A new study of reported disappearances in the official statistics in Mexico shows that during the EPN administration (Dec 2012-present) there have been 13 disappearances each day–a total of 9,384 people in 22 months. This is more than double to rate of disappearances registered during the previous administration of Felipe Calderon. These are some of the findings from an examination of the databases of the National Register of Missing or Disappeared Persons from Jan 2007-Oct 2014 maintained by the Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System. The database contains a total of 26,569 cases. The article below is an excerpt from the current issue of Proceso, 1997. It includes this link to numbers of disappearances per state. – Molly
Category Archives: kidnapping
Refutation That The Normalistas Were Incinerated At Cocula…
Thanks to Jim Creechan for these links to updates on the killings and disappearances of the 43 students. -Molly
Reports in La Jornada and a report from CENCOS:
http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2014/12/12/politica/008n1pol
http://www.cencos.org/comunicacion/cientificos-desmienten-a-pgr
Academic Investigators have refuted the claim that the normalistas were incinerated at the Cocula garbage dump. They provided a detailed analysis of why this was physically impossible. Some independent (academic) investigators have suggested that the students might have been incinerated in army crematoria or in other private crematoria. The investigators have called for the army to allow inspectors onto the base to check. The army rejects both the “possibility” that this could have happened and “access to inspect”. In fact, a letter in today’s La Jornada from a general argues that the army does NOT HAVE incinerators capable of burning bodies. Sanjuana Martínez interviewed an academic at the centre of these claims (on Sunday) and he suggested that there had been threats made against those who opposed the “official version”. On Monday, an opinion column in La Jornada warned about the growing signs of “suppression” and threats against those who oppose the official version.
Both the Mexican press and the intellectual class of Mexico continue to be worried that the ultimate government response to the missing students and the public protests will be another DIRTY WAR. And I’m guessing that these fears are even greater today after the announcement the death of one of the iconic voices of free speech [ Julio Scherer Garcia (Proceso publisher)died early this morning–http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/julio-scherer-garcia-journalist-and-irritant-of-politicians-dies-at-88/2015/01/07/a50ebb82-96a0-11e4-8005-1924ede3e54a_story.html ].
Kidnapped Priest Found Dead In Southern Guerrero
A priest from the town of Ciudad Altamirano in southern Guerrero state was kidnapped several days ago and yesterday he was found dead from a gunshot to the head. People in the town staged protests after Father Gregorio López Gorostieta was abducted from the Catholic seminary in Altamirano on Dec 21. The article notes that “these events took place despite the federal government deployment of a special operation in the area one month ago with the participation of the National Gendarmeria, the Navy, the Army and the Federal Police.”
An earlier report on the priest’s abduction is posted below from the AP. -Molly
Hallan Con Tiro De Gracia A Sacerdote Secuestrado (El Diario)
Mexicans Rally After a Priest Is Kidnapped (AP/New York Times)
Mexico’s murderous alliance of state, the army and the drug cartels..Ed Vulliamy in the Observer…
When we tally the horrors of narco-state terror in Mexico, we must also count the 250+ victims of 25 massacres in Ciudad Juarez. Since 2007, more than 12,000 people have been murdered in Juarez… A city with about one percent of the population of Mexico accounted for 9 percent of the murder victims between 2007-2012…
Reported here on the Frontera List and in El Diario in 2013 AND…. the several hundred people massacred in Allende Coahuila in 2011… This is the posting from Frontera List.
Below is another excellent report on the massacres in Allende, Coahuila…I posted the piece from Vice by Diego Enrique Osorno.
The July 5 report 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
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.
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)
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)
2,600 Disappeared Since Mexico’s Peña Nieto Took Office…Pan American Post
There have been some interesting disagreements (for lack of a better word) in the Mexican press recently concerning the numbers of disappeared people in the country… A nice summary in english by Pan American Post…
Some of the links in the Pan American Post:
https://readymag.com/animalpolitico/31859/5/
https://readymag.com/animalpolitico/31859/
http://www.thepanamericanpost.com/2014/06/2600-disappeared-since-mexicos-pena.html
Only 73 Victims Of Forced Disappearance Found…Garcia Cervantes
In an interview with Animal Politico, the former subprocurador for human rights in the office of the Mexican Attorney General, Ricardo Garcia Cervantes, says that the declarations from the Secretary of Government, Osorio Chong, regarding the numbers of disappeared people in Mexico are false.
Garcia Cervantes was appointed to head a special office to locate the 27,000+ disappeared people… He resigned yesterday.
In the interview, he says that the government never took the effort seriously and did not provide adequate personnel or resources to do the job.
Osorio Chong said last week that thousands of the missing persons had been recovered; Garcia Cervantes says actually only about 73 had been found alive… The numbers game continues… -Molly
Mexico’s Congress Approves Revision of Military Code Of Justice…LA Times
Note the low-ball numbers of dead and disappeared in the LATimes story: “Since then, more than 70,000 people have been killed and more than 20,000 have gone missing, some of whom were last seen in custody of the military.”
Another compilation of info below from Panamerican Post.
Mexico’s Congress Approves Revision of Military Code Of Justice (LA Times)
Mexico Lawmakers Vote for Military Justice Reform (Panamerican Post)
The Hunt For El Chapo: How the world’s most notorious drug lord was captured…New Yorker
The Hunt For El Chapo: How the world’s most notorious drug lord was captured
By Patrick Radden Keefe
One afternoon last December, an assassin on board a K.L.M. flight from Mexico City arrived at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport. This was not a business trip: the killer, who was thirty-three, liked to travel, and often documented his journeys around Europe on Instagram. He wore designer clothes and a heavy silver ring in the shape of a grimacing skull.
Click here for the full article.
Frontera List 