NARCO HOMICIDES: "The Real" Number 100-200+ Thousand

August 19, 2012, 4:07 pm

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Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat

"Assuming that a similar rate of murder continues through the remaining months of this year, the homicide toll at the end of Calderón's presidency will add up to 110,061 victims” ..Molly Molloy

Molly Molloy has written an analysis of the narco death toll in Mexico. The above quote is what she states with respect to the total in Calderon’s presidency.

I admire and respect Molloy, however I think her totals are a bit conservative.

My estimation is double Molloys number at 200 thousand+

Below is an explanation on how I arrive at that number.

In her post she states that only four Mexican states do not report homicides. I read a report 2 years ago that stated Tamaulipas had no agency tracking narco related deaths. Further, there previously was a non-profit tracking the murders, however, they had disappeared from working in the state. Therefore I am suspicious of the newly found Tamps counts. Two years ago there were 7 states that lacked any official count, and now magically counts have appeared for four.

In a move that is an amazingly blatant misrepresentation of numbers and woefully disrespectful towards victims, The NHRC, (it is directed by a PAN Representative), recognizes only 111 deaths of civilians in 2010 and 43 in 2011. Perhaps the government perceives that citizens can erase from their memory such atrocities as the 2010 San Fernando Ranch Massacre in Tamps of 72 Central American migrants, or the 2011Boca Del Rio Veracruz mass killing of 35, subsequently deemed as having no connection to organized crime. This according to its own PGR agency.

This year the PGR at their National Conference estimated that at least 25k bodies were in clandestine fosas (graves) between the years of 2006-2011. This is the same government that stated there were 111 deaths of civilians in 2010. The truth of the matter is, as stunning as 25k may seem to the majority of people, in truth even 25k is in all probability doesn't come close.

2011 Durango City Fosas

A portion of the slaughter in Veracruz killing of 35

In "hot" states such as Durango, Zacatecas, Coahuila and Chihuahua, in the vast mountains and the massive barren terrain there must be a higher number of dead buried in undiscovered graves. The aforementioned Mexican states are not only violent but Coahuila and Durango has been without any “official” death counts during the drugwar. It would be safe to assume that in the hills and land of the four states highlighted in this paragraph, there are at least 6K per year, which brings one to the government figure of 25k. 25 thousand bodies in undiscovered graves in four states alone.

To grasp the magnitude in which the graves add to the homicide tally, one year later and near the abandoned ranch where the slaughter of the 72 occurred, clandestine graves were discovered containing hundreds of bodies in a small geographical area. During the exhumation of the Tamps graves, in Durango City, another discovery of graves were found in various places of the city, the number of bodies found in Durango surpassed the number of those discovered in Tamps.

In looking at the geographical whole of Mexico, in two cities, relatively speaking, in two small pockets of land hundreds of "missing" victims, some missing for years, were in reality murdered, not "missing".

"Missing" Economic Migrants

Anyone viewing the photos of the San Fernando (Tamaulipas) ranch in the aftermath of the slaughter of 72 Central Americans migrants, will never forget the gruesome, shocking horror captured on film.

In the aftermath of the San Fernando slaughter, there were two survivors. The plight of one survivor was highly publicized around the globe. Credit his escape with the world knowing of what happened to 72 economic migrants in August 2010. There is no doubt those bodies would have been buried in clandestine graves. Had there been no survivors, and the executed buried perhaps the fate of the migrants would have been forever unknown and 72 dead people would have been listed as “missing”

72 executed Central American economic migrants in San Fernando, Tamaulipas

Luis Garcia, an investigator with the National Human Rights Commission, said the number of unidentified bodies continues to grow, as has the number of missing persons. There is a proposal for a national data base with information of missing persons, but to date the government is still trying to get it up and running.

No one knows exactly how many of those unidentified bodies were killed in drug-related violence or how many people are missing at the hands of cartels because such a study has never been done, Garcia said

The“missing” must be factored into any reliable narco death tally. “Missing” economic migrants are known to be the prey of cartels, in particular the Zetas. From Chiapas to Tamps, they are kidnapped, extorted, raped, forced into working in the sex trade, criminal activities, and are killed. Then there are those that vanish, vanished to the tune of 50k in 6 years. At some point they must be declared dead and placed in the drugwar dead column.

Contributing incalculable factors:

The number of omissions or misreported homicides is unknown; however it is known that cities and states that deaths will intentionally misidentify deaths as natural “accidental” or even “suicide”.

Then there is the counting in of itself. I frustratingly refer to this as “Messican” math. 3 agencies are at the same crime scene and one will report 8 bodies, another 5, and yet another 12.

States lacking "official" must be taken into account. 4-7 states are without official counts. Hot spots such as Coahuila, Durango and Tamps.

Molloy mentions the many articles from respected sources that are now beating the drum of the hidden figures. One recent article being from Reforma, an extraction below:

“La falta de investigacion de los homicidios por parte de autoridades estatales y federales, la ausencia de coordinacion para determinar cuales estan vinculados al crimen organizado y cuales no, ademas de una metodologia endeble, son factores que impiden conocer la cifra real de ejecutados, opinan especialistas en seguridad publica. “

"The lack of investigation of homicides on the part of federal and state authorities, the absence of coordination to determine which are linked to organized crime and which not, and weak methodology, are factors that impede knowing the real figure of executed, reports security specialists." Reforma

Building on Molloy's "count" of 101K

Add the 50K for "missing migrants", 25K for undiscovered fosas, and a very conservative number for 6 years of 6k total in the 4 states with no counts, one can see how a number of 200K can be reached, quickly and conservatively without consideration of other factors.

Below is the analysis from Molly Molloy of the narco death toll in Mexico. Her calculation totals 101,203 murders during Calderon's term. She also hits on the issue of the number of innocents. In a recent report of hers she stated:

“Mexican government along with some media outlets state that 90 percent of those killed in the violence involved in the drug trade, Molloy argues that out of the 10,800-plus victims killed in the border city of Ciudad Juárez since 2007 the vast majority of them had no involvement in the cartels. With a population of only 1.2 million residents, Ciudad Juárez accounts for 10 percent of all of Mexico's murder victims since 2007.”

We may never know the official tallies, as the Mexican Government ceased publishing their official counts.

The Following is Molloy's post:

This article by Luz del Carmen Sosa appeared yesterday in EL DIARIO…I have not found a link to the original yet, but this one from puronarco.comseems to be complete. There is also a translation from Borderland Beat. If anyone has the full original version of the article from El Diario, please post or send me the link.

Highlights: government data from the Public Ministries of 28 states on homicides (specifically homicidios dolosos or intentional homicides) were provided through the Mexican transparency law (similar to the US Freedom of Information Act). The data reveal that from Dec 1 2006 when Calderon took office up through December 2011, there have been at least 83,541 homicides. The four states that DID NOT report homicides are: Coahuila, Durango, Morelos and Tlaxcala. I know from following media reports and in looking at the previous releases from different government agencies that Coahuila and Durango have been very violent during the years of Calderon’s administration. Some of the most violent mass killings have been reported from the Lagunera area that includes parts of both Coahuila and Durango state. The investigation is continuing with the effort to obtain data from these states as well. The officials are legally obligated to provide the information.

At least 8.4 percent of the victims nationally are women, though state authorities cannot determine the sex of 184 of the bodies counted. Most of the homicide victims are between the ages of 21 and 30.

The states with the most homicides are Chihuahua (16,592) and Estado de México (8,602). Though not in the article, it should be noted that the Estado de Mexico (essentially includes all the population in the central area around the capital city minus the population of the Distrito Federal) and it is the largest in population of all the states of Mexico with more than 15 million inhabitants. Chihuahua with twice as many homicide homicide victims has a population of 3.4 million

The article reports 1,304 of the 16,592 homicide victims in Chihuahua state were women–the highest number of “feminicidios” in the country. This statement is relatively meaningless in terms of the statistics because Chihuahua also had by far the highest number of homicides overall. The percentage of female victims in Chihuahua is actually about 7.8 percent, slightly lower than the overall percentage of female victims in all of the states reporting (8.4 percent). So in relation to the TOTAL victims, there were relatively fewer female homicide victims in the state of Chihuahua compared to those in the other states. In other words, yes, there are more murders of women in Chihuahua than in any other state. But that is because there are so many more murders total in Chihuahua… And, the percentage of female victims is actually slightly LOWER than in other states.

The article does not give the exact figure reported for Ciudad Juarez, but says that the city had the highest number of homicides in the state, followed by the capital, Chihuahua City. The border city of Juarez had nearly 11,000 murders from Dec 2006 through December 2011 and accounted for 13.4 percent of all the murders in Mexico.

In terms of the quality of the data, the article indicates serious omissions. Chiapas (for example) reported only 77 murders in the time period (dec 2006-dec 2011) but the official reporting for the public ministry there says:

“From 2006-2009 no record was found of any homicidios dolosos.” Chiapas appears only to have started counting in 2010.

Extrapolating from these data provided by the public ministries of the 28 states reporting, we have a base number of 83,541 homicides from Dec 2006-Dec 2011, we can use the number reported nationally by the Sistema Nacional de Seguridad Publica (SNSP) of 8,622 homicides between January-May 2012.

That is an average of 1,732 homicides per month. [see: Insight Crime for this number from SNSP] … Considering that the murders have been reported to be decreasing slightly in 2012, let’s estimate an average of 1,500 homicides per month for June-November 2012 (Pen~a Nieto will take office Dec 1 2012) for an estimate of 9,000 more homicides for the remainder of Calderon’s term. Added to the 92,203 as of the end of May we get an estimate of 101,203 homicides. Keep in mind that the data obtained through the transparency law and reported in this article does not include ANY numbers from 4 states, including two very violent states: Durango and Coahuila.

Dec 2006-Dec 2011 = 83,541

Jan-May 2012 (SNSP data) = 8,662

TOTAL as of end of May 2012 = 92,203

Estimate June-Nov 2012 = 9,000

Est. TOTAL Calderon’s term = 101,203

For a person who was always bad at math, I am polishing up at least my arithmetic. I have looked at the numbers reported by INEGI for 2005-2010. From those numbers we can at least get 4 years of data quickly for the states that did not report homicide numbers and this gives us another estimate of at least 106,392. Considering the missing data and state entities that seem not to have counted homicides at all for several years, I believe it is very reasonable to estimate that by the end of Calderon’s administration more than 110,000 Mexicans will have been victims of homicide.

For a shorter version of my "Killing of Innocents" article follow the hyperlink to the one published in Insight Crime

UPDATE 8.29.12
In todays sinembargo there is an post about this subject
Here is an extraction:

The Government has the obligation to provide true figures. Never did. When they tried to count the number of children killed during the war, they then refused to give the number. We knew over the network for the rights of children in Mexico in October of last year that its accounting provided the figure of 1,400 children executed. They are tiny "collateral damage” hidden by the Government under the mat .

Calderón prefers to hide thousands of deaths under the carpet. The US State Department said last March that the figure was 150,000 dead.

Calderón prefers to hide thousands of deaths under the carpet. He thinks we will forget.

He is mistaken. Every person, every human being, every woman, every man, every child, every elder, every mother, each parent; grandfather or brother, uncle, nephew, friend, known, neighbor... have full name. And someday them we will have one by one, although we take years, decades.. The Government does not want to talk about another reality: those displaced by the violence. Entire villages have been emptied. .In November of last year we learned that 1 million 600 thousand people left their homes in Chihuahua, Sinaloa, Tamaulipas, Coahuila, Durango, Baja California, new León, Michoacán, Guerrero and Veracruz, according to a study of Fidel Lopez Garcia, academic of the Instituto Jose Maria Luis Mora and consultant to the United Nations for displaced people.

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Entire police force quits: Guadalupe y Calvo

August 20, 2012, 10:05 am

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Diario

Translated by un vato for Borderland Beat

Chihuahua. 8-19-2012. The Guadalupe y Calvo municipality was left without public safety personnel after members of organized crime organizations threatened to kill them early yesterday morning, report confidential sources. In the afternoon, a group of Ministerial Police traveled to the town to carry out patrol duties, although they are expected to arrive early this morning.

"We're very scared, there's no police and we're at the mercy of sicarios (killers) because the few Judicial policemen don't want to come out, they're scared, too, and of course they're afraid, because just a few days ago they killed their police chief in Baborigame," says a resident. He stated that for some time the municipality has been in a state of fear because sicarios from Sinaloa are coming in through Morelos or through Dolores.

"The Army doesn't do anything here, you see armed people everywhere, they know there are a lot of sicarios from Sinaloa but they don't arrest them; they (the Army) have the means with which to do this, but it looks like they don't want to, so, who else is going to (arrest) them?" said the complainant.

"We need help, we need for the authorities to be aware that the residents of Guadalupe y Calvo are in danger. Last night, at the seat of the municipality (seat of municipal government), we were left without police, they all left, about 40 police officers, including the commander and the director. They all turned in their weapons and left because the sicarios threatened them and now there's nobody left to protect the residents. The police offices are closed, so it the mayor's office. We need somebody to protect us because we are honest, hard working people and we're afraid we'll be murdered for no reason. They shoot people to death almost every day and nobody does anything," he adds.

Yesterday afternoon, State Attorney General staff confirmed the (police) disbandment in Guadalupe y Calvo. For this reason, a group of ministerial police officers was organized to be transferred to the mountain community to help the residents while the problem of lack of municipal police is resolved.

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Ghosts from the Past

August 20, 2012, 8:09 pm

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By ACI for Borderland Beat

Jorge Miguel Aldana Ibarra, a man who is currently wanted by the DEA for his alleged participation in the torture and murder of Kiki Camarena is a free man in Mexico. Aldana Ibarra was linked to the crime by several witnesses that were also convicted in Kiki's death. But before we reveal what he has been up recently, a little history.

The story of Kiki Camarena has been told many times. It has been regarded as a major escalation in the war on drugs.

This is an excerpt from a piece I wrote some time ago that gives some background on Kiki.

Enrique Camarena, an agent with the Drug Enforcement Agency began working in Guadalajara in 1981. His goal was to find out how powerful the Guadalajara Cartel had become. At the time he was only one of a handful of agents working within Mexico. He spent years infiltrating the Guadalajara Cartel for the DEA and had built close ties to El Padrino. Everything was going according to plan until the betrayal.

Miguel reacted and had Enrique kidnapped, tortured then killed, to serve as a warning to any who might want to disrupt cartel business. The blow back was historic; the United States began the largest murder investigation in its history. It did not take long before Miguel was identified as a target of interest. The United States put an enormous amount of pressure on the Mexican Government to apprehend Miguel. It would take the authorities 5 more years before they would be able to secure his arrest in 1989.

While this tells of how Kiki betrayed the powers that be, there is much more to this story. BB has received numerous documents detailing the kidnapping and torture of Kiki. The people who were present might surprise most who are not familiar with the story. One of those involved was Jorge Miguel Aldana Ibarra.

Jorge Miguel Aldana Ibarra has a long history with drug traffickers, dating all the way back to the Guadalajara Cartel. He once held the coveted position as the head of INTERPOL in Mexico. He led the greatly promoted “Operation Pacific,” which targeted 114 gangs and six thousand suspects. Authorities seized over 11 tons of narcotics and an arsenal of thousands of high-powered weapons. It was promoted as one of the greatest blows against organized crime at the time. He was thought to be incorruptible; it’s amazing how wrong this assumption was.

This is an actual memo by Special Agent Arthur Werge detailing the kidnapping, torture and murder of Kiki:

(XXXXXXXXXXXXXX) AVW: bbb

On September 9, 1992, (XXXXXXX) provided the following information:

The DEA agent Camarena, was kidnapped for his relationship with Sarah Cossio, a mistress of Rafael Caro Quintero, with the initial intention simply to "heat him up" and teach him a lesson. Camarena was, indeed, severely beaten and tortured. As a result, Javier Garcia, also known as the little chief, gave the order to kill him. Camarena was taken in a gray van to the ranch of Emilio Caro Quintero, current located on the grounds of La Primavera, where he was buried in one of the animal pens on the ranch. The special pen was on the left side of the entrance to the ranch. He was buried there by RAMON COSSIO OF MORA, "El Guero" Velasco, and (first name unknown) RIVERA RODRIGUEZ. After he was buried alive in Caro Emilio's ranch Quintero, the body was moved to another ranch, El Mareno, a helicopter owned by the Attorney General transported the body. All recordings of the interrogation and torture of Camarena were recorded by MAGDALENA SANTILLAN. Statements were given to Miguel Aldana Ibarra. According to source, NDP Alcaraz, a Mexican man who runs gambling operations in Guadalajara, Mexico has the actual possession of these recordings.(XXXXXXXXXXXXXX) AVW: bbb

In March 1985 Newsweek accused Jorge Miguel Aldana Ibarra, then director of Interpol-Mexico, of protecting a Honduran drug trafficker who was being pursued for Camarena’s death. Aldana Ibarra is said to have delayed his detention while the man stayed in a hotel in Mexico City. The PRG also reported that Aldana Ibarra protected Caro Quintero, Jaime Figueroa Soto and other traffickers. They also reported that Aldana Ibarra was there during a meeting of both government and cartel heavy hitters who were discussing options for dealing with the DEA. It was at this meeting which they decided that they had to send the DEA a message.

What make this even worse is that there have been several claims that he was an actual participant in Kiki's death. He has been charged with this offense in the United States. There have been several witness accounts which not only implicate Aldana Ibarra in covering up the torture and killing but also place him at the scene, some going as far as to say he participated in the torture.

He was arrested in Mexico in 1990 at his home in Cuernavaca, 51 miles southeast of Mexico City. Agents confiscated 2.2 pounds of pure cocaine, six automatic rifles and several rounds of ammunition. His extradition to the United States never happened. He was later released and has been walking around Mexico a free man, our source claims he is untouchable.

The indictment of both Aldana Ibarra and his cousin Ibarra Herrera caused quite a strain on US Mexican relations. There was an enormous amount of pressure from the United States to extradite these people. It seems however that wasn’t enough; neither lives in fear of extradition to the United States. Mexican authorities have even released a statement saying that they will not pursue criminal charges against the two.

The crimes he is charged with in the United States are as follows:

· Violent Crimes in Aid of Racketeering

· Conspiracy to Commit Violent Crimes in Aid of Racketeering

· Conspiracy To Kidnap a Federal Agent

· Kidnapping of a Federal Agent

· Felony Murder of a Federal Agent

· Aiding and Abetting

· Accessory After the Fact

http://www.justice.gov/dea/fugitives/la/aldana.htm

Here is a link to his indictment:

http://www.reneverdugo.org/pdf/Pleadings/Superseding%20Indictments/6th%20Superseding%20Indictment.pdf

Aldana Ibarra has been quite busy since becoming a free man. He has started his own law firm called Corporativo J.M. Aldana I & Asociados. It represents many people connected with organized crime. He also purchased the newspaper Excelsior which reportedly cost 150 million dollars to acquire.

As if to add insult to injury, Aldana Ibarra started a NGO named Confederación Nacional de Seguridad y Justicia (CONASEJU), or National Confederation of Security and Justice of Mexico. This organization has held several marches with the association of famed poet Javier Sicily. Aldana Ibarra has also held many talks with government officials regarding the strategies of Garcia Luna and Calderon. This is quite striking considering he is wanted in the US for murder and kidnapping.

And for those who may think Aldana Ibarra has changed his life for the better, he was recently involved in a violent incident in 2011 while at a strip club. Armed men burst through the front door assaulting many patrons. He and his son were both injured and the culprits were arrested.

The DEA has been notified of his home address, personal telephone numbers as well as the vehicles he drives, their license plates numbers and the names of his security team. There is even information on the guns they use, which are illegal I might add.

The DEA upon being notified of this information responded to this new information saying, “He is untouchable for reasons which cannot be discussed.” They would not elaborate further on this.

What chance is there for Mexico when people like Aldana Ibarra are allowed to not only walk free, but to play the role of savior and defender of innocents? We cannot verify why law enforcement are unable to act on the information presented. It is clear however from the information we have received that there is great reluctance on the part of the DEA to pursue the information further. We leave the rest up to speculation.

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2011 had the most homicides: INEGI

August 20, 2012, 9:48 pm

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≪ Previous: Ghosts from the Past

Proceso

Translated by un vato for Borderland Beat

MEXICO, D.F. (proceso.com.mx) 8-20-20120. 2011 has been the year with the most homicides in this country, according to reports from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi). According to the organization, last year there were 27,199 homicides in Mexico, while in 2010, the number reached 25,757.

The state with the most homicides was Chihuahua, with 4,502, while the state with the lowest number was Baja California Sur, with 42.

In 2005, before the current six year (presidential) term started, Inegi reported 9,921 homicides. The number grew every year, except 2007.

With respect to the number of homicides per 100,000 population, the state with the highest number was again Chihuahua, with 131,and the lowest (index) was Yucatan, with three cases.

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12 armed suspects die in Tamaulipas

August 20, 2012, 10:04 pm

≫ Next: Mexico Supreme Court allows military personnel to be tried in a civilian court

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By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com

A total of 12 unidentified armed suspects were killed by units of the Mexican army in two separate gunfights in Tamaulipas state Monday, according to Mexican press accounts.

An Agencia EFE wire dispatch which appeared on the website of Info7.com, said that at around 0830 hrs an army unit encountered several armed suspects travelling aboard a Ford Lobo (F-150) pickup truck near Ejido Cruz and Carmen.

A total of five men and one female were killed. Five rifles were also seized.

A second confrontation took place at around 1200 hrs when a Mexican Army unit engaged in a firefight with armed suspects in Ejido Francisco I. Madero, near Barretal in Padilla municipality. The suspects were travelling aboard a Jeep Patriot SUV when the exchange took place. Four suspects died in the vehicle while two others attempted escape and were found in a nearby residence.

Five assault rifles were seized in the aftermath.

Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com

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Mexico Supreme Court allows military personnel to be tried in a civilian court

August 20, 2012, 11:47 pm

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Proceso

Translated by un vato for Borderland Beat

MEXICO, D.F. (apro). 8-20-2012. Mexico's Supreme Court (SCJN: Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nacion), ruled that the surviving relatives of Bonfilio Rubio Villegas, executed in 2009 at a military road block in Huamuxtitlan, Guerrero, are entitled (have standing) to bring a writ/suit of amparo to prevent the soldier who was responsible for the death of their family member from being tried in a military court. In addition, the ministers (justices) held that the relatives of the (deceased) Nahua native should be recognized as contributing parties in the criminal proceeding that has been initiated against infantryman Valentin Alejo Hilario, accused of negligent homicide.

During the discussion about the amparos and the limits of military jurisdiction, the justices voted in favor of the ruling proposed by (Minister) Olga Sanchez Cordero, which recognizes the legitimacy of the surviving family members. Her position was adopted by (Ministers) Arturo Zaldivar, Jorge Prado, Juan N. Silva Meza, Jose Ramon Cossio and Sergio Valls, who pointed out that the rights of the claimants must be recognized so that the the proceeding can be heard by a civilian (non-military) court.

Ministers Guillermo I. Ortiz Mayagoitia, Sergio Aguirre Anguiano and Margarita Luna Ramos voted against (that argument), because they believed that the relatives of Bonfilio Rubio Villegas did not have the right to challenge the competency of the Sixth Military Judge, who granted a formal order of imprisonment against Valentin Alejo Hilario on charges of negligent homicide.

With their vote, the ministers rejected the arguments presented by the President of the Republic, Felipe Calderon Hinojosa, who had pointed out that the surviving family members did not have the right (to challenge competency) because "there was no concrete judicial proceeding against this," and because the claimants did not certify that they had a judicial interest.

They considered that it was sufficient to apply recently reformed Article I of the Constitution, which expanded protection of human rights, and the sentence issued by the Interamerican Court of Human Rights (CIDH: Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos) in the Rosendo Radilla case -- which held that military jurisdiction does not apply when there's a crime committed against civilians or when the matter has nothing to do with military discipline-- to grant the claimants the amparo.

According to Zaldivar, the CIDH has stated that crime victims and their families must be considered victims and should be allowed to participate in the proceedings."It is not only Mexican government's constitutional and international duty (to recognize this right), but also its ethical (duty)," he declared.

However, Aguirre Anguiano points out that this does not mean that any relative has this right, they have to be the lawful successors of the victim.

"Talking about relatives and family members is very sensitive. If they are going to substitute for the victim that is no longer present (who already died), at least they should be legitimate successors," he insisted.

In the session, which lasted about one hour, Luna Ramos held that her vote against the proposed ruling is because the 2008 Constitutional Amendment, which recognizes the right of the victims' surviving family to file for an amparo and challenge not just the damages, but also any action taken in the criminal proceeding or during the criminal investigation, has not become effective yet, and is therefore not applicable here.

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Over 1 million seized in Tijuana

August 21, 2012, 12:46 pm

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Sinaloa Cartel drug proceeds seized in Tijuana

Last night, agents of the PEP (State Preventative Police), during a coordinated traffic stop, arrested two men, driving a van, southbound to Rosarito. Inside the van, hidden in boxes, and in multiple denominations was 952,000 dollars in cash. The money was in smaller bills, consistent coming from drug sales and distribution, one roll contained 6,000 $5 dollar bills. The two men arrested in the operation are alleged to be in the service of a Sinaloa Cartel cell operating in Tijuana.

Elias Lopez, 'El Panther', and Armando Limon Arrenado were the two men detained, who told officers the money was bound for Culican, Sinaloa, via Rosarito, or Baja Sur, and was proceeds from drug sales in the Los Angeles area. 'El Panther' led authorities to another safe house, where the PEP arrested two women, Ana Patricia, and Sandra N, 47, and 30 years old. An additional 102,000 was seized at the residence, apparently hidden inside a couch.

This is the latest in a series of, of escalating seizures and lost product for the organized crime groups that operate in the city. In recent months, thousands of pounds of marijuana have been lost along the Southern California coastline, which is thought to belong to Sinaloa cells operating in Baja. More then 700 pounds of marijuana were seized last week at the Otay Mesa crossing, hidden in bundles of carrots.

Two weeks ago 12 kilos of cocaine, thought to be Sinaloa owned were also seized in Tijuana. 90,000 said to belong to the group under Fernando Sanchez Arellano, and also said to be from drug sales in Los Angeles was confiscated after an arrest earlier this summer. One point of notice is the minimal amount of cocaine seized at the border crossings, and in the city itself. This suggests a lack of product being moved across the border, or in the city at all. Last year, seizures of upwards of 250 kilos were occurring, at a much higher volume.

Violence in the city has slowed to a crawl, with a minimal amount of murder among organized crime groups. High profile arrests linked to the cells of Sanchez Arellano occurred earlier in the year, but things have progressed as normal, with no violence, or escalation of conflict following the arrests.

Sources, AFN Tijuana.

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DHS Seeks to Detect Ultralight Aircrafts Used by Drug Traffickers

August 22, 2012, 11:12 am

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Borderland Beat

Ultralights DHS looks to detect the aircraft when being used to smuggle drugs into the US

As the war on drugs continues with every sunrise and sunset, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has awarded a contract just short of $100 million for a specialized system which will be able to detect ultralight aircrafts which are used to smuggle drugs across the border.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) started thinking about such technology more than two years ago. Drug cartels now use slow moving aircrafts that fly at low altitudes, making it hard for radars to detect, in order to transport drugs. The agency has called this “an immediate, high-priority threat” and asked contractors for an existing sensor technology that could enable authorities to identify and monitor low-profile aircraft attempting to smuggle drugs into the United States.

Federal Aviation regulators classify ultralight aircrafts as any aircraft with one seat, weighing up to 254 pounds, and carrying five gallons of fuel.

California Watch reports that last week DHS awarded SRCTec Inc. a $99.9 million dollar contract to produce the system. Officials want the system to be able to track as many as twenty-five “items of interest” at any time and to be capable for deployment in remote areas.

This grant is part of the Secure Border Initiative (SBI) which was launched during the Bush administration and has continued through the Obama administration to use twenty-first-century technology to help officers more readily to identify border crossers and expand the area they could patrol more effectively

Two years ago SBI suffered major setback when a planned “virtual fence” of radars, sensors, and surveillance cameras did not meet expectations. The lead contractor, Boeing, received hundreds of millions of dollars from the program before DHS secretary Janet Napolitano concluded that the fence known as SBInet was hopelessly hobbles by shoddy technology, cost overruns, and missed and delayed deadlines.

The name of the program was dropped but the government continued to fund border surveillance technology, despite years of costly spending that saw little or no success dating back to the Clinton administration.

Authorities have made up for the lack of success with SBInet by using pricey drones that cost between $18 and $20 million each and by using thermal imaging devices in truck beds that help Border Patrol officers track smugglers and illegal crossers at night.

Lawmakers and the president earlier this year approved the last piece of legislation introduced by Representative Gabrielle Giffords (D-Arizona)., which targeted ultralights, before she was seriously injured in a mass shooting in Tucson in 2011. The Ultralight Aircraft Smuggling Prevention Act of 2012 seeks to close a legal loophole by stiffening penalties for smugglers who use the aircraft for drug trafficking.

Source: Homeland Security News Wire

posted on BB forum by Havana

↧

NEW VIDEO: Tuta Speaks Emphasizes Z40 Must Be Killed

August 22, 2012, 9:43 pm

≫ Next: Michoacan: Discovery Of Ovens Used To Incinerate Bodies

≪ Previous: DHS Seeks to Detect Ultralight Aircrafts Used by Drug Traffickers

By Chivis Martinez for Borderland Beat

What does the life

of one man matter,

when the future

of mankind is in danger

The quote is attributed to Ernesto "Che" Guevara the Argentine marxist guerrilla leader, the camera zooms in on those words at the beginning of a new video released by the Knights Templar cartel.

The backdrop of the video is crammed with an odd assortment of items apparently important and carefully chosen by the narrator of the film, Servando Gomez Martinez. Among the items include; A photo of Che with the quote, the Mexican flag, a photo of Che with Fidel Castro, the former leader of Cuba, a statue of a knight, next to a hanging saber, a weapon and various photos and books.

Gomez Martinez is the leader of the Knights Templar, who is also known as “La Tuta” or “El Profe”, as a homage to his former teaching profession.*

In the video Tuta speaks to citizens, narcos, and President Felipe Calderon. The title of the video is “Communication (from) Los Caballeros Templarios (Knights Templar) Michoacán Guard”

After the close up of Che’s quote the camera pans out until the entire setting is in view and at that point Tuta enters the room, takes a seat and begins his narrative.

The Following is the narrative: (translated from Spanish by Chivis)

"Good afternoon citizens, of our city, our state, and our beautiful Mexico. We here present before you to let you know who we really are, what our group stand for, and what our intentions are.

Many of you know me from various situations in the media, in magazines, and from the many things spoken of me. You can call me as you like, “El Profe”, “La Tuta”, I do not care, I am your friend, that’s the way we would like to be seen as, as friends, we are friends of the people and of the country.

Our brotherhood, our group, our organization proudly present themselves as The Knights Templar. We are not a cartel or any organized crime group. We are a brotherhood and we were founded by a set of statutes and codes. " (he is holding a pamphlet of the organization mission and codes, see photo)

For The Knights Templar is important to follow rules. Our intention is that everything in this city, this state and in our country, operates in the most appropriate way as possible. We are not interested in the slightest in causing chaos and terror. We want you to understand that only by adverse situations, we are here today as a necessary evil. Later, I will tell you our motives and what we want.

In the these booklets, these statutes, were carefully crafted under strict program, and not just based on me, or what I say, but by a competent group of people who belong to our organization, to our brotherhood to the Knights Templars, together we have carefully developed the program.

These booklets instruct all our members, all of our boys, what to do and what not to do. And everything within it is as legal as possible. We say what is prohibited, what can be done and what cannot be done. For our members strictly prohibited is; theft, kidnapping, murder for hire, rape and all those crimes that hurt, they cause so much harm to our society.

Our only role is to help the people, preserve our state, and keep our country free of people who are causing terror.

There will be times when we will have to apologize to society for wrongdoing committed by our boys and I assure you with the word of a Knight Templar, we will address these issues and find a solution to the problems.

I don’t think they commit them with bad intentions. Because if they do, (he holds up the booklet), in here it says what will happen to them. These mistakes these boys make, or even those I am capable of committing or any of our high ranking members, will not be accepted if done with bad intentions. And if it is done that way they must apologize to society, and apologize to Mexico.

We will live by the codes. Why are we doing this?

So we can handle things in a way that does not harm society. If at times we must publically apologize to society, we will, because we want society to have confidence in making us see and feel the mistakes we make. So we will not make them again. We love our family, we want to work and live in peace. It sounds a little controversial, but that is what we want: to live in peace.

(Appealing to other narco groups to unite against Los Zetas) We also appeal to all the groups that exist in Mexico. Groups that, for certain reasons the television or radio calls “offenders”. And also all those groups that are legally constituted as civil organizations, to come together and make a common front to fight against Los Zetas, especially against Z-40 Miguel Angel Trevino Morales, as this person with his boundless ambition has caused so much terror and social confusion in our country, in our Mexico.

He is the primary cause of all that is happening in Mexico: robberies, kidnappings, extortion, and anything that may lead to such actions. We recognize that sometimes our guys are wrong, but there are rules and they will have to pay for mistakes, under no circumstance will we allow them to be made, here in our Mexico.

We are inviting all groups whether they are those of the Gulf, Sinaloa, Jalisco's, wherever they exist, including many groups that exist in Guerrero, many organizations. To all we are inviting them to make a common front to attack the Z-40, attack Miguel Angel and kill him. In general It is an open invitation to perform this.

We would also like to appeal to the President of the Republic, Mr. Felipe de Jesus Calderon Hinojosa to take action on the matter and see what is happening in our country. That Z40 is largely responsible for many of deaths that have occurred in our country, so far more than 150,000 deaths and as much or more still missing.

This cannot do gentlemen, we, our brotherhood we are willing to cooperate in the best way we can to solve this problem that has caused harm to our Mexico

We want to contribute to the harmony and development of our people, of our country. We will cooperate in finding a solution. We want that somehow the National Action Party, which is in power, and the Federal Police led by Genaro Garcia Luna, act responsibly. We ask very respectfully that they take responsibility and act according to the truth, not to take sides in criminal groups so to speak. We reiterate our organization is no cartel, and not an organized crime group, we are a brotherhood The Knights Templar.

The media, television and radio, have completely distorted what is happening in our country. Gentlemen journalists, we offer you an invitation to act with professionalism and tell the truth of what is happening in our country, not only what suits the party that is in power or currently representing the Government of Mexico.. Take responsibility, act as professional journalists.

We also want to issue an invitation to the new senators and deputies who will take over, to see what we are sending as a good thing, we have no commitments at all with any political party, our commitment is to our people of Mexico.

All we want is for this to work, we are a necessary evil, but here in Mexico is a way to fix ourselves. If the interests of other countries do not include what happens in Mexico, educate your people or take care of your country.

We also want to ask our Mexican Army, the Armed Forces of Mexico and Marina, who proudly represent us in our country, and who are legally established from the beginning of our Constitution, the Constitution of the United Mexico, to act as they should. Be gentlemen.

All of our respects for the Marina (navy) and for the military."

"Thank you"

(With that last sentence, Tuta rises and leaves to leave the room)

*Tuta the “teacher" continues to recieve his paycheck..

La Tuta translates to The Teacher, El Profe means The Professor.

Mexican security forces would like very much to capture, or even kill, reputed crime boss Servando “La Tuta” Gomez, leader of the cultlike Knights Templar drug gang.

But getting Mexico’s Education Ministry to stop sending Gomez paychecks may prove a much bigger challenge.

According to Mexico’s El Universal newspaper, the former schoolteacher is still on the payroll, even though federal prosecutors are offering millions in reward money for his capture — and despite the fact that he hasn’t set foot in a classroom in more than a decade.

What’s worse, Gomez was issued checks totaling more than $2,000 in the first three months of this year, although the paper first reported the unseemly payments in December. Mexican lawmakers opened an investigation, demanding to know why Gomez — who was also indicted for drug trafficking by a New York federal court in 2009 — hasn’t been fired.

“Firing a teacher is nearly impossible here, a true bureaucratic labyrinth,” said Otto Granados, a professor of public policy at Mexico’s Tecnologico de Monterrey university. “This kind of thing happens all the time,” he said, citing a recent study that found that more than 100,000 Mexican teachers were drawing salaries despite not showing up for work.

The country’s main teachers union — the largest in Latin America — is a political juggernaut so powerful that it assigns jobs through an extensive system of patronage, Granados said. Only teachers who have been convicted of a crime can be fired, and since Gomez remains at large, he apparently can’t be taken off the payroll.

Gomez, whose nickname “La Tuta” means “the teacher,” first registered as an educator 15 years ago at a small rural primary school in his home town of Arteaga, in Michoacan state. He taught there for a few years, then tried his hand at farming, and ended up working with local drug smugglers, according to George W. Grayson, who has written extensively about the La Familia drug cartel, of which Gomez was a founding member. The group became famous for its bizarre Christian-themed worldview and for beheading and burning alive its enemies.

A thank you goes out to 777 of Borderland Beat Forum, for helping with a translation

↧

Michoacan: Discovery Of Ovens Used To Incinerate Bodies

August 23, 2012, 8:24 pm

≫ Next: Their Dreams Ended in The San Fernando Massacre

≪ Previous: NEW VIDEO: Tuta Speaks Emphasizes Z40 Must Be Killed

Borderland Beat

Timely in view of Tuta's drivel video production.....Paz, Chivis

Impacto El Diario:

The Mexican army dismantled a camp that was used for the killing, burning and burial of victims, according to military reports. The military report said that in place, military personnel found at least six mass graves containing bodies dismembered and incinerated.

It was reported that during patrols carried out by soldiers, they discovered the site where suspected criminals were operating. There were three rustic ovens and fires that were used for the incineration of bodies, also found were six clandestine graves with remains humans.

Identity of the victims and their partial identification and gender is unknown due to the condition in which the remains were found, he said. This finding apparently led to the capture of two alleged extortionists who were in possession of cellphones containing pictures and videos of torture, mutilation and burning of people.

Those arrested were identified as Juan Carlos Rodriguez Chavez nicknamed "El Zarco" and Jose Manuel Valencia Barragan "The Vampire", who were arrested on 16 August.

InSight Crime Analysis:

Michoacan is disputed territory for three of Mexico's main criminal organizations: the remnants of the Familia Michoacana, their offshoot the Knights Templar (Caballeros Templarios), and the Jalisco Cartel - New Generation (CJNG). Michoacan has been the scene of some particularly gruesome acts of violence, such as the tossing of five severed heads into a nightclub in 2006, the killing of 12 federal police officers in 2009, and the torture and murder of two young paramedics in June this year.

The use of makeshift ovens to burn the bodies of victims was a tactic used by Colombian paramilitary groups in the early 2000s. The former leader of the Catatumbo block of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), Ivan Laverde Zapata, alias “El Iguano,” confessed that he ordered the construction of cremation furnaces to avoid the discovery of mass graves by authorities. He admitted to burning the bodies of over 100 people over the course of several years in Norte de Santander province. Verdad Abierta reported that the practice was also used by paramilitaries in Antioquia to eliminate evidence following executions.

See AJ's Post of this story at Borderland Beat Forum

Insight Crime's full article HERE

↧

Their Dreams Ended in The San Fernando Massacre

August 24, 2012, 1:56 am

≫ Next: MEXICO CITY: 2 US Embassy Officers & 1 Mx Marina wounded by Gunfire From Federal Police

≪ Previous: Michoacan: Discovery Of Ovens Used To Incinerate Bodies

Translated by Un Vato for Borderland Beat

An abandoned San Fernando Ranch was the site of the execution of 72 migrants

Two years ago there was a massacre that shook the nation and the world. In an abandoned ranch in the Tamaulipas municipality of San Fernando, Zetas murdered 72 migrants. Men and women (one of these a young girl) who refused to cooperate with the mafia were machine gunned to death, a few miles from the border they were trying to reach to escape poverty

El Diario/Proceso

San Fernando, Tamaulipas. 8-18-2012. In Pasaquina, El Salvador, there were two parallel lives that did not come together until the end: Yedmi Victoria Castro and Francisco Antonio Blanco, born 15 years apart. She, a 15-year old who wanted to study medicine. He, 30 years old, looking for work to provide for his wife and children. They both began a trip that ended in this municipality, where they were murdered along with 70 other Central Americans in August, 2010.

This was the mass murder that uncovered the "sewer of migrant abuse, although those massacres had been happening for several months previous (to this)," states psychologist Alberto Xicotencatl, director of the Saltillo shelter Belen, Posada del Migrante.

Yedmi and Tonito (as he was called) lived in the Department of Pasaquina, near the border with Honduras. She, in Penitas, and he in El Tablon, housing areas where misery and neglect predominate.

She lived with her grandparents, was in her junior year in high school and was going to New York to join her mother, Mariluz Castro. Yedmi had just celebrated her 15th birthday feast. A 20-year old who had come from Nicaragua was courting her and wanted to take her to live with him. When her mother heard about this, she decided that her daughter would join her.

Tonito wanted to play soccer with his children and teach them his love for the Barcelona (team), but poverty was asphyxiating him, so he decided to emigrate. He and Yedmi's mother sought out a coyote (migrant smuggler) and agreed to pay him $7,000.00, half of it in advance and the rest of it when they got to the United States, two or three weeks later, with a guarantee that they could make three attempts.

"In El Salvador there are three ways to emigrate. The safest way costs around $20,000.00; the traveler arrives by airplane at a private airport in the United States," explains Edu Ponces, an expert in the Central American migration phenomenon.

San Fernando, Tamaulipas-- The majority of the 500,000 Central Americans that cross through Mexico every year choose the cheapest (way): La Bestia (The Beast), the freight train where organized crime robs, rapes, kidnaps and kills. Mexico's National Commission on Human Rights documented 9,758 kidnappings in six months, from September, 2008, to February, 2009, but it is estimated that adding up the "black number" (the kidnappings not reported), the number could reach 18,000 per year, about 50 per day.

There's another option. It costs $6,000.00 to $8,000.00 per person, and it involves traveling by highway from Tapachula or Tenosique along the gulf coast up to the northern border. It's a little over 2,000 kilometers, plagued with police and criminals who often work together to extort travelers, from each of whom they get from $500.00 to $5,000.00 dollars.

This is the way Yedmi and Tonito traveled, on freight trucks, hidden among cargo, or in buses, passing themselves off as common travelers wearing Mexican soccer team jerseys. When they were told they were entering Tamaulipas, the young girl called Penitas.

"She called me here at school one morning. She said, 'We're almost there, we're doing very well, we're traveling with a bunch of people,' and I told her that was great, that, God willing, they would get there OK," recalls Aracely Flores, the principal of the Penitas school.

On the Tampico-Reynosa stretch, Yedmi and Tonito were traveling with 70 other Central and South American (travelers) distributed between two freight trucks. Some of them had paid up to $10,000.00 dollars to get to the border. They thought they were safer this way. The shortest route was on Federal Highway 101, which goes through the San Fernando municipality. That's where the two freight trucks were headed.

Click to enlarge

'Highway node'

During most of 2010, the San Fernando municipality had suffered from constant confrontations between Zetas and members of the Gulf Cartel. General Miguel Angel Gonzalez, Commander of the Eighth Military Zone based in Tamaulipas, tells this journal that this isolated town is very important because "it is a node where several highways-- strategic for drug smuggling-- come together."

In addition, the highways and roadways in the area are connected by dozens of local roads and trails known only to the locals; these roads form a great grid that takes you to the cities on the Tamaulipas border. Despite its privileged location, San Fernando is a neglected area, affected by ongoing droughts that weaken agriculture, without businesses to create jobs and with commerce affected by the violence. The large businesses have left the town that years ago was a bustling place, attracting tourism due to its proximity to the Laguna Madre. Today, it is a town where one breathes fear.

"The lack of opportunities forced the young men in the area to become involved with organized crime," says an older man who asks us not to reveal his name. In contrast, the prosperous organized crime activity needs an "army:" in addition to the drug trafficking, this "army" is in charge of extortion, kidnapping, large scale theft of gasoline, control of pirate (videos), illegal businesses and car theft.

After the break up of old alliances, , the area was disputed for several months. "That's what caused the confrontations to get bloodier in the area and that's what affected the population...the cartels charged piso (extortion), this would affect production and force businesses to close. San Fernando has a fishing industry, but they would charge fishermen extortion payments. The production of sorghum was also affected," emphasized General Gonzalez.

The narco war divided the city. Neighbors, friends, even relatives, would accuse each other, not with the police but with rival cartels. Mafias marked their territories and would impose controls. They placed roadblocks and "even cloned military uniforms," so that (people) could not even trust the traditional Army checkpoints.

In the end the Zetas took control and imposed their rules. The group's high command, Heriberto Lazcano, El Lazca, and Miguel Trevino Morales, El Z-40, appointed Salvador Alfonso Martinez Escobedo, La Ardilla, as chief of the area. He in turn placed a former soldier, Edgar Huerta Montiel, El Wache, as lieutenant for San Fernando, along with Martin Omar Estrada Luna, El Kilo, who, in practice, acted as the the area chief.

El Kilo is one of the best examples of the barbarism that today characterizes Mexican narcos. He was born in Mexico but lived in the United States. His first "schools" were the gangs in northern California, among them "Los Nortenos." He also lived in the small town of Tieton, Washington State.

Toward the latter part of the 90's, he was imprisoned for breaking and entering and illegal carrying of weapons. The police classified him as "narcissist and extremely violent." He was deported for the first time in 1998. He came back (into the U.S.), was recaptured and he was placed in a prison where he helped four inmates escape, although, due to his size and his weight of more than 220 lbs, he couldn't use the hole they opened on the jailhouse roof to escape.

They deported him again. He went to Tamaulipas, where he had relatives. There, the Zetas recruited him to be a "burro" (donkey or mule) (transporting drugs that came in through the Laguna Madre and were taken to the border). He was quickly promoted after a year due to the arrest of several Zeta leaders and the deaths of others. He quickly became the head of a drug distribution network in the streets of Reynosa.

From the day he got to San Fernando, Estrada went all over the town openly carrying weapons. He'd get out of his vehicle with his weapon to make purchases in the stores on the main square, where the mayor's office is located. He had 20 of the 34 San Fernando police officers on his payroll. Among other measures he took was establishing a curfew that forced people to stay indoors after 9:00 p.m. He also created an army of young girls that worked as "guards."

The strict surveillance and controls they imposed were so the "golfos" would not come in to retake the town. The Zetas were aware that early in 2010, the Gulf Cartel had formed an alliance with Sinaloa to eliminate them.

The strict measures included El Kilo inspecting every bus that arrived at the municipality. "A bus would arrive every day, and every day they would make the passengers get off the bus to investigate them, to find out where they were coming from. They would inspect the messages on their cell phones. They would allow any people who were not involved to leave. The rest we would kill," said the Wache when he was interrogated by the Federal Police. From his paranoid point of view, all the young men who were going to the border could be recruited by the rival cartel. El Wache confessed that they had killed the 72 Central American migrants on Lazcano's orders, because they thought "they were going to Metro 3," the Gulf Cartel boss in Reynosa.

End of the road

That afternoon in August 22, 2010, the two freight trucks were traveling on Highway 101. About nine miles north of San Fernando, the hopes of the migrants ended and their nightmare began; they encountered three vehicles blocking the highway carrying armed men with their faces covered.

"We're Zetas," they identified themselves, then asked the migrants to get off the trucks. Then they took them in pickup trucks to the warehouse of an abandoned ranch. There, 58 men and 14 women were taken down off the trucks and placed against the walls in the store room. First, they questioned them to find out where they were coming from and what they did for a living. They all denied they were working for the Gulf Cartel.

Their captors wanted to force them to work for them, but the migrants refused the offer. In the face of such a refusal, they made them lie down on the floor with their faces (facing) down. They told them not to look up and then shot them with bursts of bullets from assault rifles. To make sure nobody was left alive, they fired the coup de grace into their heads.

A man from Ecuador who was not hit by the bursts of gunfire and whose coup de grace went into his neck and came out through his jaw pretended he was dead and waited until the executioners left. He left the ranch and walked almost 15 miles until he found some marines and asked for help. "The massacre was a little while ago," he told them, but they didn't believe him.

The incident was reported to their superiors, who ordered an aerial reconnaissance of the area. That afternoon, when the Army helicopter was flying near the store room, they were attacked by criminals who were going back to the site get rid of the bodies.

It was getting dark on August 23 and the Marines withdrew to Matamoros. But they came back to the ranch the next day with reinforcements. There they found the 72 bodies.

After the murders of the migrants were discovered, El Kilo and his staff fled. They hid in Ciudad Victoria. Nevertheless, he was arrested there along with 11 accomplices on April 14, 2010. Two months later, they captured Huerta Montiel in Fresnillo.

The masterminds of the massacre are still free: La Ardilla and the two Zeta leaders, El Lazca and Z-40, who ordered the murders.

Yedmi and Tonito returned to Pasaquina in September, 2010, in coffins draped with the flag of El Salvador.

Graphics by Chivis

↧

MEXICO CITY: 2 US Embassy Officers & 1 Mx Marina wounded by Gunfire From Federal Police

August 24, 2012, 3:03 pm

≫ Next: "Z40": Has Seized Leadership Of The Zetas

≪ Previous: Their Dreams Ended in The San Fernando Massacre

Borderland Beat

El Sol Update Press Release Confirmation:

OEM Online Mexico City. - The Mexican Navy confirmed that federal police who were shot at a diplomatic vehicle, wounding two officers from the U.S. Embassy and a member of the Navy. In a press release, the dependence said that the incident took place when two embassy officials, accompanied by an element of the Navy, is heading for a visit to the facilities of the Navy of Mexico on the hill of El Capulin, in the municipality of Xalatlaco.

Soldiers guard an armored U.S. Embassy SUV after it was fired on by gunmen and federal police on the highway leading to Cuernavaca, Mexico. Two U.S. government employees were wounded. The Mexican Navy says there was apparent confusion about who was in the vehicle, which bears diplomatic plates.

The following post is from Mc Clatchy, written by Tim Johnson. It is a better overview of what happened:

Mexican federal police opened fire Friday on an armored vehicle carrying U.S. government employees, wounding two, in a confusing incident in which it wasn’t clear if the police were trying to help or harm the Americans.

The shooting occurred around 8 a.m. on a wooded stretch of a mountain road and came after the embassy vehicle apparently already had escaped an ambush that had been laid by four other vehicles, according to a joint statement from the Mexican navy and the Public Security Secretariat.

That ambush took place when U.S. personnel and an employee of the Mexican navy were headed to a mountain installation known as El Capulin. The U.S. vehicle, a gray four-door Toyota SUV, had left the main highway and had turned down a dirt road when a vehicle with armed men cut it off.

When the embassy vehicle sought to return to the main highway, the assailants opened fire. Three other vehicles carrying gunmen joined the chase, firing on the embassy vehicle.

The Mexican naval official radioed for help, and Mexican army and federal police units were summoned, the statement said.

Mexican news reports said the embassy vehicle had reached the main two-lane highway heading toward Cuernavaca when federal police opened fire. Photos show that the embassy vehicle had clearly visible diplomatic license plates.

The government statement did not provide an explanation for why the federal police fired on the U.S. vehicle or indicate whether federal police might have confused the embassy vehicle for one carrying the assailants. It said the federal police involved were providing explanations to prosecutors to determine if they had criminal responsibility.

Photographs from the scene showed that gunmen pumped at least 30 rounds into the armored SUV, bringing it to a halt in the middle of the two-lane highway, its tires punctured. The vehicle suffered crash damage to its right front.

Mexican news reports identified the U.S. employees as Stan Dave Boss, 62, and Jess Garner, 49. After the shooting, the two were taken to Cuernavaca’s Inovamed Hospital, arriving at 9:10 a.m.

“They arrived in stable condition. They were conscious,” said Mercedes Alcalde, a social worker at the hospital. She said they were transferred at 11:30 a.m. to a hospital in Mexico City.

U.S. Embassy spokesmen declined to say which federal agency the two work for or to provide details of their mission in Mexico.

“It did not involve the DEA,” said Barbara Carreno, a spokeswoman for the Drug Enforcement Administration.

A Pentagon spokesman, Lt. Col. Tom Crosson, said the ambush was “not an event that we’re tracking,” and that the victims were not U.S. military personnel “as far as I know.”

The Mexican navy did not immediately respond to requests for information on the purpose of the El Capulin installation.

Mexico’s 35,000 or so federal police have an increasing role in the fight against the crime gangs that wrack parts of Mexico, the main conduit for cocaine from South America to the United States.

Better equipped than municipal and state police, the federal police have been afflicted by corruption, underscored by a shootout in the Mexico City airport June 25 when several federal officers shot and killed three co-workers mounting a drug sting, then fled underground.

“You have different pieces of the state working for different crime groups,” said Edgardo Buscaglia, a security expert and senior scholar at Columbia University. “I’m very doubtful that this was just an accident.”

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/08/24/163495/mexican-federal-police-wound-2.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter#storylink=cpy

Link to KRGV video with information about the armor on this vehicle LINK HERE

Thanks to BB reader "Michael" who sent me this story as it was breaking

Read Tophers post on BB forum of the same story HERE

Photo source: Informador

↧

"Z40": Has Seized Leadership Of The Zetas

August 24, 2012, 7:24 pm

≫ Next: Taking A Look At The “Zetas-Cross” Theory

≪ Previous: MEXICO CITY: 2 US Embassy Officers & 1 Mx Marina wounded by Gunfire From Federal Police

Borderland Beat

Miguel Angel Trevino aka Z40 Rises In Zetas Cartel

By Mark Stevenson and Eduardo Castillo

A split in the leadership of Mexico's violent Zetas cartel has led to the rise of Miguel Angel Trevino Morales, a man so feared that one rival has called for a grand alliance to confront a gang chief blamed for a new round of bloodshed in the country's once relatively tranquil central states.

Trevino, a former cartel enforcer who apparently has seized leadership of the gang from Zetas founder Heriberto Lazcano Lazcano, is described by lawmen and competing drug capos as a brutal assassin who favors getting rid of foes by stuffing them into oil drums, dousing them with gasoline and setting them on fire, a practice known as a "guiso," or "cook-out".

Law enforcement officials confirm that Trevino appears to have taken effective control of the Zetas, the hemisphere's most violent criminal organization, which has been blamed for a large share of the tens of thousands of deaths in Mexico's war on drugs, though other gangs too have repeatedly committed mass slayings.

"There was a lot of talk that he was pushing really hard on Lazcano Lazcano and was basically taking over the Zetas, because he had the personality, he was the guy who was out there basically fighting in the streets with the troops," said Jere Miles, a Zetas expert and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement special agent who was posted in Mexico until last year.

"Lazcano Lazcano, at the beginning he was kind of happy just to sit back and let Trevino do this, but I don't think he understood how that works in the criminal underworld," Miles said. "When you allow someone to take that much power, and get out in front like that, pretty soon the people start paying loyalty to him and they quit paying to Lazcano."

The rise has so alarmed at least one gang chieftain that he has called for gangs, drug cartels, civic groups and even the government to form a united front to fight Trevino Morales, known as "Z-40," whom he blamed for most of Mexico's violence.

"Let's unite and form a common front against the Zetas, and particularly against Z-40, Miguel Angel Trevino Morales, because this person with his unbridled ambition has caused so much terror and confusion in our country," said a man identified as Servando Gomez, leader of the Knights Templar cartel, in a viedo posted Tuesday on the internet.

A Mexican law enforcement official who wasn't authorized to speak on the record said the video appeared to be genuine,

"He is the main cause of everything that is happening in Mexico, the robberies, kidnappings, extortion," Gomez is heard saying on the tape. "We are inviting all the groups ... everyone to form a common front to attack Z-40 and put an end to him."

Trevino Morales has a fearsome reputation. "If you get called to a meeting with him, you're not going to come out of that meeting," said a U.S. law-enforcement official in Mexico City, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic.

In two years since Zetas split with their former allies in the Gulf cartel – a split in which Trevino reported played a central role – the gang has become one of Mexico's two main cartels, and is battling the rival Sinaloa cartel.

Now the Zetas' internal disputes have added to the violence of the conflict between gangs. Internal feuds spilled out into pitched battles in the normally quiet north-central state of San Luis Potosi in mid-August, when police found a van stuffed with 14 executed bodies.

San Luis Potosi state Attorney General Miguel Angel Garcia Covarrubias told local media that a 15th man who apparently survived the massacre told investigators that both the killers and the victims were Zetas. "It was a rivalry with the same organized crime group," Garcia Covarrubias said.

The leadership dispute also may have opened the door to lesser regional figures in the Zetas gang to step forward and rebel, analysts and officials said.

Analysts say that a local Zetas leader in the neighboring state of Zacatecas, Ivan Velazquez Caballero, "The Taliban," was apparently trying to challenge Trevino Morales' leadership grab, and that the 14 bullet-ridden bodies left in the van were The Taliban's men, left there as a visible warning by Trevino Morales' underlings.

The Taliban's territory, Zacatecas, appears to have been a hot spot in Trevino's dispute with Lazcano. It was in Zacatecas that a professionally printed banner was hung in a city park, accusing Lazcano of betraying fellow Zetas and turning them in to the police.

Trevino began his career as a teenage gofer for the Los Tejas gang, which controlled most crime in his hometown of Nuevo Laredo, across the border from the city of Laredo, Texas, officials say.

Around 2005, Trevino Morales was promoted to boss of the Nuevo Laredo territory, or "plaza" and given responsibility for fighting off the Sinaloa cartel's attempt to seize control of its drug-smuggling routes. He orchestrated a series of killings on the U.S. side of the border, several by a group of young U.S. citizens who gunned down their victims on the streets of the American city. American officials believe the hit men also carried out an unknown number of killings on the Mexican side of the border, the U.S. official said.

Trevino Morales is on Mexico's most-wanted list, with a reward of 30 million pesos ($2.28 million) offered for information leading to his capture.

Raul Benitez, a security expert at Mexico's National Autonomous University, said that the Zetas are inherently an unstable cartel with an already huge capacity for violence, and the possibility of more if they begin fighting internal disputes. "I think the Zetas are having problems, and there is no central command," he said.

The Zetas have been steadily expanding their influence and reaching into Central America in recent years, constructing a route for trafficking drugs that offloads Colombian cocaine in Honduras, ships it overland along Mexico's Gulf Coast and runs into over the border through Trevino Morales' old stomping grounds.

Samuel Logan, managing director of the security analysis firm Southern Pulse, notes that "personality-wise they (Trevino Morales and Lazcano) couldn't be more different," and believes the two may want to take the cartel in different directions. The stakes in who wins the dispute could be large for Mexico; Lazcano is believed to be more steady, more of a survivor who might have an interest in preserving the cartel as a stable organization.

"Lazcano may be someone who would take the Zetas in a direction where they'd become less of a thorn in the side for the new political administration," Logan said in reference to Enrique Pena Nieto, who is expected to take office as president on Dec. 1. "In contrast, Trevino is someone who wants to fight the fight."

Referring to Ignacio "Nacho" Coronel, a member of the rival Sinaloa Cartel who died in a shootout with soldiers in July 2010, Logan noted, "Trevino is someone who is going to want to go out, like Nacho Coronel went out, with his guns blazing."

Posted on Borderland Beat Forum by "DD" SEE HERE

↧

Taking A Look At The “Zetas-Cross” Theory

August 25, 2012, 1:13 am

≫ Next: Chaos In Guadalajara As It Experiences A Surge In Violence

≪ Previous: "Z40": Has Seized Leadership Of The Zetas

Chivis Martinez for Borderland Beat

Are the Zs conducting battles by blueprint to choke off rivals?

Examining the Zetas-Cross Theory which suggests they are.....

A book titled, “Executioners Men”, was published this year. It is the first book ever written exclusively about the Zetas Cartel.

The authors of the book are the much respected George W. Grayson and Samuel Logan, experts on the Mexican drugwar and Los Zetas. In the back of the book in the section “Conclusions” they touch on the “Zetas-Cross” theory, developed by Southern Pulse investigators in Mexico. The theory is that the Zetas may be working from a blueprint that designates battles to capture plazas that complete an east to west corridor, from Tampico to Durango through San Luis Potosi and Zacatecas, and a north to south corridor, running from Nuevo Laredo through Zacatecas and into the states of Colima, Jalisco and Nayarit.

With these corridors consolidated, The Golfo Cartel would be isolated and what remains of the La Familia Michoacana and their splinter group The Knights Templar.

Essentially, by moving to dominate in these plazas, the Knight Templar would be severed from their geographical link to the border, choking and eliminating them.

An extraction reads; “They (Zs) have survived an onslaught from powerful enemies only to emerge stronger. In two years they have counted a presence in 17 of the 31 states and the federal district. The cutthroats pose a growing threat in Central America, especially Guatemala; and its tentacles plunge into Colombia and beyond, into Africa and Europe.”

Los Zetas have profited from a complex mixture of

1. Good Timing (and luck)

2. Poor decisions by the government and adversaries

3. The counterproductive “kingpin Strategy” (focusing on capturing capos)

4. Strong diabolical leadership

5. An enduring paramilitary model that places above all else, command, control, and accounting

6. PSYOPS (psychological operations, military style actions designed to influence the perceptions and attitudes

Grayson and Logan give credit to the relationship between Zs and BLO that empowered them to expand quickly into Monterrey and Zacatecas. They suggest that it’s their link to La Linea, (enforcer wing of the Juarez Cartel), that may well be the key to Juarez for Zs. If Zs form a strong alliance with La Linea that partnership would fill a void that exists for tha cartel, the services of expert hit men, in place of relying so heavily on young, inexperienced recruits.

It is for these ties and operations that Interpol, has deemed them one of the most active DTOs in the world, and reside on Mexico’s and DCs “Most Wanted” lists alongside Sinaloa Cartel’s El Chapo.

In the following article Samuel Logan explains the Zetas-Cross Theory written late last year. It is interesting to see what conflicts have incurred and where and how they align with the theroy it is something to weigh as future events unfold.

Tracking Los Zetas - The Zeta Cross

For months, I have continued to ask a series of simple questions to contacts around Mexico and the US..

The primary question is: "do you think Los Zetas are strategizing to cut the country in half?" This question usually surfaces within a longer conversation about Zeta activity in Mexico and, most recently, in Guatemala, where the organization's effect on society has riveted local and international observers.

The first response to my question about Los Zetas in Mexico, however, is usually physical: a quixotic look, raised eyebrows, a frown. The question is open-ended; as intended, it sparks further discussion, and an informal interview ensues. The resulting information, carefully procured over months of discussion and interaction, has fused together into what is so far a loosely tethered theory I call, simply, The Zeta Cross map.

Since what we call in our book the "War in the North" began, Los Zetas have fought for control of Nuevo Laredo. I continue to believe that they, through Miguel Treviño's own special brand of barbarism, hold on to this plaza.

The next node to the south is Monterrey. As current events unfold, it remains clear that Los Zetas are still fighting for control of the plaza.

If you trace a finger on a map down Mx Federal highway 54, the next major stop along the Zetas Cross is Zacatecas. This is the hub and where the vertical and horizontal lines meet.

Part of the theory, while focused on strategy, breaks down the management of the organization, as it plays out between El Lazca, considered Los Zetas number one, and Miguel Treviño, considered number two. Many of us agree that Treviño remains focused on the drug trafficking side of the Zetas business enterprise, while El Lazca remains focused on other business streams, especially extortion. I would argue that for the sake of their relationship, the men do communicate, engage in profit sharing like two Sr. partners in a professional services firm, and mostly stay out of one another's business. As such El Lazca, while on the move, has made the state - and city - of Zacatecas an important hub for Los Zetas activity across Mexico, whereas Treviño remains entrenched in Nuevo Laredo.

Recent activity in Zacatecas points to what appears to be a "better late than never" move by rival groups to construct a united front to block Zeta expansion south.

The united front against Los Zetas in Zacatecas looks a lot like what we saw in February 2010, when the Gulf Cartel, elements of the Sinaloa Federation, and the Familia Michoacana - as it was then known - grouped together to force Los Zetas out of Tamaulipas. Their offensive was largely successful, pushing Los Zetas into a tactical retreat, which I believe pulled their front lines back north to Nuevo Laredo and south to Tampico. Since then, Los Zetas have pushed back into Tamaulipas, but have yet to regain position in Matamoros.

In Zacatecas, the same sort of united front has formed, though I'm not sure if it will be as strong or as effective as the first "united cartels" joint venture. The united front in Zacatecas is made up of two splinter groups, still within their own start up phase, and the Gulf Cartel.

According to my friends at the Excelsior, La Resistencia, El Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación, and members of the Gulf Cartel are all pushing back against Los Zetas' expansion south from Zacatecas into Aguascalientes and Jalisco - namely Guadalajara.

The line up is interesting: we have three disparate groups formed together under a loose alliance to fight against a single paramilitary organization. Gunmen on both sides are well-armed, poorly trained, and highly motivated by pay, reward of ascension within their organizations, and the promise of loot - the perfect recipe for a blood bath.

For a review of these splinter groups, check out InSight Crime's coverage of the atomization of Jalisco in the wake of Ignacio "Nacho" Coronel's death in mid-2010.

The battle lines in Zacatecas have been drawn and mapped, thanks again to Excelsior

Now, moving south from Zacatecas, and assuming that Los Zetas have a good chance at breaking through the Resistencia-CJNG-CDG united front, Aguascalientes and Guadalajara are the next two stops on the route south. If Los Zetas capture control of Guadalajara, the hard part is over. It would be a matter of time, I would argue, before the organization forces south to capture the port at Manzanillo in Colima.

I cannot overemphasize, however, the difficult task of capturing Guadalajara. Since the days of "El Padrino" who helped El Chapo - apart from the Arellano-Felix brothers and Amado Carrillo-Fuentes - get started, Guadalajara has been tightly held by Sinaloa Federation interests. Any Zeta offensive to take this city will be a long, nasty fight

So, back to the question: "do you think Los Zetas are strategizing to cut the country in half?"

If Los Zetas push into Jalisco, it would make sense for them to complete the line by taking a Pacific port and completing the vertical division. A north-south corridor, from Nuevo Laredo to Manzanillo would afford Los Zetas several important elements:

1. A secure connection from a Pacific port to a US border crossing - ideal for drugs trafficking

2. Separate the Knights Templar from the US border and their friends in the Sinaloa Federation

3. Contain the Sinaloa Federation to the north of their line, where the Sierra Madres west of Durango form a natural barrier to keep them on the Pacific coast.

These points are all important, though number three is the most interesting. I believe that Los Zetas are the number two criminal organization in terms of staying power - a summation of their size, revenue generation, territorial control, and several other, minor details about training, force strength, and political penetration.

The number one group undoubtedly remains the Sinaloa Federation, which Los Zetas can only contain, not destroy. The Zetas Cross theory assumes that Los Zetas seeks to contain the Sinaloa Federation, while isolating the Knights Templar and the Gulf Cartel.

The east-west, horizontal line of the Zetas Cross completes that isolation. Stretching from Tampico, Tamaulipas, and passing west through Ciudad Valles, San Luis Potosí (SLP), Zacatecas, and ending in Durango, the horizontal line of the Zetas Cross, if completed, isolates the operational hub of the Gulf Cartel in Matamoros from the rest of the country.

Currently, I would argue that when considering the points along this horizontal line, Los Zetas do not control Durango - traditionally a stronghold of the Sinaloa Federation. Part of the complication with pushing their forces into the city is the ongoing battle for complete control of the Torreón-Gomez Palacio plaza on the Durango-Coahuila border. Los Zetas continue to battle for control of that plaza. If they win that battle, we would almost certainly watch Los Zetas push their influence south into Durango.

I would argue that Los Zetas have completed approximately 60 % of this cross, give or take about 10 %. Most of the fighting between Los Zetas and the organization's rivals will undoubtedly be at the Zacatecas-Jalisco border. And if Los Zetas break this alliance, we'll see them push into Guadalajara - though not an operation likely initiated until after the Pan American games.

The recently announced Zeta alignment with rogue segments of the Milenio Cartel is interesting because it implies, at least, that Los Zetas have lured defectors to their ranks, possibly improving local knowledge, intelligence gathering, and recruiting capabilities from within rival organizations. This alliance, if true, also grants Los Zetas a small beachhead in Guadalajara, from where the group may be able to attack the united cartels from behind the battle lines drawn in southern Zacatecas…

I'll continue to report on The Zetas Cross as events unfold. As I learn more from colleagues on the ground, I'll focus on some of the points along the cross, including: Monterrey (Saltillo), Tampico, Ciudad Valles, SLP, Zacatecas (Fresnillo), Durango, Aguascalientes, Guadalajara, and Manzanillo.

Source: Executioner's Men

↧

Chaos In Guadalajara As It Experiences A Surge In Violence

August 26, 2012, 1:31 pm

≫ Next: August 26th Badanov's Buzzkill Bulletin

≪ Previous: Taking A Look At The “Zetas-Cross” Theory

Chivis Martinez for Borderland Beat
UPDATE: Follow link for report saying federal police deny Mencho was captured HERE
Thank you to the reader who sent in the link...

Leader of CJNG, "El Mencho" Captured?

Gunmen created narco blockades blocking highways throughout Guadalajara, Mexico's second biggest city. On Saturday vehicles were set on fire amid a surge in drug-war violence.

Though no official information had been released, information was flowing through Twitter and other social networks. Reports of large groups and convoys of heavily armed masked men were conducting shootings, blockades and terrorizing people throughout Jalisco.

Reports from: Guadalajara, Zapopan, Guzman, Tuxucca, Tlaquepaque, Tonila and Tlajomulco among other cities involved.

Police confirmed seven unauthorized roadblocks constructed with charred, smoldering cars and trucks within the Guadalajara city limits and 15 others in the surrounding Jalisco .

Luis Carlos Najera, police chief for Jalisco state, told reporters "We don't know who is behind this operation," he said. However later is was reported that there was an apprehension of Oceguera Nemesio Cervantes, "El Mencho", alleged leader of the New Generation Jalisco Cartel, which allegedly drove the surge in vehicle crashes and fires committed by members of organized crime in this entity and Colima.

Officials from the Federal Ministry of Public Security (SSP) confirmed that the series of violent acts were due to the arrest of suspected drug trafficker El Mencho who operates in alliance with the Sinaloa cartel led by Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.

The agency explained that the capture took place in the town of Tonaya, with the support of five Black Hawk helicopters and one Mi-17. In the operation, six suspected attackers were killed, three injured federal police.

Guadalajara has not seen the level of drug cartel-related violence as other areas, but similar flaming roadblocks shook the city in early March as military forces successfully sought to arrest a prominent cartel leader.

Jalisco state has been a stronghold of the Sinaloa Cartel since the 1980s, when traffickers first started to use Mexico as a "trampoline" to bounce cocaine into the United States.

It has recently seen an upsurge in violence as Sinaloa Cartel gunmen battle rivals from the Zetas cartel, which is displacing older trafficking groups in many parts of Mexico.

WAKE OF VIOLENCE MAP- Source La Nigua (Click To Enlarge)

Sources used to write this post: Peridico el Sur-Reuters-Milenio-La Nigua

Interesting comment from a reader coomenting on the thread of this story:

As far as I know no public pictures exist of Mencho. I just learned of the ssp announcement. It may also be worthwhile to mention that Erick Valencia Salazar (el 85) at no point was #1 of CDJNG, it was Mencho who they were after when Erick was arrested. Mencho managed to get away. Mencho was one of Ignacio Coronel's right hand men. After his death he formed CDJNG to fight the new alliance between the Valencia family and la familia who desperately wanted Jalisco. And yes CDJNG is still a cell of CDS. That will never change since Jalisco is a strategic state for drug production and south American drug imports. Sinaloa will never let go of it.

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August 26th Badanov's Buzzkill Bulletin

August 26, 2012, 9:00 pm

≫ Next: 30 reportedly die in Mexico state

≪ Previous: Chaos In Guadalajara As It Experiences A Surge In Violence

By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com

Since August 10th Mexican Army and naval personnel have seized 31 kilograms of cocaine, 4,119 kilograms of marijuana, 5.1 kilograms of marijuana seeds, .89 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine and MX $52,700.00 (USD $3,995.94) in cash, according to official information.

A unit with the Mexican 12th Military Zone encountered and killed five armed suspects in San Luis Potosi state August 12th. The unit was on patrol in Cedral municipality along Mexican Federal Highway 57 when it came under small arms fire. Army return fire killed the five armed suspects. Three rifles, 22 weapons magazines, 550 rounds of ammunition and one vehicle were seized.
On August 10th an army unit with the Mexican 13th Military Zone in Nayarit state detained two suspects and seized a quantity of drugs, including quantities of crystal methamphetamine and cocaine. One vehicle was seized. The arrests took place near the intersection of calles Plutarco Elias and Emilio M. Gonzalez in Santa Teresita municipality.
A Mexican Army unit with the 26th Military Zone encountered an unknown number of armed suspects in Veracruz state killing four August 12th. The unit was on patrol in Cordoba municipality when it came under small arms fire. Army return fire ended the encounter with the four dead. Also seized were four rifles and undisclosed quantities of ammunition and weapons magazines.
An army unit with the 13th Military Zone seized marijuana seeds in Jala municipality August 11th in Nayarit state. Soldiers located an abandoned van with 5.1 kilograms of marijuana seeds, two weapons magazines and two rounds of ammunition.
On August 13th in Ruiz municipality in Nayarit state, a Mexican Army unit with the 13th Military Zone located a vehicle, one handgun, one weapons magazine, two rounds of ammunition and a quantity of marijuana.
An army unit with the Mexican 8th Military Zone detained two unidentified individuals and seized a large quantity of marijuana in Tamaulipas August 13th. The soldiers found a tractor trailer rig carrying fruits and vegetables, as well as 2,044.6 kilograms of marijuana wrapped in 75 packages. The stop took place in Reynosa municipality along the Reynosa-Monterrey highway at around 2330 hrs.
A Mexican Amy unit with the 45th Military Zone destroyed five plots used to grow marijuana in Sonora state August 13th. The plots were located in Cucurpe municipality where soldiers found plots of land totalling 160 square meters with marijuana plants and another 16.6 square meter plot with marijuana seedling. All plants were destroyed at the site.
An unidentified female kidnapping victim was rescued by Mexican Army personnel with the 7th Military Zone in Nuevo Leon state August 15th. The unit was on patrol when it attempted to stop a suspicious vehicle travelling in Bosques de la Huasteca colony in Santa Catarina municipality. A pursuit ensued and ended about four kilometers away where one unidentified armed suspect was killed, one was detained and a third had escaped. Soldiers located a female victim at a building and also seized four rifles, 30 weapons magazines, 815 rounds of ammunition, four vehicles, one motorcycle, tactical gear, eight head of livestock and the property.
An army unit with the 29th Military Zone seized a quantity of cocaine in Veracruz state August 16th. The seizure took place incident to a traffic stop in Tropico de la Rivera colony in Coatzacoalcos municipality where soldiers found 31 kilograms of cocaine and a vehicle. Two unidentified suspects were also detained.
An army unit with the Mexican 13th Military Zone located and dismantled a laboratory used to manufacture synthetic drugs in Mayarit state August 18th. The unit was on patrol near the village of La Noriega in Compostela municipality when it located the lab. Among items seized were 12 200 liter drums containing an undisclosed liquid substance, 13 bags of an undisclosed chemical, four plastic containers, six metal containers, 11 gallon containers with an undisclosed liquid substance, four washers and seven metal tubes.
Mexican Army units with the 2nd Military Zone seized 1,209 kilograms of marijuana in 110 packages in the village of Loma Linda in Ensendada municipality in Baja California state August 18th.
Army units with the Mexican 2nd Military Zone detained one unidentified suspect at a traffic stop in Villas del Real colony in La Presa delegation in Tijuana municipality August 18th in Baja California state. Soldiers seized 85.3 kilograms of marijuana, one handgun, one weapons magazine and one vehicle.
In San Jose colony of Mexicali municipality in Baja California state, an army unit with the 2nd Military Zone seized .89 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine.
Soldiers with the Mexican 2nd Military Zone destroyed 21 marijuana plants in Ensenada municipality in Baja California state, seven near Ejido Leyes de Reforma and 18 near Ensenada proper.
Army units with the Mexican 19th Military Zone rescued six kidnapping victims in Veracruz state in two separate incidents August 19th. The operations took place in Ciudad Cuauhtemoc and Panuco where soldiers also detained seven unidentified suspects and seized five rifles, two handguns, 582 rounds ammunition, 21 weapons magazines, one inert hand grenade and four vehicles.
A Mexican Army unit with the 5th Military Zone encountered several armed suspects in Chihuahua state killing one August 22nd. The incident took place in Ojinaga municipality where soldiers came under small arms fire. Army return fire killed one and forced the detention of six other armed suspects. Soldiers also seized one handgun, two weapons magazines, 40 rounds of ammunition, three vehicles; two of them stolen, personal quantities of cocaine, radio equipment, and 10 phones.
An army unit with the 9th Military Zone detained one unidentified individual and seized quantities of munitions and drugs in Sinaloa state August 21st. The detetion took place near the village of San Pedro Rosales in Navolato municipality. Seized contraband included five rifles, two grenades, 29 weapons magazines, 782 rounds of ammunition, personal quantities of cocaine and marijuana, four vehicles, one motorcycle, three kevlar helmets and radio equipment
Two suspects were detained by Mexican naval infantry personnel in Veracruz state August 8th and 10th. Isaias Flores Penda AKA El Cronos was detained August 8th at a traffic stop. Acting on information provided by the suspect, a marine unit located and detained Juan Carlos Hernandez Pulido AKA Bertha two days later at the Centro de Integracion Familiar in Veracruz state. Mexican Navy official information has that Hernandez Pulido was operations chief for Jalisco Nueva Generación drug cartel in Veracruz state. Seized contraband in the August 10th operation included two hand grenades, 68 bags of cocaine presumably divided for retail sale, 62 bags of crack cocaine, 52 bags of marijuana and communications gear.
A Mexican naval infantry unit detained one individual and seized quantities of drugs and guns inn Coahuila state August 15th. Esteban Cardenas Vaselis AKA Leon was detained by Mexican marines in Saltillo, Coahuila along with Ever Didier Candelario Ramíerez. Naval official information has it that Cardenas Vaselis was a southeastern Mexico regional leader for Los Zetas criminal group. Contraband seized included MX $52,700.00 (USD $3,995.94), two rifles, one handgun, three fragmentation grenades, eight weapons magazines, 239 rounds of ammunition, 200 packages of marijuana and two radios.
A Mexican naval infantry unit seized a large quantity of marijuana at a traffic stop in Michoacan sate August 15th. The traffic stop took place in the village of Vazquez Pallares in Coalcomán municipality where a Mexican marine patrol ordered the driver of a box van to stop. Inside marines found 777.1 kilograms of marijuana in 176 packages. The driver identified as Angel Yoair Rodriguez Anaya, 22, was detained at the scene.
Mexican Naval infantry personnel detained four individuals and seized quantities of drugs and guns in Nuevo Leon state August 20th. One of the detainees was identified as turf leader for the Gulf Cartel in General bravo municipality, Lauro Tijerina Murrieta AKA El M-33 in a presumed traffic stop. Lauro Tijerina García AKA El Laurito, Abel Guerra Hernández AKA El Flaco and Jhosep Solís González AKA Jhosep were also detained. Contraband seized included one vehicle, one rifle, three handguns, 16 weapons magazines, three hand grenades, nine radios, 15 handsets, personal quantities of cocaine, 350 rounds of ammunition and one military-style uniform.

Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com

↧

30 reportedly die in Mexico state

August 26, 2012, 9:08 pm

≫ Next: Knights Templar: Dump 11 Bodies on Guerrero Highway Leaves Message

≪ Previous: August 26th Badanov's Buzzkill Bulletin

By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com

As many as 30 armed suspects have been killed in an apparent intergang gun battle in western Mexico state Sunday, according to several Mexican news accounts.

A news account published on the website of El Economista late Sunday say that gunfights between armed gangs associated with Los Zetas and Michoacan state based Los Caballeros Templarios ended in an area known as El Cerro de la Culebra, which is adjacent to Michoacan state.

News reports also indicate elements of the Mexican Army may have also been involved in the fighting. Reports say many of the dead have been removed from the scene, which a common practice with Los Zetas.

A report published on the website of El Sol de Zacatecas news daily said that fighting began at around 1500 hrs Sunday afternoon in Luvianos municipality. As of publication no security forces have entered into the battle area which also includes Cerro de la Campana and Caja de Agua.

South central and western Mexico have been undergoing a number of security incidents, such as in Jalisco, Michoacan and Guerrero states. Uncredited news reports have indicated that Los Zetas are undergoing a internal struggle for power, which may leave the criminal gang vulnerable to attack from their rivals.

This latest bloody incident has not yet been confirmed by local authorities, but if it is confirmed it will be one of the bloodiest confrontations since last spring's intergang war in northern Sinaloa state which claimed by this writer's count, the lives of 57 over 10 days. That gun battle included a number of drug cartels including Los Zetas, Beltran-Leyva and Juarez cartels against the Sinaloa drug cartel.

Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com

↧

Knights Templar: Dump 11 Bodies on Guerrero Highway Leaves Message

August 27, 2012, 8:44 am

≫ Next: Conflicting reports emerge over Mexico state intergang gun fight

≪ Previous: 30 reportedly die in Mexico state

Borderland Beat

Chilpancingo, Mexico. - On Sunday, "The bodies of 11 people were found in three different points of the highway between km 291-297. At one point the perpetrators left four bodies, in another three, and the last four, "reported AFP deputy of Guerrero, Fernando Monreal.

The bodies, which were abandoned at a point on the road connecting Guerrero with the neighboring state of Michoacan (west) near the boundary between the two, showed signs of torture and each had a bullet wound to the head..

Furthermore, narco messages were found signed by the criminal organization The Knights Templar, who have their base in Michoacán, in which threats were issued against a rival organization.

Text:

"Especialmente para ti Caballo alias el 11 para que te quede claro que nosotros jamas vamos a traicionar a nuestro escudo de los Caballeros Templarios, nosotros no somos unos pnches desertores como tu pinche puto”.

“No perdemos las esperanzas de acabar contigo como hemos acabado con cada uno de ustedes, pinches putos, atentamente La Pelona

“Ahi les va putos de Jalisco directamente para ti puto Cerebro para que sigas enganando a pendejos así como te los estoy tirando, no pierdo la esperanza de despedazarte a ti tambien, arriba los Caballeros Templarios, nunca podran con nosotros, ahi les va putos de Jalisco para todos los que pasen informacion Atentamente La Pelona”.

Translated to English:

"Especially for you Caballo(horse) aka the 11. So it is clear to you that we are never going to betray our coat of arms of the Caballeros templarios ( Templar Knights). We are not fucking desserters like you, fucking asshole".

"We don't loose hope of finishing you like we have finished each and everyone of you*, fucking assholes, Sincerely La pelona ( The bald one)".

"Here we go whores of Jalisco directly to you fucking Cerebro (brain) so you can keep cheating assholes as I am throwing them to you, I don't loose hope of also tearing you apart, Cheers for the Caballeros Templarios, nobody can beat us, This is for you whores of Jalisco, for those who give out information.

Sincerely La Pelona."

The identifications have not been determined but "unofficially" they had been informed that "two of the 11 people executed are taxi drivers".

* this is an awkward phrase, could mean "we will finish each and everyone of you"

Guerrero, and particularly the resort of Acapulco, is one of the state hardest hit by the violence generated by drug trafficking affecting the country, as it brings together several criminal organizations vying for control.

According to official data, which do not distinguish between homicides that are attributable to organized crime and that the number of homicides in this district, which is on the Pacific coast, last year totaled more than 2,400, three times that recorded in 2006. (AFP)

Translation by Chivis

Source: El Debate-Narco Mexico Drugs Gangs

↧

Conflicting reports emerge over Mexico state intergang gun fight

August 27, 2012, 9:00 pm

≫ Next: Guadalajara: Sinaloa Signed Narco Mantas Deny Connection to CJNG

≪ Previous: Knights Templar: Dump 11 Bodies on Guerrero Highway Leaves Message

By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com

Less than 24 hours after several Mexican news organizations reported a large intergang gunfight in central Mexico conflicting stories have emerged as to whether the gun battle even took place.

Sunday night late several credible Mexican news agencies and news outlets, including Organizacion Editorial Mexicana, Televisa and Informador reported a gun battle between elements of Los Zetas and Los Caballeros Templarios took place in Luvianos municipality in western Mexico state claiming the lives of at least 30 shooters.

Now 24 hours later, respite a confirmation from unnamed Policia Federal officials, and military officials in the Mexican 22nd Military Zone, the Mexico state Secretaria Seguridad Publica (SSP) denied in a Tweet Monday afternoon the confrontation ever took place.

According to several news agencies, Mexico state SSP head Salvador Neme Sastre denied the battle ever took palace, saying, according to a report posted on the website of SDP Noticias news agency, "I deny that there has been fighting between criminal groups in Edo Mex (Mexico state) Luvianos. Much less 30 dead."

Despite that denial by a top Mexico state government official, according to the article other unnamed government officials in Mexico state now state that the confrontation did occur but between Los Caballero Templarios operatives and local civilians after elements of the Los Caballeros Templarios demanded paid tribute from several far western Mexico state municipalities including Luvianos, Amatepec and Tejupilco.

The report also said that the the ensuing gunfight lasted three hours until 1800 hrs local time Sunday.

Mexican news agencies and federal and state government agencies have an arrangement. Government agencies report and news agencies transmit the reports. Given the nature of reporting on the drug war, Mexican news agencies seem to be fine with the arrangement, even as they augment that information with their own people on the ground.

What made Sunday's report report unusual is that in as little as a few minutes after such an incident, social media such as Twitter would have photos transmitted from the scene,and would have included photos of shot out pickup trucks or buildings, spent cartridges and other debris of armed confrontation. None of that information has been released to date by any agency of individual.

A separate report by Radio Formula news agency said that the remote area that include Luvianos is used for cultivating marijuana and is desirable because of its remoteness.

The SDP Noticias report added that it is impossible to independently verify the report because of how remote the area is, and because of security forces cordons and checkpoints.

Erroneous reports are not rare in Mexico. For example, at the start of last April's gun battle between gunmen with the Sinaloa Cartel and an amalgamation of rival cartel shooters in northern Sinaloa state, a report released by El Debate claimed 40 died in the initial encounter. Although the death toll turned out to be much lower, more than 50 ended up dead and possible more over the next several weeks as security forces filtered into the area.

That initial report relied on a single government source, Eleazar Rubio, mayor of El Fuerte municipality. And while no one ever found the 40 bodies claimed killed, it is possible many of those dead were retrieved by shooters as a security measure.

Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com

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Guadalajara: Sinaloa Signed Narco Mantas Deny Connection to CJNG

August 27, 2012, 11:07 pm

≫ Next: Marisela Moreles: Violence Surge is From Zetas Split

≪ Previous: Conflicting reports emerge over Mexico state intergang gun fight

Chivis Martinez for Borderland Beat

I have received many emails and comments sent in about this story. "777" of Borderland Beat posted the translation in comments on Ajulio's post. so I decided to go ahead and post it, but I am not convinced they are authentically from CDS. The Narco banners were displayed throughout Guadalajara and signed by Sinaloa. The "El Mencho" mentioned is the leader of The Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion or CJNG.

"What were you waiting for Mencho, You and the Alvarez are finished with
Jalisco Scum kidnappers you know that we Sinaloans do not like that"
Sincerely, Sinaloa People

Additionally, a letter was issued to all that are responsible for the acts that harm innocents committed in the state of Jalisco; namely Los Zetas, the chief of SSP and the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) the text is directly below:

"This letter is addressed to Nemesio Oceguera Cervantes, El Mencho, leader of Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación. What did you expect Mencho that only by saying you were associated with us you were?

Going to save yourself from paying for all the injustices you were committing in Jalisco? Now that you finished, what are you and the other 2 rats gonna do?

To the general public we (Cartel de Sinaloa) would like you to know that we do not associate with people like Mencho and the Alvarez's (Ramon Alvarez Ayala (R-1) and Rafael Alvarez (R2).

They dedicate themselves to kidnapping, robbing, extortion, charging quotas and killing innocent people (the majority businessmen who don't pay the quotas) they try to live an honest life. That is why we want to clarify that we don't approve of the way this trash operates and never will approve of it. And that is why just like they don't forgive innocent people that they kidnap and collect big ransoms and still kill them, they will not be forgiven.

And you Luis Carlos Nájera Gutiérrez, secretary of public safety in the state of Jalisco.

What are you going to do now??? Don't try to deny your good friend Mencho. Or have you

forgotten that recently you would move him around in helicopters from your office. Not only would you move him away from places where he was in danger but also take him to reunions and dinners made by the filthy Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion.

Remember that not too long ago you would brag about being close to Mencho and you would put up to a third of your officers to serve an protect him at the meetings he would assist. Don't forget that everything falls by it's own weight."

Atte. THE SINALOA CARTEL

ZETAS :

In a separate story, the Federal Attorney General, Marisela Morales stated from a national conference that the violence was from infighting and other cartels attempting to seize control of territories where there are disputes. Further the intelligence services of the country revealed the Los Zetas cartel has been divided and there is now a struggle for control of the territories and between and Heriberto Lazcano Lazcano, El Lazca, Miguel Angel Treviño Morales, the Z-40.

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