Category: Breaking News

August 23rd, 2017 Breaking News Comments Off on U.S. warns citizens about traveling to Cancun

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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August 15th, 2017 Breaking News Comments Off on Mexico captures Cancun Drug cartel boss

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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August 15th, 2017 Breaking News Comments Off on Drug traffickers use social media to spread terror near Texas border

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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August 15th, 2017 Breaking News Comments Off on Cartel gunmen burn corpses of rivals near factories at Texas border

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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August 15th, 2017 Breaking News Comments Off on Gulf Cartel training camp discovered near Texas border

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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August 15th, 2017 Breaking News Comments Off on At least 4 people shot, killed in Mexican resort of Acapulco

At least 4 people shot, killed in Mexican resort of Acapulco

(MY SAN ANTONIO) — At least four people have been shot and killed in the Pacific resort of Acapulco, which has become a hotspot in Mexico’s rising drug violence.

An Associated Press journalist saw the four bodies, including a man who lay on a central avenue in Acapulco in broad daylight Sunday with a pink towel over his face. Pedestrians watched from a footbridge as police secured the scene.

The deaths came as Mexico’s violence reached new heights with 2,234 murders in June, the country’s deadliest month in at least 20 years, according to government data.

For the first six months of 2017, authorities nationwide recorded 12,155 homicide investigations, or 31 percent more than the 9,300 during the same period last year.

The once-glamorous resort of Acapulco has struggled with surging violence.

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July 25th, 2017 Breaking News Comments Off on Mexican cartel extermination field found near UNESCO site

Mexican cartel extermination field found near UNESCO site

(BREITBART) — GOMEZ FARIAS, Tamaulipas — Human rights activists searching for cartel victims found an extermination field used by Los Zetas to bury and incinerate at least 500 near a UNESCO-protected ecological biosphere.

The extermination field was found in the southeastern part of Tamaulipas in the rural community of Alfredo Bonfil. The area is close to El Cielo Biosphere, a protected ecological site known as Mexico’s northernmost tropical forest and cloud forest region.

Breitbart Texas was able to confirm through Mexican court documents that Los Zetas members confessed to operating multiple incineration sites throughout the border state.

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July 23rd, 2017 Breaking News Comments Off on 10 die in immigrant-smuggling attempt in sweltering truck

10 die in immigrant-smuggling attempt in sweltering truck

(CBS-DFW) SAN ANTONIO — At least 10 people died after being crammed into the back of a sweltering tractor-trailer found parked outside a Walmart in the midsummer Texas heat, authorities said Sunday in what they described as an immigrant-smuggling attempt gone wrong.

The driver was arrested, and nearly 20 others rescued from the rig were hospitalized in dire condition, many with extreme dehydration and heatstroke, officials said.

Authorities were called to the parking lot late Saturday night or early Sunday and found eight dead inside the 18-wheeler. Two more victims died at the hospital, Thomas Homan, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

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July 23rd, 2017 Breaking News Comments Off on Mexican border state again braces for protracted cartel violence

Mexican border state again braces for protracted cartel violence

(BREITBART) — by Robert Arce

Residents in the border state of Sonora are bracing for another wave of violence as factions of the Sinaloa and Beltran Leyva Cartels continue fighting for control of lucrative drug smuggling territories.

For months, the Sinaloa Cartel faction called Los Salazar have been fighting with rivals in the Beltran Leyva Cartel, previously led by Trinidad “Chapo Trini” Olivas Valenzuela. The fighting has focused in the municipality of Cajeme and particularly in the border city Obregon.

This month, Olivas Valenzuela was gunned down in the coastal state of Jalisco as he ate near a food truck.

In the days leading up to the murder of El Chapo Trini, the municipality of Cajeme saw a series of warnings disseminated through social media to residents about impending violence. The message warned locals to avoid being outside after 6 p.m. because they could come upon a shootout. The message was allegedly signed by two commanders with the Los Salazars identifying themselves only as El 75 and El Pirata.

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July 23rd, 2017 Breaking News Comments Off on Narco-terror: Mexican cartel begins using IEDs

Narco-terror: Mexican cartel begins using IEDs

(BREITBART) — by Ildefonso Ortiz and Brandon Darby

Mexican intelligence services are sounding the alarm about one of Mexico’s most violent cartels turning to the use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) as part of their terrorist-style tactics.

A leaked report from Mexico’s intelligence service CISEN revealed the ruthless Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG) has turned to the recruitment of former terrorists from Colombia and their use of explosives and tactics, Mexico’s Excelsior reported.

The terrorist turned cartel mercenaries come from the far left terrorist organization once known as Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia or FARC. Since FARC and the Colombian government reached a cease fire, former guerrilla fighters made their way to Mexico and turned into cartel mercenaries where criminal organizations are actively seeking trained enforcers.

The intelligence report warns Mexican military and law enforcement forces to change their tactics when dealing with the CJNG to counter the terrorist tactics used by the FARC. One of the tactics that CISEN warns about in particular is the use of a particular type of improvised explosive device or IED commonly called a potato or “papa” for their unique shape.

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