Borderland Beat |  |
- Tumbicastío, Michoacán Autodefensas and Special Forces: Closing in on El Chayo and La Tuta
- Mexican counter narco policies yield mixed results
- Three more found dead in southern Chihuahua state
- Mexico begins squaring military law with court rulings
Tumbicastío, Michoacán Autodefensas and Special Forces: Closing in on El Chayo and La Tuta Posted: 02 Mar 2014 09:46 PM PST Chivis Martínez for Borderland Beat  The Hunt for Chayo and La Tuta I reported on Friday that Chayo was located at a specific ranch in Tumbicastio, Michoacán . After being reinstated as spokesman and leader for Tepalcatepec autodefensas, Dr Mireles was ratified as equal spokesman and leader of the autodefensas general council with Hipolito Mora and Papa Smurf. Presently, that is the status of Dr. Mireles. On Friday there occurred a meeting between autodefensas and the Feds. Autodefensas have agreed to not engage in advancement of large cities, at this time. Feds have agreed to send an elite team of Special Forces and satellite tracing equipment to the location of the discovery of Chayo. La Tuta is also in that area. Tumbicastío, an extremely remote area, with problematic accessibility, it is located high in the Sierra Madre del Sur mountains at an elevation of 12, 600 ft. Because having only two dirt mountain roads accessing Tumbicastío, people of the sierras have learned to use steep, treacherous access pathways to maneuver in and out of mountain roadway.
The dirt roads are no picnic in of themselves. Snaking through the Sierra requires knowledge of the area or an abundance of time. This plays in favor of Caballeros Templarios who navigate the escape routes quickly permitting escape. Due to the lack of knowledge in navigating the mountains, Federal forces have been stopped in their tracks, after receiving information to the location of key Templarios leaders, namely Chayo and La Tuta. Since Friday, the concentration of federal forces has been Tumbiscatío to Arteaga. Bringing with them satellite equipment, heavy artillery and tanks. For their part AD teams have accompanied Special Forces as they advance in to Tumbiscatio, and have stationed in points encircling the mountain range. Publically today, Dr. Mireles stated to reporters, that with their joint action with the Special federal forces, they are close to capturing in Nazario Moreno González, aka "El Chayo" and with luck, also Servando Gomez, aka "La Tuta ". Dr. Mireles shared with reporters, including El Universal: "We are close to some leaders, "El Chayo", was on a ranch near Tumbiscatío" reports José Manuel Mireles.... But here at Borderland Beat readers already knew that “news” from our "source".  Dr. Mireles visited several communities today in an autodefensa caravan, reminiscent of his life prior to the airplane crash that left him in critical condition. He is partially paralyzed and blinded in one eye. Although he appears to have decided to forego his last two weeks of therapy, he seems rejuvenated from just a week ago, and appears stronger. He visited the site of the Los Reyes killings of 5 unarmed autodefensas, killed when Templarios open fired from rooftops. Dr. Mireles, spoke to the crowd, had a moment of silence and left a bouquet of flowers on the black and white checkerboard tiled walkway where those killed fell. A part of his message today to the crowds, was to not be afraid to give information about infiltrators that wear the shirts of autodefensas, but who are criminal infiltrators.     
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Mexican counter narco policies yield mixed results Posted: 02 Mar 2014 09:00 PM PST
Rantburg.com As the Mexican border state of Coahuila claims a sharp drop in homicides fir the first two months of 2014, another state, Tamaulipas is claiming a spike in denunciations for crime, according to Mexican news accounts. According to a news compilation presented in the online edition of El Diario do Coahuila news daily, the Coahuila state Procuraduria General de Justicia del Estado (PGJE) or state attorney general announced that a double digit drop in homicides were reported in the state for the first two months of the year, when compared with the same period in 2013. Overall, intentional homicides (homicidios dolosos) dropped to 78 as opposed to 140 from 2013, a total of 44 percent. Gang on gang murders have dropped by an even greater amount of 46 percent with 44 in 2014 and 81 in 2013. In Saltillo, which is the state capital of Coahuila, gang on gang murders dropped by 86 percent, while intentional homicides dropped 63 percent, six so far in 2014 as opposed to 16 in 2013. No numbers were given on the number of gang on gang killings. In Torreon, gang on gang killings dropped from 54 incidents in 2013 to 23 in 2014. A 49 percent drop in intentional homicides over have been recorded, with 69 deaths in 2013 as opposed to 35 in 2014. While the drops in homicides are impressive it is important to note that the Coahuila PGJE has cooked criminal statistics before by reporting false statistics to the federal government then taking those results and reporting them as fact. Even so, in Tamaulipas a senior Mexican Army command has reported an equally sharp spike in criminal incidents reported to their commands. According to a news report which appeared in the online edition of Milenio news daily, Colonel of Infantry Jesus Gabriel Lopez Gutierrez was quoted saying that while in the first two months of 2013 daily calls reporting criminal activities to their communications node averaged thee to five calls per day, the number of calls have increased dramatically going from between eight to ten calls per day. Col. Lopez Gutierrez is commander of the Mexican 15th Infantry Battalion which is responsible for security in southern Tamaulipas state, easily one of the most violent in Mexico. According to the report, more calls came from the urban municipalities of Tampico, Madero and Altamira, and fewer from the rural areas of Altamira, Gonzalez and Aldama. Most of the calls received are calls already made to other security groups, while about a third relate to federal crimes. The rest are either domestic reporting and reporting of traffic problems in southern Tamaulipas. According to the report, the calls can last from 10 seconds to four minutes, depending on the amount of information received. The Colonel reported said that the spike in calls doesn't seem to correspond with an increase in crime. According to the report, the increase of calls reflect local citizens' demand for better security. The Colonel also noted he was not aware of any timetable for the return of the army to the barracks, an early promise of the Enrique Pena Nieto administration from the 2012 campaign and last year. That promise had been continually reiterated in Mexican press until the spring of 2013, when even top army commanders publicly admitted they were not to return to the barracks anytime soon. It is interesting to note that the Mexican Army has been in charge of security in southern Tamaulipas since May, 2011, which would coincide with the discovery of the San Fernando mass murders, which took the lives of 193. Chris Covert writes Mexican drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com andBorderlandBeat.com He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com  | ||||
Three more found dead in southern Chihuahua state Posted: 02 Mar 2014 09:00 PM PST  Saturday afternoon at around 1540 hours an man was shot to death in Hidalgo de Parral municipality, according to a news account published in the online edition of El Diario de Chihuahua news daily. Emmanuel Ochoa Holguin, 27, was in the main bus depot in Zona Centro of Parral city, and about to board a bus bound for Ciudad Juarez when a two armed suspects ran up to him and started firing before several onlookers. As soon as the victim fell, the shooters went to a black sedan with a third suspects driving, then fled the scene. According to a late news report, Ochoa Holguin had previously served time for drug related offenses in 2009 and 2011. Also in Parral, two Chihuahua state ministerial agents interviewed a suspect who was drunk at the bar La Estrella in Morelos colony, who confessed to the murder of an unidentified individual a few days ago, according to a separate El Diario de Chihuahua news report. After searching for two hours in San Jose colony in the village of Santa Rosa, the police found the victim who was in an advanced stage of decomposition. A third unidentified individual was found shot to death in southern Mexico. One unidentified man was found shot to dead in Bocoyna municipality Friday afternoon, according to a new report in El Diairo de Chihuahua. The victim was found on a road between the village of Viveros and Situriachi Dam shot once in the head. Chris Covert writes Mexican drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com andBorderlandBeat.com He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com  | ||||
Mexico begins squaring military law with court rulings Posted: 02 Mar 2014 09:00 PM PST
Rantburg.com Almost two and a half years after the July 2011 decision by the Mexican Suprema Cort de Justicia de la Nacion (SCJN) that international treaty obligation concerning human rights can take precedence over Mexican law, talks and committee meetings between military and senators continue that could lead to laws that balance Mexican law with international law, according to Mexican press accounts. A news report which appeared in the online edition of Milenio news daily said that several military staff admitted that the nature of fighting against narcotraffickers has let to some human right violations, and have been "inevitable". The lead in the senate to deal with military justice reform is Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) senator Arely Gomez Gonzalez, who has been holding hearings on this as well as other legal reforms since last fall. But these meetings were not the first. A quick meeting just after the 2011 SCJN decision was held between senators and the military. Last September, according to a news account which appeared in El Mexicano news daily, the senator declared that five meeting between senators and Mexico's senior military staff would take place to discuss "the balance between the protection of human rights and military discipline, with all the practical consequences that this entails..." In Friday's meeting military staff from the Secretaria de Defensa Nacional (SEDENA), the controlling agency for the Mexican Army and Secretaria de Marina (SEMAR) have both admitted that human rights violations, while rare have occurred in the past. Contradmirante Alejandro Vazquez Hernandez, director of the Justicia Naval de la Unidad Juridica told senators Friday, "We were asked to clean house, and now we are told we only dusted. It is clear in some instances there have been human rights violations, but it is inevitable because of the fighting." The Admiral was referring to the 2011 SCJN ruling that conflated international human rights treaty obligations with Mexican law, a ruling which has gained severe criticism -- as well as acquiescence -- from military staff as well as field commanders. That ruling said that anytime a civilian killed, though not involved in an exchange of gunfire, as an example, that case must be turned over the local civilian authorities to assess culpability and that military prosecutor must declare their lack of competence in proceeding with a case. At the time it was feared that the ruling would flood civilian courts with human rights cases directed against the military, but according to a Mexican Army staffer, the results have been different than feared. According to military prosecutor Jesus Gabriel Lopez Benitez, a large number of cases have been declined even when kicked upstairs to the national attorney general, 434 in total. A total of 434 preliminary investigations were moved to the Procuraduria General de la Republica (PGR) or national attorney general, which resulted in 271 arrest warrants. Of those arrest warrants, 174 of them were for military personnel, including commanders as well as enlisted personnel, the rest civilians. That has occurred because military prosecutors -- of which the Mexican Army maintains 108 separate offices -- now routinely decline prosecution for offenses against civilians in favor of civilian prosecutors. He said that the current system bypasses normal military discipline "as necessary, so indispensable in the Army, Navy and Air Force." "We are most jealous guardians of military discipline and behaviors that do not allow violations [which would] cast doubt on the good image of the institution", said Lopez Benitez. Another problem for Mexico's military has taken place where, when a civilian prosecutor has been called to investigate the case of a civilian death from a military mission, for example, the circumstances has changed because now soldiers and everyone involved in an incident must deal with a separate element which was not involved in the original incident. The situation has created uncertainty in the ranks of prosecutors because now they do not know if they have the "legal certainty", as General Alejandro Ramos Flores, head of theAsesoria Juridica del Estado Mayor de la Defensa Nacional said, to properly perform their jobs. The 2011 SCJN ruling came from years of haranguing by human rights groups who stated repeatedly that military units cannot investigate their own if a crime has taken place involving military personnel. Another more subtle charge by human rights groups, absurd on its face, is that because a military is involved with killing, it must be incapable of seeking justice for victims. The base that was brought before SCJN was of Radilla Pacheco a radical peasant organizer who was detained by the Mexican Army in Guerrero state in 1974, and never heard from again. That detention and subsequent disappearance took place in the depth of Mexico's Guerra Sucioor Dirty War, when a succession of Mexican presidents beginning in 1967, used their military to harshly crush political dissent as well as against armed revolutionary elements. During that time, according to statistics, about 1,200 disappeared, presumably all at the hands of Mexican security forces. Just after the 2011 ruling Calderon has advanced changes to the Codigo de Justicia Militar(CDM), specifically to Article 57 which would remove forced disappearances, rape and torture among the offense that can be prosecuted under that code by military prosecutors. To date no element of that specific proposal has been advanced, however last fall proposals were advanced to make changes to the CDM. According to an archived news account inMilenio last fall, senator Gomez Gonzalez has overseen discussions on some changes including establishing a separate court system including military judges and expanding the range of offenses. The report failed to detail which offenses would be included with those that can be prosecuted by the military. The 2011 court ruling also placed it in direct conflict with another part of the Mexican Constitution Article 13, which states that a Mexican citizen can be charged with one crime in more than one jurisdiction. Article 13 prevents a legal condition of having an accused to defend against the same act more than once. A government draft report released at the time said that military prosecutions do fulfill the requirements of international treaties, despite political charges that it can never do that. A Mexican naval captain, Mario Augusto Chichitz Diaz Leal, suggested a change in Article 57 which would allow the military top punish its own personnel a crime has been prosecuted. The problem with implementing the 2011 court ruling is more subtle that what can be shown in any statistics, and any further legislative refinement in favor of international treaties could hurt military discipline in the long run. According to Captain Chichitz Diaz Leal, "Any proposal for reform that goes beyond this concept, we consider that it would be unnecessary and detrimental to the well armed institute would run whenever the expense of maintenance of discipline, which is the fundamental basis on which a professional army is, effective and efficient." it is so far unclear in current Mexican press where reforms are to land. Mexican senators involved on this issue just prior to hearing from the military heard from human rights groups and Mexican academics -- both groups long antagonists to the very notion of a military -- so is also unclear how much influence the military can have in the area of fighting organized crime. Chris Covert writes Mexican drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com andBorderlandBeat.com He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com  |
