Feliz 2014 Borderland Beat Readers



I am including a music video presented by "Kinto Sol" titled "Mexico Es".  I enjoy the music of this group   very much, the message, the story their songs send.  The video has some great footage flashes of a little bit of everything, from Folkloricos, and violence,  to Frieda Kahlo.  Though the lyrics can be found at this link in Spanish I am adding them in English below though be aware they are computer translated and  far from  perfect, but hopefully good enough to get the point.

 

About Kinto Sol

Kinto Sol is a Latin hip hop group based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The group consists of three brothers: DJ Payback Garcia (Javier Garcia), El Chivo (Eduardo Garcia) and Skribe (Manuel Garcia); originally from Iramuco, Guanajuato, Mexico, they moved to the US at a very young age due to financial struggle. They rap mainly in Spanish, fusing traditional Mexican music with hip hop beats that makes their sound original.

They own their own independent record label, Virus Enterprises LLC, which specializes in Latin hip hop. The group's name is a phonetic spelling of "quinto sol" (fifth sun)  and is taken from an Aztec legend in which the Fifth Sun will be the last one to set in this lifetime. The Aztec's calendar was so sophisticated that even NASA is studying it to this day. The calendar stops at the year 2012 as the myth explains.

The members of Kinto Sol stand out in the hard-core field because they are tattoo-free and rarely use four-letter words in their lyrics. And instead of urban tales of violence, guns and drugs, their songs are about struggle, hope and inspiration.

"We sing about what's really happening with our people, from people that live in the United States, to people in our motherland, Mexico," Garcia said.

"Things are really bad for people in Mexico ,who have little resources," he said. "Many of them depend on foodstuff basics, like flour and corn, the tortilla, and prices keep rising.

"We all come to this country to look for a better life, and I don't think anyone would leave their own land, where they're born, just to leave."

Another song, "Los que Luchamos" ("Those of Us Who Struggle"),  describes the need for solidarity to establish influential power.

Computer Translated Lyrics:

We came to the swallows, the swallows to dismiss this album,

this CD, thanks to all those people who have always supported us,

all those countries that have heard of Kinto Sol a greeting, 

and all my countrymen want to dedicate this to them especially

because I know that many people have migrated from our country, so beautiful,

the economic situation or perhaps,  the violence, how they feel because I'm from there, 

I also I miss, I miss her dearly, Mexico eternal, 

Mexico in my soul ...

CHORUS: Mexico is my birthplace, as foreign to Mexico, Mexico is my land, my Mexico Mexico. 

 My dark brown skin scene Kinto Sol in Mexico's history filled with culture, Mexico needs to calm the soul,

 Mexico's you, do not turn your back on Mexico's Aztec, Maya, Zapotec, 

Mexico's song continues the tradition, Mexico adore you, my people golden, Mexico is my birth country there is only one, Mexico is proud country like yours, Mexico has faith, that I know, Mexico today, the blood that  cried Mexico yesterday, my boss misses,

Mexico Mexico still standing but something hurts her, the mother of Mexico, Mexican Mexico reminds all his countrymen .

CHORUS: Mexico is my birthplace,  Mexico is my land, my Mexico Mexico.

Mexico is the eagle flying upwind watching the snake indicating the foundation, with feeling I remember my country want to visit the grave of my grandfather....

if I die outside to bring me to my roots, as there is no two Mexicos.  It is true, the  first crib, there is only one country that great nation that was born from the cradle, Mexico my land, my illusion My dream : 

The Legend of Cuauhtémoc owns the village, Mexico the child becomes entangled in their flag with pride screaming "I DIE BY MY LAND" 

Many of Mexico heads upstream with its simple culture, its people, songs or Chente José Alfredo.

I miss my homeland ... I miss. 

CHORUS: Mexico is my birthplace,  Mexico is my land, my Mexico Mexico. 

Mexico my childhood my grandfather knowing about suffering, teaching not lose hope.

Mexico pyramid sun calendar Mexico and want the necessary change..., Zapata Mexico is their revolution and history will change the script, Mexico my dream, if cello eagle with all his art that is beautiful must, Mexico is colorful folklore where do not respect any traitor.

Mexico is indigenous, always and all his heroes were brave men, faced with the same claw submit my fly and land was different, Mexico's cactus, corn, beans, tamales, Mexico pa ' l world no equal. CHORUS: Mexico is my birthplace, as foreign to Mexico, Mexico is my land, my Mexico Mexico. 

That is Mexico,  bleeding right now but I know she has endurance, I encourage Mexico.

 COURAGE! 

sources: San Antonio Express-Chicago Tribune



La Mochomera Factor in Sinaloa

Pictures of a narco-camp alleged to belong to “La Mochomera” a Beltran-Leyva cell surface on the internet.

Several of the photos of "la Mochomera" released the month of December shows a "narcocamp" nestled in the mountains of Sinaloa. There are pictures on the wall of "El Mochomo"  and apparently the back of Alfredito "Tito" Beltran Guzman (green shirt below), son of Alfredo Beltran Leyva.

 

 

We also received several videos that are said to be of  la Mochomera of the Beltran Leyva where sicarios are seen firing long rifles (Ak-47s) in the mountains, presumed to be located in Sinaloa . We can't confirm who these sicarios are or who they belong to (If anyone has any further information, post up).

 

 

For a while there have been a rumor of a splinter of Los Mazatlecos and La Mochomera, both Beltran-Leyva groups but there is also a rumor that what is left of Los Mazatlecos is now potentially joined up with CDS? Mazatlecos are said to be in dispute of the Golden Triangle in the mountains of Sinaloa with the Mochomera clan. Some have said that Los Mazatlecos made their way up Sinaloa from Mazatlan and were mainly Zetas forming an alliance with Beltran-Leyva clan.

It has also been suggested that Los Mazatlecos have had a presence in the region from Mazatlan to Sinaloa for some time and were a local group that took heavy hits from the federal police and military. It is believed that Los Mazatlecos were at one time under the command of Fausto Isidro Meza Flores "El Chapo Isidro," but may no longer be. It is also believed that they may be aligned with a Sinaloa Cartel cell commanded by Orson Iván Gastélum Cruz, "El Cholo." 

La Mochomera takes the name of Alfredo Beltrán Leyva, El Mochomo. 

In May of 2013 a heavily armed commando ambushed a convoy of the municipal police of Ahome with intent to execute the Chief of police Jesus Carrasco. The commando was said to be La Mochomera under the command of Fausto Isidro Meza Flores "el Chapo Isidro." There were several executions in the region attributed to someone by he name of "El Dos Letras" that formed part of the criminal group.

Source: Mexico Informado, Grillonautas

Uprising Of Churumuco; the Self-Defense Movement Continues/How Churumuco Rose Up In Arms

Update: How Churumuco Rose Up In Arms

Uprising Of Churumuco; the Self-Defense Movement Continues

By: Charbell Lucio

Churumuco, Michoacán—The General Council of the Self-Defense Groups, led by Dr. José Mireles Valverde, attested on Sunday morning the armed uprising and the emergence of a new self-defense group in the municipality of Churumuco in Michoacán.

This occurs, just after December 20^th when the leader of the self-defense movement in Michoacán said that the movement will continue to expand and that they’ll support all the municipalities in the state who want to “uprise” against organized crime.

It was on Sunday, with the presence of local leaders from Tepalcatepec, Buenavista and Aguililla, led by Mireles Valverde, when citizens of Churumuco gathered in the courtyard of the city hall where they were invited to join the newly formed self-defense group.

There, the doctor said that there are three other municipalities in sight: Huetamo, Nueva Italia and Apatzingán.  Meanwhile in the long term they also contemplate to reach the state capital, Morelia.

Even though the governor, Fausto Vallejo, has previously said that the expansion of the self-defense movement will not be permitted, the leader assures that there is no will by the government to stop them, or to guarantee the safety of the people in arms.

Contrary to what is said by the governor, the phenomenon has spread to nearly 60 communities throughout dozens of municipalities in the Tierra Caliente region in Michoacán.

 

A Civil Servant in Mexico Tests U.S. on Asylum

DD note;  La Ruana, located near the border of Michoacán and Jalisco has become an epicenter of violence and a city under siege from attacks by the Caballeros Templar.  As one resident, a mother of 2 children, and widowed by the Templars put it;  "they won't let us work.  We are dying of hunger.  There is no doctor, no money, no gasoline, no work, and no food.  There is nothing.  Then, on what are we going to live?....The doctors have begun to go, and they took the priest too."  Borderland Beat Story 

civil servant C. Ramon Contreras Orozco writes letters for asylum seekers.

All Photos by Rodrigo Cruz-Perez for The New York Time

By Damien Cave, NYT

Jittery families cram into his tiny office here, daily. Hundreds more have appeared at the San Diego border 1,500 miles away, clutching an official-looking letter bearing his name, gambling that its description of the violence in this blistering stretch of central Mexico will help them gain asylum in the United States.

The letter has quickly become a document of hope for the desperate. And the writer, an obscure local official named C. Ramon Contreras Orozco, keeps delivering, creating an unusual bureaucratic tangle that is testing American asylum policy. 

“I’m trying to help,” said Mr. Contreras, the jefe de tenencia, or occupancy chief, of this battle-scarred town, where a drug cartel has declared war on residents. “People keep coming, telling me: ‘I’m afraid for me and my children. I need to go.’ ”

Asylum requests along the border with Mexico are soaring: claims more than doubled to 36,000 in fiscal 2013, from 13,800 in 2012. American officials believe that Mr. Contreras’s letters were presented in nearly 2,000 of the most recent cases, turning him into a focal point for the anxiety over violence in Mexico and making his letter a case study for contentious issues on both sides of the border. 

Indeed by furiously churning out documents that highlight Mexico’s inability to protect civilians in this region of avocados, citrus and drugs, Mr. Contreras, 38 — a hefty lime farmer in his first government job — has managed both to shame his own country and to sign his way into the latest immigration feud in the United States.

“I’m just verifying reality,” Mr. Contreras said, sweating at a too-small desk in an office without air-conditioning. “I’m not doing anything wrong.” 

Mexican officials have nonetheless become frustrated by attention to this agricultural area’s slide into chaos, with drug cartels battling armed self-defense groups. And in Washington, influential lawmakers, including Robert Goodlatte, the Republican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, are increasingly concerned that criminals are abusing the asylum process, cheating their way into the country and disappearing for at least a few years until their cases are heard. 

Mr. Contreras’s efforts rouse both concerns. In the 2013 fiscal year, most of the petitions for asylum based on a “credible fear of persecution or torture” came from Central America. But of the roughly 2,500 cases that came from Mexico, Mr. Contreras estimated that nearly 80 percent of them involved his letters. Officials with the Department of Homeland Security said they considered that more or less accurate. 

And each case is a riddle. Are Mr. Contreras’s assertions of the dangers here enough to give emigrating families a chance of asylum in the United States? Are the letters showing up at the San Diego border even originals?

Sometimes yes, sometimes no, immigration authorities say. The circumstances are often so murky that even members of the same family, carrying the same letter, say they have received different decisions on their requests to stay in the United States and apply for asylum. 

 Isamar Gonzalez was deported to Mexico when she sought asylum, but her mother was allowed to stay in the United States to await a court date.

 

“The letters are a product of need,” said the Rev. Manuel Amezcoa, 49, a Roman Catholic priest who works in this part of Mexico. “But the results are complicated.”

It all began in mid-March, Mr. Contreras said, when a young woman appeared in his office begging for a way to reach her grandfather in the United States. Just a few weeks earlier, on Feb. 24, residents had formed a self-defense group and publicly challenged the Knights Templar drug cartel, which led to a vicious gun battle near the town plaza just across from Mr. Contreras’s office.

The Knights Templar then made it deadly to pick or pack limes, taking away this fertile valley’s main livelihood. Gas had also become scarce because suppliers feared driving in, and the municipal president had just fled amid accusations of cartel ties, suddenly making Mr. Contreras, who used to spend much of his time certifying property transfers, all that was left of local government. 

The letter, he said, was a response to desperation, hatched by him and his secretary while the young woman waited for a response. By that point, he said, it was obvious that his home state of Michoacán, which has struggled with drug war violence for nearly a decade, was no longer just lawless; it was uninhabitable. 

A neighbor, Amparo Zavala, left, and her daughter-in-law, Blanca Figueroa, also were deported though other relatives remained.

 

“This is a failed state,” Mr. Contreras said. “The government can’t follow through on anything.”

Federal officials have rejected that assessment, noting that additional troops have quieted violence in some areas. 

But here in a part of the country that security experts now describe as Mexico’s toughest battleground in its war on organized crime, entire families have been turning to Mr. Contreras for a way out.

One resident, Amparo Zavala, 56, collected her letter from him after paying about $4. Hoping for asylum, she then traveled to Tijuana with her two grown daughters, a niece, her son and his wife. A bullet had already pierced the tin walls of her two-room home; she said she feared the next gunfight would lead to death.

Teen Sicario "El Ponchis" said Back in Mexico

Chivis Martínez for Borderland Beat

Ponchis at the time of his arrest

After spending a month in the United States, “EL Ponchis” the notorious teen sicario is back in Mexico.

Diario Morelos is reporting that after leaving Centre custodial Measures for Implementation of Freedom for Teenagers (CEMPLA) last November 26, Edgar, alias "El Ponchis", decided to return to his family in  the state of Morelos, to continue his life at his home in Tejalpa

The newspaper reports; “Ponchis spent his first Christmas with his mother and her family in San Diego California, United States.”  While it may be true that he was in San Diego, which is where he was always targeted to be sent, it was not to visit his mother.  His mother was deported after serving her prison sentence and her whereabouts are unknown. 

Ponchis with his beloved grandmother and siblings.  Grandmother adopted all of the children.
 Ponchis did well under her care but when she died of cancer he was left without guidance
 at the age of 11, the age when he confesses to have made his first killing.

Ponchis does have an uncle who lives in Fontana, California in the county of San Bernardino, but the uncle who has become an US citizen, has no criminal history and has led an exemplary life, unlike his brother, the father of Ponchis.  Because of this difference in lifestyle, the brothers have been estranged for many years and Ponchis does not have a relationship with his uncle.

The newpaper is reporting that Ponchis has decided to start a new way of living, away from organized crime and according to police authorities in Cuernavaca, since December 25th has been seen around Tejalpa village streets.

Ponchis has dual citizenship; he was born in San Diego (National City) and was adopted by his grandmother in Mexico thereby granting him a Mexican citizenship.  He is free to travel in either country.

(Photo below is Ponchis father David after returning to Mexico, he also was deported after serving his prison sentence for drug conviction)

When Ponchis was released in Mexico, false information of his transfer to San Antonio spread on both sides of the border, based on one Mexican official in the state of Morelos.  He then corrected his statement, but by then it was reported as fact.

If he has in fact retuned to Mexico, that would be a surprising turn of events.  At 17 he is still a minor, and would be a ward of the court resulting in placement in a group home or foster care.. 

 

After his 18th birthday he most likely would benefit from the California law initiated in 2012, that provides resources for children in transition from being a ward of the court, proving housing, education, counseling and other resources until he reaches his 21st birthday.

What Are Mexico's Courts Hiding? (Includes Documentary "Presumed Guilty")

By Denise Dresser, Reforma; and DD for Borderland Beat

What Are Mexico's Courts Hiding?
Denise Dresser, Reforma 

What would've happened if the trial of Florence Cassez had been public? (French woman who was arrested on kidnapping charges, but released by the Supreme Court earlier this year because of violations of due process in her arrest and investigation)

 If cameras had recorded the process that exonerated Raul Salinas de Gortari (brother of former president Carlos Salinas and millionaire charged with corruption but absolved by the courts)?

 If the outrageous  legal maneuvering against Lopez Obrador (attempt by the Vicente Fox government to remove legal immunity from the leader of the left when he was Head of Government of the Federal District, evidently to cause his disqualification for the 2006 presidential election) had been shown on television?

Something simple, easy and powerful.

Opaque processes would have become transparent. Everyone would have been able to understand the decisions taken by high authorities.

The Judicial Power would have shown how it behaves, for better and for worse. Controversial cases about which no consensus has been reached would be shared certainties, rather than rooted doubts.

The lens would place the accused, police, defendants and judges under the same magnifying glass. Cameras would help create awareness. And culture. And truth. 
 

Truth that comes from watching, step by step, what happens in a trial; considering the prosecutor's arguments; listening to the witnesses versions of events; understanding the judge's final decision.
 

When cameras are present in court, people can see if a judge handles the process well, shows biases or the verdict is impartial.
 

People can learn how the judicial system works in Mexico. A system characterized by its opaqueness, its discretionality, its lack of accountability.
 

Opening the courts to filming would make public something that should already be. Allowing cameras would be a way of upholding Article 20 of the Constitution: the one that says penal processes should be ruled by the principles of publicness. The one that says "every person will be judged in a public hearing"
 

In the United States, for example, the Supreme Court has declared that the objectives of a criminal trial improve when the public gets involved. And the benefits of open trials are obvious. 

They promote impartiality, limit the possibility of lies and perjury in court, and prevent decision based on biases or hostilities.
 

They lead to a community catharsis, like the one Mexico was never able to reach with Florence Cassez or Raul Salinas de Gortari. They satisfy demands for justice in a country were way too often people take it in their own hands. They educate about how the system works.

Perhaps because it is so poorly done in Mexico, resistance to cameras is fierce.
 

Thus, the proposal of a new National Code for Penal Procedures was proposed which prohibits the presence of cameras in court.
 

Thus, a new law that restricts their use, which it considers as dangerous as the presence of firearms.
 

Thus, the reluctance of the Attorney General's Office (PGR) to air, reveal, record or watch.
 

Thus, a new law with old restrictions. Designed by reformers incapable of emulating global best practices, of subscribing to what works in other penal systems around the world; of understanding the public benefits of something they try to lessen. The right to see, the right to know, the right to have the media cover that which concerns Mexicans

Rejecting modernization with childish arguments such as "it would make the witnesses nervous". Or it "affects the witnesses’ ability to remember the events about which they are testifying". Or it “affects witnesses’ privacy".
 

When there are studies that show witnesses would rather participate in a trial covered by the media.
 

When there are studies that show that witnesses do get nervous but would rather have the cameras and it does not affect their ability to remember what happened.
 

When it has been shown that lawyers behave better when cameras are present.
 

When it has been shown that witnesses are more likely to show up at trials where the media will be present.
 

 Quite simply, the benefits outweigh the damages. Quite simply, the PGR does not want Mexicans to see trials they have a constitutional right to see.
 

The PGR and the Senate insist on creating prohibitions when they should be regulating.
 

They insist on treating cameras as if they were as dangerous as firearms.
 

They insist on saying "no" and don't even bother to explain why. And that's only going to result in more trials that are less impartial, less transparent, less scrutinized, less analyzed.
 

The people will remain in the dark, without knowing what happens in the courts they finance with their income taxes.
 

And with the desire to ask every judge, every prosecutor, every attorney general, and every 

Public Ministry agent (investigative police): 

" WHAT ARE YOU HIDING?"
 Source

Here Is What They Are Hiding...And What Happens When You Expose It.

By DD for Borderland Beat 

The Mexican Constitution was amended in 2008 to change the trial system from an inquisitorial one--in which prosecution and defense submit evidentiary documents to a judge who decides, in private, on the accused's guilt or innocence--to an adversarial system of public, oral trials in which the accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty, and in which prosecution and defense present their arguments and witnesses testify. There are no juries. Judges continue to decide cases. By law the adversarial system is to be implemented by 2016; to date, however, it has been implemented in fewer than half the states.

Caballeros Templarios Decapitate 5 and Leave Message Signed "CJNG"

Chivis Martínez for Borderland Beat

The bodies and decapitated heads were found In two locations of Michoacán, around  6AM this morning.  Three decapitated bodies were found in the municipality of Tarimbaro, near the bridge known as “Los Erandenis”. 

The bridge sits at the town entrance and is heavily travelled.  The decapitated heads were found lying to the side of the bodies.  Discovered along with the bodies was a blood drenched knife. 

Por Libertad Michoacán is reporting a narco cartulina. (poster board) was left with the bodies indicating Cartel Jalisco New Generation were the killers, this was done by singing the message as being from  CJNG. 

Por Libertad and other sources report that in fact the killings were perpetrated by Templarios with the purpose of directing the blame at  CJNG.

There is no proof that the dead men were even involved with a cartel, and quite possibly are innocents, picked up and killed for use as props.

Within 10 minutes in Morelia, the capital of Michoacán, two additional decapitated bodies were discovered, the heads were left on the sidewalk on Francisco Juararez Mijia Street close to the bodies.  Another Narco message was left at the scene.

The narco message reads "we are here already, (you) fucking Michoacana .  Sincerely, CJNG"

The men have not yet been identified and were estimated to be between 30 and 40 years of age.

 

 sources used: IM noticias, YouTube and facebook

Acuña Coahuila: 60th Escapee Captured from Piedras Negras Mass Prison Break

Chivis Martinez for Borderland Beat

While conducting surveillance tours in various parts of  the city of Acuña, Coahuila State Police captured an escaped prisoner from the September 17th 2012 Piedras Negras mass prison break. 

 

Authorities report that during the Acuña surveillance they noticed Sergio Armando Nerio Proa  acting "suspiciously", after stopping him for questioning, by using identification on his person, they were able to match him to one of the missing escapees.

 

129 prsoners escaped  in a planned escape involving a tunnel and a large amount of the escapees allowed to break free by simply walking unchallenged out prison doors. 

 

This capture is number 60 of the 129 escapees to be captured, adding to the 17 killed in the process of being captured  or in other clashes with authorities. 

 

This brings a total  of 77 accounted for, leaving a balance of 52 whose whereabouts remains unknown.

 

Zetas were charged with masterminding the escape, Jorge Luis Moran, public safety secretary of Coahuila, stated; “inmates inside the prison reported that those who plotted the escape were Zetas members and that some prisoners not in the cartel were forced to go along”.

"Clearly, the Zetas are behind this escape," said Moran.

Ciudad Acuña is adjacent to Del Rio Texas, and Piedras Negras adjacent to Eagle Pass, Texas.

Tunnel

source: la Rancherita Radio and BB archive

Texas: José Padilla Pleads Not Guilty on Drug and Money Laundering Charges

Borderland Beat

Attorneys started preparing termination paperwork Thursday morning for disgraced Hidalgo County Sheriff's Office Cmdr. José Padilla, said Sheriff Lupe Treviño.

Federal agents arrested Padilla early Tuesday morning, when prosecutors unsealed an indictment against him for marijuana smuggling and money laundering. Agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration and Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducted the investigation.

Padilla worked with a Weslaco-based drug trafficking operation run by Tomas "El Gallo" Gonzalez, who co-owns a trucking business called T&F Produce. The drug traffickers moved marijuana and cocaine from Texas to Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and other states, according to federal court records.

Sheriff Treviño said he expected the attorneys from McAllen-based law firm Atlas Hall and Rodriguez to finish the termination paperwork Thursday. They'll also have to determine whether to attempt to deliver the documents to Padilla — in federal detention — or his attorney.

"It's not like he's going anywhere," Sheriff Treviño said.
update:

Padilla appeared in federal court at 11:30 a.m. on Friday for a detention hearing.

Former Hidalgo County Sheriff's Office Cmdr. Jose Padilla pleaded not guilty Friday to federal marijuana trafficking and money laundering charges.

Hands clasped behind him, Jose. A "Joe" Padilla, 53, pleaded not guilty Friday morning at Bentsen Tower. Federal Magistrate Judge Dorina Ramos set bond at $100,000 — Padilla must post a 5 percent cash deposit — and ordered house arrest

Federal agents arrested Padilla early Tuesday morning, when he arrived at McAllen-Miller International Airport from Las Vegas.

Source: The Monitor-Thank you to "Luis" for the heads up

Indictment of José Padilla Hidalgo County _ by Chivis Martinez

 

Infamous Female Prisoners are Nayarit Prison Cellmates

Borderland Beat as posted by Siskiyou Kid

 

"Fake" Televisa Reporter Leader and Sandra Ávila Beltrán will share a cell as 18 posing as Televisa journalists return to Mexico from Nicaragua

 

Eighteen Mexicans convicted on drug-trafficking charges after posing as television journalists while entering Nicaragua with $9.2 million were repatriated on Monday from the Central American nation.

Nicaraguan police transported the defendants, including a Mexican policeman, under tight security to Managua's International Airport, where authorities turned them over to Mexican prosecutors and prison officials.

n January, a Nicaraguan judge sentenced the 18, led by the group's only woman, Raquel Alatorre Correa (left), to 30-year sentences for drug trafficking, money laundering and organized crime. In October, an appeals court reduced the sentences to 18 years.

The members of the group will serve out their remaining jail time in Mexico and will not be able to make further legal appeals, the Mexican federal attorney general's office said in a statement.

In August 2012, this group of 18 people was detained when they crossed the Nicaragua-Honduras border carrying $9.2 million in six vehicles with logos from Televisa, Mexico's largest broadcaster.

Televisa denied any connection to the incident.

Three other Mexican citizens sentenced in Nicaragua for drug trafficking were also repatriated.

 

Over the past decade, Mexican drug cartels have moved into Central America, using it as a staging point to transport South American drugs to the United States.

La Jornada del Oriente writes that the leader of the fake journalists, Raquel Alatorre Correa – who was transported to a Nayarit prison separate from the rest of the group, and under heavy guard – will share a cell in prison with the Queen of the Pacific, Sandra Ávila Beltrán.  

 

Ávila Beltrán was deported from the United States in late August after a Miami judge sentenced her to 70 months in jail – to be served in Mexico – for having aided her Colombian boyfriend evade apprehension from authorities.

Reuters/LaJornada

Reports of Chapo Suffering a Heart Attack

Borderland Beat

In November Chapo Guzman was admitted into a private Jalisco hospital, using an assumed name, after having suffered a heart attack,  says a report by Reforma.

 

Federal authorities report; that in November the US DEA agency notified Mexican agencies and provided them with information obtained through monitoring UHF radio conversations about the heart attack and hospitalization. . 

 

These conversations were conducted in Guadalajara.

 

Also noted was the fact that for sometime, Chapo has been religious about exercising  and is slim wearing a size 30 pant, and that this may be because of a known illness.

 

Reforma reports the attack may have been mild.

 

There are no other essential details reported as of yet regarding this story.

 

Thanks to reader "B" for the email heads up, sorry for the delay, I took yesterday as a computer free day

Zacatecas: Journalist Returns Home, was not Kidnapped

Chivis Martínez Borderland Beat

A press release from the Attorney General stated that the journalist Zacatecas Zoila Marquez Chiu, reported missing since Dec. 7,  is back with her family this was announced by the Attorney General of the State Zacatecas (PGJEZ), Arturo Garcia Nahle.

,

He explained that it was the parents of the journalist who informed authorities that their daughter is at home, unharmed and in good health, she returned on Monday.

The attorney reports that authorities were able to determine that Marquez Chiu’s absence was not due to a kidnapping, but that in the absence of a crime, authorities are awaiting for information from the journalists to explain her absence.

"Zoila  will explain to her family and the journalists' union the reasons she was absent for 16 days," said Nahle García.

liin.tv where Zoila is employed issued a statement that said they have not been able to reach their employee after several attemps and:

"The official version that I have is that Zoila Edith was not the victim of unlawful or violent act, but I also think the authority should be clearer in the interests of transparency, because the purely journalistic field I also have many questions."

Since December 7^th when the disappearance complaint was filed with the PGJE,  Governor Miguel Alonso Reyes ordered an intensive operation in coordination with federal authorities to the locate the journalist.

Federal help was sought by the Secretary of Human Rights, who brought the matter of the missing journalist to President Enrique Peña’s attention, asking for assistance in the matter, which resulted in a meeting with the journalist’s parents and the Ministry of the Interior.

Organizations such as Reporters Without Borders, applied pressure on the state and federal governments to pull out all stops in searching for the journalist, citing article 19 of the constitution that may  enact a special prosecutor being appointed in an investigation when a journalists freedom of speech right has been criminally compromised.

The investigation was initiated without proof from any source that there was even a kidnapping.  There was nothing to support that possibility.

It is difficult to understand why this case received such attention, and others have little help in resources and investigation in cases of the kidnapping of journalists, with evidence that a crime had occurred.

A massive search of footage from security cameras of each of the buildings in the metropolitan center revealed the journalist leaving the building, entering her vehicle and driving away without any signs of harassment or vehicles in pursuit.  She was not seen or heard from again for 16 days.

Reports of reasons for her disappearance vary, one is that she ran off and moved to Puerto Vallarta due to marital issues with her husband journalist  Iván Pastor.  It was noted that Zoila did not return home to her husband, she went home to her parents.

sources: Zacatecas hoy-liin.tv-proceso

El Mayo Gave up Macho Prieto

Borderland Beat by Tijuano and Chivis

 
The leaders of the Sinaloa cartel gave the Green light for the execution of   Gonzalo Inzunza Inzunza. Inzunza  already an embarrassment,  could no longer be controlled, the last straw came when he, in order to expand his business, was executing other members of the same cartel.

What transpired: On December 12, 2010 in Sonoyta-Puerto Peñasco, El Macho Prieto had murdered Payón Paulo Osorio, “El Pablo”.   El Pablo was a close friend and ally to Manuel Torres Felix, aka “El Ondeado” or “M1”, a leader of the Sinaloa.   M1 gave the order to kill Izunza.

Aware of the plan, El Macho Prieto began buying heavy artillery from the United States to face M1, but  M1 was killed in October 2012 in a clash with members of the Ministry of National Defense.

With the ground clear, El Macho Prieto returned to his base of criminal operations in Puerto Peñasco, where he continued invading territories of other criminal cells and killing members of his own group in a method of controlling criminals

In a move  to eliminate him, his criminal organization gave up his location to the authorities, it was that information that resulted in the December 18th  shootout in Puerto Peñasco, where according to witness reports, the bloody corpse of the criminal leader was picked up by his men before fleeing the scene. Below is an RioDoce article translated into English and sourced by a Zeta Magazine article.

Inside the criminal circles of the Sinaloa cartel, Gonzalo Inzunza Inzunza´s head had a price.  Working under direct orders of Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, Inzunza was blamed for killing “people of his same company”, and denying it afterwards. Federal Agents got to the mix;

 

Conclusion: Claiming he was too disobedient, the leaders of the cartel gave the order for his execution on the first days of December.

The execution was planned with the Government ending the life of “Macho Prieto”. The government was provided with his whereabouts, to facilitate the government in a capture or kill plan.

That plan was inacted on December 18th, which resulted in a chase and shootout lasing two hours in a luxury area of Puerto Peñasco, Sonora. The aftermath was five dead bodies. After the shootout, they recognized that one of those dead was “El Macho Prieto”, but neither PGR nor the National Security Council confirmed the identities of the dead bodies



As a matter of fact, at ZETA´s press time, only Manuel Mondragon, national commissioner, talked about the shootout in Sonora. On December 19th he told the press that Inzunza´s men stole his body from the crime scene –Although he was unsure if in fact the body was taken,  he stated DNA tests were being conducted on the blood left at the scene to make sure it was Inzunza Inzunza.

According to his version, only four bodies were recovered by the authorities because the fifth was stolen. However, ZETA consulted  with the mortuary agency in Puerto Peñasco, they stated the bodies were picked up on December 18th at 6 PM and they remain under military custody ever since.

Once again, the Federal Government´s policy of not informing is creating doubts around those dead in the shootout between the Federal forces and the alleged criminals led by Gonzalo Inzunza Inzunza.

For Inzunza, the problems inside the Sinaloa cartel began three years ago- this according to intelligence reports inside Baja California´s State Security Council- “Macho Prieto” lived in Tijuana at least from February to June of that year (2010), hiding from hitmen of the same cartel he worked for.

His relocation took place after the death of Paulo Osorio Payon aka “El Pablo” on December 12th, 2010, precisely on the Sonoyta-Puerto Peñasco highway. “El Macho” either killed or ordered the execution of Osorio Payon; “this led to an order for his execution given by Jose Manuel Torres Felix aka “El Ondeado” (see foto above), criminal leader for the Sinaloa cartel and in-law of “El Mayo”.

At the time, several criminal groups arrested in Sonora by the army in possession of arsenals, told authorities Inzunza was buying a lot of weapons from the  US in order to fight Torres Felix, who was killed on October, 2012 in a shootout with members of the National Defense Secretariat. Around those days, “El Macho” returned to the Mexicali valley and then transferred himself to Peñasco, his criminal operations base.

He kept invading areas from other criminal cells and executing his criminal partners in order to take charge; that´s why the second order for his execution was given the first week of December, 2013.

Hell at the port

The night of December 18th, the near 50 thousand inhabitants of Puerto Peñasco, Sonora, slept in doubiety. The fear was for the possibility of another shootout, just like the one just hours before in an area known as Las Palomas, a condo complex at beach front. That morning, a military operation, commanded by a Special Team of the Navy Ministry arrived at the area. They were being backed up by a pair of helicopters and sealed the whole area.

According to several versions –all of them unofficial- a chase erupted, the military received help from two helicopters, they even used grenades to try to stop a pickup truck which finally ended completely burned in front of a small roundabout located at the exit of the condo complex. Two dead men laid dead there, both of them of heavy build, executed. One was close to the pickup truck, the other near the sidewalk.

 

At the same time, another shootout erupted at the entrance of the complex, there laid another of the hitmen facing upwards, in the middle of the median road, with a AK-47 on his side, loaded with a round magazine.

 

More bullets were shot in the hallway between the vacation buildings, there are even signs of the shootout in one of the condo´s facades, the luxurious apartment was left full of blood. In total –according to witness reports- there were five casualties. The other two bodies remained on the floor, without official custody, not even the yellow tape used to define the crime scene.

For hours, residents of Peñasco drove thru the roundabout, with their cameras, cell phones, anything that could record the scene, then fleeing the scene afterwards. Those people uploaded to social networks pictures of the shootout´s aftermath.

That Wednesday, school activities were suspended by authorities, the holyday celebrations and all public acts were suspended too in this port of Sonora, known for its spectacular landscape and calm waters in the Cortez Sea. ...continues

From our BB Community, Feliz Navidad!

I wanted to take this time to personally wish all of our Borderland Beat community a Merry Christmas!! 

On behalf of all our contributors and loyal knowledgeable readers, we hope all of you are filled with joy and peace this holiday season. May you find yourselves in good health and in the company of your loved ones.

We also send our best wishes to the people in Mexico who suffer the misery of violence as a result of greed and corruption. Specifically the people of Tierra Caliente in Michoacán who have recently seen the worst that Mexico has to offer. 

God bless you all!

Autodefensas in 11 States

Borderland Beat

The national human rights Commission reported that self-defense groups are located in 11 States, among which stand out are the Michoacán, Guerrero, Oaxaca and the State of Mexico.

 

Though this video is in Spanish, it has many  charts and photos of autodefensas that English language speakers can follow.

Charts depicting the states in which they are located, and the municipalities under self control in Michoacán.

Self policing groups are legal and protected under the constitution.  They have successfully policing for over a hundred years. In the municipalities where self policing has been initiated and established, crime has dropped 90% and has stabilized for decades.

Let's hope that the newly formed groups will achieve the same success.