Mexico: descent into chaosDrug cartels employ women assassins (sicarias) in broad killing campaign
As the drug war in Mexico escalates, drug cartels have began to employ sicaria, or hit women; the women assassins, ranging in age from 18 to 30, work alongside men in cells of La Linea, as the Juárez drug cartel is known; cells are assigned to different jobs — such as halcones (lookouts), hit squads, and extortionists — and operate independently; the hit women are trained to use rifles and handguns and sometimes accompany their male counterparts; women in Juárez have been previously accused of being part of kidnapping rings, often assigned to keep watch on captives; women have also held roles as recruiters, transporters and leaders of drug-smuggling cells
Anahi Beltran Cabrera, a cartel arsenal guard // Source: nydailynews.com
An alleged hit man told Mexican federal police that beautiful young women are working as killers for the Juárez drug cartel. “They have to look good to deceive our opponents,” Rogelio Amaya Martínez said in a videotaped interview by Mexico’s Ministry of Public Safety.
Amaya, 27, is one of five men arrested last Thursday in Juárez and accused of being a cartel hit squad that killed two federal police officers in separate attacks earlier this month. Amaya, who appears relaxed in the video while answering questions from a woman off screen, said there are 20 to 30 women working as sicarias, or hit women. El Universal newspaper in Mexico placed the video on YouTube).
Daniel Borunda writes in the El Paso Times that Amaya said that the female assassins range in age from 18 to 30, and they work alongside men in cells of La Linea, as the Juárez drug cartel is known. A recruiter selects the women, he said.
Cells are assigned to different jobs — such as halcones (lookouts), hit squads, and extortionists — and operate independently. The hit women are trained to use rifles and handguns and sometimes accompany their male counterparts.
“They have carried out various jobs,” Amaya said, making a reference to murders. “They work like any other hit man.” Amaya said the women are young and attractive to better fool their targets.
Borunda notes that women in Juárez have been previously accused of being part of kidnapping rings, often assigned to keep watch on captives. Women have also held roles as recruiters, transporters and leaders of drug-smuggling cells.
“Up until now, we have them involved in almost all aspects of cartel operations,” said Diana Apodaca, spokeswoman for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in El Paso. “To date, we don’t know them to be directly involved in assassinations, but we wouldn’t rule it out,” Apodaca said.
The violence in Juárez continued Tuesday, including an afternoon attack on a municipal police vehicle that killed two officers. About 3 p.m., gunmen in a moving vehicle fired 35 rounds at the patrol truck on Avenida Gomez Morin, police officials said. After the officer driving was shot, he lost control and crashed into a tree. The slain officers, Francisco Ramirez Rojo, 40, and Leonardo Aparicio Cortes, 33, had been assigned to transport prisoners.
Juárez police spokesman Jacinto Segura said that thirty city police officers have been murdered this year.
There were 22 homicides on Monday, raising the death toll since Friday to 73. More than 1,870 people have been slain in the Juárez area this year.
