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Marisela Moreles: Violence Surge is From Zetas Split

August 28, 2012, 4:20 am
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Chivis Martinez for Borderland Beat
 
Yesterday, on the Sinaloa narco mantas I included a short paragraph about the Morales statement as I had no time to create a post.  I will expand  that story in this post…Chivis.
 
At a national conference yesterday, the Federal Attorney General Marisela Morales casually dropped a bombshell when was asked about the surge of violence, she stated it was due to the split in the Los Zetas between Miguel Trevino (Z40) and Heriberto Lazcano Lazcano the two leaders.  This was not an announcement made of any official status, simply answering the question in an interview.  She credited the arrests of top cartel members who shared inside information as one of the sources of information. Possibly one would be Jorge Luis Martinez Rodriguez, known as “El Taz” of the Zetas arrested on August 9th..
One would think if the government knew this as fact they would have made an official announcement about the split and it being the cause of the new surge in violence.  It brings to mind the warning Alejandro Hope, formerly of the CISEN agency, he said that reports of infighting could be a government PSYOPS campaign to inject paranoia into the cartel.
There have been signs and rumors of a split since 2011, however the split scenario most spoken of is a potential infighting between Z40 and The Taliban. 
On August 6, 2012:
Narco banners appeared in multiple states that rejected the notion that there was trouble or a division.  The English text read:
The Zetas are not dividing.
We are more united than ever against the blowhard informants
The division is just a cheap campaign of the informants.
Sincerely,
United Zeta
more united than ever
"Real Democracy, No Reelection" B9223601*
 A BB reader had offered this about the text:
What they mean by democracy and no re election is that they have a good leadership structure and that the main boss is lazcano and he is the one that runs them, "B-9223601 that is similar to Lazcanos signature that number is the number that was assigned to Lazcano while being a GAFE".
On August 9, 2012:
In the capital city San Luis Potosi, in the state bearing the same name, within an abandoned van, 14 bodies were discovered .  There would have been 15 but one would be executed man survived by playing dead and escaping when his captors stopped for fuel.
The State Attorney General,  Miguel Garcia and the SSP agency announced there was a survivor that had escaped and gave a witness account of what had occurred. 
The victim stated that when he realized what was happening, he pretended to be dead, allowing the sicarios to throw him into the van with the other bodies. When he determined there was an opportunity to escape as the gunmen stopped for fuel, he fled to the mountains where he was subsequently helped by elements of the State Police.
It was through the witness account it was learned that there was a Zetas conflict between another Zetas boss, Ivan Velazquez aka Z50 or El Taliban and Trevino.  He reported the 14 bodies were Zetas killed by Zetas. Specifically Trevino’s sicarios had killed the men in the van and the executed were men loyal to Taliban.
The issue was said to have begun from a personal conflict and that there would be intense violence during the struggle and the stakes were leadership in the states of Coahuila (Laguna Region) Zacatecas, and SLP among others.  The "Taliban" is boss of the Zetas in Zacatecas, Aguascalientes, San Luis Potosi and part of Guanajuato, it was expected that a war struggle for control of drug trafficking turf would unleash as it had in SLP.
August 22, 2012
The cartel The Knights Templar, themselves a group formed by the result of infighting in the cartel La Familia Michoacán (LFM)  The KTs are former members of LFM and now its bitter enemies.  The fighting commenced after their leader Nazario Moreno Gonzalez, aka El Chayo was killed in a shootout with police in December 10, 2010.  The specific reason for the conflict is not known but mentioned often as a possible reason it the alliance formed by LFM with the Zetas.
On the 22nda video was released narrated by KTs leader, Servando Gomez Martinez aka “La Tuta”. He emphasized Trevino being enemy number one to Mexico because of his brutal style of leadership and harming of innocents, and called on other cartels to help in the mission to find and destroy Trevino.

August 24, 2012:

It was reported that Miguel Trevino had sucessfuly gained leadership of the Zetas.
August 27, 2012:    
Marisela Morales in the interview at the national conference (kidnapping and extortion prevention) states that the Zetas have split in a conflict between Lazcano and Trevino.  It is known that the business structure of the Zetas is split, 50% of the business is drug trafficking, the other 50% is diversifications.  Supposedly Trevino handles the drug trafficking and Lazca diversifications.  It would seem there would be a pragmatic solution in a split since in essence it has always functioned with a split of business between the two leaders.
The statement was an unusual declaration seemingly out of the air and not attached to any big event or arrest.  Why give away your intelligence?  What would be the point? And what will the government do with this information, clearly if this is the case it would explain any large deployments into the areas expected to be ground zero as the war between the Zetas capos continues.
If there is a conflict between Trevino and Lazca, where does that leave EL Taliban, and the rival cartels?  For one the Knights Templar have the all-out campaign to destroy Trevino.  Not to mention the CDG the cartel formally allied with the Zetas. And then of course El Chapo and his Sinaloa Cartel (CDS).
 Incase this is not confusing enough, yesterday narco banners appeared denouncing any notion that CDS was in any way connected to CJNG (Jalisco New Generation Gang).  This took everyone by surprise and though the banners were signed “Sinaloa” it is yet to determine if or if not they are authentic, and what is said is true.
Just like everything else.

 
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Poor farmers, rich narcos: Marijuana, the only safe investment

August 28, 2012, 4:41 pm
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Rio Doce. 8-27-12.


Translated by un vato for Borderland Beat.

Note from translator: This article appeared yesterday in Rio Doce. The original Spanish version is posted on the Forum, but I thought it deserved wider exposure because it helps describe the social and economic reality in the Golden Triangle. --un vato.

A trip to Chapo Guzman country.

Close to 6:00 p.m. in the afternoon on Tuesday, August 21,  a young mountain resident about 20 years old, came in on an ATV,  with more style than if he had arrived mounted on an alazan (chestnut sorrel horse). He stopped under a thick live oak tree, turned off the motor, climbed off and slowly walked towards the house. He had an AK-47 rifle hanging on his shoulder, a two-way radio on his chest and a .38 Super pistol tucked into his waist.  

A dog came out to greet him. He was almost walking into the portal of the house when he bumped into the journalist, whom he regarded with mistrust. His skin tanned by the sun, the young man gripped the rifle with his right hand, slowed down and, not knowing what to do in the presence of a stranger, he seemed to hesitate while he looked all around him. This is when the guide who had taken the journalist into the bowels of the Sierra Madre Occidental (West Sierra Madre Mountain Range) returned with a glass of water in his hand and, with surprising intimacy, greeted him:

"How's it going, Lupe, what do you say?" he exclaimed as he came forward to greet him.

The tension lessened, but not the mistrust.

"He's a journalist who came to do some work about the weed... Jose already knows, so you can tell him all about this business out here," explained the guide.

"Ah!," murmured "Lupe", who still not quite convinced  stared at the journalist, although he finally shook his hand; more out of inertia than out of conviction.

A little later another 15 mountain farmers arrived, also riding ATVs and also carrying AK-47 rifles. One by one, they climbed off their ATVs like a death squad in the mountains and, curious, surrounded the journalist.

The guide, with greetings and jokes, began to reassure the newly-arrived farmers, until three more ATVs arrived. One of them, the tallest, wearing a bulletproof vest, a cuerno de chivo (AK 47 rifle) on each shoulder and two radios, walked towards the journalist, with what appeared to be his security people by his side. The guide, with surprising familiarity, went to meet him halfway.

"Jose ... this is the journalist I was telling you about; he came up to the mountains to do some work...well, the  reality about the farmers who plant marijuana: how they live, what they eat, what they hope for and how things are not what people believe," he told him. 

Jose looked at the journalist with a certain mistrust, but he extended his hand to greet him, but not before warning the guide:

"Well, he can't use names or say where we are, and he can't take pictures, because you're the first one we'll come looking for."

"He knows that if he pisses outside the hole, he'll never see the end of it...and, well, I know that I won't see the end of it," said the guide, half joking and half seriously.

Everybody laughed with amusement at the guide's comment. The ice was broken.

You have to make a living

To live in the mountains is to live in total abandonment, and to be always "at the mercy of God." If you don't kill a jackrabbit, a deer, a cochi jabali (peccary), you rarely eat meat, unless you take something up from Culiacan. But in addition to food, you also have to pay for electricity, oil, clothing, shoes, school supplies for the children, and although one can plant beans, squash and tomatoes, money is indispensable, at least for the basics.

But there is no work, not a single industry to create jobs, so it's difficult to get ahead. That's why people have not stopped planting marijuana-- despite the signs of civilization that are coming closer, like pavement and electricity-- (it's) the only product they can be sure will sell.

And, there's no "right" age for planting marijuana; it can be (done by) an eight year old child as well as a 60-year old adult,  and growing it is not easy.

Every day, farmers of all ages get up at 6:00 in the morning, have a breakfast of eggs, beans or "whatever there may be," and start a hard, eight hour work day under the sun. 

In a place that can only be reached by air, or after a five hour trip-- starting from Culiacan, the municipal seat-- on roads, gullies and paths that run on the edges of curves and steep cliffs, the farmers get ready to go up to the most inhospitable part in that area, where they have their plots.

Right at dawn, they get up, eat, take their weapons, machetes, knives, lunch, and climb on their ATVs, beginning a journey of several miles of uphill trails, crumbling roads, rocks and pine trees. In the old days, they say, they went on horseback,  but they had to feed the animal, now they get there faster on ATVs, and they only need gasoline and the tires changed every six months.

"Tires don't last long because there's so many rocks," one of them explains. 

At the top, the farmers lay down their weapons, the lunch, and they go into the marijuana plants which were planted in June, and so begins caring for the crop.

 

The "desmachadero"

As with any other crop, marijuana requires a lot of care and dedication. From August to September, the farmers undertake the process known as the "desmachadero", which consists of identifying the male ("macho") marijuana plants and cut them down to prevent  pollination of the female marijuana plants, otherwise the crop is ruined.

"Because, if you leave the male plants, it produces little balls, and these little balls release a dust that gets into the "colitas" (tails, the flowering part of the female plant). If that happens, instead of  harvesting marijuana "colitas", you harvest seed, and that's where the crop is ruined," explains "Pancho", a farmer that has a plot of more than 50 square yards (4,500 square feet).

Like him, every farmer plants his own little plot,  from a 14 year old boy to a 70 year old man. They help each other, and if one of them falls behind on the "desmachadero", the rest of the farmers get together to help. 

The search for male plants can last up to three weeks, and it's done row by row. As it grows, the plant starts to show what will be the marijuana "colita", which is what people smoke, or whether it will develop the little balls of pollen. But even after the male plants have been eliminated, the farmer has to keep taking care of the plots, not just because a male plant may appear or because a female plant may turn male, that is to say, it will start to produce balls of pollen,  but to pull up weeds that grow among the plants and to eliminate insects. In addition, cows and deer go into the plots and eat the marijuana plants.

"The cows and the deer that eat the marijuana get all crazy, but they also ruin the product," explains a farmer that has been coming from Culiacan for eight years to plant the drug. 

From the city to the mountains

Many people from Culiacan go into the mountains to plant "mota" (marijuana). According to them, "there are no jobs in the city." Up in the mountains, they go to relatives, or through a trusted person who recommended them.

If they work hard like the rest of the farmers, they come back and after some time, they are given access to land so they can grow their own marijuana.  In cases like these, once he harvests the marijuana, the deal is 50/50, that is, the owner of the land provides the plot, the seed, fertilizer, room and board, in exchange for him taking care of the crop. Once it is harvested, they split the profit (50/50).

"If we get 150 kilos (330 lbs) we get 75 and 75," explained a young farmer, while he was spraying his land, a plot of about 200 meters square (about 1,800 square ft.) Like "Lico", many other city dwellers go to the mountains and up there, in the most inhospitable part, where there is no cell phone service, they remain out of touch, hoping the cultivation of marijuana works out and leaves them a little cash.

The man.

Once the marijuana is harvested, in mid-October, and hoping the Army doesn't hit them and destroys their fields, the farmers can only deal with one man. This person, they said, buys all the marijuana grown in the mountains from everybody, (paying) up to 800 pesos per kilo (about $62.00), if the weed is good, but if it contains a lot of seeds, the most they get is about 200 (pesos per kilo, about $15.00).

"The thing is, nobody else can buy marijuana around here, just this man," says a farmer.

"This man, is he Chapo Guzman?" he's asked.

The farmer hesitates before he answers. He looks all around, and finally explains that the mountain belongs to El Chapo, but he's not the one who deals with them, but somebody who surely knows him and who probably sells everything to El Chapo Guzman. This man is the one who takes the weed with him, only he knows where he takes it. We only grow it, and if we lose it or the Army destroys it, well, there's no money.

Armed to the teeth.

The farmers in the mountains always go around armed. It's de rigueur. And although they may lay down their AK-47 in the shade of a pine tree while they're working, under no circumstances will  they take their pistol off their waist. They sleep with it, they wake up with it, they die with it if necessary, but they don't take it off.  They say it's to defend themselves from mountain lions, cats, snakes and any other animal that they run into, or in case they bump into a deer or a "cochi jabali" (peccary). In that case, the shots are quick.

--Why do you carry the pistol inside the house?
--In case something comes up, explained an old farmer who's lived all  his life in the mountains.

As was explained (to this journalist), fights in the mountains are not with fists, but with gunfire. People joke, and all of a sudden somebody doesn't like a comment, and they get their irons out and start shooting.

When somebody kills another person, the victim's family wants satisfaction and comes and kills the murderer. The (murderer's) family also wants satisfaction, and goes looking for the person who killed their relative. Entire families are eliminated in that manner, and the feuds and the killing goes on  from generation to generation.

"It's just that there can be no fix because there's blood involved," explained the farmer, giving his reason why everybody goes around armed with weapons.

The hope.

Resting their bodies and the sun, the farmers get together every night to joke a little and forget the day's hardship. After almost three months of labor, fatigue begins to weaken them, but their hopes of getting a little money and going to see their families begin to grow. The only thing they hope for is that soldiers won't come and destroy their crops.

"If you get about 200 kilos (440 lbs) of "mota", well, you're doing well, but it's money that's got to last until we plant again, because the truth is, mister, life is hard around here," explained the oldest farmer as he snugged his cuerno de chivo on his shoulder. It was time to rest; tomorrow, another day in the sun awaited him.  

Notes on marijuana

-- The marijuana cultivation cycle is 125 days, the first stage being germination, the next 15 days its sprouting stage -- when it comes out of the ground--, and the next 70 (days) the vegetative (growing) stage, and the final 35 days, the reproductive stage, explains the UN's Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

--According to SEDENA (Mexican National Defense Secretariat), just this past July alone, the Army located 494 plots of marijuana in Sinaloa and Durango, which amounted to 59.48 hectares (about 147 acres). Likewise, 3,053 kilograms (6,716 lbs) of unprocessed marijuana,  176 kilos (387 lbs) of packaged marijuana and 227.6 kilos (455 lbs) of cannabis seed were seized.

--According to Sylvia Longmire, former officer and special investigator in the U.S. Air Force, trafficking and sales of marijuana makes up 60% of Mexican cartel profits.

--From the World Drugs Report:  in 2006 --the year that President Felipe Calderon's war on drugs began-- Mexico was the largest cannabis producer in the world, producing up to 7,400 tons.

--For several decades, the United States has been the world's principal cannabis consumer.
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6 die in shootouts in Tamaulipas state

August 28, 2012, 9:00 pm
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By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com

A total of six unidentified armed suspects were killed by Mexican security forces in two separate shootouts in Tamaulipas state Tuesday, according to Mexican news accounts.

A news item posted on the website of El Sol de Zacatecas news daily reported a joint news release by the Procuraduria General de Justicia del Estado (PGJE) and the Secretaria de Seguridad Publica (SSP), stating the two incidents.  All the incidents involved units of the Mexican Army.

The first took place, according to the news item, in Ciudad Victoria, the state capitol of Tamaulipas near the intersection of calles Paseo de los Olmos and Olmo Siberiano in Los Olivos colony, where federal security forces killed an unidentified man in his late 30s who was driving a Honda Accord sedan.   Several rifles were found aboard the vehicle.

In the trunk of the car an unidentified 18 year old man was found who had apparently been kidnapped.  The victim also suffered minor 
wounds from the shootout, but is expected to survive.

The second incident took place at around 1130 hrs on the Ciudad Victoria-Llera road at Kilometer 199 near a ranch four kilometers away where five unidentified civilians were killed, presumably by Mexican federal security forces. 

Seized in the aftermath were four rifles and four vehicles, two of which were stolen.

Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com
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MEXICO CITY: 2 Ambushed in Mexico City Are CIA Agents

August 29, 2012, 7:22 pm
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Borderland Beat
The SUV's Level Seven Armour Saved the lives of the Three Wounded Men
Reforma reports that officials close to the case reported the shooting of a an SUV with diplomatic plates and U.S. officials by Mexican federal police agents have confirmed that the two Americans shot were, in fact, CIA agents. They were apparently on their way to give shooting lessons to members of the Mexican military. They were also, apparently, initially attacked by civilians in a Dodge Van…12 Mexican officers were ordered held for at least 40 days while investigators sort out what the embassy called an “ambush.”
CIA
American agents who were shot last Friday, along with a Captain of the Marina of Mexico, as they headed to the shooting range and  Marines Infantry  training field located Xalatlaco area, belong to the Central Intelligence Agency ( CIA, for its acronym in English), confirmed official sources close to the investigation, which added that the attack took place after the attackers were in close view of the diplomatic vehicle occupants.
According to the obtained information by this newspaper, the aggression against the American agents and of the marine was direct and the fact that there were no fatal victims, it was because the Toyota SUV they were travelling in was amour  grade 7 ( highest level).
The reports given the same day of the incident, which occurred near Tres Marias, Morelos, the U.S. embassy reported that it had been an ambush , while the Federal Police said it had been a confusion .
Interception
The information from the Attorney General's Office (PGR) said that the CIA agents who were to  conduct follow up shooting courses at the Marine Corps Training Field. As they traveled in the stretch of dirt known as El Capulin, in Xalatlaco, Mexico State, they encountered  a Dodge Van with several heavily armed civilians who, at gunpoint, forced them to stop.
While not aiming their weapons, two of them approached the Toyota. , Suddenly, the driver of the U.S. embassy vehicle abruptly threw the vehicle in reverse while turning it around then sped to the federal highway with the gunmen shooting at the vehicle in full pursuit.  
The pursuit grows
During the pursuit a second vehicle, a Sentra,  appeared attempting to block the embassy vehicle, while four gumen in the Sentra opened fire  with heavy artillery.
During the chase, and with two vehicles in pursuit, they passed through a village near a junction, where eight plainclothes men in two vehicles, joined the Toyota aggression and also began firing weapons.
Now chased  by four cars, and U.S. agents tried to signal Marines at a gas station,  but after failing the pursuit continued.  When reaching the junction there awaited a fifth vehicle, that joined the chase and also began shooting.
Once in the federal highway, because of the impact damage,  the Toyota was immobilized and yet still sustaining  shots of high-caliber weapons.  One of the assailants with an  AK-47  (cuerno de chivo/goat horn) blasted the armored diplomatic vehicle.  It was during the attack with the AK47  when U.S. agents were injured,  they were in the front seats and the Marina officer in the rear.
The informant added that directly after the shooting ceased  three Federal Police vehicles arrived at the scene.
Federal agents got out of their patrol cars with weapons drawn. One of them approached the Toyota and was when officers identified themselves as U.S. diplomats.
 
Fourteen federal officers involved in the attack have been detained and transfered to a Mexico City prison for a 40 day hold, until the investigation can clarify exactly what occurred.  In the photo above families of the officers involved are protesting this action.

Sources: La Jornada & Reforma 
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Mayhem in Monterrey: 17 die

August 29, 2012, 9:00 pm
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By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com

A total of 17 individuals were murdered in ongoing drug and gang related violence in and around Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, according to several news items posted on the website of Milenio news daily.
  • Three young men were shot and wounded at a soccer field in Monterrey Tuesday evening.  The shooting took place near the intersection of calles Pino and Cedro where armed suspects travelling aboard a Jeep Cherokee SUV fired on the victims and seven others.  The wounded were identified as Adam Ramirez Mendoza, 15, Victor Garcia Maldonado, 18 and Miguel Garcia Moreno, 21.
  • Three young men were shot to death Monday evening in Guadalupe municipality.  The victims were drinking beer at a residence near the intersection of Avenida Guadalupe Avenue and Calle Luis M. Farias in  Provivienda La Esperanza colony.  According to the news item, armed suspects travelling aboard a taxi stopped and fired on the victims, presumably using assault rifles.  The victims were identified as Brayan Andrés Reyes García, 18, Gabriel Esteban Salazar, 23 and Diego Alejandro Dimas Rincón.
  • Two men were found shot to death in Montemorelos municipality Wednesday evening.  The victims were aboard a Jeep Liberty SUV when they were found just off the National Highway at Kilometer 193.  A third unidentified female victim was also apparently wounded in the incident, but had fled the scene, later receiving medical attention.  The victims were identified as Carlos Fabian de la Cruz Vazquez, 28, and Jorge Luis Morales Manrique, 38.  Morales Manrique was formerly a police chief in Galeana municipality.
  • An unidentified man was found mutilated in Pesquería municipality Wednesday morning.  The victim was found near the intersection of  calles Miguel Alemán and Francisco Javier Mina in Zacatequitas colony, which is between Apodaca and Pesquería municipal limits.
  • One unidentified man was found shot to death and another wounded in Apodaca municipality Wednesday morning.  The two victims had been reported kidnapped Tuesday night.  The victim was found on Calle Rio Santiago in Pueblo Nuevo colony.  The deceased was identified as Carlos Humberto Gonzalez Carranza, 21, while the other victim was identified as Eleazar Aguilar Vazquez, 29.
  • Three 18 year old men were kidnapped and then shot to death in Santa Catarina municipality Wednesday.  The victims were kidnapped by four armed suspects travelling aboard a sedan near the intersection of Calle Solidaridad and a private road in Las Palmas colony.  Assault rifles were used in the shootings.
  • Two unidentified men were found murdered in a van in Juarez municipality Tuesday night.  The victims were aboard a Ford Aerostar minivan parked near the Apodaca-Juarez highway.  Both victims had been tortured and shot to death.  A message was left at the scene but its  contents were not disclosed.
  • The warden for the Topo Chico Centro de Readaptacion Social (CERESO) was shot to death in Monterrey Wednesday.  The victim was identified as Melani Azeneth Castro Barbosa, who was shot at her home on Avendia Joaquin A. Mora in Felipe Carrillo colony.  Reports say two unidentified men shot the victim.
  • Four unidentified individuals including one female were shot to death in Monterrey Wednesday afternoon.  The victims were near the intersection of Avenida Rodrigo Gomez and Calle Rio Danubio in Alfonso Reyes colony when armed suspects shot them. The area is a known drug retail sale point in Monterrey.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com
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Ciudad Juarez: Toughest Place to be a Nurse

August 31, 2012, 4:30 am
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Borderland Beat

The Mexican border town of Ciudad Juarez was labeled Mexico's deadliest city, at the center of a war on drug cartels. While murder rates have slowed, death is still a daily fact of life for nurses there, who have also found themselves to be targets.
Maria speaks with her patient, an Azteca gang member treated for stab wounds.
Previously on two other occasions he had been shot..
British emergency nurse Maria Connolly leaves the A&E department of the Royal Preston Hospital to work in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico - the center of a violent drug war. In Preston, Maria has never seen a murder victim or anyone with a gunshot injury, but Juarez is the murder capital of the world and the nurses in the General Hospital deal with the victims of shootings, stabbings and torture on a daily basis.
For Maria this is a journey into the lives of a dedicated team of nurses who are themselves targets for kidnappers and killers, often having to conceal their identities and change their routes to work. In recent years Ciudad Juarez has had more violent deaths than Baghdad - since 2008 more than 10,000 people have died on the streets, victims of a vicious turf war between the drug cartels battling to control the lucrative marijuana and cocaine trade over the border into America.
Maria's host for her stay is local nurse Pablo Vasquez who has witnessed gun battles in the hospital itself. Now heavily-armed guards patrol the corridors. She also meets one of Pablo's neighbours, whose daughter is one of the hundreds of young women who have simply disappeared from the streets of the city.
During her stay Maria treats patients with a terrifying variety of violent injuries. She sees gunshot injuries, stabbings, beatings and even a father and son who were put through a mock execution. But the nurses of Juarez General work through the mayhem with dedication and humour, in the face of the world's most notorious drug war.
Entire neighborhoods are rendered ghost towns as people, including many medical personnel, flee the violence
"Every day I change my route to avoid unwanted attention. If they see us in our uniforms it make us targets of violence and kidnapping."
Auxiliary nurse Pablo Vasquez has been working the night shift in A&E at Juarez General for six years.
Working nights means leaving the house in darkness, the most dangerous time in the city. "A year and a half ago a fellow nurse was kidnapped so now I'm always extra careful," he says.
"When we park at the hospital we have to check all around before we leave the car."
Doctors and nurses are seen as wealthy and are a prime target for kidnappers in Juarez. Many have been held for ransom and even murdered.
Since the war on the drug cartels was launched by President Calderon in 2006, hundreds of medical staff have fled the city, leaving more than a third of the clinics and hospitals abandoned.
Thousands of troops and Federal police have attempted to crush the cartels, but violence erupted along the border and in Juarez it led to a three-way war between rival cartels and the authorities.
 More than 8,000 men, women, and children have been killed in drug-related violence since the crackdown began.
Pablo admits it is not just his own safety he has to worry about - he lives in constant fear for his children. A family picnic means constantly monitoring who is around them.
And he is particularly worried about his daughters.
Over the past two decades, hundreds of women have gone missing in the city - some murdered, others never found.
"Almost everyone is touched by this situation," says Pablo. "Maybe not in your own family but your neighbours or someone you know has been affected."
A daughter of his neighbour went out to find work and never came back.
"They're women who work - students, prostitutes, factory workers, shop workers. Anybody," he says.
 They say they are investigating - but how come no one is ever arrested?"
It is estimated that 96% of all murders in Juarez go unsolved.
Head Sister Trine De La Cruz, who works with Vasquez, was so concerned about her family's safety that she moved them to the US where they have dual nationality.
They made the decision when their upmarket neighbourhood was taken over by gangs and they were caught in a gunfight.
Trine's husband, son and daughter now live with relatives just over the border on the outskirts of El Paso, one of the safest places to live in the US. In 2010 there were five murders in El Paso - and 3,075 in Juarez.But Trine admits she feels guilty about staying behind to work.
"I have thought about leaving but this is my job. I've been a nurse for 21 years and to leave my job because of what is happening here, I don't think that's the right thing to do."
She also protects her identity at work, wearing a mask and covering her name badge when she treats patients brought in by police to their prison ward.
Medical transport is no garantee against violence. 
Gumen attacked this abulance and killed everyone inside
The hospital is patrolled 24 hours a day by heavily armed guards, after violence spilled over into the wards.
"When the violence started, some gunmen came in to take a patient away," says Pablo. "There were six of them, with pistols and rifles. I just ran away, I hid under the desk."
British emergency nurse Maria Connolly was astounded when he told her this story. She visited the hospital for a BBC documentary, spending two weeks experiencing life as a nurse.
It seemed like another world to Maria and the A&E department of the Royal Preston Hospital where she works.
"I think we'd be offered counselling if someone shouted in our face, but that? We'd shut the department you know, people wouldn't come back to work."
The first patient she helped treat was typical of many - he had no identification and had been found on the street unconscious. They were unable to save him, but with the hospital morgue full and another emergency arriving, the dead man had to be moved out of the hospital's only resuscitation bed.
In her two weeks in the hospital, she encountered patients with a range of violent injuries.
One teenage girl was shot through the neck for refusing to join a gang. Her friend was killed.
Pablo and Maria
Maria spoke to one man who was kidnapped with his son and set on fire - all due to mistaken identity. "If that happened in our department it would have been news - it would have been the first thing someone had said... this is normal I guess, it's crazy.
"I've been shocked by what I've seen. The numbers of people coming in who have been involved in violent attacks and there are so many that don't come to A&E as well - the people who are killed every night."
But after returning to the UK, it was the dedication of the nurses that stayed with her the most.
"When I was in Juarez if someone said 'would you stay or would you want to move out?' I remember thinking there's no way I'd stay. And since I've come home, I've just reflected on how dedicated they are.
"It renewed my belief in nursing and how important it is - I'd forgotten a bit of that."
Source:BBC
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CAF: Eduardo Arellano Felix Extradicted to the US

August 31, 2012, 10:23 pm
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Borderland Beat


 (AFN). - Eduardo Arellano Felix, the last of the kingpins of that family who was arrested in Tijuana  in 2008, was extradited to the U.S. and, as confirmed by the prosecutor Laura E. Duffy, head of the Southwest District of California. Arellano Felix will face charges of racketeering money laundering and drug trafficking among other crimes.
 55 years old and known as "The Doctor", Arellano Felix was handed over by the government of Mexico that he, like his brothers and other members of this organization, will face accountability  for their criminal actions, which cost many lives.
In announcing this action Duffy recalled that Arellano Felix was arrested by Mexican authorities in Tijuana, on October 25, 2008. As reported at the time by AFN, the drug dealer was finally arrested after an intense firefight.  He was hiding in a residential area called Lomas del Pedregal, next to the Buena Vista ramp. The luxury residence still shows signs of that battle. 
Duffy said that in 2010 the U.S. government obtained a final order of extradition of drug lord, however spent two years fighting the appeals by the defense.
She said the first hearing is scheduled for next Tuesday, September 4, in the District Court of the United States in San Diego, before Judge Barbara Lynn Major.
Duffy thanked the Mexican government and said that extradition achieved, is an important step in the efforts of the U.S. government "to bring another key figure in the Arellano Felix organization (to) justice  in an U.S. court on these charges ".
 Lanny A. Breuer, of the Justice Division of the Department of State also considered this extradition as a "milestone" in the fight against Mexican drug cartels and took the opportunity to thank the Criminal Division's Office of International Affairs "for their tireless work to help ensure that Eduardo Arellano Felix and many of his co-conspirators in the United States, face justice.”
Meanwhile, William R. Sherman, special agent in charge of the DEA, said that the extradition of Eduardo Arellano Felix the day "marks the end of 20 years of investigation" by the counternarcotics agency against this drug cartel. He also said that this action shows that the DEA and law enforcement colleagues, will relentlessly pursue these traffickers until they are brought to justice.
 Another intercession of the authorities, who helped to make this event successful, was the result of Daphne Hearn, FBI Special Agent in San Diego, who said that agency was pleased with Mexico's efforts to bring to justice the leader "of one of the most violent criminal organizations in our history." He stressed the spirit of cooperation between the two countries, as a powerful force to disrupt the criminal activities of these groups that spread fear and threat to the security of citizens in the border regions of the United States.
 The U.S. attorney's office noted that the Arellano Felix, has been one of the most notorious multinational drug organizations that controlled the flow of cocaine, marijuana and other drugs into the United States through the Mexican border cities Tijuana and Mexicali from Colombia and Southern Mexico.
 In its indictment against the brothers, the U.S. government said Eduardo Arellano was doing business with an illegal enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity (RICO), conspiracy to import and distribute cocaine and marijuana and money laundering.
 It is noted that the leaders of this organization negotiated directly with Colombian cocaine traffickers to purchase several tons of cocaine, receiving shipments by sea and air in Mexico.
The cartel then  organized cocaine smuggling to the United States and subsequent distribution throughout the United States.
His brothers, Benjamin and Francisco Javier, serving sentences in the United States after having been found guilty of charges of racketeering, drug trafficking and money laundering. Benjamin received a deal negotiated with U.S. prosecutor’s office exchange for his guilty plea.
The case of Eduardo Arellano Felix was investigated by agents of the DEA, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Criminal Investigation Service of the IRS.  The case now is transferred to  the Special Prosecutor Southwest District of California and other authorities.
Source: AFN-Tijuana
Siskiyou_Kid of BB Forum has a different post of the same subject LINK HERE
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3 die, 3 federales wounded in gunfight and pursuit in Zacatecas state

September 1, 2012, 11:00 am
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By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com

A total of three armed suspects were killed early Friday morning in Zacatecas state in a pursuit and gunfight, according to Mexican news sources.

A news report posted on the website of El Sol de Zacatecas news daily said that a Policia Federal (PF) road patrol in the area responded to the sounds of gunfire in  Las Arboledas colony in Zacatecas municipality, which was apparently an exchange of gunfire between rival criminal groups.

Several armed suspects subsequently led the PF patrol in a chase that ended with three armed suspects dead and two PF agents wounded by gunfire.  A third PF agent was hurt during the chase when a patrol vehicle crashed into a pole.  None of the PF wounded were reported as serious.

After the end of the pursuit an additional four armed suspects were detained.

A separate report in El Sol de Zacatecas said that Mexican naval infantry road patrols are currently operating in southern Zacatecas and northern Jalisco states.  The Zacatecas municipalities included in the marine area of operation are Concepción del Oro, Jerez, and Fresnillo.

Last Wednesday, a marine road patrol detained two unidentified armed suspects following a shootout in Jerez municiality, near ejido Arroyo Seco de Arriba.  The two detainees will be changed with operating a stolen vehicle and violations of the federal Firearms and Explosives law.

Marines seized five rifles, two fragmentation grenades, 117 weapons magazines, 2,393 rounds of ammunition, and four vehicles.

The detainees are to be transferred to the Centro de Readaptacion Social (CERESO) in El Salto in Jalisco state.

Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com
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21 Die in Drug-Related Violence in Northern Mexico

September 1, 2012, 9:45 pm
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A wave of drug-related violence claimed the lives of 17 people in Nuevo Leon state and four others in Coahuila state, both located in northern Mexico, officials said.

Military personnel found the bodies of three adults and a minor at a car wash in Saltillo, the capital of Coahuila.

The victims, who were gunned down, were found in Postal Cerritos, a neighborhood on the east side of Saltillo, the Coahuila Public Safety Secretariat said.

Three men, ranging in age from 18 to 25, were kidnapped and murdered in Santa Catarina, a city in Nuevo Leon state, police said.

Mexican drug cartels often kidnap people and later kill them, with no ransom ever demanded.

Two bodies were discovered inside an SUV at kilometer 24 of the Libramiento Noreste highway in the city of Escobedo.

Gunmen killed a woman outside her house in Escobedo, the Nuevo Leon State Investigations Agency, or AEI, said.

The mutilated body of a man, meanwhile, was found in Cienega de Flores, a city north of Monterrey, the capital of Nuevo Leon, the AEI said.

Two dismembered bodies were discovered in Pesqueria, a city in central Nuevo Leon, the AEI said.

Two men were killed and a woman was wounded by gunmen in Montemorelos, a city in the southern part of Nuevo Leon, officials said.

Two people were murdered in another drug-related incident in the city of Apodaca.

Gunmen traveling in several vehicles killed three men and a woman in Monterrey’s Alfonso Reyes district on Wednesday afternoon, an AEI spokesman said.
 
Source: EFE
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Wounded U.S. Officials Leave Mexico without Giving Statements

September 1, 2012, 9:48 pm
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Two U.S. officials wounded last week when assailants thought to be Mexican federal police opened fire on their vehicle have left the country without giving statements to investigators, Mexico’s attorney general said.

“They must first be in the appropriate conditions to be able to do it. It will be done at the right time, once they are in shape for it,” Marisela Morales told reporters, adding that the U.S. government is fully cooperating with the probe.

The safety and health of the two men is the primary consideration, she said.

Neither the U.S. or Mexican government has provided any details about the wounded Americans, but The New York Times reported that both men are CIA officers.

Though 12 federal cops are being held in connection with last Friday’s incident in the central state of Morelos, the Mexican attorney general said she would not discuss possible suspects “so as not to obstruct the investigation.”

“It will be with scientific evidence that we will solve this very sensitive case,” she said.

Morales also declined to comment on the U.S. government’s description of the events as an ambush, saying only that “there are various lines of investigation.”

Federal police were engaged in anti-crime operations at the time of the assault on the U.S. Embassy vehicle, a Toyota SUV with diplomatic plates, the Mexican government said last Friday in a statement.

The Americans and a Mexican navy official were traveling on a stretch of unpaved road en route to a navy installation at El Capulin mountain when they encountered “a vehicle whose occupants brandished guns,” the statement said.

The driver of the Toyota “maneuvered to get away and re-enter the highway, the moment in which the occupants of the aggressor vehicle opened fire on the diplomatic vehicle.”

Soon, according to the statement, “three other vehicles joined the pursuit and fired gunshots at the U.S. Embassy vehicle.”

Source: EFE
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Cartel Boss Captured by Marines in Jalisco

September 1, 2012, 9:57 pm
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A suspected Jalisco Nueva Generacion drug cartel boss in Ciudad Guzman, a city in the western Mexican state of Jalisco, has been captured by marines, the Mexican Navy Secretariat said Thursday.

Jose Javier Ramirez Chavez, who was arrested on Wednesday, is a close associate of the cartel’s top boss, Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, the secretariat said.

Ramirez Chavez is suspected of being “the boss for drug sales for the Jalisco Nueva Generacion Cartel in Ciudad Guzman,” the secretariat said in a statement.

Marines seized two rifles, one of which had a grenade launcher, and a kilo of what appears to be the synthetic drug “crystal” from the suspect.

Four cartel members arrested last Sunday took their orders from Ramirez Chavez, the secretariat said.
 
The cartel boss was turned over to the Siedo organized crime unit of the federal Attorney General’s Office.

At least six suspected Jalisco Nueva Generacion drug cartel members died in a shootout with police in Tonaya, a city in Jalisco, last weekend.

Cartel enforcers blocked 28 roads in Jalisco after the shootout, the Federal Police said.

Gunmen used vehicles to block streets across the Guadalajara metropolitan area and in nearby cities, setting 35 vehicles on fire, Jalisco Government Secretary Victor Manuel Gonzalez said.

The Jalisco Nueva Generacion organization was created following the death of Ignacio “Nacho” Coronel, a top Sinaloa drug cartel boss killed by the army in 2010.

Jalisco Nueva Generacion has been fighting Los Zetas, considered Mexico’s most violent drug cartel, for control of smuggling routes into the United States.

Source: EFE
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"EL DIABLO" Captured CDG Boss of NL

September 2, 2012, 1:50 pm
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Chivis Martinez for Borderland Beat


 
 
Mexico City. Federal Police arrested David Rosales Guzman and l Comandante Diablo , identified as the head of the Gulf Cartel plaza in Monterrey, said Luis Cardenas Palomino, head of the Regional Security Division of the Ministry of Public Security.
Rosales Guzman has been linked to killings, kidnappings, extortion and attacks at various bars in Monterrey, including Makiavelo bar that left three dead on August 8, and the bar Matehuala, where nine people died on 14 March.
Also it is related to the killing of two men who were hanged on a pedestrian bridge in Monterrey limits and San Nicolas de los Garza,
Diablo Transported in this vehicle
Diablo was first transported to this hanger
"He was in charge of coordinating and ordering the killings of members of rival groups, conducting extortion bars and nightclubs and drug distribution" in Monterrey, said Palomino. "provided weapons to the members under his command, which operated in Monterrey , it is known that drugs and weapons were brought from Reynosa, Tamaulipas, where other members of the Gulf Cartel, and were coordinated with David Rosales for such activities, it is known also with ties to the municipal police of Nuevo Leon" he said.

The capture, said Palomino from the Command Center in Iztapalapa, occurred yesterday in the Colonia Independcia, in Guadalupe, Nuevo Leon, Diablo tried to flee but was captured and placed aboard a van to a hanger, then transported to prison where he will be detained and presumably arrested, charged and brought to justice.
 
Some crimes where David Rosales Guzman is linked directly:
 • The killing of two men, who were hanged on a pedestrian bridge between the limits of Monterrey and San Nicolas de los Garza, Nuevo Leon, on August 8, 2012.
• The killing of three people, the August 8, 2012, outside the bar "Makiavelo".
• The attack on the bar called "Matehuala" in Monterrey on August 14, 2012, which killed nine people and injured three others.
• Attacks on the bars "Azul Tequila" bar "Jugs 2" and bar "Eternity" on August 20, 2012, where a woman died
• On Wednesday led the murder and kidnapping of four people, who were located at mitres colony center in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon.
 
Sources: BB-Jornada-Demotix & THE BOSS of BB forum forum link here thankyou to Ajulio (AJ) of Borderladn Beat forum for the vid.
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September 2nd Badanov's Buzzkill Bulletin

September 2, 2012, 9:00 pm
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By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com

Mexican army and naval infantry forces have since August 24th seized 42.286 kilograms of methamphetamine , 398.77 kilograms of cocaine, MX $205,700 (USD $15,595.27) and USD $25,300.00 (MX $333,704.41) in cash, according to information provided by official Mexican government sources.
  • A Mexican Army unit with the 9th Military Zone detained five unidentified individuals and seized weapons in Sinaloa state August 24th.  The arrests took place near the village of Buchinari  in Sinaloa de Leyva municiality where soldiers seized one rifle, two handguns, six weapons magazines, 133 rounds of ammunition and a stolen vehicle.
  • An army unit with the Mexican 45th Military Zone located an abandoned vehicle with weapons aboard in Sonora state August 27th.  The unit was on patrol in Agua Prieta municipality when soldiers located the vehicle containing five rifles, including a Barrett 0.50 caliber rifle,  50 weapons magazines 2,875 rounds ammunition and tactical gear.
  • A Mexican Army unit in the 6th Military Zone detained two unidentified individuals following an exchange of gunfire in Coahuila state August 27th.  The unit was on patrol in Piedra Negras municipality when soldiers came under small arms fire by an unknown number of armed suspects.  After ending the gunfight, soldiers detained two of the shooters and seized two handguns, seven weapons magazines, 35 rounds of ammunition and USD $13,000.00 (MX $171,468.60) in cash.
  • An army unit with the 22nd Mexican Military Zone detained two unidentified individuals and seized weapons and munitions in Mexico state August 28th.  The arrests took place in Luvianos municipality where soldiers seized four rifles, 24 weapons magazines, 730 rounds of ammunition and two tactical vests.  Note these detentions and seizures took place two days after 30 unidentified gang members were reportedly killed in an intergang firefight in the same municipality. 
  • A total of three unidentified armed suspects were killed in a firefight involving a Mexican Army unit in Veracruz state August 30th.  The gun fight took place in New Tuxpan colony in Cordoba municipality where an army unit attached to the 26th Military Zone came under small arms fire.  Army return fire killed three armed suspects and soldiers detained two others.  An unidentified man who was apparently a kidnapping victim, was released following the gunfight. Three rifles were seized in the aftermath.
  • A Mexican Army unit with the 36th Military Zone seized a large quantity of cocaine in Chiapas state August 29th.  The unit  searched a truck which was found to have 398 coffee packages with 389 kilograms of cocaine.  One unidentified suspect, the driver, was detained at the scene.
  • An army unit with the Mexican 45th Military Zone seized quantities of guns in Sonora state August 29th.  The unit was on patrol in Plutarco Elias Calles municipality, when soldiers spotted a suspect presumably with a weapon.  A search of a residence located three rifles, six handguns, 575 rounds of ammunition, 19 weapons magazines, three vehicles and quantities of tactical gear.  The suspect was detained at the scene.
  • A Mexican Army unit with the 19th Military Zone detained two armed suspects in Veracruz state following a gun fight August 29th.  The unit was on patrol in Ciudad Cuauhtemoc municipality when it came under small arms fire.  Army return fire ended the gunfight and led to the arrest of two unidentified suspects.  Soldiers also seized one rifle, two handguns, 45 rounds of ammunition, six weapons magazines, one stolen vehicle and MX $8,700.00 (USD $659.60) in cash. 
  • A joint raid involving municipal police from Mexicali municipality in Baja California state and soldiers with the 2nd Military Zone netted drugs and drug laboratory equipment August 29th.  The raid took place near the intersection of Calles Bambu and Saratoga in Ejido Los Algodones where a total of 6.650 kilograms of methamphetamine were seized along with quantities of precursor chemicals, one handgun and 56 rounds of ammunition.
  • Soldiers with the 2nd Military Zone posted at the Abelardo L. Rodriguez International Airport in Tijuana municipality in Baja California state, detained two unidentified individuals with large sums of cash in their possession August 29th.  One suspect had USD $12,300.00 (MX $162,235.74) and MX $4,500.00 (USD $341.17),while the other had MX $192,500 (USD $14,594.50).
  • One unidentified armed suspect was killed in a firefight with a Mexican Army unit in Guerrero state August 29th.  The unit with the Mexican 35th Military Zone was on road patrol near the village of Las Anonita in Ajuchitlan del Progreso municipality when it came under small arms fire.  Army return fire killed one.  Soldiers seized weapons in the aftermath including  ten rifles, one handgun, four homemade grenades, 31 weapons magazines, 1,907 rounds of ammunition and two vehicles.
  • A Mexican Army unit with the 45th Military Zone seized a number of weapons in Sonora state August 31st.  The unit was on patrol in the municipality of Carborca when soldiers found an abandoned vehicle containing five rifles, 13 weapons magazines, 378 rounds of ammunition and tactical gear.
  • A Mexican Army unit with the 2nd Military Zone seized quantities of cocaine and methamphetamine at a checkpoint in Baja California state August 31st.  A truck carrying bottled water from Sinalo state was stopped near Ejido Guadalajara in Mexicali municipality where soldiers located 50 packages with 27.7 kilograms of methamphatamine and nine packages with 9.77 kilograms of cocaine.  Then driver was detained at the scene.
  • An army unit with the 2nd Military Zone seized a quantity of methamphetamine at a checkpoint in Baja California August 30th.  The checkpoint was located at Kilometer 36.7 of the Tijuana-Ensenada road where a truck was searched.  Soldiers found 3.546 kilograms of methamphatamine hidden aboard. The unidentified driver was detained at the scene.
  • Soldiers from the 2nd Military Zone performed a traffic stop in La Herrera colony in Playas de Tijuana delegation in Tijuana municipality, finding 2.19 kilograms of methamphetamine August 30th.  The driver was detained at the scene. 
  • A Mexican naval infantry unit seized drugs and wepons in Ciudad Guzman in Jalisco state August 26th.  Several members of the  Jalisco Nueva Generacion criminal cartel were detained, including Raul Sosa Jimenez AKA El Bufalo,  Guillermo Alberto Ramirez Mundo AKA El Wily, Jose Antonio Reyes Mundo AKA El Tres and Maria Nélida Flores Reyes AKA La Gorda.  A quantity of methamphetamine totalling 1.2 kilograms were seized along with five assault rifles, five handguns, weapons magazines ammunition, tactical gear, two vehicles and communication equipment.
  • Mexican naval infantry troops detained two individuals and seized quantities of drug and guns in Jalisico state August 30th.   José Javier Ramirez Chavez AKA El Bocho and Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes AKA El Mencho were arrested in Ciudad Guzman. Both detainees were said to be leaders in the Jalisco Nueva Generacion criminal cartel.  Marines seized a total of one kilogram of methamphetamine, two rifles, a grenade launcher attachment, two pistols, five grenades, weapons magazines and ammunition.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com
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Mexican supreme court orders 22 soldiers to trial

September 3, 2012, 9:00 pm
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By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com

The Mexican  Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nacion (SCJN) or Supreme Court ordered 22 soldiers to trial in civilian court over the detention and disappearance of two men in Ciudad Juarez in 2008, according to Mexican news accounts.

A news report posted on the website of Animal Politico political news website Monday evening said that an amparo appeal filed by the 22 defendants was overturned, and the court ordered the military judge in the proceedings to stop the proceedings and turn the case over to a federal judge.

Up until a year ago, military prosecutors nationwide conducted the investigation and prosecution of all Mexican military involved in crimes against civilians, even if those crimes were committed as a part of a military operation.  Amparo suits intended to move those cases to civilian courts, which are procedural appeals instituted to assure the rights of defendants, were usually denied by civilian courts in favor of military prosecutors, until the SCJN declared last year that all human rights cases stemming from crimes committed by the military must be prosecuted in civilian courts.
SCJN Justice Juan Silva Meza


The case involves the detention in November 2008 of two brothers who were arrested by a force of between 40 and 50 soldiers in Ciudad Juarez, and then disappeared.

According to a column by Raymundo Riva Palacio posted in 2009 on the website of Zocalo.com.mx, witnesses had seen soldiers remove the two men from their home and were taken away in military vehicles.

A year after the detention, the Mexican Army and security officials in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua state and even the federal government denied knowing the whereabouts of the two men.

The raid was a joint operation carried out by Mexican Army and Policia Federal, which provided perimeter security for the raid, took the detainees to the headquarters of the Mexican 22nd Motorized Cavalry regiment.  One of the detainees, Jose Luis Guzman Zuniga, 29, was arrested for extortion while the other, Carlos Guzmán Zúniga 28, was arrested for possession of cocaine.

The Mexican Procuraduria General de Republica (PGR) or Mexican attorney general denied having been involved in the detention subsequent to the arrests.

According to the Animal Politico story, the Secretaria de Defensa Nacional (SEDENA), the controlling agency for the Mexican Army, had investigated the involvement of four of the soldiers involved in the arrests, but had to date not made any case or arrests against them.

According to current law even though a Mexican federal judge can continue the prosecution, that judge still has the power to dismiss the case outright.

The disappearance case also directly impacts the Mexican Constitution, Article 19, which permits federal courts to assert jurisdiction in cases even though a case may have been a local matter, regardless whether federal security forces were involved in the original arrests. 

The SCJN ruling last year which requires human right cases to only be tried in civilian courts, relies heavily on Article 19 which allows federal courts to take jurisdiction in cases even with a jurisdiction issue that would allow the case to proceed in a local or state court.

Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com
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Mexican Army rescues 2 in Guerrero state

September 4, 2012, 9:00 pm
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By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com

One unidentified armed suspect was killed and two unidentified kidnapping victims were rescued following an intense firefight between a Mexican Army unit and alleged kidnappers, according to Mexican news accounts.

According to an article posted on the website of El Sol de Zacatecas news daily Tuesday night, an armed criminal group associated with  Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG) encountered an army road patrol along the Lazaro Cardenas-Zihuatanejo highway in La Union municipality in Guerrero state.

Armed suspects opened fire on the army unit.  Army return fire and the ensuing gunfight killed one armed suspect. Six other suspects surrendered, presumably ending the gun battle.

The two victim were travelling on the Lazaro Cardenas-Zihuatanejo highway bound for Acapulco municipality, when the armed suspects who were travelling aboard three vehicles blocked their way, and then forced them into the vehicles at gunpoint.  The victims were being transported to a criminal safe house when the army unit happened upon them, initiating the gunfight.

Seized following the firefight was one 9mm handgun, seven rifles and three vehicles, one Niddan Tiida, one Nissan Tsuru and one sedan.

Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com
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Soldiers Kill 6 in Shootout in Guerrero

September 4, 2012, 9:54 pm
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At least six armed civilians were killed in a shootout with army troops over the weekend in Tecpan de Galeana, a city in the southern Mexican state of Guerrero, prosecutors said.

The incident occurred on Saturday while soldiers were on patrol in a place called El Rancho near La Palma, a community outside Tecpan de Galeana, the Guerrero Attorney General’s Office said in a statement.

The army contacted state officials and advised them of the incident, the AG’s office said.

Bad weather and the remoteness of the shooting scene made it difficult for investigators to reach the area until around midnight on Saturday, the AG’s office said.

Investigators found the bodies of six men, all of whom had been shot, at the scene.

The dead men were identified by relatives as Jose Carlos Atrixco, Ever Daniel Granados, Gulmaro Granados, Jorge Granados, Josue Olea and Joaquin Granados, the AG’s office said.

An AR-15 assault rifle, three AK-47 assault rifles, two pistols, 11 AK-47 ammunition clips, two AR-15 ammunition clips, assorted ammunition and other items were found with the bodies.

“The deaths were a result of a clash between soldiers from the 19th Infantry Battalion in Petatlan and armed civilians,” the AG’s office said.

Officials did not provide any information on why the shootout happened or whether the men belonged to a drug cartel.

Guerrero Gov. Angel Aguirre Rivero launched a security operation last year with the support of the federal government to improve security in the southern state.

“Operation Safe Guerrero” was launched on Oct. 6, 2011, in an effort to reduce the soaring crime rate in the state.

The wave of drug-related violence in the state has been blamed on a turf war between rival cartels.

Source: EFE


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Mexico to Punish Officers Who Fired on U.S. Agents

September 4, 2012, 10:00 pm
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The police officers who fired on a U.S. Embassy SUV and wounded two officials from that country will be punished “upon confirmation of the excessive use of force,” the Mexican Public Safety Secretariat said.

“Upon confirmation of the excessive use of force, lack of following operational protocols and complicity in crime in the conduct of public servants, the Federal Police is the first to be interested in punishment in accord with the law,” the secretariat said in a statement.

On Friday, Aug. 24, two U.S. Embassy officials, both of them security experts, were wounded when they were fired upon by Mexican Federal Police as they were traveling in an armored vehicle with diplomatic plates along a road in the central state of Morelos.

The incident occurred along the stretch of road at Tres Marias Huitzilas, just outside the Federal District.

The people responsible for firing on the vehicle were federal law enforcement agents who were investigating the kidnapping of a federal official, the secretariat said.

The U.S. Embassy initially said that the attack had been “an ambush.”

A judge ordered the preventive arrest of the 12 police officers involved on “abuse of authority” and other charges, while the investigation was conducted.

The Federal Police cooperated with the investigation by prosecutors and placed at their disposal the information that is contributing to ascertaining each officer’s responsibilities in the incident, the secretariat said.

“The Federal Police will undertake with determination the necessary corrective actions so that these regrettable events do not occur again,” the secretariat said.

These type of activities and attitudes, which are “contrary to the spirit of the corps and honorability that govern the daily activities of the Federal Police, have not been and will not be tolerated,” the secretariat said.

Officials have maintained ongoing communication with the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City and with the Attorney General’s Office “with the objective of establishing a close collaboration that will facilitate the full clarification of the facts,” the Public Safety Secretariat said.

Neither the U.S. or Mexican government has provided any details about the wounded Americans, but The New York Times reported that both men are CIA officers. Mexican Attorney General Marisela Morales also said that the two men had left the country after being wounded and without giving statements to investigators.

The Americans and a Mexican navy official were traveling in a Toyota SUV on a stretch of unpaved road en route to a navy installation at El Capulin mountain when they encountered “a vehicle whose occupants brandished guns,” the statement said.

The driver of the Toyota “maneuvered to get away and re-enter the highway, the moment in which the occupants of the aggressor vehicle opened fire on the diplomatic vehicle.”

Soon, according to the statement, “three other vehicles joined the pursuit and fired gunshots at the U.S. Embassy vehicle.”

Source: EFE
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Mexican Authorities Arrest 10 Linked to Zetas Cartel

September 4, 2012, 10:11 pm
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Ten people, including a city official, a police chief and a law enforcement agent, suspected of having links to the Los Zetas drug cartel were arrested in the northern Mexican state of Nuevo Leon, officials said Tuesday.

Ruben Muzquiz Riojas, security secretary of the city of Anahuac, police chief Jesus Mario Mata Hernandez and police officer Juan Jesus Mendez were among those arrested.

The suspects, who have been linked to 17 murders, were arrested in the past few days by state and federal authorities, Nuevo Leon Security Council spokesman Jorge Domene said in a press conference.

Army troops and Nuevo Leon State Investigations Agency, or AEI, agents “managed to capture a gang of criminals who mainly operated in the cities of Anahuac and Lampazos,” Nuevo Leon, and Candela, a city in Coahuila state, Domene said.

The suspects kidnapped and murdered their victims, incinerating the bodies to wipe out the evidence, Domene said.

The officials from Anahuac worked for the gang, with Muzquiz Riojas receiving 40,000 pesos (about $3,000) from the cartel, Domene said.

Five vehicles, several cell phones, an ammunition clip for a rifle and ammunition were seized from the suspects.

Human remains were found at two ranches in Anahuac, which is in northern Nuevo Leon.

Los Zetas has been battling the Gulf cartel for control of Nuevo Leon and smuggling routes into the United States.

Source: EFE




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Mexico Navy Says it Captured Gulf Cartel Leader

September 4, 2012, 10:23 pm
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Mario Cardenas Guillen, alias El Gordo, is accused of being one of the two top leaders of the Gulf cartel of Mexico.

By Tracy Wilkinson,
Los Angeles Times

Mexican navy officers flank Mario Cardenas Guillen, also known as El Gordo, during his presentation to the media in Mexico City.
 
Mexico's U.S.-backed naval special forces have captured a man believed to be one of the two top leaders of the Gulf cartel, a drug-trafficking organization that once dominated the northeast border region but has recently engaged in devastating battles with the vicious Zeta paramilitary force, authorities said Tuesday.
 
Mario Cardenas Guillen, alias El Gordo ("Fatso") or M-1, was paraded before reporters in Mexico City on Tuesday after his capture Monday in the northern border state of Tamaulipas.



Wearing an armored vest and his shirttail hanging out, the balding, chubby Cardenas mostly cast his eyes downward, occasionally glancing to the side.

Navy spokesman Vice Adm. Jose Luis Vergara said Cardenas was the brother of Antonio Ezequiel Cardenas Guillen, alias Tony Tormenta, who was shot to death in a gunfight with Mexican marines in November 2010. They are brothers of Osiel Cardenas Guillen, a longtime boss of the Gulf cartel who was extradited to the United States in 2007. He entered a plea agreement in a Texas court in early 2010, receiving 25 years amid suspicion that he was cooperating with U.S. authorities.

Mario Cardenas was found with a small amount of weaponry, cocaine, money and communications equipment, Vergara said.

Mario Cardenas ran a number of drug-smuggling operations from prison beginning in 1995 until his release in 2007, Vergara said. When his brother was killed, Mario Cardenas took over. But by then, the Gulf cartel, under siege by its onetime ally the Zetas, had split. Part of the organization, instead of following Cardenas, went with another long-time cartel lieutenant, Eduardo Costilla, alias El Coss, who presumably stands today as the top capo.

Both branches of the Gulf cartel have waged brutal warfare with the Zetas over control of an ever-widening swath of Mexico, from Tamaulipas down the eastern coast through Veracruz state and into the once-tranquil, prosperous state of Nuevo Leon. By last year, the Zetas, formed originally as the Gulf cartel's armed wing, appeared to have gained the upper hand over their onetime bosses. Eventually, the Gulf cartel had to align itself with erstwhile enemy the Sinaloa cartel to be able to muster sufficient force against the Zetas.

Cardenas also faces charges in the United States, said Jose Luis Manjarrez, spokesman for the Mexican federal attorney general's office.

Mexican forces have either arrested or killed a number of important cartel leaders in the nearly six years since President Felipe Calderon launched a military-led offensive against the powerful gangs. Most of those achievements have come in recent years as U.S. agencies increasingly made intelligence available to the Mexican army and, especially, the navy, which is viewed by American officials as more flexible and responsive.

But the loss of one commander often gives way to an even bloodier power struggle among potential successors. And Mexico's most-wanted kingpin, fugitive billionaire Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman, head of the vast Sinaloa cartel, remains at large.


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Zetas Split Points to More Violence, New Alliances

September 4, 2012, 10:34 pm
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By: Ildefonso Ortiz
The Monitor

A criminal organization born out of betrayal has been weakened greatly by a game of alliances and double-dealing as Mexico’s drug war continues to play out like a TV drama.

So says George W. Grayson, author of the book The Executioner’s Men, which details the history and operations of the Zetas drug gang.

Grayson told The Monitor that the cartel’s internal struggle is to blame for the recent upswing in violence in Monterrey, one of the larger metropolitan areas in northern Mexico.

“Monterrey has erupted into a firestorm of violence,” said the professor of government at the College of William and Mary, who cited “30 killings in two days” last week in the city.

“In Monterrey, you have two factions of the Zetas fighting there,” Grayson said. “The Gulf Cartel is involved, too. You also have the forces of the Sinaloa Cartel.”

The Zetas’ internal battle for control of drug smuggling routes into the U.S. also has spread to the cities of Guadalajara, San Luis Potosí and Colima, he said.

While the fighting is taking place in Mexico, Americans, too, have cause to be cautious because the conflicts have the potential to spread. For certain, anyone with loved ones in northern Tamaulipas has reason for concern.

And though the factions fighting the Zetas’ internal battle may be targeting each other, the clash puts the wider public at risk, as well, said Luis Rosas, a former Mexican military officer who now holds crime prevention seminars.

Because criminal organizations operate on both sides of the border to cross their goods, it is common for drug lords to have family members living on the U.S. side and for the drug lords themselves to occasionally hide out there, too, Rosas said.

FAMILY BUSINESS
“Tamaulipas is deeply ingrained in the drug trafficking business,” Rosas said in Spanish.

“There you have relatives, compadres and close friends all working in the business,” the security analyst said.

But when a criminal organization splinters, those relatives and compadres’ loyalties are thrown into question as new alliances form and new battle lines are drawn.

“‘Well, since you work for him and my boss is against your boss, I have to come after you,’” Rosas said. “‘If I can’t get to you, I will get your son, your brother, your friend, your cousin, your mom or anyone that I can use to get close to you or to hurt you.’”
That is part of the reason why we are seeing a large increase in kidnappings, the security analyst said.



ZETAS HISTORY
The former military and federal police officers who would one day form the Zetas drug gang were first recruited into the Gulf Cartel by its leader, Osiel Cárdenas Guillén, to act as his organization’s enforcers. He had risen to the top by killing his rivals and feared the same fate would come to him, according to Drug Enforcement Administration documents.

Cárdenas’ caution may have paid off: He’s alive, but in a U.S. prison. After he was arrested in March 2003, the Zetas became their own organization — separate from, but affiliated with the Gulf Cartel. It wasn’t until 2010 that the Gulf Cartel and the Zetas turned their guns on each other.

And now it’s the Zetas playing out a bloody, internal power struggle.

Rosas said the root of the split within the Zetas is the greed of No. 2 leader Miguel Angel Treviño Morales, known as “El 40” or “Zeta 40.”

“He planted the seed of discord within the organization. Originally the group had a military structure, which allowed the organization to rise to the top over other cartels,” he said. “They weren’t the most powerful, but they were the most organized and disciplined. Then you have this guy (Treviño) who wasn’t one of the original Zetas come in and quickly rise even over some of the original members and became power-hungry.”

In order to stabilize his power base, Treviño began creating groups of individuals loyal to him within the organization, Rosas said.

Now that the lines have been drawn, the Zetas’ No. 1 and No. 3 men — Heriberto “El Lazca” Lazcano and Ivan “El Taliban” Gonzalez Caballero — have joined forces to take out Treviño, Grayson said.

“It looks like El Taliban is backing El Lazca to the hilt, and he is in San Luis Potosí doing his best to recruit supporters,” Grayson said. “The problem is that (the former soldiers who were) are fewer and fewer, and most of the current plaza bosses have been recruited by El 40. He is the stronger player.”

A Mexican intelligence official and Grayson both pointed to a possible alliance between Lazcano’s group and members of the Gulf Cartel — primarily the forces loyal to Jorge Eduardo Costilla, who are commonly known as the Metros — in order to take out Treviño once and for all.


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