mtgoat666 - 3-16-2026 at 11:43 AM
Cedros is a fascinating place, for more reasons than just the natural history and sportfishing…
Isla de Cedros: imperio de la corrupción
Google translation…
Cedros Island is a community located more than 400 kilometers south of the city of Ensenada, accessible only by limited flights and maritime routes.
These conditions of isolation and marginalization fueled corruption, transforming it into a strategic point on the Pacific Ocean route for organized
crime groups involved in drug trafficking (primarily synthetic drugs), fuel smuggling, and the illegal trade of the Siempre Viva plant and other
endemic species with high economic value in the Asian market.
The island's criminal cells operate in the urban area of Ensenada and in Cedros, in Baja California; while in Baja California Sur they move
around in Guerrero Negro, Jesús María, Bahía Tortugas and Mulegé.
In the most recent raid by state authorities, they detected the alleged involvement of members of the Mexican Navy and the Port Authority, who have
been unable to seize the merchandise moved by these cartels for nine years and may be collaborating in the illegal entry of fuel and other goods. They
also suggested investigating a man known locally as "the Admiral," whom they call Fidencio López, who is believed to be acting as a liaison.
FAILED ATTEMPT
“We are going to go after Cedros Island,” commented General Laureano Carrillo, Secretary of Security of Baja California, in an interview with ZETA
on February 2, 2026, while recalling a similar, failed attempt by the Baja California Attorney General's Office, which began with arrests and raids on
traffickers on Cedros Island in January 2020.
The operation ended with the murder in Ensenada of Ensenada Public Prosecutor Hiram Rivera on April 28, 2020, and the subsequent capture (June 20,
2020) and release (May 27, 2023) of his killer, Jesús Salvador Villavicencio Meza, a member of the criminal cell known as Los Venados. (Presumed
innocent until proven guilty by a court of law. Article 13, CNPP).
But the authorities integrated into the Coordination Table for Peace and Security are aware of the island's problems because they have not changed in
the last 20 years, a period in which the State Security Secretariat has carried out four unsuccessful operations: the first in 2004, the second in
2006, the third in 2020, and the most recent in February 2026, all without relevant results.
Regarding the island, the reports from the FGE's Analysis and Investigation Unit (UDAI) and the FESC coincide, and have been the same for more than
five years. They indicate that at least two criminal cells operate in the area:
* From the Sinaloa Cartel (CDS), with the Arzate brothers, the Venados, the Villavicencio Meza brothers, Germán, alias the Venado, César Roberto,
alias the Birrias and Jesús Salvador, the Rayder or the Pescador.
* And allegedly allied with the Jalisco Cartel and the Arellano Félix, the group headed by Jesús Manuel Castro Mendoza, alias El Querreque.
With limited and supposedly monitored flights and maritime routes, it is clear that criminal activities are being covered up by corrupt authorities,
whether out of fear or convenience.
Some evidence of this collusion was gathered in the operation six years ago, because among the few criminals captured were two police officers, one
surnamed Burcasa and the other Rubio Mendoza; and a manager of the island's telegraph office, all dedicated to drug trafficking and sales, and in some
cases, involved in homicides.
In February 2026, the Baja California Secretary of Public Security asserted that the operation was backed by solid intelligence work. However, it was
later revealed that, unlike in 2020, this time the State Citizen Security Force (FESC) operated alone, without the public prosecutors and the arrest
and search warrants issued by the State Attorney General's Office (FGE). And they failed again.
This time there were no deaths, but the members of the FESC ended up being preventively detained by members of the Secretariat of the Navy (SEMAR)
when they tried to leave the island, accused of abuse of authority and theft by some islanders led by the municipal delegate of Isla de Cedros, Luis
Damián Ceballos Alvarado -delegate for more than nine years-, who filed a complaint for abuse of authority.
In his ministerial statement, Ceballos asserted that on January 23, around 2:00 p.m., he found ten state agents in the warehouse where the delegation
stores fuel.
Upon identifying himself as a delegate, he said he was handcuffed along with his 24-year-old son and put into a patrol car.
Since then, five investigations have been opened between February 5 and 12, 2026, with the State Investigation Agency. The files from the State
Attorney General's Office (FGE), based on police reports, indicate a series of alleged crimes attributed to the officers, committed on the island last
January when they went there to investigate the Venados criminal cell.
Among the items that the complainants claim were stolen are sport fishing rods worth up to 20,000 pesos, tents, portable stoves, perfumes, and
electronic equipment.
Formally charged, the members of the commando unit that carried out the operation deny the charges, while being investigated by the FGE and the
Internal Affairs Directorate of the SSCBC.
ISOLATED, CRIMINALS OPERATE UNDER THE RADAR
Despite the island's importance in the criminal strategy, the authorities have done little about it, even though the criminals' activities have become
increasingly public:
* In 2017, the Venados and the Querreques hung banners in different parts of Ensenada, with names and photos of their members, and in November of the
same year, Jesús Salvador Villavicencio Meza, alias el Rayder, and a police officer were arrested as suspects in a homicide in the Domingo Luna
neighborhood, later released.
* For the disappearance and murder on the island of six fishermen from Guerrero Negro and Bahía Tortugas, in Baja California Sur, in November 2019,
there were also no arrests, despite the participation of criminals from both opposing criminal groups.
* The individuals captured in the 2020 operations and in the investigation into the murder of public prosecutor Hiram Rivera have also been released.
* It is unknown what happened after the capture of five subjects on October 1, 2021, in a boat on the beaches of Cedros, in possession of 89 sacks
with around two tons of methamphetamine, a sack with more than seven kilograms of marijuana and 62 drums with regular gasoline.
* In more recent events, none of the members of the Venados cell have been captured, since they became priority targets of the Attorney General's
Office and the Government of Baja California Sur, after their participation was detected in the murder of José Eleazar Toscano, "El Profe," 36,
former plaza leader in the municipality of Mulegé in October 2024; in the kidnapping and murder of the young men from Baja California Sur, Gael de la
O Ceballos and Ulises Piñuelas Vega, in January 2025, who were found murdered in Baja California waters; and on Friday, February 21, in Bahía
Tortugas, municipality of Mulegé, they murdered Rogelio Antonio Arce Carrillo, inside a bar known as " El Refugio de Rogelio ," leaving a
narco-message next to his body.
According to intelligence analyses from the corporations integrated into the Security Roundtable, this same remoteness, which complicates effective
police surveillance, is what supports the conditions of a self-government that abuses power (without having the authority), distributes permits and
the little wealth of the place based on nepotism and clientelism for the benefit of a few families.
“Not everyone is like that, but there are people—within the police forces with representation on the island, in the National Abalone
Fishermen's Cooperative Society , among municipal officials, members of the Navy Secretariat, the Port Captaincy, and among the Authorized Port Pilots
in the National Ports—who are incredibly incapable of detecting the trafficking of drugs, fuel, and even marine species,” while in the first two
months of 2026, in other states, the same Navy Secretariat had already seized 10 tons of cocaine, four tons of methamphetamine, 70 tons of chemical
precursors, 1,043 liters of fuel, and a semi-submersible.
“In the end, it is the same families that control fishing, tourism activities, gasoline, flights, boat departures, the entry and exit of gasoline,
or aviation fuel, and the grocery stores, water and all kinds of products, who are allied with the Venados and their relatives,” said a state
intelligence officer.
TRACKING VILLAVICENCIO FAMILY BUSINESSES
According to information gathered by the intelligence areas of the Security Council, in the most recent incursions, it is the Villavicencio Meza
brothers who exercise control and authority on the island, because through cooperative partners, surnamed Camacho, Ojeda, Corona, Estrada, Amador and
Alameda, they control the cooperative.
According to the same investigations, the Villavicencio family also participates in regulating the supply of strategic inputs to the island's
population.
“…they operate a project called ' Fishing ' or ' Fishing Sport ', with which they are building mini-hotels; it stands out in the Protected
Natural Area, where only some fishing and tourist activities are allowed, only with restricted access to protect its biodiversity.”
Before the Security Committee, they presented the need to investigate the financial and material operations of the companies: Sportfishing Divine;
Cedros Sportfishing and Diving; Cedros Outdoor Adventure; Cedros Sportfishing BCM Hotel; and Big Eyes Sportfishing.
Information and promotion on social media and the internet show that they all exist and operate; some have been for several years, with offices in
Ensenada, but they do not appear in the Public Registry of Property as companies, so the name of the owners is unknown.
And on the Marcanet public platform, only the companies Outdoor Adventure and Big Eyes could be located , in the name of two people with surnames
different from Villavicencio, namely Sánchez and Mata.
In the other companies, the data collected in the field by the authorities reveals the surnames Toba, Ceballos and Villavicencio as possible owners,
information that remains subject to investigation.
Furthermore, it was learned that during the FESC operation, the fishermen were summoned to a private emergency meeting by Paul Camacho Ojeda at the
cooperative, and “…he already told us what they wanted us to say… they want us to cover their backs,” commented one of the participants.
The investigators indicated that the Venados also use the CREAD rehabilitation center: “Without oversight, this center is used by criminals and
corrupt officials to imprison citizens or delinquents who rebel. It also serves as a place for criminals to recruit hitmen or drug dealers, or to hide
murderers and all kinds of criminals, such as 29-year-old Luis Alberto, originally from El Dorado, Sinaloa, who had an arrest warrant issued on August
28, 2023 (NUC: 2-5-2023-2630) that the FESC executed on January 20, 2026, while accompanying an operation by COEPRIS BC,” they explained.
“Even on the grounds of the center we found some trucks belonging to the Venaditos,” they added.
THE DELEGATE WITH MORE THAN 9 YEARS IN OFFICE
Luis Damián Ceballos Alvarado was appointed delegate in December 2016 by the PRI mayor Marco Novelo; contrary to the custom of renewing positions to
avoid the generation of interests, the Morena party member Armando Ayala ratified him in his two terms, and the current mayor Claudia Agatón did the
same.
In his complaint following the FESC operations, the municipal delegate of Isla de Cedros, Luis Damián Ceballos Alvarado, recounted that on January
23, he was interrogated, insulted, and accused of colluding with organized crime for over three hours. Although these reported actions were officially
denied by the agents, it is clear they found no evidence because the official was not arrested.
However, the investigation revealed that the delegate was not happy with the presence of the FESC, and the state agents did insistently search for the
delegate, because when they arrived he was not on the island.
Conversations gathered during the days of the operation revealed that the official's family expressed confidence, but explained to the official the
need for his presence to prevent agents from entering their home without a search warrant, as had already happened on a previous occasion.
In the context of the operation, the agents found no evidence linking Ceballos to the Venados. In fact, what worried the delegate most was that they
were "messing with him," demanding gasoline for the patrol cars, so they planned to hide it. He also made sure the officers left the island as soon as
possible, so that things would be "calm," because a fuel shipment that had been delayed due to a lack of transportation was approaching.
“I want those damn cops to see that I have power ,” was one of the phrases uttered by the delegate, who also boasted about his connections
above the state agents: “…the Admiral already told the lieutenant in charge -on the island- to put himself at my disposal.”
As part of that data, the agents reported that it was evident that the delegate and his son Adrián control the entry and distribution of fuel to the
island, in some cases with the irregular support of members of the Mexican Navy.
Investigators reviewed several shipments and discovered cases where the documents indicated they were arriving by boat, helicopter, or small plane
that either didn't exist or wasn't moving, yet the cargo still reached the island. "This demonstrates a lack of control and regulation fostered by the
authorities at the island's ports of entry. They also receive shipments from Servicio Rudametking, a company under investigation for alleged tax
evasion," an investigator stated.
“At this point it was revealed that there is a subject identified as the Admiral, named Fidencio López Chávez, who supports them with the
logistics of the fuel entry and who should be investigated,” warned a state police chief.
https://zetatijuana.com/2026/03/isla-de-cedros-imperio-de-la...
[Edited on 3-16-2026 by mtgoat666]