Potrero de Los Medina Airstrip

The airstrip was forcibly closed and destroyed by Mexican military forces. The reason was its exclusive use for illicit activities by drug trafficking organizations, primarily the Sinaloa Cartel. Badiraguato is the birthplace of major cartel leaders, including Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán, and is the heart of the 'Golden Triangle' (Triángulo Dorado), a region notorious for the cultivation of opium poppies and marijuana. The airstrip was a critical logistical node for flying drugs out of the remote, mountainous region and flying in cash, weapons, and supplies. Its destruction was a direct action to disrupt the cartel's operational capacity.

The site is abandoned and confirmed to be unusable as an airfield. When the Mexican military destroys these clandestine runways, they typically use explosives to create a series of large craters down the length of the strip or use heavy machinery to dig deep trenches across it. This makes it impossible for any aircraft to land or take off. The area has likely been reclaimed by local vegetation and remains an undeveloped, remote site. Given the continued heavy military presence and ongoing cartel activity in the Badiraguato municipality, the location is inaccessible and dangerous for civilians.

Potrero de Los Medina Airstrip (MX-0049) had no history as a legal, commercial, or public-use airport. Its entire significance is rooted in its role as a clandestine ('pista clandestina') airfield for organized crime. For decades, such airstrips have been essential to the Sinaloa Cartel's business model. Operations would have included:
- **Transport of Narcotics:** Small to medium-sized aircraft (like Cessnas) would use the strip to transport processed drugs such as heroin, methamphetamine, and cocaine from the mountains to transfer points closer to the US-Mexico border.
- **Logistical Support:** It served as a vital link to the outside world for cartel operations hidden deep in the Sierra Madre Occidental, allowing for the transport of personnel, food, communication equipment, weapons, and cash.
- **Evasion of Authorities:** Its remote location provided a high degree of secrecy, allowing aircraft to operate with a lower risk of detection by ground-based law enforcement.

There are absolutely no plans or prospects for reopening this airstrip for any legitimate purpose. Its sole identity is that of a criminal infrastructure asset. Any attempt to repair or reactivate the runway would be immediately interpreted as an effort to support drug trafficking and would be swiftly targeted again by Mexican authorities. The government's policy is the continued identification and destruction of such sites, not their conversion to legitimate use.