M3 Report

NARCOS SET NEW HOMICIDE RECORD

m3report — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 13:51:21 +0000

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FORMER BORDER PATROL OFFICERS
Visit our website: http://www.nafbpo.org
Foreign News Report

The National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers (NAFBPO) extracts and condenses the material that follows from Mexican and Central and South American on-line media sources on a daily basis. You are free to disseminate this information, but we request that you credit NAFBPO as being the provider.

CRITICA – Sonora – 07/15/09

The number of deaths related to the fight against organized crime, orchestrated by the federal forces, and the reaction of criminal gangs broke a record yesterday. In the last 24 hours there were 53 deaths registered in the states of Chihuahua, Michoacan, Nuevo Leon, Guanajuato, Sinaloa, Durango, Guerrero, Mexico and Jalisco.

The casualties were noted during shootouts, ambushes, armed encounters and the discovery of abandoned corpses. According to the daily “El Universal” this was the most violent day this year, surpassing by one death the total on February 15. Among the victims reported were the Federal Police commander stationed in Guanajuato and three agents from different agencies.

Chihuahua adds another 21. In this state, where 2 of every 3 deaths linked to organized crime in the country occur, 21 deaths were reported. Among them the mayor of Namiquipa, who had been threatened previously, a minister in the capital, 13 in Ciudad Juarez and six in other municipalities.

During the afternoon in Chihuahua two Ministerial Police were machine-gunned as they drove in a pickup. One died and the other was seriously wounded.

Among the 13 in Ciudad Juarez was the editor of the Chihuahua magazine, who was driving with his son, the State Judicial Police said.

Confrontation . Federal Police and organized crime members had a 30 minute armed confrontation in the municipality of Guadalupe with a total of six dead assassins and one wounded, and one agent gravely wounded. The shootout took place at 6PM while the assassins were traveling in three station wagons, in one of which they were transporting two men who were handcuffed and shot to death. Encountering a patrol car, it appears that they felt they had been discovered and they began shooting, wounding one of the police. The officer called for backup which arrived immediately since other units were on routine patrol a few blocks away. The exchange of fire lasted 30 minutes and ended when four attackers died and one was wounded. It is presumed that the others aboard the vehicles fled. Federal agents and soldiers found a black station wagon apparently belonging to the gang members containing two bodies.

Death in a pizzeria. Four persons, among them two women and a policeman, were riddled with bullets in a pizzeria in Ecatepec, Mexico. According to the owner, a stranger entered and shot her customers with a pistol and fled. Three died at the scene and another died later at a hospital.

On the Highway Siglo XXI in Michoacán the remains of three executed men were found. Hours earlier a police car was machine-gunned with one agent killed.

Violence without stopping. In different incidents in Sinaloa 5 men and 2 women were executed by gunfire. Six homicides were reported in Durango. The body of a man wrapped in a blanket with a note attached was located in Tlaquepaque, Jalisco.

In Guerrero two homicides were reported, one a 17 year old boy. In Guanajuato a police officer was murdered.

CUARTO PODER (Chiapas) – 07/15/09

They will not intimidate the Federal Government
(Mexico, D.F.) President Felipe Calderon expressed his condolences to the families of the members of the federal forces who have lost their lives in the fight for security and made it clear that “the criminals will not succeed in intimidating the federal government. “In this fight we will not give up not hesitate,” the president reported; and emphasized that not one step back would be taken in this matter and day after day the federal government would continue delivering powerful blows to the organized crime gangs.

He affirmed that the federal government would remain firm in its anticrime effort.

“We must persevere in the fight for the security and liberty of Mexico,” he reassured. He pointed out that the capture of dangerous organized crime leaders in the last month is seriously affecting their operations.

Additionally, chaos has been generated among the ranks of the criminal gangs, “from there the violent and desperate reaction we have seen in these days,” he pointed out. He recalled that in recent days the federal forces have been the object of wily and cowardly attacks perpetrated by organized crime gangs, in which several members of said forces have lost their lives, especially young men. Felipe Calderon Hinojosa expressed his “most sincere condolences to the families of these valiant and exemplary Mexicans who have fallen in performing their duty, who have fallen thinking that is possible to build a more secure Mexico, who have fallen fighting for the security of all of us.”

EL DIARIO DE COAHUILA – (Morelia, Michoacan) – 07/15/09

U.S. citizen accused of arms trafficking captured in Michoacán
Officers of the Ministerial Police in Zamora detained for deportation a U.S. citizen considered very dangerous, the (PGJE) State Attorney General’s office informed. They indicate that he has outstanding warrants for arrest for arms smuggling, parole violation and pederasty.

The agency advised that the detainee was identified as Robert Hamlin Wainwright, 65 years of age, who will remain at the disposition of the Immigration Service (INM).

The request for international cooperation was made by the U.S. Marshal’s office in Tucson, Arizona. They advised that Wainwright is considered highly dangerous by virtue of criminal conduct carried out in his country and led to warrants of arrest secured by the U.S. DOJ. The Unit of International Legal Assistance and Extraditions of the Mexican DOJ were in charge of the effort to locate and arrest Wainwright.

EL UNIVERSAL – (Mexico, D.F.) – 07/15/09

Canada: Mexicans put the asylum system at risk
The Canadian Ambassador in Mexico, Guillermo Rishchynski, justified the requirement of a visa for the Mexicans who travel to his country, owing to the “explosion” of false applications for political asylum, which generated an overloading of the asylum system.

In an interview the diplomat asked for understanding of the measure adopted, and advised that the Mexicans who are currently in Canada without the document will have to return to Mexico.

In the Congress, the deputies urged the Secretary of External Relations to present a “vigorous protest” before Canada. The Senators, for their part, considered the decision a retrocession and convened the Foreign Office to analyze if the international politics of Mexico is correct.

-end of report-

Arrest order out for fugitive Mexican congressman

m3report — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 16:09:22 +0000

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FORMER BORDER PATROL OFFICERS
Visit our website: http://www.nafbpo.org
Foreign News Report

Cambio de Michoacán (Morelia, Michoacán) & others as cited 7/14/09

Twelve cadavers were found piled up on one another and abandoned near the town of La Huacana, Michoacán. Two of the dead had C41 fragmentation grenades tied to their hands. The bodies, in a heap, all showed signs of torture prior to having been given fatal coup de grace shots. Violence has worsened in the last few days in the area and has caused 32 deaths due to the war between drug cartels and federal forces. A later item in “El Financiero” (Mexico City) reported that the twelve were members of the “PFP” (federal “preventive police”) who were apparently caught while off duty. The same item added that the newest head of “La Familia”, Servando Gomez, aka “La Tota” has now been arrested. Gomez had taken over after the arrest of Arnoldo Rueda, aka “La Minsa.” Twenty executed persons have now been found within the last ten days in Michoacán just on the highway leading from Uruapan to the coastal city of Lazaro Cardenas. (The attached photo relates to the twelve.)

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El Informador (Guadalajara, Jalisco) 7/14/09

The “technical secretary” of Mexico’s National Security Council said that Julio Cesar Godoy Toscano, a Mexican congressman of the “PRD” party from Michoacán, is now the subject of an arrest order and is considered a fugitive. Godoy, who is also a half brother to the governor of the state, has been shown to have definite operational links with the “La Familia” criminal group. Additionally, Saul Solis is now also a fugitive for the same reason. He is also from Michoacán and was an unsuccessful candidate for Mexico’s congress in the recent elections.

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El Tiempo (Bogota, Colombia) 7/14/09

Colombian police found and seized a dump truck loaded with explosives which, if detonated, would have caused extensive damage within a 500 meter radius. According to police, the planned terrorist attack was to take place in the area of Cali (one of Colombia’s largest cities.) The explosives included ten sacks of “anfo” (ammonium nitrate/fuel oil- a “fertilizer bomb”) 3 sacks of aluminum and potassium nitrate, 134 bars of “indugel” and 11 electronic detonators. Two arrests were made.(Another paper reported the target was Colombia’s Air Force School)

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El Carabobeño (Carabobo, Venezuela) 7/14/09

There were fifty-one violent deaths in Caracas, Venezuela, over the weekend. Fourteen cadavers entered the morgue from Friday to Saturday, twenty-two from Saturday to Sunday and fifteen more on Monday. (The article goes on to furnish details; the deaths described were all caused by firearm.)

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El Financiero (Mexico City) 7/14/09

Canada is suddenly requiring visas for Mexican citizens because of the number of applicants for refugee status from Mexico. That number has tripled since 2005. Canada’s immigration minister, Jason Kenney, said that Mexico and the Czech Republic, in that order, are the main source of refugees in Canada. The Mexican government acknowledged that Canada’s decision was due to the detection of refugee applications “without a legitimate base.”

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El Diario de Coahuila (Saltillo, Coahuila) 7/14/09

The deputy chief of police at Piedras Negras, Coahuila, was carried off by force Monday morning (13^th). Today, Tuesday, three more Piedras Negras police officers have suddenly disappeared. (Piedras Negras is across the Rio Grande from Eagle Pass, TX)

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El Siglo de Torreon (Torreon, Coahuila) 7/14/09

Twenty additional police officers of San Pedro Garza Garcia (a satellite city to Monterrey, Nuevo Leon) have now been arrested by Mex. military personnel. These operations began on June 1^st and are aimed to break up a web of police protection for organized crime groups in the Monterrey and surrounding cities. The total of police officers arrested since that date has now reached 112. The names of a number of the police arrested showed up in cartel payrolls.

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The following article headlines are typical of the rest of the day’s news from Mexico. There were more like these: * * * Mayor of a city in Chihuahua is murdered * * * Three persons executed in Sinaloa* * * Two “federales” die after ambush in Michoacan* * * Army takes over police functions in Cuernavaca.

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- end of report -

Sixty-Five Thousand Rounds of Ammo seized in Michoacán, Mexico

m3report — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 14:04:56 +0000

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FORMER BORDER PATROL OFFICERS
Visit our website: http://www.nafbpo.org
Foreign News Report

Excelsior (Mexico City) 7/13/09

Mexican Army personnel made one of the largest seizures of ammo in Mexico’s state of Michoacán at the hamlet of Las Rosas, near Zitacuaro, Michoacán. The items found include sixty-five thousand rounds of ammo of various calibers as well as six “long barrel” firearms, 16 handguns, three other firearms capable of firing gas projectiles, 122 loading clips and 25 grenades. The two thugs arrested at the site also had with them 18 bullet proof vests, a uniform of the “PFP” (Federal Preventive Police), 43 gun holsters and other ammo related gear. Organized crime groups have launched eight attacks against federal police and has caused more than 15 deaths in the state within the last two days. (Zitacuaro is shown on the maps as some 85 mi. west of Mexico City, as the crow flies) And in Matamoros and Camargo, state of Tamaulipas, Mex. (across from Texas in the lower Rio Grande valley) Mexican military seized 20 kilos of cocaine, 44 kilos of weed “and an arsenal of firearms.” (not described) Six subjects were arrested.

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El País (Cali, Colombia) 7/13/09

“FARC” (the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, an extremist guerilla group which is also involved in drug traffic) is reported to have negotiated the purchase of some twenty of the latest model Russian IGLA-S24 ground-to-air missiles by means of contacts in Venezuela and one “Ivan Marquez.” FARC is estimated to have 6 to 10 thousand active members.

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El Tiempo (Bogota, Colombia) 7/13/09

Six Nepalese illegally in Colombia were detained at a checkpoint by Colombian police while traveling in a bus toward the Venezuelan border. The six had reportedly entered Colombia from Ecuador and aimed to reach the United States from Venezuela. The chief of police at La Guajira, Colonel Luis Burgos, said that they had been able to ascertain that this is a traffic route for persons wishing to enter the U.S. illegally; last December twenty Chinese were also apprehended at the same place.

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La Voz de la Frontera (Mexicali, Baja Calif.) 7/13/09

On Monday morning U.S. Border Patrol Agents seized 80.52 kilos of cocaine hidden inside a vehicle gas tank. The find was at a checkpoint on I-8 in Pine Valley, Calif. The two subjects in the vehicle were arrested.

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Norte (Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua) 7/13/09

There were five separate assassinations in Ciudad Juarez on Sunday. One of the victims was already in a hospital recuperating from a previous attack on his life. One other fell victim to a car-to-car gunfire assault.

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El Universal (Mexico City) 7/13/09

This paper today reported that there have now been 1,013 homicides so far this year in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, a figure 417 higher than the number of victims for the same period in 2008. And when federal agents began to follow a vehicle in the downtown area of the port of Veracruz, Ver., its occupants responded by opening fire. But then a fragmentation grenade exploded inside the car being followed, the car caught fire, two of its occupants were burned to death and a third one survived but was arrested. Inside the burned hulk were more grenades, firearms, etc.

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La Jornada (Mexico City) 7/13/09

(Following are the first four paragraphs of an op/col about the recent bloodshed in the break-away Mormon community at Galeana, in Chihuahua, Mexico)

The failed State (sic) is an expression which makes some uncomfortable and irritates others. It’s a concept which brings about a useless debate almost always derived from ideological grounds. For that reason I shall not dwell deeply into the matter. But what is undeniable in Mexico, since it is confirmed by events over and again, in diverse circumstances, ways, and regions, is the worrisome absence of the State. One of the fundamental tasks of a state, in any part of the world, is to provide security for society, and among these, it is of course to be emphasized, public security. In this sense, the condition of a general lack of protection being experienced in Chihuahua, due to the violence that oppresses its inhabitants, shows itself to be not only “the omission, incapacity, or governmental complicity vis-à-vis organized crime” – already pointed out by various organizations, but one which manifests itself as an undeniable, indignant, true fact, the absence of the State. It cannot be said that the state or municipal governments have failed in Chihuahua. In reality, an absolute absence of authority has taken place in that state. From the federal level, down through the others already mentioned, and even the Mexican Army, which has served for little or nothing out on the streets. There, lawlessness rules. And what happened recently in Galeana, after the kidnapping and execution of Benjamin Le Barón and his brother-in-law Luis Whitman, two leaders of the Mormon community, has done nothing but to underscore the worthless response of the country’s different levels of government, their absolute lack of commitment and imagination, and has portrayed them as cornered and fearful and fainthearted authorities.

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-end of report -

Over the weekend: Mexico – Mega seizure of drugs and weapons in Tijuana; Violent attacks against Federal Police

m3report — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 14:51:24 +0000

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FORMER BORDER PATROL OFFICERS
Visit our website: http://www.nafbpo.org
Foreign News Report

Saturday 7/11/09

Frontera (Tijuana, Baja California) 7/10/09

Mega-seizure in Tijuana.
Along with the seizure of an impressive arsenal and 690 kilos of marihuana, the Mexican Army in Tijuana arrested a man presumed to be linked to the Arellano Felix drug cartel, headed by Fernando Sanchez Arellano, “El Ingeniero.” Military personnel and local authorities made the seizure after receiving a report from a citizen that armed men were seen in the location. At the residence in Colonia Chapultepec, authorities arrested Eduardo Morquecho Hernandez, “El Lalo,” 27, a native of Santa Ana, California. Inside the house authorities found 32 firearms, more than 100 ammo clips and 2,550 cartridges. In one of the bedrooms they found 176 packages of marijuana, wrapped for transport. A Grand Caravan Escort (sic) vehicle parked on the premises yielded military and bullet-proof vests, some with insignias of the Federal Agency for Investigation (AFI). The Army advised that the seizures belonged to the Arellano Felix organization, leading to the assumption that the arrested man was part of that cell. [Photo relates.]

—–

Police “fragmented”: PGR.
Following the assassination of Benjamin LeBaron, a Mormon community leader in Galeana, Chihuahua, the spokesman for the federal Department of Justice (PGR), Ricardo Najera, said in an interview with Antena Radio that, “in large part, the major difficulty in combatting organized crime in the country is that the police forces are very fragmented. There are no tests for control of confidence and the departments haven’t the capacity to adequately carry out their duties.”

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El Informador (Guadalajara, Jalisco) 7/10/09

Absence of police facilitated murders.
No police agencies had officers deployed in the community of murder victims LeBaron and Widmar last Tuesday, according to a Chihuahua state police spokesman, Fidel Banuelos. The nearest security force to the Mormon community, federal agents of Joint Operation Chihuahua, took a little more than a half-hour in arriving at the scene of the double murder. The state police delayed about an hour because they were on assignment some 80 miles away. These delays, the article points out, despite that on July 1, the governor of the state had said publicly that the breaking up of a band of kidnappers had been achieved thanks to the participation and reporting of the Galeana community. That day, around 600 members of LeBaron’s community, supported by farmers of the municipality of Galeana, rallied to demand that the authorities halt the wave of kidnappings in the region. At that time, Governor Baeza sent a message to the demonstrators in which he promised that they could count on all the security measures necessary and said he would visit the community after the July 5 elections. The Governor did visit as promised, but to attend the funeral of the two victims, the article concludes.

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El Universal (Mexico City) 7/10/09

Editorial regarding the Galeana murders.
The editorial in El Universal, “Justice by one’s own hand,” addressing the pros and cons of an armed citizenry follows (in part):

To arm the citizenry is always dangerous, however honorable the intention may be. It is very easy to confuse proper defense with vengeance and that dividing line is very thin; new injustices may be committed against other innocent people. With a pistol in hand, a victim can become a criminal in his eagerness to see justice done.

But how can you say no to a community that saw one of their own die because he dared to defy the kidnappers of his brother? That is the case of Benjamin Le Baron, assassinated three days ago by a group of thugs who even went to his home to torture him, abducted him and returned his dead body to his people. In fact, hours after the crime, some inhabitants had indicated their desire to get arms and seek out those responsible.

The reaction of society in general is similar after years of multitudinous marches have not made kidnappings and extortions disappear. The problem is that the reaction of an angry mob will always be on impulse and belief, never on objective judgment that saves the lives of those innocent. The theory says that justice is impossible without a judge, laws that give guarantees to the accused and institutions controlled by public authority. This is certain, proven, but it is impossible to explain to a society crushed by crime. After everything, today the Mormon community of LeBaron has shown that it plans to collaborate with the authorities and arm themselves only with vigilance of the state police. Not always will it be thus in Chihuahua nor in the rest of the country. The political class must understand that this is a countdown.

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El Diario de Juarez (Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua) 7/10/09

Military post attacked.
A Mexican Army checkpoint in Valparaiso, Zacatecas, was attacked twice by an armed group and, on repelling the attacks, three of the aggressors were killed and two were taken into custody. Unofficial information was that eight others were wounded and others fled. In the aftermath, the Army seized nine rifles, two pistols, three fragmentation grenades, three vehicles and 318 kilos of marihuana. The checkpoint had been established after a citizen report of organized crime activity in the area. The military has been active in the area for several days destroying 25 fields of marihuana and reportedly destroying a clandestine landing strip.

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Cambio de Michoacan (Morelia, Michoacan) 7/10/09

Shoot-out in Morelia.
A gun battle between federal police and an organized crime group in Morelia, the capital of Michoacan, resulted in the arrest of five people. The operation in the densely populated neighborhood was carried out with precision such that no civilians were endangered. [A live action video may be viewed at http://videos.eluniversal.com.mx/n_videos/showVideo.php?id=13573]

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El Debate (Sinaloa) 7/10/09

Violence in Juarez.
The wave of violence in Cd. Juarez, Chihuahua, has left 11 dead in the past few hours. The murders took place in various parts of the city and included two police officers.

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Sunday 7/12/09

El Financiero (Mexico City) 7/11/09

Attacks attributed to arrest of crime boss.
Mexican Federal Police in Morelia, Michoacan, this morning arrested a major boss of the crime organization known as “La Familia Michoacana.” His identity has not yet been revealed, but his arrest has apparently triggered a number of attacks on federal police and military installations in the state by the gang’s hit-men in reprisal. The attacks have been registered in Morelia, Apatzingan, Lazaro Cardenas, Zitacuaro and Zamora, among others. The man arrested is said to have a higher position in La Familia Michoacana than crime boss Rafael Cedeno Hernandez, “El Cede,” arrested past April. [M3 Report 4/20/09]

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Subject identified.
In an eleventh-hour story today, the Federal Police confirmed that the attacks against its installations in the state of Guerrero were carried out in a failed attempt to rescue Arnoldo Rueda Medina, alias “La Minsa,” a major player in the criminal organization “La Familia Michoacana.” Rueda Medina was the gang’s coordinator of logistics for the fabrication of synthetic drugs and the shipment of marihuana and cocaine to the US. He was also responsible for designating the chiefs of the different operational zones in Michoacan, Colima, Guanajuato, Aguascalientes, San Luis Potosi, Jalisco, part of Guerrero and the state of Mexico. The federal agency spokesman indicated that Rueda Medina infiltrated some police commands in areas where La Familia Michoacana operated. He also worked closely with the leader of the crime organization, Nazario Moreno Gonzalez, “El Chayo,” developing strategies of expansion at the national and international levels. The remaining top leaders of the organization are Jose de Jesus Mendez Vargas, alias “El Chango Mendez,” and Enrique Plancarte, alias “La Chiva.”

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El Universal (Mexico City) 7/11/09

Another attack against Federal Police.
An armed group in two “luxury vehicles” attacked the offices of the Federal Police in Ciudad Altamirano, Guerrero, with assault rifles and a fragmentation grenade. The attack did only material damage. There were no injuries or deaths. The mid-morning assault was carried out using AK-47 and R-15 rifles.

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Five Federal Police wounded.
Five Federal Police were wounded an an apparent ambush on a highway outside Mexico City. According to late reports, the attack was believed to be part of the series of attacks by the gang, La Familia Michoacana, as was the attack reported above.

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Monday 7/13/09

Cambio de Michoacan (Morelia, Michoacan) 7/12/09

Arrests made in Michoacan.
Mexican federal agents have made the first two arrests of those presumed responsible for the state-wide attacks on federal installations unleashed yesterday by the arrest of drug kingpin Arnoldo Rueda Medina. The two suspects were captured in Michoacan’s port city of Lazaro Cardenas after a brief gun battle between federal agents and several armed subjects in which one of the gunmen was killed. Besides the arrests, the authorities seized three AK-47 assault rifles, a pistol, clips and ammo, combat gear, communications equipment and a 2009 SUV.

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Norte (Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua) 7/12/09

Joint Operation Chihuahua called a failure.
The article, reading more like an editorial than news, complains that the kidnappings and murders that continue apparently unabated in the state of Chihuahua and the impunity with which the criminals operate are a clear confirmation that the federal government’s operation is a “resounding failure.” The article goes on to cite the numbers of violent crimes committed so far this year.

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El Universal (Mexico City) 7/12/09

Probable changes in Chihuahua operation.
Joint Operation Chihuahua, the federal government’s response to the escalating crime in that state, will undergo certain changes in strategy and tactics as the situation requires, according to the head of state public security, Victor Valencia de los Santos. However, he said, any changes are the responsibility of the federal authorities to determine. At this time, whatever is being considered is not yet ready for public release. The military operation has come under constant public criticism.

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-end of report-

Nominee for U.S. Ambassador to Mexico advises there will be major violence and more casualties in the fight against organized crime in the near future

m3report — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 13:46:24 +0000

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FORMER BORDER PATROL OFFICERS
Visit our website: http://www.nafbpo.org
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El Universal (Mexico City) 7/9/09

Mexican Army to assume customs duties. The Mexican Congress approved a proposal by Senator Tomas Torres Mercado that the Executive Office deploy armed forces personnel to customs duties in border areas, seaports, airports, and customs offices in order to halt the traffic of arms and other smuggling into the country. The proposal is aimed at correcting the inefficiency that persists in the customs offices. Senator Torres Mercado made the point that without the incessant flow of arms over Mexico’s borders, the present crisis of security unleashed by the drug cartels and other criminal organizations could not be sustained. He said the present arms traffic is made possible “thanks to the corruption that afflicts many of our institutions.”

—–

US Ambassador nominee speaks. Carlos Pascual, the nominee for US Ambassador to Mexico advised that success in the fight against narcotraffic and organized crime will involve major violence and more deaths in the near future. He indicated that successes against the criminal organizations have elevated their tactics to kidnapping and extortion in order for them to make up for the loss of revenue from drug trafficking. Pascual, an expert in analysis of regional conflicts and “failed states,” recognized that the issue of security encounters “a very complex situation” inasmuch as “the tentacles of organized crime have reached the US from the largest cities to the smallest.” He said the problem is not only on the border between Mexico and the US, but also extends farther south into Guatemala where there is more traffic, more criminal activity and more poverty. He added that the trafficking in drugs is a hemispheric calamity that is rapidly becoming global.

—–

LeBaron assassins possibly identified. Two possible subjects involved in the kidnapping and murders of two men in the Mormon community of Galeana, Chihuahua, [reported yesterday] were caught on camera at a check cashing station on a highway in that area. Police are asking local residents to set aside their fears and report any information that could lead to the capture of the killers. [Relating video interviews may be viewed at http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/611248.html.]

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El Diario en Linea (Chihuahua) 7/9/09

Terrorism in Galeana. A news story that reads more as an editorial says that besides qualifying as terrorism, the homicides of a leader of the Mormon community of Galeana, Chihuahua, the crime offers evidence that the Mexican Army’s Joint Operation Chihuahua is a failure and that the criminals are defeating the authorities. It goes on at length chastising the government for its failure to bring about security in the state and ends with the point that “Benjamin LeBaron was a person that did not allow criminals to intimidate him. He did what all of us should do.” [There were variations of these thoughts in other publications indicating that this case could become a cause celebre.]

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El Imparcial (Hermosillo, Sonora) 7/9/09

Column. Regarding the LeBaron case, a popular nationally published columnist, Sergio Sarmiento who writes under the name “Jaque mate” writes in part: ”Report crime the authorities tell us. If we don’t report it, it won’t be possible to combat crime. And report it was what Benjamin LeBaron did. He reported the kidnapping of his brother, Eric, 17, after refusing to pay ransom. He reported it again in a public protest this past July 1 in Chihuahua City about the kidnappings that his Mormon community had suffered. The reporting did not serve to put an end to the violence, but rather, on the morning of July 7, an armed group of some twenty thugs violently tore into his home in Galeana. LeBaron was tortured in front of his family. The attackers tried to violate his wife. On hearing the ruckus, a brother-in-law, Luis Widman , came to her assistance and managed at least to prevent the violation, but paid with his life in the effort. The thugs abducted LeBaron and Widman. A couple of hours later their executed bodies were found. What did it serve for the authorities to ask us to report crime? What did it serve to tell us that the government is stronger than any criminal organization? What did it serve to assure us that the Mexican State is not a failed one? The experience of LeBaron underlines the consequences of reporting organized crime in Mexico.”

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-end of report-

Mexico: Mormons who stood up against organized crime tortured and assassinated

m3report — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:25:28 +0000

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FORMER BORDER PATROL OFFICERS
Visit our website: http://www.nafbpo.org
Foreign News Report

El Universal ; El Financiero (Mexico City) and El Diario de Juarez (Cd. Juarez, Chihuahua) 7/8/09

Kidnappers punish Mormon community. Criminal groups delivered a hard blow to the town of Galeana, Chihuahua, a Mormon community that had successfully organized to confront the increase in kidnappings. Early Monday morning, a commando group assassinated the activist who headed the movement, Benjamin Franklin LeBaron Ray, and who had in past weeks mobilized a stand in demand of security. The armed thugs invaded his home, breaking doors and windows. Witnesses say he was tortured in front of his family before being abducted along with his brother-in-law, Luis Carlos Widman, who had tried to help him. Both were later murdered. Benjamin LeBaron was the brother of Erick LeBaron, a youth who had been kidnapped a little more than a month ago and was rescued without paying the ransom. After his release, his brother Benjamin began the community organization which solidified into a resistance against organized crime and demanded a halt to insecurity.

Chihuahua’s governor said “there needs to be no speculation” about the motives behind the assassinations and that the full force of the federal and state police will seek out those responsible for the crimes. He is also considering requesting participation of the FBI because of the dual US/Mexican nationalities of the victims.
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El Universal (Mexico City) and Frontera (Tijuana, Baja California) 7/8/09

New border tunnel discovered. Mexican Army units discovered a tunnel under construction in Tijuana that presumably was to extend into the US. Responding to an anonymous tip, soldiers discovered the tunnel under an abandoned house in Colonia Aleman, some 100 yards from the international border. The unfinished tunnel was at a depth of about nine feet. Neighbors said the house belongs to a woman who is presently serving time at La Mesa prison in Tijuana. Three arrests were reported in connection with the case.
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El Informador (Guadalajara, Jalisco) 7/8/09

Army arrests 15 police. The Mexican Army arrested 15 municipal police from various localities in the state of Coahuila. The operation was carried out from the state’s capital, Saltillo. Unofficial information was that the arrests were made by federal order for further investigation of the police officers.
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Cuarto Poder (Chiapas) 7/8/09

“Zeta” ambush. An ambush carried out by a group of Los Zetas, the armed branch of the Gulf Cartel, against a police patrol resulted in four dead — a police commander, two agents and a 15-year-old girl. The police were patrolling the road between two small towns in Chiapas near the Guatemalan border. Los Zetas attacked with AK-47 rifles and fragmentation grenades.
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Novedades de Quintana Roo (Quintana Roo) 7/8/09

Mexican immigration official accused. In Chetumal, QR, the agent in charge of the Mexican immigration office (INM) has been accused of “irregularities.” Fredy Nambula Trujillo is reported to have arrived at work on several occasions in a “state of inebriation” and has insulted and mistreated nine detained illegal migrants — seven Cubans, one Somali and a “Caribbean.” The complaints also say the food and medical attention are “subhuman.”
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-end of report-

Militarization of Honduras has resulted in indiscriminate use of uncontrolled force upon the citizenry

m3report — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:35:57 +0000

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FORMER BORDER PATROL OFFICERS
Visit our website: http://www.nafbpo.org
Foreign News Report

El Financiero (Mexico City) 7/7/09

Guatemalan humanitarian activists returning to Guatemala from a visit to Honduras reported that “at least five people have been executed without judicial authority” following the events of June 28 in which Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was expelled from the country by the military. [M3 Report 6/29/09] The humanitarian mission reported that “the militarization of the country (Honduras) and the indiscriminate use of uncontrolled force has resulted in human rights violations as basic as the right to life.” The activists said they were able to verify at least five “extrajudicial executions” as a direct result of the situation in Honduras. Claudia Samayoa, director of the human rights activists in Guatemala said that among the victims there were two youths assassinated Sunday by the Army on the outskirts of the international airport at Tegucigalpa. She also listed the assassination of journalist Gabriel Fino Noriega, a Radio America correspondent, and the deaths of two of President Zelaya’s sympathizers. She also mentioned a person killed when run over by a military vehicle during a demonstration. Regarding the death of Fino Noriega, Radio America said the attack on the journalist was not connected and had nothing to do to the political crisis.

—–

Thirteen people were arrested by Spanish authorities in an operation that broke up a major narcotraffic operation at the El Prat airport in Barcelona. Seven of those arrested worked at the airport. The 10-month investigation netted six Colombians, a Mexican, a Chilean and a Peruvian among the 13 arrested, as well as the seizure of seven kilos of cocaine. The smuggling operation involved hiding the drugs in the restrooms or in luggage marked with the names of air crew members (without their knowledge) of the planes arriving from Latin America, then recovering the contraband later by cleaning crews.

—–

The Mexican consulate in Chicago issues the most immigrant documents of all Mexican consulates worldwide. According to a press release by the consulate, 101,469 documents were issued in the first half of 2009, of which 50,552 were passports and 42,092 were “matriculas consulares” [identification cards issued to Mexican citizens abroad regardless of immigration status].

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Frontera (Tijuana, Baja California) 7/7/09

”They hunt police officers in TJ.” The article goes on to cover several recent lethal attacks on individual police officers by roving armed commando groups in Tijuana. Seventeen Tijuana municipal police have been assassinated in this manner in the past six months.

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Cambio de Michoacan (Morelia, Michoacan) 7/7/09

The Mexican Army dismantled a clandestine laboratory near Acuitzio, Michoacan. The lab was for processing methamphetamine. No arrests were made.

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Entorno a Tamaulipas (Tamaulipas) 7/7/09

A gun battle between Army units and hit-men in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, resulted in two wounded. The article did not make clear which group suffered the injuries or if there were any arrests.

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-end of report-

Election Day a day of violence in Mexico

m3report — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 15:15:05 +0000

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FORMER BORDER PATROL OFFICERS
Visit our website: http://www.nafbpo.org
Foreign News Report

Correo (León, Guanajuato) 7/6/09

“Twenty dead during election day” – Election day Sunday, a day of violence, resulted in three men being decapitated and 17 others shot to death in Mexico: 11 homicides were reported in Chihuahua, four in Guerrero, two in the state of Mexico and three in Veracruz, Durango and Sinaloa. Two human heads were found in Tetepantla, state of Mexico, on the border with the Distrito Federal; a “narcomessage” left by the criminal group “La Familia” claimed responsibility for those two. (However, “Diario de Yucatan” (Merida, Yuc.,) & a couple of others also mentioned that the state of Guerrero Public Security Dep’t. reported that 11 or 12 persons (total varies in reports) were shot to death while traveling in a vehicle in the “Tierra Caliente” area of the state of Guerrero)

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La Prensa Gráfica (San Salvador, El Salvador) 7/6/09

El Salvador’s “National Civil Police” reported that there were 25 assassinations in the country over the weekend, ten on Saturday and 15 on Sunday. And “Prensa Libre” (Guatemala City) today reports that from Saturday night to Sunday morning seventeen persons became victims of homicide in Guatemala

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El Debate (Culiacan, Sinaloa) 7/6/09

Mex. military made a typical haul when they patrolled back roads in the hill country near Choix, Sinaloa. Six vehicles (including a late model Lincoln Navigator with a GPS system), a grenade, an AK47, 2 sawed-off shotguns, three handguns and smaller amounts of weed, weed seed, crystal and cocaine, plus 4 “all terrain radios” (incl. two used for aircraft landings), another GPS, & a satellite phone. (As is common in these cases, 10 subjects managed to avoid capture and fled into the woods.)

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El Diario (Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua) 7/6/09 – full transl. -

Border area bishops are seeking to meet with the president of the United States for the purpose of finding a solution to the immigration problem. Renato Ascencio León, member of the Pontifical Council for the Emigrants and Itinerants Pastoral, pointed out that migrants face dangerous trips daily, (and) suffer humiliations and assaults during their transit to the neighboring country. A meeting of American Continent bishops took place recently in Guatemala, in which they agreed to seek an interview with United States legislators, preferably with president Barack Obama. (sic) He pointed out that they seek to meet with the governing persons of said country after the new American government announced its intention to make a migratory reform and to work with the countries of Mexico and Central America to confront economic inequalities which produce migration. By means of the newspaper Presencia, he commented that despite the interest which they see in Barack Obama, the same enthusiasm is not seen on the part of the chambers. (read: houses of Congress.) He said that the support for migrants must be immediate, because at this time they endure humiliations, assaults from people smugglers and traffickers as well as from drug cartels. He indicated that while said persons seek work to support their families, they suffer abuses and in many cases even death. He emphasized that the document the participating bishops issued mentions the grave effects which the migratory phenomenon causes in the societies of the originating and receiving countries, in which reference is made to the violation of human rights, family disintegration and the interference of drug and people trafficking criminal groups. The local prelate added that “attention must be paid to organized crime groups that in many cases operate without punishment along our borders and inside our very own countries.” In many cases the migrants are even considered criminals or delinquents, he added by means of the catholic weekly. He pointed out that at the meeting in which the border area bishops participated they analyzed the pastoral of their dioceses to maintain unification despite the countries where they find themselves.

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- end of report -

Over the weekend: Italian Parliament approves strong immigration bill; 651 robberies in Juarez in June; car jackings decapitations and homicides on the increase; U.S. Army report warns about growth of paramilitary groups in Mexico

m3report — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:41:30 +0000

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FORMER BORDER PATROL OFFICERS
Visit our website: http://www.nafbpo.org
Foreign News Report

Friday, 7/3/09

El Universo (Guayaquil, Ecuador) 7/3/09 (full transl.)

The Italian Parliament yesterday approved a controversial law backed by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s government, which makes clandestine immigration a crime, directly affecting the work and residency of the Ecuadorans and other foreigners who work in this country without documents. According to a study made by the Ministry (read: Dep’t.) of Interior in 2008, there are some 15,000 fellow countrymen who reside “without papers” while another 70 thousand are deemed legal. The most controversial article is that which makes illegal immigration a crime and punishes it with a fine from 5,000 to 10,000 euros (7,000 to 14,000 dollars) and expulsion. Further, it prolongs the detention of immigrants from two to six months in reception centers, but prison is excluded as punishment. Except for physicians and educational center directors, the new law obligates public officials to denounce immigrants without documents. Renting an apartment to a clandestine immigrant or offering accommodations will be sanctioned with up to three years in jail, (and) marriages between illegals will not be permitted even when one has documents, and to avoid marriages of convenience to obtain Italian citizenship faster the spousal applicants must live together two years. But the most emblematic measure, adopted by pressure from the xenophobic Liga Norte extreme right group, is that “citizens’ associations” will carry out rounds to watch the cities at night, which was exclusively in the hands of the police. The law obligates foreign parents of a newborn to present their residence permit in order to register the birth, which would increase the “invisible children” phenomenon. Pedro (fictitious name), a 37 year old Ecuadoran who arrived in Genoa two years ago as a tourist and stayed working illegally, exclaimed “We are in a dead end alley.” He said, “The little old man that I take care of tried to arrange my papers but they did not approve his application since he had low income, now I don’t know what I’ll do, I’ll have to live in hiding because I don’t want to return to Eucador.” The president of the non-governmental organization Tierra de Hombres, Raffaele Salinari, condemned the measures that deprive foreign children of “elemental rights.”

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Diario de Xalapa (Xalapa, Veracruz) 7/3/09

The second-in-command of Mexico’s “INM” (Natn’l. Immigration Agency) in the state of Tabasco said that the number of “immigrants” in Tabasco has risen by some 20% and that this could rise even higher because July to September is harvest time in the United States and for this reason many persons attempt to pass through with the “illusion” of finding work in that country. He added that the “INM” detects 700 to 1 thousand migrants in that state , mostly from Honduras and the rest from other Cent. Am. countries. (Tabasco is just north of Chiapas – Mexico’s southernmost state- on the north side of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec)

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Norte (Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua) 7/3/09

There were 651 robberies in Ciudad Juarez in June; the victims were 267 commercial establishments, 113 homes, 50 pedestrians and 24 educational establishments. The rest were street vendors and theft of items from vehicles.

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La Jornada (Mexico City) 7/3/09

Yesterday there were five cases of persons decapitated in the states of Mexico, Coahuila and Guerrero; the victim in the last location was an election official. Furthermore, 23 assassinations presumably linked to organized crime were reported in Chihuahua, Guerrero, Zacatecas, Durango, Sinaloa and Michoacan. Three decapitated bodies were found in areas of the state of Mexico: the cadavers of three males without a head were found in plastic bags, abandoned in Axapusco. The third body was found in Teotihuacan, and the state’s attorney’s office did not discard the possibility that the head found in Naucalpan might correspond to this cadaver. The head of Rogelio Garcia Carachure, an elections official, was found in Tlapehuala, Guerrero; he and his brother-in-law had been carried off by force last Tuesday. The fifth decapitated case was found in Ramos Arizpe, a satellite city of Saltillo, Coahuila.

Meanwhile, 12 homicides, eight of them in Ciudad Juarez, were reported in Chihuahua, all presumed linked to organized crime. Another four assassinations took place in Guerrero, two in Zacatecas and two more in Durango; besides, one each took place in Sinaloa and Michoacan. Dead person number 23 for the day was a man who died at the hands of killers while attempting to prevent the kidnapping for ransom of a 16 year old in Cardenas, Tabasco; the thugs are asking for one and a half million pesos. Another Tabasco businessman was also kidnapped. In Durango, the president of a businessmen’s association stated that federal police practice extortion against automobile drivers at checkpoints with the pretext that the vehicle in which the persons are traveling have “irregularities” in their documentation, “for which reason they would not be allowed to proceed.” Lastly, in Mexicali, Baja Calif., city police arrested a woman and three men in possession of 700 grams of cocaine.

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Saturday, 7/4/09

Crítica (Hermosillo, Sonora) 7/4/09

Near Cucurpe, Sonora, state police agents came across a “pollero” (sic) (read : people smuggler) and twelve undocumented Guatemalans being transported northbound. (Cucurpe is some 70 mi. south of Nogales, AZ)

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El Diario (Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua) 7/4/09

The incidence of carjackings in Ciudad Juarez has more than doubled in comparison with 2008. While 318 of those crimes took place there between January and May of last year, this year the number has risen to 795, an average of five a day.

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El Universal (Mexico City) 7/4/09

More than a hundred undocumented Central Americans were riding a northbound freight train near the border of the southern Mexican states of Tabasco and Chiapas when they were ambushed by a group of “Zetas”. The “Zetas” kidnapped fifty-one of them and were holding them in custody in a nearby ranch while relatives in the U.S. or in their countries of origin paid between $2,500 and $5,000 dollars for their release. A breakdown in the “Zetas’s” security system has now led to the rescue of the 51 Central Americans by Mex. military.

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El Debate (Culiacan, Sinaloa) 7/4/09

“At least 16 candidates who will be part of the 500 federal deputies (read: members of Congress) who will compose the next legislature have links with criminal cells.” Mexico’s Dep’t. of Government and Dep’t. of Justice have relating information but are not releasing names. An investigation believed to be taking place points to candidates from the states of Sinaloa, Sonora, Veracruz, Guerrero, Oaxaca, Tamaulipas and Chihuahua. All political parties are also represented. (Nationwide elections for members of Mexico’s next Congress are to be held on July 5)

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La Crónica de Hoy (Mexico City) 7/4/09

Police officials reported that eleven persons were executed yesterday in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, including several businessmen.

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Sunday, July 5

Prensa Libre (Guatemala City, Guatemala) 7/5/09

“The journey of violence which lashes the country left 11 dead yesterday in the capital city and the province.” (This article sub-headline was followed by 12 paragraphs with relating details. Likewise, “La Prensa Gráfica” – from El Salvador – today described the murder of five persons at one time and place, the sixth such massacre of the year there and the second one in the city of Colón)

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El Diario de Coahuila (Saltillo, Coahuila) 7/5/09

In Sinaloa, a Cessna aircraft with no flight plan or registration and “loaded with half a ton of drug” landed on a primitive strip at El Palmito, in the hill country of Badiraguato, Sinaloa. A Citation plane sent to chase it was unable to also land there and had to leave because its fuel was low. The occupants of the Cessna managed to flee and unload part of their cargo.

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“The U.S. warns about “narco insurgency” in Mexico”

(Though not news originating in Mexico, we are making an exemption and reporting the following article due to its high relevancy. It appeared today in both “El Universal” (Mexico City) and “Frontera” (Tijuana, Baja Calif.) A full translation follows.)

A U.S. Army report sounds the alert about the growth of paramilitary groups in Mexico, some of which are used by the drug cartels to dominate territories and challenge the State, beside placing itself as part of “the third generation of crime.” In the report titled “Narco insurgency in Mexico and the anti-drug policy of the United States”, the Institute (sic) for Strategic Studies of the Army War College, an agency of the Pentagon, sets forth the need for Barack Obama’s government to modify its strategy against drug traffic and that it change it to a counter insurgency. It warns “A transition is being observed from traditional gangsterism by salaried assassins to a paramilitary terrorism with guerilla tactics.”

The report is released less than a week that, from Cancun, a self-labeled Los Matazetas (“The Zeta killers”) paramilitary group made itself known through a video and a letter acknowledging the assassination of three alleged “zetas” as a way of avenging the kidnappings and abuses by that criminal group, but its members claim to support president Felipe Calderon’s policy against organized crime.

The report warns Washington that it will not be an easy task, but in order to face this new situation in Mexico it would be necessary to have “a successful counter insurgency, in which the use of force must be integrated within large political, military, diplomatic and economic schemes, which reinforce each other.” Hal Brands, author of the analysis, mentions that Mexican cartels use private paramilitary forces which use modern weaponry and are recognized by their brutality. In this regard, Los Zetas are considered Mexico’s “most technologically advanced, sophisticated and violent private army.” Brands points out that the Mexican government must face this issue if it hopes to bring to a halt the insecurity that grew with drug traffic since 2006.

The report explains that the cartels’ paramilitary groups are found as part of the “third generation” that are larger and more powerful than the gangs, since they use violence and intimidation to weaken governmental institutions and corrupt the State’s authority. It adds that support programs such as the Merida Initiative do not attack the root of the problem.

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- end of report -

Drug Traffickers attack clerics who denounce drugs

m3report — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 05:06:50 +0000

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FORMER BORDER PATROL OFFICERS
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Foreign News Report

La Prensa Gráfica (San Salvador, El Salv.) 7/2/09

“Narcos become hostile toward priests to halt ”criticisms”. Drug traffickers in Mexico have begun to attack clerics who have denounced drug traffic, breaking unwritten laws and honor codes in the country with the second highest number of catholics in the world. In the midst of a brutal war between narcos and the government, early in June gunmen killed a catholic priest and two seminarians. According to the Episcopal Conference of Mexico nearly 1,000 catholic priests face constant threats from the drug cartels in the whole country and at least 400 have received direct warnings to be quiet and to stop criticizing the violence and extortions or they will be murdered. Though it is suspected that the seminarians had family links with cartels, the majority of priests say they are threatened for exhorting their church members to confront the narcos. “They threatened to burn me alive, with all my family” said Bartolome Garcia, an evangelical pastor who had to abandon the village where he worked, near Tijuana. The pastor added “They don’t like for one to preach about some things against them.”

Since president Felipe Calderon assumed power some 12,000 persons have died in Mexico due to the war between rival cartels and Mexico’s security forces. The grotesque trail of mutilated and decapitated bodies extends from the Mexican shores on the Caribbean to its desert-like border with the U.S.A., and has become worrisome for the White House and for investors. From the time Mexico’s most wanted man, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman escaped (in 2001) from prison and declared a bloody war against rival cartel chiefs, the confrontation has become so horrible that the hired killers of the narcos have put aside all rules of honor and have even assassinated children. Mexicans fear the strongly armed cartels evermore, while the catholic church and the evangelical ones are some of the few who keep raising their voice especially in the areas where the Mexican government has little control. The archbishop of the northern state of Durango raised a media dust storm in April when he said “everyone”, except the government, knew that “el Chapo” was living in that state.

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El Diario de Coahuila (Saltillo, Coah.) , El Universal (Mexico City) 7/2/09

“The decapitated cadaver that showed up last Tuesday on the streets of Veracruz was identified as one of the presumed “Zetas” killers who are seen in an internet video in which they reveal links with city, state and federal police.” The victim was identified by his sister as Rodolfo Lara Sanchez. His head was found hours after his decapitated body, and in another, nearby area. He had been a worker at the Mex. Customs facility at the port of Veracruz. Several other “Zetas” who appeared in the video have now also been identified. Three of them were executed on June 18 and found the week before last in Cancun. (The attached photo shows three of the “Zetas” being interrogated; all are believed to be dead now.)

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El Heraldo (Tegucigalpa, Honduras) 7/2/09

(While many press sources labeled the recent political upheaval in Honduras a “coup d’etat”, this is how others view it) – After traveling back to Honduras, that country’s ambassador to the U.S., Roberto Flores, yesterday affirmed that there had not been a coup d’etat in the country. He said “I recognize the Chancery and the authorities who are making decisions at this time,” and, when questioned about ex-president Manuel Zelaya’s constitutional succession, he answered that “this is an issue that was being discussed, the instances that have taken place in president Zelaya’s removal have been quite clear, it’s not a coup d’etat, it is a process which has been followed pursuant to the national juridical order and that is the basis.”

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El Diario (Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua) 7/2/09

Juarez started the month of July with six homicides in the first day, all in different events and in different areas of the city.

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- end of report -