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Purebred Quarterhorses Slaughtered near Victoria, Tamaulipas

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Translated by Yaqui for Borderland Beat from: El Mañana 


                               Tomas Yarrington Revulcaba, Ex PRI Governor of Tamaulipas
Feb 13, 2018
Extra material from: El Universal

Hooded individuals arrived in two vans and opened fire on the facilities of 150 hectarea horse ranch  "La Providencia" , located at Kilometer 87 of the Zaragoza-Monterrey highway; in Ejido San Cayetano in the Municipality of Guemez, Tamaulipas, according to witness statements at 8:40 am.

The armed comando aboard two SUVs attacked the ranch registered in the name of Eduardo Rodríguez Berlanga, "La Conga", presumed associate of former PRI Tamaulipas Governor Tomás Yarrington Ruvalcaba, where they riddled a worker and at least 17 horses quarter horses with AK 47's. 

The Ranch property is estimated to be worth $300,000 and in reality the property of the Former Governor of Tamaulipas. Tomas Yarrington who is being held in an Italian jail accused of  money laundering and organized crime charges.

WARNING : EXTREMELY GRAPHIC PHOTOS on the following page



Upon arrival, authorities found the body of a tied man riddled with bullets who presumedly was the caretaker of the ranch, although he carried no identification or belongings. Sedena confirmed that shell casings were found at various locations and no one was detained.


They also found 17 horses killed by firearm and five more wounded in the stables. Reports are varied about the total number of animals involved. Some sources report 12 dead and 5 wounded for a total of 17.

Expert services from the Tamaulipas Attorney's Office cordoned off the perimeter of the property to collect evidence and remove the body.

PGR of Tamaulipas State has opened an investigation.

Cartels seek to get hold of New York with fentanyl

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Translated by El Profe for Borderland Beat from La Silla Rota

          Así es como los cárteles mexicanos buscan apropiarse de Nueva York 

Traffickers use a drug that is 50 times more powerful than heroin 

They had a couple of weeks in the United States from Mexico. The middle-aged couple had been in New Jersey, had gone shopping at a Walmart, had dinner at an IHop. They returned home only to be arrested.

US anti-narcotics agents, with a search warrant in hand, entered the apartment located in one of the apartment buildings in Queens.

Inside one of the many suitcases the couple had arrived in the United States with, the officers found drugs, but not "the usual ones."

It was not methamphetamine, nor cocaine, much less marijuana, it was pure fentanyl, a synthetic and extremely dangerous opioid, 50 times more powerful than heroin.

The lethality of this drug is shown with data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which indicate that more than 60,000 people died from overdoses in the United States last year. As well as five times more deaths caused by synthetic opioids such as fentanyl.

The couple owned 141 pounds, almost 64 kilos, of that substance. It was the largest fentanyl seizure in the history of the United States.

According to the Drug Control Administration (DEA), in those 64 kilos there was enough of the drug to kill 32 million people.

Rogelio Alvarado Robles, 55, and Blanca Flores Solis, 52, were arrested.

And although they had no criminal record, much less weapons, they were both drug runners to negotiate the sale of tens of millions of dollars in narcotics, as pharmaceutical executives on a "business trip."

To the DEA, the drug cartels seek to turn New York into their distribution center.

So far this year [2017] they have seized more than 350 pounds, almost 159 kilos, of pure fentanyl in New York City, 10 times more than in 2016.

Fentanyl seems better than heroin for trafficking because of its various advantages. First because it is much more profitable.

In addition, far from growing in the undergrowth of distant mountains, such as poppy, heroin base plant, this, like methamphetamine, can be manufactured in clandestine laboratories using relatively inexpensive chemicals.

Not to mention that its potency makes it able to be diluted to exponentially increase the doses at street level, either in the form of powder or alternative pills pressed to look like brands such as OxyContin and Percoset.

For James Hunt, head of the New York Division of the DEA, the way in which this drug is distributed in the city is also different.

They put aside the violence, the drug traffickers become "evil businessmen", who invest 3 thousand dollars and earn millions of dollars.

"They are smart," says Jimmy Arroyo, a special agent of the DEA that leads the team that in recent months has made several important arrests related to Mexican traffickers. "They know that if they kill people, they will attract attention."

The criminal organization responsible for bringing fentanyl to the United States is the Sinaloa Cartel .
According to the DEA, 80% of the fentanyl seized in the New York area is related to the Sinaloan drug lords.

And it's no surprise to the US authorities, according to its National Assessment on the Threat of Drugs, the Sinaloa Cartel is the one with the largest presence in the United States.

This despite the fact that its most recognized leader, Joaquín Guzmán Loera "El Chapo " is incarcerated in a Manhattan prison. So perhaps the defense of the criminal boss can be financed in part with the benefits of sales of fentanyl made only a few meters from his cell.

The drug traffickers even avoid the precarious areas of New York’s rougher neighborhoods, to avoid being robbed or detected by the DEA. They seek to settle in the places of high prestige.

The Americans' concern about drugs is such that President Donald Trump declared that opiate addiction was a public health emergency.

For his part, Attorney General Jeff Sessions has defined fentanyl as "the number one killer drug in the United States [...] and as deadly as it is, you can connect and ask for it by mail."

With information from The Washington Post

513 kilos of marijuana seized in Ensenada

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Translated by El Profe for Borderland Beat from Zeta

                     

by Marco A. Flores

More than 513 kilos of marijuana were seized by elements of the State Preventive Police (PEP) after being located inside a reportedly stolen van abandoned in the Gómez Morín neighborhood of Ensenada.

At approximately 2:11 p.m. today, agents of the state corporation that patrol Fernando Robles Avenue, of the aforementioned demarcation, observed a 1994 model Nissan Quest truck, apparently abandoned.

The engine was on and the door was semi-open, which is why the officers approached to verify that everything was in order, but they noticed that inside the car there were several packages.

More than 120 packages accounted for an approximate weight of 513 kilos, 110 grams of marijuana, which after being confiscated allows to avoid the possible manufacture and distribution of 1 million 26 thousand 220 doses of said intoxicant.

In addition, after checking in the Control, Command, Communication and Computing Center (C4), the serial number and plates of California 4N2DN11W1RD846295 5VAT052 of the vehicle involved was reported to be connected to a theft report dated February 11, 2018.

Homicide fugitive caught

In another action, after being located trying to hide among the cars parked on Nueve Avenue, in the downtown area, Carlos ¨N¨, 20, of Chihuahua, was arrested and found to have an arrest warrant for a homicide charge.

The drug and the fugitive were at the disposal of the Public Ministry of the Federal Jurisdiction where the pertinent investigations will be carried out in each case

In the actions undertaken within the framework of the ¨Quest for Security: the task of all¨ headed by the governor of Baja California, Francisco Vega de Lamadrid, there are clear results against crime.

Nayarit: Dismembered human remains may be those of CJNG abducted SEIDO agents

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by Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat

Remains found in trunk of car were "butchered"


Human remains found in Nayarit; PGR investigates if they belong to abducted SEIDO agents.

The PGR announced the discovery of human remains in the state of Nayarit. They are investigating whether the agents are Octavio Martínez Quiroz and Alfonso Hernández Villavicencio, members of the SEIDO AIC, registered with the  Attorney General for Organized Crime Investigation.


The Attorney General's Office (PGR) reported that the human remains found inside the trunk of a Kia car in Xalisco, are "possibly belonging" to the two missing agents.


A first report affirmed that the remains in the car found in Xalisco in the first minutes of this Thursday were of three people, but later, a source from the Nayarit Prosecutor's Office specified that it was two people, as there was confusion because the bodies were dismembered.
Because the bodies are not in a condition to have a visual identification,  they will  require DNA testing which will take 3 to 5 days.


The agents, from Mexico City were at the border of Nayarit and Jalisco for a family baptism on February 4th.  They went missing the following day.

Last week a video began to circulate in which the agents are observed kneeling, while four hooded gunmen had weapons pointed at them, while Hernandez was forced to read a script condemning federal agencies for criminal acts.



El Chapo writes a letter to Judge Cogan; "All I ask for is a fair trial"

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by Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat

There is much packed in this letter…Guzmán does not want a deal, just a fair trial. He wants his family to know he wishes is attorneys to be paid.  He requests medication……..


February 15, 2018
EXHIBIT 1

Text of Joaquín Guzmán Loera’s statement to Judge Cogan (translated from the Spanish original)
Judge Cogan 
I, Joaquin Guzman-Loera, want to explain to you the problems that I have regarding my case: 
Due to the rules that you authorized, I find it impossible to mount my defense in a case that you yourself said is very complex.
Due to the rules you authorized, I have not had contact with my wife for 13 months, either in person, on the phone or by letter. It has never been explained to me why that contact is not allowed. Six month s ago I wrote her a letter and, as far as I know, she has not received the letter. Because of the impossibility of contact, she has not been able to help me get the funds to pay my lawyers.
You authorized personal visits with my sister, but after a one-hour visit, which was monitored, the united states government revoked her visa. She can no longer enter this country.
You authorized phone calls with my sister and mother but they do not have the ability to pay the lawyers. Because the rules forbid me to give them instructions on how to get funds for my lawyers, they can not resolve the problem.
I have had some visits with my little girls who are 6 years old, but obviously they can not resolve the problems. I cannot even send my family greetings with them. When I told them to say hello to their mother, the agents who monitored the visit stopped it to scold me about passing messages.
Only my current legal team can visit me, but the rules do not allow them to pass messages to my family with instructions on how to obtain the fees.
The conditions that you authorized have greatly hurt me because I cannot build my defense with the teams of lawyers that I chose.
With luck and much effort, my family was able to make the first payment to Attorney Balarezo, but because of the rules I could not get the rest. The people who helped me make that first payment cannot do more.
At this moment Attorney Balarezo is doing the best he can with what he has. But my agreement with him included more resources to be able to defend myself. Not only his fees, but also for the necessary expenses.
Because I do not have access to the necessary resources, my case is affected because I do not have the full team of lawyers that I selected. To this day, my defense is not complete due to lack of resources.
Some articles that were published last week have said that my family does not want to pay the fees in part because they do not know what I want to do. I want to make it clear - I want my family to know that I want to go to trial. I do not have any intention to cooperate or to plead guilty. I also want them to do what they can to pay the attorney fees. The problem is that without instructions from me, they cannot do it.
Judge Cogan, I ask that you please modify the rules to allow me to speak with my wife faceto-face to resolve this situation. If not, my trial will be a farce.
I also want to explain to you that the rules you authorized are affecting me physically, mentally, and emotionally.
I suffer from headaches every day.I vomit almost every day.
They have not fixed two teeth and they are very painful. 
I have not seen the sun or breathed fresh air for 13 months in your country. 
The air I breathe comes through a duct in my cell and it is very dry - my throat and sinuses constantly hurt.
The light in my cell is on all hours of the day and it is difficult for me to sleep.If it’s not too cold, it’s too hot. 
I am not even allowed to buy the same things that other prisoners can. 
Because of the conditions and how they have affected me, I cannot focus to study the evidence in my case. I can not concentrate to help my defense. It is clear that the conditions have hurt me a lot. It is torture 24 hours a day. 
Judge Cogan, I ask you to please authorize some medication to help me relax and focus so I can help my defense.
Finally, the decisions you have made about the motions are based on evidence that I do not have the opportunity to refute and that is not fair. I am not going to see important evidence until very close to trial and I will not have the ability to defend myself against it. 
I thought that the American justice system was at least going to give me the opportunity to defend myself. But now I see that that is not the truth. All I ask for is a fair trial.                                                                                                                                                                                     /s Joaquín Guzmán Loera

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A shock of violence leaves Acapulco, once a jewel of tourism, 12 dead in 24 hours

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Translated by El Profe for Borderland Beat from Sin Embargo

                 
The situation of violence in the state of Guerrero does not seem to end. In the last 24 hours at least 12 people were killed in the entity. 

Acapulco, one of the state's most popular tourist destinations, daily records deaths, executions, kidnappings and more crimes, a situation that has made it one of the most violent municipalities in the country. 


Despite the statements of Governor Hector Astudillo that the violence in the entity has been contained, the facts show otherwise. 


Guerrero / Mexico City February 16 (ElSur / SinEmbargo) - A new violent day yesterday left nine men and three women shot to death in different neighborhoods, in addition to the discovery of a human skull.

Also, two ‘’Acatianguis’’ [Acapulco outdoor market] stalls and one car were burned.

Yesterday, up to 9 o'clock at night, there were 49 victims so far this month, and it was the most violent day with 11 murders, according to a count from El Sur.

Also, a young woman who was with a group of motorcyclists attacked by gunfire last Sunday, near La Quebrada, died on Wednesday afternoon.

In a first violent incident yesterday, two women and two men were shot dead in the Rufo Figueroa neighborhood, in the vicinity of La Sabana.

The attack was reported at 4 in the morning, on Ciudad Perdida street and Iturbide, 500 meters from Lázaro Cárdenas Avenue, indicated in the ministerial report.


Despite the operations implemented by the three levels of government, a wave of violence was recorded in less than 24 hours. Photo: Cuartoscuro
                   
The police version is that armed men shot at the four victims and then fled the scene. 

The policemen, through an emergency call, found two women shot and killed and a man in the same state.

The wounded was transferred to a nearby hospital, but later died from bullet wounds.  Experts from the Acapulco Regional Prosecutor's Office located several scattered shells in the road at the crime scene.

The women were close to the scene and apparently were sitting there when they were shot, while the men were about five meters away from them because they apparently tried to flee their assailants, the police said.

In the afternoon, a taxi driver and a woman, apparently his partner, were riddled inside a blue and white public service vehicle in the Mozimba subdivision, located on the west side.

The double crime occurred at 4 pm on Granjas Avenue, about 150 meters from the Pie de la Cuesta road, indicated in the police report.

Witnesses told the policemen that armed men in a car chased their victims shooting at them, who were in the taxi, in order to kill them.

It was detailed that the taxi driver hit the wall of a house. The experts located several scattered shells in the area. The bodies were transferred by strangers to the facilities of Semefo.

Before, two men were shot to death in an orchard of San Isidro Gallinero, located in the rural area.
The double finding was reported at 1 o'clock in the afternoon in a produce farm located on the main road that connects to El Salto, indicated in the report of the State Police.

The agents by means of an emergency call found two men shot and bound by their hands.

The police version is that armed men took their victims and then moved them to a less crowded place and they were shot in the head.

The bodies were found about 20 centimeters away and at first sight they had shots in the head, the experts reported.

The first victim wore only a pair of jeans and the second a gray pair of shorts.

During the proceedings the ministerial police located two shells fired by a super 38 caliber weapon. The Public Ministry of El Coloso initiated an investigation file for the double crime.

Minutes later, a man was gunned down inside a taxi site on busy Cuauhtémoc Avenue.
The crime was reported at 2 in the afternoon, near the Bicentennial Bridge, in the Magallanes subdivision.

The police version is that armed men broke into the site of the taxis on the Acapulco-Ayutla route, and fired without saying a word against anyone.

In spite of the violent incidents, the other taxi drivers of the site remained in the area. The violent act caused a strong police deployment of the three orders of government. The victim was sent to Semefo.

In the morning, a semi-naked man was found shot and killed inside a car in the town of San Isidro Labrador, in the west.

The finding was reported at 10 in the morning, near the Acapulco-Zihuatanejo highway, ahead of Pie de la Cuesta.

The agents there found a white Chevy abandoned near the federal highway.

During review of the scene, experts located the victim in the truck of the car, about 50 years old, shot to death. The relatives went to the scene of the crime.

And at night, a cargo truck driver was shot to death and another man was injured in the town of Metlapil, in the rural area.

The violent incident was reported at 8 pm at the gas station located on the Acapulco-Pinotepa Nacional highway, near the Diamante Viaduct, indicated in the police file.

The police version is that armed men shot at the victim, who was inside the Dina cargo truck, but it is not clear what it was transporting.

The injured was identified as José Luis, 54, from Uruapan, Michoacán, and was attended to by paramedics from the Red Cross.

And a young man, presumably the son of a commander of the Ministerial Police, was shot to death in Renaissance City.

The homicide was reported at 9 o'clock at night in the Villa Sol housing complex, indicating the file of the State Police.

The officers found a young man in his 20s, apparently the son of a commander of the Ministerial Police, shot dead, without giving further details of the victim.

The police authorities found several shells struck by a .9 millimeter caliber weapon.

So far this month there are 50 victims and in the year there are 129 homicides, allegedly related to organized crime, according to a count from El Sur.

In addition, a human skull was found in a garbage container in the El Coloso housing unit.

The finding was reported in the first minutes of Thursday on the Cayaco-Puerto Marques highway, near the Technological Institute of Acapulco, indicated in the report of the State Police.

The agents by means of an emergency call found the human skull inside a garbage container, so it was transferred to the Semefo.

In another case, two semi-fixed stands were set on fire at the Acatianguis, located next to the Comercial Mexicana de la Zapata store.

According to the police report, the fire started at 7 in the morning and was intentionally started.

According to witnesses, unknown people sprayed gasoline at the blacksmith stands and then set them on fire.

Municipal firefighters controlled the fire that affected tables in both locations.

Last Wednesday, four semi-fixed stalls were burned in the same area of Acapulco, on Vicente Guerrero boulevard, in Renacimiento City.

A car was set on fire in the Fovissste housing unit.

The accident was reported at 5 pm between Del Maestro Avenue and Rinconada Street, firefighters reported.

Witnesses told the cops that unknown people sprayed gasoline on the blue Tsuru car, which was parked, and then set it on fire.

The firefighters put out the car's fire, where a narcomanta was placed whose content is unknown.
The fire and smoke that the car gave off caused astonishment among the neighbors who looked from their apartments.

And last Wednesday a young woman from the group of motorcyclists shot dead Sunday at La Quebrada, where seven people were injured, died at the hospital.

The death was reported in the General Hospital of El Quemado, indicated in the ministerial report.
The victim was named Yukari, 20, who received several bullets in the abdomen, according to the medical report.

On Monday, two of the injured in that attack were discharged from the hospital and there are only four internees in different hospitals.

The injured are Eder, 25; Graciela, 20 years old; Kevin, 23 and Anthony, 21.

Oaxaca: 17 People Assassinated in 48 Hours

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Translated by Yaqui for Borderland Beat from: El Siglo de Durango

Extra Material/ Photos from: ImparcialOaxaca
By: Floriberto Santos, Feb 16, 2018
San Juan Lachigalla, Oaxaca


At least seven people were shot dead in San Juan Lachigalla and a former mayor was killed in Ejutla de Crespo, Thursday morning; the massacre of seven people in the municipality of Lachigalla occurred around 1:30 am , Feb 15, during  a popular Valentine's Day dance celebration. 

According to witnesses, the Valentine's Dance on Wednesday began with entertainment by the musical group  Los Paniqueados de Oaxaca.

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According to the first police reports, a group of armed men arrived at the municipal esplanade and opened fire on the attendees. The festivities were being held at the large multi purpose room near the town's main Zocolo Plaza in El Centro with many people and families inside and out of the building. 
Suddenly, at 01:30 hours am, the dance music was interrupted by bursts gunfire and flying shrapnel.


                  Municipal Salon / Multipurpose Event Building, San Juan Lachigalla, Oaxaca

Outside the room there was an uproar where the President of this municipality, Rafael Melchor Ruiz, and several family members were hanging out together.

"Everything was fast, several shots were heard, some ran to protect us, after a while we left and it was already a scandal, there were several bodies lying around," said a resident with some distrust.

The first police reports indicate that a command of 8 to 10 men were those who arrived and opened fire. At different points, the dead bodies of seven people were left. Another was injured and taken to a hospital.


According to the eye witnesses inspection, the group of killers used .223 caliber weapons, known as AR-15s. There were also 9 mm caliber percussion caps.

Among the deceased victims were Marcial "N", 60 years old, father of the municipal president of San Juan Lachigalla, Rafael Melchor Ruiz. Felix, 28; Miguel Ángel, 25 and Lucano, brothers of the mayor.

It was reported that five people killed in the attack are relatives of the mayor and his son was among the dead. Also killed were: Jorge Antonio, 20, son of the president and Manolo, 29, a cousin.

Another of the deceased is Genaro, 56, an inhabitant of this town, who was found in possession of a 45-caliber pistol.

The multihomicide was confirmed by the Secretariat of Public Security of Oaxaca and the PGR, State Attorney General.

Immediately after the attack elements of the Mexican Army arrived;  who just a month ago came to this jurisdiction to improvise a base near an area of ​​on going violence and aggression.

The military force mobilized at different points, between hills, but could not encircle the attackers.

"As the first responders arrived with a Second Lieutenant of Infantry, it was the Army who cordoned off the area," said a police officer .

It is presumed, said a senior police officer, that the attackers  are professional thugs, assassins, who apparently located their victims and planned the massacre.

"We think that they were watching for a while, waiting for the moment when the family was together, the strange thing is that nobody in the town was made suspicious of these people , who were possibly unknown to the inhabitants," he said.


At approximately 03:00 hours, personnel from the State Attorney General's Office arrived to take charge of the investigations. 

Experts and elements of the State Agency of Investigations headed by the general coordinator, José Antonio Yglesias Arreola, packed up all remaining evidence.

At approximately 3:00 p.m., the practice of necropsies performed in the same palace was completed.

At the time of the delivery of the bodies, dozens of relatives waiting in front of the Municipal Palace, burst into tears.


                    Municipal Palace / Government Headquarters in San Juan Lachigalla, Oaxaca

In the municipality of Ejutla de Crespo, the former municipal president and former state official Francisco Hernández was murdered, also by  gunfire, without the assailant (s) being identified.

Nine more people were shot dead yesterday in different communities of Oaxaca, and a person was kidnapped in Loma Bonita.


In Loma Bonita, a municipality adjacent to Veracruz, confirmed the disappearance yesterday of Victorio "N", leader of an organization of agricultural producers of the Papalopan region, and his whereabouts are still unknown; his alleged captors uploaded a video to social networks in which Victorio reveals the way in which he cheated his union members, along with other accomplices.

During Valentine's Day, nine people, including a policeman, were murdered in different communities of Oaxaca.

Two homicides occurred last night Wednesday in San Juan Bautista Tuxtepec; in a private home on Calle 21 de Marzo at the  corner with Margarita Jiménez, in the Progreso neighborhood; The victims still have not been identified.


In Matías Romero Avendaño a police persecution happened, after an operation; armed men fired on a patrol and killed municipal policeman Gabriel Vera Melchor; The events took place around 7:00 p.m. on the corner of Corregidora and Cuauhtémoc streets, in Colonia Centro Norte.

In the town of Agostadero, in the municipality of Santa María Tonameca, the corpse of an individual was found, with three shots of fired, one of them in the temple; He was found inside a black plastic bag and has not yet been identified.

While in Rincon Tlapacoya, belonging to the district of Zimatlán, a man known Eugenio Díaz Ibáñez was shot to death, while he was working on his land.


Yesterday morning  on the Peripheral Avenue in Colonia 25 de Mayo , in Juchitán de Zaragoza, Istmo region, two individuals were shot to death, identified only as Francisco Javier and Roberto, alias "Goku".

In Tuxtepec, municipality of the Papaloapan Basin region, an individual was murdered inside a bar. The events occurred during the early morning hours in the establishment located on Aldama Street; According to his identification, he was called Mario Alberto de Jesús Domínguez Mazaña, originally from Mérida, Yucatán.

Six members of a family and another inhabitant of this community located in the limits of the Central Valleys and the Sierra Sur, were killed by an armed commando early yesterday.

While in the early hours of this day, two people were attacked in the Municipality of Huajuapan de León, in the Mixteca region, by those allegedly traveling in a Chevrolet car.

The attack took place on Avenida 5 de Febrero, near an IMSS hospital; the deceased was identified as Adam, approximately 34 years old, another injured identified as  Julio, 24 years old; both are from  El Molino,  Municipality of Huajuapan, in the Mixteca region of the Oaxacan state.




Last year there was also attacks and death: in June of 2017, another massacre occurred, only seven months ago.

The mourning returns to this town of San Juan Lachigalla that borders the municipalities of San Pedro Taviche, Santa María Zoquitlán and Yaxe, San Luis Amatlán, San José Lachiguirí, Santa María Zoquitlán and Coatecas Altas.

Rafael Santiago Matías, former municipal secretary of the community, and his cousin, Felipa Ríos Luis, were executed by gunfire, also by an armed commando.

Rafael was driving his vehicle to Ejutla de to continue the journey to  Oaxaca City. Traveling together with him, was his cousin , 31 years old and two minors.

When passing through El Portillo, on the stretch from Coatecas Altas to San Juan Lachigalla, men dressed in military clothing and carrying assault rifles came out and began firing at the vehicle.

The former municipal official and his cousin were left dead inside the truck.

Miraculously, the children with them managed to save their own lives: by playing dead so that the assassins would not attack them.

When the murderers escaped, the young children ran into the mountains and managed to reach the first houses of Coatecas, where they asked for help.

Unofficially it was announced on that occasion that as the investigations progressed, it is presumed that Rafael had some death threats against him; that is how it was reported in the town.

Although the police did not want to give more details, it is known that they took into account that the deceased had had problems with some of the authorities of the community and another family member of the community.

MAOSS Demands Justice:

For their part, representatives of the Broad Movement of Municipalities and Social Organizations of the South (MAOSS), which is attached to the so-called National Movement for Hope (MNE), demanded that the government of the state investigate and clarify this armed aggression.


Eli Eduardo Vásquez Ramírez, general coordinator of MAOSS, condemned the violence in the region and accused a political background, since next year elections will be held in the town of Lachigalla.

He added that MAOSS will provide all political and legal support to the municipal president Rafael Melchor Ruiz.

"This situation is alarming in Oaxaca, we do not want it to become a Tamaulipas, Monterrey or a Veracruz," he said.


Elite Mexican Soldiers Recruited by Cartels

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Posted by Yaqui for Borderland Beat from: Guardian

          "The training stays with you'': Say the elite Mexican GAFE Soldiers recruited by cartels.

 Feb 10, 2018

Last year, Mexico’s murder rate reached the highest level on record – and years of military defections are fueling the violence.

Delfino was handpicked twice. At 18, he was chosen by the Mexican army to join its elite unit, the airborne special forces group known by its Spanish acronym, Gafe, where he specialized as a sniper.

Ten years later, he was recruited again – this time by the very people he’d been trained to kill.

Nowadays, the only outward sign of his military background is the camouflaged hat on his head, and the Panther .308 sniper rifle slung across his back. 



Delfino specialized as a sniper in the Mexican army and is now a member of the Knights Templar Cartel.

Once a dominant force in the rugged western state of Michoacan, the group is now locked in a bitter
war for survival with rival criminal factions.

Delfino belongs to what remains of a cult-like drug cartel called Los Caballeros Templarios, or the Knights Templar, whose original leaders blended extreme violence with pseudo-religious teaching and claimed a mandate from God.

But Delfino describes himself as an instrument of divine justice. “God has his will,” he said. “But he still needs people to do his work here on Earth.”

Over the past decade, Mexico’s drug violence has undergone a dizzying escalation, claiming more than 230,000 lives and last year pushing the country’s murder rate to the highest level since records began. 

Security analysts and cartel sources agree that a key factor in the transformation of underworld rivalries into a full-throttle war has been the cartels’ recruitment of elite soldiers.

The leakage of Mexican special forces into organized crime began in the 1990s when the powerful Gulf cartel recruited a group of ex-Gafe troops to create its own paramilitary enforcement unit, known as Los Zetas.


They eventually turned on their masters, establishing the Zetas as a cartel in their own right. But other narco bosses followed suit, turning to the military for skilled recruits.

The scale of the problem remains unclear – not least because the Mexican government has been unwilling to release data, said Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera, an associate professor at George Mason University and author of Zetas Inc.

“It’s an inconvenient issue for the government, so they deny freedom-of-information requests. But what we do know is that special forces helped turn Mexico’s narcos into the paramilitary armed groups we see today.”


                          GAFE: One day Mexican's Elite Military Unit , Later Los Zetas Cartel
According to Mexico’s defence ministry, about 1,383 elite soldiers deserted between 1994 and 2015.

Defectors included members of units that received training in counter-terrorism, counter-intelligence, interrogation and strategy from French, Israeli and US advisers, according to a 2005 FBI intelligence document.

Internal documents from Mexico’s attorney general’s office obtained by the Guardian also confirm accounts from sources in Michoacán that the Templars’ predecessor organization – known as La Familia Michoacana – sent envoys to Guatemala to recruit former special forces soldiers known as Kaibiles. 

Members of the Kaibiles unit, which has received US training since the 1970s, committed some of the worst atrocities in Guatemala’s civil war, notably the 1982 slaughter of 201 civilians in Dos Erres.

                                 Protesters After Dos Erres Massacre, Gautemala's Civil War

Mexico’s military has also received US support: between 2006 and 2017, Washington provided just over $2.7Billion in security assistance, including military and counter-narcotics support.

According to Kate Doyle, senior analyst at the National Security Archive in Washington DC, the US focus on military aid to the region has helped drive the militarization of Mexico’s drug conflict.

“That US military training and intelligence techniques ended up in the wrong hands is far from unusual. Its lethal spillage into the contemporary criminal context is one of the legacies of US security policy in Latin America,” she said.

Rarely, however, has a soldier-turned-narco gone on the record.

As he led the way up a steep path to a sniper’s nest of volcanic stone and brush, Delfino said he had his own reasons for speaking to a reporter. “We want the world to understand what we’re doing out here: protecting the communities against the enemies that come to rape and pillage.”

Below his lookout unfolded the scrubby plains and rugged canyons of Michoacán’s Tierra Caliente – the Hot Land. It was here that the former president Felipe Calderón first deployed the country’s armed forces against the cartels in 2006.

The military crackdown was eventually extended across the country, but its initial targets were the cartels of Calderón’s home state: La Familia Michoacana and its offspring, the Knights Templar. 

For a time, it seemed that the strategy was working. When the Templars finally collapsed under the joint pressure of federal forces and an armed “self-defense” movement in 2013, the government claimed victory.


But for every fallen kingpin, there was a host of would-be successors: organized crime in Michoacán shattered into a patchwork of warring fiefdoms. And though now reduced to a fraction of their former strength and cut off from vital trafficking routes, the Templars are still in the thick of it.

In a desperate bid to cling to its remaining territory, the group has joined forces with a former rival: a fast-growing cartel called the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).

Their current enemies are a group of former allies, to whom Delfino refers contemptuously as “locusts”.

Up on the hill, Delfino eyed the enemy positions through his scope. "Locusts" surrounded his position on three sides and had attempted to overrun the Templars several times in recent months.

But Delfino was dismissive of his counterparts, who he said were untrained boys sent into battle doped up on crystal meth.


               “The difference between them and us is that we always take precise shots,” he said.

"We want the world to understand what we're doing out here: protecting the communities against the enemies that come to rape and pillage", says Delfino.  Photo: Falko Ernst

Most of Delfino’s own fighters were barely adults, but he still claimed to abide by the principles of his military training. “The strict rules, the way they prepared me psychologically, morally and practically – that stays with you forever,” he said.

Delfino’s training began not long after he joined the army in 1996. After selection for the GAFE,  he underwent months of instruction, including courses in jungle survival and amphibious combat.

After specializing as a sniper, he was deployed in counterinsurgency operations in the southern state of Chiapas, where the indigenous Zapatista guerrillas had risen up in 1994. 

                                  Indigenous Zapatista Guerillas during the Uprising in 1994

Later, he was moved to the Pacific port city of Lázaro Cárdenas, where he became involved for the first time in counter-narcotics: his unit was tasked to chase speedboats bringing cocaine from South America.

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But off-duty, Delfino and his fellow soldiers came into contact with narco bosses in local nightclubs. Before long, he was receiving expensive bottles of Scotch – and then job offers.
“They knew exactly what they were looking for: our knowledge, our professionalism, our loyalty,” he said. 
Delfino resigned from the army, and in 2006, he joined La Familia Michoacana. 
The cartel presented itself as the only force able to provide stability in a region long neglected by the Mexican state. 
Delfino specialized in tracking down alleged kidnappers. “I just grabbed them and handed them over – that was my job. Others would then take care of the rest,” he said.
“The rest” was La Familia’s trademark brutality: alleged wrongdoers were killed, beheaded and mutilated, their bodies then dumped with messages justifying the murder. 
Vigilantism helped win some local support; it also removed criminal competitors, and by 2009, the group had become one of the most powerful in the country. 
But what set the group apart was its home-brewed ideology, which blended the language of self-help with fire-and-brimstone theology.

When La Familia’s ideological leader, Nazario Moreno González, was killed in 2014 the religious aspect faded. But Delfino still claims he’s following a divine mission.
"Technically it's not correct to take somebody's life," said Delfino. But then he reached for a biblical justification. "Not a leaf moves without God's permission."

At the height of the cartel’s power, nothing in Michoacán moved without the cartel’s permission. It monopolized crime, but it also penetrated ordinary life, using the threat of lethal violence to arbitrate anything from land disputes to marital conflicts.
That soft power was fused with strategic sophistication, thanks to the influx of former soldiers , said Correa-Cabrera. “Their rapid expansion, the way they controlled territories, used communications and armament – they were now doing it like the army,” she said.


The involvement of veterans has enabled cartel combatants across the country to organize tactical responses to the deployment of troops and paramilitary federal police. More recently, the CJNG has become notorious for a string of ambushes that have killed dozens of federal officers.

In Tierra Caliente, such head-on confrontations have given way to a constant state of low-intensity warfare. In 2017, 1,510 murders were registered in Michoacán, a state of 4.5 million inhabitants.
Delfino’s role in the bloodletting is no secret to his former brothers in arms. He remains in touch with soldiers on active duty, and even meets up to reminisce when security conditions allow, he said. 
“We like each other, and they respect my decision,” he said, “but if they learn that I’m out here doing something which doesn’t square with our values – if I mess with innocent people – they will come for me. From them, there’s no hiding.”

8 killed: Nuns flee after relatives killed in Chilapa, Guerrero

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Posted by Canadiana from El Universal and El Sur


Dialogue between the bishop of Chilpancingo/Chilapa and criminal gang bosses, appears to have gone askew, as it has been revealed that a Catholic nun’s relatives were executed last month on January 31, in Chilapa, Guerrero.

Bishop Salvador Rangel Mendoza said this week that four nuns who were operating a school in Chilpancingo have fled,  after the parents and sister of one of them were killed, allegedly  by the Ardillos gang.

The bodies of the nun’s parents were found in plastic bags January 30 alongside those of five artisans from Veracruz on the outskirts of Chilapa.

The body of the nun’s 18 year old sister was found three days later in Chilapa. She had been brutally tortured, raped, dismembered and decapitated.

In an initial report after the gruesome discovery, Guerrero Attorney General Javier Olea Peláez attempted to criminalized the victims, saying the seven dismembered corpses belonged to members of organized crime gangs

Later, the relatives clarified that the five men had arrived in Chilapa to sell wooden furniture, and the other two were the parents of a nun.

This week, the diocese issued a prepared statement expressing its “deep sadness and outrage” over the kidnapping and murder of the nun’s relatives, as well as the in addition to the “criminalization” of the victims.

The diocese is now scrambling to find someone else to take over the management of the school, because closing it “would leave many children and teenagers without quality education.”

In its statement, the diocese asked the Los Rojos and Ardillos gangs, long embroiled in a turf war over the control of Chilapa, to “not destroy one of the most sacred things we have: the education of our children and teenagers.”

Bishop Rangel has held meetings with local gang chiefs because he felt he had to “intercede,” because violence was keeping children from attending school and priests from reaching their parishes.

A criminal gang has also been pointed to as the suspects in the execution of two priests earlier this month in the same part of Guerrero, near Taxco.

Full Episode: "The Trade" A documentary look inside America's heroin crisis

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Chivis Martinez for Borderland Beat from Showtime

Series Premier full film

The Trade Showtime’s Docu-Series. A documentary look inside America's heroin crisis. In Mexico, Don Miguel struggles to control the local poppy fields. In Ohio, Det. Edwards closes in on a heroin dealer. In Atlanta, Skyler moves home to get clean.

The Trade spotlights the opioid crisis through the eyes of the growers, addicts, cartel bosses and law enforcement hopelessly caught in its web. It’s directed and executive produced by Matthew Heineman (Cartel Land).

See what you think BB readers-

Gov has "Chapo Letter" sealed, said he may secretly pass messages in open court

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by Chivis Martinez for Borderland Beat

                              With a mountain of evidence, why are prosecutors                               blocking Chapo's right to a fair trial?

Chapo Letter    

On Thursday I posted a statement written by Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán.  On that same day, Chapo asked permission to address the court, so that he may   read his prepared statement.  The statement consisted of listing his conditions of confinement, his health and his inability to defend himself against the charges filed against him.

Clearly, Judge Cogan and the prosecution team were taking off guard.  Judge Cogan cautiously asked attorney Eduardo Balarezo, to put in context what his client wanted to address.  

Balarezo told the court that his client wanted to address “Special Administrative Measure” or SAMs, which he says is barring his ability to defend himself.  Further, that he wants his family to pay his attorneys.

Supposedly, his family has not paid attorneys because they want to “hear it from the horse’s mouth”. 
He also was overheard saying to his translator, “Tell him I am sick”.  Chapo is prohibited from  communicating  with anyone; not his family, the press, or his attorney privately.
Although Judge Cogan was taken by surprise, he initially seemed to be considering allowing Chapo to speak; Cogan asked questions and had a side bar to confer.  After the sidebar conference, Cogan allowed bother the defense and prosecution to explain in open court the situation.

Prosecutors objected to Chapo addressing the court, on grounds that he may use the opportunity “to pass messages to the media or others”.

Chapo wants his attorney to be paid

When it was Balarezo’s turn to speak he said that Chapo wants his family to pay his attorney.  That he is going to trial and will not be cooperating with the government [no deal].

This may have derived from reports in Mexican Media last week reporting that Chapo’s family did not want to pay his attorney.  Anonymous sources claimed the family wasn’t sure it was what Chapo wanted and the case was impossible to win.  So perhaps it was best not to squander the family money. One of those articles was in El Universal a leading news source in Mexico.

Chapo has no source to utilize, not even his attorney, to get a message to his family.  In turn, they have no way to determine what his wishes are.  His sister was allowed a short visit months ago to speak about business.   Directly after, her visa was evoked.
Ultimately, Cogan ruled against Chapo and he wasn’t allowed to speak.

After court

On Friday the following day, Balarezo filed Chapo’s letter on public docket. 

At 4:02pm, the government filed a motion to seal Mr. Guzman’s statement that was filed publicly yesterday. The government claims that the filing was violation of the SAMs.

At 4:41pm, before Chapo’s defense could respond, the Court granted the government’s motion.
The Court said:
ORDER granting [195] Motion to Seal Document as to Joaquin Archivaldo Guzman Loera. The public filing of defendant's letter prior to Government review was in plain violation of the Special Administrative Measures, which were reauthorized on February 1, 2018. Provision 3(g) of those measures requires non-legal mail from the defendant, which includes letters to the Court, to be analyzed and approved by the Government prior to being forwarded to the addressee. The Court grants the Government's motion to seal the letter for one week to allow the Government to conduct the analysis described in the Special Administrative Measures. Defendant is cautioned to comply with the Special Administrative Measures going forward. Ordered by Judge Brian M. Cogan on 2/16/2018.

Chapo’s defense filed an opposition/motion to reconsider. 


From U.S. attorneys on February 16, 2018

Dear Judge Cogan:
The government respectfully moves to seal Exhibit 1 to defense counsel’s February 15, 2018 letter, which defense counsel filed on the public docket on February 16, 2018. (Dkt. # 194, pp. 2 through 6). Exhibit 1 is described as the “Text of Joaquin Guzman Loera’s statement to Judge Cogan” and includes both the original Spanish text and the English translation of the defendant’s letter to the Court, which is signed by the defendant. Defense counsel’s publication of the defendant’s letter is in violation of Section 3(g) of the Special Administrative Measures (“SAMs”), reauthorized by the Department of Justice on February 1, 2018. Specifically, SAMs Section 3(g), “Non-legal mail” requires any correspondence from the defendant, including “to/from U.S. courts,” to be analyzed and approved by the government prior to delivery to the addressee. 
Defense counsel failed to provide Exhibit 1 to the government for analysis and approval prior to filing the letter with the Court on the public docket in violation of the SAMs. Therefore, the government respectfully moves to seal Exhibit 1 to allow the government one week to follow the appropriate SAMs procedures.1 The government will file a report promptly thereafter to advTo the extent defense counsel claims that he published the defendant’s letter at the Court’s request, the Court should dismiss such a claim as without merit. At the February 15, 2018 status conference, the Court directed defense counsel to provide notice to the Court, summarizing issues the defendant may want to raise with the Court at the next status conference. The Court, however, did not direct defense counsel to publish a signed letter from the defendant to the Court without prior analysis and approval by the government, in clear violation of the SAMs.2ise the Court if the letter should remain under seal.
 
Defense files in opposition:


Another Culiacan Birthday Party Gone Awry

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Translated by Yaqui for Borderland Beat from: El Debate


Extra Material from: Universal
By: Javier Cabrera Martinez

Feb 17, 2018

Culiacán, Sin.- Elements of the Military Police burst into a birthday party that took place in a auto workshop at 3:30 am on Friday, Feb 16 and held 62 attendees for 16 hours. The 62 people included men, women, seniors, children and the musicians, waiters and a taquero and his wife hired to cater the event. 

Unofficially it is reported that the auto shop "qualified as a ballroom ", the building was often used as a  salon for events and parties in the Colinas de Riviera neighborhood in Culiacan. 

The celebration had  entertainment provided  by the group of musicians , in the hall there were horns and mounted musical instruments similar to those used by "chirrines".

The Mexican Army arrested nine people , secured AK 47s, AR15s , pistols, cartridges , cash and a jaguar (a cat not car ). The nine men arrested were taken to the headquarters of the PGR.



The convoy of soldiers arrived at the location on Calle Liberalismo between the Bulevard Obrero Mundial and Calle Manuel Kant , across from Valladoloid  Private School where the birthday party had allegedly started on Thursday night.

Antonio Casteneda Verduzco, the Municipal President of Culiacan, Sinaloa, announced that due to the military operations it was necessary to suspend classes at the school. He also reported that the Municipal Police were not involved or required by the Military , so he had no more information to report.


The hours were long as the Military held the partygoers at the facility, later there were complaints of no access to water , food or bathroom facilities. 

Hours passed and it was eventually revealed that the guns were found inside vehicles parked outside the building, including a trunkful of automatic rifles in a gray Mitsubishi ASX.


The State Commission of Human Rights general spokesman , Miguel Angel Calderon Espinoza , gave a statement in response to complaints lodged by telephone from party goers, two of which came to the office to collect  reports to send to the National Commission for Human Rights. 

The CNDH has already been notified of the complaints received for the retention of all 62 attendees.

All persons not arrested were released to leave the festivity building in intervals of 10 minutes. Most left in groups of 12 - 15 in private vehicles and none gave a statement to the media.

Jose "N", a high school student who lived nearby was the only who volunteered the  information that near dawn gunshots were heard coming from the celebration and that was  when the Military intervened.

             No other local or Federal authority issued official information on the events either.

Nayarit: Mutilated Bodies, positively identified as those of SEIDO agents

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by Chivis Martinez for Borderland Beat
Click on image to enlarge
Last night the PGR agency of Mexico announced that the bodies discovered in Xalisco, Nayarit  have been positively identified as those of the abducted SEIDO agents,  Octavio Martínez Quiroz and Alfonso Hernández Villavicencio. 

The bodies could not be positively identified with the exception of DNA analysis. 

The remains were discovered in the trunk of an abandoned KIA.  

Initial reports indicated there were 3 bodies because the remains were so grossly dismembered, later the correction was made reporting there were 2 not 3 bodies.

The agents, ages 28 and 26, who live and work in Mexico City, were in Nayarit for the February 4thChristening, of a family member of one of the agents.

The following day they were determined to be missing.

However, the federal agency of SEIDO nor PGR publicized the agents were missing and failed to call on the public to help by sending in any information.

That changed on February 11th, when the agency was forced to announce the agents were abducted.

This was subsequent to a video that was released to social media of the agents.

The video began to circulate depicting the agents kneeling, while four hooded gunmen had weapons pointed at them, while Hernandez was forced to read a script condemning federal agencies for criminal acts.

Last night the bodies were released to the agent’s families.

CJNG is suspected of being the perpetrators of the abduction and murder of the agents. 


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Mexican Children’s Drug and Alcohol Consumption Up %200

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Translated by Yaqui for Borderland Beat from: Excelsior

      Mondragón and Kalb: Consumption of drugs and alcohol in children increased up to 200%.
                                                                       CONADIC
Mexico City Feb 19, 2018

The Commissioner Against Addictions indicated that if these are not taken care of in time they will lead to / cause serious consequences , physical damages, scholastic desertion, teen pregnancy, familiar violence and even the death.

The National Commissioner Against Addictions, Manuel Mondragón and Kalb, indicated that in recent years the consumption of drugs and alcohol among minors increased to 200%, mainly in the case of girls .

"I must say with regret that, both in drugs and alcohol, the difference was six men for a woman and today the numbers  are tied to  minors. That is to say, the consumption of men increased by 50% or 60% in recent years and the consumption of women by 200%, ", the National Commissioner  explained.

Faced with dealing directly with young people from middle school and the private high school Justo Sierra Institute, Mondragón and Kalb has first hand experience.

Within the framework of the Signing of the Collaboration Agreement between the National Commission Against Addictions (CONADIC) and the National Association of Private High Schools Incorporated to the Secretariat of Public Education (ANEPPI), he affirmed that in view of the increase in the consumption of drugs in minors  they are taking preventive actions and guidance for healthy growth .

For its part, the president of the aforementioned association, Graciela Meza Díaz, mentioned that addictions are the number one cause of school desertion and the cause of family conflicts.

Therefore, he called on young people to avoid their approach to any type of drug , he said, using drugs lead to and prevent the generation of hormones, which causes deficiencies in learning and lack of interest in the study.

The signing of the agreement was attended by the academic members of ANEPPI, Margarita Sancén Hernández; the technical director of the Technological Baccalaureate of the Justo Sierra Institute, Martha Huerta Olea; the vice-president of ANEPPI, Gabriel García de Alba and the regional delegate of the Southern Zone of ANEPPI, Miguel Ángel Vázquez González.


Captured in Tamaulipas "El Contador", a leader of the Cartel del Golfo

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

Subject Matter: Jose Alfredo Cardenas Martinez, El Contador
Recommendation: No prior subject matter knowledge required


Reporter: La Jornada
Elements of the Marines detained in Tamaulipas, Jose Alfredo Cardenas Martinez, alias "El Contador", identified as one of the leaders of the Cartel del Golfo, and nephew of the ex leader of this group, Osiel Cardenas Guillen.

Even though he is not on the list of 122 priority objectives of the Federal Government, achieving his capture is considered highly relevant to the Cabinet of Federal Security.

Cardenas Martinez, also known by the alias "El Sobrino", was identified by the DEA as one of the principal leaders of the group together with Jose Antonio Romo Lopez, and plaza boss in Tamaulipas.





He was detained in the San Francisco fraccionamiento during an operation that started Sunday night.

According to Federal Forces, in the past year, Cardenas Martinez has been in dispute for control of this criminal group with Luis Alberto Blanco Flores, alias M28, or Commandante Pelochas, who is also linked with the same cartel. Also in the past year, there have been many registered gun battles in Reynosa between members of these two groups.


Esteban Loaiza: the drugs linked to CJNG

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

Subject Matter: Esteban Loaiza, CJNG
Recommendation: See link to article by myself on his arrest

The ex pitcher was detained in an operation of United States authorities to dismantle a narco trafficking network under the orders of the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion. Half a million dollars in cocaine in his home could cost Loaiza, who denies the accusations, which carry 20 years in prison. His girlfriend was also detained for narco trafficking. 


Reporter: Ines Garcia Ramos
As he has done regualarly, Esteban Loaiza crossed the frontier on Friday the 9th of February, when together with three other cars he was sent for secondary inspection on the frontier crossing of Otay, between Tijuana and San Diego.

This was part of an investigation by Police corporations planned to dismantle a narco trafficking network pertinent to the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion, an investigation that remains open, confirms United States authorities.

During this operation, four cars transporting drugs were detained. The Mercedes-Benz vehicle driven by the ex pitcher of the Los Angeles Dodgers had been detected for crossing drugs before, as well as the three other automobiles.





During the search, agents found a hidden compartment for the transit of drugs, but without any drugs in it. It was located in the rear of the vehicle that Loaiza was driving, with all of the characteristics of a narco trap, as modifications are known on vehicles for this purpose.

Even tho the compartment was empty, according to the laws in California, it is considered a crime to utilize, possess, use and control a false compartment that is used for hiding, trafficking or transporting drugs, as Federal agents let Loaiza go, but he was closely followed by the Sheriff's department of San Diego. It was a strategy to gain some time.

While Loaiza was carrying on his route in USA territory, the agents hoped that he would commit a traffic violation so they could detain him at Imperial Beach, inspect his automobile and solicit a search warrant to enter his house located in this California locality, a community pertinent to the County of San Diego and adjacent to Tijuana.

Once the search warrant was issued, the agents entered the residence that Loaiza had rented days before and found 20 kilos of cocaine, valued at half a million dollars.

At 5.56 pm, the ex baseball star from Mexico from the Grand Leagues was admitted into County Prison at Chula Vista, California.

Loaiza denies the accusations

On the 14th of February of 2018,  the doors of Court 12 of the South San Diego County Court, in Chula Vista, were shut with the yellow warning precaution lights, at the time a group of Sheriffs brought in Loaiza.


More than 40 reporters, producers, photographers, including those dedicated to sporting programs expected to enter the room with 15 seats available for the press, to see for the first time, since his arrest the former pitcher.

On the other side of the room, Loaizas father, brothers, brother in law took their seats for the audience that lasted no more than five minutes. Judge Keri G Katz opened the hearing with a surprised expression when she saw how full the room was.

The Loazia, born in Tijuana entered for his first audience, with his wrists handcuffed at the hip, his thin appearance and slow pace seemed to accentuate his 1.88 meter height. Dressed in a Khaki prison uniform, he took a seat on the bench for the accused.

Prosecutor Ryan Karkenny began formalizing the three charges against the 46 year old from Tijuana. The crimes were transporting drugs, possession for the purpose of sale and use of a false compartment for drug trafficking.

He reported that 20 kilo grams of cocaine were located in the residence of the former player, which was located less than 300 meters from a primary school, which is an aggravating circumstance.

The second aggravating circumstance is that the weight of the drug exceeds 10 kilo grams, for which reason it was ruled out that the cocaine packages were for his own use and it is understood that the possession was for the purpose of sales.

These charges amount to a maximum sentence of 20 years and eight months in prison, the prosecution said. Loaizas private attorney, Janice Deaton, a litigant with 31 years of experience, supervised the entry of her clients relatives from the beginning. During the hearing, she was placed next to Loaiza, who did not speak during the judicial presentation, even with his lawyer.

The former baseball players interactions were limited to smiling at his family when he entered and left the room, however his lawyer reported that Loaiza had pleaded not guilty to the charges that the San Diego County Prosecutors office imputes to him and denied all the allegations against him.

Loaizas wife, also detained with drugs in San Diego

For more than a year, Esteban Loaiza began a relationship with Rosaura Labra, a Tijuana resident of 32 years of age. Through social networks, the couple showed their appointments, and trips in Mexico and the United States.



At the end of January, they went to Soxfest in Chicago, Illinois, an annual event organized by the Chicago White Sox team in which players and former players meet and greet the fans. While playing for the White Sox, Loaiza had the best success in his career during 2003.

For some programs and shows, this relationship became important because he was the ex husband of the singer Jenni Rivera, with whom he appeared not only in concerts and public events, but also in a reality show.

However, Rosaura Labra has a criminal record in San Diego, California. According to documents filed in the South County Court, to which Zeta had access, the woman was arrested on October 31st of 2005 for possession of marijuana.

The San Diego prosecutors office, in the same court in which Loaiza appeared, filed charges against her for possession of marijuana for sale and transportation purposes.

Labra pleaded guilty to the charges and was sentenced to three years on probation. She paid a fine of $239 dollars plus an amount of $200 corresponding to court costs.

On the day of Loaizas hearing, Rosaura Labra did not appear in the court.

Recent notices against Loaiza in Tijuana and San Diego

At the height of his career, when Loaiza played for the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Tijuana native acquired a residence in the residential complex, La Perla Residencial, in Playas de Tijuana. The house marked as unit 205, and measuring 642 square meters, had a cost of 3,853,385 pesos.

This is detailed in the documents of the Public Registry of Property and Commerce of Baja California and seen by Zeta. The following year, in 2008, Esteban Loaiza Veyna acquired a property of 335 square meters located next to his residence, for 365,902 pesos.

However, on May 5th of 2015, a Lien was registered against Loaiza for 10,000 dollars, because of the second property he acquired in La Perla, was part of a commercial executive trial. While according to the San Diego Public Registry, on July 21st of 2017, a tax lien notification was issued to Loaiza.

If bail is paid he cannot leave San Diego

At the time of his arrest, the bail for Esteban Loaiza was set at $200,000, but once in court, prosecutor Ryan Karkenny asked Judge Katz to change the amount to $250,00.

The reasons he explained, were due to the high profile of the former player, his links with Mexico, as he lives in Tijuana, as well as his large sums of money. All this, the prosecutor told the media, places Loaiza at greater risk of fleeing.

For its part, the defence, did not object to the amount of bail, so the Judge set it a $250,000 and, at the request of the prosecutors office, determined that the origin of the money with which it is paid will be inspected to verify that it is not of illicit origin.

If he does post bail, to continue his case in freedom, he cannot leave San Diego County. At the request of both the defense and the prosecution, the Judge granted an order of protection so that only the parties involved in the case have access to the videos filmed by the uniformed elements who participated in the arrest.

"No matter who you are, what you do or what you did, you will be prosecuted fairly", the prosecutor declared at the end of the hearing. He also explained that, since this is an open investigation, no more arrests are ruled out, especially when, "in a case like this, there are large amounts of cocaine".

18 Criminal Gangs fight for Guerrero territory

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Chivis Martinez for Borderland Beat with info from Milenio and Reforma
click on image to enlarge

In Guerrero, there are a minimum of 18 criminal groups some with national presence and/or state presence, which are fighting for control of various regions of Guerrero.

“Many groups boast of being a part of a national power cartel, to intimidate rivals and the population.”  But they are not cartels, they are local gangs with around six with presence on a national scale and twelve local criminal gangs.” says Guerrero Security Chief, Pedro Almazan.

He explained that the messages posted on social networks are aimed at creating fear among the population.

Almazan warned that the messages posted by gangs have to be read with reservation.  He said “Our message to the public is that no one should be alarmed by these gang messages, while we don’t discount them, they are sent to generate fear and uncertainty.

At his press conference in Acapulco, he said the state police and their various “elite” groups, maintain a permanent presence in Ciudad Renacimiento, Emiliano Zapata, and currently in Los Jardines with Mangos, Palmas, Azteca and others such as Costa Azul.

When asked about the presence of CJNG, the security chief replied, “that is being investigated and so far that has not been confirmed.”  He followed up with “Not all those who claim to be in Guerrero, are in Guerrero. 

A rather odd statement.  CJNG has been in Guerrero for at least 6 years and controlling the far western area and along the Pacific Ocean, in cities such as Zihuatanejo as well as those  that border Michoacán, in the Lazaro Cardenas area.

State administration officials have notoriously skew facts in an attempt to present an illusion of security being well under control.   An example is the recent murders of two priests.  State officials attempted to portray them as in collusion with cartels.  Same with the murder of family members of a nun and 5 artisans who were murdered, immediately the administration said they were narcos.


Remarkably, in the presser the security chief reported that in Guerrero, “violence is now contained.” 

Goodbye El Chapo, there is a new leader in Sinaloa

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Translated by El Profe for Borderland Beat from La Silla Rota

In their annual report on drug trafficking, the DEA places Caro Quintero as the leader of the cartel along with Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada. 

                    

Rafael Caro Quintero, ”El Príncipe" or "El Narco de Narcos" is back according to the United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), and came to stay in control of the Sinaloa Cartel in the absence of Joaquín "El Chapo "Guzmán Loera.

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) called Mexican cartels the biggest criminal threat to the United States.

In the Annual Evaluation on the Drug Threat (NDTA), the DEA details that the distribution of drugs in The United States is not carried out directly by the Mexican criminal organizations but by local networks of distribution through gangs.

For the US authorities, there are six major drug cartels operating in the United States.

The main one is the Sinaloa Cartel, a criminal organization that has two of its four leaders identified, apprehension pending: Ismael "Mayo" Zambada and Rafael Caro Quintero.

While Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán Loera, as well as Dámaso López Nuñez, alias "El Licenciado" are in custody.

On August 24, 2016 the magazine Proceso conducted an interview with Caro Quintero in hiding. On that occasion he said: "I am not at war with anyone; El Chapo and El Mayo are my friends," he said that he dedicated himself to planting marijuana because "somehow we had to survive."

Caro Quintero was then 63 years old, a man eighty meters tall, with a tanned complexion and calloused hands.

For his capture, the United States government offered a reward of 5 million dollars, and in Mexico he is accused of rejoining the drug trade and unleashing a war against The Sinaloa Cartel

After 28 years in prison, in August 2013, he was released from the Preventative Prison of Guadalajara on the orders of a collegiate court.

Days later, the Attorney General of the Republic (PGR) obtained two arrest warrants against him: one to extradite him to the United States and another to spend 12 more years in prison, which, according to the PGR, remains pending in Mexico.

Caro Quintero, son of Emilio Caro Payán and Hermelinda Quintero, was born in October 1952 at La Noria ranch in Badiraguato, Sinaloa.

Caro Quintero founded the so-called Guadalajara Cartel together with his friend and compadre Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo and Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo "Don Neto."

The Battle for the Sinaloa Cartel


Incarcerated for 28 years accused of drug trafficking and the death of a US federal agent, and released in 2013, Rafael Caro Quintero, capitalized on a struggle within the family of El Chapo disputing Sinaloa Cartel territory.

At that time, Alfredo Beltrán Guzmán, "El Mochomito" (now already detained), would have joined the 'R-1', Rafael Caro Quintero, former head of the Guadalajara Cartel, to recover the territory that today is in control of the Sinaloa Cartel.

In southern Sinaloa, outbreaks of violence - visible in massacres in the mountains and attacks of police chiefs in cities - reflect the rebirth of a new dispute between the Pacific Cartel and the Beltrán-Leyva Cartel.

The old rivals return to dispute the control of a long natural corridor that crosses the mountain range, from the limit of Nayarit to the municipality of San Ignacio, they have allied groups that venture from the states of Chihuahua, Durango and Nayarit.

The long strip in which the municipalities of Escuinapa, Rosario, Mazatlan and San Ignacio are located has been the scene of continuous armed clashes.

From January to June of [2017], the number of homicides in Sinaloa grew 11%, increasing from 497 in 2015 to 555.

In May and June [of 2017] specifically, there was a rise in murders in Mazatlan from 17 last year to 29 in [2017]. Also, the municipality of El Rosario, to the south and the scene of the dispute, registered 3 homicides the previous year and in 2016 there were 8 in the same period.

On June 23, in a meeting with businessmen and media in Mazatlan, the commander of the Third Military Region, General Alfonso Duarte Múgica, identified the groups in conflict as the Pacific Cartel and the Beltrán-Leyva Cartel. Officials from the state security area confirmed the version to LA SILLA ROTA based on data found in a criminal camp discovered in the community of Recreo in Mazatlan.

The Criminal Network

But the story goes much further than just the rebirth of a dispute between the Sinaloa Cartel and the Beltran-Leyva Cartel.

The type that circulates is that after his release from prison, Caro Quintero spoke with Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada and Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman about going back to business, which they did not like.

The one who did not react well was Caro after hearing that he would have to pay right of passage through the territory controlled by the Sinaloa Cartel.

Determined to seize the "Golden Triangle,” an area between Durango, Chihuahua and Sinaloa, Caro would have taken advantage of the arrest of "El Chapo " to infiltrate the cells of gunmen in different areas of Sinaloa and annul the rival cartel.

According to the available data, the Sinaloa Cartel fragmented after the arrest of Guzmán, initiating a dispute over absolute control between the three different heads.

Apparently "El Mayo" Zambada and Caro Quintero would have reached an agreement in the absence of "El Chapo "

CJNG sends bloody message to CJNG faction

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Posted by "Char" for Borderland Beat

Message reads..
“This happen to me for stealing and for being an asshole we are going after police that are helping the scums like:
 Águila 1 (B-17), El Gato (s-1 b-17), Ivan of the group U.I.C.P.. Reptil and his group of scums of B-12 Lawyer Cristina Piloña you are helping this scums and Policemen in Tlaquepaque I am going after all of you who are helping the scums. 
Sincerely Ex Government/


 So far in February, about 94 executions this month in Jalisco. Information via GDL Informa.

On the weekend of February 3rd  and 4th 21 murders were recorded in municipalities of the Guadalajara Metropolitan Area.

According to those carried out and recorded for the weekend, four people died in Guadalajara, nine in Tonalá, six in Tlaquepaque and two in Tlajomulco.

On Saturday the 3rd,  the bodies of 13 people were found, in different events: seven in Tonalá , all with gunshot wounds; three in Guadalajara, two killed by gunshot wounds and one by a knife; two in Tlaquepaque, a body wrapped in blankets and another of which the cause of death is unknown; and a corpse "encobijado" ]wrapped in a blanket]  in Tlajomulco .

On the other hand, eight violent deaths were reported on Sunday the 4th : four in Tlaquepaque, two bodies wrapped in blankets and two others apparently killed by a firearm; along with two in Tonalá, a body "encobijado"  found next to the road and a person killed with a knife; in addition to two people who died from gunshot wounds, one in Tlajomulco and one in Guadalajara.
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