Vice
Those making a living off harvesting the potent venom of the Sonoran desert toad are getting caught in the crossfire of narco traffickers.
Two years ago, some of the areas of desert where they would hunt had become hot with drug trafficking activity. Since 2016, two groups — El Mayo Zambada and Los Chapitos – had been fighting for control over the Sinaloa cartel as a result of the power vacuum left behind following the conviction and jailing of its former leader Joaquin Guzman, aka El Chapo. The turf war for territory would typically flare up at night, which just so happens to be when the nocturnal toads emerge from their burrows.
That evening back in 2021, Saúl, José and Pedro, had been collecting medicine for several hours when they ran out of water. Saúl volunteered to go to a nearby ranch to replenish their supplies, José recalls. Little did they know that the ranch’s owner had ongoing problems with El Mayo Zambada after he had circumvented them to obtain a permit to extract water. That night, unfortunately for Saúl, the cartel had come to kidnap the ranchero.
“They took Saúl too,” says José. Bizarrely, narcos from Los Chapitos had been following El Mayo Zambada that night and planning an attack – they soon arrived on the scene. A shootout ensued in which Saúl’s kidnappers were caught unawares. They were all killed, and Saúl was taken by the other group, whose members all wore masks. They shot the rancher dead.
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https://www.vice.com/en/article/pkawev/mexican-cartels-dmt-psychedelic-bufo-alvarius-toad-hunters
