhood. No consulate personnel reside in Los Lagos. This incident appears linked to a raid in July in which narco-commandos stormed the state hospital to free a prisoner under treatment there. While "Hermosillo" means "pretty little place," it isn't so pretty anymore. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (U) At approximately 5:15 am on Thursday, November 10th, post personnel awoke to the sound of automatic gunfire that lasted about five minutes. Approximately eighteen armed men, dressed in black, shot the gate guard at the exclusive Los Lagos Country Club and Residences before proceeding to the house of Carlos Gallegos Garcia, reportedly the owner of a shrimp farm. There they fired about 400 rounds of high caliber ammunition, mostly at the second floor. The windows in the second floor appear to have made of bulletproof glass, and nobody in the family was hurt. The guard, however, has since died of his wounds. Police took more than twenty minutes to respond. ¶3. (U) The majority of consulate personnel live adjacent to Los Lagos, and many belong to the country club. Eight consulate families live within 500 yards of the Los Lagos house and thus within range of the shooters' trajectory. Also, after the incident, the Gallegos family was moved by the police to a nearby gated community that also houses many people from the consulate. ¶4. (U) The state attorney general, Abel Murrieta Gutierrez, says that his office is investigating claims that Gallegos Garcia owes USD 3,200,000 to a shrimp business in Sinaloa. While Gallegos Garcia apparently denies the connection, Murrieta Gutierrez says that public records may document the dispute. ¶5. (U) On Friday evening, police arrested three men who had a cache of weapons. One was Humberto "The Professor" Perez Lascano, alleged to be the ringleader of the operation, and who is wanted in the US for possession of drugs with intent to distribute. On Saturday afternoon, police raided a house in Hermosillo, arresting three more men and confiscating magazines for automatic weapons, hundreds of bullets, eighteen dark uniforms, three smoke bombs, six handcuffs, and two pickup trucks. Through ballistics, they matched one rifle to the attack on the Hospital General del Estado (State General Hospital) last July, in which a gang of armed commandos broke out federal prisoner and convicted narco-trafficker Efrain Beltran Felix, who had been transferred there for treatment of a stab wound (Ref A). ¶6. (U) The second group of men confessed that "The Professor" had hired them. Two of these suspects are from Badiriguato, Sinaloa, perhaps the single most lawless, narco-infested town in the narco-infested state of Sinaloa and hometown of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman Loera, whose far-flung drug empire includes seven Mexican states and much of the American west. ¶7. (U) Also on Saturday evening, the head coroner for the State, Jesus Manuel Meraz Caballero, was assassinated in his car outside his house in Hermosillo. While there is some speculation that the killing may be linked to the Los Lagos shooting, police do not yet have any leads on the case. ¶8. (SBU) COMMENT: While Gallegos Garcia may be an upstanding shrimp farmer, shrimp farms are often covers for money laundering organizations. Post believes that if the team had intended to kill Gallegos Garcia and his family, they could easily have succeeded. Perhaps, then, the assault was a very loud warning. Also, DEA reports that there are clear links between "The Professor" and Arturo Beltran Leyva, the Sinaloan narco-kingpin, and through him to Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman Loera. On November 10, a senior Sonora state official told us that he was "certain" that the shooting in Los Lagos was drug related. Local media are highlighting what they characterize as a dramatic deterioration of public security in Hermosillo. END COMMENT. CLARKE