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The drug traffickers are easily identifiable in Culiacan, the capital of Sinaloa state, mainly because they are among the people who can afford expensive American cars with four-wheel drive to make it through the Sierra Madre Occidental for their treasure. The bosses dominate the local culture to such an extent that after a recent mountain shootout in which one soldier and twelve civilians were killed, local chiefs called in friendly newsmen to report the incident as a case of government brutality inflicted upon defenseless civilians. For printing the story, the reporters received about $450 apiece.
Condor is having some impact: drugs are scarcer on U.S. streets, but how long-lasting that will be is still difficult to determine. U.S. narcotics agents are impressed by the aggressive Mexican efforts, but they have also learned in Nepal, Turkey and Southeast Asia that peasants who have finally found a lucrative cash crop can be wily and aggressive. In Mexico the destruction of planted fields and the arrests of several overlords, including Jorge Favela—a local godfather who has been sought in half a dozen other countries for drug trading—have led to fierce internecine battles for control of the business. The favored weapons are M-1 American-made carbines, preferred in the mountains for their light weight and accuracy; lately gunmen have been using Soviet-made AK-47 automatic weapons. brought home by U.S. veterans of Viet Nam and exchanged for drugs. As a result, the drug dealers in Culiacán are helping Condor's work; the death rate last year was running at 2.7 corpses a day. Postsiesta funerals, rolling through the streets of the provincial capital, have become commonplace, although judicious citizens take pains to ignore the processions. Explains a local journalist: "If you don't watch the funerals and don't get involved, this place is as safe as Disneyland." And much more unreal.