'Get out of the country!' Mormons massacred by Mexican cartel face backlash from president’s supporters.

After a deadly November attack, Mormons who have spoken out against Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador have drawn the ire of his backers

NOT LDS MORMONS BUT HERETICS, APOSTATES, POLYGAMISTS KICKED OUT OF UTAH

Supporters of Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador shout slogans at people participating in a march for peace in Mexico City, on January 26, 2020. - The march for peace, led by Mexican poet and activist Javier Sicilia and Mormon activist Julian LeBaron, reached the National Palace at Zocalo square to demand the government to modify its anti-crime strategy amid the wave of violent crimes that shakes Mexico.PEDRO PARDO/AFP via Getty Images

Reuters and National Post Staff January 27, 2020

They were the focus of global sympathy in the wake of a deadly November attack that saw many family members killed. Now, though, Mexico’s Mormon community is coming under pressure from supporters of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who accuse them of backing his enemies.

November’s gangland attack on a remote stretch of road in northern Sonora state killed three mothers and six children from the LeBaron and Langford families, who settled in the region decades ago. Their vehicles came under heavy gunfire and were torched, with security experts saying evidence suggests the massacre was carried out by a Juarez Cartel faction known as La Linea, and may have a been a case of mistaken identity. Factions of the Sinaloa and Juarez armed groups fight over lucrative cross-border smuggling routes in the area in question.

In the attack’s aftermath, many local Mormons fled back to the U.S., unconvinced that Mexican authorities could guarantee their safety. Others, though, stayed and became vocal critics of both the cartels and Lopez Obrador, who is under increasing pressure amidst a surge in nationwide violence. On Sunday, the AP reported that a pilgrimage by relatives of murdered Mexicans, led in part by Mormon families, was accosted by backers of the president, who loudly heckled marchers.

Mormons Julian (L) and Adrian LeBaron, relatives of victims of an ambush in northern Mexico in November, take part in a march for peace and honour Mackenzie, a girl who survived another massacre in which three women and six children were killed, by taking off a shoe, in Mexico City, on January 26, 2020. PEDRO PARDO/AFP via Getty Images

“Leave the country!” they shouted at the Mormon contingent of the Caravan for Truth, Justice and Peace. The caravan had intended to leave a letter for Lopez Obrador at the National Palace in Mexico City. Instead, his supporters accused caravan members of being in the pocket of the president’s opponents.

The AP reported that near Zocalo plaza, in the city centre, hundreds of Lopez Obrador supporters shouted at the peaceful protestors: “It’s an honour to be with Obrador” and “Get out!”

Among the marchers was Adrián LeBaron, whose daughter perished in the attack, as did four of his grandchildren. In recent months LeBaron and a handful of Mormons have become strident critics of government policy. Julian LeBaron, Adrián’s cousin, told the Guardian recently that the Mormons who dared to remain feel a degree of protection because of their links to the U.S. Nearly all of the family members are both U.S. and Mexican citizens, meaning they can easily travel, or relocate, between both countries.

However, the family’s critics have now apparently grown tired of their increasingly outspoken views, which — as dual citizens with freedom of movement — come from a position of relative privilege.

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A supporter of Mexican Oresident Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador shouts slogans at people participating in a march for peace in Mexico City, on January 26, 2020. 

PEDRO PARDO/AFP via Getty Images

“We have dual citizenship. We have the protection of the FBI and Donald Trump’s tweets that scare the bejesus out of some people. Who the hell else is going to say something?” LeBaron told the Guardian. In the aftermath of the Mormon killings, Trump had tweeted that it was time to declare war on the drug cartels.

“They kill four women yesterday in Ciudad Juárez and tomorrow it’s not going to be news. (But) they killed three women and some kids from our family and it’s international news,” LeBaron said.

Earlier this month, Lopez Obrador pledged that those behind the massacre will be punished and that the truth surrounding the crime will eventually come out. But his fledgling administration has floundered amidst a renewed cartel bloodbath.

Mexico suffered its worst year for homicides in 2019, with a record 34,582 victims, official data shows, underscoring the challenge Lopez Obrador faces. He assumed the presidency in December 2018 pledging to pacify the country with a less confrontational approach to security, but violence has continued rising, with the number of homicide victims 2.5 per cent higher in 2019 than a year earlier, according to the security ministry data.

Adrian LeBaron (4-R), father of Rhonita Miller -one of the nine Mormon victims of an ambush the past November- speaks during a gathering after a march for peace at Zocalo square in Mexico City, on January 26, 2020. 

PEDRO PARDO/AFP via Getty Images

Mexico has used its military in a war on drug cartels since late 2006. But, despite the arrest or killing of leading capos, the campaign has not succeeded in reducing drug violence and has led to more killings as criminal groups fight among themselves. Already, Lopez Obrador has seen several spectacular security setbacks play out on his watch.

In a speech before extended Mormon family members near the U.S. border earlier this month, Lopez Obrador promised to keep relatives appraised of the investigation into the ambush.

“There will be justice,” he declared, addressing the small crowd from an outdoor stage set against the rugged mountains that surround the town of La Mora, home to the victims.

Lopez Obrador said the investigation was making progress, but did not give details. Earlier in the day, he met privately with relatives of the victims for about an hour, after traveling nearly four hours by car to the town.

Hundreds of mourners gather for the burial of a mother, her months-old twins and two other children on the fringes of a township founded by breakaway Mormons in Mexico, in a second funeral for the victims of a brazen armed ambush https://t.co/LPZBpNMozM pic.twitter.com/BI7WnSEqhg— Reuters India (@ReutersIndia) November 9, 2019

Founded

La Mora, like other northern Mexican settlements where relatives of the large families live, was founded decades ago by breakaway Mormon leaders who fled the U.S. seeking a safe haven for their polygamist beliefs. Lopez Obrador was warmly received during his visit.

“Thank you for being here at such a painful time,” said Margaret Langford in brief remarks in Spanish, describing her family as broken.

“I love this country,” she added, “and it hurts me to my soul that I can’t live here.”

Langford recently left La Mora, like many other relatives who have fled. Loretta Miller, grandmother to four of the children killed, estimates that 80 per cent of her brothers — and sisters-in-law and their families have left and do not plan to ever return.

Mexican authorities has so far arrested seven suspects in the case. At least two other arrests of suspects linked to La Linea have been made in the U.S., but it is unclear if they are connected to the massacre.

Two months after tragedy struck, beefed-up security has helped calm the holdout residents. Today, roads in and around La Mora are patrolled by hundreds of heavily-armed soldiers, helicopters buzzing overhead. But with only a few families staying put, at least one village is being hollowed out, with homes lying vacant. The ambush left a once-strong faith deeply shaken in the picturesque hamlets the families have called home for generations.

“La Mora will never be the same,” said 27-year-old Kendra Miller, whose brother Howard lost his wife Rhonita and their four children in the attack. “There are families that will come back to visit, but they’re not going to live here again because they don’t feel safe.”

Some locals complain that the police presence before November’s attack was almost non-existent, but since then army soldiers and National Guard troops have flooded in, along with FBI and Mexican investigators.

Members of the Lebaron family watch the burned car where some of the nine murdered members of the family were killed during an ambush in Bavispe, Sonora mountains, Mexico, on November 5, 2019. HERIKA MARTINEZ/AFP via Getty Images

The large families that have populated this part of northern Mexico, nestled among rolling hills and gurgling rivers, stem from breakaway Mormon communities that began fleeing the U.S. more than a century ago in search of safe havens for their polygamist beliefs.

They built ranch-style homes with orchards where the young children of growing families could ride their bikes and play all day outside.

Like Miller, many wax nostalgic about care-free childhoods, even if their own kids might be raised elsewhere.

“I was set to get married one week after the massacre,” she said, “and now my fiance wants us to live in the United States.”  

 

Members of the LeBaron family watch the burned car in which some of the nine murdered members of the family were killed during an ambush in Bavispe, Sonora mountains, Mexico, on November 5, 2019. HERIKA MARTINEZ/AFP via Getty Images

On an impromptu tour of the area, Miller points out the many homes that sit eerily empty, once tidy gardens overrun with weeds.

Other family members describe how kids suffer from recurring nightmares, and those relatives who have left fear coming back.

While they are a distinct minority, there are those among the families who argue against leaving.

“I’m not going anywhere,” said Mateo Langford, whose sister was killed in the attack.

“Bad things happen in every corner of the world, including in the United States. We just can’t run away,” he said.

As he sorted pecans from last year’s harvest, Mateo’s brother Steve Langford, whose sister Christine was killed, said he will stay put as well. He said his immediate plans are to help his cousin David with the harvest, and try to convince him to stay too.

David lost his wife Dawna and two of their children in the attack.

Another remains hospitalized with a gun shot wound to the jaw.

“I’ll never leave here,” said Langford.