Borderland Beat as posted by Siskiyou Kid
"Fake" Televisa Reporter Leader and Sandra Ávila Beltrán will share a cell as 18 posing as Televisa journalists return to Mexico from Nicaragua
Eighteen Mexicans convicted on drug-trafficking charges after posing as television journalists while entering Nicaragua with $9.2 million were repatriated on Monday from the Central American nation.
Nicaraguan police transported the defendants, including a Mexican policeman, under tight security to Managua's International Airport, where authorities turned them over to Mexican prosecutors and prison officials.
Nicaraguan police transported the defendants, including a Mexican policeman, under tight security to Managua's International Airport, where authorities turned them over to Mexican prosecutors and prison officials.
n January, a Nicaraguan judge sentenced the 18, led by the group's only woman, Raquel Alatorre Correa (left), to 30-year sentences for drug trafficking, money laundering and organized crime. In October, an appeals court reduced the sentences to 18 years.
The members of the group will serve out their remaining jail time in Mexico and will not be able to make further legal appeals, the Mexican federal attorney general's office said in a statement.
In August 2012, this group of 18 people was detained when they crossed the Nicaragua-Honduras border carrying $9.2 million in six vehicles with logos from Televisa, Mexico's largest broadcaster.
Televisa denied any connection to the incident.
Three other Mexican citizens sentenced in Nicaragua for drug trafficking were also repatriated.
The members of the group will serve out their remaining jail time in Mexico and will not be able to make further legal appeals, the Mexican federal attorney general's office said in a statement.
In August 2012, this group of 18 people was detained when they crossed the Nicaragua-Honduras border carrying $9.2 million in six vehicles with logos from Televisa, Mexico's largest broadcaster.
Televisa denied any connection to the incident.
Three other Mexican citizens sentenced in Nicaragua for drug trafficking were also repatriated.
Over the past decade, Mexican drug cartels have moved into Central America, using it as a staging point to transport South American drugs to the United States.
La Jornada del Oriente writes that the leader of the fake journalists, Raquel Alatorre Correa – who was transported to a Nayarit prison separate from the rest of the group, and under heavy guard – will share a cell in prison with the Queen of the Pacific, Sandra Ávila Beltrán.
La Jornada del Oriente writes that the leader of the fake journalists, Raquel Alatorre Correa – who was transported to a Nayarit prison separate from the rest of the group, and under heavy guard – will share a cell in prison with the Queen of the Pacific, Sandra Ávila Beltrán.
Ávila Beltrán was deported from the United States in late August after a Miami judge sentenced her to 70 months in jail – to be served in Mexico – for having aided her Colombian boyfriend evade apprehension from authorities.
Reuters/LaJornada
