Las Poquianchis: The Macabre Case That Shocked Mexico

A mob awaits eagerly to lynch Las Poquianchis (foreground, in black) as theyre escorted by police.

Chain smoking Maria de Jesus and Delfina Gonzalez Valenzuela shortly after being jailed in 1964


- In the first weeks of January 1964, Catalina Ortega went to the Judicial Police office in Leon, Guanajuato and told a macabre tale. Visibly shaken, scared and showing signs of abuse and malnourishment, Ortega told the police officers that in nearby San Pancho, the Gonzalez sisters held a sort of concentration camp/ brothel. Thus began the most scandalous and sordid tale of prostitution and murder, the most shocking in annals of Mexican crime history.


Delfina, Maria de Jesus, Carmen and Maria Luisa Gonzalez Valenzuela were born in El Salto de Juanacatlan, Jalisco in poverty. Their father, Isidro Torres was an abusive and authoritarian man. He formed a part of the Rural police, during the Porfirio Diaz days, in charge of riding thru town and making sure everything was ok. A violent man, who often abused his power, he shot and killed a man during an argument. When his young daughters wore makeup or "risque" clothing not to his liking, he would lock them up in the town jail to teach them a lesson.

After shooting the man and gaining many enemies, Isidro Torres, his wife Bernardina Valenzuela and their daughters relocated to the small village of San Francisco del Rincon, Guanajuato, called San Pancho by the locals. As the Gonzalez Valenzuela sisters grew older, their constant fear of poverty made them open up some businesses in town. Together with some money they had they opened a saloon in San Pancho, and this bar, although it didnt bring in loads of money, it gave them enough to eat.

Later on they would venture into prostitution. The sisters would bribe local officials with money or the sisters would "bribe" them using their sexual skills. Nevertheless they opened up clandestine brothels in San Francisco del Rincon, Purisima del Rincon, and Leon in Guanajuato state other bordellos in El Salto and San Juan de los Lagos, Jalisco and another one in San Juan del Rio, Queretaro state, near Mexico City.

Carmen, Delfina and Maria de Jesus "Chuy", operated the whorehouses in Guanajuato and Jalisco while Maria Luisa "Eva the Leggy One" ran her bar/brothel near the Mexican border. The sisters bought a bar in Lagos, Jalisco from a gay man nicknamed "El Poquianchi" . The nickname was passed on to the sisters, who were now called Las Poquianchis, a nickname they hated.

They would prowl the countryside, hitting the nearby ranches in Guanajuato or venture into rural Jalisco and Michoacan states and look for the prettiest young girls. They would offer them jobs in Guadalajara or Leon, as maids or waitresses. The poor young peasant girls, with dreams of life in the big city and money, would be happy to oblige. Other times the Gonzalez sisters, with the help of an Army Captain/Henchman and Delfina's lover, Hermengildo Zuniga, would simply snatch the young girls, never to be seen again. In the late 1950's Carmen died due to cancer.

At their "Guadalajara de Noche" and "Barca de Oro" Bars, the young girls would be put to work. The prettiest virgins were saved for later, awaiting patrons with fat wallets, who would pay top peso for an untouched girls. The others would be raped, intimidated and showered with ice water as initiation. The girls would have to buy their clothes and makeup strictly from the Gonzalez sisters.

The girls, held against their will, never being allowed to go outside were controlled by the sisters and Zuniga "The Black Eagle". Delfina's son Ramon Torres "El Tepo" also served as muscle, keeping the girls in line. For years the sisters made tons of money selling booze and whores to soldiers, councilmen, cops and horny villagers.

When one of the girls got pregnant, she would be beaten and forced to abort, the fetuses dumped in the back yards of the brothels or buried at the sisters main ranch that resembled a concentration camp, Loma del Angel. If a girl got too sick, due to malnourishment or an STD or due to an impromptu abortion, she would be locked in a room, starved to death or the other girls would be forced to beat her to death with sticks and heavy logs. "The Black Eagle" and the sister's chauffeur handled the bodies, burning them to ashes or burying them in mass graves. Johns with a lot of cash would also be murdered and their bodies buried, and their cash stolen.

in 1963, Ramon Torres "El Tepo" got into an argument with Lagos de Moreno, Jalisco cops and was shot to death inside one of the Gonzalez' sisters brothel. The police closed down the place and its said that Delfina, Tepo's mother, in a fit of rage ordered Hermenegildo Zuniga to track down the cops who killed her son and kill them on the spot. And kill them he did.

In January 1964, one of the Gonzalez sisters "whores" managed to escape Loma del Angel through a small opening in the wall and fled. Zuniga and his cronies searched for Ortega to kill her but they could not find her throughout the countryside. Ortega managed to get ahold of her mother and together they went to the Leon, Guanajuato police to file a complaint. She was in luck, the cops she talked to were not on the sinister sister's payroll. They soon got a search and arrest warrant against Chuy and Delfina Gonzalez and on January 14th, 1964 they raided Loma del Angel ranch.

Las Poquianchis being taken to their sinister ranch, Loma del Angel, on January 14, 1964


There the sisters, still dressed in black, mourning El Tepos death and wearing shawls were herded throughtout the ranch, while angry villagers gathered outside demanding to lynch the sisters. Police and reporters found a dozen emaciated and dirty women at the ranch, locked in a room. As police and reporters explored the ranch, some of the girls pointed to spots in the ground and told them thats where they would find "the bodies".



2 girls stand near a mass grave as curious villagers look on at Rancho Loma del Angel


Angry and shouting obcenities at their new accusers, the Gonzalez Valenzuela sisters could do nothing but watch as their chauffeur, also arrested, was forced to dig. There authorities found decomposed bodies and the bones of at least 91 women, men and fetuses.

Under heavy military guard, the sisters were taken to a jail San Francisco del Rincon, but seeing as how the whole town wanted to lynch the women, a judge sent them to squalid Irapuato City Jail. A week later, Maria Luisa Gonzalez Valenzuela went to a Mexico City police station and turned herself in, fearing being lynched. She thought she was immune, a judge had granted her immunity from the charges her sisters faced but upon arriving in Irapuato she too was arrested. There began the hectic interrogation and sensational trial of the century.

A girl points an accusatory finger at Delfina Gonzalez Valenzuela as Chuy looks on.


Dozens of ex prostitutes accused the sisters of rape, murder and extortion. The women accused "The Poquianchis" as the women were dubbed by the media, of dabbling in Satanism, forcing the women to practice sexual acts on animals, and killing and torturing dozens of young girls and johns. They accused Delfina, Maria Luisa and Maria de Jesus of corrupting and bribing local and state authorities, who were also regulars to the sisters bars and brothels. The chaotic trial, peppered with insults and yelling back and forth from the Gonzalez sisters and their accusers was short and a judge sentenced the 3 sisters to 40 years in prison.



A Police Officer readies an unhappy Maria de Jesus Gonzalez for her mugshot in San Francisco del Rincon, Guanajuato.

Delfina Gonzalez Valenzuela, the oldest "Poquianchi" went mad, fearing she would be murdered in jail. On October 17, 1968, while she screamed and ranted, workers doing reparations above her cell in Irapuato jail, looked down to catch a glimpse of the notorious woman and accidentaly dropped a bucket of cement on her head, killing her.

Maria Luisa Gonzalez Valenzuela "Eva the Leggy One" died alone in her cell at Irapuato jail on November 19, 1984. Her body, already being eaten by rats, was discovered a day later.

Maria de Jesus Gonzalez Valenzuela, the youngest of the "Poquianchis" was the only one to be freed. It is unknown why or when she was freed, but legend has it she met a 64 year old man in prison, and once both were outside, they married and lived their life in obscurity, finally dying of old age in the mid 1990's

In 2002, workers clearing land for a new housing development in Purisima del Rincon, Guanajuato, down the road from the notorious Loma del Angel ranch, found the remains of about 20 skeletons in a pit. Authorities said the victims were probably buried there in the 1950's or 1960's, victims of Las Poquanchis.

If this is true, it raises the number of murders past 110 people.

(Authors Note: An aunt of my mothers was one of the girls duped into working for the infamous Poquianchis. Out of Guadalajara she was recruited by one of the sisters, either Delfina or Chuy, I forget, but my mother's aunt had luck. She was never forced to prostitute herself but she did help around in one of their seedy bars in Guadalajara. She said the women never really mistreated her other than not paying her enough for her work. Its a subject she doesnt really discuss for obvious reasons)

Carnage on the Highway: The Belize Air Crash of 1987

Charred debris litters the Toluca-Mexico City Highway after the crash of a Boeing 377 cargo jet.


July 30,1987
4:55 pm
east of Mexico City.

The Toluca-Mexico City highway, east of the sprawling Mexican capital was full of commuters at this time of day. Weekend was approaching and many people and families took advantage to leave the capital for outings in the surrounding countryside. A light drizzle fell in a cloudy sky.

None of the people traveling on that particular road at that particular time thought about the infernal horror about to fall on top of them from above.

Near Kilometer 16 of the six lane highway, a small diner/gas station called El Tras Lomita was full of regulars, eating a meal or having a drink at the bar. People outside filled their tanks and headed off.

Mexico City International Airport
5:00 pm

An old World War II era Boeing 377, Belize Air International four engined jet bound for Miami, Florida took off from Benito Juarez airport. Inside were 8 people, 2 American pilots and the rest riders and owners of prize racing ponies. The ponies were unusually agitated that afternoon, moving about the jet, as the trainers tried to calm them. The jet slowly climbed up into the cloudy skies.

Five minutes after takeoff, trouble started on Belize Air International. The jet wasnt gaining altitude as it now flew over downtown Mexico City. The altimeter was failing, the horses moving was rocking the huge cargo plane back and forth. The pilots struggled to pull up the jet as it flew directly towards one of Mexico City's tallest skyscrapers: The Mexicana Airlines Headquarters tower.

The people inside the skyscraper gasped in horror as they saw the antiquated jet fly straight for them and them last minute dodge the building. Disaster had been averted.

Another tall building loomed ahead. The Hotel de Mexico. The jet once again dodged the building, averting huge disaster but it was now certain something was terribly wrong with the flight. The could not risk turning back to the airport and risk losing control of the jet and smashing into the downtown area's heavily populated neighborhoods. 7 minutes after take off, they saw a possible landing area up ahead.

The Mexico City-Toluca Highway.

By this time, a problem with the plane's landing gear caused a short circuit and small fire. All was panic aboard the jet, as the horses lost their cool and caused the jet to rock even more. The pilots decided with a heavy heart to bring down the jet on the congested freeway.

Witnesses on land saw the huge silver bird lose altitude, trailing smoke, going down rapidly. The plane's engines roar was deafening. People ran outside to see what was happening and watching in horror as the jet came down.

One of the jets wings struck a high tension tower showering sparks. Amazingly it flew under a pedestrian bridge spanning the highway and hit some chainlink fences. By now the plane slammed belly first on the highway, raining fire and sparks and smashing into vehicles, killing some motorists instantly and horribly injuring others.

The jet skidded down the highway smashing into cars, trucks and vans, squashing them like mere metallic insects, bursting into flame and smoke. Up ahead, in the path of the out of control jet: The crowded Tras Lomita restaurant.

The jet broke in two. The tail section slammed into a three story home on the side of the highway. The rest of the plane headed straight for the Tras Lomita, slamming into it and exploding. The huge fireball enveloped the already stricken area, killing those who had been injured by the jet's crash-landing.

The scene was something out of Dante's Inferno. Burning smashed up cars, charred bodies and plane wreckage littered the highway. Others ran to help those injured.

Minutes later, firefighters and Red Cross paramedics aided the injured and picked out the bodies from the rubble. Almost all of those aboard the jet had miraculously survived the infernal crash. Out of 18 horses on the cargo jet, 16 were decimated, dead horses littering the road. 2 horses barely alive, limped about, and had to be put down due to their injuries.

Almost 50 people had died in the disaster. Dozens more injured and hospitalized. The American pilots were detained by Mexican authorities and questioned about the crash and the cause but later set free. The cause was determined to be overloading and a problem with the old jet's landing gear. A short circuit had affected the landing gear and prevented the jet from gaining altitude and almost smashing into buildings downtown.

Tarugadas Modernas En Mexico

Que vil pendejada. Ver la juventud de Mexico desprestigiar la nacion. Bola de revoltosos. Aplaudo su deseo de protestar las injusticias que se viven en su jodido y bello Mexico. Digo "Su" porque soy Americano de nacimiento pero Mexicano de corazon, de papas nacidos en esa torturada patria. Pero lo que mas me choca son las abismales babosadas que hacen los mocosos cuando protestan.

Primeramente, cada 2 de Octubre, haciendo desmadres en el DF, segun recordando los muertos de la matanza de Tlatelolco. Quebrando ventanas, grafiteando Mc Donalds, gritando babosadas. Vaya merecido homenaje a los cientos que cayeron muertos bajo la lluvia de balas y bayonetazos en la Plaza de Las Tres Culturas. Andando de cholo vago haciendo desmadre. Se nota que esta bola de holgazanes desorganizados no conocen lo que fue vivir en el 68. Cuando ser un "revoltoso" te ganaba un putazo de los granaderos, una santa madriza de los Halcones, o peor, un balazo del ejercito, o aun peor, te hacian desaparecido la DFS o la Brigada Blanca.

Ahorita ya no existe todo eso. O si existe? Quien Sabe. Tengra grupos de choque Calderon? Hablando de Calderon, o FeCal como lo llaman... se nota que la juventud que lo cataloga a el de "peor presidente", se nota a leguas que son mocosos chillones nacidos despues de 1989 o 1990.

Ignorantes al no conocer las atrocidades de Diaz Ordaz. Mejor dicho atrocidad, la de Tlatelolco. El que se deshizo haciendo cabronada tras cabronada fue su ilustrisimo sucesor, Luis Echeverria Alvarez, autor d Tlatelolco...y no conforme con eso, autor del Halconazo...la matanza de Jueves de Corpus de 1971.

Cuando el ser un estudiante con ideas, era la peor cosa en Mexico. La peor amenaza. Las torturas en los campos militares. Los viajes sin retorno de muchos por helicopteros del ejercito. El boleto sin regreso hacia el fondo del Golfo d Mexico o del Istmo de Tehuantepec. Cuando te volvian "minero" o "submarino" enterrandote en la arena hasta el cuello en las Islas Marias, dejando que la marea se encargara de ti. Los tehuacanazos y toques electricos de los Judiciales, todo en el sexenio de Echeverria y de los que lo siguieron.

Siguio el Licenciado Jose Lopez Portillo(1976 - 1982). Ahora si pensaron Echeverria fue corrupto, vaya este Perro. Poniendo a su cuate el Negro Durazo de Jefe de Policia en el DF. La corrupcion impero. Poniendo gente pendeja y sus conocidos en puestos publicos. Saqueando al pais. Matando, Robando, Asaltando, mientas Lopez Portillo se hacia pendejo segun "defendiendo el peso como un PERRO!" GUAU GUAU! La Matanza del Rio Tula en 1982. Las matanzas de campesinos en Puebla, Veracruz y Guerrero. En fin, pura muerte y tortura.

Ahora nos trasladamos a Los Pinos en tiempo de Don Miguel de La Madrid Hurtado (1982 - 1988). Cuando no solo uno, si no DOS devastadores terremotos sacudieron al territorio nacional y desmadraron la Ciudad de Mexico el 19 y 20 de Septiembre de 1985, al Presidente le valio madre. Fueron 10,000 muertos y miles que quedaron sin hogar. O fueron 6 mil los muertos? o 4? mil? o 20 mil? Quien sabe. "Mexico sigue de Pie" dijo De La Madrid la noche del 19. "No queremos ayuda extranjera, Mexico sabe sobrevivir solo". Si como no. Cuando el Regis se quemaba. Cuando los bebes lloraban en las ruinas del Juarez, del hospital General, del Centro Medico Nacional, cuando los estudiantes gritaban bajo las lozas del Conalep, mientras la gente rezaba esperando una muerte rapida bajo el derrumbado Edificio Nuevo Leon, tuvo el cinismo de decir Mexico Esta de Pie. Le valio madre un sismo de 8.1 grados en la escala de Richter.

Despues dejo la ayuda extranjera entrar al pais. No sin antes detener los equipos de rescate, con todo y pico y pala en las aduanas del AICM. Hasta que pasaran inspecciones. Que poca.

Nos remontamos al ano de 1988. 6 de Julio de 1988 cuando el presidente Cuauhtemoc Cardenas Solorzano...*ahem* digo...el Presidente Carlos Salinas de Gortari "gano" la eleccion. Se cayo el sistema por un buen rato pero ni hablar, el PRI salio triunfador. O LO DUDAN, CANIJOS?

Este fue considerado y es considerado por muchos el peor de los presidentes. Un verdadera lacra. Asesino de Criadas, Hermano amigo y socio de narcos. Saqueador del Pais. El Cardenal Posadas murio en Guadalajara, el Candidato Colosio cayo en Tijuana y Jose Francisco Ruiz Massieu quedo abatido en la calle de Lafragua en el DF. Y Manuel Munoz Rocha? Diputado desaparecido. Ni sus luces. Ratero de orejas grandes, el Casi Sin Grenas. Ya todos conocen la triste historia de su sexenio negro.

La devaluacion del peso llego con Ernesto Zedillo Ponce De Leon. Cosas turbias que pasaron durante su sexenio que han salido a la luz y otras tantas que aun no. La Matanza de Acteal, la de Aguas Blancas en Guerrero.

Y la gente, mas bien la ilustre juventud de hoy dice que FeCal es el peor. Ponganse a estudiar burros...no saben lo que es bueno. Lo de Luz Y Fuerza del Centro, lo de la lucha contra el narco y las supuestas "cortinas de humo" que fueron el secuestro de Aeromexico y el supuesto atentado en el que murieron Mourino y Vasconcelos...no es nada. Lean un libro de historia negra y veran que tantos mas en el pasado si se desenpenaban como verdaderos ojetes, al mando de la nacion. Eduquense antes de decir que "OH! FeCal es Lo Peor". Concretense a mirar novelas churras y escuchar a Belinda y RBD.

Asi que mientras gritan babosadas en el Zocalo o pintan paredes aludando al Che Guevara, espero que no les aparezcan los fantasmas de Diaz Ordaz y Lopez Portillo y les den una buena "calentada". O que no les salgan los granderos de un rincon oscuro y les den una paliza. O que se aparezcan los espectros de los "Halcones" con sus palos de bambo, dispuesto a tundir al que se le ponga en frente. O que salgan los de verde con sus ametralladoras y bayonetas y sus tanques mortiferos.

Esperen nunca ver unas bengalas en el cielo, anunciando sus muertes iminentes mientras protestan....

Asi es Mexico Lindo Y Querido.

The Crash of Mexicana de Aviacion Flight 940

A Mexicana Boeing 727 like this one crashed near Maravatio, Michoacan Mexico on March 31, 1986 killing 166 people.


The morning of March 31, 1986, the passengers waiting to board Mexicana de Aviacion Flight 940 milled about the Mexico City gate. As it was Easter weekend soon many of them would take sunny vacations in the Pacific resort cities of Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta, 2 of Flight 940's stops that morning before heading off to Los Angeles.

During maintenance the Boeing 727 that would be serve as Flight 940 was being serviced. Its tires needed air. The ground crew quickly filled the jet's tires so it could be on its way.

The passengers boarded the jet and took their assigned seats and got ready for a routine flight. The 158 passengers and 8 crew members didnt know that their jetliner was already doomed and below them was a ticking time bomb.

As the jet left Mexico City airspace and entered Michoacan state airspace, some 5 minutes after takeoff, things began to go wrong. As Mexicana 940 reached the altitude of 22,000 feet, one of the front landing gears exploded.

The tire's blast severed important cables and crippled the plane's navigational system. A blaze soon erupted in the undercarriage.

The plane began to lose altitude. The only signs of trouble were the Pilot requesting Mexico Air Control Center permission to lower their altitude. Then the plane started to lose pressure. Thick, acrid smoke was starting to waft up from under the jet and into the cabin. Passengers quickly started to panic as stewards tried to calm them.

At 9:05 AM, Captain Carlos Guadarrama quickly radioed to Mexico City:

"Mexico ACC, Emergency. Mexicana 940. Request return to Mexico (City)"

Mexico Tower acknowledged their request. "Descend to 200, Mexicana 940. Turn Right, direct to Mexico VOR".

Guadarrama confirmed "Mexicana 940, direct right to Mexico VOR".

Those were the last words from Flight 940.

At 9:09 AM Mexico Tower radioed MX940: "Mexicana ACC, Mexicana 940, answer if you hear this..."

No Response.

Something was happening over the skies of Michoacan state near the town of Maravatio. Shepherds and farmers on Pomoca Ranch near El Carbon Mountain saw the White and Gold livery jetliner quickly plummet, flames and smoke trailing from the back.

Inside the cabin, all was panic. Passengers in desperation tried to seek refuge in the cockpit.

The jetliner exploded in a roar, before the eyes of stunned eyewitnesses. Two flaming pieces falling on 9,000 ft. El Carbon Mountain, the Tail section and the severed cabin crashing in flames into a ravine, exploding once again, scattering wreckage, luggage and bodies all over the mountain.
A man climbs over the wreckage of Mexicana Flight 940

The first people on the scene were Michoacan state highway police who reported "No survivors". Charred bodies and body parts littered the landscape. The crash had started a few small brush fires and a plume of white smoke marked the site of Mexico's worst aviation accident to date.

Red Cross teams soon began the gruesome task of recovering the bodies. Due to the rugged terrain, a special platform had to be built uphill so that rescue choppers could land. Volunteer farmers and paramedics would tediously carry the bodies in plastic bags and stretchers up to the choppers where they would be flown to Maravatio and then transported in ambulances to the state capital of Morelia for identification. 166 persons in all, among them 9 Americans had perished.

The bodies, ID'd and covered in lime inside three hangars at the Morelia airport, would be flown in coffins, ironically in another Mexicana jet, back to Mexico City to be claimed.

Four days after the crash an obscure Lebanese terrorist group issued a letter claiming responsability for the "bombing of Mexicana 940". They claimed they had blown the jet out of the sky with a suicide bomber out of their beef with the United States. Why they had chose a Mexican jetliner on Mexican soil was a big question. On April 1st, TWA 840 had been bombed in Athens, killing 2. The group also claimed responsibility for that attack. The claim was soon dismissed as hogwash.

Then there were more rumors. Israeli spies had been on Mexicana 940, booked under fake names. That the Miguel De La Madrid administration had bombed the jet deliberately to distract public attention from the countries woes. The real cause of the accident was a fatal mistake traced back to Mexico City airport.

Before departure, the planes tires had been filled with pressurized air. Airplane tires must be filled with Nitrogen, not pressurized air which causes tires to burst when they reach certain altitude.

Negligence had contributed to the deadly crash of Mexicana Flight 940

The Death of "Doctor" Fonseca And His Tricked Out Car

The night of November 19th, 1984, Jose Antonio Fonseca Iribe took out his wife Dora Amalia Elenes de Fonseca out to dinner. They had been recently married so they and some friends went out to eat to a Chinese restaurant. Fonseca Iribe, "El Doctor" was Guadalajara Cartel leader Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo's "Don Neto" nephew and his wife was a relative of Rafael Caro Quintero's wife.

After their meal "El Doctor" Fonseca argued with a waiter. A fight ensued and an irate Fonseca took out his AK-47 assault rifle and proceeded to shoot up the place in a fit of anger. This prompted the restaurant staff to call the police. Fonseca Iribe and his wife, 2 sisters and a friend left the place and hopped aboard "El Doctors" custom tricked out armored Ford Grand Marquis.

It was already early the morning of November 20th, when a Guadalajara Police officer, snoozing in his squad car noticed the peculiar car driving down Manuel Acuna Avenue and awoke his partner. The two cops decided to check out the strange looking Grand Marquis, 1984 model, license plate number XARO-59, with pitch black tinted windows. The tailed the car and flashed their lights. The response from the Grand Marquis was a burst of automatic gunfire.

The two city cops opened fired with their pistols but their shots did not perforate the car. It was armored. They quickly radioed for backup. By now the car was shooting oil out of the back and a thick curtain of smoke, attempting to hide the fleeing car. The cops shot out the tires but now the car was racing down the avenue on its rims, amid a shower of sparks.

The car finally crashed into a curb near Casa Jalisco, the official residence of Jalisco State Governor Enrique Alvarez del Castillo. Seeing as how November 20th is a national holiday, the Day of the Revolution, people sleeping nearby thought the gunshots were due to someone celebrating early with fireworks. They paid no attention.

At this point, the cops were mortified to see that the car's headlights dissappeared and now 2 machine guns popped out, shooting in almost perfect 360 degree angles. One of the cops reached the car but quickly realized the car doors had no handles. He pried open the door somehow and was quickly shot down. By now a handful of police cars had surrounded the mystery car and were shooting at it to no avail.

Jose Antonio Fonseca Iribe left the car and sprayed the cops with automatic rifle fire from his AK-47 but was quickly cut down by the bullets of the law. His wife Dora Amalia Elenes was also shot and killed as was Fonseca's friend Luis Cota Morales "El Pollo".

As the three lay dead, 2 well dressed and beautiful women emerged from the car, also firing AK-47s and AR-15s. They were wounded and quickly arrested. They were sisters of "El Doctor" and Don Neto's nieces, Carolina Fonseca Iribe and Mercedes Fonseca Morales.

The death of "El Doctor" Fonseca, bodyguard and hit man for his uncle Don Neto, was immortalized in a corrido by Los Tigres del Norte called "El Corrido del Dr. Fonseca" which chronicles the famous shootout in which he and his young wife lost their lives.

Nightmare at Balderas Station

Esteban Cervantes (white) grapples with gunman Luis Castillo (center). Note man in blue shirt rushing to aid Cervantes before he too was shot.


On the evening of September 18, 2009, all seemed normal at Mexico City's busy Balderas subway station. Commuters crowded the platform and watched a metro train arrive in direction to Indios Verdes station. Unknown to them, pissed off Jalisco farmer Luis Felipe Hernandez Castillo who had recently arrived in the capital with 500 dollars had an agenda. He hated the government, whom he believed was responsible for the countries woes. He believed the Calderon administration responsible for Global Warming and believed a famine would soon ravage the nation in 2012.

With a permanent marker he started to write the words "This Government of Criminals..." on the wall at Balderas station, ignored by the commuters. Police Officer Victor Manuel Miranda saw Hernandez defacing the wall and approached him and told him to stop and drop the pen or he would write him up.

Hernandez quickly scuffled with Officer Miranda and pulled out a .38 caliber revolver out of a small black leather bag and shot at him. The crowd on the platform soon scattered and fled in terror as Hernandez shot an unarmed and fleeing Officer Miranda, killing him.

Inside the train that had just pulled up to the station, Hernandez' wild shooting was being observed by the terrified passengers. One such passenger, a construction worker named Esteban Cervantes Barrera reacted instinctively. He hated injustices and always stood up for others. Without thinking and without saying one word to his friend who accompanied him on the train, he darted out of the metro doors and lunged at Hernandez.

Cervantes and Hernandez struggled for a minute as Cervantes sought to disarm the crazed gunman. Hernandez shot at Cervantes, who slipped several times trying to tackle the shooter. A third man approached Hernandez and attempted to also stop him, receiving a gun shot wounds in the hand. The man walked away, to tend his wounds as Hernandez and Cervantes continued to struggle, their fight being watched by stunned onlookers who opted to do nothing and offer no aid to Cervantes, who was now on the floor.

Hernandez then, seeing he had the upper hand in the fight, without hesitating shot Esteban Cervantes point blank in the head, in front of the Metro's Surveillance Cameras, taping the entire incident. Cervantes body slowly grew limp.

As the bodies of Officer Victor Miranda and Esteban Cervantes lay dead on the platform amid scattered sheets of paper and bags, Luis Felipe Hernandez Castillo walked into the stopped train and kept shooting out at the platform at approaching Judicial Police officers. He yelled out to the people on the train that "his beef was not with the people but with the government". He also said "he was doing God's work". Then he said "This is all fucked up", referring to himself having being shot in the right shoulder by a Judicial Police officer who was quickly reaching the train.

Several plainclothes and uniformed cops rushed the train and tackled Hernandez Castillo, stopping the madman's shooting rampage, an event unheard of in the city that usually, has seen everything (An Aeromexico jetliner having being hijacked on Sept 9, by another deranged man claiming to also be doing God's Work) They arrested him and sent him to Reclusorio Oriente prison. 10 people were hurt in the rampage.

After the tragic events at Balderas station, one thing was certain. Two modern day "heroes" had died that day. One in the line of duty, and another acting on instinct. Without a doubt, Esteban Cervantes' attempt to stop Hernandez, gave time for the rest of the people on the platform to flee. His selfless action cost him his life. Only sad thing is that among the hundreds of people at Balderas, and witnessing the events, Cervantes seemed to be the only one brave enough to take action.

Several other able bodied men only watched as Cervantes and Hernandez fought for control of the gun. They watched, and didnt act, as Cervantes fell four times, almost catching a bullet every time he fell, nevertheless getting up each time and rushing the gunman. One final headshot, finally stopped the brave Cervantes.

In a city of 18 million. In a station crowded with several hundred. Only one man had enough balls to rush a man randomly shooting. Esteban Cervantes left behind 5 children.

As of September 21, 2009, the Mexico City Metro System announced they had created the Esteban Cervantes Award for Bravery, a medal that would be given to any citizen committing a heroic act. People in Mexico City also suggested to the city government they rename Balderas to "Heroes of Balderas" station in honor of the two men who died that day trying to stop a deranged farmer with a gun.

A well deserved honor indeed.

The Murder of Cardinal Posadas Ocampo: Accident or Conspiracy?

Cardinal Posadas lies slumped in his car with his driver after the gunbattle at Guadalajara's International Airport on May 24, 1993.


On the morning of May 24th, 1993, Cardinal Juan Jesus Posadas Ocampo, the archbishop of Guadalajara and Number 2 man in Religious importance in Mexico, held mass at the diocese. He noticed three men standing in the back, who stared at him all throughout the ceremony. These are not average law abiding, church going citizens he thought. He thought right. A few hours later he would be dead, and his death would mark the beginning in one of the darkest crimes in modern Mexican history.


After the mass he ate and got dressed. Later that afternoon his driver, Pedro Perez would take him to Guadalajara's Miguel Hidalgo airport to pick up the Vatican nuncio in Mexico, Girolamo Prigione. Cardinal Posadas had interesting information to give him. Incriminating information that many in power in the government and in the countries drug mafias, did not want made public.

Parallel to these events, Jalisco Highway Policeman Jose Zamudio responded to a automobile crash on the Chapala Highway, leading from the city to the airport. Upon leaving the scene of the accident, which turned out to be nothing worse than a fender bender, he noticed a red Mercury Grand Marquis with two men inside, parked under an overpass. He circled around them, but they didnt prove too suspicious. He then decided to grab a bite to eat at one of his favorite fast food eateries, The Red Baron, located inside the domestic terminal at Miguel Hidalgo.

As he got to the airport he noticed a lot of police action. He saw four armored trucks. What looked to be several Judicial Policemen in dark uniforms, wielding assault rifles patrolling the airport. Inside, when he sat down to eat, he noticed other men, sporting buzz cuts, dressed in plaid shirts, western jeans and cowboy boots, carrying fancy looking portfolios. The portfolios didn't match the men's aspect, and these mystery men walked about, agitated and talking on two way radios. Perhaps they were undercover Judicial policemen. He thought nothing more of it and proceeded to finish his meal.

At the same time, Joaquin Guzman Loera, "El Chapo", boss of the Sinaloa Cartel, got into his custom, armored green Buick sedan, driven by his driver and 2 bodyguards. He went to the Holiday Inn where he had some business to attend, then his armored car got onto the Chapala Highway, airport bound. Guzman Loera would catch a flight to Puerto Vallarta later that day.


Joaquin Guzman "El Chapo", possible intended assassination target on May 24th


Perhaps in the wost timings ever, or perhaps a deliberate event, as these events simultaneously unfolded, "El Chapo's" one time partners turned arch enemies and rivals in the drug trade., the Arellano Felix brothers from Tijuana, were about to catch a flight, Aeromexico 110, to Tijuana.

Ramon Arellano Felix, the cartel's hitman and Number 2, along with his crew of several San Diego gang members, had been scouring the city of Guadalajara for weeks now, searching for El Chapo. The plan was to assassinate him. Since their search had been fruitless, they were now on their way home, not realizing (or realizing, depending on who you talk to) that their enemy was closer than they thought.

At the time, the Arellanos were on the plane, El Chapo had pulled into the front of the airport terminal and Cardinal Posadas' white Mercury Grand Marquis had pulled into the airport parking lot .A man wearing a airport parking lot attendant vest waved to the Cardinals car to make a left turn. A car with armed men awaited .

At that time, four men descended a tan Dodge Spirit and shouted "That's Him!" and fired a volley of AK-47 fire into the air. The men ran up to the Grand Marquis, 2 men shooting AK-47s at the driver, one man firing into the back of the car, and yet another pulling up to the passenger side door, where Cardinal Posadas had been trying to get out. The gunman held the door and shot the cardinal in the ankle then proceeded to fire 14 shots of automatic gunfire into the prelates chest, stomach and legs.

As the shooting started, El Chapo, thinking he and his men were under attack, opened fire on the gunmen, who according to witnesses were dressed in police uniforms. Several shots hit the armored car, and 2 of El Chapo's gunmen were shot dead in the parking lot. In the crossfire, a woman and her nephew fell mortally wounded at the terminal door. One of the men firing on Cardinal Posadas, then noticed a blue Buick Century, driven by the mayor of Arandas, Jalisco's chauffeur Martin Alejandro Rivas Aceves and opened fire on the cars winshield, striking Rivas in the face and killing him instantly. His car then rolled to a stop and crashed into some parked cars.

Martin Rivas Aceves lies dead in his car after the shootout. The gunmen killed all witnesses near Posadas' car.


All was pandemonium inside the airport and out. Travelers ran to and fro, trying to escape the rain of bullets that seemed to come from all directions. El Chapo Guzman by this time had sought refuge behind a Aeromexico ticket counter and fled through the baggage claims, where he and one of his men flagged down a taxi and spend off to a safe house in Zapopan. The driver of his armored car had fled the airport and had been engaged again at the airport parking lot's toll booth, which ended up shot up by the gunmen.

After approximately 10 minutes of shooting, seven people were dead. Cardinal Posadas had been hit 14 times, Pedro Perez his driver had been hit 10 times. Martin Rivas Aceves, the innocent driver; 2 of El Chapo's gunmen, Jose Rosario Beltran Medina and Ramon Flores; and Francisca Rodriguez and Manuel Vega, the 2 bystanders at the terminal door had bled to death.

Quickly after the shooting, the Airport was shut down by the Mexican Army and the Judicial Police already at the airport swarmed the crime scene, collecting bullet casings. The government later that night had said that the shooting had been the result of a "confrontation between rival drug traffickers which culminated in the accidental shooting of Cardinal Juan Jesus Posadas Ocampo".

The Government alleged the Cardinal had been caught in the cross fire, and his car, had been confused with one of El Chapo's many luxury cars. El Chapo was reported to own a new white Mercury Grand Marquis, same as Posadas. An hour after the shooting, amazingly an unidentified man, presumibly high up in the federal government, called Mexico's Attorney General from Guadalajara and informed him that El Chapo and the Arellano Felix brothers had shot it out at the airport.

He even described how El Chapo was dressed that day. While the investigation was barely beginning, how did they know who had been involved? Why were there known drug traffickers and policemen mixed among the crowds at the airport?Many questions quickly surfaced.

The reports of a accidental shooting were quickly questioned however by Guadalajara's coroner Mario Rivas Souza who examined Posadas body and said that he had a great amount of GSR (Gun Shot Residue) on his body and clothing. This meant the gunman shot Posadas from no more than 3 feet away. No way the assassin could of confused Posadas for El Chapo. El Chapo was dark haired, 5'6, and had a mustache. Posadas Ocampo was 6'1, heavyset, more than 60 years old with glasses and gray hair, dressed in his clerical garb with a pectoral cross. Indeed Cardinal Posadas had been the target.

Then came reports from eyewitnesses that the gunmen had popped open the Grand Marquis trunk after killing Posadas and his driver, and one of the shooters had fled with what looked to be a portfolio or manila folder under his arm, while the rest of the men shot it out. What were the contents of this seemingly valuable manila folder? Contents and information that perhaps had cost the Cardinal his life and started a shoddy cover-up.

After the shooting, federal forces shut down the airport. They confiscated the airport parking lot surveillance videos, which never resurfaced again. Several of the parking lot attendants had been told to go home a half hour before the shooting, something very unusual. Then there were reports that a Mexican Attorney Generals Office jet had landed at the airport, prior to the shooting and was waiting on the tarmac until after the shooting.

There were also the reports of heavy security and police presence at the airport since early in the morning of May 24th. Who were the men in civilian clothing, looking visibly agitated and talking on walkie-talkies, seen by Officer Zamudio ? Why was there a heavy police presence at the airport since early that day yet they failed to prevent the shooting? The Mexican public cried foul and suspected a "conspiracy".

There were 3 theories of what had happened: One stated that unknown forces, perhaps in the police or government, conspired to have El Chapo and the Arellanos meet and face off at the airport so they could kill each other. Another theory was that Cardinal Posadas had been the intended target, the Arellanos and Chapo shooting it out, while a mystery 3rd person hit team approached Posadas and eliminated him, blaming his death on the shootout. The third was, that indeed Cardinal Posadas had suffered terrible luck and had been at the wrong place at the wrong time.

After the murders, The Arellano Felix's issued a statement to the government, via Vatican envoy Girolamo Prigione (the very man Posadas was to pick up that fateful day at the airport), that the Arellanos HAD been at the airport, but had already boarded their plane, when the shootout started.

Chapo Guzman was arrested in June 1993, a month later and he too told authorities, that he had already been inside the terminal when he heard shooting, prompting him to flee through the baggage carousels and outside, flagging down a taxicab and leaving the airport. None of the men blamed for the act claimed responsibility. Perhaps they were scapegoats and Posadas had been slain by a mystery hit team intending to silence him.

According to some men arrested in the later years after the airport gun-battle, the whole operation had been a hit. The Arellano Felix had placed 2 Chevrolet Pick Ups full of guns, grenades and ammo, in front of the terminals before the supposed hit. The two Guzman associates killed that day, were actually prisoners of the gunmen, held in a car at the parking lot, used as bait for Chapo, or used to ID El Chapo's car. The 2 men were later disposed of and shot ,left lying the car park. The supposed Judicial Policemen at the airport were actually Arellano hit men dressed as cops waiting for the arrival of a white Grand Marquis.

When they Grand Marquis arrived they opened fire, thinking they had bumped off El Chapo. But El Chapo was in a different car, a few yards away. This action prompted El Chapos men to fire on the Cardinals aggressors, while El Chapo made his getaway. After the assassination-gone-awry, Ramon Arellano and his men ran to catch Aeromexico 110 which had been held 20 minutes for them. Upon arriving in Tijuana they were met by crooked policemen who ushered them out of the T.J. airport and provided them shelter. El Chapo too, feeling the heat, fled to Guatemala, where he was arrested a month later.
Cardinal Juan Jesus Posadas Ocampo - 16 years later his murder remains a mystery


Cardinal Posadas was a outspoken man. He had been arguing lately with President Carlos Salinas de Gortari. He had also received death threats prior to his murder and some men had broken into his home in Tlaquepaque a few weeks before the shootings. According to some in the prelates inner circle, Cardinal Posadas had important information about the ruling party and the president's involvement with organized crime figures and shady deals. He had planned to meet with Girolamo Prigione who would not give the info to anyone in the Salinas administration, but to Pope John Paul II himself.

That never happened. The mysterious folder and contents were gone and their contents remain a matter of speculation to this day. Several airport employees and witnesses went missing or died under mysterious circumstances in the years after.The Attorney General's plane's presence at the airport and "in-the-know" information about the shooting was never clarified. Was the murder of Juan Jesus Posadas Ocampo deliberate or an accident? Ordered by those high up in the government to shut him up or killed by accident by drug mafias?

16 years later, the case remains a mystery.