Borderland Beat |  |
- Thousands participate in nation wide marches, in support of missing and killed Ayotzinapa students
- The new dictatorship
- El Chapo Guzmán, Ismael Zambada Charged With A Dozen Killings In New U.S. Indictment
- U.S. Trial underway for reputed Mexican cartel member
- Autodefensas Arrive in Iguala, calls EPN's actions theater
Thousands participate in nation wide marches, in support of missing and killed Ayotzinapa students Posted: 08 Oct 2014 10:24 PM PDT Borderland Beat posted by Lala  Several colleges such as UNAM and IPN, human rightsorganizations, along side people outside any group showing up to lend their support. Thousands more marched in the Guerrero Capital city of Chilpancingo, and many small towns of the state, Oaxaca City had an impresive turnout. Other states: Coahuila, Chiapas, Jalisco, Michoacan, Queretaro, Nuevo Leon, Chihuahua, Quintana Roo, Morelos, DUrango, San Luis Potosi, and Puebla. Protestors chanted phrases like "You are not alone!" and "We ask for education and are given bullets." 'In the Zocalo held a rally in which parents spoke of missing pupils and students. The actor DanielGiménez Cacho and vocalist of Café Tacuba, Ruben Albarran, read a statement signed by many organizations
The Universidad Iberoamericana issued a statement in which The institution sympathized "with the community of the institution, with the families of young people victimized and missing. "It also demanded the prompt clarification of the facts, prosecution and punishment of those responsible, and the administration of due process of integral reparation and non-repetition of "these heinous acts."
     Report Arturo Sanchez (Arturosji)  | ||||
Posted: 08 Oct 2014 02:32 PM PDT Proceso (10-6-14)By Javier Sicilia, translated by un vato for Borderland BeatAs most readers know, Javier Sicilia was a poet until his son was murdered by sicarios. He became an activist for victims' rights. -- un vato
MEXICO, D.F. (Proceso).--Crime in our country has two faces; that which comes from criminal organizations is called a criminal offense, and that which comes from the State is called a violation of human rights. This last was, fundamentally, what motivated Felipe Calderon to entrap the General Law for Victims (Ley General de Victimas) in a constitutional controversy during the last months of his mandate. He did not want to accept -- he still refuses to do so-- (the existence of) crime by the State. The law was enacted, nevertheless, at the beginning of Enrique Pena Nieto's administration. But the government, every time it makes reference to it, reduces it to simple crime. Amidst the 100,000 deaths, the 30,000 disappeared, the hundreds of kidnappings and the constant, serious denunciations by national and international organizations of human rights violations, not only do we not know yet how many of those crimes are attributable to the State, but instead, the governments who administer the State continue to deny the crimes or blame them on the crime that they live with in an almost natural way. Mexico lives like this -- it has been said many times -- a failed State, an interpenetrated State, a criminal State or a Narco-State. Whatever it may be that these characterizations are still unable to define, in reality it is a new form of totalitarianism, or that "perfect dictatorship" that Mario Vargas Llosa once referred to. In his book, Remnants of Auschwitz; The Witness and the Archive, (Zone Books, 2002), Giorgio Agamben, points out that the ultimate finality of Auschwitz and the Nazi concentration camps was not the mass murder that was carried out there, bur rather, the creation of a class of human being that in concentration camp argot were called "muslims": perhaps -- says Agamben, among the various hypotheses he proposes in trying to explain the epithet-- because in the imagination of that period, a "muslim" was a fatalist, a being who had submitted to blind fate, to a determinism. Those beings who, through force of brutalization, had lost any dignity, had become a species of animals so tame they could be used for anything. They were completely exploitable. They would never resist anything. Agamben saw in them a continuation of the figure of "the holy man" -- men that, under ancient Roman law, the State would not protect, and whose torture, murder or exploitation was not a crime in a legal sense--. He also saw in them one of the conditions, to a greater or lesser degree, for the existence of the State, which combines in itself sovereignty -- the power to destroy life, the legitimate use of force-- and government: the combination of arrangements or institutions to administer it. In Mexico, both the crime that the State says it pursues, but which it does not punish, or does so selectively, as well as the violation of human rights that the State denies, seem to be going in the same direction as the construct of a "muslim" in Auschwitz. Crime, the bloody and horrifying dimensions that it has reached in Mexico, and its systematic impunity, have been getting a large portion of Mexicans used to living in defenseless docility. Instead of protesting, many are becoming indifferent to the crimes that others suffer, and, for that reason, coming to accept, fatalistically, that one day they will also be murdered, kidnapped, tortured, disappeared or extorted with impunity. The abdication by the State of its duty to protect us under its institutions and programs for as long as we live has been creating a perception in many of us that living means submitting to fate, to "that's the way things are", to "what are we going to do about it". On the other hand, the violations of human rights appear to be directed at those who refuse to accept the situation. Those who rebel against the vulnerability that is the result of crime, impunity or abuse of power are, in many cases viewed as criminals and subjected to confinement, isolation and torture, sometimes physical, sometimes psychological. The case of Jose Manuel Mireles and his 383 self defense members, in Michoacan; that of Nestora Salgado in Guerrero, and of Mario Luna in Sonora, to name just those most mentioned in the media, illustrate this well. All of them rebelled against defenselessness. Crimes were also fabricated against all of them to cover up the violations of their human rights. Their confinement and their reduction to a criminal condition carries a message: either you accept living in defenselessness and docility like everybody else, or we will force you to do so. This form of totalitarianism or dictatorship is new in appearance, but not in nature. It is a previously unknown form of State violence that has lost its ideological mask as its reason for existing. Mexico's state machinery, that through its institutional orders pretends -- as it tells us every day -- to regulate conflicts in a rational and legal manner, each day reveals itself to be more compatible with an extreme violence of a new coinage that day after day erases the gains of the civilizing process and is converting us into slave material or animals for slaughter. In its debacle, the State is becoming less of a judicial and political apparatus and is turning into a machine for submission and destruction, governed not by political imperatives, as in Nazism or Soviet (ideology), or military juntas, but rather by purely economic motives. In addition, I believe that we have to respect the San Andres Accords, stop the war, liberate Jose Manuel Mireles, his self defense forces and all the Zapatistas and Atenco people who are in prison, do justice to victims of violence and prosecute governors and government officials who are criminals.  | ||||
El Chapo Guzmán, Ismael Zambada Charged With A Dozen Killings In New U.S. Indictment Posted: 08 Oct 2014 12:18 PM PDT  By Dolia Estevez for Forbes Mexican drug lord Joaquín El Chapo Guzmán can now add murder to the long list of drug-related crimes he is accused of in the U.S. A 21-count indictment unsealed in the Eastern District of New York on September 25 alleges that Sinaloa Cartel leaders El Chapo Guzmán and Ismael El Mayo Zambada employed “sicarios,” or hitmen, to carry out “hundreds of acts of violence, including murders, assaults, kidnappings, assassinations and acts of torture.” Considered the most powerful kingpin in the world before his arrest earlier this year in Mexico, El Chapo was the leader of what the indictment describes as the “largest drug trafficking organization in the world.” Zambada was El Chapo’s trusted right-hand man. U.S. law enforcement believe Zambada has succeded El Chapo as head of the criminal organization. Zambada is thought to be hiding in the mountains of Sinaloa, his home state on Mexico’s Pacific coast. The 48-page indictment alleges that Guzmán and Zambada conspired to “intentionally kill” members of Mexican law enforcement, military personnel and public officials. Among the people whose killings they are charged to have ordered are: Roberto Velasco Bravo, a commander with Mexico’s now-defunct Ministry of Public Security in charge of the organized crime investigation unit, who was gunned down by hit men in 2008 in Tepito, one of Mexico City’s most violent and drug-infested neighborhoods. Rafael Ramírez Jaime, the chief of the arrest division with the State of Mexico’s Attorney General Office, who was executed by hitmen in 2008 in his home in Tlalnepantla, a municipality of the state of Mexico, north of Mexico City. Rodolfo Carrillo Fuentes was killed by a dozen hitmen in 2004 in the parking lot of a cinema in Culiacan, the capital of Sinaloa. He was shot 500 times. Rodolfo was the youngest brother of the legendary Amado Carrillo Fuentes, better known as the Lord of the Skies. The older Carrillo Fuentes was the head of the Carrillo Fuentes cartel until he died in 1997 when he was undergoing facial plastic surgery and liposuction. The execution of Amado’s brother triggered a bloody war between the Carillo Fuentes and Sinaloa cartels. The indictment alleges that Guzmán and Zambada were also behind the assassinations of Raul LNU, known as “Robachivas,” and Julio Beltrán, presumably Mexican drug criminals. Guzmán and Zambada have not been charged in Mexico for the alleged murderers of these individuals. Additionally, Guzmán and Zambada are charged with attempted murder of two individuals identified as John Doe #1 and #2, and with the murders of John Doe #3 to #8. While the identities of these individuals are known to the grand jury, they are classified in the indictment. They are also accused of murder conspiracy and attempted murder of members of the Beltrán, Carrillo Fuentes, Zeta and Felix Arrellano criminal syndicates. The indictment alleges that through “a network of corrupt police and political contacts” the Sinaloa Cartel “directed a large scale narcotics transportation network involving the use of land, air and sea transportation assets, shipping multi-ton quantities of cocaine from South America, through Central America and Mexico, and finally into the U.S.” The sale of these drugs in the U.S., it goes on, generated billions of dollars in profits, which were then laundered back to Mexico. “The drug money was often transported from the U.S. to Mexico in vehicles containing hidden compartments and through other clandestine means.” The new indictment replaced one unsealed by the same court in 2009 against Guzmán, Zambada, his son Jesús El Vicentillo Zambada, and three Mexican drugs lords: Arturo Beltrán Leyva (killed in 2009), his brother Hector Beltrán Leyva (arrested in Mexico) and Ignacio Coronel (killed in 2010). El Vicentillo Zambada was extradited to the U.S. in 2010 and is currently collaborating with U.S. law enforcement against the Sinaloa leaders, including his father. Despite facing federal charges in at least seven U.S. jurisdictions, Washington has not requested El Chapo’s extradition. Mexico has strongly rejected the idea of sending Guzmán to the U.S. He is currently behind bars in a high-security prison outside Mexico City. The U.S. has not requested Zambada’s extradition either. Yet the new indictment strengthens Washington’s hand to ask for his detention for the purpose of extradition. If Mexico accepts and hands him over to the U.S., New York would most likely be the first to try him given these new murder charges.  | ||||
U.S. Trial underway for reputed Mexican cartel member Posted: 08 Oct 2014 10:23 AM PDT Posted on Borderland Beat by Mars 220  Secret video and audio recordings will show a member of a violent Mexican drug cartel conspiring with fellow gang members and undercover FBI agents to expand the gang's cocaine empire into the United States and Europe, prosecutors said Tuesday. Rafael Humberto Celaya Valenzuela, who prosecutors said is part of the Sinaloa cartel, is charged with conspiracy to distribute more than 1,000 kilograms of cocaine plus heroin and methamphetamine. His trial opened in U.S. District Court in New Hampshire Tuesday. Assistant U.S. Attorney Donald Feith said Valenzuela and other members of the cartel met over the course of three years with undercover agents who portrayed themselves as members of an organized crime ring that wanted to move tons of cocaine into the U.S. and Europe. Two others arrested with Valenzuela in 2012 have pleaded guilty to working with the Sinaloa cartel. One of them, Jesus Gutierrez-Guzman, is a cousin of the cartel's notorious leader, Joaquin Guzman, known as "El Chapo." Joaquin Guzman escaped prison in 2001 and ran the enterprise from a series of hideouts and safe houses across Mexico, earning billions of dollars moving tons of cocaine and other drugs to the United States, prosecutors have said. He has been indicted in numerous states besides New Hampshire but it is unclear if he will be extradited.  Feith said that during the meetings, which occurred in New Castle, New Hampshire, Madrid, the Virgin Islands, Miami and elsewhere, the conspirators and undercover agents at first discussed shipments of 1,000 kilos of cocaine with one of the cartel members promising they could deliver 20 tons. Following three "test loads" in which the cartel sent pineapples to make sure they weren't being set up by law enforcement, cartel members said they would ship a fourth test but the FBI agents said enough was enough and that it was time to ship the drugs, Feith said. A shipment of 346 kilos was shipped to Spain where the conspirators were arrested in August 2012. Feith on Tuesday picked up a pink-wrapped kilo of cocaine and waved it in front of the jury of nine women and five men. He said the evidence will show Valenzuela willingly agreed to enter the conspiracy to distribute drugs. Valenzuela's lawyers reserved their right to make an opening statement later. Before the trial started, both sides acknowledged that Valenzuela had turned down a plea agreement that would have gotten him 10 to 20 years in prison, instead of the 10 years to life he faces at trial. Also arrested with Valenzuela and Gutierrez-Guzman was Samuel Zazueta Valenzuela, no relationship to Rafael Valenzuela, who has pleaded guilty. Another man, Jesus Soto, pleaded guilty last month in a separate, but related, case. Source: YahooNews  | ||||
Autodefensas Arrive in Iguala, calls EPN's actions theater Posted: 08 Oct 2014 05:01 PM PDT Demanding the removal of Governor Aguirre, the group also slams EPN: " Peña Nieto, is now pretending to be so concerned about these students after years of stigmatizing Ayotzinapa"  As Mexico gears up for mass marches on Wednesday, two community police groups join in the search for the disappeared students and demand the resignation of the governor of Guerrero. Approximately 500 autodefensas members of the Union of Peoples and Organizations of the State of Guerrero (UPOEG) arrived in Iguala at the request of parents, on Tuesday night to help search for the 43 students missing since September 26. Spokesperson Bruno Plácido Valerio said that despite the mass graves found on the outskirts of Iguala, “there is no guarantee that the charred bodies are those of the students.” “Organized crime has been killing people in the same area for years,” he added. Of the 43 disappeared students, 17 are from Tecoanapa, Ayutla and la Costa Chica, where UPOEG has a strong presence. “Those are the children of our members,” said Plácido Valerio. “That’s why we’re joining in the search, and we hope all the family members will do the same.” The UPOEG leader said that his group is unarmed and willing to cooperate with the gendarmes who have now been assigned control of Iguala. At the same time, the community police of the Regional Coordinating Group of Community Authorities of the Montaña and Costa Chica of Guerrero (CRAC-PC) issued a statement demanding the resignation of Guerrero Governor Ángel Aguirre, charging that he is an “accomplice of organized crime," whose aim is to "silence social protest.” The CRAC-PC went on to say that Aguirre, like Mexican president Peña Nieto, is “now pretending to be so concerned about these students after years of stigmatizing Ayotzinapa as a 'breeding ground for guerrillas,' just because the young people protest and demand their right to education.”  The community security authorities also accused Aguirre of a long list of crimes including the murder of Ayotzinapa students Jorge Alexis Herrera Pino and Gabriel Echeverríain a police operation carried out on December 12, 2011. (above photo) Sources:Telesur and ViceOn following page is a video from Vice about the autodefensas group, why they organized and the situation in Gurrero- Vice goes along with them on their night patrols |
A girl is led to an ambulance after showing signs of Ebola infection in the village of Freeman Reserve, 30 miles north of the Liberian capital, Monrovia. Photograph: Jerome Delay/AP
