Strategic Sahuayo, Michoacan

Historical Reference - for context and precedence

Vincente y Marta

A brief retrospective view of the narco connections during Presidente Vincente Fox's term in office has to include his present change from PAN to PRI. You may recall that Presidente Fox was the very first Panista to become president of the Mexican Republic. I don't know that his change of affiliation has anything to do with the drug trade. Likely it does not. I'm simply trying to keep the context going.

In the Fox Presidency, Marta Sahagun Jimenez (Mrs. Vincente Fox) provided the discrete connection to the narcotics cartels. After the election, Francisco Sahagun Vera (Marta's cousin) joined with Marta Sahagun's children to sell plazas. They had a solid connection to Presidente Fox, but enough distance to insure some degree of insulation if a scandal developed (and it never really did).

Arturo Durazo Moreno

Francisco Sahagun Vera used his father's juice with various cartels to represent MEXGOV interests in the plaza trade and of course, he kicked back some of the profits to his father and his father's patrons.

Francisco Sahagun Vaca (or alternatively, Baca), father to Francisco Shagun Vera, served as 'the right hand' to General Arturo Durazo (El Negro) Moreno. El Negro Durazo was the only five-star Mexican general in history. During the LOPEZ PORTILLO presidency, El Negro Durazo was Director of Public Security for the State of Mexico. El Negro Durazo want to prison for a few years because he was a drug dealer/kingpin but Francisco Sahagun Vaca never did. 

Where is Francisco (Pancho) Sahagun Vaca today?

The empty tomb in Sahuayo

Francisco Sahagun Vaca "owns" the city of Sahuayo, Michoacan. The city earned a reputation for many years as "Bermuda Triangle" because containers on trucks shipped from the Port of Manzanillo to Mexico City had to pass through that area on the highway. Containers with valuable cargo entered but never left. That's not quite the case anymore, but Francisco Sahagun Vaca still runs the town and is very rich. He's also a wanted criminal and nobody has ever arrested him. He set up a mausoleum in the local graveyard for himself (and for his son whose demise is recorded below). Allegedly Francisco Sr. is dead - but if you ask around you'll find that he's very much alive and well, still in the drug trade but flying below the radar (except for the odd blog) these days.

There has been occasional speculation as to Francisco Sahagun Vaca's cartel affiliations**. I doubt that he pays tribute to any individual cartel. His position in the strategically critical Sahuayo, Michoacan makes him a force to be reckoned with. He needs to maintain friendly relations with LCT/LFM. But he's a lot like an old snake, guarding treasure in a cave.

**MEXGOV announced that La Familia Michoacan is dead, though it isn't. There are still some cells of LFM around even though most of them have reaffiliated with Los Caballeros Templarios, now run by Servando (La Tuta) Gomez Martinez. La Tuta has not been well and while usually thin, he's lost weight and is even thinner than he's been in the past. I don't know if it's something fatal or if the lifestyle is simply weighing on him.

Where is Francisco Sahagun Vera today?

As with many Mexican narcos, he's six feet under in the cemetery. Maybe he's interred in his father's vault?