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Posts Tagged drug cartels
How far have Mexican drug cartels moved into the US? Arizona Sheriff Larry Dever responds
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News, Threat Watch on 7/May/2011 18:16
Dever: Mexican drug cartels are freely operating many miles from the U.S.-Mexican border.
“You can go up to 70 miles north in Pinal County, which isn’t even a border county, and the Bureau of Land Management put up signs on public land warning people not to travel there because of the threat from drug cartels.
“If you travel into the recreational areas in my county, those same signs are up warning people they could encounter drug and human smuggling. I think we ought to point the signs south and tell the folks who are coming here that this is not a safe place for you to come.â€
He also explains how he has heard that the Border Patrol has told officers to stop arresting Mexican illegals to keep official illegal immigration figures down.
“That comes from agents on the ground, who have told me, told my deputies, told citizens in the area. They have in the past been instructed to scare people back or turn them back south versus arresting them.â€
Two of the seven kidnapped state police officers released in Monterrey.
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News, Threat Watch on 15/Mar/2011 22:16
“Two of the seven state police officers kidnapped last week near Monterrey, the capital of Mexico’s Nuevo Leon state, have been released, a State Investigations Agency, or AEI, spokesman said.
The officers, who were tortured and beaten, were found early Sunday in Contry, a neighborhood in the southern section of Monterrey.
The two officers were thrown out of a moving vehicle, eyewitnesses said.”
ICE Agent’s attack: Gun supplier was U.S. Marine
Posted by Jack Sinclair in Law, News, Threat Watch on 15/Mar/2011 22:04
“One of three men arrested and linked with one of the guns used in the murder of a U.S. federal agent in Mexico was part of the U.S. military and received training on weapons.
Ranferi Osorio, 27, spent eight years in the U.S. Marine Corps and served in Iraq and Afghanistan before retiring in 2009, said his ex-wife Valeria Rojas in a statement issued on Wednesday before the federal court case. He supported his family by buying and selling firearms, but had no license or authorization for such trade.
Ranferi Osorio, like his younger brother Otilio, 22, is accused of possessing firearms with altered serial numbers. They were under investigation which took an unexpected turn on Friday 25 February when ATF agents in Dallas were notified that one of the serial numbers of guns used in the murder of Zapata, was related to Otilio Osorio.
Although he had apparently erased the serial number of the gun, it could still be detected on the gun using modern laboratory techniques. The ATF decided to proceed and the three suspects were arrested on Feb. 28 in Lancaster, a suburb south of Dallas.
On 15 February, the ICE agent and his partner Victor Zapata Avila, were shot as they drove along a road in the Mexican state of San Luis Potosi. Zapata died in the attack and Avila was injured.”
http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/750863.html
They’re not Fast, but they are Furious
Posted by Jack Sinclair in Law, News, Threat Watch on 15/Mar/2011 22:02
NOW ARE THEY FURIOUS? The Attorney General of the Republic, still headed by Arturo Chavez Chavez, decided to conceal details of the investigation that began from the failed operation Fast and Furious, in which agents of the Office of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) deliberately allowed around two thousand high-caliber arms to enter Mexico in order, for the moment, to not generate more friction with the government of the United States.
Nevertheless, what the agency decided to avoid in its official press release is that the investigations taking place in the Justice sub-offices of Legal and International Affairs has, among its objectives, to establish not only which criminal organizations received the armament, but also if US citizens committed crimes that could be penalized and tried in Mexican courts.
They assure us that this is one of the objectives.
And, in face of the gravity of the issue, they say that there are instructions which, if a crime exists, will be carried out against whoever it may be so that the case doesn’t go unpunished and that, if it is proved that ATF agents actually permitted the illegal traffic, it will be sought to bring them before Mexican justice.”
Six Mexican police officers kidnapped in Nuevo Leon
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News, Threat Watch on 11/Mar/2011 23:29
“Six police officers were kidnapped Friday in this northern Mexican metropolis, Nuevo Leon state authorities said.
Witnesses said several SUV-loads of men armed with assault rifles intercepted two state police vehicles at an intersection in Monterrey and forced the officers to surrender, said sources with the Nuevo Leon Security Council.
Bullet holes were found in the abandoned police vehicles.
The mass abduction came a few hours after two gunmen were killed and two others arrested in a clash with state police in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon’s capital, and followed the army’s arrest here Thursday of six traffic cops on suspicion of ties to organized crime.”
U.S. Raids Mexican Gang
Posted by Gary in News, Threat Watch on 9/Mar/2011 20:24
From: WSJ
Federal agents have arrested a number of members of the Barrio Azteca drug gang in Mexico overnight, after having tied the group to the killing of a U.S. consulate worker and her husband, according to people familiar with the case.
Drug Crime in Mexico
Track the increasing violence in an interactive map.
Lesley Enriquez and her husband were gunned down in March 2010. Mexican investigators said months later that a captured drug-gang enforcer claimed to have ordered the slaying because Ms. Enriquez allegedly helped provide visas to a rival gang. At the time, federal authorities said the motive for the killing was unknown.
The attack on the Enriquez couple came at almost the same time as a third killing in which the husband of a Mexican employee of the U.S. consulate was gunned down. That raised concerns that U.S. government personnel were being targeted in drug-related violence. Those concerns were revived last month when an Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agent was gunned down on a roadside in Mexico.
Ms. Enriquez was pregnant when she was killed. The couple’s infant daughter was in the car at the time of the shooting but was not injured. Police who responded to the crime scene found the child crying in the back seat.
Planning a Vacation in Mexico?
Posted by Gary in Threat Watch on 9/Mar/2011 17:18
Mexico’s drug war has claimed more than 31,000 lives since President Felipe Calderon took office.
Think the violence only reaches the drug runners?
Oct 22, 2010, Ciudad Juarez: Birthday Party Attacked Fourteen people, including a 13-year-old, are killed in a massacre at a Ciudad Juarez birthday party.
Agent: ATF partly to blame for Mexico Violence
Posted by Gary in Law, News, Threat Watch on 7/Mar/2011 15:20
Watch this chilling and revealing news story.
From:Â CBS News
Agent: ATF partly to blame for Mexico violence
March 3, 2011 4:01 PM
An agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms claims the agency has a policy that allows guns to get in the hands of the Mexican drug cartels. Sharyl Attkisson reports.
ATF in Damage Control Mode over Gunwalker
Posted by Gary in Law, News, Threat Watch on 7/Mar/2011 15:12
ATF Memo from The Sipsey Street Irregulars
Public Information Officers:
Please make every effort for the next two weeks to maximize coverage
of ATF operations/enforcement actions/arrests at the local and
regional level. Given the negative coverage by CBS Evening News last
week and upcoming events this week, the bureau should look for every
opportunity to push coverage of good stories. Fortunately, the CBS
story has not sparked any follow up coverage by mainstream media and
seems to have fizzled.It was shoddy reporting, as CBS failed to air on-the-record interviews
by former ATF officials and HQ statements for attribution that
expressed opposing views and explained the law and difficulties of
firearm trafficking investigations. The CBS producer for the story
made only a feigned effort at the 11th hour to reach ATF HQ for comment.This week (To 3/1/2011), Attorney General Holder testifies on the Hill
and likely will get questions about the allegations in the story. Also
(The 3/3/2011), Mexico President Calderon will visit the White House
and likely will testify on the Hill. He will probably draw attention
to the lack of political support for demand letter 3 and Project
Gunrunner.ATF needs to proactively push positive stories this week, in an effort
to preempt some negative reporting, or at minimum, lessen the coverage
of such stories in the news cycle by replacing them with good stories
about ATF. The more time we spend highlighting the great work of the
agents through press releases and various media outreaches in the
coming days and weeks, the better off we will be.Thanks for your cooperation in this matter. If you have any
significant operations that should get national media coverage, please
reach out to the Public Affairs Division for support, coordination and
clearance.Thank you,
Scot L. Thomasson
Chief, ATF Public Affairs Division
Washington, DC
Mexico sending more troops to zone next to Texas
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News, Threat Watch on 25/Nov/2010 17:19
“MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico will send more troops and federal police to try to control drug violence that has spiraled into warfare in parts of the northeast along the U.S. border, the government said Wednesday.
The goal of “Coordinated Operation Northeast” is to reinforce government authority in the two states most heavily affected by a surge in violence following a split between the Gulf and Zetas drug gangs, federal police spokesman Alejandro Poire said.”
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2010-11-25-mexico-troops_N.htm?csp=34
Mexico: 18 in grave are missing Acapulco travelers
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News, Threat Watch on 7/Nov/2010 01:59
“Relatives confirmed that 18 bodies found in a mass grave outside Acapulco are those of a group of travelers kidnapped in one of the Mexican resort city’s most shocking drug-gang crimes, authorities said Saturday.
The families identified the decomposing bodies through clothing and physical attributes, said Fernando Monreal, director of the federal investigative police in Guerrero state, where Acapulco is located.
The 18 were among 20 men kidnapped while visiting Acapulco from Morelia, capital of the state of Michoacan, which borders Guerrero. Two of the men remain missing.”
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/11/06/international/i180625D65.DTL
The Falcon Lake Murder and Mexico’s Drug Wars
Posted by Brian in News, Threat Watch on 21/Oct/2010 17:19
The Falcon Lake Murder and Mexico’s Drug Wars is republished with permission of STRATFOR.
By Scott Stewart
STRATFOR published an analysis last Wednesday noting that a reliable source in Mexico informed us that the Sept. 30 shooting death of U.S. citizen David Hartley on Falcon Lake — which straddles the U.S.-Mexico border — was a mistake committed by a low-level member of the Los Zetas drug trafficking organization. The source also informed us that those responsible for Hartley’s death are believed to have disposed of his body and that the Zeta hierarchy was conducting a damage-control operation to punish those responsible for the death and to distance the cartel from the murder. The source further reported that the murder of the lead Tamaulipas state investigator on the case, Rolando Armando Flores Villegas — whose head was delivered in a suitcase to the Mexican military’s Eight Zone headquarters in Reynosa on Oct. 12 — was a specific message from Los Zetas to Mexican authorities to back off from the investigation.
Since publishing the report, we have been deluged by interview requests regarding the case. Numerous media outlets have interviewed Fred Burton and myself regarding the Falcon Lake case. During the course of talking with reporters and customers, it became obvious to us that a solid understanding of the context within which Hartley’s killing occurred was lacking in media discussions of the case. Viewing the murder as part of the bigger picture of what is occurring in Mexico makes it far easier to understand not only why David Hartley was killed, but why his body will likely never be found — and why his killers probably will not be held accountable for their actions, at least in the context of the judicial system. Read the rest of this entry »
Monterrey, Mexico: Mexico’s richest city a battleground in bloody drug war
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News, Threat Watch on 15/Oct/2010 16:14
A family walks past soldiers and federal policemen guarding a crime scene after a shooting between rival gangs in Monterrey October 5, 2010. (Reuters/Tomas Bravo)
“Monterrey, Mexico – Once an oasis of calm, Mexico’s richest city has become a central battleground in the country’s increasingly bloody drug war as cartels open fire on city streets and throw grenades onto busy highways.
Escalating violence in Monterrey, one of Latin America’s most affluent cities and seen as a symbol of Mexico’s economic prowess, is arguably the most dramatic development in Mexico’s four-year campaign against powerful drug cartels.
Firefights are spilling into leafy suburbs, putting ordinary Mexicans and foreigners at risk and raising the stakes for President Felipe Calderon as he faces pressure to protect a city generating 8 percent of Mexico’s gross domestic product.”
Severed head of Investigator “delivered to military in suitcaseâ€
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News, Threat Watch on 14/Oct/2010 11:44
Tiffany Hartley with husband David, who has been missing since September 30. The lead Mexican investigator in his case has been beheaded Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1319997/Severed-head-Mexican-police-officer-Rolando-Armando-Flores-Villegas.html?ito=feeds-newsxml#ixzz12LuGglMR
Lead Mexican investigator Rolando Armando Flores Villegas was hunting for the men who killed a U.S. citizen, a Texas man who was jet-skiing on Falcon Lake, in Texas.
The Investigator’s decapitation is a ‘message to White House’: Mexican drug cartels are declaring that the U.S. ‘no longer controls border’.
“The lead Mexican investigator hunting for an American man who disappeared after he and his wife were ambushed on Falcon Lake has been beheaded, a Texas lawmaker claimed today.
The severed head of Rolando Armando Flores Villegas was delivered to the Mexican military in a suitcase, Aaron Pena said today.
His wife Tiffany has told police she and her husband were ambushed by pirates while jet-skiing on the popular lake on September 30.
They shot her husband in the head, she claimed. She tried to rescue him but was forced to abandon his body when the pirates opened fire at her.
His body still has not been found.”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1319997/Severed-head-Mexican-police-officer-Rolando-Armando-Flores-Villegas.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
Jaoquin “El Chapo” Guzman will bring war to Tijuana
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News, Threat Watch on 7/Oct/2010 20:17
Tijuana– Headed by Fernando Sanchez Arellano (member of the Arellano Felix dynasty), the Tijuana cartel is recovering territories and markets it had previously lost. They kill, kidnap and offer drugs on a massive scale to a state that is already flooded with them, the ministerial police have been corrupted and are now considered the armed wing of the cartel.
People who live in the city recognize that the violence has diminished, but there are still murders and decapitations, kidnappings and shootouts which are largely ignored by the central government in Mexico City.
There is also suspicion in Tijuana that there is some type of pact between the state government, local business leaders, and the news media to collectively turn a blind eye to these actions.
http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2010/10/el-chapo-will-bring-war-to-tijuana.html