Category: Breaking News

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issued the waiver of federal laws on Tuesday, saying it’s an “area of high illegal entry” and that replacing the outdated barrier is a high priority.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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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U.S. warns citizens about traveling to Cancun

(BLOOMBERG) — The U.S. State Department warned its citizens about traveling to parts of Mexico including Cancun and Playa del Carmen, as homicides rise at resorts popular with American tourists.

The advisory issued on Tuesday upgraded the warnings for two states, Quintana Roo and Baja California Sur, saying turf wars between crime gangs have led to a surge in violence. The only warning for Quintana Roo in a December statement was about lack of cellular and Internet service in some areas.

The expanded travel advisory hits at the heart of a tourism industry that brings in $20 billion a year for Mexico. The state of Quintana Roo, where the resorts of Tulum and Cozumel are also located, gets 10 million tourists a year, a third of the national total. The warnings come as homicides in Mexico are set to rise to their highest since at least the turn of the century. Quintana Roo alone has seen 169 murders this year.

“Shooting incidents, in which innocent bystanders have been injured or killed, have occurred” in both states, the U.S. warned. “While most of these homicides appeared to be targeted criminal organization assassinations, turf battles between criminal groups have resulted in violent crime in areas frequented by U.S. citizens.”

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Mexico captures Cancun Drug cartel boss

(OCCRP) — Mexican police arrested a woman suspected to be the leader of an organized crime group operating in the tourist resort areas of Cancun and Playa del Carmen, media reported Friday.

Leticia Rodriguez Lara, 48, known as “Dona Lety” or “La 40” is accused of running an independent criminal organization in Cancun that is affiliated with factions of the Sinaloa, Gulf, and Los Zetas cartels.

Her gang was involved in drug sales, extortion of bars and restaurants in Cancun and Playa del Carmen, and attacked those who refused to pay the fees demanded, according to Breitbart.

Dona Lety, a former federal police officer and an agent with Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office, bumped the powerful Los Zetas cartel out of the two resort cities in the last four years to start her own cartel, Mexico News Daily reported.

She did it by recruiting former members of the Zetas and Gulf cartel, as well as ex-convicts and presumably former police colleagues. Once in control of the cities, her criminal organization reigned over the sale of illegal drugs and began to expand into other illicit activities.

Dona Lety was arrested while traveling on the Puebla-Veracruz highway. She has been on Mexico’s wanted list since 2012.

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Drug traffickers use social media to spread terror near Texas border

(BREITBART) — CIUDAD VICTORIA, Tamaulipas — Cartel gunmen captured one of their rivals, tortured him, and used social media to disseminate a threatening video where they beat and behead their victim.

In the video, a group of hooded gunmen carrying various rifles stand before a kneeling, blindfolded victim and issue a short threat to the leadership of the Cartel Del Noreste faction of Los Zetas. The gunmen claimed to be part of the Vieja Escuela Zeta or the “Old School” splinter of Los Zetas.

Soon after the gunmen issue the threat, they beat their victim with their rifles and another hooded man runs in with a machete to begin hacking away at their victim’s head. The victim has been only identified as “La Conequilla” a member of the CDN operations in Ciudad Victoria. Photos and videos of the beheading were via social media. The various messages issued threats against Raul “Borrego” Gamez Moreno and Elvis “Morelos” Santiago, as well as their families living in Ciudad VIctoria.

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Cartel gunmen burn corpses of rivals near factories at Texas border

(BREITBART) — REYNOSA, Tamaulipas — Cartel gunmen incinerated three of their suspected rivals in an ongoing war for the past three months that led to more than 137 confirmed deaths in this border city. The bodies were found near one of the many industrial parks–it remains unclear if the victims were alive when torched.

Authorities discovered the three bodies on a dirt road known as Brecha E99, where Tamaulipas investigators gathered evidence and photographs of the remains. The scene was near the Reynosa Industrial Park, a manufacturing complex that houses numerous international factories.

The factories that surround Reynosa provide thousands of jobs for the area. Most of those facilities manufacture parts or assemble products that are then crossed into the U.S. for international commerce. While not directly targeted, many of the plants have experienced issues with cartel operations, such as gun battles and finished product theft.

While authorities have not identified the victims, law enforcement sources revealed to Breitbart Texas that the victims are likely cartel members from one faction caught by rivals. Since May, two factions of the Gulf Cartel have been at war over control of the city’s lucrative drug distribution and trafficking areas, Breitbart Texas reported. The fighting causes almost daily gun battles, kidnappings, and executions that have killed more than 137 individuals–including innocent bystanders and law enforcement.

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Gulf Cartel training camp discovered near Texas border

(BREITBART) — MATAMOROS, Tamaulipas — Mexico’s Gulf Cartel managed to build a training camp in this border city with guard towers, walls, drill areas, and a garage for outfitting vehicles with armor plating.

The camp was discovered by the Mexican Army during an enforcement operation in the rural areas southwest of Matamoros. Military personnel received anonymous information about a cartel camp and carried out a series of efforts to locate the training facility, information provided to Breitbart Texas by the Mexican Army revealed. Matamoros is a border city immediately south of Brownsville, Texas.

Cartel forces in Matamoros set up a series of blockades throughout the city to keep soldiers from reaching the camp. By the time that the Mexican army reached the walled facility, cartel gunmen managed to flee leaving behind weapons, tactical gear, armored vehicles, and other items.

The compound was surrounded by a wall and had a concrete guard tower used by lookouts to warn about any approaching rival forces. Inside, authorities found multiple structures including garages, workshops, and target ranges.

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