Borderland Beat |  |
- May go free: Iguala mayors wife gets favorable ruling
- Tamaulipas: The narco counter-attack
- Forgotten victims of Mexico drug war's stray bullets
| May go free: Iguala mayors wife gets favorable ruling Posted: 29 Apr 2015 04:49 AM PDT Lucio R for Borderland Beat  When the infamous Iguala Mayor and his wife were arrested, a little detail of fact escaped most people outside of Mexico, we at BB did make mention that the case against Maria de los Angeles Pineda, wife of the former mayor, Jose Luis Abarca, was going to be a tough nut to crack. The fact is, she was never charged in the normalistas case. The genesis of the case began on a night when hell showered Iguala, Guerrero with violence, murder and terror that left in the balance, over 50 people who were killed or presumed killed, by municipal police allegedly per orders by the mayor. 42 of those presumed dead have not been accounted for and are known as "The 43". "The normalistas", were students earning their teaching certificate to be able to teach elementary education in rural areas of Mexico. The remains of only 1 of the 43 who were taken that night was positively identified though DNA studies.  In the case of Pineda, prosecutors were never able to tie her to the normalistas case; they could not find enough evidence to successfully prosecute her. On November 4thshe was arrested and held for 60 days on a preventative detention including an extension of 20 days. During the 60 days the PGR Attorney General failed twice trying to charge Pineda in the normalistas case. The court rejected the case due to insufficient evidence.She was never charged. In a peculiar move, on the third attempt she was indicted on a charge not related to the normalistas case, it was for money laundering and charges of organized crime involvement. She is accused of the laundering of at least 13 million pesos for the Beltrán Leyva brothers and the Guerreros Unidos cartels.
Mexico's narco turned protected witness, BLO's Sergio Villarreal Barragán, known as "El Grande", (code name "Jennifer") did give information on the Pineda brothers and of Pineda herself. He establishes she was involved not only with the money laundering and but investments from drug money, including purchasing several properties in Tres Palos, Acapulco. Villarreal eluded to the fact she may have had a fling with Capo Arturo Beltran. Pineda, says Villarreal, attended BLO parties in Cuernavaca with her brothers, and that Abarca was never with her. But the peculiarity in the case came in, when she was denied her right to present a defense. On its face, the action was so imprudent that it almost seems that it must have been intentional. Reforma reported on last Friday, on the 24th, a federal court in the state of Mexico disposed of the arrest order; on grounds the she was denied her right to present defense in the case against her. Rendering the process unlawful and faulty. Next there will be a judicial review, which could uphold the ruling and allow her to be set free. The Mexican attorney general has also insisted that Pineda has links with organized crime in the state of Guerrero, specifically with the Guerreros Unidos cartel, which is suspected of kidnapping the 43 students. Finding evidence of Pineda's links to organized crime should not be a difficult task. Her family ties to organized crime began in Morelos, when the brothers worked for BLO. Two of her brothers were executed for their betrayal to Arturo Beltrán Leyva, confirmed by Pineda's mother in an interrogation by her kidnappers, which was videotaped. Pineda's brothers were BLO lieutenants. Her family continued with organized crime business and Pineda's brothers became leaders of Guerreros Unidos, the cartel instrumental in the killing and kidnappings on September 26, 2014 of the normalistas. Her entire family, including her parents has been arrested multiple times for organized crime activities. Pineda's defense team contends "she has not seen her family in years". Meaning the fact that the cartel of her family being involved in the normalista killings, in Iguala, where her husband is mayor, is just an amazing, incredible coincidence. The fact that her husband, aided by Guerreros Unidos, killed a social activist in 2012, is another incredible fact of coincidence. There are surviving witnesses to the murder. Abarca was witnessed as picking up the AK47 aiming it at the already kidnapped, tortured and beaten Arturo Hernandez, and saying just before firing the weapon " you fucked with me and now I will have the pleasure of killing you." Abarca was not charged with the murder, until after the normalistas killings occurred. Pineda was thought to be the "woman in the car" watching the Hernandez killing and who accompanied Abarca to the scene, but witnesses could not clearly see the woman enough to make a positive identification. However she and her husband both warned Hernandez, that he would be harmed, this was said in a public forum. Both Pindea and Abarca have been charged with attempted bribery, stemming from the charge they attempted to bribe police officers who arrested them. That case is under appeal and in dispute.  Although it is unlikely that Abarca will go completely free, there have been problems with the normalistas case against him from the beginning. Chivis and I both listened to a recorded conversation with Abarca and the Guerrero Attorney general, and we concluded that there was a good possibility that in the case of the normalistas murders, that Abarca may have not known what was happening. On the recording he seems confused and did not know many details. It could be he gave the "ok", but did not give the order. One of the witnesses contends "everyone was told they were Los Rojos infiltrated in the group of normalistas." Maybe Abarca was told the same, but a strong possibility is that the order really did come from elsewhere. Alternatively, he could be the patsy for someone else calling the shots, someone who was clever enough not to leave a trail that would lead back to her, thereby circumventing any possibility of the crime being proven against her. There is much that will never be known in this case. "But when we interrogated them we could see they were all were normalistas. They said, each of them, I am a normalistas of Ayotzinapa." Said one of the arrested sicarios. For his part, the attorney general seems to have given up on the case against Pineda, but says, "this doesn't mean she is free she has another charge of crimes against health... "which is serious", he vies.  | ||||
| Tamaulipas: The narco counter-attack Posted: 28 Apr 2015 07:18 PM PDT Translated by Otis B Fly-Wheel for Borderland Beat from a Zetatijuana article [ Subject Matter: Tamaulipas, CdG, Los Zetas, Carrillo Fuentes Organization, CJNG Recommendation: Some prior knowledge of Cartels useful] Gun battles, persecutions, blockades and executions, is what people live with in Reynosa, Altamira, Tampico and Madero with reprisals of criminal groups after the capture of their leaders. In Michoacan society is indignant, the official mounting death toll of protesters manifesting in Apatzingan, worry about the ingress of new criminal groups in the region. Chihuahua follows restructuring in the Carrillo Fuentes Organization after the detention of "El Chuyin".  Luis Carlos Sainz Martinez and Cortesia Combat amongst the old narco trafficking cartels and lack of action against the new criminal groups on the part of the Authorities, with major bloodshed during the last week in different states of the country. The blows delivered to the Juarez and Gulf Cartels, as well as abuses of power and the lawlessness that exists in the state of Michoacan, kept the inhabitants of Chihuahua and Sinaloa and Tamaulipas and the Purepecha region on tenterhooks, as well as the concern felt by the United States Government who emit constant travel alerts. The violence in areas where the Government of the Republic have not previously controlled, started on Friday the 17th of April in the border area of Tamaulipas and Texas, the gun battles, dead bodies, and blockades increases with each passing day. During the past week, the PGR confirmed information of the existence of nine drug cartels that operate in Mexico. Among the combatants are , Cartel del Golfo (CDG), Juarez Cartel, Sinaloa Cartel, Arellano Felix Organization (AFO/CAF), Los Zetas, Beltran Leyva Organization (BLO) and La Familia Michoacana (LFM). The newer are Los Caballeros Templarios (CT) and Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG).  Francisco Rivas, Director of this non-Government organisation, informs that the major number of crimes of high impact are concentrated in the states of Guerrero, Morelos, Tamaulipas and Baja California. In the first two there is a presence of CJNG and CT. Violent homicides, extortion, and robberies with violence are bread and butter every day. Tamaulipas is the National leader in Kidnappings ( Otis: 693% above the national average). For Mexico, the situation is no better. Already its not only the perception, and they justify with insistence, Governors, Mayors, Prosecutors and Federal Officials. To the chronic violence that exits in the country, we can add the ineffectiveness and corruption. The Global Index of Immunity 2015, gave information a few weeks ago, that located our nation in second place, only lower than the Phillipines and above Colombia, Russian and Turkey, of a total of 59 member countries of the United Nations that were analysed. Revenge in the Gulf Freedoms and apprehensions, persecutions, frequent gun battles and blockades of roads with burning vehicles, returned the uneasiness for the inhabitants of Tamaulipas in Reynosa, Altamira, Tampico and Ciudad Madero since at least last friday. The news of criminal acts in Tamaulipas began very early that day on April the 17th, when the drug trafficker Luis Reyes Enriquez "El Rex" or "El Z-12", gunman and one of the founders of Los Zetas was released from Prison. The offender was a prisoner since 2007 in the maximum security prison of CEFERSO No.2 Puente Grande in Jalisco State, where there was a purge of condemned of organised crime. Later that day, was reported the movement of Mexican Army Troops and Federal Agents who carried out an operation and had found their objective. They had captured Jose Tiburcio Hernandez Fuentes "El Gafe", one of the heads of the Cartel del Golfo. With the alleged narco trafficker were three other men. They had in their possession firearms, vehicles, $278,000.00 and almost 1,200,000 Pesos in effect. This action caused the violent reaction from the criminal organisation that through about 70 combatants in 15 vehicles clashed with various Authorities and devoted themselves of blocking streets and avenues, sowing terror in the south west of Reynosa. The balance was three civilians dead, two injured and two arrested. The Secretariat for Tamaulipas raised the threat level to "Zone Red" in the City.
Wednesday the 23rd of April, the violence didn't quieten for Tamaulipans, with reports of new gun battles and blockades, but in City arteries and Highways of Altamira, Tampico and Madero. The Authorities returned to alert the population through social networking and media communications. State Police were attacked by Sicarios. Five Sicarios and one Policeman died, and many other Security personnel were wounded. The assaults allegedly occurred in retaliation for the arrest of the alleged regional leader of the Cartel del Golfo, Jose Sivestre Haro Mayo "El Chive", who his cartel members tried to rescue, when they learned that he would be transferred firstly tot he airport and then to City of Mexico. The result of the blockades and crashes were four Policemen injured. Mayors of the Municipalities affected by the narco violence fear that the bloody events will continue and have alerted the population to be attentive and take precautions. For its part, non Government Organizations like Mexico Evaluates, regret that the Federal Authorities have implemented specific actions to combat the insecurity and violence in Michoacan and Guerrero and has side-lined Tamaulipas. Assembly in Michoacan This last week was complicated in another entity, where all public security policy failed. The arrest of Servando Gomez Martinez "La Tuta" has not returned Michoacan to calm, where the citizen complaint and the research work of some media, give name to investigations that cost the blood and tears of Michoacanos, assembly and impunity. The presumed dismantling of the criminal group Los Caballeros Templarios, despite the searches and assurance of real estate on Saturday the 18th of April, its not enough to bring peace back to the coastal and Tierra Caliente regions. The Authorities assured three gas stations and seven ranches of the narco traffickers in the Towns of Lazaro Cardenas and Tubiscatio. However the villagers insist that following on from the people of "La Tuta" that were freed, that fed the growth of the criminal organisation of Los Viagra, have suffered from the incursion of Sicarios from Guerreros Unidos fleeing from the Federal Police in Guerrero. Members of the ex group of auto defensas that were headed by Luis Antonio Torres "El Americano" have manifestly blockaded thirty geographical points of Tierra Caliente. The protesters demand greater security in the region to fight invasive criminal groups and ask for their weapons to be returned that were confiscated after the shooting at Buena Vista, Tomatlan, which occurred last year. They threaten to carry on the blockades until their petition is attended to. The climate of social dissatisfaction in Michoacan increased this past weekend after the magazine Proceso and the website of Carmen Aristegui showed an investigative journalism video that brings together images and testimony, that accuses the Federal Police of having shot and executed unarmed civilians during a sit-in at Apatzingan on January 6th of this year. ( Otis: see Lucio's post on the latest update see link). The information seems overwhelmingly to impune the representatives of Authority that once pointed to the protesters themselves as those who fired on their fellows. Meanwhile the ex Federal Commissioner of Security for the State of Michoacan and brand newly commissioner for national sport Alfredo Castillo Cervantes, the Secretary of the Interior, called the video "distorted and out of context", Miguel Angel Osorio Chong, it was not complicated to affirm that he already ordered an investigation of the facts to the PGR and the Federal Police Internal Affairs Unit. The National Human Rights Commission will do what it feels.  Like if their problems were not sufficient in that entity, even when detained, the narco trafficker Servando Gomez Martinez, his famous videos promise to return to the screen. This time, in a television program that transmitted a new video that shows Rodrigo Vallejo Mora, son of ex Governor Fausto Vallejo, reunion with "La Tuta". The images denote the familiarity with which Vallejo directs himself to the leader of Los Caballeros Templarios. The ex recluse Rodrigo Vallejo, was detained for eight months in the prison of Santiguito, in the State of Mexico, accused of covering up for the capo, as he gave him information from C4 of Michoacan, which could be used as a system to follow someone to the Roma Colonia of Federal District. The inheritance in Juarez The states of Chihuahua and Sinaloa have registered Governmental actions intended to weaken the criminal organisation of the Carrillo Fuentes Cartel of Juarez. Jesus Aguayo Salas "El Chuyin", alleged successor of Vincente Carrillo "El Viceroy", was arrested. And in Culiacan they captured Jamie Eduardo Quevedo Gastelum, nephew of Carrillo, leader of a band of kidnappers and murderers. The apprehension of "El Chuyin" occurred on Friday the 17th of April, after a confrontation between Sicarios and elements of the Mexican Army in ranches of Villa Ahumada, Chihuahua. In the action, one of the bodyguards of the narco trafficker was detained and another was killed by gun fire. The Police recovered a rifle of .223 calibre, an armoured truck, a five kilo packet of Marijuana, $20,000 and 125,000 pesos in effect. Jesus Salas Aguayo, 38 years of age, is accused in Mexico of the death of two Federal Agents, and in the United States a relation with a homicide of a protected witness. He is considered responsible for the operations of the cartel for the transit of drugs, homicides, kidnapping, petroleum theft, and arms trafficking. The capture of "El Chuyin" was possible thanks to the support of four helicopters and ground units in an operation that lasted various hours. A ferocious gun battle between an armed group and members of the Marines in the syndicate of Costa Rica, in Culiacan, Sinaloa, finished on Monday 21st of April with the death of four alleged criminals and six detained. Among the captured figure Jamie Eduardo Quevedo Gastelum, nephew of Amado and Vincente Carrillo Fuentes. The young leader of a band of thugs dedicated to kidnapping and killing their victims and other members of their families. The Marines arrived at a ranch on the San Carlos fraccionamiento to effect a raid derived from an anonymous tip. The criminals were fired on by the Marines and in response were the fatalities. Among the victims was a businessman that had been kidnapped. Original article in Spanish at Zetatijuana  | ||||
| Forgotten victims of Mexico drug war's stray bullets Posted: 28 Apr 2015 10:20 AM PDT Borderland Beat posted by DD republished from Yahoo News On March 20, BB reported on a ambush of federal police in the town of Ocotlan, Jalisco. Eleven people (originally reported 10) died in that shootout, including 5 police officers, 3 cartel members and that story said 2 innocent bystanders were killed. It turns out there were 3 bystanders killed, but the story didn't have any detail about their deaths. This article tells their story. By Leticia Pineda
Ocotlan (Mexico) (AFP) - The mechanic was working under a car when he turned his head and saw a dozen pick-up trucks creeping down the street in Mexico's western state of Jalisco. "The devil is on the loose," Jorge Gerardo Herrera said ominously to his colleagues as he turned back to the car he was fixing in the town of Ocotlan. Suddenly, a gunfight erupted and a stray bullet landed in the mechanic's heart, turning him into the latest innocent and forgotten victim of Mexico's cruel drug violence. His death was recounted by the garage's owner, Felipe de Jesus Ramirez, who was there when members of the powerful Jalisco New Generation drug cartel ambushed a federal gendarmerie convoy on March 19. Eleven people died in the shootout, including five police officers, three suspected gunmen and three bystanders. The victims included a teenager who was returning home after doing his homework at a friend's place. "We could hear the bullets whizzing by," Ramirez said. He ran into his garage with a woman and five girls who had been walking nearby. Jorge Gerardo died as he stepped onto the sidewalk, caught by a bullet that felled him instantly. He was 25 and about to get married. - No compensation - More than 80,000 people have died in Mexico's drug war since late 2006, when then president Felipe Calderon deployed troops to crackdown on drug cartels. The controversial deployment, which has continued since President Enrique Pena Nieto took office in 2012, has led to numerous clashes between gangs and security forces. There are deaths on both sides, and occasionally innocent bystanders are caught in the crossfire. But there are no official figures on the number of bystanders killed in the drug war, according to experts. The country lacks legislation on who should compensate the families of victims, and how those families should be treated, said Gerardo Rodriguez Sanchez Lara, a national security expert. "The issue is complex and very new in Mexico," he said, noting that in a country at war, those who lose or the state will usually be made to pay damages. But in a country not at war, where there are "extrajudicial actors who kill civilians, the issue of compensation is more complicated," the expert said. Rodriguez said the state should provide compensation to families of civilians killed in clashes, just as it takes care of relatives of dead police officers. One major case of innocent civilians caught in the drug war took place last year in southern Guerrero state, where crooked police officers opened fire on busloads of college students. Three students and three bystanders were killed. Another 43 students were abducted by officers and delivered to a drug gang, which killed them and incinerated their bodies, according to prosecutors. In the northern state of Tamaulipas, shootouts have regularly erupted in the cities of Matamoros, Reynosa and Tampico this year. Residents have used social media to indicate where shootouts take place so that people can take cover. - Hiding in bathroom - But the people of Ocotlan, a town of 90,000, did not have much time to react to the March 19 ambush. An altar with flowers and candles was placed on the spot where the teenage student was killed, just 400 meters (yards) from where the mechanic was hit. The walls of homes still bear the scars of bullet holes. One woman said she and her son hid in the bathroom when the bullets began flying.
"Thank God, they were only 9mm bullets" and not more lethal ammunition fired by AR-15 or AK-47 assault rifles -- weapons used in other attacks and that are powerful enough to penetrate walls, said the woman, who asked for security reasons to remain anonymous.  |
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