2 Powerful Cartels Dominate in Mexico Drug War
Saturday, October 1, 2011 | 
By E. Eduardo Castillo and Katherine Corcoran
Associated Press
Associated Press
Five years after President Felipe Calderon launched an offensive against Mexico's five main drug cartels, the nation is now dominated by two powerful organizations that appear poised for a one-on-one battle to control drug markets and trafficking routes.
The government's success in killing or arresting some cartel leaders has fractured most of the other gangs to such an extent that they have devolved into quarreling bands, or been forced to operate as subsidiaries of the two main cartels. That has often meant expanded territory and business opportunities for the hyper-violent Zetas and drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman's Sinaloa cartel.
"They are the two most successful cartels, or at least they have been able to expand in recent years," said drug trade and security expert Jorge Chabat.
Mexican federal authorities, who asked not to be named for security reasons, told The Associated Press that the Zeta and Sinaloa cartels are now the nation's two dominant drug traffickers. One or the other is present almost everywhere in Mexico, but officials are braced to see what happens next in a drug war that has already claimed an estimated 35,000 to 40,000 lives. So far, the signs are not hopeful.
In the Gulf coast seaport of Veracruz, 35 bound, tortured bodies were dumped onto a main thoroughfare during the height of rush hour on Sept. 20. The killers are presumed to be aligned with the Sinaloa cartel, while the victims were apparently linked to the Zetas, who took hold of the important seaport in 2010. In a clash in May, more than two dozen people, most of them Zetas, were killed when they tried to infiltrate the Sinaloa's territory in the Pacific Coast state of Nayarit.
When Calderon took office in December 2006, he said the drug cartels were trying to take over the country. He launched the government's first broad attempt to fight the gangs, deploying thousands of soldiers to capture cartel members and dismantle the organizations.
At the time, the Zetas were not even a separate cartel, but rather an armed enforcement wing of the Gulf cartel, a role created in the late 1990s when they were recruited from an elite army unit. Sometime around 2010, after a falling-out between Gulf and Zeta gunmen, the Zetas split off, ushering in what is possibly the bloodiest chapter of Mexico's narco wars. Within less than two years, the Zetas had taken control of the seaport and most of the Gulf's former territory.
According to Chabat, the two have survived the government crackdown because they have been more skilled than their weaker counterparts. He said the new alignment may make it easier for government forces to target the two big cartels, as opposed to fighting half a dozen of them.
"The question is whether the Sinaloa cartel and Zetas are going to break at some point or not," said Chabat.
"Right now they are very strong, but if in two or three years these cartels are pulverized, they may say that (the drug war) was a success."
Both the "mega" cartels want to control seaports for shipping drugs from South and Central America, and border towns, for getting the drugs into the United States.
Sinaloa has long been based on the country's northwest Pacific coast, with occasional incursions farther east along the border. In recent years, it has spread both east and south, reaching into Central America.
The Zetas, once confined to a stretch of the northern Gulf coast, have grown the most, pushing into central Mexico, and as far south as Guatemala.
Strategies differ. While the Sinaloa cartel is known for forging temporary alliances, officials have said the Zetas are believed to scorn them, preferring direct control of territory. There appears little chance the two groups will ever agree to split their turf; instead, Mexico may be headed into a battle between the two cartels, with each seeking to exterminate the other.
"I see the Sinaloa Federation and the Zetas as being the two polarizing forces in the Mexican criminal system ... and between the two, an array of other smaller groups aligned with one or the other, " said Samuel Logan, director of Southern Pulse, a security consulting firm.
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Mexican Group Takes 'Justice' Into Own Hands
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More on the issue of MataZetas, here Al Jazeera's Adam Raney reports from Veracruz:
A group calling themselves the Matazetas, or 'Zetas killers' in English, has emerged in the Meixcan city of Veracruz.
As the "armed wing of the people", they have vowed to take on the well known Zetas drug gang and proudly claim they were involved in the killing of 49 people last week who they say were associated with the Zetas.
A group calling themselves the Matazetas, or 'Zetas killers' in English, has emerged in the Meixcan city of Veracruz.
As the "armed wing of the people", they have vowed to take on the well known Zetas drug gang and proudly claim they were involved in the killing of 49 people last week who they say were associated with the Zetas.
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New Juárez Cartel Questioning Jailguard in Video
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By Daniel Borunda
El Paso Times
El Paso Times
The New Juárez Cartel has emerged in a video showing paramilitary gunmen interrogating a Juárez prison guard claiming he and other guards worked for the rival Sinaloa drug cartel.
The New Juárez Cartel has emerged in a video showing paramilitary gunmen interrogating a Juárez prison guard claiming he and other guards worked for the rival Sinaloa drug cartel.
This video is the latest public exhibition of the so-called New Juárez Cartel, which is reportedly an offshoot of the Juárez cartel's La Linea organization and allied with reputed kingpin Vicente Carrillo Fuentes.
Both in the video and banners recently unveiled in Juárez, the New Juárez Cartel makes threats against reputed Sinaloa cartel boss Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman and his lieutenants in Chihuahua.
Since 2008, more than 8,500 people have been killed in Juá rez in a war between the Juárez and Sinaloa cartels.
Mexican federal police reportedly told Chihuahua news outlets that initial intelligence suggests the new cartel was formed by old allies of the Carrillo Fuentes brothers and the group is actively recruiting young men.
Borrowing a page from cartels that claim to protect society, the New Juárez Cartel has reportedly vowed to protect Juárenses from kidnappings for ransom, robberies, extortion and the killings of innocent people.
A U.S. law-enforcement official said it was too early to tell if the New Juárez Cartel was a new group or an existing organization with a new name.
The cartel video shows a man identifying himself as Concepcion Marquez Aguilar, a prison guard at the former Chihuahua state prison in Juárez that earlier this year was converted to a federal correctional facility.
On Sunday, Marquez was found shot to death off a highway south of Juárez, said Carlos Gonzalez, a spokesman for the state prosecutor's office in Chihuahua City. Gonzalez said there had been no reports regarding Marquez's disappearance and it is believed he was surprised by his killers going home from work.
In the six-minute video posted Monday on YouTube, Marquez casually answers questions while seated in a chair surrounded by a dozen gunmen wearing SWAT-style tactical uniforms with helmets, masks and vests stating "NCJ" for Nuevo Cartel de Juárez.
In the video, a man off camera questions Marquez about prison staff working for the Sinaloa cartel.
Marquez claims 15 to 20 guards are ex-military members from out of state who work for a prison supervisor named "Benjamin El Guasón" or "Benjamin the Joker." According to Marquez, "Benjamin El Guasón" takes orders from the Sinaloa cartel and is backed by the Artistas Asesinos and Mexicles gangs.
The guards "work in there (the prison) and in the afternoons they go out to kill," said Marquez, who had bruises on his face.
"They go out to kill at night?" the interrogator asked forcefully.
"Yes," Marquez answered.
The video does not depict any violence but stated "this will happen to all guards who support" Sinaloa cartel leaders. Similar threats were made on banners recently found in Juá rez.
Claims made on the video could not be verified. Mexican drug cartels regularly use the Internet to issue threats and boast in a type of narco propaganda.
Times reporter Marisela Ortega Lozano contributed to this story.
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Zetas linked to kidnapping and murder of Marines arrested in Veracruz.
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Semar, Mexico's Naval Ministry, announced the capture Friday of two Zeta operatives linked to the kidnapping and execution of three Marine officers in the port city of Veracruz on July 29 of this year.
The Semar communique identified the two Zetas as Ángel Manuel Mora Caberta, “Comandante Diablo”, an alleged "jefe de sicarios" for Los Zetas (a local coordinator of operations for cells of Zeta gunmen), and Gregorio Maldonado García, "El Panadero”.
Both men were flown to Mexico City and transferred to the custody of Siedo, Mexico's federal organized crime task force under the Attorney General's Office.
Angel Mora's area of operations was the Sotavento region of the state of Veracruz, which includes the municipalities of Boca del Rio and the port of Veracruz.
According to information gathered by a naval intelligence unit, the three officers were off duty and travelling in an unmarked car when they were abducted by a Zeta cell led by Mora.
In a similar incident, a naval cadet was reported missing after he failed to return from liberty on August 8th. According to naval intelligence the cadet is also believed to have been abducted by Los Zetas.
Veracruz is home to Mexico's Naval Academy.
The following video is from a Milenio TV news story released in early July of this year. The news report shows the fate of two Mexican Army soldiers abducted in Veracruz. (see at 1:17 and 4:07)
Milenio confirmed that the two men beaten to death were support troops performing administrative functions at a military base in Veracruz.
The Milenio editor being interviewed states that in the more that 4 years since President Calderon declared war on the drug cartels 236 Army troops have been killed in action and 94 have been abducted. Of the 94 abductees only 38 bodies have been recovered, and 14 were released alive after being tortured. The fate of the others remains unknown.
During this same period the editor states that 223 soldiers and officers have been prosecuted or are being tried for human rights abuses.
In another Semar communique dated September 28th, three Zetas were arrested at a Marine highway checkpoint on September 27th in the municipality of Tuxpan.
The Zetas were in possession of documents related to extortions in progress and also a "narco manta" or banner similar to those hung in municipalities throughout Veracruz on Monday.
The banners, addressed to the Mexican Senate by a group calling itself "desperate citizens", accused the Marines of major human rights abuses and of being the military arm of Chapo Guzman and the Sinaloa cartel.
The Marines have approximately 2,000 troops in Veracruz leading the Mexican government's efforts against Los Zetas.
An operation by Marines and Federal Police undertaken early Friday morning in the municipalities of Cultizingo, Ciudad Mendoza, Nogales and Río Blanco resulted in the arrests of approximately 50 municipal policemen suspected of having links to organized crime.
As of Friday afternoon federal forces continued to occupy the police stations as spouses and families of the detained police officers grew desparate for information of the whereabouts of their family members.
sources:
http://www.elmundo.es/america/2011/09/30/mexico/1317407365.html
http://www.milenio.com/cdb/doc/noticias2011/0f207e222fbe31802b09730bafd0fbe3
http://www.milenio.com/cdb/doc/impreso/9009896
http://www.semar.gob.mx/sitio_2/component/content/article/1913-comunicado-de-prensa-299-2011.html
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The Hunting
Friday, September 30, 2011 | 
El Chapo or El Mayo, for Calderon's promised gift
A general with an incorruptible reputation starts to scale the highest peaks of the mountains that form El Triangulo Dorado, or the Golden Triangle, in command of an elite Army unit, for one of the last hunts being undertaken by the government of FelipeCalderón that's seeking a trophy before the end of his failed administration in combatingnarcos. The capture of el Chapo or el Mayo, the two leaders of the Sinaloa cartel, andthey say, the world's most wanted.
The night of July 22, a group of soldiers belonging to the Army Special Forces entered the guarded region of San Lorenzo, dominated by the Sinaloa cartel, were they faced off against a commando of hitmen at the entrance of El Melon, receivership of Quilá.
On the night of the skirmish, it was reported that two suspected gunmen were killed and another one was arrested with guns and grenades, which was later made available tothe Attorney General's Office.
The elements also seized two vehicles, at least in an official manner, a black Chevroletwith TZ-04 924 plates, which had been reported as stolen, and a red Mercedes Benz, with special shielding and license plates MXD-540 from the State of Mexico.
The first unit was overturned, with the body of a gunmen still inside, while the armored car was in the middle of the road. The occupants apparently abandoned the vehicle and left through other means. Inside were two AK-47 rifles and a AR-15. The escape had been unexpected.
Later, the Attorney General of the State (PGJE) identified the bodies as SantiagoIbarra Zamudio, 42, originally from Gomez Palacio, Durango, and residing in the city ofGuamuchil. The second body was that of Magdaleno Madriles Santos of 40 years, residing in La Cruz de Elota.
In the military operation was also arrested Alexander Mariscal Millán, who was remanded by the federal Public Ministry of the Fourth District Court in Culiacan.
The offenses brought against him were the violations of the Federal Firearms and Explosives, the modality of carrying firearms and military artifacts (granades) which are an exclusive use of the Army, Navy and Air Force.
He was also accused of the crime of attempted manslaughter against the Army. The PGR information indicates that the court hearing was held on the 24th of July.
Mariscal Millan and the two men killed were identified by unofficial sources of the PGR as members of a cell that commands Orso Ivan Gastelum, alias El Cholo, a trustedassassin of Joaquin El Chapo Guzman, who escaped from the prison of Aguaruto in August of 2009.
The night of the raid in El Melon, Army sources said, that Special Forces were going for Joaquin Guzman Loera, one of the leaders of the Sinaloa cartel, in an intelligence operation that seeks secrecy, until the look-outs discovered the movement and the leader began the departure from Quilá.
Neither the two Bell 412 helicopters or the twenty trucks of militia, whose numbers, according to local press, were covered up with tape to avoid being identified, where they could build networks to capture the drug lord who was present in the area.
GAFES group, according to reports from officers of the Ninth Military Region that's based in Culiacan, was addressed for an operation from Mexico City, were some of them had military detachments in the base of the town of Badiraguato.
When the story emerged that the Ministry of National Defense (SEDENA), hadcommissioned a general with an incorruptible reputation to carry out one of the lastmissions for Calderon, to catch el Chapo Guzman or Ismael el Mayo Zambada by establishing a military siege on the cartels influential points, especially in the so-calledGolden Triangle, which covers the mountains of Sinaloa, Durango and Chihuahua.
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Mexican drug traffickers complaining of U.S. prison conditions
Thursday, September 29, 2011 |
By Dane Schiller
dane.schiller@chron.com
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Big-league Mexican drug traffickers imprisoned in the United States are contending that unnecessarily harsh conditions — locked up alone in ultra-high-security confinement — take a physical and psychological toll and may violate U.S.-Mexico extradition treaties.
The courthouse pleadings for relief come from men who cut their teeth and made their names in a criminal underworld that has carried out unheard of levels of brutality in Mexico, including murder by beheading, mutilation, hanging and massacre.
But at least one U.S. federal judge on Thursday conceded the claims have some merit. He ordered that Jesus Vicente Zambada Niebla, whose father runs the Sinaloa Cartel, a criminal syndicate in which Zambada was a ranking member, should be let out of his cell for outdoor recreation time on a roof top.
As Zambada waits to see if he'll face trial, he has been largely confined to a windowless 10-by-6-foot cell for “18 months of isolation without seeing the sun or breathing fresh air,” contended his lawyers in a request to the judge.
He and others admittedly are part of cartels that for decades have pushed tons of cocaine and marijuana into this country, and they have been sent to a U.S. justice system that is far tougher than that of Mexico.
“The word on the street in the United States is you can't bribe your way out of prison or bribe your way into better living conditions,” said former Houston-based federal prosecutor Mark W. White III. “In other places, it might not be as uncomfortable.”
Such high-profile prisoners have many enemies, and officials have said they are kept in isolation to ensure their security. Zambada, for example, contends he should not be prosecuted because while trafficking, he served as an informant for U.S. agents by giving them the cartel's intelligence on rivals.
Bureau of Prisons spokeswoman Traci Billingsly said the length of a prisoner's sentence, as well as any history of violence and escapes are among the factors considered when determining where and how they should be held.
dane.schiller@chron.com
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Big-league Mexican drug traffickers imprisoned in the United States are contending that unnecessarily harsh conditions — locked up alone in ultra-high-security confinement — take a physical and psychological toll and may violate U.S.-Mexico extradition treaties.
The courthouse pleadings for relief come from men who cut their teeth and made their names in a criminal underworld that has carried out unheard of levels of brutality in Mexico, including murder by beheading, mutilation, hanging and massacre.
But at least one U.S. federal judge on Thursday conceded the claims have some merit. He ordered that Jesus Vicente Zambada Niebla, whose father runs the Sinaloa Cartel, a criminal syndicate in which Zambada was a ranking member, should be let out of his cell for outdoor recreation time on a roof top.
As Zambada waits to see if he'll face trial, he has been largely confined to a windowless 10-by-6-foot cell for “18 months of isolation without seeing the sun or breathing fresh air,” contended his lawyers in a request to the judge.
He and others admittedly are part of cartels that for decades have pushed tons of cocaine and marijuana into this country, and they have been sent to a U.S. justice system that is far tougher than that of Mexico.
“The word on the street in the United States is you can't bribe your way out of prison or bribe your way into better living conditions,” said former Houston-based federal prosecutor Mark W. White III. “In other places, it might not be as uncomfortable.”
Such high-profile prisoners have many enemies, and officials have said they are kept in isolation to ensure their security. Zambada, for example, contends he should not be prosecuted because while trafficking, he served as an informant for U.S. agents by giving them the cartel's intelligence on rivals.
Bureau of Prisons spokeswoman Traci Billingsly said the length of a prisoner's sentence, as well as any history of violence and escapes are among the factors considered when determining where and how they should be held.
“Supermax confinement is arguably in violation of international standards and numerous international treaties, many of which have been signed by Mexico,” his lawyers said in an appeal that was heard last month. Their argument is based on the premise that Mexico might have refused extradition if officials knew the cruel conditions prisoners would face.
The lawyers further say he is being kept there based on unproven allegations of murder and other crimes in Mexico, not on any misconduct in the United States.
They point to a Federal Bureau of Prisons notice that says Palma was placed in supermax because in Mexico he was involved in numerous acts of extortion, corruption of public officials and murders as well as ordering the slayings of a rival gang member's children in retaliation for the murder of his own wife and children.
Additionally, the notice said that keeping Palma in any prison less than a supermax would pose a threat to safety.
Former Gulf Cartel boss Osiel Cardenas Guillen, who was extradited from Mexico to Houston in 2007 to face trial, was shuttled between a variety of state and federal facilities — always kept away from other prisoners.
Without public explanation earlier this year, Cardenas, who is a citizen of Mexico, was moved from a federal penitentiary in Florida to the same supermax where Palma is held.
In some rare instances, U.S.-style security is being used in Mexico for high-profile prisoners, said Houston lawyer Kent Schaffer, who is representing Edgar “La Barbie” Valdez, a Texan who reputedly rose to the top ranks of a Mexican cartel.
Valdez is under heavy guard and being kept alone as he waits to see if he'll be sent to the United States to face trafficking charges.
He's rarely let out and is only allowed to read the Bible, Schaffer said.
“Personally, I think it is just a matter of time until he gets worn down,” Schaffer said. “You can just imagine the effect it has on somebody being cooped up in there.”
Schaffer, who represented R. Allen Stanford, jailed on charges rooted in a massive investment scandal, said his time in isolation made him almost unrecognizable.
“It was horrible. For the first couple of weeks, he was fine. After that, he was a totally different person, and it all started with solitary,” Schaffer said. “Can you imagine what it'd be like to be locked up all day like that for weeks or months or years?”
Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/Mexican-drug-traffickers-complaining-of-U-S-2195677.php#ixzz1ZOl2SWcN
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10 Mexican Federal Cops Indicted for Extortion, Kidnapping
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A Mexican judge has indicted 10 Federal Police officers in the northern border city of Ciudad Juarez on a raft of charges, including extortion and kidnapping, officials said.
Judge Carlos Miguel Garcia Treviño formally accused the officers Wednesday after finding sufficient evidence of their involvement in crimes that also included causing bodily injury, abuse of authority, illegal weapons possession and crimes against health.
The officers were identified as Isaac Moreno Hernandez, Nicasio Garcia, Santiago Reyes Flores, Jose Juan Fuentes Rodriguez, Angel Miguel Cruz, Marcelo Xolo Ramirez, Raul Carrillo Perez, Agustin Tapia Felix, Alejandro Morales Lopez and Olegario Hernandez Ramos.
The judged based his decision on testimony from a Ciudad Juarez businessman who accused the officers of extortion and kidnapping and from agents with the federal Attorney General’s Office who arrested the suspects on Sept. 20.
Drugs and weapons were found in the officers’ possession at the time they were detained, although they said they had seized them after making an arrest.
The businessman accused the police of demanding a $5,000 payment in exchange for not planting drugs on him, as well as of kidnapping and beating him and stealing his bank cards.
Tens of thousands of Federal Police officers and army soldiers have been deployed in recent years to Mexican states to replace poorly paid, notoriously corrupt local cops.
Some 5,000 federal forces have been sent to Ciudad Juarez, which has been battered in recent years by a turf war pitting the Juarez and Sinaloa cartels with backing from local street gangs.
The Mexican chapter of London-based rights group Amnesty International last week issued an alert about a case of eight men from one Mexican family who were “disappeared” earlier this year in Chihuahua state, where Juarez is located, by a group of armed men wearing uniforms – one of which had “Federal Police” written on it.
AI said female relatives of the men reported the incident to the Chihuahua state Attorney General’s Office but that “evidence of police involvement was left out” of the official report.
Amnesty noted that Chihuahua has been especially hard hit in recent years by drug-related violence, which has claimed more than 40,000 lives nationwide since President Felipe Calderon took office in late 2006 and militarized the struggle against numerous heavily armed, well-funded drug cartels.
The rights group said “reports of human rights violations by military and police have risen sharply” in Chihuahua, including “arbitrary detention, torture, unlawful killings and enforced disappearances.”
It added that “some authorities have tried to attribute abuses committed by state agents to criminal gangs.”
Source: EFE
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