Borderland Beat

Public executions continue in Tijuana, a man identified as Omar Vasquez Hidalgo was executed today in the "5y10" bridge when he was driving a late model red BMW. AFN is reporting Vasquez Hidalgo currently served as Agent of the Public Ministry assigned to a court house in Tijuana.

According to witness reports Vasquez Hidalgo was shot 7 times with a 9mm handgun fired from a white Astro Van which was quickly abandoned a few blocks away.

Vasquez Hidalgo is the sixth victim in the last 24 hours, the others being a man executed in Pedregal de Santa Julia, another in La Presa district, one more in the Rosarito-Tijuana road and the two heads found this morning at the Playas De Tijuana access.

Ivan Villegas, Jesus Jimenez, Eligio Valencia Jr. and Omar Vasquez at the Mexican Congress.

ADDITIONAL INFO

The name Omar Vasquez Hidalgo is the same name of a former Ministerial Agent from Baja California who had previously been arrested and shown to the media as a member of the Arellano Felix Cartel under the nickname of "La Barby".

Back in 2009, Vasquez Hidalgo was arrested by the State Preventive Police and shown to the media as a high ranking member of the Arellano Felix Cartel with ties to former CAF lieutenants "El Quemado", "El Nalgon Villarreal", "El Ciego" and a kidnapper ring led by a guy nicknamed "El Software" which also worked doing kidnappings of rivals for Fernando Sanchez Arellano aka "El Ingeniero" back in those days.

Vasquez Hidalgo, however, was quickly set free as he was only charged with possession of a dose of Cocaine and the Federal Court allowed him to get out under bail.

At that time, Vasquez Hidalgo worked as a "trust employee" on the Tijuana Local Government and it was known he was recommended by PRI council member Eligio Valencia on the Hank Rhon administration.

As of right now the available info points to both being the same guy, both "La Barby" arrested in 2009 and Omar Vasquez Hidalgo, executed today.

SOURCE AFN Tijuana

Translated By Valor for Borderland Beat

Residents of Chilapa, Guerrero denounced the disappearances of at least 30 people during the arrival of the hundreds of armed civilians who called themselves “Community Police”.

Chilapa has been hit by several violent incidents attributed to organized crime in recent months, among them includes the finding of 10 human heads and other human remains in clandestine graves in January.

On May 1, Ulises Fabián Quiroz, the PRI mayor candidate, was shot to death.

A few days later, around 300 armed masked men entered the community, who identified themselves as “Community Police” and remained there for nearly a week to combat violence caused by the confrontation between organized crime groups. The current mayor, Javier García, opted to leave Chilapa, but returned this weekend.

Today, in a meeting with Fernando Esteban Ramírez, Inspector General of the State Commission for Human Rights (CEDH) of Guerrero, the families claimed that the authorities did nothing against the “kidnappings, threats, and intimidations” by the armed civilians.

Relatives of 16 of the missing persons in recent days denounced their case to the CEDH and stated that the relatives of the other 14 missing have not wanted to complain because of fear, according to local media.

Also, last Friday, relatives of the missing youths also protested outside the Secretariat of Public Security Municipal Office in order to ask for the localization of the missing and to have the presence of the Secretary General of the State Government, David Cienfuegos Salgado.

Last Thursday, the so called “Community Police” made an agreement with the authorities to disarm and withdraw from Chilapa, the Guerrero municipality that they laid siege to on May 9 in order to stop the violence caused by confrontations between Los Rojos and Los Ardillos, two organized crime groups.

During the taking of Chilapa, the Secretary of Public Security, Job Encarnación Cuenca, resigned. The armed civilians coexisted with Mexican soldiers, the state police, and members of the Gendarmerie who were located a few meters away. They patrolled the streets in certain trucks and in trucks belonging to the Municipal Police. They also established four checkpoints at the entrances of the town.

Source: Sin Embargo

Lucio R Borderland Beat Material from Court Release DEA Website-additional plea info view J's Post

Plea Agreement:

US v Chino Anthrax Plea-C.martinez

DEA Press Release

Jose Rodrigo Arechiga-Gamboa, also known as “Chino Antrax,” pleaded guilty in federal court today. Chino Antrax admitted that as a high-level member of the Mexico-based Sinaloa Cartel he and his co-conspirators coordinated the transportation of tons of cocaine and marijuana into the United States and ordered or participated in cartel-related violence.

In his plea agreement, Arechiga-Gamboa admitted that the Sinaloa Cartel uses violence and threats to intimidate rival cartels, and that he himself was “a direct participant in, and communicated to other members of the Sinaloa Cartel, orders to commit acts of violence or threats of violence.” The Sinaloa Cartel operates across multiple continents and countries, importing large quantities of narcotics into Mexico from Asia and Central and South American countries including Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Peru, Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras and Guatemala.

The Sinaloa Cartel moves drugs by land, air, and sea, including cargo aircraft, private aircraft, submarines and other submersible and semi-submersible vessels, container ships, supply vessels, go-fast boats, fishing vessels, buses, rail cars, tractor trailers, trucks, automobiles, and private and commercial interstate and foreign carriers. Those narcotics are then smuggled across the international border to San Diego via automobiles, tractor trailers, trucks, fishing vessels and tunnels and stored at various stash houses, safe houses and warehouses in San Diego County. The narcotics are transported and distributed from there to locations throughout the United States.

“This plea today marks the end of a reign of terror that this particular violent enforcement arm of the Sinaloa Cartel has inflicted on innocent people both in Mexico and the United States,” says DEA San Diego Special Agent in Charge William R. Sherman. “Jose Rodrigo Arechiga-Gamboa, aka: Chino Antrax was the head of this violent group under the powerful Sinaloa Cartel. Once again, DEA commits to hunting down the remaining members of this weakening cartel and making sure the public is safe from any more drug related violence.”

Arechiga-Gamboa’s arrest and guilty plea come in spite of significant efforts by him to elude capture.

Arechiga-Gamboa was arrested on December 30, 2013, at the Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, Netherlands at the request of the United States. Arechiga-Gamboa was taken into custody at the airport traveling under a fraudulent name, “Norberto Sicairos-Garcia,” as he deplaned a KLM flight from Mexico City, Mexico to Amsterdam. The United States made formal requests for assistance from foreign authorities via a provisional arrest warrant and an Interpol Red Notice.

A Dutch Court considered the extradition request and, on May 28, 2014, ordered that Arechiga-Gamboa be extradited to the United States to stand trial on the narcotics trafficking offenses. Arechiga-Gamboa was extradited to the United States on July 11, 2014 and arrived at San Diego International airport under heavy security.

The investigation and prosecution of Arechiga-Gamboa was conducted by agents with the Drug Enforcement Administration in San Diego, along with federal law enforcement from numerous other agencies. It was also conducted in close coordination with DEA agents in Chicago and the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois, along with Customs and Border Protection Office of Field Operations, Customs and Border Protection Office of Border Patrol, Internal Revenue Service, Department of Treasury, Office of Foreign Asset Control, Department of Justice, Office of International Affairs, and Interpol.

Borderland Beat

(Tijuano´s note: The following is an article published by AFN Tijuana which provides their version of what is going on right now in Tijuana, I decided to translate and post it here because it could explain the rise in execution in Tijuana in the past weeks, AFN is known in Tijuana, among many things, for having a comment section constantly used for sending threats amongst cartel members, they also have a good grip on whats going on in Tijuana usually having news that others outlets don't publish. I´m sure some readers will not agree with the following and hope to read their comments if they have some info on what´s really going on)

Tijuana, May 21st. 2015.- They call themselves "Nueva Generacion Tijuana"(Tijuana New Generation), they are the heirs of the Arellano Felix brothers, they "work" for those surviving the founders of that cartel, and according to consulted sources they are getting "revenge" for "treason" and doing a "clean up" of those who refuse to abandon "El Aquiles" and his brother "La Rana" and either "pay taxes or leave the business"

According to comments made by AFN´s sources, "revenge" is being taken against Municipal Agents and Agents of the State´s Attorney Office who "jumped ship" and joined the Arzate brothers, meanwhile the "clean up" is targeting drug retail leaders, mainly "galleros and burreros"(mules) from the area of El Murua. It was said that some of the heads found belonged to this people.

This criminal organization-along some alleged Michoacan drug dealers (Tijuano: I´m sure they mean CJNG as Mencho is from Michoacan) first hung a warning banner on April 5th threatening "El Tomate and his people"(Tijuano: Actually it read "La gente del Tomate", which I believe meant Sinaloans in general) while it made clear they would not go after the general public or the authorities. The message was meant for Israel de la Cruz who allegedly worked for the Sinaloa people.

After that there were a couple more banners and a few executions committed without extreme violence, however, in the following weeks the criminal activity grew, as did the written threats which were left, among other ways, written in AFN´s website, one of them read "the worst is just beginning".

Apparently, or so it was said, Municipal Agents and members of the State´s Attorney Office who were working along side the "Tijuana group" changed sides because they "wrongly thought that the family had no power left", this was stated by one of the consulted sources.

Meanwhile, they said, the brothers Alfonso and Rene Arzate Arteaga left Tijuana and are currently in Mexicali where they operate via cell phones with people still loyal to them but who are part of the lower ranks of the organization. They even mentioned that, in order to commit their crimes they hire addicts who get paid with meth doses and "that´s why they fail". One of those consulted claimed "If you saw a direct hit, I mean that the criminals were actually able to kill their target, then it was the Tijuana people, but in the other hand, if they fail, then they are part of Sinaloa".

According to this, the first hit which triggered the fury of the Tijuana group was the execution of Esaul Sahagun Pelayo, who was oficially mentioned as a bodyguard to Luis Manuel Toscano Ramirez aka "El Mono" this past April 9th. "People believed "El Mono" was the shot caller but the truth is his companion was a influential and key element in the local group"

"He was number four inside the structure and the one in charge of the dirty work; under him were the Police Agents working for CAF". Before this, the September 26th, 2014 arrest of Jose Daniel Canales Rodriguez aka "El Ramses", a kidnapper working for the Arellano heirs, had gotten them in the Government´s spotlight.

Canales Rodriguez previously worked for the Forensic Unit of the State Police and quit at the same time he joined CAF; then he got a better job and allegedly was of good use to them because he had a badge and a cop car, however, upon his arrest, it is said he began revealing stuff and "gave them many", which basically means he snitched on them.

In the case of "El Mono", who also worked for CAF, it is believed someone in his family betrayed him, since he had given power to his brother-in-law and cousins and when they jumped to the Arteaga side, then they decided to get rid of whom allegedly had control over Zona Norte in Tijuana.

However, when they killed him, they also killed Esaul, which in return got the Arellano heirs in a war mindset, this deciding to take vengeance for it. After that, anger grew when people allegedly sent by "people of El Akiles and La Rana" tried to execute a former agent called Nidez, killing instead another State Investigator and trainer for the State´s Attorney Office, called Itzel Medina Garibaldi who at the moment was shopping used parts in the Junkyard known as "Shagy" where she arrived in company of Nidez, who ultimately saved his life.

The anger had less to do with the death of the State Investigator and was more related to the fact the killers dared to get inside a place belonging to another person close to the narcotrafficking group led by a former agent known as Nery, accused by his rivals of "gossiping up and down".

In this case, it is said that people working for the Sinaloa drug traffickers decided to kill Nidez, who they blame for the loss of 10 kilograms of crystal meth from a shipment which "had already been bought from the Tijuana people". Asked about this agent, the consulted sources claimed he was a "free agent" in the narco world, because he doesn´t work for anybody in special, but for those who pay the most.

Allegedly, weeks after the arrest of "El Ramses", Municipal Agents where escorting a group of people carrying crystal meth on their way to deliver it when they were suddenly intercepted by State Agents, who were allegedly tipped by Nidez who had alse been tipped by people belonging to the Sinaloa group. A confrontation took place and they notified State Police Operational Chief Juan Manuel Ojeda Sotomayor, who at the same time notified Deputy State Attorney Gilberto Cota Alanis who informed State Attorney Perla del Socorro Ibarra who ordered for all the group to be removed, something which apparently never happened.

The detainee or detainees was/were taken to the Federal Attorney General´s Office where they confessed it wasn´t 15 kilos-as it was reported- but 25 kilos of crystal meth he/they were carrying so he/they believed the agents could have kept the drugs and some versions even mentioned they were already selling it, so the order to kill them was given.

Agent Nidez was then set free and days later another banner was hung, allegedly signed by the deceased agent Itzel Medina in which she reproached Sotomayor and Miguel Velasco, chief of the murder investigation division, of not doing anything to avenge her which "they knew" was ordered by "La Rana" who is working with them.

In regards to the execution of Municipal Agent Juan Jauregui Ruvalcaba this past May 20th when he left his home, it is believed it was ordered by "The people of Tijuana" even thou the Minicipal Public Safety Agency claimed to have arrested the alleged suspect who-unofficially" killed him "for personal reasons".

Anyhow, officially it was claimed the officer died "in the line of duty" and the authority even announced proper honours would be held this Friday. After his murder, mysterious hands hang two banners, one near the area where the execution took place and another one in the Americas bridge-they were promptly removed- they read "That´s going to happen to all those who are with La Rana".

Regarding this Thursday´s case, about the execution in the 5y10 bridge of Public Ministry Agent Omar Fernando Velasquez Hidalgo, they claim it is related to the two heads found inside a cooler this past May 13th, left with a message threatening several people, including "Journalist Ivan Villegas". They claim this message was directed at people working in the newspaper where allegedly Villegas works, they believe so because Velasquez Hidalgo was related to the owner of the newspaper(PRI member Eligio Valencia), there are even pictures showing him in an interview along Eligio Valencia Roque and in a visit to Mexican Congress along plurinominal candidate Eligio Valencia Jr and Villegas himself.

And lastly, regarding those decapitated, they insist the victims are "mules" who have refused to leave the Arteaga group after members of the "Tijuana group" ordered them to "pay taxes to them(Tijuana)" or leave the business.

In recent days, three more human heads have been found, none of which have been identified by authorities. nor there has been an explanation given for the most recent murders.

Original Article in Spanish can be found at AFN TIJUANA.

Lucio R. Borderland Beat Material from Michoacán 3.0, Reforma, Reuters, Face Book-Ferrez TV

From Quadratin: 43 gunmen and only 3 federal element killed 6 incinerated vehicles....Heavy artillery was found at the ranch, including anti-aircraft, 50. Cal and grenade launchers)

Although authorities have not released official figures on the number of dead and wounded in the clash that occurred Friday morning in Tanhuato, Michoacán, unofficially speaking of between 15 and 43 dead.

Around 9:30 this morning a Federal Police convoy was attacked along the toll road leading from D.F. to Guadalajara.

This morning a shootout between members of the Federal Police and suspected members of CJNG was recorded on 371 km leading to Tinaja de Vargas on Ecuandureo-Tanhuato road.

Early reports spoke of two dead and one injured federal police, but through social networks citizens have reported that the figure is between 15 and 43 people, including civilians and members of the Federal Police.

The arrest of five suspects is also reported, while the number of wounded is unknown.

Tanhuato is within the limits of JalMich (Michoacán and Jalisco).

Sources in the Interior Ministry, said that at 16:00 will be a press conference to give details.

Tanhuato Mayor, Jose Ignacio Cuevas Perez said in an interview with Radio Formula that elements of the Federal Police arrived at the Tinaja de Vargas community, when they were allegedly attacked and fired upon by civilians. Efe reports the FP were there to serve arrest warrants on organized crime members.

Click to enlarge

Pepe’s report:

CJNG - 40+ Killed in Narco/PF Clash on Mich./Jalisco Border

What supposedly happened:

"It was around 8:30 in the morning, when, according to the latest reports, Federal Police saw a

heavily armed convoy leaving Rancho El Sol, on the highway between Ecuandureo-Tanhuato, at kilometer 370, very close to the pueblo of Tinaja de Vargas, located within Ecuandureo.

At that moment, the federal police ordered the convoy to stop, and the convoy opened fire, which led to a 30 minute gun battle.

Immediately after this, elements of the Mexican Army, Federal Police and Fuerza Cuidadana entered Rancho El Sol, where they encountered another group of heavily armed civilians."

As we saw in the first post, this Ranch was apparently burned to the ground. In fotos and videos you can see the smoke from the fire off the main highway.

Needless to say, a very imbalanced casualty figure. We might be looking at more "extra-judicial" killings by Mexican security forces.

Lucio R material from Michoacan 3.0, Reforma

This is the story:

After nearly 10 hours without making an official statement about what happened in the town of Tanhuato, Michoacán; the national commissioner for security, Monte Alejandro Rubido, said 42 alleged criminals were killed in the conflict.

At a press conference, Rubido reported the alleged offenders initiated the attack, during which, only one federal police officer was killed

He also clarified that the shooting occurred against a cell of Jalisco Cartel New Generation. The feds were dispatched to the property following a complaint of their invasion of the ranch in Tanhuato.

(That story seems off, to send that many elements after a complaint is unusual, countless properties and groves have been taken from rightful owners who often do not receive help from authorities)

When approaching the ranch, gunmen in a vehicle opened fire when they observed the presence of the federal forces.

"With that, began a pursuit until the vehicle entered the property.

click image to enlarge

Noting the presence of federal forces, the remaining suspects that had inhabited the property, began shooting," he said.

The ranch has an area of 112 hectares and consists of a main house, a winery and large agricultural areas in which the attackers dispersed, complicating action, so the confrontation lasted nearly three hours after the criminals retreated throughout the property" he noted.

The Commissioner said that forensic authorities continue their proceedings, so that the figures should be considered “preliminary”.

The "preliminary" seized are n 36 rifles, a grenade launcher, 2 handguns and 50-caliber Barret, and various cartridges.

Video below is in Spanish but has images and footage from the scene.

Borderland Beat

Eligio Valencia Sr. with President Peña Nieto.

Yesterday, at about 8:00 PM, local authorities received a call alerting them about gun shots being heard in the Maestros neighborhood, in the southern part of the city. The officers who attended the report found a 31 year old man named Omar Miramontes Gonzalez.

Miramontes Gonzalez received two gun shots in the shoulder and was left there by his attackers. A large banner was also found in which alleged members of the organized crime wrote the following message:

“QUE? EMILIO VALENCIA DEL PERIODICO EL MEXICANO Tampoco vas a publicar esta noticia ??????? poco lo que te… a tu compadre AQUILES vas a salir del hoyo sigues tu saca todas las bajas de esas lacrotas para que miren su gente ATT CTNG PRESENTE”.

Roughly translated into:

"What? Emilio Valencia from the newspaper El Mexicano, you are not going to publish this either? Too little what they....your friend AQUILES you´ll get out of your hole, you are next, publish all the casualties of those fuckers so they can see their people, Sincerely CTNG"

Even though the victim is reported as stable, investigative agents have not taken his statement yet regarding the menacing message in the banner, which makes reference to the media outlet and the last name of the owners, led by Eligio Valencia Roque, even thou two of his sons share the same name and last name with him.

The oldest, Emilio Valencia Alonso, head of the El Mexicano Daily, and the youngest, Eligio Valencia, making rounds in the local politics, first as a deputy council member in Rosarito, followed by a stint as District Director of Rosarito´s Zona Centro District and now running as deputy candidate for Federal Congress in the following June 7th election.

Since the beginning of the current wave of crimes, this is the first time members of Organized Crime mention a media outlet in their messages.

The shots, the injured man, and the placement of the banner by criminals threatening newspaper El Mexicano and its owners took place 5 hours after two suspects executed Public Ministry Agent Omar Fernando Vasquez Hidalgo aka "La Barbie", who had previously been arrested and set free after being charged with ties to the Arellano Felix Cartel.

Ivan Villegas, Jesus Jimenez, Eligio Valencia Jr and Omar Vasquez posing on Mexican Congress.

Soon after the execution of Vasquez Hidalgo, authorities and news reporters found in social networks pictures of Vasquez Hidalgo with members of the Valencia Roque family and another person with the name of Ivan Villegas, who they believe is the guy mentioned in the banner left this past May 13th along two human heads in the back of the MacroPlaza shopping mall. The banner threattened retail leaders and read:

"INCLUYENDO AL PERIODISTA IVAN VILLEGAS AL Q LE PAGAN PARA QUE NO SALGAN LAS BAJAS

ATT. LOS VERDADEROS DUEÑOS DE LA PLAZA, EL CAF SIGUE MANDANDO"

Roughly translated as:

"Including reporter Ivan Villegas, who gets paid for not reporting their casualties

Sincerely The real owners of the plaza, CAF keeps ruling"

Regarding the banner mentioning the last name of the news outlet owners, neither the authorities have given a public version nor the newspaper has issued a statement.

SOURCE: ZETA Tijuana

Lucio R. Borderland Beat-Posted by Texan24 republished from Animal Politico

A red jeep dodged the heavy morning traffic, speeding as much as possible down Technological Avenue, the major thoroughfare in the golden zone of Ciudad Juarez, where the US consulate is located, as well as shopping centers and the city's most exclusive residences.

A Chevrolet Cavalier sedan was in pursuit of the Jeep. On board were two gunmen with powerful automatic weapons. After half a kilometer, the jeep crashed into a metal fence near a federal court in Ciudad Juarez.

Dead in the front seats were Gilberto López Mendoza and Omar Antonio Ochoa, 39 and 37, respectively, both drug traffickers.

Venezuelan stripper 23, Gabriela Figueroa, lay dead on the rear floor of the car, where she apparently tried to hide. The murderers were sharpshooters. Only 11 bullets were necessary to kill the three victims from a moving car.

It was the morning of October 23, 2014, and Juarez was horrified.

Just two weeks later, not far from the crime scene, the Governor of Chihuahua, Cesar Duarte, gave his approval for a meeting of officials and civic leaders from 15 Mexican cities. These officials, like others before, visited the border city to learn how peace was achieved, in a place that at one time was the world's capital of crime, where drug-related violence killed 11 thousand people in just four years.

Governor Duarte said he was proud that other cities would replicate the experience of Juarez, whose focus was to clean up corruption in the police force.

Duarte insisted that all the police forces of their city are now free of corruption.

"We face the challenge," he told the audience. "There must be a few who think they can get away with it, but with good intelligence work, we will stop them."

The miracle of Juarez?

Between 2008 and 2012, a war between the Juarez and Sinaloa cartels, resulted in massive bloodshed in the streets of the city.

The recruitment of members of the police forces as combatants in the criminal battle, aggravated the situation.

In 2010, the homicide rate reached 300 per month. At that time, a rare coalition was created to save the city:

Leaders of civil organizations and businessmen, a senior police chief to be hired from the city of Tijuana, five billion dollars that the Federal Government invested and protected witnesses working for the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA, its acronym in English), together they quashed criminal violence in Juarez and cleaned the municipal police and state police.

Mexico claimed victory

But the enticement of the billion dollar drug trade is back and presents a new reality that could truncate the optimism expressed by the Governor Duarte and others have declared that peace has come to this city.

In the past year, the Juarez cartel appears to have defeated the Sinaloa group, and is being restructured with new criminal leaders who seek to restore corrupt connections by the local police a state intelligence officer confirmed.

The bone of contention are the routes of drug trafficking located throughout the farm belt of the Juarez Valley “Valle de Juarez” parallel to the Rio Grande area.

After the terrorist attacks in New York September 11, 2001, the U.S. mandated stringent changes in border entries and beefed up federal forces along the south border. Trafficking through the Juarez-El Paso border came to a standstill.

The Juarez cartel created makeshift traffic routes on the outskirts of the city, and the Juarez Valley became critical. During the battle for the city, several parallel struggles took place in the territorial strip.

Eventually in 2010, the Sinaloa cartel took control of these multi-paths, allegedly with the support of military forces.

This is the territory that the Juarez cartel has regained, according to intelligence reports.

"Chuyin", leader of La Linea with family

The murder last October in the Golden Zone was the beginning of a wave of violence related to control of the drug routes. Since then, Juarez has seen a series of murders and shootings that show how La Linea -the armed wing of the Juarez cartel- has returned to the streets of the city.

Ochoa, one of the victims found in the red Jeep, operated a chain of strip nightclubs, including the "El Museo Bar" where the Venezuelan stripper worked. The business ensured strong police protection.

Apparently, he was linked to the Sinaloa cartel, and his murder was ordered by Jesus Salas Aguayo -

aka "the Chuyin" - the new leader of La Linea, to send a warning/message to the police working with the Sinaloa cartel.

Aguayo Salas was arrested in late April 2015, but that does not mean that the takeover of territory by the Juarez cartel is over.

Four of his followers were on point to take the lead.

Vicente Carrillo Fuentes

Case study

For Mexico, Juarez may be a case study, not a complete victory. The apparent resurgence of La Linea can mean that recent murders is a return to business as usual, although the cartel boss Vicente Carrillo Fuentes-alias "Viceroy" - was arrested by police Federal last October.

According to various sources, Carrillo, despite remain the designated leader of the cartel, was away from the daily operations of the criminal group.

Juarez observers have long contended that big part of the problem, is that the authorities concentrated its target when ending violence, rather than disbanding drug trafficking organizations.

"The intention of the current government is to protect public safety and control crime, but does not put an end to drug trafficking," said Tony Payan, director of the Mexican Center at the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at University Rice.

The analyst Eduardo Guerrero says the factor of success in the fight against organized crime is dynamic. "We can dismantle them for a while, but if you do not keep your eye on the situation, things can revert and then we are talking about a failure. For example, a corrupt police force can re-emerge."Guerrero said.

The Juarez cartel has deep roots in the city, and it was anticipated that the heads of the organization

would attempt a retake of power. Meanwhile, the arrest of Sinaloa leader Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman last year, left his men in the Juarez Valley, tentative, without good direction.

Other leaders of the Sinaloa cartel, as Ismael Zambada Garcia, alias "El Mayo Zambada" sent new troops known as "Emes" for the letter M of Mayo, to fight La Linea.

But if the Juarez cartel has regained some territories it is thanks to key lieutenants within the territory of Juarez who worked for Sinaloa but have switched allegiances and joined La Linea, intelligence sources say.

Similarly, although the alliance between La Linea and the Mexican gang known as Barrio Azteca gang fractured, there are reports that La Linea is working with members of other U.S. gangs.

The Aztecs still control parts of the city and street crime in several working class neighborhoods where they recruit young people at risk.

Two other gangs that were at one time partner of Sinaloa, Los AA’s and los Mexicles, still have some influence in local neighborhoods but do not work for the cartels.

Three years have passed since the violence subsided and the homicide rate dropped from 300 to 30 per month.

In fact, in March and April 2015, the number of homicides in the city was at the lowest point since 2005. But analysts say the situation may change because the judicial system was too lax with some of the criminals.

Between 2010 and 2012, US authorities sent leaders of La Linea and Barrio Azteca to prison for life.

In Mexico, the murderers of 11 youngsters and four adults in the neighborhood of Salvacar also received long sentences. But many other gang members received short sentences. Some are free, or soon will be.

Reyes Gamboa

One is Saulo Reyes Gamboa, who according to the DEA, until 2007 was the man who handled the money for the Juarez cartel. (the former police chief received only 8 years in U.S. Federal Prison)

Head of the municipal police between 2004 and 2007, Reyes Gamboa ended up in jail in 2008, when he tried to bribe a US customs officer to assist him in smuggling truckloads of marijuana through the international bridges of El Paso .

Gamboa recently emerged from a minimum security prison after serving seven years in prison.

Total cooperation

Bribing the police is not sufficient for a criminal group thrive. But when the criminal group hires a police chief that increases the chances of striking gold.

Between 2007 and 2011 in Ciudad Juarez, the ministerial police-the research arm of the state Attorney worked under the orders of Jose Antonio Acosta Hernandez, alias "El Diego" a former commander of police operations, who became chief of operations for the Juarez cartel.

El Diego

Since its inception in the 90s, the Juarez cartel used successful bribery of police chiefs to operate freely. But when El Diego climbed to the pinnacle of the cartel, he created an inseparable and crucial alliance between the cartel and police units.

These police units operated in some cases, fully for the criminal group. Diego and his men protected local and international drug transport networks in Juarez, one of the most important transshipment points on the border of US and Mexico.

It was a key moment in which the supremacy of the Juarez cartel.

end of part one

Borderland Beat

Two brothers and a employee of the late Luis Manuel Toscano Rodriguez aka El Mono were arrested in the early hours of this past Friday in Zona Norte, Tijuana while in possession of weapons and drugs. The arrest was done by members of the Mexican Army and agents of the State Preventive Police.

The brothers were identified as Manuel Rafael and Roberto Carlos Toscano Rodriguez known as "Los Cuates"(The twins), they were arrested along Daniel Eduardo Tapia Lopez who according to available information is currently in the most wanted list; they were in possession of guns, assault rifles, ammo and drugs.

"Los Cuates", members of the Arellano Felix Cartel (CAF), were in charge of retail drug sales in Zona Norte, and apparently they are involved in the recent violence hitting the city.

The detainees were carrying bulletproof vests, two AR-15 rifles, a Russian built AK-47 and another gun known as "Baby Block"(Tijuano: I guess they meant Baby Glock), they also had marijuana and crystal meth with them.

According to the State Public Safety Agency (SSPE), "Los Cuates" are brothers of El Mono, however unofficial reports claim they are instead cousins of the former criminal leader of Zona Norte.

Roberto Carlos was previously arrested on July 14th, 2014 when he was driving a Honda Accord without license plates in the Lomas Virreyes neighborhood while in possession of several weapons.

El Mono and his alleged bodyguard Esaul Sahagun Pelayo(Tijuano: At least according to official reports, but He is believed to be their contact with the Arellano Felix clan instead), died on April 9th after being attacked at a taco stand outside of the Tijuana State Court.

(Tijuano´s note: Even thou I still believe both twins still were somehow connected to the remnants of the Tijuana Cartel, there are/were rumours floating around of "the cousins of El Mono" betraying him and "giving him" to El Aquiles crew, just like it was mentioned on AFN´s story which you can read by clicking HERE. This of course could just be a false rumour spread by their rivals to create internal conflicts but it was worth mentioning)

SOURCES AFN TijuanaZETA Tijuana

Borderland Beat

(Tijuano´s note: This is an update on the case of the Tijuana Municipal Agent executed a few days ago, the same day the Agent was executed, the Tijuana Police "caught the killer", what happened next with the alleged "killer" is explained in the following article)

Hugo Alfonso Hernandez Flores, accused of the execution of Tijuana Municipal Agent Juan Gualberto Jauregui Ruvalcaba was set free this Saturday´s night, after the Seventh Penal Judge, Rodolfo Lara Pedrin ruled his innocence was proven.

According to Tijuana´s Municipal Safety Agency statements, in the evening of Wednesday May 23rd, Alvarez Flores was walking down the street when Municipal Agents noticed he dropped a bag containing 15 envelopes with of crystal meth.

"In the preventive interview with the suspect he recognized by himself he had killed someone earlier that day and took the officers to the crime scene and later to the place where he had hidden the weapon used in the crime", this is what was issued as a public statement by the Municipal Agency.

However, Attorney Gabriel Gonzalez Celestino, who took charge of the young man´s case, said the arrest took place at around 8:00 AM that same day-two hours after the murder- in the home of the girlfriend of Hernandez Flores.

"Wednesday morning I was sleeping in my girlfriend´s house. Some officers arrive and take me and then tell me I had committed a crime where I had killed an officer, and I told them I had nothing to do with it. They start hitting and punching me, they handcuff me and throw me from the second floor from a height of about 2-3 meters". This was said by Hugo Alfonso Hernandez Flores in a telephone interview provided minutes after his release.

According to his lawyer, the local agents began arresting young men in the Mariano Matamoros neighborhood, where the murder had taken place, in order to find the killer.

"Unfortunately, based on his physical aspect, they arrest another young man and he led them to the detainee(Hernandez Flores), this is the lawyers answer when asked about the agent´s motives to look for Hernandez Flores. First, the officers arrived at the detainee´s mother´s house, then, when they failed finding him there, they drove to his girlfriends house with a picture of him on their hands.

This is how Hernandez was shown to the press by Tijuana´s Police.

According to Hernandez Flores, he has worked in construction since he was 10 years old, and currently works as a construction worker near the "5y10" area in Tijuana. He denied being involved in selling or using drugs.

"They punch me, they put the bag on me, they torture me and get me in the patrol car. They use their teaser on me(electrical discharges) and take me to the crime scene. From there they took me to the Villa Fontana Police precinct, where they put me the bag and torture again, they used their teaser in my belly and they hit my body. They were 5 or 6 officers. They told me I had to blame myself of killing the officer, they told me ´or else we will take you to prison´".

Attorney Gonzalez Celestino also explained the officer´s wife is under custody in the Tijuana Penitentiary along a man identifier as "her lover".

He continued: "The cop´s wife confessed she ordered his murder, she told her lover she would collect three different insurance policies, each worth one million pesos(about 80 thousand USD each). The Judge ruled the officer´s wife told him her lover had sent someone to kill her husband, so there were no elements to charge Hernandez Flores with the homicide.

The Seventh Penal Judge signed the young man´s freedom at 1:27 PM and he was set free from Tijuana´s penitentiary minutes after 9 PM. Now a free man, Hernandez Flores will file a criminal complaint against the agents who arrested him for the crimes of abusing authority, false statements, illegal liberty deprivation, major injuries and coalition of public officials against him.

In doing so his lawyer seeks "For the Public Ministry to arrest the police agents and the municipal judge who ruled the young man had committed the crime and took him to the Public Ministry Agency". According to the lawyer, officers Pablo Quiroz Hernandez and Julio Cesar Oliva Rangel, who used patrol car number 4613, signed the report against his client.

The Municipal Judge who ordered for Hernandez Flores to be transferred for custody under the Public Ministry is Martin Armenta, even thou the young mentiones he was never taken to any Municipal Judge in the three hours he remained under Municipal Police custody.

Hernandez Flores said he didn´t knew the murdered officer or ever being in his home. "If I din´t do it(blame himself), it was going to get ugly for me" The young man said regarding the threats he received by the officers.

After three days in prison and being designated as officer´s Jauregui killer by both mayor Jorge Astiazaran(PRI) himself and the Municipal Public Safety Agency, Hugo Alfonzo Hernandez Flores will "take some time to calm myself down and quit doing stuff, going out to the streets. I´ll be with my family".

Criminal Investigation 316/2015, created after officer Jauregui´s murder is still under development.

The video above shows the moment local police officers get Hernandez Flores out of a patrol truck and deliver him to the Police Precint where, according to Hernandez was tortured with punches and electical discharges.

SOURCE: ZETA Tijuana AFN Tijuana

by Lucio R. Borderland Beat

In photo 2 tactical gear belt appears, body appears to have been placed
after death Click on any image to enlarge-

Raul Benitez Manaut, a security expert at the National Autonomous University of Mexico says:

“Apparently the gang offered no resistance; it was a very uneven fight. A battle where 42 die on one side and only one on the other is not a battle."

Alejandro Hope: "Many details are missing. We don't know how many people participated in the police and military operation. We don't know if the helicopter was armed," said the former intelligence agency official.

“Authorities have to demonstrate that this was not another Tlatlaya," he said.

"Those denying Tanhuato is another Tlatlaya are the same people who denied that Tlatlaya was a case of extrajudicial killings."

As multiple BB readers have commented, the number of weapons seized doesn't match the number of dead and detained.

As people take to social networks to cast doubts, photos are appearing and given great scrutiny.

In several of the photos smoke can be seen escaping the main ranch house. State police contend they were simply "cleaning up", "We are burning trash. It was very dirty. There were clothes and rotten food." Yet photos of the interior challenge that claim.

Photos of the dead are concerning. Two photos side by side of the same scene, where weapons magically appear in one. Weapons in photos appear staged. Injuries are suspect, such as limbs with obvious fractures, one appears to be a compound fracture.

Missing in most the photos are pooling of blood, and hordes of bullet casings that should be present in a 3 hour shootout.

A federal investigator did say there were three areas of large pools of blood along the perimeter fence.

In the image above signs of staging are apparent and noted. The slide show has photos of some of the dead. In the photos, the images raise questions of weapons being planted. In some of the photos there are signs of beatings, including limb fractures, one having multiple fractures on one arm.

Be mindful that the scene is not preserved. Soldiers are not to be walking in the areas of evidence, they must wait for investigators from PGR to collect evidence.

Soldiers and police are trained to observe protocol and respect the criminology procedures that will follow the event. For sound forensics and gathering of evidence to remain uncompromised, the crime scene must remain intact, and uncontaminated. This is to ensure due process is truthful and for the protection of all involved parties.

If a crime scene is tampered with by placing, or removing objects, or bodies, developing a theory, substantiated by evidence cannot be attained.

Detection of vital signs can be achieved without compromising the scene. Soldiers and police are trained in how to proceed after an event.

There is a photo on the ranch home interior, which authorities claimed was filled with trash, hence their fire for cleanup. Yet the home looks relatively clean, and does not appear to have been used to any great degree. Were the dead men really camped out at the ranch?

Some photos, including the one at top, rigors mortis has set in, but not in a position that is consistent to where it now rests, indicating a movement of the corpse. The left arm was resting on something previously. Other photos indicate the same.

To stop youtube “autoplay” view video on YT and click off autoplay on upper right corner

Representatives from Michoacán and national human rights commissions have been to the ranch to inspect and investigate.

Mexican lawmakers are casting suspicion on the version of the Federal Government that the shooting occurred yesterday in Tanhuato, Michoacán between government forces and CJNG gunmen was the result of a pursuit that led to a confrontation.

Senator Alejandro Encinas said that, “based on the facts, there was no pursuit that culminated in at a large ranch, but rather was a pre-planned operation.”

He said it is extraordinary that there are 42 dead on the side of criminals and only one of the police forces.

"Everything indicates that an operation was designed to annihilate this group and was not a circumstantial event.”

"Regardless of whether it is a criminal element, if you begin with them, because they may be criminals, but then tomorrow what? Maybe it's criminals today but tomorrow it could be anyone.”

But, we have been aware of such killings in Mexico for years, Black squads, and military kill operations. What is new, are the advancements of communication technology. It is difficult to keep truth away from the public eye and scrutiny.

"We have Tlatlaya, Iguala, Apatzingán, and now Tanhuato, Michoacán, so the practical operation of the oppressive state is set," said Encinas the member of the Bicameral Commission on National Security.

In reading a few of the BB comments coming through on this story, a few have expressed approval of the killings in Tanhuato. Good riddance to the scum, right? It is a knee-jerk reaction to say something like that. It is understandable to harbor such feelings, but it is wrong and has no place in a civil democracy.

No one knows who the dead men were what they are, where they are from, what they have done. Innocents have been used as pawns in this so called drug war.

No authority, government, agency, person can become, judge, jury and executioner. Each citizen, even suspected criminals, have the right to due process, meaning equal and fair treatment through the judicial system.

Encinas states the oppressive stage is set, criminals today, what about tomorrow? Citizens? politicians?

We have long passed that threshold; take in account of 43 students, kidnapped in Iguala and killed, or the killings of social activist Arturo Hernández Cardona. The killing of the 43 was directed by municipal authority, and Hernández Cardona’s murder allegedly directly conducted by authority.

And the director of security and his deputies are now charged in the recent killing of Mayoral candidate Enrique Hernandez Salcedo in Yurécuaro, Michoacán.

When one supports extrajudicial killings to be conducted without legal authority, then you are in affect giving carte blanche for authorities to unilaterally decide whose life should end; A social activist “nuisance”, or an inconvenient political candidate, a bus load problematic students, autodefensas attempting to attain security.

What happened in Tanhuato, in this reporter’s opinion, was a message sent to Mencho, leader of Cartel Jalisco New Generation. A violent, retaliatory planned response, for the downing of an air force helicopter, and the ambush of federal forces by CJNG.

Let’s be clear, in recent confrontations, CJNG has greatly embarrassed government forces. CJNG have appeared being better warriors in recent conflicts,

If it is true that there were 300-500 federal forces with top of the line weaponry, helos in the air, that attacked 50-60 guys in Tanhuato, to send a message. The message that may be construed, is federal forces appear weak, having to rely on such lopsided advantage and perhaps extrajudicial slaughter to even the score and send a message.

Lucio R. Borderland Beat-Posted by Texan24 republished from Animal Politico
Part One link here

Washing the bloody aftermath of the Villa Salvárcar massacre

The tragedy of Salvárcar

On Friday January 30, 2010, El Diego answered his phone. Los Artistas Asesinos (The Assassin Artists), or AA, a street gang with members in El Paso and Juarez, were among his enemies, and an informant told him of a party that night in the working class neighborhood of Villas de Salvárcar, in southeast Ciudad Juarez .

The AA worked with Sinaloa selling drugsin the street.

Barrio Azteca did the same for the Juarez cartel. In 2010, four gangs working for the two cartels worked as assassins or murderers, to eliminate the small drug dealers.

"None of the shootings and killings in that period occurred among senior members of the cartel. The gunmen concentrated on killing retail drug dealers.

Preserving the territory for their cartel, " said a police source in Juarez.

El Diego gave orders to his group of assassins to go to the party and kill everyone.

Luz Maria Davila, a small woman with a warm smile, was busy in her small house on Villa del Portal Street, adjacent to a narrow alley.

A few meters away, her teenage children Marcos and Jose Luis were partying at a friend's birthday with other young neighbors, soccer players in the American football league.

Davila's husband was surfing the Internet on his children’s computer, waiting for his night shift at the “maquila” (US company) located in Juarez, where he worked as a guard. A few minutes before 10 pm, a convoy of vehicles entered the alley, with dozens of men, members of La Linea and Barrio Azteca.

The gunmen, many of them natives of Juarez and all in their twenties, moved fast in a macabre dance of death. Two cars blocked the exits of Villa del Portal Street while others concentrated on house where techno music boomed and young couples danced and talked.

Some of the thugs covered their faces with bandanas. Many were exposed, without fear of being discovered.

Diego was in charge via cell phone: “kill everyone" he ordered.

The murderers walked together toward the house, brandishing heavy weapons. In less than 30 minutes, 15 lay dead and several others wounded.

As were the children of Luz Maria, most of the children were of maquila workers and were high school students or university students. Some were the first in their family to fulfill the dream of going to college.

Blood everywhere

Luz Maria told her husband to stay as she ran out of the house, she turned abruptly and ran a few meters from her home to the party house. Along the way, she ran into one of the gang members who had stayed behind, she heard the vehicles speed in their flight.

She entered the small house and found blood, broken glass and bodies everywhere, some had collapsed together. "I first found Marcos, but he was dead. I looked for José Luis. He was lying in the hallway. He said he was fine.

She recently recalled the tragedy at her home, where she has continued to live after the massacre. Calmly, she told her story, the one she has repeated countless times to reporters and government investigators during the past four years.

"We took Jose Luis to the clinic in our car. And he kept telling me he was okay. But he died in the evening after the surgery”.

Marcos was in the first year of college, studying to be a foreign official. José Luis wanted to pursue international business.

Since their deaths, Luz Maria and her husband have added a second floor where they have a room for the possessions of their sons.

Luz Maria receives visitors in a small living room with a big TV. Pictures of Marcos and José Luis preside over the room. Photos are selfies the young teens took themselves a few days before their death.

Advocates Luz and Javier Sicilia their work honors their murdered sons

Before the slaughter, Salvárcar was a place where residents felt safe because everyone knew each other. The house where the slaughter took place, a neighbor paid for so the neighborhood youth would have a place to meet and be safe.

Young people were delighted with this "clubhouse". Salvárcar, like other working class districts neighboring Juarez lack parks and places for youth and children to play and socialize.

"Finally, now we have a park… now, after they are dead," said Luz Maria.

In the end, young people killed in Villa del Portal were not members of AA who Diego sought. AA in this case, were the initials that represented the American football team that organized the party.

Diego was incensed by the news that kids were killed, not AA gang members. He had the informant executed, who provided the information about the party.

The deaths shocked the city of Juárez and aroused national and international attention on the city.

Presidential insensitivity

"Do something!"

A week and a half after the slaughter, President Felipe Calderon traveled to Ciudad Juarez with a large government delegation including his wife.

The people of Juarez were irate when after the murders, initially Calderon said the victims of the slaughter were gang members. He called a public meeting with victims' families, activists and representatives of citizen groups to try to minimize the damage.

Luz Maria was invited to attend, she decided to attend at the last minute. She sat with other "special guests" like her Salvárcar neighbors, loved ones of the victims, the type of people who are not usually invited to meetings with the President.

When the microphone went to the relatives, she got up took the mic and a maquiladora mother confronted the nations President.

She vented with a monologue that became part of history.

"Excuse me, Mr. President, I cannot welcome you. Murders have been committed, I want justice, I want my children returned to me. I cannot shake hands with you because you are not welcome.
I want a retraction of what you said, accusing my children of being gang members, they good boys, they were students, and they worked…I want you to apologize.

I assure you that if someone had killed your child, you would have already captured the murderers! You would have turned over every rock and used everything possible; I do not have those advantages.

Here the governor and the mayor always say the same, they promise justice but we do to receive justice. I want justice. Put yourself in my place, to see what I feel. I love my children." The president was solemn, nodding slowly. Sitting next to the president was Mrs. Calderon, she looked both sick and stunned.

Then, turning her back to the President, she looked at the audience.
"You gentlemen say nothing, you just applaud the President.....Do something!"

Dávila is still shocked by her reaction of five years ago, but her audacity embarrassed the federal government who then created a social project of five billion pesos called "We are all Juárez".

The program supported social projects and the creation of a round table for justice and, with representatives from business, civil society, Juarez government who began to meet weekly and work with the police to clean up the city.

Technology improves the way to kill

But violence continued to increase and El Diego seemed unstoppable. Homicides increased to 300 per month. National and international attention to the struggling city increased. But La Linea and their criminal cronies gang Barrio Azteca, continued undisturbed.

And then the cartel sought high-technology.

Two Mexican engineers were hired to develop an advanced encryption system of a network of receivers, transmitters with upright antennas in the highest peak in Juarez, La Bola. The network had been set up and began operation in March 2010.

To enlarge click on image

La Linea and Barrio Azteca used it to its next big mission, an attack against an American officer of the Consulate of the U.S., Leslie Ann Enríquez, her husband, Arthur Redelfs, and the husband of another consular official, after they left a children's birthday party, on March 13, 2010.

El Diego and Arturo Gallegos Castrellón, alias “El Benny”, leader of Barrio Azteca, were intensifying their operations. They were going after the United States.

There are several theories about the reasons for the attack. One is that Redelfs, an official of the Regional Detention Center in El Paso, mistreated members of the Juarez cartel imprisoned there.

Another is that Barrio Azteca believed Leslie Ann Enriquez working for the Sinaloa cartel. After his arrest in 2011, El Diego said that Barrio Azteca simply made a mistake.

The US government responded quickly, ordering the families of members of the Consulate leave Juarez to El Paso. The U.S. also set their sights on La Linea.

Insanity escalates

In mid 2010, El Diego became even crazier and ordered his people to load a vehicle with 10 kilos of Tovex, an explosive used for mining and construction.

On July 15, they parked the car on the September 16^th Street, in the city center, attracting police and ambulance to the car by leaving the body of a man dressed as a policeman.

Dr. Jose Guillermo Ortiz, (at left) a doctor in town caring for low-income patients had his office nearby, and was passing by with his son when he saw the victim.

He sent his son for his medical bag as he continued towards the vehicle. The blast was sudden. Dr. Ortiz was hit by the blast, and died later in a hospital.

A federal police also died and six federal agents and a television cameraman were wounded. The bomb was activated by a cell phone.

The bomb did more than scare a city that was tired of violence.

It also sent a message to the U.S.: black spray paint graffiti on the wall of an elementary school warned there would be more car bombs.

"What happened on September Avenue will continue to happen to all authorities who support 'El Chapo'.

We have more car bombs
Sincerely,

The Juarez cartel"

The bomb attack petrified one of the engineers who put the encrypted communications receivers and Linea network. He heard Benny Gallegos, the Barrio Azteca, congratulating his people: "Good job, boys, well done. They did very well, and we gave a lesson to those pigs .... "

These people are completely crazy, surmised the engineer, and decided he had to alert the authorities. The engineer, who has never been identified, became the key to the downfall of La Linea.

In the following weeks, the engineer knocked on the door of the Mexican Attorney General and the Armed Forces in Mexico. No luck.

He stayed away from the Juarez police since learning through radio conversations that many of them were on the take.

Then he went to the US Consulate and lied saying he had information about another attack against U.S., the doors opened and he became a DEA protected witness. Between July and December 2012 he recorded thousands of hours of radio communications for the US authorities.

Translated by Otis B Fly-Wheel for Borderland Beat from a Proceso article

[ Subject Matter: Narco Surveillance Network used to spy on the Army
Recommendation: No prior subject matter knowledge required]

Reporter: Proceso Redaction and Benjamin Flores
State Police of the Tamaulipas Force, dismantled in Reynosa, a system of narco espionage, of organized criminals that consisted of a circuit of cameras installed in this Town.

The Tamaulipas Group for Coordination informed in a communication that the network was installed at 52 points of high impact to carry the data from 39 cameras operating via the internet, with which they carried out surveillance of the actions of the State and Federal Forces of security, as well as the civilian population.

The dismantling took place Monday and Tuesday past by elements of the Tamaulipas Force, with support of the Military who provided security at the places where State Police retired the apparatus.

During the operation to retire the devices, members of a criminal group that operate in this frontier Town, on realizing the network was being dismantled, retreated and switched off 18 cameras on the network.

The majority of the cameras were installed on electricity and telephone poles belonging to the Federal Commission of Electricity (CFE), and Mexican Telephones.

The 52 points of narco espionage dismantled were located opposite installations of the Eighth Military Zone, Marina, PGR and Tamaulipas Force, like the Avenue Villa Dorada, Morelos Boulevard, Luis Donaldo Colosio Boulevard, Las Fuentes Boulevard, in commercial centres and fraccionamientos.

The video cameras have the capacity to transmit wired or wirelessly, and sent through the internet via telephone lines and or cable services. They have in addition, modems, video, encoded data to video cards, and electric cables.

In the Las Fuentes Colonia, in the Aztlan section, were found five points of "halcon", with each point being able to handle five incoming camera feeds. Officials indicated that the video system belongs to the Cartel del Golfo.

Original article in Spanish at Proceso
Additional picture from Milenio

What would happen if a community rebelled against organized crime?

Translated by Valor for Borderland Beat

In January 2014, in the state of Michoacán, Mexico, a conflict known as the rising up of the autodefensas breaks out. Citizens, farmers, and civil professionals tired of the abuses from drug traffickers and the obvious complicity of government structures, decide to take up arms and form a community police in order to address the problem directly. A group of them decided to move towards the coast, but they are not alone, they are accompanied by two independent journalists, Rafael Prime (México) and Nicolás Tapia (Chile). Everything that happened during those turbulent days were recorded on their cameras and now they take form in “Recuperando el Paraíso”, a documentary that seeks independent support through crowd funding in order to finalize their project.

El Ciudadano spoke with Rafael and Nicolás, who gave them more details about this incredible story.

Where did the idea of making this documentary come from?

Nicolás: It actually all happened a bit by chance. We met covering the protests of the teachers in the Federal District (Capital of Mexico) in 2013, trying to prevent a photographer colleague from being taken away by the police, we didn’t manage to avoid his arrest, but that event led us to know each other and establish a relationship of mutual trust. From there, I started to participate more actively in the movement of the free media in Mexico, that’s what they call the community press here, and when the armed uprising of the autodefensas in Michoacán broke out, Rafael and I didn’t think much of it and we headed towards the conflict zone in order to cover the conflict from a community perspective.

Rafael: Yeah, truth is, we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into, I already knew of similar experiences of armed uprisings against the narcos and the political parties, I am referring to Cherán, but not on the scale of what was happening at that time in Michoacán. In order to tell this story, we have to start from a premise, Mexico is tough and the media is silent, or they are silenced by lead. Drug trafficking has long since ceased to devote itself exclusively to the drug trade. Over the years, the economic and firepower that the drug cartels have accumulated is alarming, a power that not only puts the people at its feet, but also the political class throughout the country. In Chile, it’s the ruthless businesspeople that finance the political parties, but in Mexico, it’s the narco; this translates into the constant slaughter of the people that goes completely unpunished.

Nicolás: That’s why we headed towards Michoacán, because we knew that something was up but the press didn’t make clear about what was going on. As free media we said: well, it’s a chance to break the information blockade, we can’t just let the primary media cover what is happening there. We were joined by two comrades, we borrowed a car, a phone number of another colleague to receive us over there and we left.

"These lands used to be untouchable"

What did you find over there?

Rafael: Well, the only thing we knew was that we didn’t want to put the cameras where those of Televisa and TV Azteca were, we wanted to get our stories, our own characters, that’s how we managed to contact a group who were exiled by the narco from the community of Santa María Ostula, who were clandestinely in the region of the sierra asking for support from the other communities in order to liberate the coast, the whole area where the Nahua indigenous communities live. They trusted us and let us join their uprising along the coast. Once we arrived, the testimonies we started collecting were heartbreaking.

Nicolás: Michoacán is a fertile land, for generations, its people have dedicated themselves to agriculture because nature is bountiful there, but gradually, the criminals began to look to these lucrative businesses and applied extortions against the producers of avocado, blackberry, lemons, strawberries, papaya, and mango. In practice, this means that the “Caballeros Templarios” require a payment from the farmers for the sole fact of working, and as if that weren’t enough, they also controlled the sale price. They forced them to sell the produce to themselves, to the criminals who were extorting the producers, who ultimately are responsible for exporting it abroad, mainly to the US market, all before the passive complicity of the government, the police and the military.

Rafael: The clear extortion begins with “the quotas” for those who work the land, but then they are followed by the rapes and beheadings for any trifle. On the coast of Michoacán, it was common to be recruited by force to be illegal loggers, people who would take out the “sangualica”, a type of very thin wood that is abundant in the land of the Nahua communities. The indigenous communities saw how their forests were disappearing at the hands of organized crime, which used the machines of the municipality to transport timber to the port of Lázaro Cárdenas where it was to be sent to China even though it is illegal to transport the “sangualica” because it is in danger of extinction.

Ostula: The Power of the People

How is this involved in the struggle of Santa María Ostula?

Nicolás: The community of Santa María Ostula was the main area affected with the looting of its natural resources, exactly with who we made contact to reach the area. This is how we were becoming more involved with them, and during the nights of vigilance, we learned that we weren’t participating in the first armed uprising in the area. In 2009, they had formed their community police to recover lands that were being used by organized crime for their clandestine operations. Throughout a short period of time, they were able to expel the drug traffickers from the area and founded a new town, Xayakalan, but the response was brutal. 32 people were killed during 2010 and many others had to flee for their lives.

Rafael: It was precisely with them who we were sharing those days with, those who had fled but now they were taking advantage of the uprising of the autodefensas in order to return to their community from the hands of the drug traffickers. That’s when we decided that we couldn’t just stay in a coverage that we were doing, we had to tell the whole story, we had to make a documentary about Ostula.

How did you continue to develop the production of the documentary? Have you returned to the area?

Nicolás: When we ran out of money, we had to return to Mexico City. But we the adrenaline from the experience did not go down, so we started to collect information about what happened in Ostula in 2009. Because of these life’s coincidences, José Arteaga, who was friends with both of us, and who had also participated with us in the coverage of the teacher’s protests, he had already been in the coast during those years; he had recorded the founding of Xayakalan and knew its history by heart.

Rafael: Yeah, so to speak, we made the perfect combination-hahaha.

Nicolás: Yeah, Rafael and I both had very good material, but the story was not complete without what José had recorded five years ago. From there on, we had a fall-back plan. We organized three or four more trips to the area, we initiated a direct relationship with the community and its assembly, which accepted our proposal and gave us the green light to carry out the documentary.

Why a crowd funding campaign?

Rafael: As we mentioned earlier, Mexico’s tough. There are plenty of abuses and violations towards the communities. But at the same time, there are many worthy struggles for survival and that are constantly invisible and denied by the mainstream media. We want to make a documentary that brings to light at least one of these struggles; we are doing this independently because the mainstream media and the film industry are complicit in this silence. Getting financed within the Mexican audiovisual industry or with government programs does not seem right because at the end of the day, they are linked to those in power that control drug trafficking, the film industry has always been very accommodating with the Mexican political system.

Nicolás: That’s why we decided to start a crowd funding campaign for Recuperando el Paraíso, we believe that it is the most coherent and respectful to the history that the community of Ostula has lived through. We started all of this independently and want to end the same way, we don’t want money stained with the blood of Mexicans.

For more information, contact them at: recuperandoelparaiso@gmail.com

For additional information visit their campaign Here

Source: El Ciudadano

Translated by Otis B Fly-Wheel for Borderland Beat from a Milenio article and photos from Vanguardia

[ Subject Matter: Forced disappearances
Recommendation: No prior subject matter knowledge required]

Parents of the victims that make up the VIDA organization travel in a borrowed van, run through the desert wearing tennis shoes and dig with machetes, knives, rakes or poles.

Oscar Sanchez and his wife

Reporter: Erica Flores

Torreon, Coahuila.
After the disappearance of Silvia Stephanie Sanchez Viesca, "Fanny", her parents as well as other families, who like them, are searching the surroundings for family members "disappeared". They formed the group VIDA, consisting of 35 fathers and mothers who hope to find their children "lifted" in this State between 2004 and 2013.

"Our group is very enthusiastic despite the fact that they are elderly people, Silvia and I are the "minors" at 53 years of age, while others in the group are aged between 60 and 70".

"We cross the desert in temperatures of 40 degrees, under direct sunlight", explains Oscar Sanchez, father of "Fanny".

Members of VIDA discover more human remain, skull in centre of photo

Since last January, VIDA has been moving through the Coahuila desert looking for clandestine graves.
Via email and social networks they receive some locations and in less than 15 tracks, they have found the body of a woman, some remains and three bones, the same items that the State Authorities and Forensic Police have classified as "animal remains".

The corpse of the woman VIDA found

"We are a handful of families waiting to recover their family members with or without life, with or without the Authorities", says Oscar.

Due to lack of resources, VIDA members work in the desert in tennis shoes and light clothes, bathed all day in the sun, carrying cakes in their backpacks, iced water, and some casseroles that they share together.

Their search tools are homemade or improvised, and among them there are machetes, knives, shovels, rakes and some poles.

Oscar was the main teacher after taking some course in citizens forensics and forensic science.

VIDA depart towards the desert aboard a small pickup truck provided to them by a Priest. They have requested support from Companies, Mining Companies and factories, but none have supported them.

Their meagre income to finance their searches arises from raffles and selling hamburgers.

As well as some parents continue searching for their children, others chose to do so and Oscar explains why, " we have a partner that, weeks after his son was "lifted" was called on the telephone. He told him that he was ok and alive. He could not return and asked his parents to stop searching for him".

Otis: they have also been working with another organization in this area, carrying out similar work the United Force for our disappeared in Coahuila (FUUNDEC) as reported in El Siglo de Torreon. These people need all the help they can get so please click your forward button and pass this story on when possible.

Original article in Spanish at Milenio

Otis: I am aware of the rumour that "Fanny" was the alleged girlfriend of El Lazca, presumed dead ex leader of Los Zetas. Her parents strenuously deny the rumour.

Borderland Beat posted and translated by DD republished from el Diario and AP story on Yahoo News.

photo shows how easy it would be to encircle the ranch

The showdown at el Rancho del Sol where on Friday May 22, 42 alleged members of the CNJG and one Federal Police were killed has raised many questions as to what really happened. The stories posted by Lucio give the governments version of what happened as well as the doubts raised by many security experts, the families of some of those killed and alleged to be CNJG, and many in the media. The government has not always been truthful in their reports of what happened in previous clashes with cartels.

It turns out there were at least 2 witnesses to the "clash". They were not onsite at the ranch, but close by on the highway that runs in front of the ranch and on the back perimeter of the ranch.. While they cannot give all of the details of what happened, they can give valuable clues to what happened.

One of the witnesses is a resident of the very small village of Puerto de Vargas consisting of about 100 inhabitants and is only about a kilometer from the ranch gate. There is just pasture land between Puerto de Vargas and the ranch and the witness had cattle pastured there.

To enter Puerta de Vargas one must take a very small deviation, which you can barely catch sight of, from Highway 37 that runs from Ecuandureo to Zamora, in the state of Michoacan, which has a partially paved road.

"I was looking around and I saw the helicopter that brought police, and from that it all ended ", as he relates to the commissioner.(DD presumeablly he was referring to a Human Rights Commissoner) The ranch "had no opportunity to defend a lot."

The ranch, El Sol borders this town and in their pastures, inhabitants of Puerta de Vargas were accustomed to take their animals to graze. The ranch at times hired villagers and gave them good jobs..

But that changed two weeks ago when the land was taken by about 50 strangers, who went to the village to give the villagers new rules: do not enter or loiter around the ranch.

"They said they would not kill us, but for us to follow our usual routine, that they would not take our money, but we had to stay silent and not hang around the ranch," said one local resident.

A man who acts as caretaker and watches the road entrance to Vargas said the people who had always worked at the ranch were always peaceful people and that a few months ago the owner had rented the ranch to "one of my compadres" who lives in the town of Vistahermosa, because the owner now lives in Guadalajara, Jalisco.

They came and stole the ranch?

"Yes, and they said, you keep working, Nomás we are here, but you just keep working and they did not threaten anyone or anything.

The story that the ranch was rented was confirmed by the mayor of Tanhuato Jose Ignacio Cuevas Perez, who said that property was for years worked as a producer, packer and marketer of alfalfa.

But that changed after the first of May, when members of CJNG shot down a helicopter in Jalisco,and the elements that took part in bringing down that helicopter took refuge in the Rancho El Sol.

THE OPERATION

Just when the sun was rising on Friday, May 22 a convoy of federal police came to the village of Puerta de Vargas and asked some of the local residents how to get onto the Rancho del Sol without using the front gate. They received the support of the people of Puerta de Vargas and one citizen gave them directions on how to get around to the back side of Ranch. As it turned out that senor turned out to be one of the witnesses who watched the balacera a couple of hours later.

According to the villagers, the police soon surrounded the 112-acre ranch and the operation began when the helicopter arrived.

It was from the Black Hawk helicopter of federal police where most of the 42 alleged criminals were shot. They fired several bursts from a machine gun continuously while federal agents took advantage to finish surrounding the entire field.

"The pilot raised and leveled the helicopter, then settled back and rrrrr! Buzzed pa'acá pa'allá and bullets. The helicopter was the one who killed them all," says Senor witness while riding his horse.

It was past eight o'clock.

Backed by fire from helicopter, the rest of the policemen could join the attack from several points. "They burst of fire was continuos, not only from the helicopter, but from various positions. From where I was I saw one shoot at the cops.

Many people in the village went into hiding for nearly three hours at their homes. "

"I was watching everything. From here the shooting was heard, but look, from this point I saw the helicopter that brought the cops . It was only one but it was strong the shooting was fanning , was heard very strong, this helicopter was the one who killed them all, " he told the commissioner.

After the shooting stopped two other helicoptors appeared seemingly to clean up the mess and transport the police on the ground who had been involved the shoot out.

Another witness, who works for the Green Angels, which is a rescue unit operated by the state to assist motorist on the highways, adds that federal police arrived at the scene because they were pursuing armed suspects they had met on the highway. There he saw the persuit and how this group of men sought safety at the ranch.

"After they get to the ranch a helicopter arrived here on the road and started spraying bursts of rounds. Bullets and grenade explosions were heard, and gradually a shitload of federal police arrived, , then came the military to lend support but the shooting was already over. I saw that it appeared the helicoptor was following in pursuit on the highway and then these guys went into the ranch.

No one knew in the municipalities of Tanhuato or Ecuandureo knew any of the 42 killed in the confrontation or the rest of men going in and out of the place, but there was a population who had contact with them, the same Vargas Gate,

That changed 13 days ago when the group arrived at the ranch.

"Many of us did business with the ranch and some people from here worked there, but when the group arrived at the ranch, we got out of there. "

Tanhuato Mayor Jose Ignacio Cuevas Pérez, explained that after several months of being empty fields, about year and a half ago there was movement back into the ranch, we again saw tractors, cultivation was carried and they cut and packaged alfalfa.

"There was even a time when I saw that they grew corn, like any other agricultural land in the region. The gate was a wire mesh , and was not was the gateway that is currently painted white. I know because I step out there very often for many years, "he specified.

He said that about 3 years ago there was a sign on the front of the property trying to sell or rent it but he did not know the owner of the property and did not know whether it was part of a denunciation of dispossession (a forced taking)..

Interviewed in his office, the mayor Michoacan, questioned the version that hours after the death of 42 people and a federal police announced the authority, which ensures that all was due to the response of an attack against police forces.

"The way the arrangement of bodies, some have no clothes, looked like a massacre rather than an operational" external Cuevas Perez, mayor of the municipality that owns a fraction of the building in which the events occurred.

In a story yesterday the AP reported that Mexican officials stand by their account.

DD. The government account explained the lack of a concentration of bodies that you usually find in a big shootout was because the when they were asked to surrender they refused and some took off running in an attempt to escape. That was why their bodies were scattered in the fields. Looking at the photo below and you have to ask yourself "would you run across those open fields surrounding the buildings to try to escape when a helicopter gunship was spraying the place with machine gun fire".

Enrique Galindo, head of Mexico's federal police, told local media "a helicopter gunship had participated in the shootout and that its role had been decisive. "If the helicopter had not arrived, the death toll might have been different."

National Security Commissioner Monte Alejandro Rubido said at a news conference later Monday that the helicopter had been hit three times by bullets from an AR-15 assault rifle.

Authorities detained three people and confiscated 38 semi-automatic weapons, two smaller arms, a grenade launcher and a .50-caliber rifle. They had initially said they seized 40 weapons.

Speaking to the television network Televisa earlier Monday, Rubido said tests on the bodies of the victims showed they had been shot "from a considerable distance ... dozens of meters (yards)," ruling out anybody having been finished off at close range. "

Families of some of the men killed on Friday told The Associated Press that after viewing the remains of their loved ones, they doubted the official account. Relatives gathered at a local morgue said one body was missing an eye and had facial bruising, another had its teeth knocked inward. Another had a gunshot in the top of the head.

Video of the battle obtained by The Associated Press showed federal police officers coming under fire.

DD: The more we find out, the more questions we have. where is that video AP?

Translated by Otis B Fly-Wheel for Borderland Beat from a Zetatijuana article with additional images from Borderland Beat archive.

[ Subject Matter: "El Loco", Fuerzas Especiales de Damaso, Baja California Sur
Recommendation: Some prior knowledge of Sinaloa Cartel in BCS would be useful]

Reporter: Zeta Investigations, Photos by Cortesia

The Sicario of Fuerza Especiales de Damaso, Jovanny Nunez Espino, was detained after committing a car jacking of a Ford Raptor. The criminal is linked to 5 homicides, among them, that of Audencio Yobany Lopez Beltran "El Hector" or "El H".

When the Sicario of Los Fuerzas Especiales de Damaso in La Paz, Baja California Sur, Jovanny Nunez Espino "El Loco" was captured by Agents of the Municipal Police, State Preventative Police and State Ministerial Police, he was on board a pick up that he had just robbed with violence on the crossroads of Calles Colima, between Aquiles Serdan and Guillermo Prieto in the Pueblo Nuevo Colonia of the South California Capital.

The victim of the car jacking, Rosalba Camacho Gomez was ordered out of her pickup on 3rd of May 2015, a blue Ford Raptor when the subject intercepted her and pointed a pistol at her and demanded the keys to her vehicle, leaving her on foot.

The woman then reported the crime via C4, and explained that the criminal had taken Calle Colima, from here the Police started their search, they caught sight of the vehicle in Calle a la altura de Ignacio Ramirez, initiating a chase around the Calle Colima, and then Avenida Forjadores and finally the Boulevard Colosia, until they arrived at the highway La Paz, Los Planes.

Observing the patrol following behind, the criminal wanted to lose his pursuers, he took a shortcut and got onto a dirt road that goes from Colonia Agua Escondido to El Mezquitito, but in the street lost control of the vehicle and hit a tree.

When he crashed, the Police Agents immediately took advantage of the situation and moved in to arrest him, but the criminal opened fire with a 9mm pistol which he pulled out.

Then he jumped out of the vehicle and ran towards a hill, firing at the Security Forces until he ran out of bullets, then the Police caught and arrested him.

The denunciations

After being detained, Jovanny Nunez Espino "El Loco", 28 years of age and originally from Mazatlan, Sinaloa, was subjected to a search, and whom was found to be carrying a wallet and a cell phone. Inside the wallet were found plastic cards of "Farmacon", "Bancoppel", "BanBajio" and a white page with black writing, on which had been drawn a sketch of the Coastal Malecon, between 16th of September and Agustin Arreola in the Colonia Central in La Paz with the legend "La Tribu", "the tribe".

On the bottom of the page under the sketch there were other notations. They are as follows.

1. Orange and blue shirt, jeans, padlock beard, approximately 1.80 metres in height, regular consititution, white complexion and short hair.

2. White Automobile, Chevrolet Malibu, model 2014 circulation plates CZM-79-77.

3. La Morra will put you onto "El Tribu", "The Tribe". Wait there.

The criminal was transferred to the cells of the PGJE, and was submitted to an intensive interrogation, finished with him admitting that the sketch was for the execution of Audencio Yobany Lopez Beltran "El Hector" or "El H", killed on the morning of 5th of April of 2015, when accompanied by his girlfriend Linda Elizabeth Peinado Villa.

The Sicario confessed that the crime of "El H" was ordered by Felipe Eduardo Guajardo Garcia "El 28", because he participated in the crime of "El Pantera", and his group because he refused to hand over the North Zone drug trafficking plaza of La Paz.(Otis: see link to Chivis article on his slaying).

When the investigating Agents asked him for whom he worked, "El Loco" replied, " for the Fuerzas Especiales de Damaso".

He said that he has been "for a little while under the command of Melisa Magarita Calderon Ojeda "La China", but she is being sought by authorities and for now she is hidden", so they have sent "El Oso", and who has recently arrived to reinforce the criminal activities of this criminal organization.

The criminal described his boss physically and said that " he has a tattoo of a bears claw on one of his arms".

During the interrogation he recounted to have participated in the kidnapping of Mario Morales Hernandez, owner of "Llantera Morales", and who said "we tortured him all day, together with "La China", and we shot him in the face and abandoned him thinking he was dead".

Hernandez Shot in the face, Image from El Sol de Puebla

When the Agents asked him why he had robbed the pickup off the woman, without pushing the point, he answered that "El Oso" had ordered to steal vehicles and perpetrate some assaults on businesses to " get some money" as the structure of "Los 28" was economically debilitated.

He said that the detention of Sicario's, the decommission of cars, and the confiscation of safe houses had been reducing the activities of this group and a lot of people already do not want to align with "Los 28", he even stated that "right now we are going to kidnap people and shoot up the homes of people who do not want to align with "Los 28".

He described the case of a mechanic identified as "Sixto", who lived on Calle Javier Mina between Encinas and Navarro in Los Olivos Colonia, he said "we threw in a grenade but it didn't detonate and we were planning to shoot up his house, in which they finally did on this 20th of May 2015.

The Sicario said that " now Los 28 have been ordering the deaths of lot of the people that work for them due to mistrust, with the following explanation, in the case of "Erick Davalos Von Borstel, the boyfriend of "La China", who detailed the location of "El 20", and they had him assassinated as an informant.

The criminal acknowledged participation in this crime, well he said It was "the cell of El Oso, and that they kidnapped, tortured and killed him". He also admitted to participation in the following homicides.

1. Anacleto Saenz Alarcon "El Cleto", executed on 10th of January passing the Libramiento Daniel Roldan between Agustin Olachea and the North Trans-peninsular Highway. (Otis: see link to article mentioning his assassination).

2. Jesus Alfredo Avila Spindola "El Toro", assassinated on the 3rd of April 2015, in Calle Melchor Ocampo between Yucatan and Chiapas in the Guerrero de La Paz Colonia.

3. Juan Carlos Bareno Aviles "El Juanillo", his body cut into pieces and his remains abandoned in Los Cacaros, Lazaro Cardenas and Sante Fe en La Paz, Colonias.

4. Carlos Castro Hale "El Guero" or "El Pecas", executed and abandoned in Calle Mantarraya between Mero and Camaron in Franccionamiento Fidepaz.

At the close of this edition, the Sicario of Fuerzas Especiales de Damaso is going to be charged for these crimes.

The last attacks

Everado Silvano Aparicio Monroy "El Silvano", 12th of May, Antonio Menchart Flores "El Tony", 17th of May, Juan Manuel Jimenez Ruiz "El Manuel", 17th of May, Jose Antonio Alvarado Espinoza "El 100", 17th of May, Eleazar Jimenez Ruiz, 17th of May, Israel Hernandez Salas "El Isra", 17th of May, Mechanic "Sixto", 20th of May, Purificadora Bio Water, 20th of May.

Zeta source PGJE.

Original article in Spanish at Zetatijuana

Photo by: Heriberto Paredes

By: Heriberto Paredes | Translated by Valor for Borderland Beat

On the morning of May 25, 2015, the leader of the Community Police of Aquila, Michoacán, Semeí Verdía, along with Juan Manuel Satién Cándido, his bodyguard, were ambushed. The incident occurred on the road from the municipal capital of Santa María Ostula to the federal highway 200, in the area known as Los Otates, next to La Cobanera. At the site, various heavy caliber cartridges were found but no vehicle tracks were able to be found; this confirmed that it was a previously planned ambush and not a spontaneous confrontation.

The bodyguard was the only one reported as being injured but not life threatening and is currently out of danger.

The community members of Ostula, and the authorities are concerned about the safety of their commander and his bodyguard. They strongly denounce what has happened, especially the current setting that is lived along the coastal region and throughout the state, that is, the elections for the office of governor, the mayor and the renewal of the state congress.

It is worth mentioning that the attacks against the Nahua community have not ceased since they’ve reclaimed their land on June 2009. So far, there have been 32 murders and six forced disappearances at the hands of organized crime, which is linked with the Caballeros Templarios and the local PRI power. This attack marks two assassination attempts against the autodefensa leader, Semeí Verdía, since the recovery of the territory at the hands of the new community police in February 2014.

Photo by: Heriberto Paredes

In addition to this physical aggression, which is already being evaluated by human rights organizations, on Saturday May 23, the president of the Commissariat of Communal Goods was notified of a lawsuit that puts at risk the alleged property, through a front man, the 36 hectares that correspond to the communal lands of Ostula, specifically the adjoin land that is exploited by the mining company Ternium. The documents were received, coincidentally, right at the moment when the first distribution of the land was taking place by the agrarian authorities of the community. After a long measuring process of the land, and after the general assembly (the maximum authority), this important process will take place.

Michoacán lives in a setting of the realignment of political power at the state level ahead of the June 7 elections. In this sense, both candidates and political parties like remnants of organized crime, look for any price, creating conditions in order to regain full control of the economy and politics. Isolated incidents, killings of candidates, or mass massacres are not what have been in the news in the previous weeks; everything responds to a capitalist logic in which cartels and political parties are already the same force.

In the specific case of the coastal area, the existence of one of the most important iron mines in the world cannot be forgotten, located specifically in the municipality of Aquila, next to the communal lands of Ostula; despite the fact that official, the land of this community is already being permitted to continue mining and to develop an industrial zone that would facilitate the output of iron to other nations and to transport it to other national ports. The organized resistance of the population has prevented these economic projects from being carried out. The greed of businessmen, politicians, and criminals has not ceased, proof of this are the constant attacks that Ostula receives in order to loot the lands.

So far, after a long history of community organization, the Nahua population that inhabit these lands have stated that they will not stop fighting and that they are going to defend their territory by any means necessary.

Source: SubVersiones

Benjamen Gutierrez Quiroz murdered in Tijuana

In a continuation of the violence that is washing the streets of Tijuana with blood and narco mantas, a frenzied war of attrition and blood for blood, the brother of 'El Melvin' was murdered Saturday night in Tijuana.

Melvin Gutierrez was captured just over 2 years ago, in Tijuana, by elements of the Army. He was found in a barren safe-house, with an AR-15, sent immediately to Mexico City, on firearm charges, he has been imprisoned ever since. Melvin is from Barrio Logan, San Diego, which carries a legacy with Tijuana, and the Arellano Felix family.

Barrio Logan is headed towards revitalization, the latest word which describes the gentrification of an area, mostly by wealthy white investors, but one hopes some local community business owners too. New restaurants, condo developments are repainting the area that for so long has been symbolic of gang violence, and desperate poverty.

It was different in the 90's, when Melvin began his career in the CAF. It was different when Spooky and Puma, and others trained in Tijuana under Ramon Arellano Felix, and Russian mercenaries in safe-houses, eventually killing a cardinal in 1993, at the Guadalajara airport, while Chapo Guzman escaped unharmed. It was a lifetime ago.

Gustavo Riveria Martinez 'El EP 1'

Melvin began his career in similar ways, eventually working up to become a confidante of Fernando Sanchez Arellano, and one assumes, his uncles before him. It was said Melvin took over operations from Gustvao Riveria Martinez, a Bontita, San Diego native. However, this was also said about Manuel Ivvanovich Flores, 'El Jimmy', who was arrested in 2009, and released in 2013.

Melvin trafficked across the border, and allegedly conducted enforcement activities for Sanchez Arellano, including working directly with the Azarte Arteaga brothers, to send product, and collect taxes. After Melvin's capture it was said the relationship between the rival groups faltered, as Sanchez Arellano lost a key ally.

Less is known about Benjamin, 'El Quecho', only that he was murdered at an OXXO, near his Tijuana home, in Zona Rio, he was driving a truck, and carrying luggage. Reports have indicated he was leaving Tijuana, that night. Of course, he could have been arriving also. Neighbors said they did not know him, and he had not lived there for long. His girlfriend and relatives argued with investigators who took pictures of his body.

Police and official statements offer conflicting reports, some say he was continuing his brother's business affairs, and some indicate he worked in a mechanics shop in Colonia Libertad.

It seems the fight in Tijuana is just beginning.

Sources: AFN Tijuana

Lucio R. Borderland Beat

Through a video uploaded to the social network Facebook, Axel Dames, a spokesman for self-defense groups in Michoacán, reported that physicians say the founder of Michoacán autodefensa Dr. José Manuel Mireles Valverde, deteriorates rapidly because of the systematic denial of medical attention from the "authorities" of the Hermosillo, Sonora, prison he is incarcerated in. He has been held in prison since June 27, 2014.

In the video, Axel Dames complains the courts should legally proceed for the immediate release of Dr. Mireles, because required urgent medical attention has not been provided, and is the being obligation of the State to guarantee the safety of their prisoners.

Court rulings have been favorable to Mireles, but have acted dilatory in proceeding with other court procedures needed for his release.

Aside from being denied proper medical care, in a letter cited by the website ‘’Sin Embargo”, Mireles

says he has asked the magistrate in charge of his case, to file a claim against the “authorities” who he says are denying his right to receive visitors, for 10 months visitors have been denied access to him.

“Magistrate of the first Unitary Tribunal of the 10th Circuit”. Hereby I ask you for assistance to assure I am allowed visits and that my rights are respected, rights that every prisoner has. For 10 ½ months they have completely denied visits by anyone attempting to see me, including those who are assisting in the issues of my captivity (…).”

Only his attorney has been allowed access to Dr. Mireles, no one on his list of visitors have been granted a visit. Including his advocates such as general José Francisco Gallardo or el padre Alejandro Solalinde,

Dr. Mireles did not complete his rehabilitation for injuries he suffered in a plane crash. He left Mexico City to return to Michoacán because of the takeover of the autodefensa union by Estanislao Beltrán, who unilaterally, without benefit of a vote, ousted Dr. Mireles and took over as the AD spokesman. Beltran began working closely with Alfredo Castillo to oust Dr Mireles.

Dr. Mireles had given candid interview with the publication El Pais of Spain. The El País interview incensed Alfredo Castillo, the federal appointed security chief in Michoacán, who seized the opportunity while Dr. Mireles was recuperating, to intensify his mission of disbandment of the autodefensa movement and rendering the popular and loved Dr. Mireles powerless.

Castillo said in a recent interview that “Manuel Mireles not only wanted to control Mexico, but wanted to control all of Latin America”.

Castillo’s threats did not quiet Dr. Mireles. With respect to dealing with “problems” such as the “genuine autodefensas” especially their leaders, the government has favored imprisonment. Hundreds of autodefensas are languishing in prison.

Others have been murdered. There is in fact but one original leader remaining free of the “coastal” autodefensas, considered the true self defense group and that is Semeí Verdía. Semei has suffered two assassination attempts on his life including one of this week.

In the case of Dr. Mireles, his civil and human rights have not only been trampled upon, his rights have been shredded beginning with the arrest its self.

In the arrest, he was blindfolded, hooded, cuffed in back, and flown around in a helicopter for hours. He later said it was terrifying as he thought he might have been shoved into the waters below.

Dr. Mireles was taken to Morelia and transferred to the Federal Social Rehabilitation Center No. 11 in Hermosillo, Sonora.

In Morelia he was then denied the right to call or meet with his attorney for hours. And denied food necessary for a diabetic diet, and not given his insulin which he injects three times daily.

For further humiliation his famous mustache and white hair were shaven clean. But the worst was yet to come; he became ill, the result of improper diet and proper diabetic management. He has spent almost as much time in the hospital as in his cell. Hi Sister Virginia “Vicky” Mireles says his health has deteriorated to the point he may soon require amputation.

He began using a wheelchair around the middle of this month when he fell and sustained an injury, some reports say it was a fracture of the spinal column. He is now non-ambulatory.

His attorney Javier Livas, reported that the leader and founder of the AD lay in bed for three days before being given medical treatment.

“My client is treated as a prisoner of war, as an enemy of the state, in the maximum security prison. We have a person that is a civil hero, one who the government had arrested to remove a problem.”

Immobility will compromise his circulation and may cause irrecoverable damage to his limbs and possible amputation.

In a recent and rare communication, he sent a letter to his friend Jorge Vazquez. In the letter he stated that visitors are being blocked from visiting him.

Axel Dames is not a name I have previously heard of in connection to Dr. Mireles.

Another Agent executed in Tijuana.

Chilapa Residents Denounce Armed Group Kidnapped 30 People

DEA: "Plea of Chino Antrax Cripples Violent Arm of Sinaloa Cartel", View Plea Agreement

DEA Press Release

"They are going after their heads": What is going on in Tijuana?

Federal Police in Tanhuato Michoacán 43 Sicarios killed 3 FP

CJNG - 40+ Killed in Narco/PF Clash on Mich./Jalisco Border

43 Dead: After 10 Hours the government account of CJNG vs Federal Police Tanhuato Clash

Tijuana Cartel threatens newspaper owner for ties with El Aquiles.

Part one: "The Miracle of Juárez", Sinaloa vs Juárez Cartel

Brothers of El Mono from CAF arrested...Again.

Tijuana cops torture and charge innocent man, murdered cop case update.

Doubts surround Government version of Tanhuato "clash" that ended with 43 deaths

Part Two: "The Miracle of Juárez", Sinaloa vs Juarez Cartel

Cartel del Golfo narco - espionage network dismantled in Reynosa

Recovering Paradise: The Struggle of Mexicans Against Drug Trafficking

VIDA, the group that searches for the " disappeared" in Coahuila

el Rancho del Sol; 42 dead "had no chance"; police fired from a helicopter: witnesses

Fuerzas Especiales de Damaso: "El Loco" Caputured

Ostula Attacked: Autodefensa Leader Ambushed

Tijuana: Brother of 'El Melvin' Gutierrez executed

Imprisoned autodefensa leader, Dr. Mireles confined to wheel chair, denied visitors