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Death in Durango: 2 die in San Dimas

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Two men were found shot to death in San Dimas municipality Tuesday, according to Mexican news reports.

According to a news report posted on the website of Milenio news daily, a Mexican Army road patrol found the victims near the village of Minitas.

They were identified as Mateo Perez Guzman, 25, and Israel Niebla Perez, 28, both of Tayoltita in San Dimas.  The victims had been shot about the torso and left aboard a Jeep Cherokee SUV.

San Dimas municipality has been the focus of some drug related violence in recent years.  Government workers have suffered threats and vandalism at the hands of local criminal gangs just this past spring.  Several executions and deaths in gunfights have also been reported by Mexican press in San Dimas since 2010.

Meanwhile in Durango city, Durango state police seized 160 kilograms of marijuana in a raid Tuesday.

According to a news report which appeared on the online edition of El Siglo de Durango operatives with the Durango Direccion Estatal de Investigacion (DEI) served an order or apprehension at a residence on calle Canoas in Zona Centro.

Detained at the scene was Gustavo Hernandez Nava, 53.  It is unclear in the report if Hernandez Nava was the object of the detention order.

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

Santa Muerte: Inspired and Ritualistic Killings

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Borderland Beat
Dr. Robert Bunker authored a three part report on Santa Muerte for the FBI Bulletin.  On this post I have combined all three parts. 
Prominent in Dr. Bunker’s end notes is the name Tony Kail.   

Mr. Kail has been involved in researching religious cultures for over twenty years. He has served as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) on unfamiliar religious cultures and extremists groups to numerous public safety agencies; he has authored several books on religious cults including Santa Muerte.
I was reminded of a question that derived out of the Jose Treviño trial, I asked Mr. Kail  about it:

Chivis:In the Treviño trial Mamito’s Santeria religion  became a part of his testimony;
The witness was  asked why defendant Colorado Cessa sent him cigars.  "He sent me cigars because of my faith," he further elaborated saying "Santeria is based on the Lacumi beliefs of the Yoruba in Africa... then it came through Cuba with slaves. I sent people to do a cleaning on the part of Colorado."  

He was asked about ritual of animal sacrifice which he ignored probably because it was posed more as a statement than a question, the last remark on District Attorney's Gardner's redirect was, "Santeria doesn't justify killing people...” It was met by silence and Judge Sparks excused the witness.

Chivis: What is the significance of the cigars?
Kail:The use of Santeria is fascinating. The cigar in Santeria is used for two reasons. One it is used as an offering to deities such as Elegua. The smoke from the cigar is blown into the face of the cement stone representing the deity. Cigars may be left in his shrine as well for some of the other deities.

Secondly, it is used in cleansings. The smoke from the cigar is blown by a Santero/Santera onto the body of a client to cleanse them of negative energy. The priest may start at the head and move down the body of the client to cover them with smoke. This cleansing is known as a 'despojo'.
I have seen some cases where cigars were used as a tool to cleanse objects representing clients. For instance, a Santero could take a photo of a client and blow smoke onto the photo while praying to the orishas to cleanse the client.
The act follows a spiritual law observed in magico-religious cultures known as the law of similarity. This law states that if you affect and object that is similar to a person or object, then it will affect it. Affecting the photo would affect the person in the photo.
Chivis: How prevalent is the practice of Santa Muerte among Narcos? And..

1)Is it an accurate statement to say that the majority of Santa Muerte Followers are good people living within the boundaries of law?

2) What becomes so confusing is the 'hybrid' nature of these cults, how does this manifest?
 
3)It appears that Los Zetas has the largest narco following of Santa Muerte, in my state of Coahuila controlled by Zetas, there are many shrines, I have seen 5 shrines myself and the government allows them to stand, even on public land.

Kail: Santa Muerte does seem to be very popular among the narcos. However, the majority of her followers are law abiding citizens who go to her for matters relating to love, social oppression and healing. The narcos are very attracted to her as she has been 'demonized' and creates fear among many communities. There is evidence that she is worshiped among narcos like Zetas and street gangs like the Latin Kings. She is called upon by some police in regions of Mexico that I have seen.
The term 'hybrid' is perfect. Yes, there appears to be a 'Frankenstein' religious culture that the narcos have built that takes pieces from African traditional religions and Latin American folk religions. I have seen evidence of these organizations using Cuban Santeria also known as Regla de Ocha, Palo Mayombe aka Las Reglas de Congo, Puerto Rican Espiritismo, Mexican Curanderismo as well as others. They will take artifacts and rituals and use them for selfish purposes.
I believe they practice 'cultural misappropriation' and take a traditional culture like Santeria that is practiced worldwide without any connection to drugs and misuse the sacred rituals of this religious faith.

I have spoken with ritual specialists who tell stories of people who seek them out to buy their services to perform rituals to harm their enemies. Some of these are members of drug trafficking organizations. Sadly, when groups like this are arrested, members of these faiths that do NOT commit crimes are given a bad name.

I continue to see elements of the magico-religious cultures in the narco culture and in reports of narco activity.
Mr. Kail's books can be found on Amazon or his website.
“La Santisima Muerte,” performed by Necrophobic, from the album Death to All

Santa Muerte: Inspired and Ritualistic Killings by Dr. Robert Bunker
The narcotics wars in Mexico have increased in scope and intensity beginning with President Felipe Caldéron’s December 2006 de facto declaration of war against the cartels and gangs. The deployment of Mexican military forces in counterorganized crime and stability and support roles directly responded to the loss of the country’s control within many regions—identified as areas of impunity—of the country.

Since this conflict began, over 45,000 people have died in the fighting, and the areas of impunity have grown to include wide swaths of territory constituting hundreds of locales now under control of the cartels. The criminal insurgencies waged by the cartels and gangs, centered on a strategy of securing nongovernmental interference with their illicit narcotics and other criminal economic activities, have received much attention and debate. Far less has focused on some of the darker spiritualistic parts of the drug wars.

One component entails the rise of the cartel and gang narcocultura (drug culture) variant of the Cult of Santa Muerte (literally translated as “Holy Death”).2 This variant of the cult promotes greater levels of criminality than the more mainstream and older forms of Santa Muerte worship. Sometimes it can be so extreme that it condones morally corrupt behaviors—what many people would consider as resulting from an evil value system that rewards personal gain above all else, promoting the intentional pain and suffering of others, and, even, viewing killing as a pleasurable activity.

While addressing the rise of such dark spirituality requires a balanced perspective (e.g., avoiding a repeat of the Satanism scare of the 1980s), enough ritualistic behaviors, including killings, have occurred in Mexico to leave open the possibility that a spiritual insurgency component of the narcotics wars now exists.
Not all of the narcotics leaders, their foot soldiers, and assassins have remained religious or, alternatively, embraced secularism.
But, evidence suggests that the numbers of defections to the cults that worship a perverted Christian god (e.g., La Familia Michoacána and Los Caballeros Templarios) and the various unsanctioned saints (e.g., Jesús Malverde, Juan Soldado, and Santa Muerte) have grown for years

This rise in deviant spirituality has not come as a surprise. Mexico still contains a significant population of persons living in poverty and feeling disenfranchised by a government system perceived as being based on patron-client relationships and the influence of wealthy ruling families. This underclass produces a disproportionate amount of unsanctioned (folk) saint worshipers—though only a small percentage of them end up as killers for gangs and cartels. Still, many of these men and women who brutalize, torture, and kill others need a way to rationalize their activities.
If not offered solace via mainstream Catholicism, they will seek comfort elsewhere.3 While the adherents of a more benign drug saint, such as Jesús Malverde, can engage in nonreligious killing, others who worship Santa Muerte increasingly appear unable to separate their criminality from their spiritual beliefs.
For U.S. law enforcement agencies, the rise of a criminalized and dark variant of Santa Muerte worship holds many negative implications. Of greatest concern, the inspired and ritualistic killings associated with this cult could cross the border and take place in the United States. 
Dark Spirituality
Santa Muerte ideology has developed in Mexico for approximately a half century and has spread into the United States and Central America. The cult’s popularity has increased with its ties to illicit narcotics trafficking in Mexico in the late 1980s and early 1990s. As a “saint of last resort,” Santa Muerte always has had a following among those who live in extreme circumstances.
As one expert explains, “The Santa Muerte cult could best be described as [following] a set of ritual practices offered on behalf of a supernatural personification of death…she is comparable in theology to supernatural beings or archangels.”4

 The cult appears to have more European than Aztecan origins, with some individuals describing Santa Muerte as a new age Grim Reaper-type goddess, a bad-girl counterpart to the Virgin of Guadalupe.5 Her imagery includes that of a robed skeleton carrying a scythe and globe or scales. Part of her popularity results from her characterization as nonjudgmental (amoral) and a source of supernatural intervention for her followers who engage in the correct rituals and provide the proper offerings and sacrifices.
Over half of the prayers directed at her include petitions to harm other people via curses and death magic.6Still, many Santa Muerte followers appear benign—typically poor, uneducated, and superstitious individuals who practice a form of unsanctioned saint worship mixed with varying elements of folk Catholicism.
However, a sizeable minority of worshipers follow the fully criminalized variant of Santa Muerte worship steeped in narcocultura. The harsher version has gained popularity in Mexico as the criminal insurgencies taking place in the country have spread and intensified. For most of the cartels’ foot soldiers and their gang associates, brutal deaths prove almost certain. Such a form of imminent mortality facing adherents makes the worship of Santa Muerte spiritually dark.

The death of someone’s enemies, protection from harm (or, at least, hope for a quick and glorious death), cultivation of a dangerous reputation, and ability to enjoy the benefits of fabulous riches—including the company of beautiful women—become paramount. With the stakes so high, the sacrifices and offerings to Santa Muerte have become primeval and barbaric. Rather than plates of food, beer, and tobacco, in some instances, the heads of victims (and presumably their souls) have served as offerings to invoke powerful petitions for divine intervention.
 
Table 1. Santa Muerte Color Significance
Color
Symbolism
Red
Love and passion
Black
Power against enemies
White
Personal protection
Green
Response to injustice/legal issues
Gold
Attempt to attain wealth
Bone
Peace and harmony in life
Blue
Spiritual harmony and concentration
Copper
Removal of negative energies
Purple
Transformation of negative events to positive opportunities
Silver
Luck and success
Seven colors
Properties of the colors gold, silver, copper, black, purple, red, and green
This table serves only as an example. Applicable groups may be syncretic, drawing on multiple belief systems and having different meanings for the same characteristics.
Source: Tony Kail, Santa Muerte: Mexico’s Mysterious Saint of Death (La Vergne, TN: Fringe Research Press, 2010): 128.
 
While not a fully developed religion, Santa Muerte has self-proclaimed priests, temples and shrines, and many ritualized elements. Mexican authorities arrested one high priest, Romo Guillén, on kidnapping charges in December 2010. Individuals in his gang posed as members of the Los Zetas Cartel.7 In 2009 he called for holy war against the Catholic Church. During that same year, the Mexican army destroyed numerous Santa Muerte shrines. Members of the Catholic Church and the army see the growth of this cult as a dangerous development.8

Santa Muerte rituals vary, and worshipers disagree about some of the symbolism and the proper procedures to gain the spiritual and physical results petitioned. However, adherents generally consider Santa Muerte a jealous and vengeful deity who demands that her followers conduct the rituals and sacrifices properly to avoid her divine wrath.
Candle magic, herbs, oils, amulets, spiritual energy, and various mystical items play an important role (table 1). Often, the colors and mixtures of items employed determine ceremonial intent and arrangement of the altar. Components of the rituals also hold importance. Candles help to focus worshiper concentration and act as a conduit so that Santa Muerte receives the prayers.
Smoke blown, alcoholic drink spit out, and narcotics smeared on statues are thought to help activate them. The bases of candles and statues also may have items or artifacts embedded in them and may be anointed with oils and herbs to enhance their power.
 
More extreme forms of worship involve bowls of blood—animal and human—at the altars and smeared on the religious icons and on the devotee as part of a blood pact.9

Part 2:

Killings in Mexico
Similar circumstances have helped link killings in Mexico to Santa Muerte worshipers. While such incidents—including those with ritualized components—represent a small minority of murders perpetrated by Mexican cartels and gangs, enough allegedly have taken place to generate alarm.

 

  • In the rough neighborhood of Tepito, Mexico City, in 2004, authorities arrested a local car thief who later died in prison. A powerful criminal figure, he killed virgins and babies once a year and offered them as sacrifices to Santa Muerte to gain her favor and magical protection.10
  • During 2008 in Nuevo Laredo, Gulf Cartel enforcers captured Sinaloa Cartel members, took them to public Santa Muerte shrines, and executed them. Analysis by a U.S. law enforcement officer suggests that the perpetrators killed them as offerings to Santa Muerte.
  • In Ciudad Júarez in 2008, authorities found decapitated and stacked bodies at crime scenes in five separate incidents. Links were inferred to Santa Muerte worshipers.
  • In December 2009 and January 2010 in Ciudad Júarez, perpetrators murdered individuals in apparent Santa Muerte ritual killings. Regarding one incident, authorities found at the crime scene the remnants of an apparent altar and the words “Santa Muerte” and cuídanos flakita (take care of us, skinny) spray painted. In the second crime, gang members burned a victim behind a house containing an altar and a small Santa Muerte statue. Interviewed neighbors said that the killers—part of the Hillside 13 Gang—asked for “something big”; as a result, the perpetrators performed multiple human sacrifices.
  • In Culiacan in January 2010, a suspect placed a decapitated head by the tomb of deceased cartel leader Arturo Beltran Levya. Earlier, after Beltran Levya was killed in his apartment, authorities found items related to the cult of Santa Muerte, suggesting that one of his former fellow gang members may have presented the head as an offering.
  • In April 2010 in Camargo and Miguel Aleman, perpetrators tortured and decapitated individuals, carved the letter “Z” into their chests, and placed the victims’ heads on the roof of a desecrated, graffiti-covered roadside chapel. Based on the graffiti messages, the victims belonged to the Gulf Cartel. The perpetrators comprised members of the Los Zetas Cartel, which has embraced Santa Muerte as its patron saint. Many of the group’s members have tattoos of her image on their upper arm or chest.
  • In Cancun in June 2010, investigators found the bodies of six tortured victims, three with their hearts cut out and with the letter “Z” carved into their abdomens, in a cave outside of the resort city. Presumably the killers belonged to the Los Zetas Cartel, and the victims belonged to a competing group.
  • In July 2011 in Ciudad Júarez, Mexican police discovered a skeleton dressed as a bride at a Santa Muerte altar in a house used to hold kidnap victims. The perpetrators left two skulls and numerous cigarette packs as offerings. The circumstances behind the origins of the skeleton and skulls—if they were prior cult victims—remain unknown.11............................continues on following page................

Additional incidents allegedly have occurred involving victims with their skin and hearts removed. Other cases have included individuals castrated and beheaded while alive, lit on fire and burned to death, and butchered and quartered. Sometimes, authorities found only the victim’s skin. It remains unclear if these violent killings represent the acts of secular psychopaths or those following some sort of ritualized spiritual purpose.
Over five centuries ago, worshipers offered the skins of human sacrifices to the Aztec gods. It has not been confirmed whether some Santa Muerte worshipers have revived this practice.
These ritualized killings bring back memories of the 1989 murder of an American college student in Matamoros. Investigators found the victim’s brain in a ritual black cauldron, or nganga, belonging to a local marijuana-smuggling ring that practiced an extreme form of Palo Mayombe.
This gang offered over a dozen people, including the victim, as human sacrifices to ensure the magical protection of its members. An old crime scene photo displays a Santa Muerte statuette among the ritualistic tools belonging to the group.12  An incident once considered anomalous now serves as an early event warning of the growing influence of narcocultura in Mexico.
Finally, the massacre of Santa Muerte-worshiping cartel members may represent the broadening of spiritual violence in Mexico: “A report of mass murder in the northern State of Sinaloa revealed that over 50 victims were discovered with tattoos and jewelry depicting Santa Muerte.”13This event took place before 2007 and characterizes a failed raid on Sinaloan-controlled territory being brutally avenged.
Murders in the United States


 


In the past, inspired and ritualistic killings occurred primarily south of the U.S. border in Mexico. What may have served as the turning event was the October 2010 Chandler, Arizona, beheading incident—though at least one earlier murder exists:14
During 2005 and 2006 in south Texas, Gabriel Cardona Ramirez, a kill team leader for the Los Zetas Cartel, engaged in multiple homicides.

Relating to one incident: “In a telephone conversation with convicted Zeta Sicario Rosalio ‘Bart’ Reta intercepted by DEA agents, Cardona bragged about how he slashed…two teenagers with a broken bottle, gathered their blood in a cup, and made a toast to the Santisima Muerte, or death saint. He later disposed of their bodies in a barrel filled with liquid fuel, a method known as a guiso, or stew.15
However, the more recent Chandler event gained considerable media attention and became thoroughly documented due to the police incident report released to the media. During the early hours of October 10, 2010, a cartel kill team stabbed and beheaded Martin Alejandro Cota “Jando” Monroy, 38 years old, in his apartment. Earlier, Monroy had stolen marijuana and methamphetamines from the PEI-Estatales/El Chapo drug trafficking organization and fled from Mexico to avoid his own murder.
Initially, he had been captured by the Los Relampagos enforcement/kidnapping group sent by the cartel, but he talked his way out of being killed by offering a house he falsely claimed to own as collateral for the stolen narcotics. Via the El Gio Syndicate, the cartel sent three operatives to the Phoenix, Arizona, area to locate and watch Monroy until orders to kill him came through.
The operatives befriended Monroy and moved in with him before the murder. Prior to the killing, Monroy, a neighbor, and the three killers spent the night drinking at a local bar and talking about Santa Muerte. Earlier, Monroy bragged that he had protection from death, previously died five times and came back, and could kill someone by just looking at them.16
A written report, videotape, and photographs documented Monroy’s murder, which featured his body and severed head laying in his living room. The police incident report noted the Santa Muerte imagery at the crime scene.17.....................continues on next page
The written report listed burning candles and a small statue and picture of Santa Muerte. It did not mention the colors of the candles, statue, or the nuances of the photo (though this information should exist in video footage and photographs), and no items were collected for processing as evidence.18
This suggests that authorities treated the crime scene solely as a secular homicide and did not focus on the spiritual potential surrounding the killing. If nothing else, the kitchen directly opened up to the living room, suggesting that the lit candles illuminating the Santa Muerte shrine cast their glow on the killers and the victim during the beheading.
Since the Chandler incident, two other killings (one confirmed as Santa Muerte-linked and one possible) allegedly have occurred within the United States.
In April 2011 local law enforcement officers investigating a dozen killings in Chicago, Illinois, identified multiple suspects as Santa Muerte followers. Two had Grim Reaper tattoos. Santa Muerte shrines were found in the homes of the arrestees, who slit their victims’ throats in some of the killings.19
In September 2011 a man in Sullivan City, Texas, was found stabbed and burned to death in the remains of his trailer. Next to the rubble stood a small shed containing a Santa Muerte shrine with still-lit candles. Presumably, the shrine is associated with the homicide victim, but the motivation behind the crime remains under investigation.20
Having only four documented (three confirmed) Santa Muerte homicide related incidents is encouraging, particularly because the Mexican cartels have operatives in over 1,000 U.S. cities.21 Methodological issues pertaining to the possible underreporting of such killings—because authorities misidentified them or the media did not report them—and the crossborder potentials of the Santa Muerte-linked killings still pose concern.

Part 3Law Enforcement Investigations

 
Law enforcement professionals who encounter SantaMuerte artifacts and related narcotics cult paraphernalia at crime scenes should not dismiss them hastily. Such items provide insight into the spiritual orientation of suspects, arrestees, persons of interest, and potential victims of Santa Muerte-linked killings.
For instance, an altar containing blood, bones, burned plastic police figurines, and black statuettes and candles will determine different worshiper intent than one containing a rainbow statuette, blue and bone candles, and offerings of various types of fruit.
Some Mexican cartels, such as Los Zetas, consider Santa Muerte their patron saint; for this reason, the more specific the information gathered the better. While understanding the ritualistic nature of a homicide ultimately may not help to convict a suspect for the specific crime investigated—though additional charges may be warranted due to its premeditated nature—doing so will help provide baseline criminal data that authorities can use at the regional law enforcement intelligence center level.
Officer performance and safety issues, primarily those of an emotional or mental nature, need consideration during investigations of crime scenes involving Santa Muerte altars and ritualistic activities—even benign ones. Peace officers in cartel training have stated that they will have nothing to do with such Santa Muerte artifacts as altars, candles, statues, amulets, pictures, and sacrificial items because they consider them evil and, as a result, will not enter dwellings that contain them.
In fact, Santa Muerte informational training can prove so stressful for some law enforcement
and public safety officers that they can become physically ill and pass out. This has happened during training more than once.22 Programs and writings concerning wellness and spirituality in policing can provide “spiritual armor” against dark ritualistic crime scenes and altars containing human remains.23

While U.S. law enforcement personnel in some parts of the nation, such as southern Texas, are familiar with Santa Muerte worshipers working for the cartels, officers in other areas know little about such cartel members. Introductory booklets and reports, subject matter experts, and training programs can provide useful background on this growing cult.
Training also is offered by local High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) centers whose Mexican cartel and gang-focused training increasingly has narcotics saint content. Such training is being provided by the Los Angeles HIDTA and other entities in the southern border state areas.
Investigative support programs pertaining to Santa Muerte related killings still emerge as the need for them is being identified nationally.  This means that additional training and resources provided by local, state, and federal organizations may become available to U.S. law enforcement officers in the future.
While no certainty exists that Santa Muerte-inspired, much less ritualistic, killings will spread within the United States, recent trends suggest that they will occur at least sporadically. For U.S. law enforcement officers, it proves far better to be prepared and vigilant than caught off guard.
 
 
Conclusion
The latest variant of the Cult of Santa Muerte promotes extreme, corrupt, and criminal—even evil—behaviors. Law enforcement agencies need to provide a balanced, yet vigilant, response.
The rise of a fully criminalized and dark variant of Santa Muerte worship holds many negative implications. Of greatest concern, the inspired and ritualistic killings associated with this cult could emerge across the border and manifest domestically in the United States. 
About the author:
Dr. Bunker has worked with the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit and currently serves with the Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College and as an adjunct faculty member with Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, California. At the time of the writing of this article the author was serving as an instructor with the Los Angeles High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area

Chivis:
So many followers yet no where to worship.

Many of the Santa Muerte faithful have made the Mexico City pilgrimage  to what is the most famous La Niña Blanca (aka Santa Muerte) altar.  Enriqueta Romero tells of her journey that began in the 1985 earthquake of DF and resulted in her creating a home altar to honor La Niña Blanca,  that huge crowds of people visit each month to worship.

Despite of the Catholic Church not sanctioning  Santa Muerte, until last month there had been no official condemnation or comment from the Vatican about the cult.  The fact that a Vatican Council President issued a statement in May of this year was huge news, and illustrates  the word ballet the Cardinal was forced to dance, as the majority of Santa Muerte followers are  also devout Catholics. 
The church is in a position of dichotomy, they on the one hand wants it clear to Catholics the Vatican rejects Santa Muerte, yet it does not want to appear it is rejecting the worshipper.

It is a fact that churches of the world are losing followers at a startling rate, including the Catholic dominated Mexico.  Clearly, the Vatican would not want to provide another reason to alienate followers.
 
Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi: "It's not religion just because it's dressed up like religion; it's a blasphemy against religion," said the president of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Culture.



Dr. Bunkers Endnotes (1)
1“La Santisima Muerte,” performed by Necrophobic, from the album Death to All, Regain Records, 2009. The influence of Santa Muerte is expanding into some English-speaking musical genres. An additional concern is the promotion of alleged rituals, such as “blood baptism,” derived from wearing bloody human skins taken from sacrificial victims.
2 Initial disclaimer: The opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the FBI, DOJ, the Futures Working Group, Police Futures International, or any other institution or organization. Additional disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Army, the Department of Defense, or the U.S. Government.
3 Catholic priests in Mexico also are under siege. Since 2006, 12 have died, 1,000 have been extorted, and 162 have been threatened with death. See Joseph Kolb, “Mexican Priests Face Death, Extortion from Drug Cartels,” Catholic Register, October 6, 2011, http://www.catholicregister.org/news/international/item/13102-mexican-priests-face-death-extortion-from-drug-cartels (accessed August 27, 2012).
4 Kevin Freese, The Death Cult of the Drug Lords: Mexico’s Patron Saint of Crime, Criminals, and the Dispossessed,http://fmso.leavenworth.army.mil/documents/Santa-Muerte/santa-muerte.htm (accessed August 27, 2012).
5 E. Bryant Holman, The Santisima Muerte: A Mexican Folk Saint (Edward Holman: 2007).
6 Alfredo Ortega-Trillo, “The Cult of Santa Muerte in Tijuana,” San Diego News Notes, June 2006.
7“Mexican Holy Death Sect Leader Arrested,” Fox News Latino, January 5, 2011, http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2011/01/05/mexican-holy-death-sect-leader-arrested/ (accessed August 28, 2012).
8“Holy War Against the Catholic Church,” California Catholic Daily, April 9, 2009.
9 Tony Kail, Santa Muerte: Mexico’s Mysterious Saint of Death (La Vergne, TN: Fringe Research Press, 2010): 128.
Endnotes (2)
10 Story provided to a researcher by a local Santa Muerte follower.
11 First compiled in 2009, this listing has increased with the inclusion of newly occurring, as well as identified, incidents. See Pamela L. Bunker, Lisa J. Campbell, and Robert J. Bunker, “Torture, Beheadings, and Narcocultos,” in Narcotics Over the Border, ed. Robert J. Bunker (London, UK: Rouledge, 2011), 166; and Robert J. Bunker and John P. Sullivan, “Societal Warfare South of the Border?”

Small Wars Journal (May 22, 2011), http://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/societal-warfare-south-of-the-border. New incident sources include: “Another Slaughtered in Honor of the Holy Death,” Noticieros Televisa (January 10, 2010), http://neglectedwar.com/blog/archives/875 (accessed August 28, 2012); “Indetifican Cabeza ‘Ofrendada’ en Tumba de ‘El Barbas,’” (January 18, 2010), http://www2.esmas.com/noticierostelevisa/mexico/estados/130952/identifican-cabeza-abandonada-tumba-el-barbas  (accessed August 28, 2012);

Mail Foreign Service, “Drug Cartel Victims Discovered with Their Hearts Cut Out Close to Mexican Resort of Cancun,” Daily Mail (June 7, 2010), http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1284590/Bodies-hearts-cut-close-Mexican-resort-Cancun.html (accessed August 28, 2012); and Daniel Borunda, “Skeleton, Santa Muerte Altar Found at Alleged Kidnapping Site in Juárez,” El Paso Times, July 15, 2011, http://www.elpasotimes.com/ci_18481956 (accessed August 28, 2012).
12 Tony M. Kail, “Crime Scenes and Folk Saints,” Counter Cult Apologetics Journal 1, no. 1 (2006): 4.
13 Ibid.
14 Bunker, “Torture, Beheadings, and Narcocultos,” 166.
15 Jason Buch, “Zeta Gets Life,” Laredo Morning Times, March 6, 2009 (also posted as “Zeta Blood Lust: Three More Cartel Members Plead Guilty in Major Fed Case” and mirrored on a number of Web sites). See http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2201097/posts (accessed August 28, 2012).
16 Laurie Merrill, “Chandler Beheading Tied to Mexican Drug Cartel,” The Arizona Republic, March 2, 2011, http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/03/02/20110302chandler-beheading-mexico-drug-trafficking0303.html (accessed August 31, 2012).
17 Publicly released report from the Chandler, Arizona, Police Department.
18 Ibid.
19 Frank Main and Kim Janssen, “Sources: Two Charged in Double Murder Suspected in 10 Other Killings,” Sun Times, April 2, 2011, http://www.suntimes.com/news/crime/4054640-418/story.html (accessed August 31, 2012).
20 Stephanie Bertini, “Santa Muerte Shrine Found Outside Sullivan City,” KRGV.com, September 21, 2011.
21 Accusations have focused on recent Arizona shooter Jared Loughner as being a Santa Muerte follower. These appear unfounded even though he had a skull shrine with offerings in his back yard and engaged in other bizarre activities. While he may have had an affinity for Satan or the Grim Reaper, such associations do not mean that Loughner, a mentally unstable individual, is a Santa Muerte follower; and U.S. Department of Justice, National Drug Intelligence Center, National Drug Threat Assessment 2011 (Washington, D.C.: August 2011): 8
 
 Endnotes (3)
22 Sessions conducted by U.S. Marshal Robert Almonte.
23 Samuel L. Feemster, “Wellness and Spirituality: Beyond Survival Practices for Wounded Warriors,” FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, May 2009: 2-8; “Spirituality: An Invisible Weapon for Wounded Warriors,” FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, January 2009: 1-12; and “Spirituality: The DNA of Law Enforcement Practice,” FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, November 2007: 8-17.


Additional Resources
Books
Kevin Freese, The Death Cult of the Drug Lords: Mexico’s Patron Saint of Crime, Criminals, and the Dispossessed, http://fmso.leavenworth.army.mil/documents/Santa-Muerte/santa-muerte.htm.
Tony Kail, Santa Muerte: Mexico’s Mysterious Saint of Death (Seattle, WA: CreateSpace Independent Publishing, 2010).
Tony Kail, Magico-Religious Groups and Ritualistic Activities: A Guide for First Responders (Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press, 2008).
Internet Resources
Robert J. Bunker and Pamela L. Bunker, Santa Muerte and Mexican Narcocultos (Quantico, VA: FBI Academy, Quantico, 2011), http://fbilibrary.fbiacademy.edu/bibliographies/santamuertenarcos.pdf.
Thank you to my buddy the fearless Lacy ....
Thank you to Tony Kail and Dr. Robert Bunker

Treasury Sanctions Mexican Traffickers Tied to Kiki Camarena Murder

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Borderland Beat
 
The DEA today announced that the U.S. Department of the Treasury designated 18 individuals and 15 entities linked to Rafael Caro Quintero, a Mexican drug trafficker.  Rafael Caro Quintero is a significant Mexican narcotics trafficker who began his criminal career in the late 1970s when he and others, including Juan Jose Esparragoza Moreno (a.k.a. “El Azul”), formed the Guadalajara drug cartel and amassed an illicit fortune. 
Caro Quintero was the mastermind behind the kidnapping and murder of Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Special Agent (SA) Enrique Camarena in 1985.  Following his capture in the same year, Caro Quintero was convicted in Mexico for his involvement in SA Camarena’s murder and drug trafficking and is currently serving a 40 year prison sentence there.
Caro Quintero is also wanted in the Central District of California on criminal charges related to the kidnapping and murder of SA Camarena as well as drug trafficking. 
 
Caro Quintero continues his alliance with Esparragoza Moreno’s organization and its key players, such as the previously-designated individual Juvencio Ignacio Gonzalez Parada.  The President identified Caro Quintero and Esparragoza Moreno as significant foreign narcotics traffickers pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (Kingpin Act) in 2000 and 2003, respectively.
 
 
Today’s action, pursuant to the Kingpin Act, 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 designation is another critical tool that helps us pursue hardened career criminals and keep them on the run, making it even more difficult to use the drug assets they have amassed,” said Gary Haff, Acting Chief of DEA's Financial Operations section.

 “No amount of effort can clean their dirty money, paid for with their violence and by their victims, including DEA Special Agent Kiki Camarena .DEA is committed to seeing that justice is done, and we will not rest until they and their global criminal networks have been put out of business, their assets have been sized, and their freedom has been taken from them.”
“Rafael Caro Quintero has used a network of family members and front persons to invest his fortune into ostensibly legitimate companies and real estate projects in the city of Guadalajara” said Adam Szubin, Director of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).  “With the assistance of the Government of Mexico, OFAC continues to target drug traffickers, the laundering of their ill-gotten gains, and those who assist them in their illicit activities.”
                Kiki Camarena
Today’s action targets six of Rafael Caro Quintero’s family members, including his children -- Hector Rafael Caro Elenes, Roxana Elizabeth Caro Elenes, Henoch Emilio Caro Elenes, and Mario Yibran Caro Elenes-- his wife, Maria Elizabeth Elenes Lerma, and his daughter-in-law, Denisse Buenrostro Villa.  Humberto Vargas Correa, a longtime personal secretary of Caro Quintero, was also designated.  These individuals own and/or manage a variety of companies in Guadalajara, which were also designated today.  These companies include:  ECA Energeticos, S.A. de C.V., a gas station company; El Baño de Maria, S. de R.L. de C.V., a bath and beauty products store; Pronto Shoes, S.A. de C.V. (a.k.a. CX-Shoes), a shoe company; and Hacienda Las Limas, S.A. de C.V., a resort spa.
In addition, OFAC targeted members of the Sanchez Garza family, which is based in Guadalajara and involved in money laundering operations on behalf of Caro Quintero and also linked to Esparragoza Moreno.  Targets include the family patriarch, Jose de Jesus Sanchez Barba, along with his three sons, Mauricio Sanchez Garza, Jose de Jesus Sanchez Garza, and Diego Sanchez Garza.  Mauricio Sanchez Garza is currently a fugitive from money laundering charges in the Western District of Texas (San Antonio). 
        Kiki
OFAC also designated the following additional Sanchez Garza family members today:  Beatriz Garza Rodriguez, wife of Jose de Jesus Sanchez Barba; Hilda Riebeling Cordero, wife of Mauricio Sanchez Garza; and Ernesto Sanchez Gonzalez and Ruben Sanchez Gonzalez, both cousins of the Sanchez Garza family.  In addition to Sanchez Garza family members, OFAC also designated the following individuals for acting on behalf of the Sanchez Garza family:  Michael Adib Madero; Diego Contreras Sanchez; and Luis Cortes Villasenor. 
These designated individuals own and/or manage the following Guadalajara based companies, which were also designated today:  Grupo Fracsa, S.A. de C.V. and Dbardi, S.A. de C.V., real estate development companies; Grupo Constructor Segundo Milenio, S.A. de C.V., a construction company; Restaurant Bar Los Andariegos (a.k.a. Barbaresco Restaurant), a restaurant; and Piscilanea S.A. de C.V. (a.k.a. Albercas y Tinas Barcelona), a swimming pool company.
Kiki Camarena
Internationally, OFAC has designated more than 1,200 businesses and individuals linked to 103 drug kingpins 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 could 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.
click to enlarge
Thank you to the reader who took time to send me an email reminding me of others still at large though indicted for Kiki's murder (click on image to enlarge):

 
For Superseding Indictment Link Here To Read

An article about the former director of Interpol turned most wanted man , written in 1990 by LA Times;

A former director of Interpol in Mexico, indicted by a U.S. grand jury last month in the torture-murder of an American drug agent, has been arrested on drug charges by police here, officials in the Mexican attorney general's office said Thursday.

Miguel Aldana Ibarra (blue tie foto on left) was arrested Wednesday afternoon outside a restaurant, according to Arturo Antelmo, a spokesman for the attorney general's office.

Agents later raided Aldana's house in Cuernavaca, 51 miles southeast of Mexico City, and confiscated 2.2 pounds of pure cocaine, six automatic rifles and several rounds of ammunition, Antelmo said.
He said that Aldana was picked up on a warrant for his involvement in a huge operation to smuggle marijuana into the United States five years ago. In 1985, Mexican federal agents raided a ranch in the northern state of Chihuahua and confiscated 9,000 tons of marijuana, reportedly the largest drug bust in Mexican history. The ranch was owned by Mexican drug kingpin Rafael Caro Quintero.

Last year, Caro was convicted in Mexico of the Guadalajara murder of U.S. drug agent Enrique Camarena and was sentenced to a long prison term.

Mexican officials said that Aldana's arrest was unrelated to his indictment last month by a federal grand jury in Los Angeles on charges that he participated in the 1985 kidnaping, torture and murder of Camarena.

One day after he was indicted, Aldana held a press conference at his law office here and proclaimed his innocence of any involvement with Camarena's murder. The indictment alleges that he participated in the murder "to maintain and further the purposes of a Guadalajara narcotics cartel that was engaged in the trafficking of substantial quantities of marijuana and cocaine."

Assistant U.S. Atty. Manuel Medrano, the lead prosecutor on the Camarena case in Los Angeles, said Thursday that Mexican officials had not informed him of Aldana's arrest. Medrano and other U.S. officials had sought unsuccessfully to have several Mexican citizens extradited to the United States for trial on charges stemming from the Camarena case.

Mexico has a general policy of refusing to extradite its citizens to the United States, and Antelmo said his government had no intention of extraditing Aldana.


Thank you D.D.17
Source: DEA Press Release

The Strange Death of Tom Gisby

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The mall was busy and crowded. A man walked up to a counter and ordered a coffee, moments later he would be dead, the victim of a Mexican assassination.  The victim, a prominent Canadian gangster by the name of Tom Gisby.  The gunmen shot Tom twice at point blank range with a 44 magnum, he was dead before he hit the ground.  There were two assassins, one managed to escaped into the crowds the other, captured.  Tom, whose nickname was the Tank had come down to Mexico to lay low after a rival  firebombed his motor home, Tom suffered minor burns from this attack.

Canada at that time was in the midst of a violent year as biker gangs killed one another over territory and revenge.  The violence continued to escalate after the death of Jonathan Bacon, a man who was not so friendly with Tom. Tom was known to associate of several biker gangs and heavily involved in the trafficking of high grade marijuana known as Bubblegum.  Tom had been in the business for over twenty years, certainly long enough to make a mistake. At the time of Tom's death he was said to be worth millions but the truth was Tom was low on funds.  While Tom’s connections to the bikers were well known and documented, little was known about his connections to the Mexican Cartels, until now.

At the time of his death Tom was spending most of his days in Mexico to avoid the carnage being unleashed in Canada. He thought he was safe, too far to be touched. Vancouver was where Tom was based, he owned a garage which customized cars and trucks.  This business was used to launder drug proceeds and construct hidden compartments in vehicles.  These vehicles would later be used to hide drugs and money.  Tom was liked by the the Mexicans, they respected him and considered him a professional and he was compared to the violent and unpredictable nature of the biker gangs.  He once joked that Customs Agents at the airport knew him by name.  They would smile and tell him, “Come here Tom, you know we have to look in your luggage.”  Even though he was known to the Canadian Royal Mounted Police, they were unable to effectively put together a case against him.  

Tom was responsible for the introduction of hundreds of kilos of cocaine to Canada.   The drugs would come to Vancouver by airplane arriving at the Vancouver International Airport.  This was accomplished by corrupting airport employees.  The network was still intact and functioning at the time of Tom’s death.  It was widely believed Tom was killed because he became indebted to the Fernandez Clan a powerful narco family almost invisible to law enforcement.  Others have suggested Tom was assassinated by his rivals known as Dhak-Duhre.   Tom was one of six prominent Canadian gangster to die within the span of a few months but that is a very long reach for a localized organization.      

Tom’s connection to the Mexican Drug Cartels began with a man named Albert Fernandez Mario Ojeda, who also goes by the alias ‘El Gringo’.  He was the son of Mario Fernandez Sr who goes by the name of ‘La Guajolota’.  For those who do not know, the term guajolota refers to a tamale put in a bun, it's quite delicious. 

Mario Fernandez Jr held two passports; one issued by the US and the other issued by Mexico.  These allow Mario to easily travel between the US and Mexico. This is of logistical importance because the family is headquartered in San Diego.  In San Diego the family owns a luxurious mansion where Maria Ojeda Felix lives.  This mansion is said to have been bought with proceeds from drug money. 
El Gringo

Maria Ojeda Felix plays an important role for the organization.  Maria is the wife of Mario Fernandez Sr, she is also the mother of Mario Jr and Hans Christian.   She handles all the proceeds from drug transactions and is responsible for sending cash back to Mexico.  It is said she is both beautiful and elegant and very unassuming.  Her husband resides in Guadalajara with Mario Fernandez and Hans Fernandez, though Mario also sometimes resides in San Diego.

Hans Christian Fernandez Ojeda is the brother of Mario.  He is in charge transporting the cocaine from Guadalajara to San Diego and Vancouver.  The family is known to own several mansions and several small businesses in and around Guadalajara.

Mario Fernandez Sr is in charge of the transporting the cocaine from Panama to Mexico.  He owns two cargo ships which he uses to smuggle the cocaine.  In Panama, Mario has  fostered a long standing relationship with several major traffickers who also help him launder some of his profits. 

He is known to have been affiliated with Ignacio Coronel Villareal or "Nacho"  and elements of the Beltran Leyva Organization. It remains rather unclear as to whether he operated independently or for these organizations.  There is also speculation that Mario Fernandez Sr was connected to the Guadalajara Cartel which saw the height of it's power in the 1980's.  It is interesting to note La Politica has made several references about the connection between Guadalajara and Canadian drug traffickers.

The cocaine arrives on the cargo ships at Nuevo Vallarta.  The city that borders the famous vacation destination Puerto Vallarta. The cocaine is then transported by truck to Benito Juárez International Airport.  This is the main hub for Mexico City and is infamous for its corruption.  It is said the Mexican Federal Police charge around 1,800 dollars US per kilo but it varies depending on how many kilos are sent or received, sometimes the price was higher.  The kilos were then flown to Vancouver and unloaded by Tom’s boys. 

Once the cocaine was sold and all the money was collected, Tom would then transport the cash either in cars or trucks.  The money was hidden in special compartments and sent back to San Diego where Maria would make sure everything was correct.  The money was then smuggled across the US border and then down the Pacific Coast to Guadalajara where Mario Sr would launder it. To date there have been no reports that the Fernandez Clan has been dismantled and no reason to believe they stopped trafficking narcotics.  It is highly likely they are still in operation at this time.

And that is the story of Tom Gisby and his Mexican connections.

Fotos and videos of balacera in Reynosa

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Thanks to Chivis for the links:

From Valley Central, an excerpt:

Authorities have confirmed that three gunmen and one soldier are dead following a gun battle near an oil company facility in Reynosa.

It all happened in the Colonia Petrolera next to a PEMEX facility off Boulevard Morelos in central Reynosa around 9 a.m. Wednesday.

Reynosa residents turned to the #reynosfollow hashtag of the social media network Twitter to report the deadly firefight.

The Tamaulipas Attorney General's Office (PGJE) later confirmed that the deadly firefight between gunmen and Mexican soldiers lasted about an hour and fifteen minutes.

From Sin Embargo:

 En menos de 24 horas nueve personas pedieron la vida en dos balaceras distintas ocurridas en los municipios de Reynosa y San Fernando en el estado de Tamaulipas.

De acuerdo con reportes oficiales, el enfrentamiento que esta mañana se registró en Reynosa dejó cuatro muertos, tres civiles armados y un elemento del Ejército Mexicano

Photos from Twitter:


En menos de 24 horas nueve personas pedieron la vida en dos balaceras distintas ocurridas en los municipios de Reynosa y San Fernando en el estado de Tamaulipas. De acuerdo con reportes oficiales, el enfrentamiento que esta mañana se registró en Reynosa dejó cuatro muertos, tres civiles armados y un elemento del Ejército Mexicano.
De tuitero @Raptor_111
De tuitero @tuidolo4ever1





















Links:
Valley Central
Sin Embargo

En menos de 24 horas nueve personas pedieron la vida en dos balaceras distintas ocurridas en los municipios de Reynosa y San Fernando en el estado de Tamaulipas. De acuerdo con reportes oficiales, el enfrentamiento que esta mañana se registró en Reynosa dejó cuatro muertos, tres civiles armados y un elemento del Ejército Mexicano.

Manta: Cd. Victoria Zetas Upset Over Arrival of Plaza Boss Appointed by Z40

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BorderlandBeat.Com  Posted on BB Forum by "777"

 
Mantas displayed in Ciudad Victoria
 
CD. Victoria, Tamaulipas.-This Thursday the city was blanketed with organized crime narcomantas, one in Calzada Tamatan,  another two blocks away from the Government Palace, and one more on the Lopez Mateos boulevard which was taken down by state officials.
 
In said narcomantas, members of the Zetas Cartel from that plaza complained about the arrival of a plaza boss on appointed by Z40.
 
MANTA TEXT TRANSLATION:

To the public’s opinion

We want to manifest our /Zeta Disapproval/. A high ranking leader from Nuevo Laredo threatens to provoke more violence.

He is Regino Gutierrez Moreno. He was sent by MIGUEL ANGEL TREVINO EL Z-40. We want him to leave the same direction he came from. We already have a leader here in Victoria. We know there will be retaliations. But we are /UNITED AND PREPARED/. No fucking ??? is going to come here and claim what is rightfully ours.

What a badass huh? Skinned and fed to him! He better go and chase his own hare because we have this one already. To be clear he is being protected by the SECRETARIO DE SEGURIDAD ESTATAL RAFAEL LOMELI. He hides him and even lets him roam around freely as if he was a police officer.

We want the governor to know that this will bring more violence and we will not let him take control of this plaza, even if he was sent by Z40. We would rather risk our lives instead of losing it by betrayals.  

ATTE. INCONFORMIDAD ZETA.

Source: Notinfomex

Legionarios Offer Rewards for Information Leading to Zetas

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BorderlandBeat.Com Posted on Forum by "Lala"

Los Legionarios offer 50 thousand dollars for a plaza boss and 5 thousand for halcones or sicarios.

Los Legionarios reappeared in the main cities of Tamaulipas. In Reynosa, Nuevo Laredo, Matamoros and Ciudad Victoria where they placed mantas offering million-dollar rewards for information that leads to the capture the zeta leaders, halcones and policemen who work for the criminal group.

In their mantas, los Legionarios make a call to society for the location and destruction of Los Zetas.

For example, for the brothers Treviño Morales, Miguel Ángel (Z-40) and Omar (Z-42) they offer a million dollars for any information to find their location.

For a plaza commander, los Legionarios offer 50 thousand dollars, halcones and sicarios five thousand, and the same for police chiefs or former elements of the municipal police in collusion with Los Zetas.

Similarly, they offer 5 thousand dollars for information of night clubs, bars, and shops used to launder drug money.

"Any information from any "plaza" is valuable. In Nuevo Laredo, in particular, you already know where to report that we are checking it... it is about time you respect the society and especially in Nuevo Laredo", reads one of the mantas.

Los Legionarios invited other cartels and especially Daniel Velázquez Caballero, L-52 or El Talibancillo, brother of Iván Velázquez Caballero (above left), Z-50 or the Talibán.

In October of 2012, after the arrest of el Talibán, the territorial cells under his command, that were once part of Los Zetas, went to form a group antizeta, called los Legionarios, which threatens with exterminating Miguel Angel Treviño Morales, Z-40.

Source:24 Hours

Zacatecas:7 Killed as the CDG-Zetas Nightmare Continues in Fresnillo

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BorderlandBeat.Com by "Zac"
Shootout in Fresnillo resulting so far in 7 deaths
Fresnillo, Zac- Big mobilization of the Secretary of the Navy and State and federal police forces reported right now, after a bloody clash in Fresnillo between subjects allegedly linked to organized crime, elements linked to Los Zetas and the Gulf Cartel.
Unofficial reports inform of seven dead, five would have fallen in Puebla Street, in the historic center of this city, and two more in La Paz street, in colonia Industrial.
People are asked to avoid going outside at the moment, since marines and other security forces are carrying out operations throughout the city.
Past 11 pm the State Government issued a statement with official information about the clash.
OFFCIAL STATEMENT OF THE ZACATECAS GOVERNMENT
Around 21:00 on Thursday a clash between antagonistic groups of organized crime in the city of Fresnillo started, with a balance of five dead men and seize of various long weapons, grenades, and ammunition.
The events began at the corner of the streets of La Paz and Jalpa, at colonia Industrial, where there were the lifeless bodies of two men.
A chase ensued among members of the two rival groups at colonias Palomares, Las Americas, FOVISSSTE and Lagunilla, where some of them encountered elements of the 79 battalion of infantry and the Ministerial police, and three of the assailants were killed.
At that site, almost at the crossroads of Reforma street in colonia Lagunilla, a pick up truck was seized, as well as ten AK 47s, six AR 15, three grenade launches, two grenades calibre 40, 53 chargers for AK 47 and 16 for AR 15.
Elements of the 97 infantry battalion, SEMAR, Ministerial police and State preventive police were deployed to the area.
On Thursday, early in the morning, a man was found executed in Valdecañas, Fresnillo
The corpse of a man, about 35 years old, with two shots in the head, was found Thursday morning in the community of Valdecañas, at the side of the road to Saucito del Poleo.
It was about 6:30 hours when the deputy delegate of that community was notified by some residents about the presence of a body.
They immediately reported to the emergency system 06 , whereby police were dispatched.
Two municipal police patrols arrived and verified the discovery.

Agents of the State Ministerial Police (PME) arrived, as well as forensics, who transported  the corpse.
So far it´s unknown who killed him, the body bore signs that the man had been tortured first,  then transported  to the site where he was executed.
 
Additional information from Proceso:

Five suspected hitmen killed, once members of the Gulf cartel and Los Zetas as clashes erupted on Thursday night in different parts of the city of Fresnillo.
Two men were killed after a prolonged chase between criminal groups, and three others were killed when the assassins encountered elements of the 97 infantry battalion of the army and agents of the Ministerial police who were mobilized when citizens reported the clashes.
After the clashes, security corporations found a pick-up truck which was abandoned in Reforma street, loaded with grenade launchers, ten AK-47, six R-15 rifles, grenades, as well as scores of magazines and cartridges.
The first reports were made around nine o'clock in the evening. Neighbors of the colonia Industrial reported shootings and a chase between several vehicles, which continued through other streets.
At one point,  at Jalpa and La Paz streets there were the bodies of killed, but the confrontation continued in the colonias of Las Américas and Fovissste, among others.
However, at La Lagunilla the criminal suspects met the elements of the 97 infantry battalion and the PM who had been mobilized, and started another firefight.
Three of the alleged assassins were riddled with bullets.
In the morning it had been reported the discovery of a man executed with a shot to the head, whose body was abandoned on a road in the community of Valdecañas, Fresnillo municipality.
In the last two weeks there have been conflicts attributed to the dispute of the plaza between these criminal groups.

Last week at least 12 victims were counted in different skirmishes both in the city of Fresnillo and in several communities, such as Estación Gutierrez, where in a clash occurred on Thursday 20th  eight people died.
 

Sources used to write this post: LasNoticiasya-NZRZacatecas-El Circo
 

Facebook Loving Sicario Killed

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Borderland Beat

One of  five criminals who were killed in a clash with elements supporting the State Police in the town of San Juanito, had a Facebook account, where he described himself as hitman and businessman,  He also posted several photos of himself with high powered weapons.
His name, Roberto Arturo Gandara Estrada, 27 and was second in command of the criminal group "La Linea",led by  Espino Baltazar Fuentes, aka "The Balta", 42,  also killed in the clash.
Arrested after confrontation was Javier Dominguez Rodriguez, operations coordinator Bocoyna Municipal Police, assigned to San Juanito, for allegedly providing "protection" to the criminal gang.
Some of the rifles AR-15 .223 caliber, 7.62x39, and 5.56x45 HK, which were secured by police, are in the  photos on the Facebook account of  Gándara Estrada.

Likewise several handguns .357 magnum, .38 special and .9 mm, and 0 tactical uniform, including bulletproof vests. Information provided in the profile of Estrada, says he is "Dealer in and HITMAN ",  he wrote that he "studied at Eastern Hills High School", and lives in Cuauhtemoc. 
 
All photos were accessed from the Facebook account which has now  been deactivated. Click images to enlarge.
 
 

 
Source La Parada - video from Texcoco's post -see Texcoco's  Post here 
 

Veracruz: Zetas Send Warning of Pending Bloodbath

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BorderlandBeat.Com

 
At least 6 "narco banners" signed by "los zetas", were found in the states of Puebla, Veracruz and Edo of México.  In the banners  the Zetas boast of their power in those territories and claimed responsibility of   killing the leader of "Los Rojos”, José Nava Romero. ( photo below)
In one of the Banners they talk about the selling of the Puebla Plaza (square) by a public servant from the government of Puebla, in addition they say the Governor Rafael Moreno Valle is well aware that the plaza was sold to the "Beltranes."
 
Text:
"Moreno Vallezzzzz your people betray us by selling the plaza to the fucking Beltranes, that's why we killed “El Rojo” in Cholula so you can learn respect, and there will be a zzzzzzzzz Blood Bath this Sunday".
Another:
"Governor Moreno,  Valle Plaza belongs to ZZZ and you know this, if you betray us we will kill the fucking Beltranes to teach you how to respect and there will be blood".
 

 

Read Texcoco full post here source: AcentoVeiniano

American Born Narcos

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BorderlandBeat.com  Thank you to the reader who sent the story in!
 
The ongoing debate regarding immigration reform has once again brought the topic of border security to the forefront.
In South Texas, the area that has seen a sharp increase in drug trafficking runs from treacherous waters of the Rio Grande to the U.S. Border Patrol checkpoints in Falfurrias and Sarita, the last law enforcement waypoint along the roads leading from the Texas-Mexico border to inland metropolitan areas.
In those areas, drug smugglers tied to Mexican drug cartels work ingenious ways of moving their drugs to their destinations without detection by law enforcement.
That activity has drawn the attention of the Texas Department of Public Safety, which has classified gangs working with Mexican drug cartels as the greatest threat to Texas. 
Talks of violent executions and large-scale firefights in Mexico between cartel gunmen are some of the talking points brought up during those discussions. But what rarely gets brought up is the fact that various members of Mexican drug cartels are not Mexican but in fact are U.S.-born Texans.
 
Mexican drug cartels have been active in the U.S. for decades. As such, they have developed deep roots with many members being second or third generation smugglers, said Hidalgo County Sheriff Lupe Treviño.
“They have been here for a long time but they try to keep a low profile; what has brought them to the forefront is what’s going on in Mexico,” Treviño said referring to the crackdown on cartels by former presidents Vicente Fox and Felipe Calderon.
Keeping a low profile or trying to minimize their role is what some of the drug cartel members who have been caught on U.S soil have done.
When police officers and deputy U.S. Marshals caught Benicio “Comandante Veneno” Lopez this month, he claimed that he didn’t have a leadership figure in the Gulf Cartel, saying he was a mid- or low-level smuggler, said San Juan Police Chief Juan Gonzalez.
“No low-key cartel guy has bodyguards, has four or five stash houses, carries bulk cash and knows about ton quantities of narcotics,” Gonzalez said. “He was trying to downplay his role to try to keep a low profile.
DIFFERENT ACTIVITIES IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES
The activities of cartel members in the U.S are very different than those in Mexico, however the public and the media quickly associate the word “cartel” with the way they operate in Mexico, Treviño said.
“When people hear the word “cartel” they think of convoys of gunmen, brutal firefights and crude executions,” Treviño said.  “That happens in Mexico, not here. If they were to try that here they would be wiped out. The American people would not stand for that. Every law enforcement agency and resource would be used to literally wipe them out.”
Because cartel members seek to keep a low profile and are not tied to many of the crimes in the community, keeping track of them is a job best left for federal agencies, which have the best resources to attack transnational criminals, while the brunt of the Sheriff’s Office’s resources go toward local crime, the sheriff said.
Still, in a border county, cross-border organized crime intersects with local law enforcement.
“Robberies, theft, carjacking, assault and other crimes — that is not something that these individuals are interested in but it affects our communities, “Trevino said. “On the other hand, street gangs are behind the majority of those crimes. They are the ones holding up convenience stores, carrying out drive by shootings, carjackings and the brunt of our violent crime. They are our most significant threat in this county.”
Gonzalez, for his part, paints a different picture from the sheriff. He said cartel members are coming out of the shadows and becoming more active locally.
“I honestly think we can dismantle the Gulf Cartel,” Gonzalez said. “It’s important to accept the fact that they operate here. This drug cartel operates with a lot of money. These guys have 20 to 30 vehicles assigned to operatives. That concerns because they used to hide but now they are brazen and putting are putting stash houses all over the place.  It’s important we address them and try to dismantle them.”
U.S.-BORN MEXICAN CARTEL BOSSES
Several key members of the Gulf Cartel and other Mexican drug syndicates have ties to the Rio Grande Valley.
Bencicio  Lopez, known as “Comandante Veneno,” (commander venom in English) is a Houston native who grew up in Roma and also climbed to a leadership role in the Gulf Cartel.
Lopez was a close confidant of Samuel “Metro 3” Flores Borrego, whose death led to a split within the cartel.
After Flores Borrego’s death, Lopez worked with other commanders to avenge the death of his friend and became the leader of a cartel cell that also worked in the Ribereña area. Lopez had been wanted by San Juan Police in connection with a 2010 failed cartel kidnapping that resulted in the death of Roberto Hinojosa, who tried to fight off the kidnappers as his wife and young son were in the room.....continues next page

Authorities arrested Lopez and his spouse along with two bodyguards on June 13. In addition to the murder charges, the group is also facing state drug charges and could face federal conspiracy charges, officials have said.
Juan Garcia Abrego, the legendary leader of a Matamoros based smuggling organization which eventually became known as the Gulf Cartel led his organization with an iron fist from the 1970’s — when he inherited it from his uncle Juan N. Guerra — until his arrest in 1996 and later extradition to the U.S., where he was convicted of numerous drug trafficking counts and is now serving several life sentences. While Garcia Abrego was a kingpin based in Matamoros, he was actually born in La Paloma, a small community just south of San Benito.
Edgar “La Barbie” Valdez Villarreal, a Laredo-born drug trafficker who became a leading figure of the Beltran Leyva Cartel and spearheaded control of a splinter faction when an internal struggle for control broke out within the group. Mexican authorities arrested him in 2010 and he continues to fight various drug charges, as well as U.S attempts at extradition. He earned his nickname from boyish face, thus being compared to a Ken or Barbie doll.
Mario “Comandante Popo” Peña, a Roma native who grew up to control a Gulf Cartel cell in the Ribereña area, which is across the Rio Grande from Starr County.
Peña began his career in local street gangs in Roma and built his way up to the rank of commander within the Gulf Cartel, where he became a folk hero in Miguel Alemán. Peña, whose body was covered in tattoos, was killed in March. His family told The Monitor that Peña died “with honor.” Following his death, his body was brought from Mexico to Roma and buried during a private service.
 
 Rosalio “Bart” Reta and Gabriel Cardona, two Laredo teenagers who are serving 70- and 80-year prison sentences for a series of ordered hits for the Zetas. At age 13, the pair began taking on murder-for-hire jobs when Zeta gunmen trained them as hit men.
Cardona was arrested in 2006, while Reta turned himself in at around the same time after the Zetas tried to kill him for attempting to carry out unsanctioned hits in Mexico.
Source: Ildefonso Ortiz | The Monitor and Big thanks to "Jose" for the Popo foto

Coahuila: Missing Governor Candidate Found Murdered

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BorderlandBeat.com
 
Francisco Navarro Montenegro, was local and federal congressman twice and candidate for Governor, his body was identified today by his son, as one of the two bodies found early this morning.

The bodies of two men were located Saturday morning, at different times, in Libramiento Óscar Flores Tapia, one of them was identified as Francisco Navarro Montenegro, who had been both a federal and local congressman twice, candidate for Governor, and founder of the Socialist Workers Party (PST) which later became the party of the Cardenista front for national reconstruction (PFCRN) and a leader of colonias.

Five days ago, there was information that Montenegro Navarro (who was 64 years old) was missing, but his family said he was out of town, that was he was OK and didn´t file a  report of disappearance or kidnapping.
The State leader of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) Samuel Acevedo Flores, who was his closest collaborator and political worker, is reportedly deeply saddened by the death of the leader and friend said: "We´ve lost one of the most important political assets of the left in Coahuila, because he was a social activist who defended the  causes of the poor".

The news spread through social networks, but it wasn´t until this Saturday that the Attorney General of Justice of the State (PGJE) reported that a criminal preliminary investigation had been initiated about the killing of two men whose bodies had been found in the Óscar Flores Tapia libramiento, after an anonymous call to the emergency system.

Investigating police, experts in criminology and an agent of the public prosecutor were dispatched to the area and found one of the bodies at 10:30 am at kilometer 5 + 400; the other deceased was found among the bushes 45 minutes later, at 11:15 at km 5 + 900 of the same road.

The bodies were transferred to the forensic medical service for the necropsy of law, in order to determine the causes of death.

At 13:00 one of the victims was identified by one of his sons as Francisco Navarro Montenegro, said the PGJE and pointed out that the identity of the other man is unknown because he carried no ID.

Sources close to the investigation revealed that he had been kidnapped on Tuesday and a hefty ransome payment was demanded, however although it was paid they killed him anyway.
 
The bodies were found in an industrial area close to Saltillo

Source: EL Universal-"Lala" and "Texcoco" Forum

8 Found Murdered in 3 Coahuila Cities

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Borderland Beat

 

Torreon:
The bodies of five people were found this morning on State Road No. 84, branch to the Cueva de Tabaco,  in Matamoros, Coahuila state Attorney reported.

According to the PGJE, at 07:00 a report was received about the location of five bodies.  The  elements of the Investigative Police were dispatched; criminalists and the prosecution team of the PGJE arrived and initiated the investigation.

The victims were four men and one woman, aged between 25 and 35 years old. In the neck area of the back of the head, the bodies’ bore injuries that were obviously from bullet impacts.

The authorities also acknowledged locating  a message written on a card, but its content was not released.

The bodies were transferred to University Hospital for performing the autopsy.

Monclova:
In the early hours of Sunday, two bodies were discovered in an abandon ranch in Colonia Otilio Montaña.  Both of the deceased are males, one with the estimated age of 55 the other 30-35.

Bothe men bore signs of torture before death, and both bodies were found bound at the hands and feet. Identification is unknown.

Saltillo:
A charred body was found inside an SUV in a vacant lot in Colonia Morelos. According to preliminary investigation,  about 6:40 in the morning  the State Emergency System, 066, received several calls from neighbors reporting that  a truck was on fire.

The authorities did not provide any information about the identity, or sex of the body found inside the  truck.

After collecting the evidence, the public prosecutor ordered the removal of the body and its transfer to the Medical Service facilities, for an autopsy.



Sources: GarzaLimon-Vanguardia-Milenio  Thanks to the BB reader for the heads up

PRI Candidate Wounded in Mexico Attack, Husband Dies

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Bordeland Beat

The candidate for a local legislative seat in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, Rosalia Palma, was wounded on Saturday in an attack that took her husband’s life, officials at the state Attorney General’s Office said.

The incident occurred near Palma’s district of Teposcolula – she is one of the candidates in the July 7 elections to represent the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Pary, or PRI, in the Oaxaca state legislature.

 
“Her husband, Efrain Cruz, died in the attack... she was wounded and taken to a hospital in this capital (Oaxaca),” Mayra Ricarde, spokeswoman for the state AG’s office, said.

The woman was apparently riding in an SUV with her husband and a niece through the Oaxaca region when they were attacked by unidentified gunmen.

The candidate’s husband died at the scene of the attack, a place on the highway where the SUV had to slow down because of a “geological fault,” while she was hospitalized, Ricarde said.

“We still don’t know (Palma’s) state of health, nor where the bullet hit her,” the spokeswoman said.

Local media said the niece who was traveling with the candidate and her husband was also wounded.

Saturday’s incident was the latest of several acts of violence during the electoral campaign, following the June 12 slaying of Jaime Orozco Madrigal, the PRI’s candidate for mayor of the town of Guadalupe y Calvo, and the kidnap-murder of the leader of the Oaxaca state branch of Mexico’s leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution, or PRD, Nicolas Merino, who was found dead two days ago.

Source: The Associated Press




Crossing Drug Cartel Territory from Pacific to Gulf

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Borderland Beat
Crossing drug cartel territory from Pacific to Gulf, highway carves a path to Mexico's future
 


The Associated Press
Associated Press writers Martin Duran in Culiacan and Karla Tinoco in Durango contributed to this report

 ESPINAZO DEL DIABLO, Mexico –  Lavender-blue peaks of the western Sierra Madre jut as far as the eye can see, the only hints of civilization: a tendril of smoke from burning corn residue, a squiggle of dirt road.

Then out of nowhere, a flat ribbon of concrete runs like a roller coaster over giant pylons, burrowing in and out of the mountainside until it seems to leap midair over a 400-meter (1,200-foot) river gorge via the world's highest cable-stayed bridge, called the Baluarte.
 
The Durango-Mazatlan Highway is one of Mexico's greatest engineering feats, 115 bridges and 61 tunnels designed to bring people, cargo and legitimate commerce safely through a mountain range known until now for marijuana, opium poppies and an accident-prone road called the Devil's Backbone.

Even those protesting the project say the 230-kilometer-long (140-mile) highway, expected to be completed in August, will change northern Mexico dramatically for the good. It will link port cities on the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific by a mere 12-hour drive, and Mazatlan with San Antonio, Texas, in about the same time. The highway will eventually move 5 million vehicles a year, more than four times the number on the old road, plus more produce and goods from Asia to the Mexican interior and southern U.S.

Sinaloa state tourism officials predict an "explosion" for the resort city of Mazatlan, hard hit by drug violence in recent years, as the new road gives 40 million Mexicans in interior states an easy drive to the beach.

"It will change the landscape of this part of the country," said Tourism Secretary Francisco Cordova. "It's an opportunity to develop these areas and diversify the local economy."

But it remains to be seen if the $2.2 billion highway will pull the towns of wood and corrugated-metal shacks in rural Sinaloa and Durango away from their historical ties to drug trafficking. In Concordia, the municipality that abuts the Baluarte Bridge in Sinaloa state, nine people were ambushed and killed last December as they ate their Christmas Eve dinner. The prosecutor blamed the attack on a war for control of drug trafficking.

The public security chief in Pueblo Nuevo, on the Durango side of the bridge, was gunned down a year ago by armed commandos as he walked down a street in daylight.

Government officials say the new road will bring legitimate economic activity to a troubled area. Locals say it may improve access, or take what little honest business they had as trucks and buses bypass towns altogether.

"It could leave some of the communities even more isolated," said Jose Luis Coria Quinones, spokesman for 1,800 communal tree farmers, who have an injunction suspending construction on the Durango side near the bridge while a court considers their case. They say that the federal government hasn't paid them sufficiently for access to their property during the construction and hasn't repaired the damage caused to pine forests, water supplies and endangered species habitat.
 
From a distance, the Baluarte Bridge and its triangular web of steel cables are both spectacular and wildly out of place, a Golden Gate Bridge in the middle of a moonscape. While shorter than the Golden Gate, the Baluarte crosses a canyon deep enough to fit the Chrysler Building.

Engineers pump their fists when asked who designed it: "Puros Mexicanos." All Mexicans.

A team of 60 to 80 experts started about 15 years ago in the Secretary of Communications and Transportation offices in Mexico City, said supervising architect Alberto Ortiz Martinez, using horseback, mule and helicopter to scope out possible routes. The entire road took 130,000 tons of steel and more than 20 times the concrete of an Olympic stadium.

Some 1,200 workers on the bridge lived for four years in a nearby encampment.
 
"The most complicated problem was getting there, to locations totally inaccessible, and bringing huge quantities of materials," said engineer Jose Refugio Avila Muro, a federal subdirector of highway projects for Sinaloa state. He compared the topography to an electrocardiogram: "Lots of peaks, and you have to find a way to get to each peak from below. You just keep going, one by one, to each new point of construction."


The new highway will cut the drive between Durango and Mazatlan to 2.5 hours from the current six hours of hairpin turns, few guard rails and the Devil's Backbone, a stretch of road along the spine of a mountain with drops of hundreds of meters (feet) on either side.

Coming around a blind curve, a driver may suddenly have to negotiate passage between a semitrailer barreling downhill and a handful of cows tiptoeing along a narrow shoulder. Deadly accidents are common. A bus carrying mostly retiree tourists to Mazatlan plunged off the road a year ago, killing a dozen and injuring 22.

But the old highway is not the most forbidding part of the landscape.

From December 2006 until September 2011, when the federal government stopped providing numbers, Sinaloa and Durango on either side of the Baluarte Bridge were among the deadliest states in terms of drug-related killings. Mazatlan ranked 8th among Mexico's more than 2,400 municipalities and Pueblo Nuevo, the municipality on the Durango side of the highway, was 35th most violent up to the end of 2010.

The U.S. State Department discourages travel in both states, except for specific tourist zones of Mazatlan.

The killings spiked in townships near the new road as a group known as the Mazatlecos and the Zetas battle for territory controlled by the Sinaloa Cartel, named for its home state and headed by Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, the world's richest and most-wanted drug lord. A series of attacks around Concordia, Sinaloa, in late 2012, including the Christmas Eve massacre, caused some 250 families to flee their communities, said Concordia Mayor Eligio Medina. They have yet to move back.

Medina said the new highway could change the criminal dynamic, bringing tourism to colonial Concordia, founded in 1565 by the Spaniards as a way station between the coast and the gold mines. It's also one of the most biologically diverse townships in the world, he said, noting that a new species of plant, the ageratina concordiana, was recently discovered there. He envisions everything from bird-watching to bungee jumping in Concordia's Chara Pinta ecological preserve.

"The road will increase jobs and keep people busy," Medina said. "When there is social mobility, criminal groups are more limited."

Medina said the area is quiet again, with the Mexican military patrolling the towns that were attacked. Mazatlan tourism officials say killings there have dropped from 307 in 2011 to 43 so far this year. Latin America security expert Samuel Logan agrees the new road could be a boost to tourism and commerce, and but also to illegal transport.

"Maybe Concordia will grow and there will be a Holiday Inn Express there," he said. "Will there be running daytime shootouts on this highway? Not likely. But will there be convoys of eight to 10 trucks going 90 mph (140 kph) filled with guys with guns? Probably."

“Winning Mexico’s Drug War” Simulation Report

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Borderland Beat

By Steve Keller
Wikistrat


Editor’s Note: Wikistrat is pleased to present the Simulation Report of our recently concluded crowdsourced simulation, “Winning Mexico’s Drug War”. To download the report, click here.

 
Mexico is burning. Over much of the last decade, Mexican drug cartels have conglomerated and made moves to challenge the central government (and each other) for control over territory and drug markets.

The cartels have improved their organization and capabilities despite the massive crackdowns by the Mexican government and the flood of U.S. security assistance, which has totaled more than $1.9 billion since 2008. Drug-related violence and kidnapping remain a constant threat, even in previously “safe” areas of Mexico, with an estimate of over 40,000 people killed since 2006.

In April 2013, Wikistrat ran a week-long crowdsourced simulation in which 70 analysts from around the world collaboratively developed Policy Options for the Mexican government, the U.S. government and other actors to respond to the escalating drug war in Mexico.

The goal was to provide a plausible range of strategies and techniques that could stem the tide of violence and could restore control of the country to the authorities.

Analysts were encouraged to tackle this not only from a geostrategic angle, but also to take a tactical “boots on the ground” approach in which they explored social, political and economic options as well as “kinetic” law enforcement/military ones.

They addressed not just the intended outcome but also the actors who would be involved, the details of how the option would be implemented, and the circumstances under which it would be most likely to succeed – as well as the potential consequences of failure.

To read more on how Wikistrat analysts project that various actors may bring Mexico’s drug war to an end, download the Simulation Report by clicking here.

Francisco Castro Trenti accused of helping CAF in Tijuana; his brother is PRI Candidate for Governor in Baja California.

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An investigation led by the Mexican Attorney General implicates Francisco Castro Trenti (brother of Fernando Castro Trenti, PRI Candidate for Governor of Baja California) with the Tijuana Cartel.

Francisco Castro Trenti.
El Universal.- Francisco Castro Trenti (Brother of Fernando Castro Trenti, PRI, who is currently  running for Governor in Baja California) allegedly collaborated with the Tijuana Cartel during his term as State Director of Criminal Investigations and as Police Chief of Tijuana.

Fernando Castro Trenti and then Presidential Candidate Enrique Peña Nieto.

This was revealed to the Republic´s Attorney General Office (Procuraduria General de la Republica-PGR) by none other than Francisco Javier Arellano Felix, former leader of the Tijuana Cartel. Arellano Felix made these statements on February, 2012 collaborating with the Witness Protection Program under the name of “Howard”.


The former drug lord claimed he paid Castro Trenti (Now Rosarito´s Public Safety Director) up to 20 thousand USD monthly for his services, this according to the investigation by the PGR accessed by El Universal.

Arellano Felix, who is currently serving a life sentence in the US, also mentioned his funding to then PRD Candidate Narciso Agundez in Baja California Sur, Arellano gave Agundez 300 thousand USD and paid for several things ranging from hats to radio ads. Agundez won that election and became the Governor of Baja California Sur, the same state where several CAF members have been arrested by Federal Authorities; even Arellano himself sailed from Baja California Sur when he was arrested by the US Coast Guard.

Francisco Javier Arellano Felix aka "El Tigrillo" and Arturo Villarreal Heredia aka "El Nalgon".

CORRUPTING POWER

On February 8, 2012, Francisco Javier Arellano Felix aka “El Tigrillo” was questioned by PGR agents in San Antonio, Texas, in relation to an investigation by the SEIDO( Attorney General Office Specialized on Investigation of Organized Crime) regarding the operations of the Tijuana Cartel.
During his statement, Arellano Felix revealed the amount of corrupting power of his organization; he gave names of public servants and police chiefs who allegedly worked for him, helping his criminal cells in their day to day activities, Arellano also mentioned the kind of services he received from them and the amount paid by him. On his statement he remembered Castro Trenti worked for him in 2003 when Castro was the State Director of Criminal Investigations.

He mentioned someone by the name of Jorge Eduardo Ronquillo Delgado aka “El Niño”, a former sicario who worked for a Tijuana Cartel lieutenant known as “El Quemado”, killed Alejandro Manjarrez (Personal assistant of then Governor of Baja California, Alejandro Gonzalez Alcocer), and the help he received by Castro Trenti who charged another men with this crime in exchange for more than 200 thousand USD.

Arellano Felix claimed “It was about 2 AM when El Niño was driving out of an Arena in Tijuana, at the same time the personal assistant of the Governor, someone by the name of Manjarrez was driving in another vehicle, they somehow crossed paths and began an argument, El Niño pulled his gun and killed him”.

He continued: “They arrested El Niño after this, and sent him to prison, Ernesto Angulo Hernandez aka “El Quemado” told me he was going to fix El Niño´s problem with help from Saul Montes de Oca aka “El Ciego” since he knew Castro Trenti”, “I asked him how was he going to do it since everything became a big problem, he even was arrested with the gun and gun powder in his hands, and he told me he was going to change the report so the guy who was with El Niño was charged instead of him, he was going to give some money to Castro Trenti for that and I said it was OK, he later confirmed me he gave Castro 20 thousand USD and later another 200 thousand USD, I remember the process took about 2 or 3 months and then he got out”, “Castro Trenti was later named Police Chief in Tijuana, this was before Zatarain, when he was the Director of the Police he was contacted by “El Ciego”, who changed the zone commanders, he also told him when someone of our men was arrested so he could be freed, and for this we paid him via “El Ciego” 20 thousand USD monthly, I remember his time was short as Director”.

Saul Montes de Oca aka "El Ciego" at the moment of his capture in the famous Baja 1000 race.

CAMPAIGN FINANCING

“Howard” stated: “I also remember the year 2005, Arturo Villarreal Heredia aka “El Nalgon”, via his friend Julio Cordero who sometimes also hanged with me, one time he was with me in La Paz, Baja California Sur and we met with the candidate Agundez, who was candidate of PRD, Julio stepped down so I could see he knew him, he greeted the candidate”, “He later told me the candidate asked if we could give him some money for his campaign, and I told him I had no problem with it, I sent him 300 thousand USD with Julio Cordero; I also gave money to Cordero so he could send the candidate Agundez some propaganda”, “Agundez later won the election, I don´t remember if it was for Governor or Mayor, but we began to have contact with the Police Chief”.
Narciso Agundez and former Presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

Two CDG Hanged off Bridge One Survives- Zacatecas News Update

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BorderlandBeat.com Submitted by "Zac"

7.3.13:  Update at bottom of post

 
First Narco Hanging Reported in Zacatecas
The bodies of two men were hanged early this morning from a bridge over the Calzada Héroes de Chapultepec, just in front of the Administrative City complex, where  State Government agencies are located.
According to official information, one of the victims survived the hanging.  Unofficially it was reported that the other one had been shot in the head.
The two men were taken to the pedestrian bridge located in the Calzada de los Héroes, at the height of the Deportiva Norte, in a white Nissan pickup truck, at around 5:40 in the morning
Several men stepped off the truck, hanged the two bodies and left a message declaring that the hanging is due to settling of scores between the Gulf and "Los Zetas" cartel.
The State Government said that a few minutes later agents of the State preventive police and the Municipal police arrived to the area, in addition to Mexican army personnel who cordoned off the area.
Of the two bodies they encountered, one of them was still alive,  he was transferred  to a hospital.
This incident has happened five days before local elections take place in the State
 
State Attorney confirms the identification of one of the victims through Twitter
Gerardo Luna de León, alias 'El Galla', who appeared hanged and lifeless on the pedestrian bridge by the Ministry of Finances, was responsible for the escape of 10 prisoners from the district prison in Calera, Zacatecas, on 28 April 2012
Through his Twitter account, the Attorney general of Justice of the State (PGJE), Arturo Nahle García, confirmed the man's identity.
 
Unofficially, it was reported that the victims were members of the Gulf Cartel, and that there was a message left, containing a warning about working independently. ( going freelance)
Gerardo Luna de León and another man who survived, whose identity has not been revealed, were found at 6 in the morning of Tuesday, hanging above the pedestrian bridge located in front of city administrative offices.
From 2011 in the Zacatecas territory have been reported several settlings of scores among members of the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas cartels, but in recent months these have increased, mainly in Fresnilo.
 
The appearance of the hanging bodies is the first recorded in Zacatecas.
Who is "El Galla"?

He is originally from Zacatecas, 32 years old; he had a broad record of criminal history dating from 1998 and 1999.  From 2003 to the date he had entered several times to the center of Social Readaptation (Cereso) of Cieneguillas for crimes of qualified theft.

The PGJE on may 3, 2013, offered a financial reward for finding the whereabouts of "el Galla", who is one of the 2 subjects who had been involved in the evasion of inmates in the district prison of Calera.

At that time in the prison of Calera there were two inmates of federal jurisdiction, since, according to the authorities, these belonged to a criminal organization opposing Los Zetas.

 

Authorities confirm finding a dead man near the municipal cemetery in Guadalupe

On Tuesday morning the lifeless body of a 35 years old man was found near the municipal cemetery in Guadalupe


With the face disfigured as a result of the severe beatings he received, the man was found at 9 am on Tuesday, near the municipal cemetery Jardines de Guadalupe.

Unofficial sources reported that the body was allegedly beaten and dragged with a van, since fingerprints and traces of it were found in the place.


Apparently, the discovery was reported by masons who perform construction work in the interior of the cemetery, who arrived at 8 am.


Municipal police in Guadalupe, State preventive police and Metropolitan Police cordoned off the place, while waiting for the arrival of the expert service staff.


Authorities confirmed discovery and give additional  information

Through a press release authorities confirmed that on Tuesday morning, near the Municipal pantheon of Guadalupe, was found the lifeless body of a man, 35 years old.

The report was made by the man in charge of the cemetery, who first requested an ambulance, however rescuers saw the body had no vital signs, and requested the presence of judicial authorities.


At the scene, on the road that leads to the community of Sauceda de la Borda, arrived elements of the State preventive police and the municipal police of Guadalupe, who cordoned off the area to protect the evidences.


Experts from the Attorney General of Justice of the State made the lifting of the body to subsequently move it to the facilities of the Amphitheatre of the Ministerial police.


The body found by the municipal cemetery was identified as Rafael García Cordero, domiciled in the municipality of Trancoso.

This person, along with 3 others, had been arrested on June 28, by elements of the preventive State Police (PEP) and put at the disposal of the competent authorities, when they were detected by a convenience store at Avenida México, inside a taxi from Trancoso, where they were transporting more than one kilogram of marijuana.




Man executed in the community of Nuevo Laredo, aka Rancho Gil, Fresnillo

A man was executed on a dirt road that leads to the community of Nuevo Laredo, less than a kilometre from the carretera federal 45, at the height of the vehicular bridge de la Muerte; at the time of publishing these news he remained as unidentified.


The inhabitants of this community heard on Sunday morning gunfire and the engines of several pickup trucks, unknown to them. There are more than a hundred people in this village, who are engaged in livestock and agriculture, and it´s a community that stands out for not being target of violent acts.


A group of 10 men from the aforementioned community gathered at 05:30 am, to check the dirt road where the trucks and gun shots were heard.


One meter away of a cattle guard and on the main dirt road to the community coming from the highway they saw a man lying on the ground, and when they approached noticed he had been shot several times and was lifeless.


They immediately reported to the emergency system 066 and waited for the arrival of elements of the Municipal Public Security Directorate.


The dirt road was cordonned off by the preventive police, who were awaiting experts and the agent of the public prosecutor's Office, as well as judicial police.


In the ministerial report, the lifeless body of the man was laying on his right side, had a hole produced by a firearm projectile.


It was released on the basis of field investigation that the person who was found lifeless was executed in the dirt road by armed men, and according to the authorities, it would have been a settling of scored between suspected members of organized crime.


In the review of his clothes it wasn´t found any official document to determine his identity and place of origin. He is a man, about 30 years old, regular built, of a height of one metre 70 cm, light brown skin, round face, short black straight hair, medium forehead, semi thick arched eyebrows, medium straight nose, mustache and beard, as well as medium-sized mouth and thick lips.


He was wearing a polo type t-shirt in coffee color, blue jeans, belt of black leather, untied white tennis shoes and no socks.

The corpse was transferred on Sunday morning to the medical forensic service (Semefo), for the realization of the necropsy and the process so that he is identified by some relative.


It should be noted that in the last two weeks 31 corpses have been found in the municipality of Fresnillo alone, who have died in the fight between two antagonistic groups of organized crime and also against the military, a figure never registered before in the municipality.
......continues on next page




PEP and Sedena find human remains in Tortuguillas, Fresnillo

On Saturday afternoon, the preventive State Police (PEP) and Mexican army troops found skeletal remains in the Tortuguillas community

 
The State agents found human remains while performing tasks of surveillance and reconnaissance of the area between some land plots between the communities of Tortuguillas and Epazote, in Fresnillo, at approximately three kilometers from a dirt road.


 
Seeing the mobilization of the security corporations, locals left their respective homes to see what was happening.
 
Elements of the 90th seventh (97) infantry battalion of the Secretariat of national defense (Sedena) ioned the police deployment, and began to work in coordination with the PEP.
 
While searching the area they found some clandestine graves with human remains.
 
In the place there was a skull, part of a thorax box comprising trunk, pelvis, vertebrae and ribs, also bones apparently of a hand and a dental prosthesis with metallic material, along with a red and white cooler apparently with bloodstains inside.
Both State officials and the military cordoned off the place and waited for the agent of the public prosecutor's Office and experts, who lift the remains then take them to the Semefo, where there will be some DNA studies.

 
June, the most violent month this year in Fresnillo with 32 victims of narco violence
After the events of insecurity that have been registered in the last two weeks, Juan Manuel Loera López, Assistant regional Attorney of Justice, called June as the most violent month so far this year. between executions and shootouts, 32 people lost their lives.
 
Loera López agreed that in the field of security Fresnillo is neglected, as municipal officials do not have the ability to attend this type of events and there is no presence of elements of the State preventive police (PEP).
 
The official reported that in 2013, there have been 64 violent deaths, the majority linked to organized crime, and in comparison with 2012, this figure is on the rise, since the previous year ended almost with that same number of deaths of this kind.
 
In the municipality there are elements of the 97th infantry battalion, as well as the Secretary of Navy of Mexico (Semar), which, as the public server said, are referred to as corporations of reaction, since their function is not crime prevention, but to react to facts.
 
"Preventing requires direct intervention of the municipality; the Constitution gives them that responsibility and also the State has certain responsibilities,"argued Loera López.
 
He justified that State authorities are "just" getting organized in the field of security in the municipality, that´s why, he declared, he hopes PEP officers arrive soon, while recognizing that this is complicated due to the size of the municipality (5372 km² and 242 communities, besides the city of Fresnillo).
 
Facing the bloody scenario and the little presence of the federal Public Ministry, the State Attorney Office occasionally has had to neglect their work in ordinary crimes.
 
"As Attorney we have to cope with this situation, respond and act as soon as possible," he said.
A week away from local elections, the vice Attorney General said that clashes between federal forces and subjects related to criminal cells cn´t be linked with the elections, because insecurity has not only prevailed in the municipality, but at State level too, therefore, he said,  the problem will possibly continue.
 
The official asked the population not to expose themselves to danger at night, because the majority of the events have taken place in the first hours of the day, and mentioned as example the shooting occurred in La Paz and segunda de Oaxaca streets, in colonia Industrial, on Thursday June 27, where eight armed men were killed, said.
 
Another of the most recent cases happened this Saturday at midnight in the colonia Lienzo Charro, where Mexican army troops stumbled upon criminals, prompting three dead, a detainee, a liberated person - who is presumed had been kidnapped - and a pickup truck with an arsenal.
 
Corpses remain unidentified
 
In the cold room of the forensic medical service (Semefo) there were until Sunday June 30, 11 unidentified bodies, plus the calcified human remains that have been found in recent days throughout the highland communities of Fresnillo.
 
 
"We have multiple people disappeared in the municipality and we, without obligation, offer them the genetic service, whereby through DNA tests bodies can be identified when tests come positive," added the Attorney General of Justice.

 
 
Juan Manuel Loera López stressed that this process is long and said to ignore how many individuals have found their lost beloved ones with this type of study, which costs approximately 15 thousand pesos each and are paid by the Attorney General of Justice of the State (PGJE).https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/OMhKVwn8XHM3KthqeeUlhmKbIn7ck_jtFyewx32hSLlMamdo_OWOl8Utvobq5qzg9BG1BlKctc8ieahQdFYbYCVQyNnaeOk-liGNjXKiHR983vCfPg


Sources used to write this post: ZacatecasOnLine-NTR-Pagina24-Proceso-ZacatecasWebNews

 
Update:

It may not be Zetas who are responsible for the hanging; according to el Circo,

The narco message left with the two hanged men, allegedly revealed, it was signed by CDG, accusing the men of being “chapulines”, (grasshoppers).  Meaning they jumped, presumably from CDG, and tried to sell drugs independently.  The message included a warning that the same fate would await those who  operate on their own.


 
 

Teens Killed After Bullying Nephew of Nacho Coronel

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BorderlandBeat.com
Initially the teens were reported killed after meeting cartel members about working in the organization.  As it turns out that was only part of the story. Andrés is on left in the photo above.

Two teenagers of 15 years of age were murdered after making fun of the son of a drug trafficker capo.

The General Attorney of the State, Luis Carlos Nájera, indicated yesterday that was the  version was given by a 17 year old teenager that was arrested, off record  he was identified as Isaac, who is implicated in  the disappearance of the minors, which happened two weeks ago.

On June 21st, the teenagers, Luis Antonio Ortiz and Andrés Barba, had arranged to meet at a mall.  As a lure they were invited to a party via facebook.  From there, they were taken to a forest, where they were suffocated, according to the Attorney.

“The teen which we have arrested tells us that the two teenagers mistreated and bullied the son of José Ángel Carrasco Coronel, known as “El Changel”, who had been previously arrested in Mexico City. They were classmates of this young man”, explains Nájera.

“El Changel” (below) is nephew of Ignacio “Nacho” Coronel, chief of drug trafficking that was killed on July of 2010 in Zapopan.

State and federal sources revealed that after the death of the capo, Carrasco Coronel controlled the criminal group “La Corona”, formed with loyal people of “Nacho” Coronel. “El Changel” was arrested in January of 2013.
 
The Attorney of Jalisco indicated that, according to the investigations, the lured the  minors to a Zapopan  mall with the promise of working  in a criminal organization, which they would be paid between 10 and 20 thousand pesos, and other benefits such as parties where they would have their choice of women. (in orange and blue below)

 

UPDATE:
There are a couple of unofficial reports that go something like this:
 
Luis, Andres and the son of Changel all go to the private school "Rudyard Kipling", Changel's son is in his first year the two other boys are seniors. All three boys are in the same group of friends, however, for whatever reason the two older boys, conducted  an ongoing attack of mocking and bullying the younger child.
 
Possibly fed up with the personal attacks, Changel's son called on his friend who did not attend the school for revenge.  His name is Vegas Andres Tovar, (in photo above) nickname "Vega". 
 
Authorities refer to him as a "Nini" meaning he neither attends school nor works.  His neighbors describe him as a boy who is "polite, quiet and reserved", who they see each day walking his dog.  
 
Vega created a ruse on facebook contacting the boys and inviting them to a party.  He used the alias "Raul Barajas".  There are two versions but at least one of the boys, Luis, replied.  The invitation in part read "Friday a party where there will be models and  hostesses, you can choose who you like".
 
Taking the bait the high school students met "Raul" and Isaac at the mall, sealing their fate.
 
The 2nd boy, who was with Vega is named "Isaac" he has been arrested. It is not known if the son of Chanel has been arrested or even his name.

Source used: Reforma-La Jornada
Thanks to the reader giving heads up to the FB posting from the Mileno video

Charges Dropped: 5 Military Officials Accused of Assisting BLO Ordered Released From Prison

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Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat

Today Judge Raul Valerio Ramirez  ordered the immediate release of Gen. Roberto Dawe, Gen. Ricardo Escorcia, Gen. Ruben Perez, Lt. Col Silvio Hernandez and Maj. Ivan Reyna from the federal criminal Altiplano in Almoloya, in the State of Mexico,where they have been held in the maximum prison since their arrest last year. 
The charges were dropped against the men due to a lack of evidence.  
First it was  Tomas Angeles Dauahare (above upon release), the Mexican General accused by “Jennifer” and “Mateo” protected witnesses, of protecting the Beltran Leyva Cartel. Based on information provided by  the protected witnesses, the general was imprisoned.  Then in January of this year in an unprecedented move, the PGR issued this finding;
"With respect to defendant Tomas Angeles Dauahare, the statements of the collaborating protected witnesses have not been corroborated by any probative means, except for the fact that the accused was a public servant in the National Defense Secretariat (Sedena: Secretaria de Defensa Nacional), without having any proof to date to confirm the statements by 'Jennifer' and 'Mateo'", says the court document numbered DGCPPAMDO/707/2013 from the PGR.
Due to the fact there was no evidence to prove the claims of the two protected witnesses, the general was released from prison in April.
One of the witnesses has the code name “Mateo”.  Mateo (photo above)  is in reality Sergio Enrique Villarreal Barragán, a.k.a. “El Grande”, of the Beltran Leyva cartel. Villarreal was once a federal police officer stationed in Nuevo Laredo, defected and worked with the Juarez Cartel, subsequently moving to CDG, eventually worked with  Beltran Leyva as a lieutenant.  Villarreal was arrested by the Mexican Marines in 2010 and extradited to the US, in May of 2012.
"Jennifer" and "Mateo", code name for "El Grande", stated on several occasions that Angeles Dauahare helped Edgar Valdez Villarreal, "La Barbie", gain military protection while trafficking cocaine via aircraft in  Cancun, Toluca and Cuernavaca airports.
The other witness is yet to be officially identified but who was the key accuser in the case against former drug czar Noe Ramirez Mandujano. Ramirez Mandujano was also released in April after a judge determined witnesses had given contrived testimony and prosecutors had manufactured evidence.
All charges against the five men released on Thursday stemmed from information provided by “Mateo” and “Jennifer”.  No substantiating evidence could be found to support the claims.
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