Alfredo "Mochomo" Beltran Leyva set to be sentenced in D.C. today

Chivis Martinez for Borderland Beat *Big thanks, once again, to Narcomics!*

Alfredo Beltran Leyva will have his sentencing hearing today in a Washington DC Courtroom.  It is set for 2:30PM. 

The U.S.  is asking for a life sentence.   The court found that sentencing enhancements asked for by the U.S. are applicable.   The government also asks that his guilty plea result in no sentencing credit for his accepting responsibility.  This is based because of  his filing to withdraw the plea.  The filing to rescind was denied by the court.  This means that although he is not permitted to withdraw his plea, so in effect he is pleading guilty, the U.S.  wants no credit be awarded when calculating sentence. 

In the sentencing process, various credits favorable to the defendant, and enhancements  which  give weight to a greater sentence, are calculated by using a number scale.  Refer to the image below to view the U.S. contention of how  they determined a life sentence was in order with a tally of 50.

One of the enhancements is the contention of cartel leadership.   When he pleaded guilty, he was questioned by the judge regarding leadership role.  He was clear that he was a member of BLO, and worked for his brother Arturo, but he was not the leader.

Click on image to enlarge

Mexico newspaper announces closure, citing risk of violence

Posted by DD Republished from Reuters Yahoo News

The facade of the El Norte newspaper office is pictured after the paper announced its closure due to what it says is a situation of violence against journalists in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico April 2, 2017. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (Reuters) - A Mexican newspaper in the border city of Ciudad Juarez is shutting down due to the risk of violence after a string of killings of reporters around the country, the paper's owner said on Monday.

"Norte" ran a headline that said "Adios" on the front page of its Sunday edition and its owner, Oscar Cantu, explained in a letter he was shutting the newspaper down after 27 years. He said on Monday the online version would also be closed.

"No company, no business is worth more than a person's life," Cantu said in an interview. "Keeping going with the company, or on-line version, would put people at the same risk due to the type of journalism we do."

Cantu pointed to a string of recent murders of journalists including the death of Miroslava Breach, who was shot multiple times last month in the northern state of Chihuahua.

Earlier in March, the attorney general's office in the Gulf of Mexico state of Veracruz said it was investigating the murder of journalist Ricardo Monlui.

At least 16 more journalists have been killed in Mexico since 2015, according to the Committee to Project Journalists.

The closure of Norte came as a surprise to reporters, editors, photographers and other employees of the newspaper, and many found out about the decision from the front page letter.

"More that just losing a source of jobs, what is being lost is press that can be a counterweight, a press that indicates what is really happening in our environment, what happens in our government and society," said Norte journalist Salvador Esparza.

Juarez became the murder capital of the world last decade due to a war between drug cartels while El Paso, Texas, across the border is one of the safest U.S. cities of its size.

The murder rate in Ciudad Juarez had fallen in recent years, but strong demand for methamphetamines in Juarez has triggered a turf battle and a new spike in violence.

(Reporting by Jose Luis Gonzalez; Editing by Paul Tait)

How A Small Cog In Mexico’s Criminal Economy Grew Into A Hotbed Of Terror

Posted by DD republished from Huffington Post

By Jesselyn Cook
World News Reporter, The Huffington Post

Homicide rates in Mexico’s southeastern state of Veracruz have skyrocketed to record levels, and some now call it the country’s biggest mass grave.

This aerial image shows the area known as Colinas de Santa Fe where Mexican authorities work to find the remains of people buried in mass graves on the outskirts of Veracruz. More than 250 skulls were found there earlier this year in what appears to be a drug cartel’s mass burial ground, prosecutors said.

In a sobering new report, “Veracruz: Fixing Mexico’s State of Terror,” the International Crisis Group describes the crime- and corruption-plagued region as “emblematic of the challenges facing the country as a whole.” Veracruz has at least 2,750 unresolved disappearance cases, but civil society groups say as many as 20,000 people could be missing.

Just this week, police discovered a note near the tortured bodies of two women and nine men. “You want a war, you’ll get a war,” it reportedly read. Veracruz Gov. Miguel Ángel Yunes Linares said the killings, like more than 70 percent of recent homicide cases, were linked to organized crime gangs.

Veracruz atrocities largely stem from political failures that include ineffective law enforcement strategies, systemic obstruction of justice and a lack of judicial accountability, the International Crisis Group report says.

    The recent history of Veracruz, the gruesome details of which are starting to emerge, underlines the crisis not of one state administration but of the Mexican political system as a whole, where a well-intended democratic transition has fallen short of expectations and become corroded by organized crime. The ease with which political power-holders have been able to pursue criminal ambitions points to structural weaknesses in the democratic system.

The rise of organized crime throughout the country reflects Veracruz’s evolution from a base for drug trafficking to a “set of criminal enterprises,” according to the report. Crimes, including extortion and kidnapping, have been on the rise at both the state and federal levels in recent years.

The International Crisis Group calls on the U.S. and other governments to increase pressure on Mexican leaders to address root causes of the nation’s organized crime epidemic, and refocus strategies for resolving the crisis. Support must be directed away from militarization and toward anti-graft efforts, the group explains.

Effective reform in Veracruz will depend strongly on sustained federal support, which seems unlikely. The Mexican government is already grappling with challenges like U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposed import tax and border wall threatening its economy, straining resources to combat organized crime.

Ineffective Government, Rampant Corruption

Veracruz’s transformation from a small hub in Mexico’s criminal economy used by drug cartels into an increasingly dangerous region plagued by record violence is becoming clearer with mounting evidence of grisly brutalities and deep-seated corruption.

Violent crimes in the state surged as more criminal groups pushed in after the election of Javier Duarte Ochoa, an unpopular governor who came into office in late 2010. There were 3,208 homicides logged in the first four years of his term ― an alarming jump from 1,848 during his predecessor’s first four years.

Duarte has been declared a fugitive criminal since resigning six years into his term over allegations that linked him to embezzlement, drug cartels and the murders of several journalists.

Under his leadership, widespread state-criminal collusion and impunity gripped the region, undermining the legitimacy of the Mexican government at all levels. A whirlwind of killings targeted legal professionals, police officers, crime witnesses and others who dared to challenge criminal institutions and their suspected political accomplices

Want to tackle violent crime in Mexico? Then start in Veracruz state

Posted by DD republished from Miami Herald

Relatives of slain Rev. Jose Alfredo Suarez de la Cruz grieve as his casket is lowered into the floor inside Our Lady of Asuncion Church in Mexico’s troubled Veracruz state. Marco Ugarte Associated Press

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/editorials/article140482313.html#storylink=cpy

DD:  This is a companion piece written in conjunction to the story posted  "How a small clog in Mexico's Criminal Econmy Grew into a Hotbed of Terror".  The author, Mark L. Schneider, is a senior adviser to the International Crisis Group, the conflict prevention organization, which was mentioned several times and was a major source in the Huffington Post "Hotbed of Terror" story.  He is also a former Director of the US Peace Corps. 
Mark L Schneider:

Decades ago, while training for U.S. Peace Corps service in El Salvador, I traveled into the rain forest of the state of Veracruz to the tiny village of Zongolica. Most of the men and all of the women and children spoke only Nahuatl, survived on subsistence farming and faithfully maintained their culture despite four centuries of Spanish influence. There was little crime, much less violence, in the state — and a strong sense of community, particularly in Zongolica, where adobe bricks were made cooperatively for each other’s homes.

Today, Veracruz is a battleground where five major cartels and multiple smaller criminal gangs kill for control over lucrative cocaine drug routes, oil pipelines and human trafficking networks — with the Zetas and the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación emerging as the most dangerous and successful organizations. The state apparatus, far from preserving law and order, has been warped to protect criminal interests. Veracruz state, rich in natural resources, could be an economic powerhouse but is instead near bankruptcy. In 2016, homicides here increased by 123 percent — the second highest in the country.

President Donald Trump reportedly proposed sending over the U.S. military to take care of “bad hombres” south of the border, according to a leaked excerpt of his recent telephone conversation with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto.

Trump’s unilateral offer — coming alongside demands that Mexico pay for a border wall to stop illegal migration, a wave of deportations, and a threat to terminate the North American Free Trade Agreement—has revived memories of U.S. gunboat diplomacy and prompted “Gringo go home” sentiments south of the border. (DD. Early the next morning after Trumps victory I walked into an Oxxo near my house and the first words I heard after the election were "Gringo go home")  In any case, most knowledgeable observers agree that a military response to the cartels will backfire.

Narco manta left on corpse with threats against singer Miguel Comando

Translated by Otis B Fly-Wheel for Borderland Beat from a Zetatijuana article

Subject Matter: Narco manta threats in Tijuana
Recommendation: No prior subject matter knowledge required

Reporter: Isai Lara Bermudez
A narco manta was left draped around the body of a dead man with threats made against the singer of corridos Miguel Comando, who will give  a concert on April the 28th in Las Pulgas.

During the early hours of Sunday the 2nd of April, the body of a man was reported in the car park of a Home Depot store in Tijuana.

Even though the message is not fully comprehendible, some phrases can be understood such as " do not show yourself", and other which inform that they have pictures of him, and that if he does show up he will be "rolled up", inside or outside of Las Pulgas.

Jesus Malverde, the man, the myth the legend Part 1

Written by Otis B Fly-Wheel for Borderland Beat

Subject Matter: Jesus Malverde, aka Jesus Juarez Mazo, aka the Narco-Saint

Many different cultures at different times past and present have a Robin Hood figure, such as Oleska Dovbush of Ukraine, Juraj Janosik of Slovakia, Nakamura Jirokichi of Japan, Scotty Smith from South Africa, Salvatore Guiliano of Italy and Phoolan Devi from India. As I hail from the UK, every child here knows the story of Robin Hood and he has been immortalized in many different Hollywood films featuring some of Hollywoods top stars. All have similar traits in that they rob from the rich and distribute their loot to the poor. But in nearly every old legend of this type, there is little evidence that they ever existed. Jesus Malverde is venerated particularly in Sinaloa and particularly by Narcos. Here we examine his story.

The second Jesus Malverde shrine in Culiacan, the original was built over

Reporter: Otis B Fly-Wheel

Jesus Malverde, possibly born Jesus Juarez Mazo, On December 24th, 1870 just outside of Culiacan in Sinaloa, he has many aliases, the generous bandit, angel of the poor, El Rey de Sinaloa and the Narco-Saint. He lived in Sinaloa , and grew up under the rule of Mexican dictator Porfirio Diaz. He allegedly died on May 3rd of 1909, which is now his Saints day, about the same time as Chinese immigrants started arriving in Sinaloa who were displaced by the great San Fransisco earthquake of 1906 and brought with them poppy seed and started to grow Poppy's for opium for the first time in Mexico.

"El Cepillo", head of the Sinaloa Cartel in Balleza and Guadalupe y Calvo executed in Chihuahua

The leader of the Sinaloa cartel in the region of Guadalupe, Calvo and Balleza, Mario Eleno Corral Félix, "El Cepillo" or "El 00", was executed yesterday in the community La Cueva del Burro section of Turuachi, in the municipality of Guadalupe and Calvo.

State Police located the body of "El Cepillo", one of the criminal objectives of the Attorney General's Office (PGR).

The criminal group "El 00" controls Guadalupe and Calvo, but can not enter one of the largest populations, Baborigame, which borders Badiraguato, Sinaloa state, territory dominated by another antagonistic group but from the same Cartel.

In Guadalupe, Calvo and in El Vergel, municipality of Balleza, the capo made wifi networks available to the population that they named: "Del Cepillo para el pueblo" in El Vergel, and "Support for the people ", At the head of Guadalupe and Calvo.

Narco blockades in Tamaulipas

Translated by Otis B Fly-Wheel for Borderland Beat from a Proceso article

Subject Matter: Reynosa, Narco Blockades
Recommendation: No prior subject matter knowledge required

Chaos in Reynosa because of Narco Blockades; Marines attend the emergency

Reporter: Proceso Redaction
Elements of the Marines continued operations this morning in various sectors of Reynosa, Tamaulipas, earlier during the evening the operatives answered the call when a State emergency alert was activated because of blockages of streets and avenues.

According to information given in the daily "El Manana de Reynosa", the first reports of blockades and paralysis on the roads and arteries registered around 21:45 Wednesday, which obligated the Municipal Government to send out a Yellow alert in its face book and twitter accounts at 22:12.

Nayarit: Attorney General arrested at border for drug trafficking-distribution operation

Chivis Martinez for Borderland Beat Tu Sancho thank you for video.....

Edgar Veytia, 47, the attorney general of the Mexican state of Nayarit, has been arrested at the U.S./Mexico border, specifically, at the Cross Border Xpress airport terminal, a transit point that links San Diego to the Tijuana airport.

The arrest was made after a filing of charges, derived from  a sealed indictment on March 2, 2017. 

Veytia, was openly spoken about as being in charge of trafficking for the Zetas, in a drug trafficking distribution operation.  In a video included with this post and arrested Zeta declares Veytia as his boss for  Nayarit operations.

He will remain in San Diego until after his April 11 hearing, then he will transfer to New York to face charges:

Count I: International Heroin, Cocaine, Methamphetamine and Marijuana Manufacture and Distribution Conspiracy; 

Count II: Heroin, Cocaine, Methamphetamine and Marijuana Importation Conspiracy; 

Count III: Heroin, Cocaine, Methamphetamine, and Marijuana Distribution Conspiracy.

El Chapo complains to court of "draconian prison conditions" and "hearing voices"

Chivis Martinez for Borderland Beat

Different prison, different country….same old song incarcerated Sinaloa capo, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán Loera, is singing while in his Manhattan prison cell.

Not many that are long time followers of the Mexican narco war, will forget that Chapo has escaped from two high security prisons, one supposedly via a laundry cart, and more recently, when he became the first inmate to escape Mexico’s highest security prison, Altiplano No.1.  From No.1 he fled through one of his famous tunnels, constructed from a farm near the prison.  He descended through a hole created through the concrete shower floor. 

While Chapo was in No.1 he filed several complaints about his conditions.  He was transferred to No. 9 in Juarez.  He began immediately filing about the conditions at the Juarez prison.  It was cold, it was loud, he was awaken every hour causing high blood pressure and other ailments.  He actually won a transfer back to No. 1 but was given a different transfer instead…to New York City.  When he was awaken for the extradition he asked if he was being taken to No.1, he was told no, “the United States”. 

As soon as he landed in the U.S. the complaints began.  And make no mistake; they are taking precautions as seldom seen before.  It is not solely an escape that concerns authorities; it is for the safety of those working towards a long incarceration.  It has been alleged that Chapo has ordered killings in the past, even to transpire in foreign countries, so authorities are taking no chances. 

He is in a private cell, windowless, visits from his attorneys twice a day, and no outside time.   He is not allowed visits from his wife, Emma Coronel.  Coronel provided a marriage certificate to the court.  However if the court checked with Mexican prison authorities they would see that Chapo is still legally married to his first wife, who he never divorced, and who he listed as his wife on prison records.

Nevertheless, the court was not going to allow the visits. 

Official Start of Campaigns Still Days Away, Moreira and Calderon Already Throwing Mud

Posted by DD Republished from MexicoNewsDaily

 

Days before the official start of the election campaign in the state of Coahuila, two prominent ex-politicians have taken over the limelight, one of them a former president.

Humberto Moreira Valdés, a former state governor and former national leader of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), has been widely condemned for embezzling billions of pesos, but never charged.

 

When it was made public late last year that he was pursuing a Deputy’s seat in the state Congress, politicians and other public figures expressed disbelief and outrage, with some remarking on the accusations of ties to the Zetas cartel.

It was also asserted at the time that behind Moreira’s revived political aspirations lay the pursuit of a fuero, a constitutional privilege that grants immunity against prosecution to government officials.

Earlier this week, Moreira — considered one of the 10 most corrupt Mexicans by Forbes magazine in 2013 — confirmed his intention to obtain a candidacy from the local Young Party, or Partido Joven.

He stated it was not a whim, having attempted on four occasions to run for different offices after his term as governor ended in 2011. But the PRI denied all of them, even when he was “ahead in the polls.”

In this context, ex-president Felipe Calderón Hinojosa accused Moreira of not only being close to Los Zetas, but of allowing the criminal gang to live “comfortably in the state” during his stint as governor.

Another Veracruz Journalist Shot as Attacks Against Journalist Soar

Posted by DD partially Republished from Toronto Metro, by: Lev Garcia The Associated Press, and some material translated from Regeneracion.Mx and TeleSur


VERACRUZ, Mexico — A reporter in Mexico's Gulf coast state of Veracruz was reported in

Armando Arrieta Granados

serious condition after being shot outside his home early Wednesday in a region plagued by drug cartel violence. It adds to a string of attacks on reporters in a country considered one of the most dangerous places to practice journalism

Regeneration Mx. reported that although it has not been an official part by the statement by authorities of the Public Security Secretariat of the State of Veracruz or the State Government, the first versions indicate that Armando Arrieta received at least four 9 mm caliber bullet hits, He was rushed to a clinic, where his condition is reported as severe.

The president of the state commission for the protection of journalists, Ana Laura Perez, said a bullet punctured the lung of Armando Arrieta Granados, who worked as the news editor for the newspaper La Opinion de Poza Rica.

 Armando Arrieta holds a Masters Degree in Higher Education from the Universidad Veracruzana and since 2005 was a harsh critic of the authorities, and has demanded the clarification of the murder of his leader and owner of the same newspaper, Raul Gibb Guerrero, in April of that year. year.

It was the second shooting attack on a journalist in two days in Mexico. A bodyguard protecting a threatened journalist was shot to death on Tuesday in the Baja California resort of San Jose del Cabo.Journalist Julio Omar Gomez was not wounded in that attack at his home. But his bodyguard was reportedly shot when he tried to repel the attack.

Gomez previously ran an internet news site, and currently works for the city press department. He had been the apparent target of two previous attacks on his home, and the government had supplied bodyguards to protect him.

Wednesday's shooting also was the fifth attack on journalists this month; the previous three were fatal.

Los Chapitos confuse Al Jazeera Journalist for Los Damaso , kidnap and assault them

Translated by Otis B Fly-Wheel for Borderland Beat from a Proceso article

Subject Matter: Journalists, Los Chapitos, Villa Juarez
Recommendation: No prior subject matter knowledge required

An armed group of Ivan Archivaldo Guzman, son of El Chapo Guzman, detained and assaulted Al Jazeera journalists when confusing them with another delinquent group linked to Damaso Lopez "El Licenciado", in Villa Juarez, Navolato.

The group of journalists were held for 45 minutes and were later released after the armed group realized their mistake. However the journalists were stripped of their vehicles, work tools and cell phones, and then set free in a field a kilometer from the Villamoros community.

The victims had arrived in Sinaloa to work on a report on agricultural workers and violence, but in the course of carrying out their work were intercepted by the armed group.

El Z-40 transferred to Ciudad Juarez Prison

Translated by Otis B Fly-Wheel for Borderland Beat from a Milenio article

Subject Matter: Miguel Angel Trevino Morales, El Z-40
Recommendation: No prior subject matter knowledge required

The Commission for National Security has informed that the ex leader of Los Zetas, Miguel Angel Trevino Morales, was transferred from the maximum security prison of Altiplano, to the Cefereso at Ciudad Juarez.

Reporter: Milenio Digital
The leader of Los Zetas, Miguel Angel Trevino Morales, El Z 40, was transferred from Altiplano to the Cefereso at Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, informs the Commission for National Security.

"It is a precautionary rotation, that is carried out as a matter of course with the authorization of Judiciary", indicated sources of the Commission.

El Z-40 was detained by elements of the Marina during a surprise operation in Anahuac, Nuevo Leon, in July of 2013. ( Otis: See Link to article by Chivis on his capture).