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March 15th, 2018 Breaking News Comments Off on Authorities disband Tlaquepaque police

Authorities disband Tlaquepaque police

(MEXICO NEWS DAILY) — The municipal police force in Tlaquepaque, Jalisco, has been disarmed and temporarily disbanded due to the suspected collusion of some of its officers with organized crime.

Federal Police, the army, the federal Attorney General’s office (PGR) and the Jalisco state police jointly carried out an operation at 7:00am yesterday at the municipality’s main police station, located in the metropolitan area of Guadalajara.

Personnel from the state Attorney General’s office said the operation was connected to the discovery last week of eight bodies in an abandoned pickup truck in the Guadalajara neighborhood of Morelos.

The newspaper El Universal reported today that a list of names of municipal police officers who are allegedly on the payroll of a drug cartel was found among the possessions of one of the bodies. State authorities have neither confirmed nor denied the claim.

Jalisco Governor Aristóteles Sandoval, who last week warned of worsening insecurity in the state, announced the decision to disarm and suspend the Tlaquepaque police via social media.

“Doing this represents a forceful measure in the face of the insecurity the metropolis is suffering. We’re willing to act with full force until the last day [of this administration]. I know that I have the support of the people; we all want to live in peace . . .” he wrote.

Sandoval said that state police would take over policing duties in Tlaquepaque while municipal officers are at the police academy for training and reevaluation. State Attorney General Raúl Sánchez Jiménez later said that the intervention could last up to 30 days.

But in contrast with the government’s stated justification, the municipal government charged that the operation may be politically motivated.

Tlaquepaque Mayor María Elena Limón, who represents the Citizens’ Movement Party, was not informed about the operation prior to it taking place.

At a press conference yesterday afternoon, Limón said the local government had still not received any documentation about the state government’s actions nor had she heard from Governor Sandoval.

The mayor also said that if the state government doesn’t present evidence within three days to show that municipal police are infiltrated by organized crime, the real motive of the operation will become clear.

“If there are officers linked to organized crime we will be the first to take action to clean out our police but if, on the other hand, the investigation takes one or two weeks, I will understand that this action of the Jalisco government has political overtones and is seeking to influence the elections in July,” Limón said.

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March 15th, 2018 Breaking News Comments Off on MURDER IN PARADISE How Mexico’s party hotspot Cancun has become one of the world’s murder capitals

MURDER IN PARADISE How Mexico’s party hotspot Cancun has become one of the world’s murder capitals

(THE SUN) — THE Mexican tourist hotspot of Cancun is in the grips of a violent and growing crime wave that threatens to leave it a ghost town.

Violence has escalated to such an extent that the murder rate has doubled in the past year – with 169 killings recorded in the first half of last year alone.

Amid a thriving drug trade and widespread extortion, fear is rampant and most of the murders go unsolved.

Now, the situation is so dire that its multi-billion dollar tourism industry is under threat.

British journalist Krishnan Guru-Murthy traveled to Mexico for SBS’s Dateline to investigate why so many murders are taking place.

“This is one of the most beautiful views in the world and we are the only people here,” Guru-Murthy said from Cancun’s main beach.

Later on, just before sunset, he found himself in the middle of a crime scene — a man had been gunned down in the sand. Four men had come in through a luxury hotel and attacked the man, who later died in hospital. And this was meant to be one of the safer places in the area frequented by tens of thousands of Brit tourist ever year.

Guru-Murthy was also shocked by the lack of police presence, with many tourists unaware of the gruesome sight just meters away.

“It’s as if the police don’t want anyone to notice. There’s minimum fuss and hardly any officers here,” he said.

While it’s the third shooting on the beach in Cancun this year, tourists are deliberately not told of the dangers.

Even when a well-known police commander, his wife and baby nephew were shot dead, nobody was arrested.

There are fears that Cancun is now on the brink of ruin and could face a similar demise as another well known Mexican resort, Acapulco.

This was once one of the world’s most glamorous locations but is now Mexico’s murder capital.

[READ MORE]

March 13th, 2018 Breaking News, Trump Wall News Comments Off on 15 KILLED IN ONE DAY AS MEXICAN CARTEL BURNS ACAPULCO

15 KILLED IN ONE DAY AS MEXICAN CARTEL BURNS ACAPULCO

(BREITBART) — Violence continues to spiral in the once popular beach resort town of Acapulco, Guerrero. In one day, teams of gunmen carried out multiple executions and clashed with police forces, spreading terror among the tourists who still travel to the area.

The violence took place over the weekend as thousands of international tourists are expected to arrive at Mexico’s various beach resorts for the vacation season that includes Spring Break and Holy Week.

State authorities confirmed that they clashed twice with groups of gunmen, setting off a series of fierce firefights. Through a prepared statement, state police Pedro Almazan Cervantes claimed that no one was injured or killed and they managed to arrest two suspected gunmen. Almazan also stated that they would be performing various enforcement operations throughout the region.

The statements by state police make no mention of two cartel gunmen who were killed during the clashes and five others wounded. Authorities also made no mention of more than six vehicles that were set on fire during the shootouts.

Government officials have remained silent about more than a dozen murders in one day in the area. One of the first took place in the tourist area outside of the famed Krystal Hotel where cartel gunmen shot and killed an unidentified man as he was walking out of the building. Soon after, the bodies of two men were discovered along Miguel Aleman Avenue, the main roadway that leads to the city’s port. The two men were tied up and had been tortured.

Soon after that execution, cartel gunmen dumped the bodies of three other men tortured and left next to a poster-board, threatening public officials. Authorities also discovered the body of a man inside a car that had been set on fire. The bodies of three other men were discovered in the nearby resort town of Ixtapa Zihuatanejo. The victims had all been tied up, shot, and left with another threatening cartel message.

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March 8th, 2018 Breaking News Comments Off on Gunmen storm Cancun hospital, kill regional cartel boss

Gunmen storm Cancun hospital, kill regional cartel boss

(BREITBART) — by Robert Arce

Cartel gunmen stormed a private hospital in Cancun and executed a regional Gulf Cartel boss being treated for medical problems while on release from prison.

The execution occurred at approximately 7:00 pm at the Grupo PlayaMex when a group of heavily-armed men entered the hospital and went directly to the patient room of the victim identified as Alfonso Enrique Contreras Espinoza, aka “El Poncho.” The gunmen also killed Contreras Espinoza’s wife who was visiting him. Their six-year-old daughter was unharmed, according to local media reports. An unarmed security at the bedside with the victim was also spared.

The state attorney general’s office revealed that Contreras Espinoza had been the “plaza boss” for the Gulf Cartel in Cancun prior to being jailed by the federal police on July 25, 2014, for weapons and explosives violations. Contreras Espinoza had been in charge of sale and distribution for the local market as well as extortion operations. Contreras Espinoza was previously accused of murder and attempted murder for an intentional fire set at a brothel in 2014 which resulted in five deaths, as reported by Noticaribe.

While waiting in custody for a trial, he was allowed to be released from prison for medical reasons since he had no previous arrests. Media reports indicate he checked himself into Grupo PlayaMex for an ailment to a leg and was a patient at the hospital for several weeks when he was murdered.

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March 8th, 2018 Breaking News Comments Off on Tracking Mexico’s Cartels in 2018

Tracking Mexico’s Cartels in 2018

(STRATFOR) — By Scott Stewart, VP of Tactical Analysis, Stratfor

Highlights

Factional competition resulting from the breakup of large organized crime organizations continues to drive violence in Mexico.
The lucrative fentanyl trade, built on the backbone of methamphetamine and opiate smuggling networks, is furthering the expansion of criminal groups in Tierra Caliente.
While most cartel violence is directed at other cartels and the government, the widespread use of military-grade weapons raises the risk of collateral damage.

Since 2006, Stratfor has chronicled the dynamics of the organizations that make up the complex mosaic of organized crime in Mexico in the form of an annual cartel report. Back when this process began, the cartel landscape was much simpler, with only a handful of major groups to track. But by 2013, the splintering of the cartels into smaller factions had made it difficult to analyze them the same way. Indeed, many of the once-dominant umbrella groups, such as the Gulf cartel, have fragmented into several, often competing, organizations. In response, the focus of the analysis shifted to the clusters of smaller groups that emanate from a specific geographic area. Nevertheless, the organizations that arose in the Tierra Caliente region and in the states of Tamaulipas and Sinaloa remain on the radar.
2017 in Review

The dynamics outlined in last year’s cartel forecast have changed little over the past year. Organized crime organizations in Mexico remain heavily fragmented, and this fragmentation is driving most of the violence in the country. As noted, there really is no Gulf cartel anymore. Instead, localized gangs that arose from the remnants of that once powerful cartel are now at war with one another over control of the smuggling routes, retail drug sales and other criminal activity formerly monopolized by the group. This drove the heavy violence in Reynosa during 2017 and in other parts of the state of Tamaulipas. The violence spawned by the fractionalization also led to a record number of murders last year: 29,168, which surpassed the previous record of 27,213, set in 2011.

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March 8th, 2018 Breaking News Comments Off on USA issues travel warning for Mexican resort town

USA issues travel warning for Mexican resort town

(USA TODAY) — The U.S. Embassy in Mexico City is prohibiting U.S. government employees from traveling to popular resort town Playa del Carmen.

The U.S. Consular Agency in Playa del Carmen in the state of in Quintana Roo will be closed “until further notice,” the embassy said in it alert.

The embassy said it had “received information about a security threat” on Wednesday. It did not specify what that threat is.

The alert, issued Wednesday night, says U.S. government employees have to cease traveling to the town “immediately” and “until further notice.”

The move comes after the Feb. 21 explosion on the ferry that links Playa del Carmen with the town of Cozumel. The incident injured 25 people, including two Americans.

On March 1, undetonated explosive devices were found by Mexico law enforcement on another tourist ferry. Both incidents are still under investigation. After that incident, the embassy prohibited U.S. government employees from using all tourist ferries.

[ READ MORE]

March 4th, 2018 Breaking News Comments Off on 518 pounds of methamphetamine discovered in meth lab in popular Mexican tourist town

518 pounds of methamphetamine discovered in meth lab in popular Mexican tourist town

(BREITBART) — by Robert Arce

A major cartel methamphetamine lab was discovered near the U.S.-Mexico border approximately 20 miles south of California in a Mexican resort city. Mexican authorities discovered the lab in Rosarito, a destination popular with U.S. tourists.

Elements of the State Preventative Police located the drug lab on March 1, 2018. The cartel facility was inside a separate section of a small shop that made decorative lamps. At least 235 kilos of meth (approximately 518 pounds) were discovered inside the shop which was being used to house the active drug lab.

Due to a large amount of meth located inside the shop, elements of the Mexican army and State Police arrived at the location to secure the crime scene until investigators could obtain the proper authorization to complete a search of the shop. The Mexican Army and State Police remained at the shop for several hours providing security. According to media reports, the location of the drug lab was next to a private school.

A total of three suspects were arrested including the suspected “meth cook.” Authorities revealed that the quantity of the meth seized was going to be distributed to the local drug distributors for street sales and the rest was heading north to the U.S. drug markets.

[READ MORE]

March 3rd, 2018 Related News Comments Off on The big reason Mexican cartel violence is on the rise, according to the Pentagon’s top intelligence officer

The big reason Mexican cartel violence is on the rise, according to the Pentagon’s top intelligence officer

(TASK & PURPOSE) — By Christopher Woody

2017 ended as Mexico’s most violent year in recent memory, with 25,339 homicide cases — more than during the peak year of inter-cartel fighting in 2011.

Crime and violence have steadily increased in Mexico over the past three years, and the bloodshed over the past decade has come despite, and often because of, the Mexican military’s and federal police’s presence in the streets.

Speaking before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Feb. 23, Army Gen. Robert Ashley, the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, described a key trend that has contributed to the violence.

Asked what threats U.S. officials saw in Mexico and how the situation there had changed over the past decade, Ashley told the committee what has “transpired over the last couple of years is you had five principal cartels; we alluded to the number of captures [of cartel leaders] that had taken place, over 100. Those five cartels have kind of devolved into 20, and [as] part of that outgrowth, you’ve seen an increase in the level of violence.”

The dynamic Ashley described — the removal of criminal leaders leading to fragmentation of their groups and further violence — has been recognized as a failing of the “kingpin strategy” pursued, with strong U.S. backing, by Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto and his predecessor, Felipe Calderon, who deployed troops to confront domestic insecurity in 2007.

‘What’s happening, it’s like ants’

The kingpin strategy targets high-profile criminal leaders, with the idea that their capture or death will weaken their organization.

Ashley noted that under Peña Nieto, Mexico has brought down more than 100 high-profile cartel figures — among them Sinaloa cartel chief Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman (twice), Knights Templar founder Servando “La Tuta” Gomez (captured because his girlfriend brought him a cake), and Hector Beltran Leyva and Alfredo Beltran Guzman, both of whom lead of the Beltran Leyva Organization, an erstwhile Sinaloa cartel ally.

But the hoped-for security gains haven’t materialized.

“What actually happens is that if you take out the head of organization and it creates power vacuums and leads to … both internal schisms and encroachment … and creation of new spaces for other actors that can come, until we see a multiplication effect, or a proliferation, of smaller, regional groups,” David Shirk, a professor at the University of San Diego and director of the school’s Justice in Mexico program, told Business Insider in late 2016.[READ MORE]

March 3rd, 2018 Related News Comments Off on In Mexico, vigilantes arise in violent regions

In Mexico, vigilantes arise in violent regions

(ABC) — Fed up with police corruption and drug gang violence, a number of communities in the southern Mexico state of Guerrero and neighboring areas have formed citizen police groups.

Effectively vigilante outfits with no allegiance — and often outright hostility — to elected authorities, they are grassroots attempts by locals to rein in lawlessness in some of the areas most wracked by killings, kidnappings, extortion and other malfeasance.

Such forces have multiplied in recent years as Guerrero has become more violent. The state saw 2,318 homicides last year as criminal gangs battled for territory or killed to intimidate victims.

For these citizen cops, being on duty can mean manning an impromptu roadblock to search vehicles for contraband, monitoring bars for nefarious activities or watching over rudimentary police stations complete with jail cells.

Patrolling on foot or in the back of a pickup truck, they are often armed with just rifles — a far cry from the high-caliber weapons used by Mexico’s drug cartels, police and military.http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/ap-photos-mexico-vigilantes-groups-policing-towns-53463621

March 3rd, 2018 Breaking News Comments Off on Mexico police charged with using death squad tactics on drug suspects

Mexico police charged with using death squad tactics on drug suspects

(THE GUARDIAN) — Police in Mexico’s corruption-plagued state of Veracruz set up units that used death squad-style tactics to abduct, kill and dispose of at least 15 people who they suspected of being drug cartel informers and drug runners, according to charges filed by state prosecutors.

The allegations filed against the former top police commanders in Veracruz show all the signs of the human rights abuses of Mexico’s notorious anti-guerrilla counterinsurgency campaigns of the 1960s and

Police in marked patrol cars picked up youths but never recorded their arrests. Instead they turned them over to specialized interrogation and torture squads working at the police academy itself, according to the indictment, and they were later killed and their bodies disposed of.

While individual groups of corrupt cops have been known to turn youths over to drug cartels in several areas of Mexico, the Veracruz state case is notable for the rank of those accused: the former head of state security and the leaders of at least two police divisions have been charged, suggesting that the disappearances were state policy under the former governor Javier Duarte, who is in jail facing corruption charges.

“This is the first time they have charged people in significant numbers and of significant rank and demonstrated that there was an organized, structured governmental apparatus that had an agreed-on, systemic method to carry out a policy of disappearing people,” said Juan Carlos Gutiérrez, a lawyer who specializes in human rights cases.

“The groundbreaking thing is that prosecutors built a case by demonstrating there was a whole governmental structure that was designed to disappear people,” he said.

[READ MORE]

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