The Wall Street Journal - 08.11.2019

A8| Friday, November 8, 2019 **** THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

has come into conflict with the

La Linea group, the armed

wing of the Juárez cartel,

which controls much of Chi-

huahua state and the crucial

transit point of Ciudad Juárez,

across from El Paso.

Relatives of those killed also

view the attack as the result of

a turf war, but they dispute

that the attack was a case of

mistaken identity. Children

who survived have told rela-

tives that before being shot

dead, Christina Marie Lang-

ford, one of the three mothers

killed, jumped out of the car

with her hands up in the air,

yelling that there were only

women and children in the van,

said Kenneth Miller, uncle to

four of the dead children. Mi-

raculously, her 7-month-old

daughter was found unharmed

on the floor of the car.

La Mora residents say that,

despite their fear of the local

cartel members, they have

largely coexisted peacefully

with them, underscoring how

in much of rural Mexico, local

communities often grow accus-

tomed to living side by side

with organized crime.

“They look out for us and

let us know when we should

not be on the roads,” said Ms.

Miller. “We know them by

name. They pretty much run

the place here.”

Adam Langford, who has

twice been mayor of La Mora,

said the local cartel has helped

keep at bay petty crime such as

theft and burglary. “This was a

paradise,” he said. “We’ve

never had problems with any

sicarios,” he said, using the

term for cartel hit men.

He blames cartel gunmen

from Chihuahua for this week’s

tragedy.

A daily part of life here have

been cartel checkpoints

manned by gunmen on local

roads, as the locals seek to

protect their territory from in-

cursions from their Chihuahua

rivals. Residents say for the

most part these checks have

been “respectful.” But that

isn’t the case all the time.

“Once 60 guys came run-

ning down from the hills

screaming to get out of the

car,” says Mark Miller, one of

Loretta Miller’s sons.

The relatives of the dead say

they hope the repulsion the

massacre has provoked in the

U.S. and Mexico will lead both

countries to work to end the vi-

olence. They are conscious that

as dual citizens of the U.S. and

Mexico, and as members of a

politically powerful minority in

the U.S., they have a platform

that other victims of Mexico’s

drug violence haven’t had.

Already, Utah’s two Republi-

can Mormon senators, Mitt

Romney and Mike Lee, have

called the victims, promising

their support. President Trump

has condemned the act and of-

fered Mexico’s President Andrés

Manuel López Obrador assis-

tance in battling drug cartels.

“We want something to

come of this,” said Kenneth

Miller.

The future of the settlement,

surrounded by pecan farms,

pomegranate gardens and cat-

tle ranches, now appears in

doubt. All of the victims are

members of the extended

LeBaron clan, descended from a

Mormon fundamentalist and

polygamist, Alma Dayer

LeBaron, who came to Mexico

in the 1920s.

Now, some of La Mora’s res-

idents are contemplating leav-

ing, not wanting to risk more

dead children.

WORLD NEWS

houses, in the semidesert moun-

tains of Sonora state in northern

Mexico, to pay their last re-

spects to Dawna Ray Langford

and her two young sons.

Many hugged each other

tightly. Sons, a daughter, her

parents and other relatives,

many in tears, eulogized Ms.

Langford, who had 13 children

and two grandchildren. “She

never once made a selfish deci-

sion,” said Crystal Langford,

her daughter, in tears. “It was

always for her kids and her

family.”

Services for six other vic-

tims—four children and two

mothers—were being held here,

but their remains will be taken

back for burial at Colonia LeB-

arón, a community formed de-

cades ago by a dissident faction

of the Church of Jesus Christ of

Latter-day Saints.

During those services, some

of the speakers took a defiant

tone. William LeBaron, the

older brother of Rhonita Miller,

called on Mexicans to resist the

cartel violence. Her charred re-

mains as well as those of her

four young children were found

in a van that was burned during

the attack.

“We go nowhere else be-

cause we can’t,” said Mr.

LeBaron, his voice breaking.

Then, switching to Spanish, he

said: “I cry out for all the towns

in Mexico. The country can get

out of this. Arise!”

Security Minister Alfonso

Durazo said this week gunmen

may have attacked the vans

driven by the women because

they mistook them as belong-

ing to a rival cartel. Turf wars

have exploded over trafficking

routes for methamphetamines

and synthetic opioids in So-

nora state.

The routes are controlled by

a faction of the Sinaloa cartel

known as the Salazars, but it

LA MORA, Mexico—Resi-
dents of this breakaway Mor-
mon community days ago were
busy planning at least two wed-
dings. Instead, they gathered
Thursday to bury several of
their own, young children and
mothers killed in a barbaric at-
tack earlier in the week.
As they wrestled with their
grief, residents of the commu-
nity struggled to understand the
reasons for the attack, which
many believe was the result of a
turf war between a local cartel
that most know and coexist with
and a drug cartel based in neigh-
boring Chihuahua state.
While the Mexican security
officials say they believe gun-
men attacked the convoy by
mistake, members of the fam-
ily believe they were targeted.
“It was no accident. It was
deliberate,” said Loretta Miller,
53 years old, the mother-in-law
of victim Rhonita Miller and
grandmother of her four dead
children. “We just don’t know
why our family was targeted.”
Those being mourned Thurs-
day were part of a group of
three women and six of their
children, all dual U.S.-Mexican
nationals, who were traveling
in three separate vans when
they were massacred by sus-
pected drug cartel gunmen on
Monday. Eight children, most of
whom suffered wounds, sur-
vived the assault. The attack
has horrified Mexico and
strained relations with the U.S.
Hundreds of mourners
formed a long line in this en-
clave of American-style ranch

BYJOSÉ DECÓRDOBA

Van Ambush

Victims Are

Laid to Rest

Members of breakaway

Mormon community

in Mexico say families

were targeted

Members of the Langford family attending a memorial service, above,and loading coffins in La Mora, northwestern Mexico, on Thursday.

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