Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Finally a memorial for those dissolved by acid in Tijuana

Push-back against early release of El Pozolero

"My name is Deut Favian Perez Barraza. I was a victim of a forced disappearance June 11, 2008. Until today my mother looks for me. I ask for my return home." - Image by Crisstian Villicana
"My name is Deut Favian Perez Barraza. I was a victim of a forced disappearance June 11, 2008. Until today my mother looks for me. I ask for my return home."

February 4 marked the 13th anniversary of the detention of El Pozolero (Ignacio Meza), a construction worker who used acid to dissolve more than 300 bodies for the Arellano Felix Cartel in Tijuana. (Pozolero means someone who cooks pozole, a Mexican stew.)

The collective Unidos por los Desaparecios de Baja California gathers in the lot called La Gallera, where they come to pray at a memorial for the missing.

Sponsored
Sponsored

La Gallera is in the Ejido Ojo de Agua close to Maclovio Rojas neighborhood, about 45 km east of downtown on Highway 2 to Tecate.

They think there are more than the 300 victims the government says are buried here. Fernando Oceguera, the director of Unidos por los Desaparecidos, says that numbers could be up to 1200 bodies. Between 2006 and 2009, when the Arellano Felix’s Cartel controlled Tijuana’s drug trafficking El Pozolero was paid $600 USD weekly, according to authorities.

Oceguera’s son disappeared in 2007 when the federal government's war on drugs escalated and violence increased drastically. Although he hasn’t found his son, he’s not giving hope. Since then, Oceguera and other members of the collective had focusing their life looking for their loved ones, and the idea of doing a memorial in La Gallera will give thousands of families a place to pray.

“We had the chance to sensitize neighbors around about what happened in La Gallera end, they gave us permission to take care of the lot. “Without a body, we have no grave. For instance, in Dia de los Muertos they have no place to bring flowers, candles, or pray. That’s the idea.”

"You are not alone, sister. We are looking for you."

It was not until Oceguera reached out the Baja California’s governor at that time, Francisco Vega, who recognized them as the new owners of the lot.

“We had it to knock so many doors to get donations and make it real. Now with an investment of 3 million pesos (approximately $145,000), it’s becoming real.” This April the Victims Memorial will be official.

Oceguera argues that the crime committed in La Gallera is one of the most horrible atrocities in Mexico since the war on drugs policy started in 2006.

Last week Oceguera and the collective received information that El Pozolero could be released this year. He went to Mexico City to pressure the prosecutors office for organized crime not to let Santiago Meza's sentence be reduced. El Pozolero has still half of his sentence to complete.

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Trophy truck crushes four at Baja 1000

"Two other racers on quads died too,"
"My name is Deut Favian Perez Barraza. I was a victim of a forced disappearance June 11, 2008. Until today my mother looks for me. I ask for my return home." - Image by Crisstian Villicana
"My name is Deut Favian Perez Barraza. I was a victim of a forced disappearance June 11, 2008. Until today my mother looks for me. I ask for my return home."

February 4 marked the 13th anniversary of the detention of El Pozolero (Ignacio Meza), a construction worker who used acid to dissolve more than 300 bodies for the Arellano Felix Cartel in Tijuana. (Pozolero means someone who cooks pozole, a Mexican stew.)

The collective Unidos por los Desaparecios de Baja California gathers in the lot called La Gallera, where they come to pray at a memorial for the missing.

Sponsored
Sponsored

La Gallera is in the Ejido Ojo de Agua close to Maclovio Rojas neighborhood, about 45 km east of downtown on Highway 2 to Tecate.

They think there are more than the 300 victims the government says are buried here. Fernando Oceguera, the director of Unidos por los Desaparecidos, says that numbers could be up to 1200 bodies. Between 2006 and 2009, when the Arellano Felix’s Cartel controlled Tijuana’s drug trafficking El Pozolero was paid $600 USD weekly, according to authorities.

Oceguera’s son disappeared in 2007 when the federal government's war on drugs escalated and violence increased drastically. Although he hasn’t found his son, he’s not giving hope. Since then, Oceguera and other members of the collective had focusing their life looking for their loved ones, and the idea of doing a memorial in La Gallera will give thousands of families a place to pray.

“We had the chance to sensitize neighbors around about what happened in La Gallera end, they gave us permission to take care of the lot. “Without a body, we have no grave. For instance, in Dia de los Muertos they have no place to bring flowers, candles, or pray. That’s the idea.”

"You are not alone, sister. We are looking for you."

It was not until Oceguera reached out the Baja California’s governor at that time, Francisco Vega, who recognized them as the new owners of the lot.

“We had it to knock so many doors to get donations and make it real. Now with an investment of 3 million pesos (approximately $145,000), it’s becoming real.” This April the Victims Memorial will be official.

Oceguera argues that the crime committed in La Gallera is one of the most horrible atrocities in Mexico since the war on drugs policy started in 2006.

Last week Oceguera and the collective received information that El Pozolero could be released this year. He went to Mexico City to pressure the prosecutors office for organized crime not to let Santiago Meza's sentence be reduced. El Pozolero has still half of his sentence to complete.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Bait and Switch at San Diego Symphony

Concentric contemporary dims Dvorak
Next Article

Woodpeckers are stocking away acorns, Amorous tarantulas

Stunning sycamores, Mars rising
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader