Under armed escort, mourner convoys reach Mexican village for U.S. family funerals

By Jose Luis Gonzalez

 

Soldiers assigned to the National Guard keep watch while escorting a caravan of vehicles with relatives and friends arriving for the funerals of slain members of the Mexican-American Mormon families, in Bavispe, Sonora state, Mexico November 6, 2019. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez

 

BAVISPE, Mexico (Reuters) - Convoys of vehicles carrying relatives of a group of American women and children slain by unknown gunmen snaked through the dark from as far away as the United States into a remote Mexican region ahead of funerals for the victims to be held on Friday.

 

Members of breakaway Mormon communities that settled in Mexico decades ago, the three dual-nationality women and six children were ambushed in Sonora state on Monday, leading to U.S. President Donald Trump urging Mexico and the United States to “wage war’ together on the drug cartels.

 

Late on Monday, dozens of SUV-style vehicles and pickup trucks escorted by Mexican National Guard outliers rolled into the municipality of Bavispe, where funerals will be held for two of the women and their families on Thursday.

 

“We came prepared to sleep on the floor, in tents. Whatever is needed to support the families who died in this terrorist act,” said Alex LeBaron, a former Congressman and cousin of one of the women, Rhonita Miller.

 

The remains of Miller and her children, whose bodies were reduced to ash and bones when the car they were in was shot at and went up in flames, are due to be buried in another village called Colonia LeBaron on Friday.

 

Alex LeBaron, who was with the convoy, told Mexican radio that mourners had come from the United States and across Mexico, bringing food and mattresses for the journey.

 

The LeBaron family, which came to Mexico in the early 20th century, now claims to be made up of more than 5,000 members.

 

Authorities and relatives say the killings appeared to be the work of the Juarez and the Sinaloa Cartels, who fight for control of lucrative drug routes that run through the sparsely populated mountainous areas into the United States.

 

Mexico has unleashed its military against cartels since 2006 but despite the arrests or killings of leading traffickers, the campaign has failed to reduce violence. Instead, it has led to more killings as criminal groups fight among themselves.

 

The victims came from prominent local families, including the LeBarons, Millers and Langfords.

 

Nestled in the fertile valleys of the Sierra Madre mountains just a few hours drive south from the U.S. border, the oldest communities stem from the late 1800s, when upheaval over polygamy in the Utah-based church led to their founding.

 

The settlements have marriage ties to others in the United States.

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-11-07

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Unimaginable pain for the surviving family members...no one in the world deserves what these cartel thugs did to these women and children.

 

The US would retaliate if the Mexican President would allow them to.

 

Oddly, Mexico's response to US assistance: " We use hugs here...not guns".  Really?

 

Begs the question...how much is the cartel paying the government to let them run amok?

48 minutes ago, Puchaiyank said:

Unimaginable pain for the surviving family members...no one in the world deserves what these cartel thugs did to these women and children.

 

The US would retaliate if the Mexican President would allow them to.

 

Oddly, Mexico's response to US assistance: " We use hugs here...not guns".  Really?

 

Begs the question...how much is the cartel paying the government to let them run amok?

Huh were did you hear hugs not guns?if you are referring to the Mexican people extending condolences and hospitality to the victims families that’s what good people do if you are taking that out of context that’s sad 

2 hours ago, Tug said:

Huh were did you hear hugs not guns?if you are referring to the Mexican people extending condolences and hospitality to the victims families that’s what good people do if you are taking that out of context that’s sad 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/05/mexicos-security-failure-grisly-cartel-shootout-shows-who-holds-the-power

8 hours ago, Puchaiyank said:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/05/mexicos-security-failure-grisly-cartel-shootout-shows-who-holds-the-power

Yup out of context just as I thought offering training programs to give poor people more of a choice is not condoning the cartels as you allude 

35 minutes ago, Tug said:

Yup out of context just as I thought offering training programs to give poor people more of a choice is not condoning the cartels as you allude 

I have suspected all along...that we see things differently...????

back story is that they <deleted> off some heavy locals.  they should not have been down there in the first place.  one of the leaders was murdered and years ago and they should have gotten the message and bailed.  just stupid.  guess they thought the big man upstairs would protect them.

22 hours ago, Puchaiyank said:

Unimaginable pain for the surviving family members...no one in the world deserves what these cartel thugs did to these women and children.

 

The US would retaliate if the Mexican President would allow them to.

 

Oddly, Mexico's response to US assistance: " We use hugs here...not guns".  Really?

 

Begs the question...how much is the cartel paying the government to let them run amok?

Maybe How many cartel scum are in the Government ?

Lebaron settlement and problems go back a long way:

 

a group of Mormons from Canada and usa moved into/ and took a large area of land from the Mexicans some years ago /then a few years ago some family's were caught /being the largest suppliers of cannabis  to Canada  /sad the women and children killed /but the men shouldn't have put them in the situation /if the Mexicans went over the border into USA and claimed land /trump would  welcome them?

18 hours ago, malibukid said:

back story is that they <deleted> off some heavy locals.  they should not have been down there in the first place.  one of the leaders was murdered and years ago and they should have gotten the message and bailed.  just stupid.  guess they thought the big man upstairs would protect them.

Such a sad, accusatory post, lacking in any sort of compassion for the dead. Certainly wish you well...well far from me.

They are Mexican citizens as well. It's definitely an internal matter for Mexico. An aspect of this worth considering is the massive media attention given to these victims compared to the hundreds of thousands of other cartel casualties. Why? Obviously partly because they are also American citizens but I think even more so that they are white. Imagine the difference in focus for a similar story with non white Mexican nationals or even dual nationals.