Soldier of Fortune Magazine The Journal of Professional Adventurers
Border observers have long reported that cartels sometimes leave strange symbols or objects as territory markers along smuggling corridors.
by Heath Hansen
I methodically put one foot in front of the other as I make my way up the hilltop. During this hike, it seems the sun is only getting hotter as I slowly increase in elevation towards the peak. My dogs dart in and out of bushes off each side of the trail as they try to make sense of every smell their noses detect in this small wilderness in the Southern San Diego Mountains. The area sits not far from the Mexican border, in terrain that overlooks parts of the Otay Mountain region long associated with cross-border smuggling activity.
As we reach the top, I take a moment, and gaze southwest towards Upper Otay Lake. I look beyond the lake, and then around me at each small peak in view, when I realize my dogs went into the bushes a few minutes ago, but haven’t yet made their way back out.
As I too head off the trail, I spot the canines sniffing at discarded tuna fish and sardine cans. The cans have been here for at least a few days, and, as I observe the immediate area further, I realize this appears to be refuse from a makeshift camping spot.
I see multiple backpacks (the type elementary school children carry to class daily), discarded sweatshirts, black trash bags, and aluminum space blankets. These are the same types of items commonly found at temporary smuggler staging sites used along human smuggling routes near the southern border. All of these items are randomly thrown within about a 25 meter radius of where my dogs found the canned fish tins.
READ MORE from Heath Hansen on the border: At ‘OP Baby’s Head’, Water for the Cartels, Cross-Border Mules, and a Skull in the Badlands
As I inspect the area further, I notice, at the western edge of the camp radius, a small, naked, rubber, baby doll, sitting atop a rock, looking towards the camp. It’s not sun bleached, or noticeably dirty, but one thing really stands out about it. The right arm is missing. I come in for a closer look and realize the doll is actually glued to the rock. The doll appears deliberately placed, almost like a marker overlooking the camp area.
I can’t help but think of the time I’ve spent on the Southern Arizona Border, specifically at the Baby’s Head gap, a well-known cartel corridor used for smuggling drugs and bodies into the United States. The “Baby’s Head” was part of a doll that had been placed atop a post, right next to a well-traveled path. Border observers have long reported that cartels sometimes leave strange symbols or objects as territory markers along smuggling corridors.
According to Tim Foley, founder and leader of Arizona Border Recon, that head is a cartel warning for everyone in the area that the territory is controlled by Sinaloa.
It’s evident to me that this spot is used by smugglers to get people deeper into the U.S. It’s slightly off the foot trail, and a quick peek through the bushes towards the north gives the spotter a perfect view down to the dirt road roughly 500 meters away. Locations like this are often used as temporary staging areas along human smuggling routes before migrants are moved by vehicle farther into the United States.
As further evidence, I notice a discarded drink bottle, with Spanish text on the label, nearby as well. From everything I see, and the relative proximity to the Mexican border from here, I believe this spot is used as a temporary hiding place while the smuggler groups wait for vehicle transportation.
Keeping this in mind, I call the dogs, and continue my hike in the San Diego Mountains. Maybe I’m completely wrong about what I’ve seen, and just putting many coincidences together to build a story, but no matter how this information can be explained away, I can’t help but notice the eerie familiarity this doll has to the Baby’s Head in Arizona. A doll-head set out by the cartels as an ominous reminder that they are nearby.
A doll glued to a rock overlooking a suspected smuggler camp is the kind of symbol that makes you wonder whether it’s more than just trash left in the brush.
Heath Hansen covers the border for Soldier of Fortune.
