Colonia

---

Nine members of the Mormon community in Northern Mexico , died in an ambush by armed men while traveling from your home to the La Mora ranch to a nearby settlement. But as The Victims , all US-American-Mexican citizens that have come to be in The Line of fire?

The Dirt road That leads through the Sierra Madre mountains is not a place for children to die. Remote, rocky, and cold, it is controlled by men, funded by Mexico , illegal drug trafficking and armed by America's guns.

It so the enemy is about blessed a stretch of road, as in Mexico .

The raw pain of the extended LeBarón Family details deteriorated from the roiling, as The Children met their death on this rocky path - Trapped in a burning, bullet-riddled car.

Eight-month-old twins, Titus and Tiana, who died along with her two siblings, Howard, Jr., 12, and Krystal, 10, and her mother, the 30-year-old Rhonita Miller.

her grandfather in The Aftermath of The Cartel , shot, ambush with His phone, "for the record", as he put it, His voice cracking. The disturbing footage showed a blackened and still smoldering vehicle, the charred human remains, clearly visible in the interior.

up the street, two more cars, also full of Mothers and small children, who were attacked an hour later. In a total of nine people were killed. Most were not all young, some were infants.

Dawna Ray Langford and their sons Trevor, 11, and Rogan, two were killed, in a car, while Christina Langford Johnson, 31, was killed in another. Her seven-month-old baby, Faith, Langford, survived The Attack . She was found sitting on The Floor of The Vehicle in your children.

Perhaps the only consolation for this tight-knit Mormon community is the realization that The Children who died were with their Mothers - a Family United , to their early, violent end.

The Funeral of Dawna Langford and their sons took place This Week , the story of how the LeBarón Clan came to life in such a Dangerous Corner of Northern Mexico is not one of unity But of division, stretching back decades born.

The Mormon fundamentalists began to move to Mexico around 1890, as to break with The Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day saints (LDS). First and foremost, that they separated over the question of polygamy, the practice of the breakaway Mormon groups, while the mainstream forbidden Church , based in Utah, the compliance with U.S. law.

polygamy to be illegal in Mexico - But it was an understanding that The Authorities would look "in The Other direction about their marriage practices," explains Dr. Cristina Rosetti, A Scholar of Mormon fundamentalism, with its headquarters in Salt Lake City .

"The families that went, were not 'fringe families' or 'poor Mormons ,'" she says. "These were the leaders of The Church ; they were not peripheral people. The big names went there. "

LeBarón group patriarch, Alma "Dayer" LeBarón, founded Colonia LeBarón in The State of Chihuahua in the 1920s.

In Time , the Mormon community South of The Border grew in number and wealth.

purchased land in The States of Sonora and Chihuahua, and to Set Up ranches and other colonias. They thrived as pecan farmers grew wheat, planted Apple and pomegranate orchards, and produces honey for sale at the weekly markets. Although many returned to the southern United States after the Mexican Revolution of the 1950s, the Mormon enclaves had populations in The High hundreds or low thousands.

According to Alma LeBarón died, the offshoot was led by His son Joel. Basically, the LeBarón Church , an independent fundamentalist Mormons -a religious community, of which it was today, there are several branches.

It was in this Phase that the LeBarón Family name took on its reputation. Joel's brother, Ervil LeBarón, was the second-in-command, until they fell on the direction of The Church . An unhinged and dangerous Cult Leader who had split 13 wives and numerous children, Ervil and created a separate sect. In 1972, he ordered His brother, the murder, and it is believed Ervil people were killed, dozens of others at His command with one of His wives and two of His children. He died in prison in 1981.

But The Victims of The Massacre in Sonora had nothing to do with Ervil's Church . It is an important distinction, says Dr. Rosetti, between The Family name and religious affiliation.

"Independent Mormons were to marry LeBaróns, and Vice versa, for the generations," she explained on Twitter. "There are three different churches that fall under the 'LeBarónism'. "

The majority of Mormons living in Mexico are members of The Church of latter-day saints (LDS), But in La Mora are mostly independent, Dr. Rosetti said.

In recent years, you have lived a largely peaceful existence, free from the U.S. or Mexican government interference. In the US, But not quite American; in Mexico is not fully Mexican either, The Extremist Mormon group began to soft at the edges a little.

also your loyalty to polygamy has run slowly, although some still practice. Most have dual citizenship and travel back and forth to the US freely and frequently.

"If you say, of Mormon, it is a very large umbrella term for many families," says Dr. Cristina Rosetti. "The fundamentalists are a large roof, and the LeBaróns are. "

But the violence seems to have been again in connection with the LeBarón name.

Relatives visited The Scene of The Shooting to mourn The Dead , It is not easy to stay to, shielded from the Drug War , if you live in Cartel controlled areas of Mexico . The outbreaks of violence began to deteriorate, by the end of 2005, and later grew in intensity and cruelty during the military deployment ordered by Ex-President Felipe Calderón.

His successor, Enrique Peña Nieto headed The Bloodiest in office in modern memory as the cartels expanded first, then splintered and grew new tentacles.

In 2009, the were warned Mormons in the Northern States of Mexico , in the clearest possible terms that they inhabited "tierra sin ley", a law-less country. One of them, Benjamin LeBarón - great-grandson of The Group founder, Alma had spoken about the organised crime. He criticized practised extortion and intimidation, to The Local farmers and created a group called SOS Chihuahua urge to denounce the cities, the grievances to The Authorities .

In July of the same year, Benjamin had moved from His Family home by armed with His brother-in-law, Luis Widmar, to intervene in the attempted. The next day their bodies on The Outskirts of The City was emerged, brutally beaten and with signs of torture.

The drug-Cartel -message to LeBarón Family was clear: not to interfere, and to interfere with our business interests or the smooth operation of our drug routes in the North. Don't talk to The Police or draw attention to things that are happening in these States. To defy such A Warning could cost you a life.

"is It your Livelihood it is killed a little more than 10 years since those armed men, Benjamin LeBarón. In this decade, it seems that His Relatives have some kind of uncertain peace with The Local Cartel in Sonora, a group called Los Salazar, what is a group of the powerful Sinaloa Cartel , the imprisoned drug boss El Chapo Guzman is.

", It is not so, how a whole community can uproot," says Anna LeBarón, Ervil's daughter, who wrote a book about the life of her father's sect by the name of The Polygamist's daughter.

Anna says she has seen the calls for The Mormons again to return to the U.S., But points out that "it is not so easy. "The Mormon community, pre-dates the drug cartels in Sonora, and, although they now live side-by-side, to expect some very violent people, it is not realistic, you just let it be. They are integrated into "very" in the environment," she says.

"such events give people reason to consider their options. But it's a whole community. It is their Livelihood . "

In fact, after The Massacre , some Mormons have described how the drug gangs are just an accepted part of daily life in Sonora. She nodded, as she armed over The Cartel could know their names, would stop at their checkpoints, and show them, they were only the Transport of agricultural products in their pick-up trucks.

Almost from the moment when the news of the attacks broke, The Mexican government has claimed that The Murders were a case of Mistaken Identity . An armed group called La Linea , which is to say, allegedly, from The Ambush , and confused the SUVs of women and children in a convoy of Los Salazar, your Sonora-based rivals, The Authorities .

La Línea, i.e., The Line was originally created by ex-municipal police officers from Ciudad Juarez , said Mexican security analyst Carlos Ulloa Rodriguez.

As The Tiny , hand-carved, wooden coffins are lowered into the rocky soil, the killer certainly seem to have achieved this goal.

Additional reporting by Lauren Turner

mexico, long reads, united states, mexico ambush

Source of news: bbc.com