Category: Breaking News

October 5th, 2017 Breaking News Comments Off on Mexican border state cops capture 10 cartel gunmen sent to terrorize region

Mexican border state cops capture 10 cartel gunmen sent to terrorize region

(BREITBART) — PIEDRAS NEGRAS, Coahuila — State and local authorities arrested 10 gunmen from a drug cartel in Tamaulipas who were looking to sneak into this border city under orders to spread terror in the region.

The recent arrest took place after a shootout where the 10 gunmen clashed with state and local police officers, law enforcement sources revealed to Breitbart Texas. No casualties were reported in the shootout which began when local police officers responded to the Central neighborhood, after receiving information about “suspicious” individuals there.

When cops arrived, they were met with gunfire–forcing the officers to call for backup. A detachment of Fuerza Coahuila officers and local cops responded, leading the gunmen to surrender before any injuries or deaths were reported.

Law enforcement sources revealed to Breitbart Texas that during questioning, the gunmen claimed they were from Tamaulipas to join the Zetas Vieja Escuela. The group slipped into Piedras Negras with the intent to carry out attacks to destabilize the area and maintain armed conflict with Cartel Del Noreste. [READ MORE]

October 5th, 2017 Breaking News Comments Off on Mexican cartel targets SUV drivers for carjackings near Texas border

Mexican cartel targets SUV drivers for carjackings near Texas border

(BREITBART) — REYNOSA, Tamaulipas — Gun battles, carjackings, and kidnappings continue to take place every day in this border city as two rival factions of the Gulf Cartel continue to fight for control.

In recent days, cartel gunmen targeted average citizens for daylight carjackings in their efforts to steal four-door SUVs. The teams of cartel gunmen stole trucks at gunpoint near the Anzalduas International Bridge, near the city’s downtown area.

Mexican law enforcement sources consulted by Breitbart Texas revealed that SUVs are a favored by cartel gunmen due to powerful engines; high clearances for dirt roads; and the four doors allow each gunman the ability to shoot in and out of the vehicle with relative ease. SUVs are used in large-scale gun battles along rural dirt roads or in the main city streets when rival cartel factions clash.

Mexican law enforcement officials have been targeting these convoys, many times finding them and clashing with them before the rival cartel factions meet. This has led to a large number of shootouts between law enforcement and cartel gunmen.

[READ MORE]

October 5th, 2017 Breaking News Comments Off on Cartel kidnaps, incinerates Mexican border congresswoman’s son

Cartel kidnaps, incinerates Mexican border congresswoman’s son

(BREITBART) — MONTERREY, Nuevo Leon — A group of gunmen presumably with the Gulf Cartel kidnapped and incinerated the son of a former Mexican congresswoman from this border state.

A possible debt with the cartel appears to have been the reason for the kidnapping and murder. Law enforcement sources in Nuevo Leon revealed to Breitbart Texas that the case began when police officers in the town of Santa Catarina received a call about an incinerated man left in a rural field along the highway to Saltillo.

When authorities arrived, they discovered the body of 38-year-old Victor Ibarra Martinez–who has been identified in a preliminary fashion as the son of the former congresswoman Margarita Martinez. Authorities were not able to formally identify the body since the remains were badly burned. Nuevo Leon law enforcement sources revealed to Breitbart Texas that Ibarra Martinez was considered kidnapped since September 26.

[READ MORE]

September 27th, 2017 Breaking News Comments Off on Gulf Cartel’s top boss pleads guilty in U.S. court

Gulf Cartel’s top boss pleads guilty in U.S. court

(BREITBART) — by Ildefonso Ortiz and Brandon Darby

BROWNSVILLE, Texas — The man who once had full command of the Gulf Cartel during its heyday pleaded guilty to drug conspiracy and charges of assaulting a federal officer.

Jorge “El Coss” Costilla Sanchez went before U.S. Magistrate Judge Ronald Morgan and entered a guilty plea to one drug conspiracy charge and two separate counts of assault on a federal officer.

From 2003 until his arrest in 2012, Costilla controlled the criminal organization known as the Gulf Cartel (CDG). According to the U.S. District Attorney’s Office, since the 1990’s the Gulf Cartel has been Mexico’s leading drug trafficking and money laundering organization in the northern part of Tamaulipas.

Costilla inherited the command of the Gulf Cartel from its previous leader, Osiel Cardenas Guillen, who is currently serving a 25-year sentence in a U.S. prison. Cardenas was arrested in 2003 and extradited to Texas in 2007.

According to prosecutors, Costilla-Sanchez was responsible for making strategic decisions and trying to manage the various factions of the Gulf Cartel, including Los Zetas who eventually broke away. Beginning in 1998, Costilla helped the Gulf Cartel move tons of cocaine and marijuana into the country through the international bridges in Hidalgo and Cameron County, as well as through the waters of the Rio Grande and through the Gulf of Mexico into the Texas coast.

[READ MORE]

September 15th, 2017 Breaking News Comments Off on Cartel gunmen attack funeral procession in Mexican border state

Cartel gunmen attack funeral procession in Mexican border state

(BREITBART) — CIUDAD VICTORIA, Tamaulipas — The raging cartel violence that continues to envelop this border state took an odd turn when gunmen killed two underage brothers and an adult woman who were taking part in the funeral procession of a recently murdered cartel member.

The multiple homicides took place south of this city along the highway that connects with the rural community of Soto La Marina.

Those attacked were taking part in the funeral procession of 20-year-old Jose Ramon Sandoval Garcia who was murdered in his home last week. Jose Ramon was linked to one of the cartels that operate in the city and was believed to have carried out local extortions. During the funeral procession, a team of rival cartel gunmen riding in various SUVs pulled up next to the procession and opened fire.

When the attack took place, the two 13-year-old brothers, Adolfo and Angel Ramizez Avalos, were struck by multiple bullets as they rode in the back of an older Ford F-150.

The sudden attack sent others fleeing in a panic as they attempted to avoid being shot by automatic bursts of gunfire. On the side of the road next to a barb wire fence, authorities located the body of the unidentified woman who appears to have been hit by a stray bullet and collapsed.

One of those in attendance rushed to a local gas station to call for help, asking for the military and the red cross to respond. By the time emergency personnel arrived, the two teenagers had died. Paramedics were able to tend to another teen named Cristian Azael Perez Torres, shot twice in the groin area and was rushed to the local children’s hospital in critical condition.

[READ MORE]

September 14th, 2017 Breaking News Comments Off on Trump administration fast-tracks replacement of California border wall section

Trump administration fast-tracks replacement of California border wall section

(USA TODAY) — President Donald Trump’s administration is waiving a list of laws and regulations to speed up the construction of a two-mile segment of border wall in Calexico, replacing a stretch of wall that was built in the 1990s.

The Department of Homeland Security issued the waiver of federal laws on Tuesday, saying it’s an “area of high illegal entry” and that replacing the outdated barrier is a high priority.

The department said in a notice published in the Federal Register that the existing 14-foot fencing will be replaced with an 18-to-25-foot barrier “that employs a more operationally effective design.”

The Trump administration is waiving 28 federal laws, ranging from the Clean Air Act to the National Environmental Policy Act, to expedite the project.

That decision prompted criticism from the Sierra Club, which said rolling back safeguards that protect public health and the environment is wrong.

“People in Calexico now are being denied the protections afforded to them by really important laws such as the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act,” said Dan Millis, a campaign organizer for the Sierra Club’s Grand Canyon Chapter in Tucson, Ariz. “Somehow it’s OK for the people in Calexico to be excluded from these protections?”

Millis said it’s irresponsible for the Trump administration to “ignore this nation’s most effective laws to deliver an extremist agenda.”

The administration has similarly waived 37 laws and regulations to build prototypes of Trump’s planned border wall and replace existing infrastructure along a 15-mile stretch of the border near San Diego.

[READ MORE]

September 14th, 2017 Breaking News Comments Off on Narco-terror in southern Mexico — 19 dead in 3 days

Narco-terror in southern Mexico — 19 dead in 3 days

(BREITBART) — MORELIA, Michoacan — Narco-terror is spreading over the rural area of the state now known as “Tierra Caliente” or “hot lands.” In three days, cartel gunmen have murdered 19 victims — 14 of those victims were beheaded and dismembered. Authorities in Michoacan tried to diminish the raging violence by claiming the murders are isolated incidents.

The violence began over the weekend when suspected members of the Nueva Familia Michoacana (New Michoacan Family) kidnapped and murdered Alonzo “Papas” Renteria Andrade. The murder victim is the brother of the now jailed kingpin, Ignacio “Cenizo” Renteria Andrade. In his time, El Cenizo served as one of the top leaders of the Knight’s Templars Cartel. As Breitbart Texas reported, authorities arrested El Cenizo earlier this year in Michoacan.

After the execution of El Papas, cartel members unleashed a wave of violence in the region leaving 19 casualties in their wake. The assassins dismembered 14 of their victims’ bodies. Intelligence sources revealed to Breitbart Texas that the violence is tied to a new war between the Nueva Familia Michoacana and Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG). The CJNG cartel is the group El Papas joined forces with.

According to neighbors who witnessed El Papas kidnapping, multiple SUV’s with gunmen dressed in military style uniforms rolled into the town of Las Yeguas. When they arrived, the gunmen surrounded a house where Renteria and two of his bodyguards had been hiding. Neither Renteria nor his two guards, Miguel Angel Lopez and Gaspar Solorio, put up any resistance when the gunmen showed up because they mistook them for Mexican authorities.

[READ MORE]

September 5th, 2017 Breaking News Comments Off on Authorities discover cartel mass grave near Texas

Authorities discover cartel mass grave near Texas

(BREITBART) — RIO BRAVO, Tamaulipas — The horrors of the cartel war in this border city have once again been revealed with the discovery of a new mass grave.

The find comes at a time when rival groups from the Gulf Cartel wage war for control of the region–leading to more than 158 deaths through gun battles, executions, and disappearances in Reynosa.

In an exclusive fashion, Breitbart Texas is able to confirm with law enforcement sources the discovery of a clandestine mass grave in a field near the intersection of dirt roads (brecha) 121 with 6 North in Rio Bravo.

Authorities discovered a shallow grave containing various nude bodies. The corpses had clear signs of torture, but were not in advanced stages of decomposition.

[READ MORE]

August 23rd, 2017 Breaking News Comments Off on Cartel gunmen kill 10th Mexican journalist in 6 months

Cartel gunmen kill 10th Mexican journalist in 6 months

(BREITBART) — by Ildefonso Ortiz and Brandon Darby

Authorities confirmed the murder of yet another Mexican journalist, marking 10 unsolved cases by suspected cartel gunmen in six months.

This week, yet unidentified gunmen shot and killed Mexican journalist Candido Rios Vasquez, a veteran crime beat reporter for the local newspaper Diario de Acayucan in the town of Covarrubias, Veracruz, Mexico’s Proceso reported. The murdered journalist was an outspoken critic of the Mexican government, its corruption, and repressive tactics.

At the time of the murder, Rios Vasquez was standing outside a local convenience store with former local police commander Victor Alegria and another man who has not been identified. A group of gunmen drove by the shop and opened fire, killing the unknown man and former cop. Rios Vasquez was seriously injured and died en route to a local hospital.

Despite the many assurances made by governments at the federal and state level, 2017 is one of the deadliest years for Mexico. The murders reached some of the once untouched tourist destinations and silenced Mexican journalists. In a span of five months, cartel gunmen murdered nine other journalists, Breitbart Texas reported.

Human rights activists and journalists previously called out the Mexican government for their inaction in addressing the impunity with which reporters are murdered, Breitbart Texas noted. Mexican authorities have not solved any of the 10 cases and are largely ineffective in addressing the multiple threats and attempts by cartel members.

Late last month, gunmen shot and killed veteran reporter Luciano Rivera at a bar in the resort town of Rosarito, Baja California. Rivera was a journalist with the local news outlet CNR TV.

[READ MORE]

August 23rd, 2017 Breaking News Comments Off on Trump threatens government shutdown over border wall funding

Trump threatens government shutdown over border wall funding

(BLOOMBERG) — President Donald Trump threatened Tuesday to bring the U.S. government to the brink of a shutdown if needed to pressure Congress into funding the border wall that was a centerpiece of his 2016 campaign.

Delivering a warning to Democratic lawmakers who have objected to his plans to construct a wall along the U.S.-Mexico frontier, Trump called them “obstructionists” and said that it was time for the U.S. to crack down on illegal immigration.

“If we have to close down our government, we’re building that wall,” Trump told thousands of supporters gathered in Phoenix for a campaign-style rally. “One way or the other, we’re going to get that wall.”

Trump’s threats about shutting down the government and ending the North American Free Trade Agreement caused U.S. stock-index futures to pare gains and drop as much as 0.3 percent. Dow futures were down 0.2 percent as were E-Mini Nasdaq 100 futures.

[READ MORE]

This template is sponsored by Corporate Headquarters, which is featured on Herald Online, KCEN, and WNEM