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JOSE TREVINO GUILTY!: and Defense Attorney's Closing Arguments

May 9, 2013, 3:35 pm
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by Chivis Martinez and Havana for Borderland Beat
José Treviño is Guilty along with three others, all except "Jesus Huitron!  Fernando Solis Garcia and  "Chevo" Huitron immediately taken into custody.....families embrace, more details below.


Verdict is in:

3:36 PM the jury reached a decision

As the verdicts were read, the families of the defendants broke down in tears while hugging each other seeking comfort.  It was a highly emotional moment and one that reporters themselves could not help being moved by with  compassion.

Jose Treviño Morales -Guilty
Francisco Colorado Cessa - Guilty
Fernando Solis Garcia - Guilty
Eustevio Maldonado Huitron - Guilty
Jesus Maldonado Huitron - Not Guilty
The judge ordered Fernando Solis Garcia, and Eustevio Maldonado Huitron taken into custody.
Jesus Maldanado Huitron, obviously very upset about his brother said it was an injustice.  His life and business is in shambles. It's an injustice. “My life is destroyed.  I will work to build it back.”  He said he had six horses the government didn't take.  "I plan to continue building houses and painting houses.
His lawyer Brent Mayr said, "J has always been a contributing member of society and his life will be rebuilt.  
Jesus Maldonado Huitron and his niece expressed their feelings of injustice, and reflected pointing to the fact that  Paul Joans and Tyler Graham  being ‘white” horse trainers.  
 
Closing Arguments:
Defense attorneys argued their case to the jury, attacking the credibility of the inmates that served as witnesses for the state.  Citing their criminal history of drug trafficking and murder, attorneys concluded the inmate witness’ testimony should be discounted for those reasons in addition to personal gain in exchange for testifying. 

Attorney David Finn
Attorney David Finn representing José Treviño Morales, made the point that the timing of the money laundering investigation should be noted.
"The horse, zeta money laundering conspiracy investigation was a politically motivated, the timing of the indictment coming three months before the American presidential election and a month before the Mexican presidential election....in the US everyone was in an uproar about Fast and Furious, Eric Holder and the shooting of Agent Zapata.. Mexico's problem is corruption."
Chivis: Finn surely hit the head on the nail in that last statement, it is one I often articulate, and strongly have confidence in.  Cartels are the byproduct of corruption, but it’s the corruption that permeates every social, judicial and political system in Mexico and the basis for their inability to solve serious issues.  
Corruption has allowed crime to thrive and expand into an uncontrollable entity.  However, Mexico has an even greater issue, as corruption is an accepted way of life, embedded in the mindset of its citizens.
 This is not saying that organized crime groups are not to be held responsible for their actions, it is simply making a statement that Mexican society, its people, must change their standards and demand integrity in their social structure the greatest difference between a fully developed nation and one that is struggling to develop is a strong system of law and order. 
 In Mexico, there is a system that is so weak, and corrupt, society is fearful to call for assistance, for bad guys wear uniforms intended for good guys. [Chivis stepping off her soapbox].
While addressing his client Finn argues that the state, "Can't get the big guns, [so they] get the clean brother"
He continues, the prosecution is counting on bad math to convict these guys 0+0+0+0 =0 and the state spoke about “40” [José’s brother Miguel Treviño] to bolster the case.
"They talked about "40" because they didn't have a case”
He tells jurors about José being harassed for years because of his brothers,
"The government has been all over José for years now, [Being] searched at the border, his house in Texas, his car in Oklahoma, and later the raid at the ranch."
"They searched and came up with zero", "150 boxes and this is all you got?"
"They brought “40” into it because they didn't have a case. 
Finn reminds jurors;
"The burden of the proof is on the government beyond a reasonable doubt.  Did they proof guilt beyond a reasonable doubt?"
0+0+0=0
 Bringing it home Finn tells the jury;
If you hesitated to judge him guilty, that is enough to say, “not guilty"
 Attorney Christie Williams: Representing José Treviño
Williams recaps in her argument; "The government didn't prove its case and it is my job to point that out.”
"The government didn't do their job and the government is trying to make you believe it did [have a case] because José has the Treviño name."
She prompted jurors the prosecutors looked at all the evidence but couldn't get a wiretap on her client, so they assembled 60 witnesses and still can't prove that Jose Trevino knowingly agreed to participate and conceal drug money.
“Prosecution only saw what they were looking for”, said Williams, “They didn't have evidence before the indictment."
"The prosecution wants us to think Treviño's were broke and they got a hold of some social security report. But why didn't they [use information] from tax filings?"  
"It is really important to the case, to note that the business was started with clean money from the $25,000 to buy Tempting Dash. If the $25,000 is clean, then the winnings from the race are clean and the IRS didn't order tax records."
She continues, that it would have been easy for the Treviño’s to put aside cash and she did the math showing it wouldn't be that hard. 
"It isn't my job to go with my calculator and their records and show how possible it is by putting $200 a week- you don't want to see me get my calculator out again."
2006 -$7,700
2007 -$7,700
2008 - $7,700
Williams further contends that the Treviño’s would never have bought Tempting Dash for $25,000, "a horse with borne virus and a bone chip on the ankle but Jose knew and he wanted to start a business."
“So we see Jose buy the horse, win a race, hire a book keeper, do tax returns.. He is honest and hardworking.  He could have sold Tempting Dash at any time for 3 million, he didn't do that, he wanted to build a business.”
[Problem alert, explain Gordo’s ownership, while Tempting won the big race, why would he willingly sell a horse earning over 1.4M?]
“There is nothing wrong to start a business, want to breed babies of winning horses in Texas and Oklahoma.”
"Guerra knew Villareal for 25 years.  Treviño bought from Villareal.  Guerra didn't suspect anything was off until he realized Villareal had too many horses under Fast and Furious. Guerra wasn't dishonest....They've done everything to make it look like José is dishonest, Searching his house at 7 AM, at the border, his car but they didn't find anything.”
Williams goes on to say the government was busting everything around José but his life didn't change because he didn't need to change, he wasn't doing anything wrong just trying to run his horse breeding racing  business.
"After the raid at Los Alamitos, he didn't change a thing."  "What did they find?”
“Zero."
“He still had the same old flip phone."
“They found he has lived here since he was 15, and worked hard.  Why would he suddenly abandon his life, to become tangled with the legacy of the Zetas?”
The Zetas, and they are really terrible, will make a case.  But my client only shares the same last name, he is not a Zeta."
 "No evidence of communication between Jose and 40 or 42, or phone calls or emails.  They have Zero!"
 "That is why you should write Not Guilty under [the name of] Jose Treviño", Williams concludes.
If you missed "Week 1" link here for "Week 2" link here for week 3 link here
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Three Reported Killed in Ambush of Jesús Carrasco

May 9, 2013, 9:35 pm
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Borderland Beat
Also posted in Borderland Beat Forum by Siskiyou_Kid
 
It was reported that at least three sicarios were killed as a result of the confrontation that occurred this morning on the highway Mexico 15 in Los Mochis, Sinaloa. The sicarios were killed in the Coloradito fishing camp, near El Huitusi, Guasave.
 
The criminals attempted to flee aboard a boat when they were confronted by police.

It was established that police commander Jesus Carrasco was the main target of the attack.
 
The police commander reported that there were at least 100 sicarios that participated in the assault while heavily armed.
 
It was reported that one of the armored truck used in the attack fled southbound on highway Mexico 15 while other vehicles fled in different directions; some went towards the town of Batamote, others went in the direction of town Ruiz Cortines and yet another fled toward the direction of Huitusi.

Carrasco said that he and his bodyguards were traveling in an armored white Dodge Ram style Pick truck that resulted totally burned from impacts from explosives. An unexplode grenade was found underneath the vehicle

At least one Ahome police officer was killed at the scene and another resulted wounded. The police officer that lost his life was identified as Julian Dima Soto from Olas Altas and had joined the department in 1999.

The incident occurred around 0715 hours on Highway Mexico 15 close to the town Adolfo Ruiz Cortines when the commander was heading from Los Mochis, Culiacan for a meeting.
 
According to Carrasco Pérez about a hundred gunmen attacked using at least three armored trucks and conventional vehicles.

Carrasco explained that the attackers used grenades and long rifles that included a Barret. Two of the armored truck were using some of these high caliber weapon while mounted on tripods in the back of the beds. One of the trucks had markings from a beer company.

Police reported that in a female was injured while sustaining gunshot wounds as the result of the confrontation.  Sources at the scene reported that there were at least three police units that resulted with damaged from the gunfire and explosives.

Carrasco had received threats through a Facebook account as reported in Borderland Beat under the name of "Mochomera Mochis", where the commander is accused of being involved in drug sales in the north zone.

In the facebook account, that was apparently removed today from the internet, they published a photograph which shows six young men who look to be alive and tied up, but their bodies were later found on Saturday April 20 inside a Cherokee near the vicinity of Los Mochis. This was reported with a lot of detail in the BB Forum.

When the police commander was interviewed by the media he accused the police of Guasave of collusion with organized crime because, he said, at the time of the attack he saw two patrol unit that did not assists during the ambush, instead fled the scene.



Sources:Rio Doce, El debate, DBT TV and Alinstante Noticias.
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Silent Narco Violence: Camargo is worse than Juarez

May 10, 2013, 4:51 pm
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Proceso (May 10, 2013)

Patricia Mayorga

Translated by un vato for Borderland Beat

Chihuahua, Chih. (apro).-The residents of Camargo, located in the south central part of the State of Chihuahua, have faced violence almost in silence, isolated, invisible. From 2008 to 2009, intentional homicides increased 550%, going from nine to 51, and from 2008 to 2012, they increased another 40%, from 65 to 90.

While murders decreased in municipalities like Juarez, Chihuahua, in Camargo they broke out. In only four years (from 2008 to 2012), 288 persons were killed -- 268 men and 20 women -- and there were at least five massacres.

Last year, when the alleged leader of the Sinaloa cartel for the southern part of the state, Lamberto Gurrola Hernandez, El Gato,  was arrested in Parral, peace returned to Camargo.

From September, 2012, to this past April, the city fought to recover. The number of civic organizations increased and people focused on taking over public spaces and working, commented a businessman in the restaurant industry.

"We changed some of our practices. We prefer not to open our business too late, we'd rather open early and... well, whatever we can do. We're OK, if a person is not doing bad stuff, he doesn't have to worry, you just have to be careful", is this businessman's opinion, who prefers to remain anonymous because he says nobody can talk freely.

He says there are persons in Camargo, persons who are not from around there, who "become rich suddenly. You can't say anything because they'll kill you. Reality is different for those people, they live a different kind of life. There's places where there are these huge houses and the people drive these huge trucks, but they don't work or have a business, it's very noticeable," he adds.

The municipality (county) of Camargo has 47,000 inhabitants, and the county seat, where the last massacre took place, has a little over 39,000.

The apparent peace ended this past April 29th, when an armed group of men broke into the cock-fighting arena, El Coliseo, around 1:00 a.m. The fight had been over for more than an hour, when they came to murder four people, among them a 22-year old city police officer, an alleged gunman and two civilians.

The next day, the bodies of two men were found, who had apparently participated in the massacre. They were Francisco Alonso Salazar Chavez and Juan Antonio Martha de los Santos. They were wearing face masks and they had been shot between ten and 15 times with "cuernos de chivo" (AK-47 rifles) and other calibers. They were approximately 20 years old, according to Camargo municipal police.

"I don't want to die"-- murdered police officer to his chief.


Daniel Alejandro Soto Giner was 22 years old and had been working with the municipal police for two years. On April 28, he was assigned to guard the entrance of the arena. Two other fellow police officers were inside, also providing security.

When the group of armed men wearing hoods came in, the first one they shot was Daniel Soto. Then they killed Sixto Ivan Aguirre Infante, Jose Raul Chavez and Jose Humberto Chacon Gomez -- this last being the alleged gunman they were after, according to the investigation by the State Attorney General, Central Zone.

Daniel Soto was wounded and was taken to the hospital. There, he told his boss: "I don't want to die, I want to go on working as a policeman and serve (the people)." But he died. The story was narrated by the municipal president, Arturo Zubia Fernandez, during the open casket ceremony they held for Soto in the police headquarters on April 30.

The mayor underlined the agent's professionalism. "We are overcome by grief and anger, he was a young man who had recently graduated from the academy, a member of the tactical group, he behaved with professionalism and was cheerful. We feel this tragic loss, we are overcome with great desperation and impotence when these things happen," he added.

His sister called for justice in front of police officers from Jimenez, San Francisco and Camargo.

Newspaper coverage, between anonymity and threats.

Camargo lived peacefully for about six months, says journalist Luis Fernando Gonzalez, who, with his partner, Pedro Sarmiento, has covered the wave of violence quietly.

In 2008, they came face to face with escalating violence. "There was a death, then another one, more and more killings. Killings everywhere, they caught up with the numbers from the rest of the state," recalls Luis Fernando.

In the communications medium they work for, TV Camargo, cable television, they have reported on massacres, persons whose throats were cut, incinerated, everything. "It has been very bloody, we have seen the worst," they say.

With the arrest of El Gato, Gonzalez admits, the violence died down, violence that was caused by the struggle between two groups for control of the plaza.  "Even the night life came back; nobody was going out any more, but people started going out again. Many had left," he comments.

Now, with the return of the wave of violence, Luis Fernando agrees with the rest of the residents: "All is silence now, nobody talks about it, as if they were trying to forget and not relive what we experienced. It's as if they want to forget, ignore it. Camargo was peaceful and what happened really has an impact."

He maintains that people had begun to feel self confident, and social life was strengthened after years in which there was a lot of divisiveness. Organized civil society, he believes, did a good job and now the inhabitants refuse to accept the return of violence.

Camargo experienced at least five multiple murders between 2011 and 2012, four in bars and another one in a safe house. People stopped going out at night.

During the peaceful period -- six months ago-- Camargo residents got brave enough to go out and opened night businesses.

However, after the massacre in El Coliseo, the bars were closed again, among them one of the most popular ones. In addition, there have been kidnappings, the last one was that of a nurse who has not reappeared.

There are at least 30 persons who disappeared, estimates Luis Fernando Gonzalez, with emphasis on the case of Jose Gonzalez Marti, 80 years old. His family has paid the ransom twice and they haven't released him yet.

"They opened up a new area in the cemetery. It's always full of widows and orphans crying. There have been more than 200 Camargo deaths. It has been a nightmare that we have covered, with God's help; it was a new thing for us," says the journalist.  

Because of the information they deal with in their work they have received anonymous calls complaining about reports or for them to get the word out. Their decisions have been based on common sense, depending on the case.

Without security protocols, and in complete isolation, they have reported on all the violent incidents, relying only on the citizenry, says Luis Fernando.

"It has been a macabre apprenticeship, we don't have any protection, the people always help us. We have received threats, including (against) our families, but we have gone forward, with only our common sense," recalls Pedro Sarmiento.

Camargo is located between Delicias and Jimenez, two cities in the south central zone, where violence has increased considerably this year. In April, it caught up with Camargo.
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SEMAR raids building in Zapopan: "El Azul" killed? CJNG leader "Mencho" arrested?

May 11, 2013, 5:23 am
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Borderland Beat

NOTE: Nothing has been confirmed yet, there are different rumors on social media regarding the death of Juan Jose Esparragoza, others claim the capture of CJNG leader "El Mencho". What appears to be confirmed is the death of a suspect in the shootout, no name has been given.

Members of the Mexican Navy during the operation in Zapopan.

An operation by the Mexican Navy Ministry (Secretariade Marina-SEMAR) was conducted on Friday afternoon inside an apartment building complex located in Zapopan, Jalisco.

The operation took place yesterday at about 10:30 PM when several SUV´s belonging to the Mexican Army and Mexican Navy arrived at the Amber Tower located in the exclusive Puerta de Hierro neighborhood.

Jose Juan Esparragoza Morena aka "El Azul"
Unofficial sources claim the arrest and/or death of Jose Juan Esparragoza Moreno aka “El Azul”(number 3 in the CDS) or Nemesio Oceguera Cervantes aka “El Mencho”, leader of the Cartel Jalisco New Generation (CJNG). Because of the Government secrecy in this operation, none of these versions has been confirmed.

Military personnel kept the area secured awaiting the arrival of specialized vehicles to transport the alleged drug lord. It is unknown if the criminal was alone at the moment of the operation.

The Navy personnel took the area by surprise when they surrounded the parking lot connected to the apartment building; there they arrived at an apartment located in the 14th floor.

After their arrival several shots were heard, but in a matter of minutes the situation was under the Navy´s control that blocked the parking lot´s exit leading to Puerta de Hierro Boulevard number 5225 and Patria Avenue.

Ambar Tower in Zapopan where the operation took place.

The main access to the complex was guarded by several SEMAR SUV´s where heavily armed Navy personnel dressed with gray uniforms inspected every vehicle that tried to leave the building.

Moments after the operation began, several vehicles belonging to the Mexican National Defese Ministry (Secretaria de la Defensa Nacional-SEDENA) arrived to bolster the security in the area. Experts from the Jalisco Forensic Sciences Institute also arrived at the scene but where not allowed to access the building.

There is a version of at least one casualty and one wounded in the operation inside the building but no official information has been given.

Several units left the apartment complex towards Patria Avenue, but no information has been given, even to local authorities since the operation arrived directly from Mexico City.

Members of the State Police and the State Attorney General arrived at the scene but information was denied to them.

As of this writing the area was still under surveillance of the Armed Forces awaiting the arrival of the Federal Public Ministry agent.

An announcement by SEMAR or SEDENA regarding this operation is expected to be done later in the day.

This post will be updated as more information arises.

UPDATE 11:00 AM

As of 11:00 AM no official information has been given, however, according to newspaper El Universal, Mexican Navy commanders admitted there was an operation and shootout in the 14th floor of the apartment building, as a result apparently one suspect died.

At 3:00 AM State and Federal Authorities left the scene without giving more information.

http://www.notisistema.com/noticias/?p=591982

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Chapo's Plaza Bosses

May 11, 2013, 10:59 am
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Borderland Beat
click on image to enlarge
Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Doug Coleman announced today that the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) reported the designation of eight Mexican nationals as Specially Designated Narcotics Traffickers (SDNT) pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (Kingpin Act). 
 
The eight individuals, Cenobio Flores Pacheco (a.k.a. Luis Fernando Castro Villa), Jesus Alfredo Salazar Ramirez, Guillermo Nieblas Nava (a.k.a. Adelmo Niebla Gonzalez), Ramon Ignacio Paez Soto, Felipe De Jesus Sosa Canisales, Armando Lopez Aispuro, Jose Javier Rascon Ramirez, and Raul Sabori Cisneros, all operate as plaza bosses for the Sinaloa Cartel.
 
“In order to put organizations like the Sinaloa Cartel out of business, we must continue to utilize every tool available to ensure that these criminal groups and their associates cannot exploit the U.S. financial system,” said DEA Special Agent in Charge Doug Coleman.  “Today’s actions severely curtail the Sinaloa Cartel’s ability to use legitimate commerce to mask their illicit money laundering activities and reflect DEA’s global efforts to weaken its leadership and bring it to justice.” 
Each of the eight plaza bosses operates as a Sinaloa Cartel leader within their specific area of operation along the Sonora-Arizona corridor of the U.S.-Mexico International Boundary, which extends for nearly 375 miles. 
 
The Sinaloa Cartel depends on the plaza bosses, leaders of a particular geographic area, along the corridor to coordinate, direct, and support the smuggling of illegal drugs from Mexico into the U.S. and the smuggling of illicit contraband from the U.S. into Mexico. 
 
Plaza bosses rely on violence to maintain their positions, using sicarios (hitmen) to control a specific geographic area.  Since Arizona is contiguous with the U.S.-Mexico International Boundary, the Tucson and Phoenix metropolitan areas are major trans-shipment and distribution points for contraband smuggling out of and into Sonora, Mexico. 

 “Today’s designation marks another step in OFAC’s efforts to specifically target the narcotics traffickers responsible for the horrific acts of violence committed along the Arizona border with Mexico,” said OFAC Director Adam J. Szubin.  “We will continue to work alongside our partners in Federal law enforcement as well as the Mexican government to financially cripple and dismantle the Sinaloa Cartel.”

The eight individuals designated today work on behalf of Joaquin “Chapo” Guzman Loera, Ismael “Mayo” Zambada Garcia, the leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel, and Gonzalo Inzunza Inzunza “Macho Prieto”, a top lieutenant of the Sinaloa Cartel.  Mexican authorities have previously arrested Jesus Alfredo Salazar Ramirez, Ramon Ignacio Paez Soto, and Raul Sabori Cisneros. 
Today’s action generally prohibits U.S. persons from conducting financial or commercial transactions with these designees, and also freezes any assets they may have under U.S. jurisdiction.
 
Today's action would not have been possible without the support of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Joint Field Command-Arizona, and the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security.  Mexican authorities also provided essential support to OFAC.

“CBP’s Arizona Joint Field Command Targeting Enforcement Unit played a major role in dealing the Sinaloa-based drug cartel a financial blow that will undoubtedly affect their ability to operate as a criminal enterprise.
The Arizona Joint Field Command’s Targeting Enforcement Unit has been and will continue to be a committed partner in the collective effort of denying, degrading and disrupting operations of criminal organizations,” said Jeff Self, Commander, CBP, Joint Field Command-Arizona.

Since June 2000 the President has identified 97 drug kingpins and OFAC has designated more than 1,200 businesses and individuals.  Penalties for violations of the Kingpin Act range from civil penalties of up to $1.075 million per violation to more severe criminal penalties. 
Criminal penalties for corporate officers may include up to 30 years in prison and fines of up to $5 million.  Criminal fines for corporations may reach $10 million.  Other individuals face up to 10 years in prison and fines for criminal violation of the Kingpin Act pursuant to Title 18 of the United States Code.
 

DEA-DOJ Press Release
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Knight Templar´s Dionisio Loya challenges Communitarian Police leader to a death match

May 11, 2013, 1:50 pm
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Tijuano for Borderland Beat.

Dionisio Loya Plancarte aka "El Tio", alleged Knights Templar leader.

A new video appeared yesterday on YouTube in which a man claiming to be Dionisio Loya Plancarte aka "El Tio"(Leader of the Knights Templar Cartel) challenges Hipolito Mora (leader of La Ruana´s communitarian Police) to a death match.

Dionisio Loya Plancarte was reported killed last march, the date in which this video was recorded and it´s veracity is still unknown.

The following is a transcript of the message given by "El Tio":


“To all the Michoacan people:

This is Dionisio Loya Plancarte speaking, Knights Templar representative, better known as “El Tio” (The Uncle).

The reason I´m speaking to all of you, specially to the people of Buenavista, La Ruana, Tepalcatepec is the following: The last events which took place in the towns I just mentioned force me to tell you the citizens, that we the Knights Templar may be responsible but not guilty.

I speak particularly to Hipolito Mora, to make a pact of peace and civility and in doing so avoid the killing of innocent people that only create mourning homes and resentment, just like you, the supposed Communitarian Police have been doing sponsored by the Cartel Jalisco New Generation (CJNG).

If after this dialogue we don´t reach an agreement which benefits society, I challenge you to a Death match and with this end the sterile conflict that has been going on.

I´m awaiting your answer with the place and time that you see fit to either dialogue or fight each other.

Always at your service.”


The second half of the video shows an old audio recording of a phone call between Servando Gomez aka “La Tuta” and Loya Plancarte, this call took place in 2010 and is shown to compare the voice of Loya with the new video. In that recording they speak about the then governor of Michoacan Leonel Godoy attending an annual reunion with Federal Government officials.

The following is a transcript of said audio:

El Tio: is Godoy also going to be there?

La Tuta: well yeah, he says he´s already there…

El Tio: what´s with that dude then? What is he doing?

La Tuta: Tio, Tio, it´s not his thing, it´s the military and since he´s the governor of the state, he has to be there. They also sent the guy from PFP(Federal Preventive Police) in Morelia, the one from the Navy in Lazaro, all the division Generals, there in the annual reunion..Today and tomorrow, it´s not up to him, Tio. I mean, he as state governor has to be close, it´s not like he shouldn´t, he is supposed to be the state´s authority...

El Tio: Mmmm...

La Tuta: No, no, Tio, this son of a bitch has to be close to them, but they noticed us early...

El Tio: Ok, call him, call my compadre and let´s see how he can help us with this.

La Tuta: Ok, for now I have 150 thousand on hand, so you can add it there and I wanted to be lent a car so I can take it to him...

El Tio: We don´t have with crosses? Almost none…we´ll see, we´ll see, talk to my compadre..And whatever he tells you, that´s what it is. Hey, because maybe he has papers with him...

La Tuta: OK then, OK Tio.

El Tio: OK.



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Knights Templar: La Tuta's Video Translated-El Tío Back From The Dead?

May 12, 2013, 12:14 pm
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Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat
Can't we all just get along?  [Zetas and New Generation need not respond]
 


La Tuta co-founder of Knights Templar (Caballeros Templarios) released yet another of his video messages.  His theme in this video is; acknowledgement that he is a criminal and yes his organization is a criminal organization, but when it is necessary to arrest Knights Templar, the military should conduct themselves with honor and not become police, judge and jury. 

He speaks of community police, stressing that those guards are not of the region and brought in while posing as locals attempting to secure municipalities.  He also speaks of his enemies Mencho and Zetas. 
El Chayo- Nazario Moreno González
Tuta, whose name is Servando Gómez Martínez is known by both La Tuta and El Profe.    His monikers translate to teacher or professor, a tribute to his profession prior to his drug trafficking career.
His criminal career has netted him a United States indictment, derived from his stint as a leader for La Familia Michoacán cartel (LFM).  LFM leader Nazario Moreno González, was killed in December 2010, in a violent two day clash in the Michoacán mountains, which caused a division within the group leading to a split and the formation of a new cartel, The Knights Templar.

La Tuta and Dionicio Loya Plancarte, aka “el Tio” co-founded the Knights Templar.  Tío was reported killed in March of this year in Michoacán.  Dionicio is the uncle of Enrique Plancarte, aka La Chiva, another high level leader of Knights Templar.

On Friday of this week a video appeared featuring an elderly man presenting himself as “El Tío” .
             Chiva
In the video the man challenges Hipolito Mora to meet  for a  dialogue, “face to face”,  to resolve the problems they have over La Ruana, Buena Vista and Tepalcatepec, he also said if nothing is resolved, then they should fight to the death. Although the man has facial similarities to El Tío, there is enough difference to call the claim into question, perhaps the man is in reality a relative of Tío and not the man himself.  For that determination, you be the judge.
La Tuta is also wanted in México with a 2.5 million USD bounty on his head, Which is ironic because the government was sending him teacher recompense until 2 years ago, although he had not been in a classroom for a decade.
The following is the translated contents of the La Tuta video:
Good evening to the general public, our state, our lovely Michoacán, our municipalities, cities and all those who receive this message that we are putting on air with the best intention of being able to help and contribute to the solution of many problems.

We want to emphasize to the media and all the people that are listening to us and watching this video that we are not responsible of the marches that have occurred on Friday 19th of the present year in all state of Michoacán, in Apatzingán, Morelia, Pátzcuaro, Uruapan, Cuatro Caminos; wherever the marches occurred. We are not responsible in any way for that situation.

If the town is protesting is because they are tired of corruption and I don’t think it is against us because the little that I know and we have seen is against the state government and federal government.

Maybe the federal government has not fulfilled its obligations, we have said it and we have express it on banners, on videos, where we have said that if the federal government and the state government accept their responsibilities of good guardians to put public order on the entities, we put our weapons aside, we will not turned them in but we will put them aside because we don’t want that because of what is happening in Buenavista, Tomatlán, La Ruana, in Tepeque where community guardians are forming, which behind them are the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación.

That guy, Mr. Mencho, my enemy, so to speak, because we are of different organizations, he has his organization and I respectfully represent the organization of the Knight Templar. Our intention is to make this work. We want our town to be ok and our people would be able to hang out and walk freely in Michoacán.

We know that we affect third parties interest, of course we do, all those that are with the Jalisco Cartel and with the Zetas. All the people form Michoacán are welcome and I give my word of Knight Templar that there is nothing against any person unless it is proven that they have relationship with those groups.

Returning to the topic of the community guardians, these people that are in Tepeque and La Ruana, you can see on the videos when a woman says: First, we are being trained, we are given weapons and now we are being arrested; referring to the Mexican Army elements. Which ones? We don’t know.

Something is going on there. The government is confronting town versus town. Please gentlemen of the federal government, resume things, that is not the way to conduct ourselves, we are willing to dialogue and see what we should do to make this work.

There was another case in La Ruana where a hooded person stops a taxi cab and asks the driver: Who are you, where are you from? And the driver shows him an identification and tells him I am from here, La Ruana of such and such colony. It is documented in Milenio. They were showing it on Milenio network. 

The guy doing the interview (the hooded man) didn’t even know where that colony was and takes the driver’s phone away and asks him of some  character, if I recall correctly it was La Goya and the driver tells the hooded man: “La Goya is a well-known woman from La Ruana”.

The hooded man, tall and robust, did not even know who that person was. Most of us know who la Goya is but he didn’t know who she was, by that time a woman from behind approaches him (the hooded man) and tells him: “Let him go, the driver is from here, he is my nephew.

What is that telling us? That that person that is as community guardian is not from Michoacán because he didn’t know the young men, he didn’t even know the colony that the driver was telling him and was proving with his ID.

Gentlemen, don’t forget when the first 27 community guardians appeared, 7 of them were from Sinaloa and Guadalajara, Jalisco, with arrest warrants, some of them even for homicide.
Then, who is behind all this? Please, gentlemen of the federal and state government fulfill your obligations.

The government says all the time that they are after the Knight Templar because we are criminals and we are armed. Now I tell the government, possibly the only person that has been seen on media armed is me. I do it because it is my responsibility to watch over the interests of my enterprise and of all the people that are with us in Michoacán.

You say that we are armed. You are correct, we are armed, we do have weapons to defend our state from the Zetas and Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion, but now I am going to tell you something, on television appear a lot of armed people and not only armed but hooded, working for the PFP and militaries and there is no problem.

There is where the armed people are and there is where the people of Jalisco (cartel) come from under the orders of Mencho Seguera. There is where the government should put order.

People protested on April 19th here in Michoacán against all those guardians, if not everybody would have form guardians. We know they had the right to protest and they should have their reason. We know that they said that they were protesting because they didn’t want the people (guardians) of Tepeque, La Ruana and Buenavista travel through Michoacán land because events have occurred where there are shootings and many deaths. Probably the fear of the people that are protesting is that one day their relatives would be passing by and a stray bullet hits them......continued on next page....


Gentlemen, we tell you if the community guardians of Tepeque, Buenavista and La Ruana keep going forward and maintain their purpose throughout the PFP, because this situation was orchestrated by the government of Calderon with several generals and coronels here in Michoacán, which it is them who are making the town against town act. We are part of the town gentlemen and we have said it, we respect the federal government, specially the military.

We have said the reason of why we respect them. It is not fear gentlemen; we are men just like they are. We are also willing to give our lives to defend our town. But it is fair and necessary that order is establish. We know that you have to be after us. Be after us if we are criminals and also the people that are with us that make mistakes, the federal government should settle accounts with them. If my enterprise notices that some one of the organization did things that they are not supposed to, that are against our rules, we will put order, gentlemen. We know it is your duty, but with respect gentlemen, do your duty with respect.

We have expressed; we have many friends here in Michoacán. We have entrepreneurs, farmers, cattle breeders and of all kinds. If we are doing something that affect directly the people, do not hesitate to tell us and we will put a solution.

We all have seen how Genaro Garcia Luna orchestrated his scenes to come out on television and ennoble himself. How many innocent people are in prison? The general that just was released from prison, I don’t remember his name but he has said it himself. Those protected witnesses, those innocent people, it is not fair gentlemen, a 70 or 80% of the people that are in prison are innocent. Yes, there are people that are guilty, like us, and we have said it, we are guilty, we should be prosecuted because of what we have done.

Military, PFP and Marines are organizations of the federal government to only apprehend criminals. Not to be a judge, that’s why there are many problems because you try to kill us and we are going to fight back.

Arrest us and turn us in to the corresponding authorities. Let a judge give us a trial but how it should be. You (military) should not take part, should not take money, nor support the actions of the CJNG nevertheless, of Zetas because we are not going to leave the weapons and we will have to fight back.

I repeat, it is not a threat for you gentlemen of the federal government. Please reconsider and don’t take anybody’s side. Let’s find a way to fix things; we are willing to dialogue with you whatever is necessary. Please whoever was elected interim governor in Michoacán, reconsider and be aware of all the events that have been happening.

Listen to the teachers, students, investors, civil organizations and if it’s possible listen to us. It is not well seen because of the difficulty that we are criminals but we are willing to seek measures and the proper path to get to a discussion with you and to set order not only in Michoacán but where we can contribute.

This is a message for the government of the Mexican Republic. If we can contribute in anything and you invite us to dialogue about what is happening in Michoacán and parts of Mexico, we are willing to go.

We want peace gentlemen. We also have family, we also have someone to look after and that is why we are watching over the interests of Michoacán. Unfortunately, we sometimes have to go to other places and attack because they are trying to enter our state. Let’s set some order gentlemen, I don’t know how to let you know but we are willing to dialogue.

Please all the people of PFP and militaries that were under the service of the Calderon government resume your situation and don’t let yourselves be bossed around… Genaro Garcia Luna is no longer there, which was who despicably humiliated you, you all know, it came out on all magazines how he treated you, but he is no longer in office. Supposedly there is a new government, new system; we have to trust the new government.

This is an invitation, especially to all police forces of any kind to do their job; stop all these situations with the community guardians and we repeat it once again, we are not responsible of what is happening with the marches. If anybody says that it is induced by the Knights Templar it is false.

A congressman of Michoacán expressed in the media that it was induced, he didn’t say the name but he is referring to us, the Knights Templar. Of course he doesn’t have anybody else to blame because allegedly we are the only ones that are in Michoacán but it is not true.

Gentlemen, assume your role, leave out the radical postures and do it for the good of our town and our state.

It is an invitation to all, we say it again, investigate who Hipolito Mora is, 3 arrest warrants in the U.S. wanted by DEA and he appears beside the commanders of the PFP and military commanders.

So that means that someday, I will be beside a military or PFP commander and come out on television. I know it is not correct because I know what I am and what I represent, however it is not our intention at all to affect regular people, just to watch over the interests of our town and our state of Michoacán.

Gentlemen, you say that we are criminals because we, the Knights Templar, are asking for fees and doing this and that, but what are Hipolito and El Abuelo doing? El Abuelo is a processed criminal, he was released, investigate him.

Who is El Abuelo Farias, the man that is in Tepeque? Investigate him and you will realize many situations. It is not well seen that I talk bad about them but you people, all those that are listening: reporters, journalists, PFP, marines, civil society, go in the internet and see who they are, however they are the leaders of many hooded people.

The federal government that  Felipe Calderon Hinojosa lead, shook, batted and grind off, as if in a mortar, the state of Michoacán to remove weapons, We, the Knights Templar, were left with many weapons because we withstand 6 years escaping in the mountains with them (weapons).

However, now between Buenavista, Tepeque and La Ruana thousands of people are armed. Where did all the weapons come from? Reconsider, federal government, there are several coronels. 1 coronel in Tacambaro, 1 in Pátzcuaro, 1 in Uruapan and 2 in Apatzingánthat were under the orders of one general.

You know who it was and they were the ones making it a war town, If it continues this way we are not going to leave the weapons aside, we are going to confront the aggressions. It is not only me that is a criminal, there are other criminals. Not only my organization is criminal, there is Hipolito Mora and El Abuelo Farias, they are big criminals.

Probably not of my level, at least not Hipolito, because I always had the bad habit of paying for everything I did and Hipolito never paid. El Abuelo did pay and there are his criminal records because he had been judged.

This is a call for all the corporations, government, and president of the republic, assume your responsibility and also for the government of the state, assume your responsibility
Thank you
Another foto purportedly of El Chayo in death-take your pick
The video below is footage of the clash in which El Chayo (Nazario) was killed along with 40 others:
 

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39 out of every 100 kidnap victims are murdered

May 12, 2013, 2:40 pm
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El Diario/Milenio (5-12-2013)

Translated for Borderland Beat by un vato


Distrito Federal(Milenio).- In the last five months, the number of kidnappings carried out for the sole purpose of murdering the victim increased 17.1% compared with the average in the preceding six-year period.

According to the Multisystems Industrial Security Group, 39 out of every 100 kidnappings that were committed between December 2012 and April of the current year ended with the murder of the kidnapped victim, while during the period between 2007 and 2012, there were only 22 deaths (per 100).

This modality has gotten stronger in the past few years, because (in the period) between 2000 and 2006, only 7.3% of kidnappings were carried out for the purpose of taking the victim's life.

According to statistics from the business group, 41.9% of the kidnappings committed  from December 2012 to date were done in a conventional manner (the criminals ask for payment to release the person), while 19.3% of the remainder had the characteristics of an "express-style" kidnapping.

Official figures from the Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System (Sistema Nacional de Seguridad Publica) indicate that during the period from December, 2012, to March, 2013, organized crime deprived 480 civilians of their freedom, which represents an increase with respect to the 415 kidnappings reported during the same period a year before, when Felipe Calderon was President of Mexico.

From the start of his administration, Enrique Pena Nieto tagged as a priority the "gradual" reduction of crimes with a major social impact, such as intentional homicides, kidnappings and extortion.

Before the communications media, he asked for a year's period before the results of his administration's public safety measures are evaluated. 

Modus operandi


According to Alejandro Desfassiaux, president of Multisystems Industrial Security Group, eight out of ten kidnappers know their victims directly or indirectly, which is why he recommended certifying personnel you work with, maintaining a low profile, changing routines constantly and not accepting unknown persons on social networks.  

On this last point, the businessman explained that Facebook and Twitter "have become a profitable tool for kidnappers", because they use them to choose and track their victims.

The way to operate through a social network is by seducing and creating a direct contact with the victim to meet them somewhere and kidnap them fist chance (they get).

In addition, he explained that 70% of kidnappings take place on the street and that four out of ten kidnap victims are female minors.

Desfassiaux explained that this kind of crime has been on the rise, "because, every day, criminals are becoming specialized in surveillance techniques". Plus, "they no longer carry out long lasting kidnappings; they prefer shorter periods that pay off immediately or promptly."

He concluded by saying that in some cases freedom "is no longer negotiated, because there is also the type of criminals who kidnap a person for revenge, whether it is for personal reasons, feelings of rejection or betrayal, or because they were fired in a bad way."

Where the crime is located


-- Last January, the global security consultant Control Risk placed Mexico in second place with respect to the number of kidnappings worldwide, surpassed only by Nigeria.

-- It explained that the fight against drugs promoted by the government of Felipe Calderon affected cartel operations, which is why these organizations went into businesses connected with high impact crimes, such as extortion and kidnapping.  

-- According to the consultant, the kidnapping situation in Mexico is more serious than in countries like Afghanistan, Venezuela, Iraq, Lebanon, Colombia, Kenya or Syria.

-- The National Public Security System reported at the time that the states most affected by kidnappers were Veracruz, Nuevo Leon, Coahuila, Hidalgo, Jalisco, State of Mexico and Morelos.
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Videos: Logos, Weapons and Music of Zetas, CDG, CDS, CJNG and Knights Templar

May 13, 2013, 8:39 am
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Borderland Beat

The following five videos depict the logos, music, and property confiscated by the government including, weapons, vehicles, and items with the cartel insignia.  The videos feature individual cartels; Los Zetas, Golfo, Knights Templar, Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation.










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Hipolito Mora´s response to Knights Templar´s death match: "I find El Tio funny"

May 13, 2013, 7:07 pm
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Tijuano for Borderland Beat


Hipolito Mora (leader of La Ruana´s Communitarian Police) responded to the video released by alleged Knights Templar leader Dionisio Loya Plancarte. In an interview with journalist Luis Cardenas of MVS Radio, Hipolito Mora said, among other things, he finds Dionisio Loya funny.

The following is a transcription of the interview conducted today:

The situation in Michoacán is really dangerous, it´s a situation where violence is very real, it´s a situation where organized crime has arrived at different places in Michoacán and simply taken absolute control, they don´t allow the entrance to food trucks, they don´t allow social workers, they don´t allow the vaccination programs, they have isolated the population, they don´t let them in or out or do anything. Some days ago a video emerged in YouTube, in that video “El Tio” from the Knights Templars threatened Hipolito Mora, leader of the Communitarian Police in La Ruana, in the video “El Tio” tells Hipolito “We either have a dialogue or we have a death match”

I want to thank Hipolito Mora, leader of the self-defense group in La Ruana for answering this call.

LC: Mr. Hipolito, good evening, how are you?


HM: Fine Sir, how are you?

LC: Fine, tell us, have you seen the video? Have you heard what “El Tio” from Knights Templar told you?

HM: Yes I have

LC: What do you think about it?

HM: Well, I have no problems with him! Ha hasn´t offended me, he has not hurt me, I have no anger towards him. I think I don´t have to dialogue with him because I don´t know him and I have never done business with him. I don´t have to duel with him because I have no problems with him. If he´s got problems with me, well I don´t know.

LC: It appears El Tio has problems with you…

HM: Well, yes he does but I don´t. If he wants to have a shootout with me, then maybe he has his reasons, but I don´t, that´s why I announce publicly I´m not going to accept his invitation because I don´t have problems with him, I only set free my town and my people from them, they had them scared, they killed people when
ever they wanted, they arrived at midnight scaring people without caring for the wives and children suffering, they just took them and killed them and we never knew about them anymore.

LC: How was La Ruana before you arrived with the self-defense groups? What did the Knights Templar did to you?

HM: The charged taxes on everything, they forced people to close their businesses anytime they wanted because they were going to sell in the only garden we have, they came to sell beer, wine and everything. They had the lemon controlled, the owners of the packing factories had to pay them a tax as they call it, the owners of the packing factories could not choose who they hired or from who they bought lemon, they were the ones taking the decisions. The worst is they told them who to buy from, someone from them arrived with three thousand boxes and they bought it right away, some poor farmer arrived with twenty and they had to tell them they were full, they had no space for them but at the same moment they were buying two thousand boxes from them (Knights Templar) and they had us fucked.

LC: How much did they tax those who could even pay?

HM: About 1.5 pesos for kilo to all those who could even deliver lemon, besides that every truck had to pay 500 pesos to them; it was a lot of things they did to us. That´s the problem “El Tio” has with me.

LC: What did they do to you? At which moment did you say that´s enough?

HM: I used to sell 20-30 boxes of lemon and they told me they were full so I became fed up and said to myself “I got to do something, I got to do something for my people, the poor people” because, honestly, those involved in these movement are mostly poor, there are no rich people here, only poor people, those who suffered the most.

LC: What did you do? How did you convince them to fight the Knights Templar? How did you take them out?

HM: It was very hard for me, I talked with many people, I invited them to do something but they all said no, they were afraid, then I found 3 or 4 as crazy as I am and I told them “Hey, do we do this?” and they said “yes”, so I told them “we have to invite the townspeople to the garden, and when they are there we step up and ask them to fight for their rights”, they said “ok, let´s do it”. When we had to step up, most of them cowered and I had to step up with what little I had, they were scared. One boy who used to work with me, and a construction man, and one other man stepped up with me, they stepped up with me.

LC: So the townspeople didn´t back you up?

HM: If nobody backed me up back then, I´ll already be death, luckily the town was tired. I stepped in front of them, I was masked, the only time I used one, and asked for those who wanted to fight for their rights, and their response amazed me.

LC: You are armed right?

HM: Yes, an old shotgun, by the way it was stolen from me, I had about 30 years with it.

LC: So you have no weapons now?

HM: We do, we have lots of them, but I started with that old shotgun and I lost it here in the movement.

LC: And how do you get those weapons?

HM: With the help of people who is tired of these, they cooperate buying them for us, some other we took from the Knights Templar, when they left town after the protest march we got into their homes and took them. That´s how we have acquired them, the citizens help us with that.

LC: Dionisio Loya Plancarte claims you are part of Cartel Jalisco New Generation, is that true?

HM: Nobody believes him, nobody believes him. Society knows they have to use everything at their disposal to discredit us. They want to make us look bad in front of the Government, society and the media, but people know who they are, the people can´t be misled, the people is old, even kids know that.

LC: Do food or help trucks arrive at La Ruana?

HM: No, we have no gas, we have no fuel, we have no food, and every day becomes is harder on us

LC: Not even the doctors who vaccinate the kids are allowed there, right?

HM: No, Oportunidades(Federal Government Social Assistance Program) won´t come here, they want us to go to Apatzingan, but they don´t let us inside Apatzingan, they(Knights Templar) have checkpoints in Apatzingan and nobody tells them anything, they take people´s IDs and if they are from Carrillo Puerto they take them away and we never know from them again. So, how do we go to Apatzingan?

LC: So you are besieged? Nobody can get in or out of there?

HM: Exactly, we can´t get out of here, if we get sick we have to help ourselves, we can´t go nowhere.

LC: Have any authorities tried to see what is going on? How they can help? Have you spoke with any of them?

HM: Not from the State or Municipal authorities. The ones patrolling the roads, the streets and alleys is the Mexican Army and the Federal Police, and I thank them for that. The Federal Police has lots of honest agents who really care for society, I´m really thankful to the Federal Government for at least watching over us.

LC: But they have you besiege, they watch over you but nothing gets to you.

HM: No, nothing, that´s all. They only patrol here, watching we don´t commit crimes, and we are here, but that´s all.

LC: Are you Afraid?

HM: I´m not afraid

LC: You are not afraid of “El Tio”?

HM: No. I´m not afraid of “El Tio”, or anyone else. I find “El Tio” funny

LC: You find “El Tio” funny?

HM: Yes. With the thing he said, I´m laughing, his friends make me laugh, and they´ll laugh when they see me laughing. I even think this thing he is doing is a game.

LC: But the Knights Templar have a lot of weapons, don´t they?

HM: It´s not a game, it looks like one to me, I´m not afraid of him or anyone. I wake up calm, I live calm

LC: And if someday the Knights Templar arrive in La Ruana, what´s going to happen?

HM: They did, we fought them.

LC: Will you fight them again?

HM: We already did, there were lots of deaths, but they don´t tell the public.

LC: How was that shootout?

HM: From what I saw, in the shootout we had 4 casualties and about 7 on their side.

LC: 7 deaths and 4 from you, 11..

HM: There were more, they took them in their SUV´s. The Knights Templar took a lot of corpses on their SUV´s

LC: Are you afraid they may go there and, maybe not to you, but, they may hurt the townspeople, the people in La Ruana?

HM: Of that I´m afraid, what they can do to my people, not what they can do to me, I´m not afraid of that.

LC: What does the Mayor of La Ruana tell you? What is he doing?

HM: Nothing, he´s the brother of one of the main drug dealers in the region

LC: Does he live there?

HM: No, he got out of here

LC: He used to live there?

HM: Yes, he lived here but he already left. Last week his brother was killed, he was the biggest drug dealer in the region.

LC: What is the name of the Mayor of La Ruana?

HM: Luis Torres Chavez

LC: And what is the name of the drug dealer he is associated with?

HM: It not his partner, it´s his brother, at least I don´t got proof of it.

LC: What was his brother´s name?

HM: Jesus Torres Chavez

LC: And nothing is known about Luis Torres Chavez?

HM: He´s working in Knights Templar´s areas, inside the municipality, there are some towns still under the Knights Templar control and he is working there

LC: Well, Mr. Hipolito Mora, you left me amazed with some of the statements you made here..

HM: Like what?

LC: For example, that you are not afraid of El Tio, the fact that they don’t let anybody in or out, the fact there´s no food, no gas, how do you live?

HM: We got gas, because some people go to towns from Jalisco and bring it here

LC: But the gas station is dry?

HM: Yes, yes, they bring their gas and sell it here and 12, 13 pesos, one fucker was selling it at 20 pesos but we told him “hey, lower it pal, we are almost broke and you want to kill us”

LC: What is going to happen with the lemon? Will you be able to harvest it again?

HM: Yes…

LC: The problem is getting it out, right?

HM: That´s the problem and I hope Mr. Peña Nieto does something about it, I hope he helps us, he comes here, and besides, that he releases my 40-something Communitarian Police arrested about 2 months ago, they are innocent young man, there were 51 but some of them have been released. I would like the President to notice they are poor people, many of the women here don´t have money for diapers, for milk, they are young women; some of them are their mothers. However we handed over to them 21 criminals captured by us the Communitarian Police, between Knights Templar and Hawks, we handed them to the government and the next day they were on the streets.

LC: You do know you can´t take justice on your hands, right? But you got tired of awaiting the authorities…

HM: I´ll ask you, what would you do if someone assaults your family and nobody helps them?

LC: Tough question…It´s complicated, of course.

LC: How much time were you under the Knights Templar yoke?

HM: Between the Knights Templar and La Familia Michoacana, about 8 to 9 years…

LC: 8 to 9 years?

HM: Yes

LC: And you got fed up?

HM: We were tired, right now we are more fucked than before but at least we are calm.

LC: Mr. Hipolito Mora, I want to thank you for taking this call and I hope we this isn´t the last time we do it.

HM: Anytime you want Sir, and please help us.


The following are some pictures published on the Facebook page VOZ CIUDADANA DE MICHOACAN, that page claims the Communitarian Police is nothing more than criminals backed up by CJNG.


 




Weapons confiscated by the Mexican Army to the Communitarian Police.
Weapons confiscated by the Mexican Army to the Communitarian Police.
The page claims this corpse belongs to an innocent citizen.  He was killed in the fight against the Knigts Templar,

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7 die in gunfight with Mexican Marines

May 13, 2013, 9:00 pm
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By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com

A total of 13 individuals were killed in ongoing drug and gang related violence in Zacatecas state including seven armed suspects shot to death in an armed  encounter with Mexican Naval Infantry, according to Mexican news accounts.

A news report which appeared in the online edition of El Sol de Zacatecas news daily said that the gunfight took place in Sain Alto municipality.

The report said that the Mexican Marine road patrol encountered armed suspects on a road which connects the village of El Cazadero at around 0600 hrs Saturday.  Marines also seized a Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck at the scene, which indicates that other vehicles may have been involved in the shootout, but which escaped.

Among the dead, all in their 20s, was reportedly a female.

Sain Alto sits astride Mexico Federal Highway 45 in western Zacatecas on one of the most dangerous stretches of road in Mexico.  Highway 45 connects Fresnillo with Durango in Durango state.

One example is of one unidentified man found tortured to death in Trancoso municipality Sunday.

According to a separate report in El Sol de Zacatecas the victim was found on Highway 45 with two severed limbs.  The report said the victim was mutilated with a saw while still alive .

A note was left at the scene signed by Cartel del Norte, which is reportedly affiliated with Los Zetas.  The contents of the message was not disclosed in the news account,

In other news, four unidentified individuals were found murdered in Fresnillo municipality a week ago, according to Mexican news reports.

A news account which appeared on the website of El Sol de Zacatacas said that the four victims were found in a hidden grave in the mountain community of Purisima del Maguey in an area called San Bajio.

The victims were found in an advanced state of decomposition, but the report said that three of the victims were males and one was female.  The victim had been killed at least three weeks before their discovery.

The report notes that the four were killed in a settling of accounts between armed criminal gangs, and that the area where the dead were found is known as a graveyard for such murders.

The report does not specify which group or cartel may have been involved.  Los Zetas, the Sinaloa and Gulf cartels are known to operate in Zacatecas state, and several gunfights between local criminal gangs have been reported in Fresnillo in recent weeks.

Fresnillo has been the focus of security incidents in the last ten days.

In one example, an unidentified man in his 60s was shot to death May 8th in Guadalupe municipality which is directly adjacent to Fresnillo.

The victim was found shot to death on calle Sicomoro in Arboledas colony.

Also, a Mexican Army unit with the 97 Infantry Battalion took over the headquarters of the Fresnillo municipal police corporation Monday in a surprise weapons inspection.

The action began at around 0700 hrs and lasted until 1200 hrs when the military unit left.  No one was reported detained nor were any weapons reported seized.

The Mexican Army is charged by law with the enforcement of the Mexican federal Firearms and Explosives Act, and has in the past disarmed  whole police departments when irregularities were found.

The best example was late last winter when the traffic division of Gomez Palacio, Coahuila municipal police were disarmed, and then later detained.

As with every other state, Zacatecas is under pressure by the federal government to provide trained police officers which have passed confidence tests in anticipation of the creation of a new police agency dubbed Policia Gendarmaria.  The head of the federal Secretaria de Gobierno (SEGOB) or interior ministry, Miguel Osorio Chong has decreed that every police agent, state and municipal must be certified by November 1st, 2013, or face losing their jobs.

Every municipal and state police agency in Mexico is heavily funded by the federal government,  municipalities with passthrough funds.  Municipal president are severely constrained by Mexican law as to how much money they can raise through taxes, fines and fees, and how much can be spent on security operations.

Mexican state governors are also expected now to take a greater hand in coordinating security operations between states.  Reports can be found in Mexican press about security meetings being held amongst the governors of states in five separate regions.  Those meeting often include representative from the Mexican Army, Mexican Navy and national police agencies within SEGOB.

Zacatecas state has been coordinating with other states in its region including  Aguascalientes and Jalisco states.

Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com and BorderlandBeat.com
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CDG's 'El Yankee' Sentenced in D.C. to 35 Years

May 13, 2013, 11:42 pm
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Borderland Beat

Highest Ranking Gulf Cartel Member to Be Convicted by a U.S. Jury in the Past 15 Years

Aurelio Cano Flores, a Mexican national and high ranking member of the Gulf Cartel, was sentenced today to serve 35 years in prison for conspiring to import multi-ton quantities of cocaine and marijuana into the United States, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Administrator Michele M. Leonhart of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

Cano Flores, 40, aka “Yankee” and “Yeyo,” was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Barbara J. Rothstein in the District of Columbia.  In addition to his prison term, Cano Flores was ordered to forfeit $15 billion in drug proceeds as part of a money judgment. 
At a post-trial hearing, the United States proved that from 2000 to 2010, the Gulf Cartel distributed in excess of 1.4 million kilograms of cocaine and 8,000 metric tons of marijuana.  The money judgment represents the gross receipts of the Gulf Cartel’s drug sales into the United States from its principal distribution centers located along the U.S.-Mexico border.

“For over a decade, Aurelio Cano Flores worked with some of the most dangerous criminals in the world to import massive quantities of cocaine and marijuana into the United States,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Raman. 
“As a leader of the Gulf Cartel, one of the most notorious criminal enterprises in Mexico or the United States, he endangered the lives of innocent people on both sides of the border.  As a result of today’s sentencing, he will spend 35 years in federal prison as punishment for his crimes.”

“DEA and its partners use every law enforcement tool possible to bring to justice drug cartel leaders and facilitators who inflict damage on both sides of the border,” said DEA Administrator Leonhart.  “Aurelio Cano-Flores used his position as a Mexican police officer to help one of the most violent and brutal drug trafficking organizations in the world bring vast amounts of drugs into the United States. 
 
Like many other cartel leaders, he posed a threat to the citizens of both the United States and Mexico.  We are confident and pleased that justice was served today by the pronouncement of his lengthy U.S. prison sentence."  continues on next page

Following a trial  that lasted over two weeks, Cano Flores was convicted by a federal jury on Feb. 26, 2013, of one count of conspiracy to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine and 1,000 kilograms or more of marijuana, knowing and intending the substances would be unlawfully imported into the United States.
Cano Flores was one of 19 defendants charged in a superseding indictment on Nov. 4, 2010, with drug trafficking offenses.  He was extradited to the United States from Mexico in August 2011 and was ordered detained in federal custody pending trial. 
Evidence presented at trial included dozens of lawfully intercepted telephone conversations between Cano Flores and other leaders of the Gulf Cartel, as well as testimony from previously convicted Cartel members. 
 According to the trial evidence, Cano Flores began working for the Gulf Cartel in approximately 2001, while he was serving as a police officer in Mexico.  During his time as a police officer, Cano Flores recruited others into the Gulf Cartel, collected drug money and escorted large shipments of cartel drugs to the U.S. border.

Cano Flores ultimately rose through the ranks of the Gulf Cartel to become a major transporter of narcotics within Mexico to the U.S. border and became the Cartel’s top representative in the important border town of Los Guerra, Tamaulipas, Mexico. 
As the “plaza boss” for Los Guerra, Cano Flores oversaw the mass distribution of cocaine and marijuana into the United States on a daily basis. 

Testimony established that between 2000 and 2010, the Gulf Cartel grew from an organization of only 100 members controlling three border towns to an organization of 25,000 people controlling the drug trade over approximately half of Mexico. 
As established during the trial, the means and methods of this conspiracy included corruption, murder, kidnapping and intimidation.
The case was prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Darrin McCullough and Sean Torriente of the Criminal Division’s Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section. 
The Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs provided significant assistance in the provisional arrest and extradition of Cano Flores, and the Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section provided assistance at sentencing. 

The investigation in this case was led by the DEA Houston Field Division’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Strike Force and the DEA Bilateral Investigation Unit.  The case was part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force’s Operation “Day of Reckoning.”

DEA-DOJ Press Release

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Mayhem in Monterrey: 4 die

May 14, 2013, 9:00 pm
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 Counternarcotics operations nets 700+ kilos of pot



By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com

A total of four unidentified individuals have been killed in ongoing drug and gang related violence and and around Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, according to Mexican news accounts.

According to separate news accounts on online editions of El Diario de Coahuila and Milenio news dailies, an anti-kidnapping unit of the Nuevo Leon state Agencia Estatal de Investigaciones (AEI) had been conducting searches  since Sunday of the Cadereyta-Jimenez area immediately east of Monterrey based on complaints of kidnappings taking place and reports of armed suspects in the area.

According to the El Diario de Coahuila account, on Monday AEI agents encountered armed suspects travelling aboard a Cadillac Escalade SUV and a Chevrolet Suburban SUV in a break that leads to Los Herreras municipality, where gunfire was exchanged and two armed suspects were shot to death. 

Three other armed suspects escaped that encounter with two more dying in a separate gunfight a few minutes later near a winery where four female kidnap victims were found and released.

Among the victims were two minors.  AEI agents also seized an undisclosed number of weapons.

A separate counternarcotics operations took place along Mexico Federal Highway 40D in China municipality Monday where Policia Federal (PF) agents seized a quantity of marijuana, according to a news account on Milenio.

The PF unit had set up a checkpoint and stopped a Ford box van type truck.  Police agents discovered a false bottom in the truck where 93 packages of marijuana were hidden.  The total seizure was 735 kilograms.

The driver identified as David Aquino Rosas was detained at the scene. The truck was bound for Reynosa in Tamaulipas.

Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug war and national political news for Rantburg.com and BorderlandBeat.com
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ACUÑA: Alfredo Andrade Added to U.S. Kingpin List

May 15, 2013, 8:15 pm
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Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat

click image to enlarge

Action Targets Major Narcotics Trafficker Operating on U.S. Border
Andrade Was Arrested in April
Last month I wrote an article about the rumored capture of Alfredo Andrade, and the possible capture of Roberto Andrade in addition to other Andrade family members.  There was a reported major operation in Acuña, Coahuila by the Mexican Navy that supposedly resulted in the capture of multiple persons.  Much of the information was reported by people on the ground, while the government keeping in line with its lack of transparency, did not confirm the reports of the Andrade capture(s).
 
Yesterday the U.S. Treasury Department released information that Alfredo Andrade is tied to the Los Zetas cartel and is a major trafficker now placed on the Kingpin list, in the announcement it was confirmed that Alfredo was arrested in April, however still no confirmation about Roberto.
 
“Today’s action follows on the heels of the Mexican Government’s arrest of Andrade Parra in April and targets the drug trafficking and bulk cash smuggling activities of a significant associate of Los Zetas,” said OFAC Director Adam J. Szubin. “OFAC will continue to work with our foreign counterparts to expose key drug traffickers and deprive them of access to the international financial system.”
The Department of Treasury press release:

The U.S. Department of the Treasury today announced the designation of Mexican national Alfredo Andrade Parra pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (Kingpin Act) for his significant role in international narcotics trafficking and for his links to Los Zetas. 
Andrade Parra is a major narcotics trafficker operating along the U.S.-Mexico border.  He is responsible for smuggling multiple-tons of marijuana and cocaine, monthly, from Mexico to the U.S. for Los Zetas leaders Miguel Trevino Morales and Omar Trevino Morales.
Andrade Parra’s ability to smuggle large quantities of drugs into the U.S. and receive bulk cash proceeds returned to Mexico make him a key component of the ruthless Los Zetas drug trafficking organization in the region near Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila, Mexico.
Andrade Parra is wanted in the Western District of Texas for multiple counts of drug trafficking and money laundering relating to a March 5, 2008 indictment from the Del Rio Division and a May 22, 2003 indictment from the San Antonio Division. In April 2013, Mexican authorities arrested Andrade Parra.

Today’s action against Andrade Parra generally prohibits U.S. persons from conducting financial or commercial transactions with him, and freezes any assets he may have under U.S. jurisdiction. The President identified Los Zetas as a significant foreign narcotics trafficker pursuant to the Kingpin Act in April 2009. On July 24, 2011, the President named Los Zetas as a significant Transnational Criminal Organization in the Annex to Executive Order 13581 (Blocking Property of Transnational Criminal Organizations). Additionally, OFAC designated Los Zetas leaders Miguel and Omar Trevino Morales on July 20, 2009 and March 24, 2010, respectively.
Today’s action is part of ongoing efforts to apply financial measures against significant foreign narcotics traffickers and their organizations worldwide. The Treasury Department has designated more than 1,200 individuals and entities pursuant to the Kingpin Act since June 2000. Penalties for violations of the Kingpin Act range from civil penalties of up to $1.075 million per violation to more severe criminal penalties.

Criminal penalties for corporate officers may include up to 30 years in prison and fines up to $5 million. Criminal fines for corporations may reach $10 million. Other individuals face up to 10 years in prison and fines pursuant to Title 18 of the United States Code for criminal violations of the Kingpin Act.
OFAC Press Release
Thank you Lacy for the heads up!
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Alleged Tijuana Cartel member arrested in Peru.

May 15, 2013, 10:58 pm
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Borderland Beat
Alleged Tijuana Cartel member Luis Miguel Gonzalez Mantari at the moment of his arrest.
Huamanga-Ayacucho, PERU.- An alleged member of the Tijuana Cartel was captured on May 9th by members of the Territorial Police Directorate of Ayacucho(Direccion Territorial Policial-Dirtepol).

The suspect identified as Luis Miguel Gonzales Mantari aka “Chanchamayo”,42, is a former Peruvian National Police third level non-commissioned officer, his records show an arrest warrant dating back to 2005 for his involvement with the Tijuana Cartel, among other drug related charges.

The arrest took place near the 28 de Julio and Carlos F. Vivanco streets. When the officers approached the suspect he locked himself inside his car along with his wife, the suspect demanded the agents to be shown the arrest warrant.

Gonzales Mantari also demanded the presence of his lawyer and that of the Attorney General in order to be detained; meanwhile he refused to step out of his vehicle. The officers ordered “Chanchamayo” to step out of the vehicle and show them some ID but he refused. This refusal prompted the presence of Hinostroza Barrionuevo, Sheriff of Huamanga and that of Jose Antonio Muñoz Rodriguez, Dirtepol director, who also tried to convince Gonzalez Mantari to step out of the vehicle to no avail.


The Attorney General arrived about an hour later, asking “Chanchamayo” to show his ID and vehicle documents but again, Gonzalez Mantari refused cursing at him and the officers. After this, the Attorney General ordered the officers to take Gonzalez Mantari out of the vehicle and arrest him.

The police officers broke the car´s door locks and opened the door, at that moment Gonzalez Mantari fired his car and tried to flee but was taken into custody by the officers.

The suspect was taken to the Judicial Police facilities where investigations will continue.

Dirtepol director Jose Antonio Muñoz Rodriguez mentioned that this capture was the result of more than one month of intelligence work by Dirtepol officers.

Gonzalez Mantari acussed one of the officers of asking money in exchange of setting him free, “Chanchamayo” claims he offered the officer 500 US Dollars but the officer refused the amount, he also claimed he had been intercepted before but was set free on several times in exchange of money.

Luis Miguel Gonzalez Mantari is accused of smuggling cocaine out of Peru into Central America for years, even when he was a police officer.

BACKGROUND INFO

Vladimiro Montesinos alongside former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori.

The Tijuana Cartel has been in Peru for some time now, according to the reports done by former DEA agent Elizabeth Viviana Rosales Linares, who was able to infiltrate the organization, the Tijuana Cartel was allied with Vladimiro Montesinos, right hand man of former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori. In her statements, Rosales Linares claims the Tijuana Cartel once bought 19 tons from Montesinos, Those tons were then sold to an Egyptian identified only as “Duvall”, she also claimed the late drug lord Ramon Arellano Felix was at some time guarded by 3 Egyptians by the names of Abdel Baset, Jalifa Rima and Ali Almegrafi, all three of them lived in Tijuana.

Port of Paita in Peru.
Drug Lord Jose Maria Aguilar Ruiz aka “Shushupe” told Peruvian congressmen about an island located near Pisco, Peru in which the Tijuana Cartel had a cocaine lab.

In July 2006, Judge Hernan Saturno Vergara was killed in Lima, Peru, Peruvian authorities claim the Tijuana Cartel is responsible for his murder, a claim that is completely believable since at the time Saturno Vergara was in charge of the trial against 26 Tijuana Cartel members arrested in Peru.

Peruvian Police guarding a cocaine shipment from the Tijuana Cartel.

Fast forward to May 2012, the Peruvian authorities seized a drug shipment in the port of Paita. The shipment was disguised between organic bananas and had Belgium as destination. Authorities identified the Tijuana Cartel as the one responsible for this shipment. More than 3700 lbs of pure cocaine were seized that day. Authorities said that if that shipment had reached Belgium, the Tijuana Cartel would have made more than one hundred million dollars in profits.

In that operation three Peruvian business men were arrested, police identified them as Harri Luzardo Balcazar, Mauro Javier Arcela Perez, Hebber Max Becerra Zapata, Luis Angel Serra Sandoval and Guillermo Gamarra Rios.

Walter Sanchez Bermudez, Director of the Peruvian anti-narcotics agency (Direccion Antidrogas-Direndro) called them “one of the biggest and most important cocaine trafficking networks”.

Sources for this article:


http://www.inforegion.pe/narcotrafico/156686/capturan-a-integrante-del-cartel-de-tijuana-en-ayacucho/

http://www.afntijuana.info/seguridad/9697_cartel_de_tijuana_iba_a_sacar_1_686_kilos_de_droga_por_paita#.UZA7l6Iz2Sp

http://www.esmas.com/noticierostelevisa/mexico/117135.html
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Target: Carrasco...he came out of it unharmed

May 18, 2013, 2:12 am
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RioDoce (May 13, 2013)

Translated by un vato for Borderland Beat

First, they accused him of controlling and exploiting the drug vendors in Ahome, then they threatened to kill him and, finally, they carried out the attack. But Commander Carrasco came out unharmed...


Adolfo Ruiz Cortines, Guasave.- This part of Northern Sinaloa that, according to the government, had already been taken from the control of the the Guasave Cartel -- a minor affiliate of the  Beltran Leyva Brothers Cartel -- via sporadic mosquito type operations (sting and fly), lived through a new skirmish between them and a law enforcement agency, in which they tried to kill Ahome's interim Municipal Police chief, Jesus Carrasco Ruiz; but he survived, thanks to his pickup's armor protection.

Carrasco Ruiz already knew that the guys from Guasave would try to kill him, because he had been warned through the web page Mochomera Mochis, now disappeared, as well as in posters left behind at three mass murders, which all took place last April.

The threats were signed by someone who identified himself as El Dos Letras (Two letters), who called himself the new plaza boss for the group La Mochomera, which took credit for displacing Los Mazatlecos, the clan which had for 36 months controlled, with fire and blood, the sale of drugs and the illegal activities in the northern part of Sinaloa, from Choix to Guasave.

Carrasco Ruiz, said the messages, would be murdered by La Mochomera because they considered him the leader of a police gang that sold drugs, recruiting dealers with promises of impunity, getting protection money (cobro de piso) from independent pushers and the distribution of drugs by lower rank police commanders who were loyal to the interim police chief. All this, they said, with the approval of Governor Mario Lopez Valdez and inaction by the mayor, Zenen Aaron Xochihua Enciso.

When he was asked about the threats, the chief of police laughed and said that after 18 years of service, he was used to them.

Hours after Thursday's attack was over, the preliminary result of the battle was three alleged criminals dead, one police officer killed, another one wounded and a civilian woman--collateral damage-- hurt, although not seriously, and fear among the local residents and terror among the travelers.

Reporters witnessed the capture of three men during the pursuit of the attackers, but neither the Attorney General nor the State Ministerial Police presented them (to the media).

The battle lasted a few minutes and used military-grade weapons, such as fragmentation grenades and large caliber rifles, armored vehicles and even a "monster", which are trucks equipped with home-made armor. This one had Corona beer logos.

According to reports at the scene, the attack took place at about 7:30 a.m. on Thursday in front of the town of Adolfo Ruiz Cortines, located at kilometer 176 plus 700 meters (mile marker 106) on the Mexico-Nogales highway, Los Mochis-Guasave section.

At that location, the Ahome interim chief of police and the El Fuerte police chief, Daniel Castro, as well as a 20 man police escort, consisting of ministerial police disguised as municipal and preventive police, were traveling in a convoy  made up of an unmarked, armored white Ram pickup, a Tiger tactical vehicle and two patrol cars. "I was going to those fucking security meetings that everybody knows about", explained the police chief, "but I did not get there."

As they were passing by Cero Street, they started firing at them from their flanks. The suspects, who according to Carrasco Ruiz numbered more than 100, were riding on a beer truck, cars and pickups. During the initial attack, they killed Officer Julian Soto Dimas and seriously wounded another police officer, leaving the tactical vehicle and both patrol cars trapped by gunfire.

The Police Chief's driver got out of the combat zone, but when he returned to the area using the north-bound lane to get back into the fight, the armored pickup exploded and started to burn. The Chief and his personal bodyguard leaped onto the highway and joined the gunfight, while their vehicle burned.

"I don't know what hit us, it was a grenade or a bazooka round, but we got out. They got fucked again those sons of bitches, they got screwed, they couldn't do it," he explained, very annoyed.

"We pursued them about three kilometers (about two miles), but, since we had no backup, we turned back. Fucking cowards, they didn't want to fight, even though they had more weapons and cars than we did. They had Barrets, cuernos (AK-47s), grenades and even bazookas, but even then, they couldn't do it."

Carrasco Ruiz called Guasave police "pussies", because, despite being in the combat zone, they did not intervene nor provide support.

"Fucking shits, sell outs. Look, they were with the sicarios. Right beside the gas station, we saw them, and they didn't do anything, fucking pussies, dirty, corrupt cops."

Their colonel "isn't worth a shit", he should know who they are, and he should take care of them, he asked.

Miguel Espana, the Chief of Police in Guasave, denied Carrasco Ruiz's accusations and claimed that they did provide support, so much so, that it was they who transported the wounded to the hospital.

He (Espana) said they intervened because somebody reported the shootout, but that nobody told them it was the Ahome and El Fuerte police chiefs who were being attacked. "We didn't know they were coming through here, had they communicated this to us, we would have given them the necessary backup."

After the shooting, pursuit of the fleeing gunmen went in different directions. Two helicopters and a small plane joined the search. This is how, in the fishing camp known as El Coloradito, some 20 km (12 miles) east of the attack location, and some three miles north of El Hitussi, the pursuers found a wine-color Jeep Liberty SUV with Mexico State license plates, whose armed passengers were trying to escape using fishing boats.

They were caught on the jetty and killed in the exchange of gunfire. The civilians were carrying two AK-47s and fragmentation grenades. Two of these grenades were found on the dry dock.

Due to the gunshots, students from the Juan Escutia Primary School were evacuated. The school is located on an open space less than 100 yards from where the gunfight took place.

Fishermen who arrived with their daily catch were tortured by police agents wearing face masks to make them admit they were part of the gang of gunmen. When they were unable to force their confessions, because the fishermen had in-laws on the Guasave city council, the police torturers withdrew, but not before they warned them that they would return and take reprisals if (the fishermen) filed criminal complaints.    

The jetty, where the shooting took place, was altered by the policemen wearing face masks. In addition, the director of the State Ministerial Police, Jesus Antonio Aguilar Iniguez (Chuytono), ordered his subordinates to alter the scene where the gunmen were killed and to take photographs so they could brag about them.

The masked policemen, mostly Ahome police officers, harassed the reporters. In addition, believing themselves superior to the Guasave police, who were on their home ground, they ordered them around. The Guasave residents just ignored them, to avoid a bigger altercation.

At the same time this was happening in El Coloradito, on the strip opposite the International Highway another group was attacking ranch houses and beating up the laborers. Reporters observed the arrest of at least one person in Campo Borquez, but no agency or public safety institution took credit for it.

The operations reached El Burrion, Tamazula, Batamonte and La Brecha, territory presumably under the control of Fausto Isidro Meza Flores, El Chapo Isidro, and the two brothers, Jesus and Ignacio Gonzalez.

During the search operation for the attackers of the police, a Ford F350 Super Duty pickup, with an AK-47 rifle, an AR-15 and a grenade in the back, was abandoned on Calle Cero and 100 Street. In addition, a Chevrolet Cheyenne pickup, and, later that afternoon in La Brecha, the armored truck and a white Toyota Tundra pickup were located.

The mayor of Ahome once again stated that public safety criteria need to be modified. He said that, for an attack to have been carried out against his Chief of Police, "there must have been internal leaks." 

Until this edition went to press, the three individuals killed in the gunfight had not been identified. At the scene of the conflict, the Chief of the State Ministerial Police vowed that the persons who attacked the Police would be caught quickly.

"Give me a little time and I will show them to you."

An Italian in the war zone


Mauro Talini, a diabetic Italian bicyclist who has undertaken a pedaling crusade from Argentina to Alaska to increase awareness among the public and among governments of the risks of this disease, went through the war zone that this part of Sinaloa had become without noticing anything.

He was so focused on finishing the Los Mochis portion of the trip that he did not notice that he was pedaling on a highway that had recently been under fire.

He didn't notice the burned patrol vehicle, nor the dozen police officers who were armed to the teeth, nor the blood stains nor the collective hysteria among the residents.

He just kept pedaling, pedaling, to the rhythm of a motorcycle, to get out of Sinaloa as fast as possible. He didn't care about the violence, only about his crusade against diabetes, which he knows is "a very big problem" in Mexico.  [Translator's note: A few days ago, news media in Mexico reported that Mauro Talini, the Italian cyclist mentioned here, was run over by a tractor trailer on the highway and killed.-- un vato]  

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Analysis: Chuy Quintanilla, US first Narco-Singer Murder

May 19, 2013, 9:39 am
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Borderland Beat

John Sullivan and Dr. Robert Bunker Small Wars Journal

Jesus “Chuy” Quintanilla was discovered dead in Mission, Texas, across the border from Reynosa, Tamaulipas.  He was a noted singer of narcocorridos.[1]  Narcomusica (narco-music) plays a key role in shaping the social space of Mexico’s drug war. Narcocorridos are epic folk ballads that extol the merits of the narcos: capos and sicarios alike. Chuy Quintanilla was best known for his narcocorridos
…depicting the infamous characters and clashes of Mexico’s drug war, and with lyrics that could drop listeners into the thick of a gunbattle, it’d be easy to mistake the singer for a combatant himself.  (The Monitor, 28 April 2013)
Situation

Norteño singer Jesus “Chuy” Quintanilla was discovered dead in a pool of his own blood on Thursday, 25 April 2013.  Hidalgo County Sheriff’s deputies responded to the scene.  According to Sheriff Lupe Treviño, Quintanilla had been shot at least twice in the head— the preliminary autopsy report released later stated one shot to the head and one to the neck.
 
While it is too early to determine the motive for the slaying, Quintanilla’s prominent role in narcomúsica and long history of singing narcocorridos make him a prominent figure in Mexico’s narcocultura that shapes the social contours of the drug war.
Jesus “Chuy” Quintanilla appeared to have been shot at least twice in the head and was found near his vehicle, Hidalgo County Sheriff Lupe Trevino said. Irrigation workers found his body on a roadway north of Mission in an isolated area surrounded by citrus groves, Trevino said. (El Paso Times, 26 April 2013)

Quintanilla who recorded over 40 albums of corridos was known as La Mera Ley del Corrido— The True Law of the Corrido. His nickname is derived from his serving as a Mexican judicial police officer for 20 years prior to his music career.
Quintanilla’s songs covered topics ranging from horse races to cockfights, but the drug war was prominent on his play list. Further, the dress of this individual and his propensity to be posed in his album covers with assault weapons, expensive cars, and beautiful women added to his mystique as a narcocantante.

His repertoire included several songs about drug traffickers on the U.S. side of the border.  These include corridos entitled “Tomy Gonzalez,” “El Chusquis” and “El Corrido de Marco,” that commented on alleged drugs dealers in Weslaco and Rio Grande City who coordinated drug trafficking organizations in Texas and the U.S.:

One of Chuy Quintanilla’s most famous songs involves the fierce battle through the streets of Reynosa as Mexican authorities hunted down the Gulf Cartel leader known as Jaime “El Hummer” Gonzalez Duran.
Another top hit, called “Estamos en Guerra,” talks about how the Zetas turned on the Gulf Cartel, which in turn would move to eradicate its former enforcers. (The Monitor, 28 April 2013)
Chuy Quintanilla Album Cover
Narcocorridos

As Sullivan noted in his SWJ–El Centro paper “Criminal Insurgency: Narcocultura, Social Banditry, and Information Operations,”
Music is a key element of transmitting alternative cultural values in the ‘narcoscape.’  Narcomúsica(narco-music) is an integral component of cartel influence operations (information operations) and is instrumental is defining (redefining) the persona of the outlaw.  The tradition of narcocorridos builds from the rancheratradition of folk ballads (corridos) that extol heroic deeds.

The narcocorridovariant of traditional corridos has extended its reach from the narcosubculture to mainstream audiences throughout Mexico and the United States. Narcocorridosextol the virtues of the drug lord and describe, apotheosize, comment upon and lament the deeds of the narcos, projecting the image of ‘folk hero.’
According to University of Texas, Brownsville Professor Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera, narcocantantes are influential in transmitting narcocultura:

People who sing about these people, drug traffickers are making money from that because there is a captive market and the drug traffickers are going to promote this music,” Correa-Cabrera said. “It promotes, recruits young people presents a life that everyone would like to have and it really serves the purpose of drug trafficking organizations. (Source: Action 4 News, 25 April 2013)
While narcocorridos are popular and bring musical success, they can also bring violent reprisal when the lyrics cross certain gangsters. When the gangsters take exception to the story line, the singers can become targets. 

For example, in January 2013, members of the band Kombo Kolombia were found in a mass grave  (narcofosa) in Monterrey.  Other narcocantantes killed in cartel-related violence include: Julio Cesar Leyva Beltran of Los Ciclones del Arroyo in Sinaloa (read more next page)

(April 2012); Sergio Vega (aka “El Shaka”) in Sinaloa (June 2010); and Valentin Elizalde in Reynosa (November 2006). The difference here is that Quintanilla was killed on the U.S. side of the border.
Analysis
If the investigation determines that Quintanilla was killed because of his narcocorridos it would be the first known assassination of a narcocantante (narco-singer) in the United States.  This would be a significant shift in targeting and the U.S. would be firmly in the operational zone of targeted killings to shape the ‘narcosphere’ or ‘drug war zone.’  

Quintanilla was identified with the CDG: Cartel del Golfo (Gulf Cartel) and had dedicated songs to Tony Tormenta (Antonio Ezequiel Cárdenas Guillén) the CDG capo who died in a battle with Mexican Army in November 2010 which resulted in a turf battle with Los Zetas in the city of Mier.. One of his songs, “Estamos En Guerra (Los Zetas Vs. CDG),”chronicled the battles following the Gulf-Zeta split.

It is possible that Quintanilla became a target of one or both of those cartels as a result of his characterization of their activities in the current conflict in Tamaulipas.  Certainly both cartels have a presence in Texas and could operate there as seen in recent reports of Blockades

It is also possible that he crossed other criminal enterprises (such as U.S. gangs) or was targeted for more mundane criminal reasons.  Nevertheless, the modus operandi or tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) involved in his death are consistent with those of narco-assassinations.
Normally, a single murder (narcoor otherwise) would possibly at best warrant a tactical note.  This killing, due to the prominence of the victim, his history of singing narcocorridos, and his alleged links with both the CDG and Los Zetas cartels make this an act of strategic significance.  Even if the death is not a cartel-related hit, the information operations dynamics of his murder exude images of narcocultura.
Notes

1. "Asesinan en Texas  al cantante de narcocorridos Chuy Quintanilla,” Emeequis, 25 April 2013.

2. Ildefonso Ortiz, “Slain singer  Chuy Quintanilla gained fame for drug war ballads,” The Monitor, 26 April 2013

3. Christopher Sherman, “Singer found dead along road in rural South Texas,” El Paso Times, 26 April 2013

4. John P. Sullivan, “Criminal Insurgency: Narcocultura Social Banditry, and Information Operations,” Small Wars Journal, 3 December 2012 at

5.“Narco Corridos: The dark side  of the Mexican music world,” Action 4 News, Harlington, TX, 25 April 2013

6. Chuy Quintanilla songs about  Cárdenas Guillén include “El Corrido De Tony Tormenta,” see

7."Asesinan a Chuy Quintanilla “Asesinan a Chuy Quintanilla, cantante de narcocorridos,” Terra, 27 Apil 2013
8. For an analysis of the fissure between the CDG and Los Zetas see Samuel Logan and John P. Sullivan, “The Gulf-Zeta Split and the Praetorian Revolt,” ISN Security Watch, ETH Zurich, 7 April 2010 at.

9.   To hear to hear Chuy Quintanilla, “Estamos En Guerra (Los Zetas Vs. Cartel Del Golfo).”
10. John P. Sullivan, “Spillover/Narcobloqueos in Texas,” Small Wars Journal SWJ Blog, 1 April 2013 at   See also Texas Public Safety Threat Overview 2013, Austin: Texas Department of Public Safety, February 2013  p. 18
Additional Resources:
a. Video: “Narco singer ‘Chuy’ Quintanilla found shot dead in South Texas.” NewsFix, 26 April 2013
b. Video: Nadia Galindo, “Preliminary autopsy resultsreleased for slain singer Chuy Quintanilla.” Valley Central, 26 April 2013

c. FACEBOOK:Chuy Quintanilla (La Mera Ley Del Corrido)
d. “Narco Singer Chuy Quintanilla Found Slain North of Mission Texas.” Borderland Beat Thursday 25 April 2013
 
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Rescued niece of "Nacho Coronel" from assassins in Nuevo Leon and Body of kidnapped son of Notiver Reporter Antonio Marin found in Ecatepec

May 20, 2013, 12:49 pm
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Borderland Beat
MEXICO CITY - Angel Humberto Marin Licona, 25, son of Antonio Marín, a reporter for the Veracruz newspaper, Notiver,  was killed, a victim of kidnapping.

According to the newspaper, Angel Humberto traveled last May 1 for a long weekend to Ciudad de Mexico with the intention of checking into a job he had been offered and then going to Six Flags.

On May 2 the son phoned his father telling him he would like to stay another day in the city and then go to the amusement park the next day.

However on May 3,  Antonio Marín received a phone call from his son in which,  a stranger demanded a million dollars in exchange for the life of Angel Humberto.

Marin claimed they didn't have that amount and asked the person to give him time to put it together.

"Do it and get as much as possible and wait for my call," replied the kidnapper.

The wife of Antonio Marin insisted on gathering as many objects as possible to sell, that included their old car and also putting their house up for sale as well as the few jewels she had for which they got about 30 thousand pesos.

Furthermore, relatives, friends, journalists and reporters took up a collection and gathered another amount .

But the phone never rang again, and the family lived a nightmare day and night for 15 days.
This Saturday, a family member said that Marin went to view a body in the Ecatepec Forensic Medical Service that might be his son.

The reporter from Mexico City sadly confirmed that his son had been killed and that his body was with the Forensic Examiner.
According to Notimex , the Attorney General of the State of Mexico (PGJDF) said after identification they gave the father the body of his son.

Governor Javier Duarte de Ochoa said the Veracruz government collaborates with the Office of the State of Mexico to help solve the crime of Humberto Angel Marin Licona, son of the journalist, Antonio Marín Cardin.

Gov. Javier Duarte went to pay his respects to the journalist Antonio Marin Cardin

The State Chief Executive said that from the first moment, when we learned of this situation, we got in touch with the State Attorney of the State of Mexico " he said.

Besides  Duarte de Ocho, relatives, and politicians from all parties,attended the funeral to give their condolences to the  Notiver media reporter,.including the former governor Fidel Herrera Beltran, former candidate for governor of Veracruz, Miguel Angel Yunes Linares and his son Miguel Angel Yunes Marquez PAN candidate for mayor of Boca del Rio. Also attending was the municipal president of Veracruz, Gudino Carolina Corro.

The Attorney reported that the body was found 10 days ago in the municipality of Ecatepec. Relatives of Humberto Angel reported him as kidnapped on May 2.

The State Attorney reported what follow is the investigation of crime of murder while the Attorney General's Office (PGR) investigates the crime of kidnapping.

Nuevo Leon. - The PGR took charge of the investigation of the kidnapping of a family in Apodaca, of which two men were executed in Cadereyta. Authorities rescued two children and two women, one of them identified as a niece of the deceased Ignacio "Nacho" Coronel, one of the leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel.


A source confirmed that two men, suspects arrested for these events are available to a federal prosecutor.

It isn't clear whether women rescued, one of them named Colonel, and niece of the late drug lord Ignacio Coronel Villarreal, was still being held by the PGR.

According to reports, federal authorities took over the investigation, when it was revealed the relationship of one of the women with "Nacho" Coronel, who was killed in a shootout on July 29, 2010, in Guadalajara, and who was one of the top leaders of the Sinaloa cartel along with Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman and Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada.

Unlike other similar cases of kidnapping, with rescues and arrests, this one  immediately attracted the federal authorities to the investigation.

Two woman, along with one husband and two children, and another passenger, were kidnapped in Apodaca on Sunday near the International Airport of Monterrey.

Witnesses say their Cadillac Escalade was intercepted by armed criminals in a Suburban.
The women, with the two children, one of them an 11 month old and  the other a boy of five years, were taken away in one of the vehicles, and the father of the children and the other man were taken in the other vehicle.

The kidnapping sparked a strong mobilization of the various police,sparking a confrontation with criminals who had kidnapped men, in the vicinity of Pueblo Nuevo, in Cadereyta, where the kidnappers fled.

The next day, at noon, the of the two hostages were found executed in the community of La Concepción.

The state police rescued the two women and two children in a cellar of a house on  kilometer 9  of the road from Cadereyta-Allende, where kidnappers were killed and were captured.


informador, policiaca, ferriz proceso.com.mx, coatzadigital
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The Ethics of Corruption

May 20, 2013, 1:50 pm
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RioDoce (May 5, 2013)

Federico Campbell

Translated by un vato for Borderland Beat

 

Translator's note: Mexico's narco problems are impossible to analyze without taking into consideration the roles that corruption and impunity play in its political, legal and law enforcement institutions. I realize this column is not directly related to the war against drugs, but I hope it gives Borderland Beat readers a glimpse into the context in which the war is being fought. -- un vato  

 

Some years ago in Russia, in the former USSR, the Soviet State was very worried about growing alcoholism among it workers. Brezhnev and his government companion -- I don't remember his name, but they used to work as partners, like policemen-- held a meeting to deal with the problem and they decided -- on the advice of publicists and experts -- to place huge  billboards at the factory gates. And a single phrase: DRINK BEER.

They asked workers to reduce the level of alcohol, to reduce their consumption of vodka and not drink it every night, to drink beer. This request was not lacking in cunning. The leaders knew their people. They knew the Russian soul.

Extrapolating from that scenario and that realistic example of governing, it might be reasonable for Mexico to do something like that with the deep-seated problem of corruption and its structural cause: impunity. Tone it down. Don't steal so much. Steal half as much.

For example, if the untouchable and fire proof Humberto Moreira defrauded the State of Coahuila (by falsifying records of state congressional proceedings to obtain authorization for several bank loans through Cordero's Revenue Department) of 32 billion pesos (about $256 million), well, man, he could have done this for only 16 billion pesos, part of which could have, in any case, been enough to fund Pena Nieto's campaign very well.

In Mexico, practically and tacitly, corruption is permitted. It is almost impossible for anybody to go to jail for unlawful appropriation of  public resources. A governor from Sinaloa used to say that the least amount a governorship will leave, even if his state is very small and poor, such as Tlaxcala, is about $100 million dollars. Another former governor, from Morelos, used to say that it was impossible not to become corrupted when they would place a tray full of bills by your desk. That it is very easy in Mexico to use a government position to steal. Everything is designed for it to be that way. Neither the purchasing officers nor the administrative secretaries hesitate to inflate costs and negotiate with providers under the table. To this day there are no controls to tie their hands or dissuade them with the threat that they will end up in jail. At most, they scare them with the dead man's shroud of "disqualification" (from government employment) and they die laughing. Carlos Salinas stuck his hand as he pleased into the pockets of secret accounts. His brother and a so-called Fausto Ceja would take suitcases full of cash to deposit at CityBank. Well, they could have deposited only half and returned the rest.

The PRI's is a well-oiled system for looting. In fact, in the Chamber of Deputies they have to account for no more than 30% of the annual 800 million peso (about $65 million) expense budget, that the chimpanzees distribute as they please. It is not impossible that 40% of the annual federal budget is lost through embezzlement of public funds. Out of a billion pesos, some 400 million go into bank accounts, houses, ranches, buildings, political campaigns. Public officials have a weakness for land, condominiums, housing developments, in short, real estate. It's how they save money. So then, tone it down. Control yourselves. Don't be such sons of bitches. Drink beer, not whiskey.,            
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Nine People Murdered Over The Weekend In Morelos

May 20, 2013, 3:21 pm
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Despite surveillance operations and the state of Morelos operating under a Mando Único (Unified Police Command), this past weekend nine people were killed, among them a minor in various events in the municipalities of Cuernavaca, Jiutepec and Cuautla.

Couple Found Burned Inside a Trunk

Photo Courtesy of Vanguardia
The attorney general’s office of Morelos reported that the first incident occurred in the municipality of Jiutepec, where a couple was found executed, legs tied and burned inside the trunk of a Nissan Sentra with public service of Cuernavaca license plates “2868 LTG”  that was allegedly used as a taxi.  The car was abandoned on the street Delfinas of the colony Hacienda Las Flores early Saturday.

Student Gunned Down in Cuernavaca



Photo Courtesy of Provincia
Throughout the night a man was executed when he left his home in the colony Tulipan Hawaiano of the colony Tulipanes de Cuernavaca.  The man was identified as Juan Carlos Vargas Pineda, 19.  Relatives of Vargas Pineda say that he was in his home watching a soccer match when he received a call on his phone and minutes later he went outside.  Then his mother heard gunshots and looked out to see his injured son aboard his Toyota RAV4, which stood near the side of a local business called “El Agasajo”.  Vargs Pineda was found sitting in the driver’s seat with a gunshot to the left side of his chest. Paramedics were immediately requested; upon arriving they confirmed that the victim had no signs of life.  Ten 9mm gunshots were found in the crime scene.

In The Center of Cuernavaca, “Mara” Stabs Pedestrian to Death
 

Photo Courtesy of Diario De Morelos

Later, prosecution experts rushed to the General Hospital of Cuernavaca, “José G. Parres”, for the removal of the body of Fernando Tavira Marquina, 40, who was a victim of an assault on the street Tepetates, located in the center part of Cuernavaca, who showed several signs of wounds from a sharp-edged weapon to the abdomen. 

In the center part of Cuernavaca and among dozens of pedestrians, The Salvadorean, José Mauricio Bonilla Siciliano, 41, an alleged assassin for hire and member of the “Mara Salvatrucha” gang, fatally stabbed Fernando Tavira, who was walking with his family, in the neck and abdomen approximately 8 times. 

Luckily, Cuernavaca municipal police managed to capture the ferocious murderer red handed while he was stabbing Fernando Tavira, before the fear and anger of dozens of witnesses, who later tried to lynch the ruthless guy.   Police requested an ambulance who took the injured to the General Hospital, where the victim died hours later from the injuries. 
 
The wife told police that she was unaware of the reason why the man attacked her husband. Moreover, it was learned that one of the two cell phones that the murderer was carrying received key messages which he received minutes before committing the crime, leading to the presumption that the murderer was an assassin. 

José Mauricio claimed to be a native from Sonsonate, El Salvador, unemployed and lived in hotels located in the center of Cuernavaca.  Among his belongings, besides the two phones, police found a yellow sideboard with the red words "Corrections Corporation of America" Agency #25818359 commissary #799092 issued to his name.

Minutes later in the same hospital César Soto Pérez, 20, died.  He was a private security guard who on May 15 after an argument with two men who wanted to enter the compound where he worked at in the town of Ahuatepec, Cuernavaca, was shot twice.
 
Yesterday morning (Sunday), a man of about 45 years old was executed in a country home located in Jiutepec.  His body was located in the apartment 402 of the building 7, where there were 13 9mm shell casings.
In the same municipality of Jiutepec, but this time in the colony Calera Chica, the body of Ángel David Salazar, 17, was found on the sidewalk with a wound to the left side of his chest.  The victim was wearing a white shirt, blue denim Bermuda jeans, and white tennis shoes.

Some of the neighbors reported that all this was the result of a fight between alleged thugs, among some of them who were also injured, but from these events nothing was reported by the municipal authorities.

Man Executed By Three Gunshots
Photo Courtesy of Diario De Morelos
In Cuernavaca in the colony Ejidos de Acapantzingo, on the street Hule, the body of a man in his 20’s was found lying on the pavement.  The body presented several gunshot wounds.  In the crime scene they found 3 7.62mm shell casings.
Experts removed the body of a man in a state of putrefaction in the avenue Naranjo.  The body was dressed in blue jeans and white socks, his hands and feet were tied with a blue plastic cord, and was gagged with a flannel and a stick to the neck was used as a tourniquet.

In all cases the Attorney General’s Office of Morelos initiated investigations to find those responsible for the killings.

Sources:
El Sol De Cuernavaca
Diario De Morelos
Vanguardia
Provincia
El Sol De CuernavacaDiario De Morelos
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