Borderland Beat |  |
- At least five dead after a shootout in Rosarito, Baja California.
- Mondragon y Kalb quits Mexico's security agency
- 4 die in Tamaulipas state
- 2 members of Juarez Cartel escape federal prison, 3 others were recaptured.
- Deaths Reported by Peña Nieto Government Based on Misleading Statistics
- Hunting Cablalleros Templarios in the Rugged Sierra Madre Sur
At least five dead after a shootout in Rosarito, Baja California. Posted: 17 Mar 2014 12:10 AM PDT  ROSARITO.- Five men are dead after a shootout in the city of Rosarito, Baja California, the shootout took place in the popular area of Los Arenales (sand dunes), according to news reports there are at least ten people who were injured in the attack, some of them remain in grave condition, the injured were taken to hospitals in both Rosarito and Tijuana. There is no official report on the names of those killed, but unofficial reports claim they all are from Ensenada, Baja California and one of them in the son of a municipal delegate in Ensenada. According to a report in Frontera.info, a group of armed men arrived in a SUV at Los Arenales initiating the shootout. Members of the Red Cross arrived at the scene but couldn´t do much for the young men, 3 of them were reported as dead at the scene and others were taken to the hospital were another one died. Moments after that, a black Jeep crashed against a Taxi on the Benito Juarez blvd., the occupants of the Jeep were driving under the influence and speeding through traffic prompting a police chase, they were trying to help one of the injured in the attack, the young man was declared dead when the paramedics arrived at the scene. A big police operation was underway at the moment of this writing covering all the way from Los Arenales to Tijuana. There are no official reports of arrests but press reports mention 3 men were held inside a patrol car yelling they were innocent. Just yesterday another man identified as Alfonso Eleazar Echeverría Hernández was executed outside of his home in the Lienzo Charro area, witness reports claim 3 men arrived at Echeverria´s home and when he opened the door, the men shot him in the head. When the police agents arrived at the scene, they found a man lying on the floor face down with two gunshot wounds on the head, Echeverria died hours later at a hospital in Tijuana were he was taken. SOURCES for this: http://frontera.info/EdicionEnLinea/Notas/Policiaca/16032014/820521-Asesinan-a-cuatro-y-hieren-a-dos-en-zona-Los-Arenales.html http://www.milenio.com/policia/Asesinan-Rosarito-Tijuana_0_262773977.html http://www.oem.com.mx/elsoldetijuana/notas/n3325825.htm  | ||
Mondragon y Kalb quits Mexico's security agency Posted: 16 Mar 2014 09:19 PM PDT  By Chris Covert Rantburg.com Manuel Mondragon y Kalb will quit Mexico's top security agency today, according to Mexican press reports and Twitter accounts. A news account which appeared on the online edition of El Sol de Mexico new daily said that Mondragon y Kalb will end his job with Mexico's Comisionado Nacional de Seguridad(CNS), a job he held since the start of the administration of President Enrique Pena Nieto in December of 2012. Mondragon y Kalb was appointed head of the CNS directly after a major reshuffling of Mexico's interior ministry Secretaria de Gobernacion (SEGOB). Part of that reorganization changed Mexico's Policia Federal from a cabinet level ministry to a sub agency of SEGOB. Part of the restructuring included a change in the way federal crimes such a intentional homicide were reported. SEGOB mostly reported statistics, not individual crimes and ended the practice of presenting detainees before the press. Since that time SEGOB has been slowly immersing itself into a growing scandal in which violent crime statistics are being deliberately misreported, charges that have been leveled and apparent since the beginning of Pena's term. According to a newd report which appeared in Latin Times news daily website, Mondragon y Kalb resigned in the wake of a federal prison escape last week in Ciudad Juarez involving five inmates. The report also hints that personal reasons may have been involved in his reason to quit. Mondragon y Kalb is the second top security official to resign in two days. Friday it was announced that Tamaulipas' Secretaria de Seguridad Publica del Estado (SSPE), Rafael Lomeli Martinez reigned his position leaving a legacy of the worst of 33 states to retrain police officers, a nationwide effort that has been ongoing since 2011. Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com and BorderlandBeat.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com  | ||
Posted: 16 Mar 2014 09:00 PM PDT  Rantburg.com A total of three armed suspects were killed in two separate incidents in Tamaulipas state since Thursday, and a Mexican federal police official was assassinated, according to official Mexican government news accounts. According to a new release posted on the state government website of Tamaulipas, last Friday night a Mexican Army road patrol intercepted a convoy of at least two vehicles in ejido El Olivo near Recinto Ferial in Matamoros municipality. The suspects in the vehicles fired on the army patrol and return fire by soldiers hit and killed two. As others in the convoy managed to escape, both of the dead were left on the roadway. The report said the men who were killed were both in their 20s. Soldiers seized one AK-47 rifle, weapons magazines and ammunition, and one Chevrolet Malibu sedan. Meanwhile in Reynosa municipality, one armed suspect was killed in an apparent traffic stop attempt by a Mexican Army road patrol. The incident took place at around 1200 hrs near the intersection of Bulevar Tiburcio Garza Zamora and Calle San Luis in Rodríguez colony, where the army patrol attempted the stop, but were instead fired on by the driver, said to be in his 20s, who was aboard a Chevrolet Tornado pickup truck. Soldiers seized one AR-15 rifle in the aftermath, as well as the vehicle. The day before in Gonzalez municipality, an unidentified Policia Federal Preventativa inspector was shot and killed at 1015 hrs near the intersection of Avenida Insurgentes and Calle Honduras in Aviacion de Villa Manuel colony. Suspects aboard a Chevrolet pickup truck are suspected in the attack. Secretario de Seguridad Publica del Estado resigns According to a news release on the Tamaulipas state website, Tamaulipas' Secretario de Seguridad Publica del Estado> (SSPE) resigned his position after 36 months in office. Lomeli Martinez was said to have personal reasons for his resignation. The website report notes that Lomeli Martinez oversaw the certification of police in the state, the worst record in Mexico at only 43 percent of police certified to work as police as of last fall. At the time, police certifications were due to be complete, but Mexico's national Chamber of Deputies extended the deadline another year, the third extension in four years. Replacing Lomeli Martinez is Brigade General Arturo Gutierrez Garcia, who was formerly chief of staff of the Mexican IV Military Region, based in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon between 2012 and 2013. Searches of government websites yield little in the way of former commands for the general, although Mexican civilian press says he has extensive field experience. The Secretaria de Defensa Nacional (SEDENA), controlling agency for the Mexican Army indicates that General Gutierrez Garcia has served as military attache to Honduras a few years ago. It must be noted that Lomeli Martinez, himself a former Mexican Army first captain, became SSPE just as the mass graves in San Fernando were being discovered. The total dead found was 193, the worst in the Mexican Drug War. His predecessor, Brigadier General Ubaldo Ayala Tinoco, resigned his position after only 107 days in the wake of the discovery of the immensity of the mass murders in San Fernando municipality. Command Shuffling in Northeast Mexico Both of the two command units covering Tamaulipas have undergone changes of command since last December, 2013. Every November, the SEDENA comes out with its latest promotions of flag officers, and sometimes with it new commanders are reassigned. The Mexican Army likes its commanders to have extensive experience in the field, and so commanders tend to stay in place, so that they may train new subordinates. Normal command shuffling takes place in June, but sometimes they are known to take place directly after the promotions lists come out. Th IV Military Region, which includes Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon and San Luis Potosi states, recently experienced a change of command as General de Division Tomas Jaime Aguirre Cervantes took command of the region last December, according to data supplied by Milenionews daily. General Aguirre Cervantes has extensive command experience commanding several military zones including the 11th, 33rd and 40th Zones. He has taught at Mexico's Escuela Superior de Guerra and was commandant of Heroico Colegio Militar. His other assignments include work in intelligence and in counterintelligence. He replaces General Noe Sandoval Alcazar, who took an administrative job for SEDENA in Mexico City. Meanwhile the 8th Military Zone, a subordinate unit to the IV Military Region, experienced a change of command as General de Brigada Pedro Felipe Gurrola Ramirez took command, replacing General de Brigada Miguel Gustavo Gonzalez Cruz, according to a news report in El Manana news daily. General Gurrola Ramirez is a special forces soldier with command experience in Culican in Sinaloa state and in Chiapas state. Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com and BorderlandBeat.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com  | ||
2 members of Juarez Cartel escape federal prison, 3 others were recaptured. Posted: 16 Mar 2014 07:30 PM PDT
CIUDAD JUAREZ, Chihuahua - . The government of President Enrique Peña Nieto had the first escape from a federal maximum security prison since Joaquin "El Chapo " Guzman escaped from Puente Grande, Jalisco, on January 19, 2001, after two inmates escaped from Cefereso No. 9 in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, one of the most heavily watched under the past Government of Felipe Calderon. The Attorney General's Office opened an investigation, which will try to clarify whether the escape of the alleged sicarios of "La Linea" (armed wing of the Juarez Cartel), which took place this past Friday night , stemmed from either an act of corruption or incompetence by public servants assigned to the Administrative Office for Prevention and Social Rehabilitation and the National Safety Commission. Authorities said there were five inmates who tried to escape, but only Alvaro Eguiarte Silva and Victor Alejandro Sánchez Garcia managed to do it, after allegedly jumping over the five feet high perimeter fence using a rope, at least according to initial investigations . The remaining three were recaptured by the security personnel and of the State Attorney General and not by federal guards. However, other versions noted that it was a mass escape attempt in which 20 prisoners participated. Official reports obtained by Millennium reveal that the Federal Center for Social Rehabilitation No. 9 had at the start of the current administration 450 security cameras to monitor all "sensitive areas " of the prison (which has the capacity to hold 1200 inmates), the prison holds highly dangerous prisoners, mainly members of the Sinaloa and Juarez Cartels. High Risk In May 2011, the federal government took over the prison through an agreement with the government of Chihuahua , which administered it until then. According to reports, during the previous administration the prison was one of the most guarded using high-tech equipment and 600 guards ready to contain any emergency that could be caused by the highly dangerous inmates, most incarcerated in the period of the greatest violence in Ciudad Juarez. According to the National Security Council (CNS ), the escape occurred at about 21:30 pm on Friday , when five inmates (who were just admitted last January, and sentenced for carrying firearms, cartridges and grenades ) "hid in the bathroom." After that, they supposedly "evaded" the security systems of the Cefereso and arrived to the perimeter fence by the Tower number 8 where "they formed a human pyramid" in order to climb the fence. Using hooks and a rope made of fabric they made it through to the other side , where the state government is building a Productive Social Rehabilitation Center, there, state guards surprised them and fired shots to the air in order to alert the federal personnel. Possible Corruption PGR officials commented that a preliminary investigation was initiated, while the National Security Commission carries out an internal investigation to determine what happened. The authorities consulted said they don´t rule out corruption as a possible line of investigation, "looking at the level of security that was on site , it is unlikely that the inmates have evaded all surveillance systems." During the last administration , the Cefereso No. 9 had 450 security cameras operating 24 hours , seven days a week. It was a system that was used to monitor the prison "online" or "in real time ", as it was directly connected to the Command Center and Plataforma Mexico. Currently the Administrative Office for Prevention and Social Rehabilitation- responsible for the federal prison system- is in charge of Commissioner Jose Luis Musi Nahmias . The escape of the two alleged hit men of "La Linea" broke the zero escapes record from federal social rehabilitation centers (Tijuano: Not sure about this fact) . SOURCE: http://sipse.com/mexico/penal-federal-ciudad-juarez-fuga-reos-seguridad-80573.html http://www.radiza.com.mx/noticia.individual.php?id=16814  | ||
Deaths Reported by Peña Nieto Government Based on Misleading Statistics Posted: 16 Mar 2014 05:02 PM PDT Borderland Beat  Zeta Magazine Tijuana, Baja California -Despite the triumphalist narrative of the government of the Republic and the powerful propaganda announcing a supposed "decline" in felony homicides related to federal crimes, toll of dead is accumulating in the administration of Enrique Peña Nieto. In his first 14 months in office, the total is in the thousands, the same as mounted up against Felipe Calderón in the comparable time period [of his administration, 2006-2012]. On February 21, 2014, Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong, Secretary of Government Relations, boasted of a supposed reduction in the rate of murders linked to organized crime. He said that in recent months "between 1,400 and 1,700 deaths were linked to organized crime" were recorded, and he announced that in January "only 567 [were recorded]; [that is,] one thousand fewer." Osorio Chong then added: "The 567 deaths are serious, but it's one thousand fewer. This speaks to why there is a decline in violence." However, Osorio Chong's calculations were neither supported by hard data nor do they reflect the cruel reality experienced in the country. To the contrary, they show the manipulation of statistics for felony homicides linked to organized crime in Mexico. Just in January [2014] alone, Zeta documented 1,425 murders of this type, which spanned "executions," "confrontations" and "homicide-attacks"; that is, score-settling between drug dealers belonging to different drug cartels or between cells of these criminal structures across the country.On February 21 at the conference, "Governability and Rule of Law as Development Strategy," organized by the National Chamber of the Transformation Industry, [SEGOB Secretary] Osorio Chong himself stated: "The first commitment that President (Enrique Peña Nieto) made on December 1, 2012, was that the violence had to drop. And that violence has decreased to minimum levels."What abounds in Peña Nieto's cabinet is inconsistency in the percentages reported about the supposed decline of murders in the country. On October 30, 2013, Monte Alejandro Rubido García, head of the Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System (NPSS), toldZeta said that felony homicides related to federal crimes had fallen 12%. The same year, the President spoke of [reductions of] 18 and 20%. These inconsistencies in statements by federal officials show, if not a manipulation in statistics, certainly a lack of coordination in the management of the numbers on the supposed "decline" of intentional murders.The Most Violent States Zeta documented felony homicides related to organized crime in the first 14 months of the Peña Nieto administration. The methodology consisted of comparing official State statistics [obtained from] prosecutors, Secretariats of Public Security and the Executive Secretariat of the NPSS with information collected by civil associations, institutes of forensic sciences, newspaper records by state and [information collected by] government officials. First Place: State of Guerrero with 2,457 murders from December 1, 2012, to January 31, 2014, which is governed by Ángel Aguirre Rivero, PRI, who won the governorship in the PAN-PRD alliance. Second Place: State of Mexico with 2,367 murders. By the way, it is Enrique Peña Nieto's home state; he was governor between 2005 and 2011; the current governor is Eruviel Ávila, also PRI.Third Place: State of Chihuahua with 2,005 murders under the administration of Governor César Duarte, PRI. Fourth Place: State of Jalisco with 1,766 murders under the administration of Governor Jorge Aristóteles Sandoval Díaz, PRI. Fifth Place: State of Michoacán with 1,738 murders under the administration of Governor Fausto Vallejo, PRI. Sixth Place: State of Sinaloa with 1,516 murders under the administration of Governor Mario López Valdez. Seventh Place: State of Baja California with 986 murders under the administration of Governor Francisco Vega de Lamadrid, PAN [National Action Party].In Sum: Between December 1, 2012, and January 31, 2014, of the Peña Nieto administration, Zetarecorded 23,640 murders, which are the product of the war on organized crime conducted by the federal government and clashes between drug cartels in the country. 2013: Just As Bloody As 2012 The pace of murders in Mexico has not changed between the last year of the Calderón administration and the first year of Peña Nieto's. In the last two years, they were practically at the same level:
The federal government recognized 21,728 preliminary investigations for felony homicide in 2012; in the same year, the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) documented 26,037. Peña Nieto's government recognizes just 18,147 preliminary investigations for felony murder in 2013. Acapulco: The Most Violent City It must be remembered that the INEGI, in the coming months of 2014, will announce the actual number of deaths due to related causes for 2013, which is expected to exceed the "files" released by the Executive Secretariat of the NPSS. In the current government, the port of Acapulco continues to be the most violent city, with 883 preliminary investigations for felony homicide recorded in 2013 alone, according to the Attorney General of the State of Guerrero. In 2013, the Federal District ranked second, with 753. Tijuana, the "model city" for public security in both the Calderón and Peña Nieto administrations, is third with 564 felony homicides occurring in 2013. [To give some perspective,] in 2013, Zeta documented 865 murders in the entire state of Baja California. Tijuana is shaping up to exceed the number of executions in 2013, considering that in the first two months [of 2014], 64 days, this weekly newspaper [Zeta] recorded 105 murders. Culiacán took fourth place with 479 preliminary investigations for felony homicide in 2013, while Ciudad Juárez is in fifth place, with 453 in the same period. Investigative Files Are Counted, Not Victims Rather than counting victims, Peña Nieto's government reports preliminary investigations [opened]. Thus, the federal government announced that in 2013, it recorded 18,147 "preliminary investigations" for felony homicide; therefore, the actual number of victims is higher than the number of investigations, since one investigative file may involve more than one victim. Zeta asked Monte Alejandro Rubido, head of the Executive Secretariat of the NPSS, when the format for reporting homicide victims was changed to report the number of investigative files. He replied:"We are conversing with each of the prosecutors, precisely because what we need is to have a consistent ability to respond. We cannot afford the luxury that some states may be responding in a timely manner, and not others, because then we generate distortion in the database that is [maintained] in the Secretariat." As of the second week of March of 2014, the Executive Secretariat of the NPSS continued reporting "preliminary investigations" and not victims.In 2013, the cities and municipalities judged to be most violent in terms of murders were (Sources: State prosecutors):
translated by Jane Brundage for Mexico Voices  | ||
Hunting Cablalleros Templarios in the Rugged Sierra Madre Sur Posted: 16 Mar 2014 04:15 PM PDT Chivis Martínez for Borderland Beat The following is a video of the operation to capture Chayo. Although the language is Spanish, if you have followed the capture, you will recognize landmarks and places that we have written about, before, during and after the capture. When Dr. Mireles wrote on February 27th they had located Chayo at one of his ranches in Tumbicastio, he also said they found weapons buried in large buckets. In the video you will see similar buried buckets at his ranch. Also see how a Templario ranch is equipped, satellite access, computers, saddle hanging and ready for a get away, always a mule on the premises. You will see the rugged terrain of the Sierras, Chayo, Templarios, and autodefensas know how to maneuver the back roads of the sierras, too treacherous even for a horse, the only animal that can negotiate the high, narrow access roads, is a mule. Only those living in the sierras become skilled in maneuvering the mountains, rendering captures almost impossible and getaways assured. With the skill of the autodefensas, that was a game changer, it evened the playing field. They know where to set up human fences, guarding points which surround areas that have been pinpointed as the location of the hunted. In effect rendering an area "no where to run". Templarios had "safe" ranches set up in multiple points in the Sierras. For the most part set up as the one in the video. However, they have found a couple of very elaborate ranches which appeared as command centers, with computer, and communication rooms, and a solar system that covered the entire roof. The video begins with revisiting the Calderon administration and the 2010 massive shootout between federal forces and La Familia Michoacana, lasting two days in the sierras. And the subsequent announcement of the death of LFM leader Nazario Moreno González. El Chayo "dead"...declared dead, for the first time. Inhabitants of the sierras and the autodefensas, have insisted for years that Chayo was alive, something both the Calderon administration and the administration of Enrique Peña Nieto has ignored. In fact the EPN administration's most wanted list did not include Nazario Moreno Gonzále |
