Sunday, December 28, 2014

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Hipólito Mora And His 26 Men Are Arrested

Posted: 27 Dec 2014 08:39 PM PST

Translated by Valor for Borderland Beat

Hipólito Mora Chávez, founder of the autodefensas of La Ruana, arrived in the city of Morelia after having been detained and was taken to the prison "David Franco Rodríguez", also known as Mil Cumbres, where he will be made available before a judge, as well as the other 26 who were also apprehended for the shootout of La Ruana that left 11 dead.

Hipólito was transferred via a navy helicopter of La Ruana to Morelia, where he was received in a PGJE hanger by the head of the agency, Martin Godoy Castro.

The Commissioner for Security and Integral Development of Michoacán, Alfredo Castillo Cervantes, confirmed today (Saturday) in his Twitter account that Mora and the other 26 who were involved in the shootout came voluntarily before the agency.  He noted that the judge would resolve the legal situation in 72 or 144 hours.

"The judge will resolve their legal status in 72 or 144 hours at the request of those presented in order to offer any evidence," he wrote.

The leader of the Michoacán autodefensas was transferred to the prison Mil Cumbres, along with six of his men.  Moments before, 20 others had arrived.


The former autodefensas leader earlier told local media that they would turn themselves in voluntarily because they trust the authorities and that they are acting within the framework of the law.

Mora attended the ninth and final Rosario of his son.  Moments earlier in his social network he wrote: "Good morning, I'm announcing that my men and I will be turning ourselves in today, we have nothing to hide because we are INNOCENT.  Thanks. (sic)."


Meanwhile, the group of "El Americano", who also should present themselves to the authorities, have been blocking since midnight on Saturday the main entrance of Buenavista, Michoacán, because he disagrees with the arrest warrants against those who participated in the confrontation of La Ruana.

The Warning of Castillo

Alfredo Castillo Cervantes, warned on Tuesday that if Hipólito Mora and Luis Antonio Torres "El Americano", don't turn themselves in to authorities, the Armed Forces would intervene to search for them.  However, Mora had already said that he would turn himself in when the ninth rosary of his son ended, and he did.  

"El Americano" has yet to turn himself in.

"The deadline is this week, and if not, the Armed Forces will intervene," Castillo said during a press conference.

He also reported that the Federal Police and the Mexican Army, in place of the Rural Forces, took control of security in Apatzingán; in the community of La Ruana, municipality of Buenavista, and in La Mira, in Lázaro Cárdenas.
 
 Source: Sin Embargo

18 Murders in Sinaloa-Bloodiest Christmas in Six Years-

Posted: 27 Dec 2014 05:39 PM PST

lucio Borderland Beat material from el debate posted by siskiyoukid on forum

5 taken in Badiraguato


Culiacán, Sinaloa-A total of 18 intentional homicides, five vehicle thefts, four people dead in traffic accidents, and three robberies at business premises was the balance left post Christmas in Sinaloa.  At least eight of the murders are related to each other, and according to the preliminary investigations were related to rivalries between organized crime  groups. 

Gerardo Vargas Landeros, Secretary General of Government described these events as "painful facts" and recognized that the reported killings were due to "criminal rivalries" 

Aside from those facts, he said that in "general terms, Sinaloa is OK". 


Events
The Attorney-General of Justice, Marco Antonio Higuera Gomez, acknowledged that intentional homicides have increased compared to last year, saying that there were five in the municipality of Mocorito, eight in Culiacán, two in the municipalities of San Ignacio and Guasave and one in Ahome. 

Derived from the first research Attorney Higuera Gomez announced that the three killings the afternoon of Wednesday the 24th -close to the Colonia  Campiña- and the five in Mocorito, are related and are derived from a dispute between two criminal groups for control of the area of the sierra for their criminal activities. 

He said that the five victims found in the municipality of Mocorito, had previously been kidnapped from the community of Los Sitios, in the municipality of Badiraguato. 

Being questioned about the alleged death of a member of the criminal group Los Antrax and the presence of Iván Archivaldo Guzmán in a nightclub incident, the state prosecutor said that the person killed in the Colonia Colinas de San Miguel,  has not been officially identified and that his prior activities are unknown. 

The events at dawn on Friday at a bar, said at this time those involved had not been identified as of yet.  The event began as an argument that ended with a wounded person and one  dead, the first shot to death and the second from a road incident.  (it does not elaborate, possibly forcibly ran off the road)

Hipólito Mora Confirms He’ll Hand Himself Over On Saturday; H-3 Have Him Surrounded

Posted: 27 Dec 2014 06:52 PM PST




Translated by Valor for Borderland Beat

Buenavista, Michoacán.- Hipólito Mora Chávez, founder of the autodefensas of La Ruana, confirmed that he'll testify before a judge this Saturday for the confrontation that occurred December 16, in which 11 people died.

Meanwhile, on Friday night, various roadblocks were reported in the Tierra Caliente region, the first on the road Cuatro Caminos-Apatzingán,  at the height of the town of Úspero, municipality of Parácuaro.

The roadblocks are being carried out by the people of Luis Antonio Torres "El Americano" and Jesús Valencia, "El Ocho", who also blocked the entrances to the municipality of Buenavista Tomatlán and La Ruana.

This occurs just after Friday, when the deadline expired that was set by Commissioner Alfredo Castillo Cervantes, so that those involved in the shootout that occurred on December 16 would present themselves to testify voluntarily.

The commissioner warned that arrest warrants would soon be issued against those who have not testified voluntarily.

According to information from Radio Formula, an audio recording intercepted by people related to the founder of the autodefensas, "El Ocho" ordered the peaceful roadblock and said that he would go after Hipólito and his people.

Meanwhile, Hipólito said that he would hand himself over along with his supporters, even though the death threats from "Simón El Americano" are upon them.

Through social media, Hipólito said that he is waiting for authorities to arrive at his home to transport him and his followers to the appropriate judge.

Source: Michoacán 3.0

“Priests Demand Protection From Violent Extortionist; Except Padre Pistolas. He Can Defend Himself”

Posted: 27 Dec 2014 03:51 PM PST


Borderland Beat by DD 
A reader posted a comment posted on one of the stories I posted this week about the kidnapping and murder of Father Gregerio Lopez and in the comment said "Padre get ur guns". That comment made me start thinking about a story I posted last year on the Forum that was entitled "Priests Demand Protection From Violent Extortionist; Except Padre Pistolas. He Can Defend Himself".

The story deals with brave priests and Bishops all across Mexico and their stand against violence and the cartels and corrupt government. One of the most interesting and unusual is a priest by the name of Alfredo Gallegos Lara, better known as Pistolas Padre.  He is dealt with at length in the story and I thought new readers of Borderland Beat and some long time readers that don't read the Forum.might enjoy reading the story. So here is the story from the Forum from Feb. of 2013.

Bishop Jose Flores Preciado, 83, died on Feb. 6, after being beaten by several assailants during a robbery at the Templo de Cristo Rey in the city of Colima. The day after the killing, Bishop Jose Luis Amezcua Melgoza revealed that of the 123 priests in the diocese of Colima, 30 had been the victims of attempted extortion, including himself.

During Sunday Mass at the Metropolitan Cathedral, Guadalajara Archbishop Francisco Robles Ortega said at least three priests in Jalisco had also received threats over the phone in recent days, with some having been intimidated into making payments

Story of "Padre Pistola on next page
The Rev. Alejandro Solalinde has endured death threats after publicly denouncing drug gangs and police who rob and kidnap the mainly Central American migrants who cross Mexico seeking to reach the United States.  The Catholic priest founded the Hermanos del Camino shelter in the southern state of Oaxaca, where some 200 Central American migrants arrive each day.

Amnesty International announced it had learned that that a professional hit man had been contracted to kill Solalinde.  While state and federal prosecutors investigate the case, Solalinde, indicated that the death threats against him came from groups at the service of "influential politicians" and drug traffickers. He laid responsibility at the feet of former Oaxaca governor Ulises Ruiz for any aggression against him or any member of his team. Ruiz is well known for the extreme violence he unleashed against striking schoolteachers and their supporters six years ago in Oaxaca city.

On October 15, just before leaving the country, Solalinde held a press conference in which he said, "if anything happens to me or to our team I would blame Ulises Ruiz, but he is not the only one. That is why I demand that the authorities undertake a complete investigation of the case. Throughout his term in office I was constantly attacked." A well-intention administration may now be in office in Oaxaca, he continued, but "the apparatus of Ulises is still intact."

Asked if he wanted to identify the politicians behind the death threats, he said, "right now they are investigating who they are," adding that he had learned that the price on his head was five million pesos (about $400 thousand dollars). Asked whether he thought the threats came from politicians or drug traffickers, he replied that an honest investigation (in Oaxaca) would show that there was almost no difference between the two

He held up a small notebook that contained, he told Univision's viewers, the names of people who might want to take his life. "It's all written down," he said

In June 2009, the killings of a Catholic priest and two seminary students as they left a church in southern Mexico sparked outrage.

Sometimes in Juarez, violence happens because it can, because no one will think it extraordinary. Two weeks ago, the body of a sacristan -- a person charged with taking care of a church -- was found with fatal stab wounds in a church in western Juarez. No motive was apparent. Columban Father Kevin Mullins, pastor of Corpus Christi Church outside of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, points to the open field behind his church Sept. 16 where he hopes to build a youth center to prevent the young in his parish from being attracted to the lure of the cartels. Two of his former confirmation class students were stoned to death in this field

In Mexico, the sight of a priest slumped over in a car is not all that unusual. In 2005, Fr. Luis Velasquez Romero was found in his vehicle in Tijuana, handcuffed and shot six times. In 2009 a priest and two seminarians were gunned down in their car, dragged out then shot again because a relative of one of the seminarians was believed to be associated with one of the country's notorious drug cartels.



Since Mexican President Felipe Calderon declared war against the cartels in 2006 more than 40,000 people have been killed, including 12 priests. (2011 numbers) Prior to Calderon's aggressive action, three priests had been killed in the preceding decade

The Australian priest Mullins who has ministered in Juarez for 11 years, said "Being the poorest parish in Ciudad Juarez has had its advantages," Mullins said, noting that the average collection from three Sunday Masses is $150. "We have not had any extortion attempts because we just don't have any money to give."

In addition, "We're not pounding the pulpit denouncing any one group or person despite knowing who they are; we are making blanket pleas to our parishioners to stay away from the criminal elements," Mullins said. "Prudence can keep your head on your shoulders."

What perplexes many pastors are the offers of financial support from the cartels. For decades parishes received donations of money and buildings from cartel officials with an attitude of resigned ignorance, without having to face a moral dilemma.

Eyebrows were raised but no voices of dissension were heard when a church in Hidalgo state revealed a plaque dedicated to Herberto Lazcano Lazcano, the leader of the notorious Los Zetas drug cartel, who contributed generously to the building.

"About three months ago, I had a woman associated with the Juarez cartel approach me offering an open checkbook to build our youth center," Mullins said. "Of course, I kindly declined her offer."
He turned down the offer despite wanting to build a youth center and basketball courts on a nearby debris-filled lot where two teens from a confirmation class at his parish were stoned to death a few years ago.

Mullins has had cartel members attend Mass and, much to his relief, all declined to receive Communion, so he did not have to turn them away. If someone involved in a criminal enterprise did seek to receive Communion, Mullins said, he would take a deep breath and give the person a blessing instead.

The clergy is more exposed in rural areas, where dealers rage and the state does not succeed in enforcing the law. According to Manuel Corral, secretary for public relations for the Mexican Episcopal Conference, at least a thousand of the fifteen thousand priests in Mexico have been threatened indirectly, and at least three hundred directly".

Guadalajara Archbishop Francisco Robles Ortega "There are priests here who say they too were called on the phone in this manner, told to deposit or deliver a certain amount of money, with threats to their physical wellbeing if they do not comply with the request," Robles said.
The archbishop advised priests and citizens in general that if they receive threatening calls they should hang up the phone and immediately report it to the police. He also demanded that the authorities provide greater security not only for members of the church, but for all Mexicans, because "everyone is equally exposed to this kind of situation."

BUT THEN THERE IS "PADRE PISTOlAS " (Father Guns)

Probably the most unusual Catholic priest you could ever meet.

Alfredo Gallegos Lara (61) is a catholic priest on the small town of
Chucándiro, in Michoacán state. He's famed for his social work: he gathers funds to build roads, restores churches in disrepair and pressures politicians to bring healthcare services and educational facilities to his parishes.
When he pulls off his religious vestments behind the altar of the Catholic church in this town in central Mexico, he reveals his jeans, a fancy western style shirt, crocodile boots, and a shiny black pistol.
He also sings country music, and he never leaves home without his trusty Colt M1911.  He is widely known by the nickname Padre Pistolas, or 'Father Guns.'. No ordinary gunslinger, he may be Mexico's most unusual parish priest.
Mr. Gallegos is loved by his parish goers, who consider him a straight-shooting tough guy with a good heart. They love to see him packing heat, they love to see him sing his music.

Padre Pistolas was relocated by the church to Michoacán in 2004. When he arrived in Michoacán, the first thing he did was pressure local politicians into establishing a secondary school in the village. He then set his mind to building healthcare facilities in town, and currently tries to gather money to restore an old 450-year old church.

'We love him, because he speaks the truth and cares about us', local churchgoer Carlos Vargas says, 'He's a good priest.'
"Four of my friends have been killed, and three of my trucks have been stolen," he said, explaining that his ministry to drug addicts and the sick takes him through the back roads of central Mexico, where it is wise, he said, to be armed. The youngest of 10 children in a wealthy family with a long history of military service and fine marksmanship, Gallegos boasts 'I can shoot five Pepsi cans from a wall in a few seconds, from 25 meters. I can't do it anymore, though. The bishop says it's bad for the image of the church. But what am I supposed to do? I can't help it people come to look me up, in stead of the bishop...'
Ever since he entered the seminary at age 14, his handling of guns has been drawing popular attention as well as criticism from his church superiors.

"I have been fighting with the bishop. He is so angry with me. He doesn't like my gun," Gallegos said.

He said Archbishop Alberto Suarez Inda is also uncomfortable with his high-profile fund-raising and construction projects. Gallegos has built 40 miles of roads, as well as basketball courts, schools, churches, and bridges in and around Jaral del Refugio in the neighboring state of Guanajuato, where he was the parish priest for 24 years. He said he raised millions of dollars for the projects. He makes frequent fund-raising trips to Illinois, North Carolina, and California, and migrants there have encouraged him to create a Padre Pistolas website, key chains, compact discs, and posters.

He doesn't shy away from severely criticizing the catholic church in Mexico, politicians in general and those Michoacán in particular. 'Mexican bishops are mediocre, all of them. The church has forgotten what it's there for: to care for the weak.

Padre Pistolas was relocated by the church to Michoacán in 2004. When he arrived in Michoacán, the first thing he did was pressure local politicians into establishing a secondary school in the village. He then set his mind to building healthcare facilities in town, and currently tries to gather money to restore an old 450-year old church.

'Mexican politics make me sick. It's all corrupt. Politicians are the problem in this country. They asked me a few times to run for mayor. Of course I didn't do it, I'm an honest man!'

Gallegos's guns and his super-sized persona have gotten him into hot water with the local bishop, who wants him to leave building roads and hospitals to the government and televised musical performances to entertainers. "He wants me to stick to baptizing children and saying Mass," Gallegos said.

Gallegos said he loves the Church but its leaders need to worry less about his guns and more about the church's bigger problems, such as pedophilia scandals in the United States.

Suarez, the bishop, declined to be interviewed. "Oh, God," moaned the person answering the phone in his office in Morelia, when asked for a comment about Padre Pistolas. "Don't pay too much attention to him."

'I don't give a damn what people say about me, I'm not afraid of anyone.'





If I lived in Chucándiro, Michoacán, I might convert from being a retired Methodist to Catholicism

End of Forum Story.
DD note;  I searched about 10 pages of Google search results and several local newspapers in Michoacan to get an update on Father Pistolas and could find nothing with a date after my Feb 2013 story.   I don't know if the bad guys got him, or if the Bishop finally silenced him or at least made him take a lower profile, or if he his still totting his guns and tending his flock.  If any of you readers have any current info on him, please post it in a comment or send it to me at Borderland Beat

How Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel Fed US Heroin Market

Posted: 27 Dec 2014 03:33 PM PST


Borderland Beat republished from Universal and Insight Crime

                                                     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.

SEE ALSO: What US Heroin Seizures Tell Us About the Market

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.
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