I have been busy with other stuff the last few days, but I have not seen any analysis (or even speculation?) about this event in Jalisco other than the Mexican government’s focus on the CJNG. Has there been any mention of the fact that one of the original leaders of the original Guadalajara Cartel–Rafael Caro Quintero–was released from prison in 2013 and has been at large since, despite manhunts and rewards offered by both Mex-Feds and US-DEA? There were also rumors months ago that Ernesto Carrillo–his older compatriot from Guadalajara and also uncle of Juarez cartel leaders Amado and Vicente Carrillo Fuentes might be released from prison. Both of these men were tried en absentia in the US for the torture and murder of Enrique Camarena in 1985 and never extradited by Mexico despite years of requests from the US. Their incarceration in Mexico stemmed from nebulous drug charges and not specifically the murder of Camarena. Numerous Guadalajara state officials as well as Mexican federal cops and politicians were also involved in the Camarena case and some of them were convicted in federal court in the US in the early 1990s. The analysis below also does not mention that the slaughter in Ciudad Juarez began in early 2008 with the murders of state and municipal police working for the Juarez cartel and that this was the catalyst for the federal police and military incursions into Chihuahua in March 2008. The death toll in Juarez by the end of 2014 was 12,000+ and much higher if homicides from the whole state of Chihuahua are counted. -Molly
Category Archives: Drug Cartel
Closer Look At Massacre In Mexico Reveals Glimpse Of Corruption…Al Jazeera America
Below is another excellent report on the massacres in Allende, Coahuila…Yesterday I posted the piece from VICE.COM: How a Mexican Cartel Demolished a Town, Incinerated Hundreds of Victims, and Got Away, by Diego Enrique Osorno.
The July 5 report below by Michelle Garcia and Ignacio Alvarado at Al Jazeera America goes further in pointing out the actual involvement of Mexican government forces in the disappearance and killing of more than 300 people–activities that went on for months in 2011. Only after three years has a Coahuila state prosecutor begun to investigate and probably only now because of testimony provided by several people who left Mexico and are now protected witnesses in a Texas court proceeding.
A few excerpts:
“Missing from the official statements was any explanation as to how the Zetas — whose name means Z — were able to carry out days, if not months, of killings unimpeded by law enforcement. There was no indication that the military, which was posted at a base in Piedras Negras and operated a checkpoint outside of Allende, intervened.”
“… Questions about possible government complicity — directly or indirectly — generally dissipate when violence is branded as Zeta-related. Indeed, as violence in Mexico’s northern region continues unabated, in lieu of investigations and convictions, Zeta is the catchall explanation applied to criminality, one that has the effect of silencing further questions.”
…“Let’s suppose that there had existed a small, tenuous difference between the supposed legal and political system and the narco organizations, the cartels,” said Vera, who operates the Center for Human Rights Fray Juan de Larios, which defends migrants’ and prisoners’ rights. “That line is faded now because of the degree of corruption.”
The discovery of this latest atrocity can be added to years of similar events, some of which I tried to explain last summer here: The Mexican Undead: Toward a New History of the “Drug War” Killing Fields…
These questions remain: Which criminal element is actually the driving force–the cartels, or the government? And where in the mainstream US press can we find any reference to Merida Initiative billions of US taxpayer dollars going directly to corrupt and murderous Mexican police and military? And to what end? I think we need only look at the exodus of children and families from Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala to get a glimpse of how such policies play out on the ground. -molly
Closer Look At Massacre In Mexico Reveals Glimpse Of Corruption (Al Jazeera America)
Border Reflection & Debunking Myths
Listera Kathy Nicodemus sent this reflection (posted with permission) on the current border situation and below is an excellent article by David Bacon published in IN THESE TIMES with details on how US economic and security policies have exacerbated the situation that forces people to flee their homes in Central America. -molly
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Border Reflection – Support Non-violent solutions in Central American Countries. My thoughts on the Central American immigrant-refugee situation at the moment.
We need to deal with the immediate need, however, if we don’t deal with the systemic issues, the situation will only continue. First we need to stop contributing our (US) part- Corporations that use the land, cheap labor (including Maquilas), our cheap products sold to these countries (taking away their ability to make a living). Need to stop-Selling weapons, supporting bad leaders, US need for drugs. I know there are many other issues. What might be of help–The US supporting these countries to be self-sustaining economically and non-violent.
Debunking 8 Myths About Why Central American Children Are Migrating (In These Times)
U.S. Visas Helped Fuel the Juárez Drug Wars…Jason McGahan in The Daily Beast
There is more information about Julio Porras (the main ICE informant in the Daily Beast piece) in this 2012 article from Reporte Indigo. Apparently Julio Porras is also Ramiro Chavez and he worked as an informant for the PGR during the same time he was providing information on Juarez Cartel activities to ICE.
http://www.reporteindigo.com/reporte/mexico/otro-gobernador-en-la-mira?page=1 (Reporte Indigo)
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/07/01/u-s-visas-helped-fuel-the-juarez-drug-wars.html (Daily Beast)
Border Patrol Helped Smuggle Weapons To El Chapo…Caro Quintero Amparo Denied…El Universal
Today on the front page of El Universal, the declaration of a protected witness in the federal (PGR) case against El Chapo Guzman says that the US Border Patrol escorted trucks of weapons to the border, abandoned the vehicles and assisted members of the Sinaloa Cartel who then took the guns into Mexico. The declarations come from documents in the case as the witness, Javier Sandoval Interial, was assassinated in Mexico City in 2012. The details are pretty clear below in a google translation…
Also, it is reported today in El Universal that a judge has denied the “amparo” against extradition for Caro Quintero. That story is also posted below.
Patrulla Fronteriza Apoyó A “El Chapo” (El Universal)
(Click here for Google translation)
Niegan Amparo Al Narcotraficante Caro Quintero (El Universal)
Las Vegas Man Arrested…EP Times
Based on the details in this EP Times article, I tend to think the analysis of the El Paso police is correct. I see no evidence that these billboards were pointed toward Juarez in any more specific manner than they are on the I-10 (running east west) and thus are visible from both sides of the border.
Not that I’m an investigator, but based on the initial reports, it certainly seemed that the actions and the messages resonated with the Occupy movement. I believe it would have been difficult to create such installations and not leave fingerprints that a US police investigation would find…
There have been hundreds of police murdered in Juarez in recent years and such actions were never advertised in any way in El Paso… -Molly
Las Vegas Man Arrested In Connection With Threatening Billboard Graffiti (El Paso Times)
Peace Pact In Juarez…Cleanup To Come…Proceso 1960
Two reports by Jesus Esquivel from PROCESO #1960… An anonymous source in Juarez says that La Linea is still in control (or back in control) in Juarez and that professional sicarios are operating in the city to clean up the malandros–the young wannabes (los malandros que se sentían narcos)… So that the people being killed now are only those that need to be killed… and that the city will be a good place for the good people of Juarez again… as in the days before the Calderon project turned Juarez into the most violent city in the world… The police in Juarez, especially the municipal police, will be cooperating more than ever with this new/old regime to make sure that life gets better in Juarez and also ensure that the real big time drug crossing business functions properly–generating more money and less violence…
The Sinaloa Cartel people have withdrawn from Juarez and the new objective (is this new?) is to get the business done as it should be done. The real shipments to the US will continue to cross in big cargo trucks, not carried over by little guys… All those little guys trying to do business on their own (hormigas carrying loads in private cars or on foot) will be cleaned up if they haven’t been already…
DEA tells Proceso that Juarez is again (was it ever not?) a major crossing point for drugs, including more meth, though the city is less violent… -Molly
En Juárez, Paz Pactada…Pero Viene Una “Limpia” (Proceso)
See Borderland Beat’s translation of the story below.
Juarez Is Peaceful…But There’s A Clean Up Coming (Borderland Beat)
Menos Violencia, Más Anfetaminas (Proceso)
See the Frontera List post for a Google translation of the articles.
Two Bizarre Billboard Messages Startle El Paso Commuters…EPTimes
This looks much more like Anonymous agitprop estilo “Occupy” … I can see where the police and Chamber of Commerce in El Paso get excited. I’d like the trick better if it said something like “Dying from maquiladora slave wages…” Or maybe “dying for Wall Street money laundering bankers…” Just saying… -Molly
Two Bizarre Billboard Messages Startle El Paso Commuters (El Paso Times)
Juarez Drug Wars: Display of Threats Often Used by Cartels (El Paso Times)
Border Residents Fear Message On Mysterious Billboards (KHOU)
WikiLeaks Highlight Concerns About Juárez Drug Abuse, Mexican Drug Wars…EPTimes
Many of the Wikileaks revelations about Juarez were detailed in earlier reports (from 2012) in the Narco News Bulletin:
Mexican Diplomat Traded Secrets with Private Intel Firm Stratfor, WikiLeaks Documents Reveal
This current info is from the El Paso Times.
WikiLeaks Highlight Concerns About Juárez Drug Abuse, Mexican Drug Wars
Drug addiction in Juárez represents a daily drug-trafficking market of about $2.3 million, according to files disclosed by online whistleblower WikiLeaks.
The leaked file cites a Mexican official who is referred to only as “MX-1.” During a meeting with U.S. and Mexican officials, the official identified as MX-1 said “that Juárez has a drug abuse problem which amounts to about 30 million pesos a day.”
“It’s a 30 million peso a day market for Juárez, with anywhere from 2,000 to 2,500 individuals,” MX-1 said. “He (MX-1) added, for example, they know that most of the people that are participating in the kidnappings are addicts,” according to the leaked file…
Mexico’s Vigilante State…Al Jazeera English
This new report from Al Jazeera is not available online to those of us in the US. Perhaps a listero in another country can figure out a way to post this via Facebook or some other platform that would be viewable in the US… It sounds like an interesting piece with on-the-ground reporting.
Mexico’s Vigilante State
“Correspondent Teresa Bo takes viewers to the troubled state of Michoacán for an immersive examination of the autodefensa movement. With tension between the vigilantes and the government increasing this week, a tenuous disarmament deadline looming, and new allegations of cartel affiliations…I think the story will shed some light on how things have been unfolding on the ground.”
Click here for some background and preview to the new Fault Lines on Michoacan.
Frontera List 