Uriel Vélez/Reform Agency
Saturday, January 14, 2023 | 07:04
Monterrey, NL.- Ghost ranches stand out on the horizon around the highway to Colombia, as a dramatic balance of the drug war that this area of northern Nuevo León is suffering.
One of these properties is El Palmar, located in the gap to El Toro Gabacho, in the community of Los Villarreales, in Salinas Victoria.
Hitmen from a drug cell of the Northeast Cartel (CDN), who entered from Tamaulipas, seized the place on January 2 and kidnapped three men and a woman who worked there.
After the kidnapping, hundreds of police officers and a Civil Force helicopter mobilized to confront the criminals, in a clash that lasted more than three hours and left three police officers dead, two gunmen killed, and five detainees.
Dozens of bullet marks on the ranch’s façade show the battle that took place between hitmen and police, according to what Grupo REFORMA found on a tour.
In the same municipality are the El Pujido and El Toro Gabacho ranches, which are also abandoned.
After the confrontation in Salinas Victoria, the terror spread to Villaldama, where hitmen fleeing arrived and, between the night of January 2 and the early morning of January 3, seized the La Rumorosa ranch, 35 kilometers from El Palmar, to entrench themselves.
There, the criminals subdued and tied up a worker and his wife. Two days later, on January 5, the rancher Gustavo Levy, 85, and his driver, Omar de la Garza, 73, who arrived at the ranch, were murdered and burned.
La Rumorosa, at the foot of the Sierra de Gomas, is currently under the protection of the authorities. Entrepreneurs warned that they are considering closing their ranches until they know they are safe.
