Borderland Beat |  |
- German Guns in Mexico and the 5 Levels of Police Collusion
- Failed Attempt at Semeí Verdía's Life
- “They’re going to kill us all in 40 minutes” Hipólito Mora Warns
- How Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel Fed US Heroin Market
- Clash with Los Zetas Shows Violence Still Exists in Coahuila Despite Claims of Progress
- The Dead of Enrique Pena Nieto: 41 thousand in 23 Months
- Autodefensas Speak Out Against Organized Crime
- SUPPLEMENT; The Unofficial Iguala History; Fed Police and Army Involved in Massacre?
- Brownsville Customs Officer Arrestested for Aiding Smuggling
| German Guns in Mexico and the 5 Levels of Police Collusion Posted: 17 Dec 2014 05:03 AM PST
A newspaper in Germany reported that 36 German guns were seized from the municipal police in Iguala, Mexico following the September disappearance of 43 student protesters, illustrating the deep ties of these police to the local criminal group Guerreros Unidos. According to daily newspaper Die Tageszeitung, three dozen Heckler & Koch G36 assault rifles -- in addition to Italian and US weaponry -- were among 228 firearms Mexican prosecutors confiscated from police installations in Iguala, in the southern state of Guerrero. The Mexican government does not issue German weaponry to its armed forces or police. This leads to the presumption that the weapons came from the Iguala police's criminal overlords, the Guerreros Unidos. Authorities have not yet established whether the German weapons were used to attack the student protesters, who were apparently murdered by members of the Guerreros Unidos working in collaboration with municipal police, possibly on the orders of the local mayor and his wife. The whereabouts of all but one of the bodies remains unclear and debate continues over where and how the alleged murders of the students occurred. Exporting German weapons to states engaged in an armed conflict or with poor human rights records is expressly prohibited. However, according to Germany's Federal Office for Economics and Export Control (BAFA), Heckler & Koch was allowed to export some 9,000 G36 assault rifles to Mexico between 2006 and 2009 with the stipulation that they not be made available in the conflict-ridden states of Guerrero, Jalisco, Chiapas and Chihuahua. Despite this ban, a journalist with Radio Netherlands cited by Sin Embargo has reported that G36 rifles were used in a previous state police attack on student protesters in Guerrero, in 2011, and that these guns have also showed up in the hands of police in Chihuahua. According to German peace activist Jürgen Grässlin, holes in Germany's monitoring system have helped facilitate the black market trade in weapons from this country, which is the world's third-largest arms exporter. German arms manufacturer SIG Sauer has also come under fire for illicit arms exports. The weapons are a good place to start when analyzing levels of collusion between security forces, police and organized crime. A Mexican intelligence agent, speaking on condition of anonymity, told InSight Crime that his agency counts five levels of collusion between police and criminal groups. Level 1: The police simply allow criminal groups to act without interfering. Level 2: The police accept (or demand) payment for allowing criminal groups to act without interfering. Level 3: The police protect criminal groups and their enterprises for a fee. Level 4: The police work for the criminal groups and their enterprises for a fee. Level 5: The criminal group runs the police as part of the criminal enterprise. The discovery of the German weapons appears to make for a Level 5 situation, the intelligence official said. To be sure, the fact that the Iguala municipal police were in possession of prohibited firearms suggests that they acquired them from criminals with access to black market weaponry -- most likely the Guerreros Unidos. If this is the case, it indicates the deep integration of the Iguala police into this drug gang, which may have seen the police as their "men" who they needed to better arm. In some ways, this is the reverse of what is more commonly seen with arms: security force weapons falling into the hands of criminals (weapons recovered from Mexican cartels have been traced to Guatemalan and Honduran military stocks). That would be something closer to a Level 3 scenario. In this case, the police were the recipients, rather than the providers, of black market weapons. Mexico's municipal police forces tend to be underfunded and lack adequate equipment, which may have incentivized the illegal purchase of high-power firearms for what the criminal group considers part of their armed wing. The weapons are just one piece of evidence of a Level 5 collusion. In this rather blatant case, the police are thought to have literally corralled the students and handed them to the criminal group. Normally, the evidence is not so stark; in the less obvious cases, a peek at the guns could be a good way to start figuring out who is working for whom. Posted originally on Insight crime | ||
| Failed Attempt at Semeí Verdía's Life Posted: 16 Dec 2014 08:15 PM PST
Aquila, Michoacán. December 16, 2014— Today at around 15:00 hours, an unknown group ambushed the commander of the Community Police of Ostula, Semeí Verdía, in events that occurred on the coastal road of Michoacán, at the height of the entrance to the village of Xayakalan. Sources say that the hitmen were sent in by the former plaza boss of the Templarios of that area. According to police sources, the commander Semeí was traveling towards Ostula but before reaching Xayakalan, he changed vehicles, which saved his life. As the truck he would normally be traveling in, which at that moment was carrying a family, was shot at, leaving five wounded and Semeí unharmed. Among those hurt were Salvador Mejía Valdovinos, 28; José Mora Mendoza, 26; Félix Mejía Valdovinos, 24; and Miguel Mejía Mora, 5, son of José Mora, in charge of the order of Xayacalan. After the attack, an operational force with the Fuerza Rural of the municipalities of Aquila and Coahuayana was deployed, reporting that at 18:30, they managed to arrest one of the assailants. The assailant is reported to be Jonathan Aguilar Juan, "La Changa", who confessed that he along with four other assailants acted under the orders of Lico González, and that they had the order to kill the Community Police commander. The assailant also confessed that the group was commanded by Luis N, "El Caracol", one of the participants in the assassination of José Trinidad de la Cruz, "Don Trino", in November 2011. A few days ago, the general assembly of the community of Ostula affirmed its support for the Community Police and determined to expulse several families who are accused of being involved in organized crime. In the same assembly, it was decided to continue the struggle "for the live presentation of the missing villagers (six) and the punishment of the masterminds and perpetrators of the killings of the villagers of Santa María Ostula from July 2008 (32), where the principal perpetrator of these acts, as is clear from the evidence provided to the assembly is Mario Álvarez, "El Chacal", who is identified as a PRI boss in the region. The wounded family was taken to the Hospital of Coahauyana. Other reports say that the Community Police stated that the family was taken to a hospital in Tecomán, Colima, and their health status is reported as serious. | ||
| “They’re going to kill us all in 40 minutes” Hipólito Mora Warns Posted: 16 Dec 2014 07:49 PM PST  Update:
Buenavista, Michoacán– In a 22 second phone call Hipólito Mora had with Michoacán 3.0, the autodefensa leader of La Ruana warned that "We have six dead, them too, the gendarmerie and the police have left us alone! They have us surrounded right now here at the roadblock…there are a lot of people belonging to El Americano. In 30 minutes we won't be able to talk anymore, they're going to kill us all! Right now in a while, that's all I can say". This Tuesday afternoon, a strong confrontation between the Fuerza Rural of La Ruana, municipality of Buenavista, led by Hipólito Mora Chávez and the other Luis Antonio Torres, "El Americano" occurred. During the confrontation, which has lasted for over two hours, Hipólito Mora talked with Michoacán 3.0 and warned that there are already a lot of people dead, including his son, Manuel Mora. Since last Monday, December 8, Mora Chávez and Jorge Vázquez, a spokesman for the legitimate autodefensas and leader of the autodefensas of Aguililla, warned that if the authorities didn't intervene, a bloody confrontation could break out. "Michoacán is a mess", said the commander of the Fuerza Rural of La Ruana, who for months announced an imminent confrontation between the rural guards who command and the group of "El Americano", who collaborates with the criminal group Los Viagras. However, during all this time, it was ignored by authorities. Source: Michoacán 3.0 | ||
| How Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel Fed US Heroin Market Posted: 16 Dec 2014 03:49 PM PST  Heroin Seized in New York 2014 The Sinaloa Cartel has taken control of New York's heroin market, replacing Colombian and Asian groups as the principal supplier of the drug, according to an investigation by the Dromomanos collective, winner of the Ortega y Gasset Journalism Awards. Jeen Blake, a 40-year-old truck driver, drove from Queens, New York to Riverside, California. The cross-country trip, which took at least 42 hours, had an extremely profitable end: deliver $750,000 in exchange for 15 kilos of heroin. Blake, an employee of the company Good Guys Transport Corporation, spent a week driving. His truck was filled with the soles of shoes in which some of the drugs were hidden. The rest was concealed in square packets located in secret compartments. After driving 4,800 kilometers, the driver entered New York this past August 26, without knowing that he was being monitored as part of a special operation by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the state police. The plan was to meet the head of the company, Dorian Cabrera, at a Long Island parking lot and hand over the merchandise. After he reached the spot and both of them entered the trailer, agents surprise them. In addition to the drugs, the agents found more than $300,000 in cash. In Cabrera's office, they discovered another $190,000 along with some precious gems. Both men were accused of drug possession and intent to distribute. According to James Hunt, Acting Special Agent in Charge of DEA New York Division, the drug shipment had a street value of $9 million. This article originally appeared in El Universaland was translated, edited and reprinted with permission. See Spanish original here. "We believe that the drugs entered through New Mexico, were brought to California and then on to New York," said Bridget Brennan, New York's special narcotics prosecutor. "They move in circles. There is so much money involved that it is worth the effort; they travel on routes that they think are safer. Even if they lose a significant amount en route, there's always much more." According to US investigators, the Sinaloa Cartel has taken control of the US heroin market. Although authorities are closely watching them, the criminal group's product has displaced Colombia's and Afghanistan's from the market, and is also looking to extend its distribution networks into other US states. Present in More Than A Thousand US Cities According to the DEA, 50 percent of heroin sold in the US is produced in Mexico, between 43 and 45 percent comes from Colombia, and the rest from Asian countries. Almost all of it is supplied by Mexican cartels. In an interview, Special Prosecutor Brennan pointed directly to the Sinaloa Cartel as the organization supplying the New York market and the rest of the country. The most recent report by the Department of Justice (DOJ) indicates that Mexican drug traffickers have a presence in 1,286 cities in the US. In less than 10 years, Mexico has overtaken Colombia and countries like Pakistan and Afghanistan as a leader in the US drug market. Currently, Mexico is the second biggest producer of opium and marijuana in the world, according to the most recent report from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). New York has been one of the cities most affected by the Mexican cartels controlling the heroin market. Currently, it is suffering a surge in consumption of heroin the likes of which have not been seen since the 1970s. Brennan said this was the result of an increase in the heroin supply since the end of 2008, when groups like the Sinaloa Cartel began producing the drug. Mexico has some 10,500 hectares of opium crops, according to the most recent estimate from the US Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP). "When there is a large offer of drugs on the market, there is a greater demand," Brennan said. "The supply creates the demand. And since there is a large supply of heroin coming from the border region, there is a major addiction problem in the US right now." With the Sinaloa Cartel controlling the heroin routes -- which according to US authorities are the same as the traditional cocaine and marijuana routes -- New York has become a gateway and a base for the drugs distributed in the northeast and along the Eastern Coast. "The heroin we seize is no longer just destined for distribution in New York, but also in other states like Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and Vermont. New York has become a hub [a storage and distribution center]," said Brennan. Some 35 percent of heroin seizures in the US have occurred in this city. The biggest seizure in the past five years took place in 2013, with 356 kilos seized. Between January and May 2014, 98 kilos were seized -- an increase on the 63 kilos seized in the same period last year. According to the most recent report by the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) program, which looks closely at New York and New Jersey, the distribution bases for heroin are located on the outskirts of the city. "Trenton and Camden serve as the biggest distribution centers and also represent significant heroin markets," the report says. "Albany also serves as a regional center, with people traveling to neighboring states like Vermont, Massachusetts and other rural areas north of New York to buy heroin." Extending its Tentacles The proliferation of Mexican heroin has had a big impact in Vermont. There Governor Peter Shumlin declared a health emergency last January due to a 770 percent increase in the consumption of opiates since 2000. What began as an oxycodone and prescription pill problem has turned into a heroin epidemic, with heroin-related deaths from overdosing doubling in the past year. According to Hunt, the DEA special agent, when oxycodone prescriptions became more difficult to acquire, the Mexican cartels took advantage of the opportunity to substitute that drug with heroin, which is much cheaper and more addictive. "The Mexicans are filling up the market. They are intelligent businessmen with a poisonous product. The heroin of today is cheaper, more abundant and more potent than it was 20 years ago," he said during a press conference in September. In 2008, the Mexican heroin supply increased, and so did its quality. In previous decades, it was common to find so-called black tar heroin in the US, a brownish drug of poor quality. However, in the past few years, Mexican heroin has been primarily white and its effect is stronger. It is estimated that the purity of the heroin that currently circulates on New York streets is between 40 and 60 percent. During the epidemic of the 1970s, the purity was not above 10 percent. A kilo of pure heroin can produce more than 50,000 doses after being cut with chemicals like strychnine and quinine, or substances like sugar, chalk and borax. Once the purity of the kilo has been reduced, it can be sold in the streets for more than half a million dollars. In the streets of New York and the surrounding areas, various groups control heroin sales. Although the drug comes from Mexico, once it is in the city, it falls into many hands. "We have seen Russians, Eastern Europeans, Colombians and Mexicans. It is not exclusive to one group," said the prosecutor. A month after the truck with 15 kilos of heroin was discovered, a group of Dominicans, headed by the 40-year-old Jose Dejesus, was detained in the Bronx as they were cutting 10 kilos of the drug and packing it carefully into small white envelopes that had labels with names like "Sin City," "Prada," "Pinky Dinky" and "Audi." In the apartment, authorities found hundreds of thousands of envelopes that were ready to be sold throughout the northeastern US for a cost of between $6 and $10. There were also masks, coffee filters and various products used for drug processing. "How do the drugs get from the person who transports them from California to this organization in the Bronx? It's an open question. There is probably just one link in the chain, and there may even be a direct connection between those who bring large quantities of heroin to New York and those that distribute it in envelopes in the streets. There are countless organizations, but the Dominicans continue to lead the distribution in the city," said the antinarcotics prosecutor. For the cartels, said the official, it is better to work with the local, already established mafias and, that way, everyone makes money. During the heroin epidemic of the 1970s, the majority of the heroin in New York was Asian, and since it came from so far away it was controlled by just one organization that was also in charge of its distribution: the Italian organization known as La Cosa Nostra. "Now, with so much heroin coming from the border, the distribution is not so centralized. Everyone has a share," he said. *This article was reprinted and translated with permission from JoseLuis Pardo and Alejandra S. Inzunza. See Spanish original of this article here. The authors of this article won the National Journalism Prize in 2013 and the Ortega y Gasset Journalism Award in 2014, for reports from the Drug Trafficking in America series, which were published in El Universal. | ||
| Clash with Los Zetas Shows Violence Still Exists in Coahuila Despite Claims of Progress Posted: 16 Dec 2014 06:40 PM PST  The driver of the pickup attempted to flee at a high rate of speed on the dirt road upon which he and seven passengers were traveling. Meanwhile, some of the individuals aboard shot at the police officers. Nevertheless, authorities shot and killed three of the individuals and managed to stop the vehicle. Eulogio Iván, 21 years old, Edén, 27 years old, and Juan, 37 years old, all from Piedras Negras, were arrested along with Benito Alejandro, 35 years old from Sabinas, and Gonzalo, 35 years old from Ciudad Acuña. The arrestees confessed to being members of Los Zetas who trafficked drugs through Ciudad Acuña to Texas. Ten blocks of marijuana weighing a total of 55 kilograms, three AK-47s and 14 amunition clips were confiscated from the vehicle. The same day this was reported, a separate article quoted the governor of Coahuila, Rubén Moreira Valdez, as saying "Criminal groups like Los Zetas intimidated the whole world and thanks to the police forces such as the Group of Special Arms and Tactics the peace has returned". Known in Spanish as Grupo de Armas y Tácticas Especiales (GATE), the state of Coahuila has made it a focus of their campaign against drug cartels. With accumulating complaints before the State Commission of Human Rights about abuses of power by GATE, the governor claims that he watches out that they do not violate rights and says that since its formation, violent crimes have diminished seventy percent in the state. Even if one gives the governor the benefit of the doubt that what he says is accurate, clashed like the one mentioned above shows that the war against Los Zetas in Coahuila has not been won. | ||
| The Dead of Enrique Pena Nieto: 41 thousand in 23 Months Posted: 16 Dec 2014 03:25 PM PST Spike for Borderland Beat translated from Zeta Tijuana Article  125,879 executions in the last 8 years -State of Mexico continues as the most violent with 5,450 intentional homicides -14,429 intentional murders, i.e. 35 per cent, are concentrated in the corridor made up of the States of Mexico, Guerrero, Jalisco and Michoacán -Baja California continues in ninth place with 1,612 -Government of EPN outperforms Calderon in accidents -In the Government of EPN 904 corpses are classified "no data" "... Who would have thought that those who participated in this crime, which disappears 43 students would not bring a result that reflects a level of grave impunity ... in the dimension of corruption, of extraordinary concern":Emilio Alvarez Icaza, Executive Secretary of the Inter-American Commission of human rights (IACHR) "It appears to me that President Pena Nieto is not seeing or understanding the seriousness of the problem that we have in the country and that advisers were dwarves, don't have the height": José Antonio Ortega, President of the citizen Council of criminal justice and public security. "We have not resolved the causes of insecurity and crime, and the proof of this is that we have a new crisis and the President has to go out to announce a plan for the situation, when it was assumed that he had one already": Santiago Roel Rodriguez, Creator of the social criminal traffic light project; "There is no vision in security, continuity of the policy of President Calderon with a different narrative": Francisco Rivas Rodriguez of the Observatorio Ciudadano  Enrique Mendoza Hernandez and Rosario Mosso Castro The silence as a strategy for reducing executions, kidnappings and disappearances, is not working for the Government of Enrique Peña Nieto. Neither the official speech touting the Penista's officials that "criminal incidence is down". Nor the campaign repeated promises , in the first months of Government that "in a year" will begin to see results, that was two years ago and cheerful speeches have not slowed the violence in the country. Indeed, digging and moving Mexico in the peripheries and barrens, ranches and towns, corpses still appear in all the Mexican Republic, as when in Guerrero to look for the 43 Ayotzinapa, fearfully missing since September 26, 2014, there were unearthed dramatically, dozens of bodies without identity. Before the gloomy underground cemetery that the country has become, the Government of Enrique Peña Nieto preferred to stop official excavations before nameless bodies continue piling up on him. We must consider that Enrique Peña Nieto said during the Davos Forum in January 2013 "there was an actual decrease in the number of homicides committed in our country, a decrease of almost 30 per cent of homicides linked to organized crime, which is encouraging to us". That has been the peroration of Enrique Peña Nieto as his pulpit arises, even in the interviews with the Federal Executive with foreign media. Again, as documented previously, ZETA weekly updated a registry of executions in the first 23 months of Government of Enrique Peña Nieto and the results are disappointing. The most violent To register all executions ZETA weekly developed a methodology that, consists of confronting the official federal government information, prosecutors and State agencies with "newspaper" records of several newspapers , as well as information of civil associations that relatives of victims have created, as well as expert services, Semefos ( Forensic Medical Service ) and local forensic institutes. As a general conclusion, ZETA weekly documented that from the 1 of December 2012 to 31 October 2014 there have been 41 thousand nationwide intentional homicides, including the "executions", "Fighting", "Aggressive Homicides", are a product of narco activity like malicious killings and the intentional murders committed with high calibre firearms or by the coup de grace; Obviously, the hard data is superior to the 33,239 "preliminary investigations" by homicides reported to the federal Government in the same period. Second conclusion, ZETA weekly said: Unlike the six years of Felipe Calderón when Chihuahua concentrated first on malicious killings with 16,467 (equivalent to 19.7 per cent), in the first 23 months of the administration of Enrique Peña Nieto ruled by the PRI , Mexico State is the most violent and insecure with 5,450 constituting 13 per cent of the total. A third conclusion is that the corridor comprising the State of Mexico, Guerrero, Jalisco and Michoacán concentrated 14,429 intentional homicide, i.e. in those four states are 35 per cent of the total. In addition, the five most violent States during the first 23 months of Government of Enrique Peña Nieto are: In the first place is located the State of Mexico with 5,450 intentional homicides the second corresponds to Guerrero with 3,680 followed by Chihuahua with 3,357 Jalisco and Michoacan, with 2,650 and 2,649, respectively occupied the fourth and fifth place as the most violent States in the country By the way, Baja California continues in ninth place with 1,612. It should be noted that the Government of Felipe Calderón in their first 23 months recorded 21,920 preliminary investigations for homicides, while in the first 23 months of Government of Enrique Peña Nieto the figure amounted to 33,186. Even during the Presidency of Felipe Calderón ZETA weekly documented 83,191 executions, the Government of Enrique Peña Nieto there has been 41,015 in just 23 months; in other words, at that rate the Penista Government will obviously surpass the total under Calderon. The dead "no data" In the recent excavations in the State of Guerrero while looking for missing 43 students, , at first 28 bodies were discovered, but no one knew the identities of the corpses. Not knowing the identity of the dead in Mexico is quite common: the Six years of Felipe Calderón through the national information system reported 7,059 "preliminary investigations" of malicious homicides " that have no data", i.e. that the authorities knew neither their names, indeed nothing. The Government of Enrique Peña Nieto also continues to accumulate the bodies without a name: in December 2012 the Executive Secretariat recorded 29 "preliminary investigations" of intentional homicides " with no data"; 306 in 2013 and 570 in 10 months of 2014; in total during the Penista administration so far, there are at least 905 dead of unknown identity. Government of accidentsThe Government of Enrique Peña Nieto also outperforms the Six years of Felipe Calderón for culpable homicide, accidents. For example, in the first 23 months of Government of Calderon there were 28,634 preliminary investigations for culpable homicide, i.e. accidents; While in the first 23 months of the Penista Government the sum amounted to 32,414; i.e. Peña Nieto beats Calderón with 3,780 "accidents". Even in the last 23 months of Government the national system of public security (SNSP) Pan reported about 30,005 accidents, while in the first 23 months of Pena's Administration the figure amounted to 32,414. 125,000 executions in 8 years "The war against organized crime of the federal Government and between Cartels for various " Plazas" in the States, have led to thousands of dead. ZETA Weekly has documented every year the catastrophe: * 2007: 2,826 executions * 2008: 6,837 * 2009: 11,753 * 2010: 19,546 * 2011: 24,068 * 2012: 22,159 * 2013: 23,850 * 2014: 14,840 in ten months In total, during the Governments of Felipe Calderón and Enrique Peña Nieto there have been in the country at least 125,879 executions. "There should be no surprise"Emilio Álvarez Icaza Longoria is the Executive Secretary of the Inter-American Commission of human rights (IACHR) interviewed by ZETA he refers to the case of the 43 disappeared as a reflection of what is happening in the country in terms of security. "Ayotzinapa, its a surprise that someone should be surprised by this, or Governments, or society, the phenomenon of enforced disappearances has existed for years in Mexico, the movement for peace with justice and dignity, started when he sat down with Calderon and members, discussing around the table with relatives of the disappeared , also there was a national discussion of the involvement of public servants, in which their participation in the disappearances were tabled", the disappearance of migrants, there are reports over many years, reports of the National Commission on human rights that speak of an industry of abduction. "Ayotzinapa reflects a structural problem of a very large magnitude. Guerrero had already talked about hundreds of bodies that were recovered from the mines of Taxco, bodies in clandestine graves, unfortunately this was not taken seriously and came to an end with the disappearing of a group of students. "And one of the reasons that may explain the international outcry is an analysis of what were they thinking , those who participated in this crime, that 43 disappeared students would not bring a reckoning?, that reflects a level of impunity... in the dimension of corruption, of extraordinary concern". "Reflected in a paradigmatic way on the one hand the structural problem of non-performance by the Mexican State to deal with a problem of this magnitude, second, the institutional weakness of the various levels of the State in actions of prevention, administration and justice." And third an explosion of outrage and outcry that this is not acceptable under any conditions , enforced disappearances in a democratic regime. On official statistics of killings and other crimes that projected apparent decreases in incidence, the Executive Secretary of the IACHR explained that there is debate about the credibility. "There have been arguments that have been made public that there is use of different corporations of security that handle those numbers reflect a different reality, that has happened at the State level, there have been discussions at the federal level". He spoke of the need to create conditions of greater certainty in the production of statistics, with updating and monitoring mechanisms. "A process of professionalization and improvement, in the generation of these statistics is required to overcome mistrust,", because people have well-founded doubts. In terms of Security policies. Alvarez Icaza said that there are efforts, some huge like the Police, actions, attempts that have to mature. "Advance citizen security models , construction of understanding that security institutions are part of the institutions of democracy, we need to have democratic control of the institutions, and that has to do with the improvement". With respect to the Decalogue and current actions he concluded. "I think the size of the challenge requires a much stronger, more consistent, structured response and has to generate a condition where the articulation of security policy generates best results, the size of the problem requires a response of deeper thought." Absence of certaintyReferring to official statistics that speak of a reduction in homicides, presumed as indicators of improvement in the conditions of insecurity, José Antonio Ortega, President of the citizen Council of criminal justice and public security, said that we must wait for the INEGI report of deaths because there is no certainty in numbers from the Executive Secretariat"there are other variants". She exemplified this talk that took a week with the ambassadors of Japan and Belgium and the former Ambassador of France Florence Daniel Parfait: ".. .the three told me, what happens is that now the killings are not reflected correctly because now they are burying them, referring to the mass graves, then I think that it is another factor that has to take into account that criminal groups resort more frequently to these practises". With respect the cheerful figures recalled that in September with the Ayotzinapa case ,all came down to the President: ".. .and all the dirt comes out right now, everybody is seeing it, and right now nobody believes them, there was no credibility, acceptance of Presidential approval percentages have dropped tremendously". Also: ".. .the intentional homicides, are showing them culpable, because that figure is growing too, and on the other hand as we registered the issue of the missing, buried in a clandestine manner, etc., which is something very serious as it speaks of irrational violence, brutality not occurring in all parts of the world." ".. .with the pressure from the international media, which hurts most, additionally horrified not only by the barbarities that we are seeing every day, but for the non-performance of authority before the violent events against demonstrations calling for the appearance of these 43 boys ask me: what no law, that there is no authority? " then that caught my attention. Regarding the Decalogue to improve security conditions and the rule of law, Ortega was considered unresponsive to the needs: ".. .there are some proposals of law that all they do is to seek solutions within 2 or 3 years, good, and right now?" "... they are talking about when the residents are needed, if you're going to remove the police who don't search for criminals, will the Governors who will have control of the police, allow you to kidnap, extort, make a ball of criminal acts". He explained that recently, the citizen Council of criminal justice and public safety, presented the study "Guerrero caught in the circle of violence" which shows that homicidal violence since 1979 relates to the problem of 9 drug trafficking groups, linked to trafficking and /or and the production of poppy and heroin with more than 24 mayors, 2 senators and deputies with alleged ties to organized crime. "It is not a new problem. "It seems to me that the great reform that some sectors of society would expect, would be that it will go against politicians who allow organized crime with their actions or omissions." And from that, there is no signal in the Presidential proposal... then will continue with impunity. " He ( EPN ) does not give an answer that is seeing or understanding the seriousness of the problem that we have in the country and that advisers were dwarves, are not at the height," he summed up. New crisisInterviewed, Santiago Roel Rodriguez, spoke of a reduction in the incidence of criminal acts: "how does 2014 compare with 2013, there is a reduction of 6 per cent on the issue of homicides, that does not mean that all is well, only that it is better than last year." "It is a paradox in general terms, we see the reductions and the red flags have changed, Nuevo León, Sonora, Sinaloa fell, Morelos is still wrong, and Guanajuato and Querétaro has increased, for example" "The other point is the great discontent of the people, because in cases where they have managed to get off, except in Nuevo Leon, the opinion is of negative perception, people still believe that things are worse, in your municipality, the State and the country. Roel considered that social unrest is due to perception that insecurity has not been corrected: "Proof of this is that we have a new crisis and the President must go, announce a plan for the situation when it was assumed that he had already had one". Referring to the causes of insecurity he referred to police collusion, authorities infiltrated by organized crime, the lawsuits between cartels, young people at risk without employment and opportunities. " The theme of bad government is very broad, from bad services to bad public policies, the serious problem of the judiciary, then it is of the three powers and the 3 levels of Government, and in which announced Peña Nieto, these two causes of appeal and resolve, but they will take time with transparency, and accountability." He said that the big absentee in the Chair's proposal was the subject of drug policy, which is what is generating almost all this violence, and confirmed that the commanders of the municipalities mentioned by him, that between 80 and 90 per cent of the killings are related to narco-activities. "I think that the President could, if he doesn't buy a ticket, have an issue that Mexican society still does not understand well, is the legalization of the drug in a rational manner with health management through the sector. It could invite Congress to seriously analyze the issue , as the Governor of Morelos, Graco Ramírez did this week, I thought it was brave because he is the first Governor who dares to break the taboo". In terms of official statistics they said that they may be valid, complemented by studies of perception and victimization, because none is perfect or that of the INEGI. "There are exceptions in statistics from States where things are complicated to such a degree that there is a fear to complain , because there is no guarantee that agencies or police are not complicit with the criminals, Veracruz is one of the clearest cases". In accordance with the criminal traffic lights, in 2014, kidnapping complaints were reduced by 13 per cent, for extortion they fell 27 per cent, home robbery by 15%, a business reduction was 7 per cent; and injuries, remained virtually unchanged Continuity in security "We have consistent criminal behavoir down in official figures in regards of killings, but that comes from August 2011, the problem is that the case reveals the weakness of statistical records we have in Mexico," said Francisco Rivas Rodriguez of the Citizen Watch. "Many pointers in Latin America does not mean that in land of the blind the one-eyed man is King, we are not well." The problem is real, all the mass graves that have been found and the missing, put in evidence that we don't have control our territory, that we do not know what is going on in the country, and how much remains to strengthen the records. "I don't want to simplify it in a brutal way because it is not so, but yes a good part of the missing persons or bodies without identities that we have in the States, we know by a study that we are doing, they are related to kidnapping of migrants." "We are inconsistent in the country, we demand respect for the human rights of our nationals who cross the border, but we don't have the same respect for the citizens of other countries that pass through our territory." Comparing administrations of Calderon and Peña, Rivas Rodriguez indicated that what must be taken into account is that the rise in homicides in the first 2 years of Calderon's administration, were not so dramatic, that they soared between 2009 and 2011, that Peña received a very high incidence figure though that is descending. "From August 2011 we begin to see a Flex, it was when the war on drugs began to have its apparent results ." Calderon had a public policy on safety, but could not share it, but it met the necessary characteristics, which had its period of gestation and started to see results by the end of the presidential term." With respect to the emerging Decalogue, Rivas Rodriguez said the 10 points that the President EPN presents are very weak, do not present a shift or a view on the issue of security, are proposals that we already know, that we have heard. Many were proposed to the previous Congress of most PRI rejected them at the time and today are being rescued. "There is no vision, there is continuity of the policy of President Calderon with a different narrative". "They are good deeds of shallow draft," he said and exemplified: "A national emergency number, is positive but does not resolve the problem of public trust ?: is not... part of a vision of the kind of country we want to achieve". Identity cards, are another positive action: ".. .but nor is it political, because it doesn't re think what kind of institutions we want, nor the relations of Citizen States the way we want it". The only command, in addition must be analyzed in detail with all its implications, ".. .you will not solve the problem of our institutions". He said he was worried about the effects of EPN's proposal of municipal autonomy: "In Italy it was implemented - the temporary dissolution of corrupt local authorities - judicial power, as the cleanest in the country. And it had some very specific features, it wasn't just 'this Mayor has suspicions of collusion, Let's eliminate the power', and subjecting him to trial, but an investigation of long time span, putting in evidence on the relationship of mayors acting complicitly. "In Italy, municipal public servants , are not like here in that they change every 3 years. In addition, the office belongs to the judiciary, not to the Executive, the relationship is different, and in Italy there is nothing comparable to the figure of the Governor. He questioned the intention of applying the same measure, in completely different contexts. However he admitted that everything indicates that there is good intention, that the Government seeks to strengthen the rule of law. "But how one does it is not exactly clear, so what he wants, will it strengthen the respect for the law, but you should start by respecting it, you have to see if he is willing" Its the recycling of actions and proposals said the owner of the citizen Observatory "This December 3rd they sent federal police to Tierra Caliente, would that build new respect for public policies of the last decade?". "And the case of Michoacan, adds the question, then for what, is the addition of an entire project, which is aimed at promoting the development in Michoacan, is sent to a mini Viceroy (Castillo ) to establish the direction of Michoacán, a Commissioner for the development and security whom has been working for more than one year on this issue and what we do is send more police? "Then we should start by recognizing that what has been done until now does not work, and to do an about-turn, but do acknowledge, and we are repeating the behaviors already known, preaching the same thing you review after a full six-year term." "That's the part that is not clear, what is the project of this administration, what is new?" "If it's going to be continuity its okay, we will not necessarily leave satisfied, but we will allow the evaluation of the continuity", ended Rivas Rodriguez. Peña anti-crime packageInitiative one of the 10 points of the plan launched by EPN November 28, to "improve security, justice and the rule of law" in the country. Initiative to reform various articles of the Constitution (proposed reform items 21, 73, 104, 105, 115, 116 and 123), as part of the plan "A Mexico in peace with justice and development".
Fotos. Cuartoscuro.com | ||
| Autodefensas Speak Out Against Organized Crime Posted: 16 Dec 2014 06:30 PM PST
A new and complex scenario is again taking place in the region of Tierra Caliente. It is not easy to distinguish the actions of one group to another, which is why we think that it is necessary to take great caution with different information that is spreading. For now, we leave this photographic work which shows a disputed region, a territory that that does not match the peaceful life that those who live in want. The Mexican state lies-as usual- in their statements of stability and peace and it is responsible for having generated more violence rather than taking the role of listening and serving the people. Photos By: Alan Ortega Text By: Heriberto Paredes Translated by Valor for Borderland Beat On Sunday, December 14, 2014, in a much similiar way as what occurred in late February 2013, a large number of autodefensas took up arms in the Michoacán region known as Tierra Caliente. However, the demands are different from those that prompted the first uprising, now they are also fighting for the release of 383 autodefensas who are still locked up in various prisons, including Dr. José Mireles Valverde. Another demand is the dismissal of Viceroy Alfredo Castillo, the special commissioner who was supposed to pacify the state, and for the extermination of the Fuerzas Rurales, the police force created by the federal government to incorporate various autodefensa groups within the institutional structure. It should be noted that a considerable number of members of the Caballeros Templarios-identified and denounced by the same autodefensas and residents of the region-were covered up in this police force, and with the uniform and permission to carry arms, continued to commit abuses and crimes with impunity.  Apatzingán, Buenavista Tomatlán, Tepalcatepec, Parácuaro, Cuatro Caminos, Peribán, Los Reyes, Huetamo, and Uruapan were among some of the towns who saw this new uprising occur with more than 30 blockades. Also, throughout the day, several contingents of the Fuerzas Rurales-mostly groups of ex-Templarios- were present in the streets and roads in the region and, were trying to take advantage of the situation and confuse the population, burning their uniforms to "join" the uprising and to legitimize themselves in front of the people. For this reason, autodefensas who always remained as such, decided to confront them and highlight their deception. These are the complex characteristics that make up the new episode of this process, which, added to the state and national situation, comes to intensify this socio-political context in all its meanings and dimensions.  In the series of photographs we can see the blockades to roads that were carried out on the road known as Siglo XXI located in the outskirts of Uruapan. (Additional Hi-Res Photos can be found in the source link)  Unlike what Alfredo Castillo says to the mainstream media, organized crime has not been put to a halt and on the contrary, has strengthened between the reconfigurations of groups and under the guise of the Fuerza Rural. There is a dispute over control of the territory of Michoacán, esbecually between the autodefensas- who seek to kick out criminals from their towns and an actual implementation of justice in all necessary cases- and organized crime who are sometimes shown as state security forces, and in others as members of Los Viagras (hitmen and criminals who, under the shelter of the government and the Caballeros Templarios, continue with their criminal activities and violent acts) and ultimately, as autodefensas.  A new and complex scenario is again taking place in the region of Tierra Caliente. It is not easy to distinguish the actions of one group to another, which is why we think that it is necessary to take great caution with different information that is spreading. For now, we leave this photographic work which shows a disputed region, a territory that that does not match the peaceful life that those who live in want. The Mexican state lies-as usual- in their statements of stability and peace and it is responsible for having generated more violence rather than taking the role of listening and serving the people.  Source: SubVersiones | ||
| SUPPLEMENT; The Unofficial Iguala History; Fed Police and Army Involved in Massacre? Posted: 16 Dec 2014 03:05 PM PST Borderland Beat posted by DD  The story I posted on the 14th of this month about the army and Federal police being involved in the kidnapping and murders of the Ayotzinapa Normistas was based on a short summary that Proceso published on it's online website as a sort of a "teaser" for a feature article it was publishing in it's weekly magazine. Since I posted the story, the magazine has reached the newsstands and Pepe posted the full article in Spanish and a good summary of the article in English.on the Forum. I am not posting the Spanish language article simply because it is too long. For you Spanish speaking readers the full article can be read at http://suracapulco.mx/archivos/239825. The article in Proceso magazine was written by Anabel Hernández and Steve Fisherand gives much more details than the short story I posted on the 14th. . Also included in this supplementary story is some information on the army colonel who the Proceso story identifies as the military official who gave the orders for the army's involvement in the events in Iguala. A report from an interview by TeleSur with Anabel Hernandez and Steve Fisher, the authors of the Proceso story is also included in this Supplement. For you English speaking readers, a summary of the Proceso article written by Pepe in English is below; 1. Evidence that the Mexican Federal Government, right up to the Office of Interior Minister Osorio Chong, knew about the attacks on the normalistas as they were taking place: a. the cities of Iguala and Chilpancingo operate with something called C4, as I described above. Apparently all radio dispatches from the local police are relayed automatically to the state police, the base for the Federal Police nearby, the offices of the federal Attorney General, and the local Army base nearby. b. the local police chief of Iguala (not the fugitive one, the one arrested), called the nearby Federal Police base with the warning that the normalistas had stolen some buses from the Iguala bus station and that the Federal Police should be "on alert." Shortly thereafter, the head of the Federal Police base was notified of an attack on one of the buses. c. The authors talked to a dispatcher at the Iguala police station working that night, Natividad Elías Moreno, who confirmed these calls went out. During AG Murillo's press conference, when he announced that Mayor Abarca (number or element "5" supposedly) had ordered the attack on the normalistas, he stated the information was provided by a dispatcher named David Hernández Cruz. Dispatcher Moreno told investigators he's never heard of this Mr. Cruz. Likewise, the authors could find no evidence of him in any city records 2. Evidence the Mexican Federal Police took part in the attacks. a. Researchers at UC Berkeley reviewed 12 videos taken by the students during the attacks. In one of the videos, you can hear a student yelling, "the police (la policía) are leaving, the Federal Police (los federales) are staying." b. Students have described the uniforms and trucks present during the attack: reports that the police were wearing chest, knee and elbow protectors and that they wore helmets or ski masks. The pickup trucks were described as containing supports in the back with machine guns and that an officer was pointing the weapons at the students. (anyone who's seen a Policía Federal Ford F-150, in hotspot areas, loaded up with 2-3 in the front and four in the back, knows exactly what the students are describing). In addition, after one of the bus attacks, some student clothing was found with traces of tear gas. Reports are that municipal police do not possess tear gas. c. The investigators at UC Berkeley, after reviewing the 12 videos, stated it is possible to see Federal Police participating in the attacks. d. The Attorney General of Guerrero, two days after the attacks, asked the nearby Federal Police base to provide him with data showing the times of departures and arrivals of convoys or patrols, to and from the base, on the night in question. The State AG never received a response. 3. Evidence of the involvement of the Mexican Army in the attacks. a. It is well known that members of the nearby 27th Battalion detained a number of students after and during the attacks. And they took their cell phones. Then, supposedly, released them. b. The "Official Story" says that local Iguala Police picked up the normalistas, brought them to the Iguala police station, then later delivered them to GU gunmen. This report says the Iguala Police station has only one street entrance for detainees, since the patrol units with rollbars can't fit into the small entrance to interior parking. Neighbors report not seeing any group of young men being brought in. They report the station was quiet that night. c. A judge working at the Iguala Police station that night, said he saw no students brought in, but around midnight, an officer from the Army base, a Captain Crespo, came in asking if a white motorcycle had been found. When he was told "no," Crespo nonetheless demanded to search the entire premises of the Iguala police station. d. One of the many narcomantas left in Iguala in the weeks after the Massacre mentioned an Army Captain Crespo as being responsible for the disappearance of the normalistas. There is some confustion on this, but Proceso has reported that it was an Army officer "Crespo" was a close friend of the Abarcas. (En una supuesta 'narcomanta', firmada presuntamente por "El Cabo Gil", señalado por el gobierno federal como lugarteniente del líder del grupo delictivo Guerreros Unidos, se menciona como parte de la estructura criminal a un capitán y a un teniente del 27 Batallón de Infantería, identificados sólo como Barbosa y Crespo. Este último existe y apareció al lado del alcalde José Luis Abarca, en varios actos públicos: http://www.proceso.com.mx/?p=389808) This last report says the 27th Battalion has a history of attacks on normalistas and some Army elements based there have been linked to GU). DD. So who is this mysterious Captain Crespo? From Proceso
Along with the collapse of Pena Nieto's government version of the events that transpired in Iguala, and anchoring an alternative hypothesis that the Federal Police and the army participated in the killings and abductions, there is one character that is key to this plot – Captain Crespo. Captain Crespo was the army officer referred to as being involved in drug trafficking in one of the mantas posted in Iguala in the weeks after Sept. 26 (when the students were murdered and "disappeared"). The manta was signed by "capo Gil", a lieutenant of Sidronio Casarrubias Salgado, alleged leader of the Guerreros United drug cartel. The "Captain Crespo" was the military officer, who on the night of Sept. 26, appeared at the Iguala police station where according to the version of events offered by AG of Mexico the students were brought. That version of events is now being seriously questioned. The "Captain Crespo," according to the report published by Proceso , was accompanied by 12 soldiers of the 27th Infantry Battalion of the Army based in Iguala, according to the ministerial statement of Judge Ulises García Barnabas, the judge on duty and present at the police station that night. . Crespo spoke with the judge at the handrail of the court, and on the pretext of seeking 'a white Scooter' went to inspect cells, office and patio. Witnesses of the captain's visit said that once they learned of the disappearance of students it seemed more suspicious'. Who is this mysterious 'Captain Crespo'? He is the second captain of infantry, military inspector, José Martinez Crespo, actually attached to the 27th Infantry Battalion and a regular attendee at public ceremonies of the PRD former mayor José Luis Abarca Velázquez. The second captain of infantry, military inspector, José Martínez Crespo, appears in numerous official photographs of the City of Iguala by the prisoner mayor, and also with the ex-police chief, Felipe Flores Velázquez, also accused of allegedly being in collusion with Gerreros United. The version of Peña Nieto government is that the Army and the Federal Police did not intervene in the case of the 43 young Ayotzinapa, but the reporting by Proceso this week proves that not only were remiss these two institutions, but the attack on the students was orchestrated and executed, in fact, with its complicity or frank collaboration, Martinez Crespo, is a key character who should be forced to speak, not to threaten or to utter bravado to his military commanders and civilians. Report on extended 3 way telephone call between Tel Sur and Anabel Hernandez and Steve Fisher The ever-passionate and expressive Hernandez is no stranger to explosive investigations and allegations, so much so that her home was raided by official authorities late last year. The award-winning and internationally acclaimed journalist has also been subjected to harrowing threatening acts, such as having found animal body parts at the doorstep of her home. In her latest investigation, However, Hernandez made the case that her co-authored findings starkly revealed that governmental responsibility for the presumed massacre is much higher than what has been previously admitted. "The point is that we know that the federal police were there, we know that they knew when the students abducted and we know that many of the testimonies that the PGR [Mexico's Attorney General's office] were obtained and acquired through torture techniques. But in Mexico, evidence obtained through torture is illegal," Hernandez told teleSUR. In contrast to the official version, which maintains that the federal government was unaware of the massacre, Hernandez and Fisher allege that federal police and military soldiers directly participated in the presumed massacre itself and were one of three levels of government closely monitoring the students whereabouts throughout the night of the presumed massacre. According to Hernandez and Fisher's accounting of the unedited Guerrero state report they obtained, which was drawn up for the Interior Ministry (SEGOB) and obtained by the magazine about a month and a half ago, students were monitored as soon as they left their school grounds at 5:59pm. Both federal and state police were monitoring the students while they traveled from the Chilpancingo-based Control, Computational and Communications Center (C4). The article goes into further detail, noting that at 8pm, the federal and state police arrived to the highway where the students were fielding donations; at 9:21pm, a federal police chief – Luis Antonio Dorantes – was advised of the student's arrival; and at 9:40pm the C4 center reported the first gunshots. The report was also based on 12 videos recorded by surviving students on their cell phones, whereby one now publicly released video has audio clearly noting a surviving student yelling in distress: "The police are now coming, the federalesare staying and they are going to want to screw us over!" In sum, various levels of government were much more aware of the students and more present at key points throughout the evening in question, than what has been previously admitted. Hernandez made it clear to teleSUR, however, that their investigation didn't reveal whether or not the United Warriors gang were involved with the massacre. Fisher elaborated on this point: "We cannot say whether or not Guerreros Unidos was ultimately involved with this, or not, but we can say that the evidence we have acquired was that they were tortured [before their testimonies were given]. It is thus suspect that they could actually get proper testimonies considering the fact that they were tortured brutally, including electric shocks to testicles and extreme beatings." Hernandez added that other telltale signs of torture were uncovered in their investigation, including bruised ribs, blackened eyes and black-and-blue marks on the neck. Such findings were especially damning, Hernandez pointed out, considering that, "the attorney general's version was based solely on testimony by presumed drug traffickers." Fisher spoke to this point, telling teleSUR that, "I would say that in any case where there is torture involved, it brings into question the entire investigation. It would be interesting to know why the PGR would base this very important investigation on, according to their own documents, information obtained through people that were brutally beaten and tortured." Hernandez and Fisher wrote that the Peña Nieto administration has withheld the information they reported on . Soon after the disappearance of the education students, the Guerrero Attorney General's office requested that the Mexican Federal Police, their investigation notes, hand over extensive documentation related to the potential participation of federal police agents, including the exact registries of when agents clocked in and out while on the job the night of the attack. However, the investigation added that since the Peña Nieto's administration took over the investigation this past October 4, the requested documentation was never handed over to the Guerrero office. "It is clear that the PGR has been manipulating the case, that the federal government has been manipulating the case, and that now, the official version of the case has been shown to not be trustworthy," Hernandez passionately asserted during the extensive interview, adding that in subsequent conversations with government officials, none of their allegations were officially denied to either of the reporters. Investigation Points to a Number of Implications Considering the many contradictions between the investigation and official accounts , many questions can be asked. Since Mexican officials have long claimed that Warriors United was the group which took custody of the students from local police authorities who had initially detained them, have there been any false arrests among the 74-some people that have been rounded up since September 26? The accused leader of Warriors United, Sidronio Casarrubias, is among the many detained, which include an array of local law enforcement officials. Casarrubias has since revealed to officials the kind of relationship he had with Abarca while he was mayor, but it is not clear whether or not he was among the five people tortured in Herandez and Fisher's account. "Warriors United has sewn a web of complicity with several mayors and above all with security officials," Murillo previously told the press. "In Iguala, the complicity was between the authorities, the local police and the Warriors United," Murillo added. If there is one official acknowledgment which Hernandez and Fisher do not dispute, it is the systematic relationship that exists between drug cartels and the Mexican state. It is that very relationship which has served as a spark plug to a nation that has undertaken a significant amount of resistance since September 26. Nation-wide Movement Continues to Wage Protest The revelations by Herandez and Fisher come at a time that the nation's ire was already raised to a feverish boiling point. In one of the largest countries and economies of Latin America. Mexico has witnessed near daily and nation-wide actions of resistance. Since the disappearance of the "normalistas" on September 26, the country has been brimming with mass marches, candle-light vigils, university-campus and labor-union-led strikes, occupations of official and university buildings, riot police-led arrests of demonstrators, property destruction of official buildings, sit-ins, panels ruminating over the ills of narco-state violence and international bridge closings. Most recently, at least 22 people were injured this past Sunday during protests in Chilpancingo, Guerrero which featured police opening fire on demonstrators. TeleSUR English reportedthat three parents of the forcibly disappeared, a journalist, a student from the National Autonomous University of Mexico, and a member of an education union were among those injured. The violent law enforcement response to the protests, specifically that of Sunday's occurrences, prompted the National Human rights Commission to demandthat authorities conduct themselves within the law. The disappearance clearly served as the catalyst for the movement's inception, much of the country has long been weary of the systematic problem of disappearances and the eery official impunity which has often surrounded them. Nothing less than some 22,000 disappearances, over the course of the last three years alone, account for official estimates. Other analysts estimate the actual total as being higher than that. Mass Graves Point to Narco-State Crimes The disappearances of the normalistas are emblematic of a long-running problem in Mexico: thousands upon thousands of cases of disappearances, many of whose investigations were found 'inconclusive' and long ago closed, exist throughout the country. Some estimates range as high as 24,000 disappearances having occurred since 2011 alone, the overwhelming amount of which were "unsolved" and/or "closed" cases. In another case of official law enforcement involvement in a crime, 22 alleged kidnappers were summarily executed by Mexican soldiers in Tlatlaya in June 2014. A federal judge recently chargedthree soldiers with murder and four others with abuse of authority and other charges in relation to the massacre. At least a dozen mass grave sites have been discovered since the time of the Ayatzinapa disappearances. Meanwhile, movement activists and organizers alike have alleged that many more mass grave sites exist than what has been officially acknowledged. Regardless of the actual total of mass grave sites, their undisputed existence still point to a problem more familiar to locals and residents of the area: Guerrero is not only a drug war-torn state, but a complex nexusof corruption and corroboration between local, regional and state authorities and their allies in street gangs and powerful drug cartels. Even federal officials have since admitted that the disappeared students pointed to a larger, narco-state reality. While the troubles of living under a narco-state is one which local residents of Guerrero have long been familiar, in the wake of what seemingly is a never-ending case of the disappearances of the Guerrero students, it has now become a reality with which the whole nation of Mexico, and well beyond, are becoming familiar with as well. But now, in light of the explosive allegations revealed by Hernandez and Fisher, it will become yet a more complex reality with which the nation will have to come to grips and to which the government may have to provide yet more answers during tiring press conferences | ||
| Brownsville Customs Officer Arrestested for Aiding Smuggling Posted: 16 Dec 2014 06:41 PM PST  A U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer accused of helping a drug smuggler cross 3,000 pounds of marijuana into the United States on Monday appeared for the first time before U.S. Magistrate Judge Ronald Morgan in Brownsville. Authorities said Jose Luis Zavala, 38, of Brownsville, was arrested Friday and charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute more than 1,000 kilograms of marijuana and bribery of a public official. Zavala has been a CBP officer for seven years, assigned to the Brownsville area. According to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Southern District of Texas, Zavala was paid to allow vehicles filled with marijuana to cross the international bridges. The USAO complaint says on Nov. 19 Zavala was working at the GatewayInternationalBridge when a man appeared in an inspection lane manned by Zavala. The driver reportedly presented a U.S. passport, but then "unbeknownst" to Zavala the van was randomly selected for a secondary inspection. Zavala allegedly later told agents that he believed the driver of the van was not the owner of the passport. The driver fled and ran back to Mexico, leaving the vehicle filled with 3,002 pounds of marijuana. Court records allege the marijuana was not concealed in the van or made to appear as legitimate cargo. Court records show that on Nov. 22 , agents at White Sands High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force were notified that a pedestrian linked to the smuggling attempt was at the Brownsville & Matamoros Port of Entry, attempting to enter the U.S. Agents interviewed the man, whose identify remains confidential. The confidential source told agents that he and others had been paid $360 to provide their passport card to a drug cartel in Mexico to be used by drivers of marijuana load vehicles to gain entry in the United States. Court records show the confidential source told investigators they had met with a U.S. immigration officers that went by the name of "Pepe" in Mexico. The confidential source reportedly gave a physical description of Zavala and his vehicle and identified him from a photo lineup created by agents. The texts, noted in the court papers, appear to indicate that Zavala is a cousin with whoever texted him, and that they were working for an uncle. "Pepe I was told by my uncle that the thing was lost," reads one of the texts after the marijuana was seized. "Where do I go or what do I say when I cross?" The text was sent by a person who was allegedly the real owner of the passport card that was left behind in the van. If convicted, Zavala faces a minimum of 10 years and up to life in federal prison for the conspiracy charge as well as a maximum of 15 years for bribery. |
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