Ex-Vice Pres of Guatamala at the Service of Los Zetas

Translated by Yaqui for Borderland Beat from Proceso

Roxana Baldetti

June 25, 2017

The case of Guatemalan ex-Vice President Roxana Baldetti, who was arrested in her country on corruption charges, turned around this month, when the United States requested her extradition ... and she agreed to be extradited. This makes legal experts think that this is a maneuver that would allow it (Guatamala) to delay its process several decades. However, in her petition, Washington reveals that the former Guatemalan governmental functionary, allegedly, established a lucrative relationship with Los Zetas, whom she allowed to operate with total impunity in her country.

GUATEMALA CITY - The criminal case against Roxana Baldetti, the Guatemalan ex- vice president, took a turn on Wednesday, after an extradition request was received from the US government and confirmed the alleged links of former Guatemalan government official Hector Mauricio López Bonilla with Los Zetas who was arrested on June 11, 2017 and is being held in a Guatemalan jail. 

The file sent by the Department of Justice of the United States to support the request for extradition uncovered the alleged links of Baldetti with Los Zetas, a cartel that would have given the former more than $ 250,000 USD in exchange for being allowed to operate with impunity In Guatemalan territory.

In a statement announcing the extradition request, the Public Prosecutor's Office (MP) reported that the US District of Columbia accuses Roxana Baldetti of "a conspiracy to transport illicit drugs and of criminal association." A hearing was scheduled for Thursday June 15, in order to inform the ex-president of the reasons why the United States requires her extradition.

Another relative of a ESPN commentator executed-second in 2 weeks

Chivis for Borderland Beat...

Ciani tweets an emotional video, pleading for the help of  President Pena and Osorio Chong

The sister of ESPN commentator Odin Ciani was gunned down today in Tijuana.  Doctor Alma Angélica Ciani González, was in her Cuauhtémoc Blvd medical clinic.

Doctor Ciani was in her office with her children and mother when gunmen arrived and executed the doctor, in cold blood,  in full view of her family.

Witnesses in surrounding shops report seeing the sicarios arrive and drove to the rear parking area, gaining entry from there.

In his video appeal to President Pena, the journalist asks Enrique Peña Nieto and Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong to help with the issue (of runaway violence and murders up 30%) because "we cannot continue living like this". The ESPN communicator is visibly affected during the video.

The country is in a very urgent  situation because as Odin himself said , "today it was his turn but tomorrow it can touch you."

El Narco operate in 18 States, reveal the PGR

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

Subject Matter: Cartel, Cartel Cells, Cartel presence
Recommendation: No prior subject matter knowledge required

There exists disputes between 36 cells from 9 cartels. CJNG is the organization with the largest presence in the country.

Reporter: Ruben Mosso
The PGR revealed that in the country there are 36 criminal cells that pertain to 9 cartels dedicated to narco trafficking that have extended their operations to 18 of the 32 States, that have detonated acts of violence.

Information from the National Centre for Planning, Analysis and Information for the Combating of Crime, (CENAPI), elaborated that this past month of May, the Sinaloa cartel suffered an internal dispute for control of the organization, this is the group with the most armed wings, with intelligence identifying ten different cells.

The document also signalled that despite attacks on the Beltran Leyva and the Gulf cartel, these groups each have 7 cells in 8 States, wehre in the last weeks and months there have been clashes.

The CJNG, headed by Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, El Mencho, is the group with the largest presence in the nation, because they cover 8 States, to date no cells, groups or gangs that are linked to the organization have been identified. ( Otis: really? I beg to differ see below)

Tijuana: CDS sends threats to CJNG, CJNG responds with Human Head

Original article available at ZETA
Translated by El Wachito

On a pedestrian bridge located in the area of La Sanchez Taboada a narcomessage and a burned human head were found.

The horrifying message and the human head were reported to the emergency central around 23:30 on Saturday July 1st.

CDS TO CJNG 

The message was signed by the Cartel de Tijuana Nueva Generacion and it said: "Theres your dirty people, we dont fuck around Atte CTNG".

The Friday prior to July 1st, on another bridge of Sanchez Taboada and Cruz Del Sur, another narco message was found by the authorities: "Lets make it clear that the Tijuana Plaza belongs to CDS, fucking Jalisco Dolls. Atte CDS".

To this moment, no one has been detained.

The rise in violence is the fault of local authorities, not the new Justice system, say Senators

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

Subject Matter: New judicial system in Mexico
Recommendation: No prior subject matter knowledge required

Reporter: Claudia Guerrero
Senators assured that the increment in violence and the criminal indexes in the country is a product of the incapacity of authorities and not because of the new system of accusatory Penal Justice. Pablo Esudero, said that the functionaries are evading their responsibilities in augmentation of insecurity in the Federal States.

" Some local authorities are accusing the new system for the increase in crime, but they are seeking to evade their obligations to build the capacity of the Police, finances and public ministries", he accused.

"The principal factor is the deficiency in the implementation of the accusatory model, and the guarantee of the presumption of innocence is a fundamental principal."

Narco Data: Sinaloa Cartel Loses Ground to CJNG

Translated by Yaqui for Borderland Beat from Zeta 

By: Carlos Alvarez
June 29, 2017

For the first time in 40 years: The Sinaloa Cartel has ceded territory to CJNG, Jalisco Nuevo Generacion Cartel, led by "El Mencho", according to a Narco Data Report. 

According to NarcoData - an interactive site that presents an X-ray of the last four decades of criminal groups in Mexico - data from the Attorney General's Office (PGR) show that the Sinaloa Cartel activity declined in the country, with its presence in eleven states during 2016, now it is only in seven and with fewer operating cells in operation.

The microsite of the Political Animal portal attributes this diminution of the presence of the Sinaloa Cartel in the states of the country, since the extradition to the United States of its leader, Joaquin Archivaldo Guzmán Loera, aka "El Chapo", last January. According to NarcoData: federal authorities have said that the extradition of "El Chapo" provoked reshuffling in the leadership of the group that he was running, as well as the advance of other criminal organizations such as the Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) Cartel, which, according to the data, is already the criminal group with more presence in the country. 

Leader of Los Zetas in Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz arrested after massacre of family

Translated by Otis B Fly-Wheel for Borderland Beat from a Milenio article with additional material from Noreste

Subject Matter: Hernan Martinez Zavaleta, Commandante H, Los Zetas
Recommendation: No prior subject matter knowledge required

Hernan Martinez Zavaleta, is identified as allegedly responsible for the assassination of a family in Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, which  included four young children

Reporter: Milenio Digital
Elements of the Criminal Investigation Agency detained in Tabasco, Hernan Martinez Zavaleta, Commandante H, identified as allegedly responsible for the assassination of a family in Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, which included the deaths of four young children.

According to the investigations Martinez Zavaleta, 42 years of age, ordered the massacre on 24th of June as an act of vengeance for the death of a collaborator, Bernardo Cruz Mota, El Nino Sicario that happened a few days before.

The family, consisting of the parents and four children aged , 6,5,4,3 years old, were shot to death in the Nueva Calzadas colonia, after the events, Miguel Angel Yunes offered a reward of a million pesos to anyone offering photos of information of who ordered the massacre.

Martinez Zavaleta, originally from Martinez de la Torre, Veracruz, is considered the Plaza Boss in Coatzacoalcos for the Los Zetas criminal organization and has controlled this town since 2006, carry out criminal activities such as trafficking of drugs, hydro carbon theft, kidnapping and extortion.

Mazatlan Sinaloa: 19 Killed in Military Clash

Translated by Yaqui for Borderland Beat from El Debate

Midnight in Mexico

WARNING: Extremely Graphic Photos and Video on second page

Extra material from La Jornada
July 1, 2017

The last night of June and the first night of July began with an attempted and successful kidnapping but ended with a fierce confrontation between Sinaloan Authorities and armed gunmen equipped with tactical gear and high caliber weapons.  Nineteen suspected criminals were killed in the confrontation with Mazatlan Municipal Police, Sinaloa State Police and members of the Mexican Army and Navy. Five uniformed men were wounded.

Cristobal Castaneda Camarillo, the State's Security spokesman says that the confrontation began around eight pm near the communities of La Amapa and Villa Union at the Junction of Mexican Federal Highway #5 and the road to Aguaje de Costilla. Municipal police officers led by Mazatlan's Public Security Secretary, Joel Soto, were attacked by the 19 individuals moving in four trucks approximately 22 kilometers south of the port city. Camarillo made an official statement around Midnight.

US Coast Guard Cutter Brings 18 Tons of Cocaine into Port of San Diego

Republished From San Diego Tribune by Yaqui

Alameda Based Coast Guard Cutter Waesche

Additional Material from: 

USCG, CBS SF, US News

The drugs brought ashore Thursday from the cutter Waesche (WAY-shee) were seized by the crews of eight Coast Guard cutters in the Eastern Pacific from late March through this month.

The Coast Guard says it has been focusing personnel and resources on known drug transit zones in the Pacific during the last two years.

El Beto of the Cartel Arellano Felix arrested in Tijuana

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

Subject Matter: El Beto, CAF, AFO
Recommendation: No prior subject matter knowledge required

Elements of the Baja California Police detained a person identified as El Beto, alleged leader of a cell of the Cartel Arellano Felix. In a communication, the Secretary of State Public Security announced the effective detention deriving from intelligence work of the referred to Police corporation.

He indicated that the detention was carried out at a traffic circle at Simon Bolivar Avenue and Calle Tecate, in the Alba Roja Colonia, where officials located a Toyota Camry vehicle carrying the detained.

He referred that in the cabin they found a 9mm pistol, a spare magazine and 24 rounds of ammunition, another pistol of .22 calibre, they also found a bag that contained four packets with a weight of 18 kilos of marijuana.

The person arrested responded to the name of Carlos Alberto N, 34 years of age, who carried in the vehicle a sub-machine gun of 5.7 mm calibre two two spare magazines with ten rounds in each. (Otis: probably a FN P90.)

Report: "Violence and Terror: Findings on Clandestine Graves in Mexico”

 Translated by Yaqui for Borderland Beat from La Jornada 

        More Than 1000 Clandestine Graves Found in Mexico, 
                Report Confirms and NGO's Denounce

BY: Fernando Camacho Silva

June 22, 2012

Extra Material from TeleSurTV

Mexico City. Throughout the country there are more than a thousand clandestine graves, in which 2,114 human skulls have been found, according to the report Violence and Terror: Findings on Clandestine Graves in Mexico , carried out jointly by various academic and human rights organizations.

During the presentation of the study, Jorge Ruiz and Mónica Meltis, two of the authors of the paper, explained that the methodology of the analysis consisted of gathering hemerographic notes on the subject and data sent by the prosecutors of several states of the Republic , via transparency requests.

Ruiz said that only 12 state procuratorial offices provided information on the clandestine graves found in their territories (Nuevo León, Tamaulipas, Zacatecas, Sinaloa, Coahuila, Durango, Sonora, Oaxaca, San Luis Potosi, Campeche and Quintana Roo), meanwhile the others stated that they had no data on them or were not obliged to provide them.

Zeta leader sentenced to 7 life sentences in United States

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

Subject Matter: Marciano Milan Vazquez, El Chano, Orejon
Recommendation: No prior subject matter knowledge required

Reporter: Mauro de la Fuente
Marciano Milan Vazquez alias El  Chano or Orejon, leader of Los Zetas in Piedras Negras, Coahuila, allegedly responsible for the deaths of 300 persons, was sentenced to seven life sentences.

The ruling was announced Wednesday by the Judge of the West District Court in San Antonio, Xavier Rodriguez. Between 2011 and 2012, the Los Zetas cartel ordered the death of 300 people, including women and children, said a witness identified as J. Rodriguez in the Milan Vazquez trial in June of 2016.

The desertion of one of its leaders identified as Mario Alfonso Poncho Cuellar, said, that and internal struggle was unleashed that ended with the elimination of the allies of the latter in the organization.

Ensenada Baja California: 4 bodies thrown on the highway

Ensenada: 4 Bodies discovered on the highway

I struggle to write these "headlines" sometimes.  How can I convey what happened, without sensationalism, but without bland casualness, similar to American local news anchors, who discuss atrocities, degradation with the conviction of discussing office gossip?

They are embarrassed, uncomfortable, bothered only by the intrusion into their other stories, who don't involve brutality, wrenching violence.  

So, I go for a balance.  Try to make it up in the article. But, I don't always feel one.  I wonder who cares?  And how do I care?   Do I write that these can break me, and beat me with the relentlessness....the cruel realities of violence?

Autodefensas form in Quintana Roo

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

Subject Matter: Autodefensas
Recommendation: No prior subject matter knowledge required

Reporter: Benito Jimenez
A group of businessmen of Quintana Roo integrated yesterday to auto-defensas to combat the insecurity and corruption in the state. "This venture of auto-defensas is very serious. The violations of the law on the part of the Government are repetitive, we have the proof of the corruption, and the authorities refuse to act."

"Not only are they not acting, they are attacking, intimidating and using death threats and executing people to stop the voices of Quintana Roo", businessman Carlos Mimenza, who heads the group said to Reforma.

Mimenza launched a video in which he figures with another 5 persons, all in black, to advertise that the auto-defensas will watch the functionaries of the state.

The initiative started with the participation of about 20 businessmen who said they felt betrayed by the new Governor, Carlos Joaquin Gonzalez, for new acts of corruption like those registered b in the last sexenio by Roberto Borge, detained in Panama.