Fifth Communicator Assassinated in Mexico in Less Than Two Months

Photo: Raúl Pérez / Proceso

Translated by Valor for Borderland Beat

Journalist and activist Juan José Roldán, 36, became the fifth journalist killed in the last two months after his body was found with signs of torture on a dirt road in the state of Tlaxcala, the Union of Tlaxcala Journalists (UPET) reported.

Members of the UPET reported that Roldán’s body was discovered Sunday morning in the municipality of Calpulalpan, when the 911 emergency service reported finding a man without vital signs.

Therefore, UPET demanded a transparent and immediate investigation to punish those responsible, and in agreement with the state attorney general’s office (PGJE), they have already begun work to clarify the incident.

Juan José Roldán

On April 14, another communicator in charge of the police section of a blog in Baja California Sur was assassinated, while in March, the murder victims were Journalist Ricardo Monlui in Veracruz, Cecilio Pineda in Guerrero, and Miroslava Breach in Chihuahua.  In addition, the reporter and director of the newspaper La Opinión de Poza Rica, Armando Arrieta Granados, was seriously injured after being shot in Veracruz, as he is still in recovery.  None of the above cases have been solved yet.

Regarding Veracruz, the state continues to be the one that poses the greatest danger to journalists, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (ONU-DH) in Mexico.

Social Media Reports On Shootouts in Nochistlán, Zacatecas

Translated by Valor for Borderland Beat

Dozens of citizens and neighbors of the municipality of Nochistlán de Mejía, located at 224 kilometers south of the capital of Zacatecas reported on a violent shootout through various social networks that lasted for several hours during the early hours of Wednesday without the authorities having so far issued an official communication in regards to the incident.

Various videos and messages of the citizenship recorded the events where strong machinegun bursts can be heard throughout various parts of the area where the presence of armed groups in the area has been denounced.

The “magical town” of Nochistlán has been a disputed area of alleged members of organized crime who are fighting for the drug trafficking corridor bordering both the north and northwest with the municipality of Jalapa, south with Yahualica in Jalisco, to the east with Apulco, to the west of the municipalities of Juchipila and Apozol, to the north and northeast with Teocaltiche in Jalisco and finally to the south bordering with the municipality of Mezticacán, also located in Jalisco.

Neighbors of the area alerted on the presence of trucks with armed men on board moving throughout highways and roads as well as in the urban area of Nochistlán.

Source: ZHN

“Video 2: Shootout some moments ago in Nochistlán, the following video shows the northern outskirts of the municipality as the two convoys of armed subjects attacked each other.”

Additional Videos:

Bloody Holy Thursday

Translated by Valor for Borderland Beat

Reynosa, Tamaulipas— Members of the Mexican military, marines, and Fuerza Tamaulipas repelled attacks by armed groups yesterday in the cities of Matamoros and Río Bravo, in a battle scenario that left a total of 10 dead: six aggressors killed and four others were executed with a coup de grâce in a dispute between rival groups.

In the municipality of Río Bravo, members of the Navy of Mexico responded to gunfire in two separate incidents that killed four suspects belonging to organized crime groups.

The first violent incident occurred in the neighborhoods Paraíso and Paraíso Norte, where several individuals traveling in a pickup truck with Texas plates fired on the Mexican Navy, who were carrying out patrols.

The infantrymen repelled the aggression and a persecution was unleashed in the area.  After the confrontation, one of the alleged offenders died and the navy seized a vehicle, a high-powered weapon, and communication equipment.

Through a statement, the Tamaulipas Coordination Group specified that later, another group of individuals on board two trucks attacked members of the navy, as it passed through gap #109, located at kilometer 14, in the rural area of the municipality.

These events resulted in the deaths of three alleged delinquents, which had assault weapons, magazines, and various equipment.  

In social networks, it was said that one of the armed clashes resulted in the death of a man known as “Comandante Charmín.”

Ministerial authorities were informed of the two assaults on navy personnel, in order to follow up on corresponding investigations.

Rival Groups

Protected By Autodefensas, Students Return To School in San Miguel Totolapan

Translated by Valor for Borderland Beat

Guerrero— Protected by autodefensas, students from San Miguel Totolapan returned to school on Monday, March 20, after schools at different educational levels (preschool, primary, secondary, and upper secondary) closed for three months because of the presence of the criminal group “Los Tequileros”.

According to information from the newspaper El Sur, autodefensa members known as “Movimiento de La Paz” are responsible for protecting students.

Federal and state authorities have been ignorant of the problem of violence and insecurity experienced by the inhabitants of the municipality, so that neither members of the different state police units nor the Mexican Army have been present to provide protection in the area.

In the municipal seat, there are three kindergartens, three primary schools, two secondary and upper secondary schools, some of which have closed their doors since January for fear of Los Tequileros.

And this criminal group is the main perpetrator of the kidnappings, extortions, and homicides that have been registered during the last three years in the Tierra Caliente region in Guerrero.

Therefore, autodefensa members have been responsible for providing protection not only to the students, but also to the teachers and workers of these institutions.

Cristian Was Kidnapped In Chilapa, Guerrero; He Was Found With a Bullet in the Head Next To another Minor

Cuartoscuro Archive

Last Saturday, Cristian left his house after midday to do homework with some of his classmates.  He told his parents that from there, he would go to see his girlfriend and that he would be back late, but he didn’t return.  Cristian was kidnapped by armed men and someone told his parents that they saw him when they took him in a taxi with tinted windows, after that, they didn’t know about his whereabouts until the following Monday when he was found in the neighborhood Panorámica, located east of Chilpancingo.  Next to him was the body of Luis, a 16-year-old boy from Xocomulco, located in the municipality of Chilapa.  Luis also had a bullet to his head.

By: Zacarias Cervantes | Translated by Valor for Borderland Beat

March 11, 2017— During the funeral of Cristian Peralta Rendón, there wasn’t just crying, there was also anger, despair, rage and calls for justice to the government on the part of their relatives and friends.

They boy was 14 years old and was studying his second year of secondary school in Chilapa, where gunmen kidnapped him on Saturday, March 4 and on Monday, March 6, he was found seriously wounded in a neighborhood east of Chilpancingo next to the corpse of another boy.

Cristian only had on a pair of boxers and had a bullet in the head.  He was transferred alive to the hospital Raymundo Abarca Alarcón where he died Wednesday morning.

After midday on Thursday, Cristian’s body was transferred from his home on Calle 8 Sur de Chilapa to the cemetery where his relatives, friends, and neighbors buried him.

The Santa Fe, Veracruz Grave

The latest report of the exhumation work in the collective grave of Colinas de Santa Fe in Veracruz highlights that most of the remains found in the grave are of young high school and college aged men and women.  The search groups narrate that they haven’t walked through half of the land and they don’t stop from discovering corpses.  People continue to disappear in Veracruz, in the context of the war declared by the delinquency against the local government.  240 bodies from 170 clandestine graves have been exhumed.

By: Ignacio Carvajal García | Translated by Valor for Borderland Beat

Mexico City/Veracruz, March 7, 2017— Blogexpediente had access to the latest report on exhumation work in the collective graves of Colinas de Santa Fe, and what stands out the most of the 240 bodies exhumed so far is that they mostly consist of young people.

The last cutoff on the works in the collective graves of Colinas de Santa Fe state that 240 bodies from 117 clandestine graves have been exhumed.

And in the middle of the cluster of bodies, the mothers of the collective Solecito, who are actively working in this grave, what has surprised them is the high number of young people among the victims.

“Most of them are young people, women and guys, although people with gray hairs have also been found, despite the advanced state of decomposition, that detail has been observed,” said a source close to the work on the grave, at the request of anonymity.

Among the findings of the various graves, which show the slaughter of young people; clothing, footwear, and intimate clothing corresponding to the ages of 14 and 25 are also abundant.

The information that this medium accessed shows that the finding of bodies far from diminishing increases, and these graves are not even half of the terrain.

The last cutoff on the works in the collective graves of Colinas de Santa Fe state that 240 bodies from 117 clandestine graves have been exhumed. Photo: Cuartoscuro Archive

They consist of 125 graves located until the beginning of March, of which 177 have been worked on, which have resulted in the findings of 240 skulls, which is equal to the number of victims, more than half, correspond to boys who were high school or college aged.

Michoacán Journalist Assassinated; Had Previously Denounced Death Threats Against Him

Translated by Valor for Borderland Beat

On Thursday, journalist Cecilio Pineda Brito was assassinated in Ciudad Altamirano, located in the Tierra Caliente region.  The incident happened around 19:30 hours.

It has been reported that the Cecilio was in a car wash when they opened fire on him.  It should be noted that  Cecilio Poneda worked in the newspaper Despertar del Sur, in the weekly La Voz de Tierra Caliente, as well as collaborating in La Jornada Guerrero and El Universal; he lived in Riva Palacio, Michoacán.

He wrote for the police section.  According to a report, gunmen aboard a motorcycle arrived and fired towards Cecilio who was lying in a hammock in the car wash.

Pineda was seriously injured, however, he died while he was being treated by paramedics who arrived aboard an ambulance.  Previously, through his Facebook account, the journalist had reported that he received death threats from organized crime.

This is not the first time that the reporter for La Voz de Tierra Caliente had suffered from an armed attack.

In September 2015, according to information from the newspaper El Sur de Guerrero, Pineda survived a gunshot attack.

In November of last year, Animal Político released a report from the organization Artículo 19 that indicates that 2016 had been the year with the most murders of journalists in the six years of the administration of Enrique Peña Nieto.

Michoacán: Shootout Leaves 8 Dead

Translated by Valor for Borderland Beat

Eight people were found dead after two groups of organized crime clashed with each other.

The shootout took place on Tuesday in the municipality of Múgica with the dead bodies of six people identified as Miguel C., Crisóforo M., Narciso P., Carlos I., Saúl I. and Moisés G., who were inhabitants of Múgica and La Piedad.

Later, on Wednesday, February 22, 2017, two other shot up bodies were found while another man was arrested in a hospital in Apatzingán where he was being treated for a gunshot wound in his leg.  The man identified as Uriel G., also had other bruises.  It is thought that he also participated in the shooting.

Morelos: Two Families Attacked on Separate Occasions, 5 Dead

By: Jaime Luis Brito | Translated by Valor for Borderland Beat

Cuernavaca, Morelos. — Two families were shot in the municipalities of Cuernavaca and Jiutepec, leaving five people dead.

 In the first instance, three members of a family, among them a 10 year old girl, were killed by gunfire this past Sunday (Feb. 19) morning in the neighborhood Lomas de Ahuatlán, located north of Cuernavaca.

Two of the victims, a woman and a ten year old girl, were found aboard a gray Nissan Tsuru, with plates from Mexico City.  While the third victim, a man, was lying outside the vehicle, on the street, Santa Ana de Amanalco.

Police forces belonging to the State Commission of Security, Attorney General of Justice, and other organizations arrived at the scene in order to carry out investigations and to remove the bodies.

At about the same time, a group of armed men attacked several people in a cemetery located in the Jardín Juárez neighborhood in Jiutepec, where at least two of them died: a man at the scene and a woman on the way to the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) hospital.

According to the police reports, a man, a 9 and a 10 year old minor, and two women, were outside a cemetery on Jesús Achavitia Street when a white Suburban attacked them.

The man, who was in a metropolitan taxi, died at the scene.  Meanwhile, the other victims were transferred to the clinic #1 of the IMSS, located on Plan de Ayala Avenue in Cuernavaca.  One of the wounded women died along the way to the clinic.

On February 6, in the neighborhood Lauro Ortega in the municipality of Temixco, a family of five was attacked.  All were wounded, while three died: two men and an eight month old girl.

This past weekend, other violent acts occurred:

10 Years of Mexico's War on Drugs, In Pictures

Translated by Valor for Borderland Beat

Former President Felipe Calderón declared the war against drug trafficking on December 11, 2006, in Mexico, leaving an outcome calculated with over 27,000 people disappeared, 150,000 dead, and 280,000 displaced from their home.  

December 11, 2016, marked the 10 year anniversary of Mexico's War on Drugs.

 

Former President Felipe Calderón watches a military vehicle on top of a pile of weapons confiscated in Ciudad Juárez.  The PANista unleashed the war on drugs on December 11, 2006.  Photo: AP / Eduardo Verdugo

In this archived photo of January 12, 2014, men belonging to the autodefensas of Michoacán travel on board a truck full of sandbags as they try to expel alleged members of the Knights Templar Cartel from the city of Nueva Italia, México.  Photo: AP / Eduardo Verdugo

In this photo from October 9, 2009, the corpse of an unidentified man beaten and mutilated hangs from his neck under a bridge on the old road Rosarito, in Tijuana.  Photo: AP / Guillermo Arias

'Los Tequileros', the Terror of the Mayors of Tierra Caliente

By: Paris Alejandro Salazar | Translated by Valor for Borderland Beat

(July 26, 2016)—Los Tequileros are an organization that operate in the Tierra Caliente region in the state of Guerrero.  It has a hallmark of threating and extorting mayors in the region, and they do it through an armed cell called Fuerzas Especiales Tequileras.

 

Raybel Jacobo de Almonte “El Tequilero”

Guerrero’s District Attorney’s Office has identified Raybel Jacobo de Almonte “El Tequilero”, as the leader of the criminal group that bears his nickname.  There are 15 arrest warrants against him for crimes such as: extortion, kidnapping, and homicide.

 The criminal organization, Los Tequileros, emerged as one of the armed wings of the Guerreros Unidos Cartel in northern Guerrero.  It seeks to dispute the control of the Tierra Caliente region with La Familia that borders the State of Mexico; La Familia is supported by the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).

 

Johnny Hurtado Olascoaga “El Pescado”

La Familia, led by Johnny Hurtado Olascoaga “El Pescado”, and Los Tequileros, led by Raybel Jacobo de Almonte “El Tequilero”, are disputing for the control of the drug corridor that connects the sierra and the Tierra Caliente region of Guerrero with Michoacán and the State of Mexico.

San Antonio de la Gavia, in the municipality of San Miguel Totolapan, is considered to be the center of operations of Los Tequileros.

Unstoppable Violence in Guerrero: 8 Decapitated, 10 Executed During the Weekend

By: Ezequiel Flores Contreras | Translated by Valor for Borderland Beat

The bodies of eight men were found decapitated and tortured in the municipality of Tixtla, Guerrero, located in the center region of the state.

Meanwhile in the port of Acapulco, 10 people were found executed in different events, among them two members of the Mexican Navy (SEMAR).

Official reports indicate that the bodies of the eight men were found at around 11:00 pm yesterday, along a freeway that connects the town of Tixtla with the municipality of Chilapa.

The victims were decapitated, had visible signs of torture, and the sicarios left an extensive message which the authorities decided to hide the content.

On the case of the two members of the Mexican Navy executed in the port of Acapulco, the authorities reported that yesterday afternoon, the honest soldiers were shot up in the adjacent area next to the main tourist destination of the state.

The events occurred in the strip considered to be the most violent in the resort.  The navy personnel were identified as José Luis and Casimiro, both 27 years old and assigned to the 8^th Naval Region, located in the neighborhood Icacos on the port of Acapulco.

Extremely  Graphic photos next page..

Teloloapan: 3 Missing Blacksmiths Found Dismembered

By: Ezequiel Flores Contreras | Translated by Valor for Borderland Beat

Three blacksmiths, who had been missing since the beginning of this month in the municipality of Teloloapan, were found dismembered and with messages written from La Familia directed to the government of Héctor Astudillo Flores and the criminal group, Guerreros Unidos.

The finding occurred at the municipal seat of this municipality on the north, a week after the autodefensas of the northern area called La Tecampanera, pacted with the Secretary of Government in the area, Florencio Salazar Adame, a cessation to the violence in return for the investigation of the narco PRI mayor, Adolfo Torales Catalán, to detain the leaders of La Familia (the brothers Johnny “El Mojarro” and José “La Fresa” Hurtado Olascoaga), as well as Ramiro Bahena Urieta “El Güero Pelayo”, and to release the three blacksmiths kidnapped on Friday, November 4, in the town of Totoltepec.

In what is considered as the answer to the agreement between the autodefensas of Teloloapan and the government of Astudillo, the three dismembered bodies of the three men who are presumed to be the blacksmiths were found this morning, according to official reports.

The sicarios left two narco-messages on the victims that read:

Michoacán: Aquila Autodefensas Retake Up Arms; Government Denies It

Archive Photo

Translated by Valor for Borderland Beat

Due to recent violence and the neglect from state and federal authorities in the region, residents of the municipality of Aquila retook up arms, almost three years after the emergence of the autodefensas.

In an interview conducted by Noventa Grados Radio, the leader of the autodefensas in Aquila, Semeí Verdía Zepeda, stated that in less than a month, there have been three assassinations, two of which were tortured and burned, as well as an ambush against municipal police.

The extreme violence with which have been carried out by criminals and the lack of capacity of the municipal police to ensure the security in the municipality, have forced people to take up arms, Verdía Zepeda said.

The leader of the autodefensas said that neither the state nor the federal governments turn to take a look at the coastal region, as it is its duty to ensure the safety of the state, but also acknowledged that it is the work of the three levels of government.

Semeí Verdía said that the municipal police alone can’t handle the problem of insecurity, so that’s why the civilians will help them, because organized crime forces them to be on alert.

He also expressed the full willingness of the people to cooperate with the authority if it approaches them and asks them, but this has not happened, and instead has kept Aquila outside of security and social actions.

Michoacán Government Denies Autodefensas Retook Up Arms

At Least 12 Ambushes Against Police In Michoacán This Year: 8 Dead, 12 Wounded

By: Cecilia Sierra | Translated by Valor for Borderland Beat

Morelia, Michoacán, October 25, 2016 — There have been 12 ambushes against municipal, state, and also federal police forces so far this year in the state of Michoacán. 

In addition, the attacks on law enforcement have left eight police officers injured by gun fire.

The attacks have occurred on state highways, especially in the vicinity of remote communities of the municipalities, as has happened in the most recent events in Acahuato, Cancita and Las Yeguas, in Aguililla y Apatzingán.

There are also cases of attacks against municipal police forces from Ixtlán and Gabriel Zamora that killed two police officers; of the Director of Public Safety of Tiquicheo along the highway Mil Cumbres-Morelia; of Ziracuaretiro and San Pedro Barajas in La Huacana; where a federal highway police officer died and left another one severely injured.

In addition to these violent acts, is the ambush suffered by the mayor of Pungarabato, Ambrosio Soto Duarte, that took the life of the mayor and his driver, and also left two police officers injured along the highway San Lucas-Ciudad Altamirano.

Veracruz: Six Bodies Left Inside A Van

By: Noé Zavaleta | Translated by Valor for Borderland Beat

Xalapa, Veracruz— The bodies of six men were abandoned inside a van at the side of the Isla-Santiago Tuxtla State Road, at the height of La Ceibilla Bridge. 

This new act of violence in southern Veracruz was reported by farmers in the area, which gave notice to the delegation of the ministry of public security and the regional state prosecutor.

Employees of the directorate of forensic services and of the forensic medical service carried out the removal of the bodies which were inside a red Ford Windstar, with Tabasco state license plates WSR-25-87.

Until this afternoon, the victims had not been identified, it was only disclosed that their hands were tied up with duct tape and various beatings and signs of torture.

Veracruz violence escalated to such an extent that just during the weekend, 23 violent deaths were reported, allegedly linked to organized crime.

Violence Continues In Guerrero: 13 Executed in 2 Days

Translated by Valor for Borderland Beat

In various parts of the state, 13 bodies were found with bullet holes, some were tortured, tied up, and stabbed.

13 violent murders have occurred in the state of Guerrero between Sunday and Monday in the municipalities of Eduardo Neri, Acapulco, Zihuatanejo, Chilapa and Taxco.

Five people were found executed in the early hours of Monday in a bar located in the town of Zumpango del Río, in the municipality of Eduardo Neri, this according to the Guerrero Coordination Group.  At the scene, 123 7.62 and .223 caliber shell casings were found.

In the neighborhoods of Generación 2000 and La Fábrica, located in Acapulco, two male bodies were found; one of them was between the ages of 40-45, tied up with gunshot wounds, while the other one was dismembered and placed in a sack in a storm gutter.

During Monday morning, the body of a transit police officer was found inside his patrol car in the municipality of Zihuatanejo, where two people were also killed last Sunday.

Also, two tied up men with gunshot wounds were found dead in the municipality of Chilapa de Álvarez during the early hours of Monday.

Moreover, the body of a youth around 30 years old was also found, stabbed to death with signs of torture, on Sunday on a federal highway in the municipality of Taxco.

(With information from Bajo Palabra, El Sur de Acapulco and Digital Guerrero)

Source: Aristegui Noticias

Michoacán: Ambush Kills 3 Policemen, Wounds 8

Police ambushed in Ziracuaretiro
Photo: 90 Grados

By: Francisco Castellanos J. | Translated by Valor for Borderland Beat

Ziracuaretiro, Michoacán— The aftermath of an ambush left at least three policemen dead and eight more wounded when they were opened fire by armed men at the exit of the municipality of Ziracuaretiro along the highway to Uruapan.

The incident took place around 18:00 hours at the height of the gas station El Fresno.

There, members of the Michoacán Police who were patrolling were gunned down by armed civilians.

After the incident, paramedics from the Red Cross, Civil Protection and of Search and Rescue were mobilized to the site.

Shortly after, a strong operation was implemented by the Mexican Army, federal police, and Ministerial Michoacán Police to find those responsible.

The bodies of the fallen policemen were sent to the Forensic Medical Service of Uruapan, 15 minutes from the incident, and to private hospitals in the same area.

Source: Proceso