Operativo por Clinton

Secreatry of State Clinton travelled to Mexico for bilateral discussions on anti-drug cartel actions. Needless to say, securityu was exceedingly tight. Travelling with her were Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano, Secretary of Defense Gates, Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Mullen and Director of national intelligence Blair.Both the NY Times and El Universal had stories on the trip; clearly for Mexico it was a much more important deal. The Mexican media outlet had video reports, pictures, and stories. One picture caught my eye.

ANALIZAN LUCHA ANTINARCO

La reunión que encabezan la canciller Patricia Espinosa y la secretaria de Estado de EU, Hillary Clinton, tiene como fin revisar la estrategia conjunta contra el crimen organizado | Ver nota (Foto: NTX)mex

Detienen a jefe de sicarios de El Muletas

GOLPE.Soky Martínez tenía la encomienda de realizar levantones, secuestros, ejecuciones y agresiones en contra de las corporaciones policiacas

Detienen a jefe de sicarios de El Muletas

Héctor Rodrigo Soky asumió el control de una célula criminal de Raydel López Uriarte El Muletas, a quien se ubica a su vez como jefe de sicarios de Teodoro García Simental El Teo

Julieta Martínez / Corresponsal - El Universal
TIJUANA, BC Martes 19 de enero de 2010 

Elementos del Ejército Mexicano detuvieron a tres individuos, entre ellos una mujer y un ex-policía identificado extraoficialmente como antiguo escolta de periodistas e integrante de una célula criminal al servicio de Teodoro García Simental, alias "El Teo" o "El Tres Letras".

Elements if the Mexican Army arrested three individuals, among them a woman and an ex-police officer unofficially identified as an old escort (guard) of journalists and member of a criminal cell at the service of "El Teo." [who was arrested last week, or so.]

En el domicilio donde se les detuvo se encontró el cadáver de una persona en una tina de baño, armas largas y mariguana, además se les identificó como responsables de agresiones contra policías, la ejecución de personas, secuestros y levantones.

In the house where theu were arrested a body was found in a bathtub, rifles and marijuana; they were also identified as responsible of attacks against police, executions, kidnappings and ?

La Secretaria de la Defensa Nacional identificó a este individuo como Héctor Rodrigo Soky Martínez, originario de Tijuana. Versiones extraoficiales lo ubicaron como ex-escolta de uno de los hijos del periodista Jesús Blancornelas, director del periódico Zeta de Tijuana.


De acuerdo con información oficial, Soky Martínez asumió el control de una célula criminal de Raydel López Uriarte "El Muletas", a quien se ubica como jefe de sicarios de Teodoro García Simental, enlace del cártel de Sinaloa en Tijuana.

El Ejército mexicano confirmó que este hombre ascendió en la estructura delictiva de "El Teo" como jefe de sicarios de "El Muletas" a raíz de las detenciones de Moisés Ruiz Flores "El Cabezón"; Édgar Zúñiga Nuño "El Mono" y José Manuel Gómez Bastida "El Chocho", todas en noviembre del 2009.

Tras el arresto de éste último individuo, Soky Martínez, alias "Diego" o "Adán", asumió el cargo, y junto con ello la encomienda de realizar levantones, secuestros, ejecuciones y agresiones en contra de las corporaciones policiacas.

El detenido se encontraba en un domicilio de la colonia Ex-Ejido Mariano Matamoros, delegación La Presa, junto con una mujer identificada como Mónica Paniagua Parra, de 20 años y Guillermo Aurelio Mendívil Ríos, de 30 años, ambos originarios de Tijuana.

Tenían en su poder 43 paquetes de mariguana que daban un peso de 117.1 kilogramos, tres armas largas y una corta. Además, los militares encontraron un cadáver en una tina de baño en el domicilio donde realizaron la detención.

La Secretaría de la Defensa Nacional identificó a esta célula criminal como responsable de varios secuestros, el más reciente registrado el 12 de enero contra una estudiante universitaria.

Top Mexican Drug Lord Killed in Shootout

Miguel Tovar/Associated Press - Soldiers in Mexico City Thursday escorted an unidentified man arrested in the Cuernavaca raid.

He might have well been unidentified, but take a look at his face. He certainly has been injured, whether in the fight or when arrested.

Mexican Navy special forces killed one of the country's top drug kingpins in a shootout in the central city of Cuernavaca, notching an important victory in President Felipe Calderón's three-year-old clampdown on narcotics trafficking.

The death of Arturo Beltrán Leyva, who called himself "The Boss of Bosses" and was one of Mexico's three most-wanted drug lords, came after a four-hour battle Wednesday evening at a condominium complex in Cuernavaca, a retirement destination for Americans and weekend getaway for Mexico City residents.

Leyva was an ally of hiw now-biggest rival, Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, Mexico's most wanted man. The death of Mr. Beltrán Leyva is seen as likely to strengthen the hand of Mr. Guzmán. Which begs the question, of course, of who fingered Leyva?

Another question: why the Navy? In Cuernavaca? Sailors?

* The Drug Lord Who Got Away (6/13/09)

View Slideshow



















Key dates in the fight: View Interactive

Amid Rising Violence, Mexicans Fight Back

A soldier guards policemen from the town of García who were detained after the shooting of the police chief on Wednesday
View Interactive


in the northern town of García, near the industrial hub of Monterrey in Nuevo León state, the town's new police chief, retired Brig. Gen. Juan Arturo Esparza, was gunned down in an attack by some 30 assailants believed to be working for a drug cartel. Five of his bodyguards also died.

Mr. Esparza was responding to a call for help from García's mayor, who told the police chief that five vehicles with heavily armed men had just sprayed his house with bullets. Mr. Esparza had just taken over as police chief on Oct. 31. He is one of scores of military men taking over policing duties across Mexico because of police corruption. On Thursday, Mexican soldiers entered the town and held some 60 policemen for questioning about the killings, stripping the police of their weapons.


Mexico's war on drugs took a grim twist this week, as a prominent mayor said he had created an undercover group of operatives to "clean up" criminal elements -- even if it had to act outside the law. Underscoring why the mayor may have felt compelled to take such steps, the new police chief in a neighboring town, a retired brigadier general, was shot and killed Wednesday, four days after taking up his post.





Mauricio Fernández, mayor of San Pedro Garza García, said this week he had created a special group to 'clean up' criminal elements in the municipality


"We're tired of sitting around on our hands and waiting for daddy or mommy Calderón to come to fix our fights. We in San Pedro took the decision to grab the bull by the horns," Mr. Fernández said in a radio interview. "Even acting outside the limits of my role as mayor, I will end the kidnappings, extortions and drug trafficking. We are going to do this by whatever means, fair or foul."

Asked if his new squad would operate outside the law, Mr. Fernández said: "In some ways, that's right. What the criminals want is that they can break every law, but that we have to respect every law. Well, I don't get that."

The comments ignited a firestorm. Analysts say that as local and federal officials in Mexico struggle to fight the cartels, they could be tempted to follow in the footsteps of Colombia, where paramilitary gangs and death squads killed thousands of suspected leftists, criminals, and drug traffickers in the late 1990s and early part of this decade.

"This is where we've come in our war on drugs," says Leo Zuckerman, a political analyst in Mexico City. "A mayor justifies, brags, and celebrates that he has carried out justice by his own hands, outside the judicial institutions. This is bad news for those of us who believe that a civilized society is one where criminals get due process."

Interior Minister Fernando Gómez Mont on Thursday criticized the statements by Mr. Fernández, who previously served as a federal senator in Mr. Calderon's conservative PAN party. "The Mexican state, in its different levels, can't act above or beyond the law. Whoever does so is ... a lawbreaker, and we can't accept using criminals to resolve the problem of crime." The Mexican attorney general's office, which could investigate the killings of the four men, said it had no comment.

Threat on Calderón

This item appeared today in El Universal, Mexico.

AMENAZA. La Policía Federal presentó a cinco integrantes del cártel del Pacífico, entre ellos, Dimas Díaz Ramos (i), presunto operador financiero y encargado de planear un atentado contra el presidente Felipe Calderón

THREAT, Federal Police presented 5 members of Pacific Cartel, among them Dimas Díaz Ramos (l), assumed financial operator and in charge of planning an attack against President Felipe Calderón.

A filmed report alludes to the Sinaloa Cartel

Cae sicario que planeaba ataque contra el Presidente

Assassin that planned attack on the President falls

Presenta la Secretaría de Seguridad Pública federal a Dimas Díaz Ramos, presunto operador financiero del cártel del Pacífico, quien preparaba el atentado al Presidente

The Department of Public Safety presented Dimas Díaz Ramos, presumed financial chief of the Pacific Cartel, who prepared an attack on the President

La Secretaría de Seguridad Pública federal detuvo y presentó a Dimas Díaz Ramos, presunto operador financiero del cártel del Pacífico, a quien, reportó, se le había encargado planear un atentado en contra del presidente Felipe Calderón.

El jefe de la sección III de la Policía Federal, Ramón Eduardo Pequeño García, dio a conocer que en este caso la investigación inició hace un año "por una amenaza en contra del Presidente de la República a raíz de la guerra declarada en contra del crimen organizado, luego de una serie de detenciones y aseguramiento de grandes cantidades de dinero en efectivo a la organización del El Mayo Zambada".

The case arose from an investigation started a year ago from "a threat against the President rooted in the decalred war against organized crime, following a series of arrests and something about large quantities of cash from the organization of El Mayo Zambada.

El funcionario dijo que derivado de los reportes de inteligencia del gobierno federal "tuvo conocimiento que la amenaza fue realizada por el cártel del Pacífico encomendando a Dimas Díaz Ramos los pormenores para un posible atentado".

El Dimas o El Seis, como también se le conoce a este presunto delincuente, fue detenido ayer en Culiacán, Sinaloa. Las líneas de investigación que maneja la Policía Federal señalan que Dimas Díaz era el encargado de realizar parte del recibo de drogas siguiendo la ruta que abarcan los estados de Michoacán, Colima, Nayarit, Sinaloa, Baja California sur, Baja California, Sonora, hasta llegar as las ciudades fronterizas de Mexicali, Baja California y San Luis Río Colorado en Sonora.

Como parte de la estrategia del área que comandaba el dimas en el cártel del Pacífico, estaba la transportación de cargamentos de mariguana ocultos en los neumáticos de traileres y camiones con cargas de aguacate y chile.

La droga la cargaba en Michoacán, en la Sierra de Bariguarato, en Sinaloa, así como en Tamazula, Durango.

Díaz Ramos, de acuerdo con la información proporcionada por la Policía Federal, también comercializaba ice y cocaína.

La información recabada por la policía, informó el encargado del área antidrogas, Ramón Eduardo Pequeño García, les permite establecer que después de la muerte de José Lamberto Verdugo Calderón, operador financiero del cártel del Pacífico, registrada el 22 de enero de este año, Dimas asumió parte de esta tarea en la organización.

La SSP informó que junto con El Dimas o El Seis fueron detenidos otros cuatro hombres, todos originarios de Culiacán, Sinaloa, que presuntamente trabajaban bajo sus órdenes: Miguel Ángel Bagglietto Meraz, alias Ángel, de 34 años; Joel González Esparza, Raspu, de 26; Benni Jassiel Ramírez Ramírez, El Brother, de 19; y Jesús Aarón Acosta Montero, El Tarrayas, de 36.

Increased U.S. Military Presence in Colombia Could Pose Problems With Neighbors

A plan to increase the American military presence on at least three military bases in Colombia, Washington’s top ally in Latin America, is accentuating Colombia’s already tense relations with some of its neighbors.

Purpose?

Venezuela, Ecuador and Nicaragua, which are members of a leftist political alliance that is led by President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela and backed by his nation’s oil revenues, have all criticized the plan, saying it would broaden the military reach of the United States in the Andes and the Caribbean at a time when they are still wary of American influence in the region.

The usual suspects.

Despite a slight improvement in Venezuela’s relations with the United States in recent months, Mr. Chávez has been especially vocal in lashing out at the plan. Speaking on state television here Monday night, he put Venezuela’s diplomatic ties with Colombia under review, calling the plan a platform for “new aggression against us.”

This from the man who threatens Honduras with punishment.

The United States has been negotiating the increase of military operations in Colombia in recent weeks, faced with Ecuador’s decision to end a decade-long agreement allowing E-3 AWACs and P-3 Orion surveillance planes to operate from the Manta Air Base on Ecuador’s Pacific Coast.

Purpose.

Colombia, which has already received more than $5 billion in military and antidrug aid from the United States this decade, has found itself isolated diplomatically as Mr. Chávez presses ahead with his efforts to expand Venezuela’s oil diplomacy while eroding American influence in the hemisphere.

Other countries chafe at Colombia for different reasons. Colombia’s diplomatic relations with Ecuador have soured since Colombian forces carried out a raid on a Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, rebel camp on Ecuadoran territory last year. A festering boundary dispute with Nicaragua has also made for tensions between Colombia and Nicaragua’s president, Daniel Ortega, an ally of Mr. Chávez.

Isolated? These three are hardly favorites of any country.

But with Venezuela itself, Colombia remains locked in a complex game of interdependence. Its sales of manufactured and agricultural goods to Venezuela remain resilient despite Mr. Chávez’s occasional outbursts directed at his ideological opposite, Colombia’s president, Álvaro Uribe. And faced with disarray in its oil industry, Venezuela relies on imports of Colombian natural gas, narrowing the possibility of a severe deterioration in ties between the two countries despite their sharply different views of cooperation with the United States.

All bluster; anti-imperialist bluster, but simply bluster.

La Tuta

Sobrino de La Tuta, detenido en Guanajuato - Entre los capturados el pasado martes en la entidad se encontraba Francisco Javier Sotelo Barrera El Pancho, sobrino de Servando Gómez Martínez, identificado como uno de los máximos jefes de La Familia Michoacana

Guanajuato authorities announced that among those arrested on Tuesday was Francisco Javier Sotelo Barrera, known as El Pancho, 18 years old, who is a nephew of Servando Gómez Martínez (La Tuta), identified as one of the biggest, or highest, chiefs, bosses, of the cartel La Familia Michoacana.

La Tuta proposed a dialog to President Felipe Calderón, aimed at reaching a national pact, and demanded respect for his family: “cuando nos respeten a nosotros, los vamos a respetar”. "When they respect us, we will respect them."


La Tuta made these 15 postulates (assertions):

• Queremos que el señor Presidente de la República, el señor Felipe Calderón, sepa que no somos sus enemigos, nosotros lo estimamos al señor
• We are not the President's enemies, and we respect him
  
• Nosotros, nuestro pleito única y exclusivamente es con la Policía Federal Preventiva y la SIEDO porque están atacando a nuestras familias. Ellos vienen y fabrican culpables, se están llevando gente inocente en todo el estado de Michoacán se llevan gente inocente y están haciendo lo indebido
• Our only quarrel is with the Federal Police and the Assistant Secretary General's Office for Specialized Investigation of Organized Crime because they are attacking our families. They come and fabricate the guilty, are taking away innocent people all over the state of Michoacán and are being abusive
  
(Thanks to Google translate. The man is trying to divide and conquer the President of the Republic; if nothing else, he's got cojones.)

• Queremos que nos entiendan, queremos actuar con respeto. Las autoridades andan detrás de nosotros porque es su trabajo, pero también que no molesten a nuestras familias, que se dediquen a agarrarme a mí, a mis muchachos, a la gente que está, que todo mundo sabe quiénes somos
• We want to be undestood, and want to behave with respect. The authorities folow us because it is their job, but that they also bother our families, that they dedicate themselves to seize me, my lads, the people that are there, everyone knows who we are
  
• Queremos que nos escuchen, cuando ellos se dediquen completamente a actuar contra nosotros, los miembros activos, nosotros los vamos a respetar
• We want to be heard, when they dedicate themselves entirely to act against us, the active members, we are going to respect them
  
• Si alguien va a atacar a mi padre, a mi madre, a mis hermanos, por buscarme a mí, me van a encontrar pero de otra manera
• If anyoe is going to attack my father, my mother, my brothers, in searching for me, they are going to find me but in another way
  
• Nosotros respetamos al 100% al Ejército Mexicano y a la Armada de México, que están constituidos en la Constitución, ellos son emanados de la Constitución de la República Mexicana, mas sin embargo la PFP y la SIEDO son organismos, son instituciones que fomentó gente con intereses dentro de la política, de los gobiernos, de los gobiernos que están en el poder
• We respect the Mexican Army and Navy of Mexico 100%, which are consitutionally designated, however the Federal Police and SIEDO are organisms, insitutions that people inside politics, governments, people in power encouraged (formed).
  
• Yo les digo una cosa a todos los michoacanos, para empezar a los michoacanos, a todos los michoacanos los queremos y los respetamos
• Nos ligamos en Guanajuato, nos ligamos en el estado de México, nos ligamos en el estado de Guerrero, porque no queremos que Los Zetas entren a Michoacán, no queremos que vengan a afectar a nuestras familias
• Quiero que el señor Presidente de la República nos escuche, que no lo engañe Genaro García Luna
• La Familia la creamos para cuidar y salvaguardar los intereses de nuestro pueblo y nuestra familia, no queremos que nadie les falte al respeto. Nosotros, a nuestra manera de entender no le faltamos al respeto a las personas. Si están los levantones, correctamente, pero no somos secuestradores, ni matamos por paga
• Queremos respeto hacia nuestro pueblo y si por medio de nosotros han conocido algunos actos, les pedimos que nos perdonen, trataremos de corregir el error
• Ningún presidente municipal está coludido con nosotros, y menos ese señor que están pronunciando en la televisión, Julio César Godoy, sino que es un golpe político para el gobierno del Estado. Yo le pediría al señor gobernador del estado, Leonel Godoy que se fije en las declaraciones que hace y en los medios de comunicación; este señor no tiene que ver con nadie, en todo caso yo soy el encargado de Lázaro Cárdenas no se por qué nos relacionan o por qué dicen que es narco, ¿narco por qué?
• No tenemos nada en contra de ningún ciudadano, mas en contra de las personas que están apoyando a Los Zetas, de las personas que están arriando la cuerda como... a un muchachito, un muchachito que estaba en nuestra compañía y se alió con Los Zetas, que son bandidos, y se fue para allá, y este muchachito ha convencido a mucha gente, la mayoría de ellos son drogadictos
• No aparece en la televisión lo que realmente somos; la ciudadanía que esté completamente segura que no la vamos a atacar y todas las personas que quieran venir a Michoacán, nuestro deber es cuidarlas, pregunten a los ingenieros, arquitectos de qué manera los tratamos, a las compañías, con todo respeto
• ¿Cuántos Zetas no hay y están en Tamaulipas?, porqué no atacan Tamaulipas, ahí está el mal de toda la República

SIEDO: Assistant Secretary General's Office for Specialized Investigation of Organized Crime
Subprocuraduría de Investigación Especializada en Delincuencia Organizada

Mexico Governor Ensnared

Mexican policemen escort accused members of La Familia drug cartel in Leon on Wednesday; the cartel is accused of fatal attacks against federal police and Mexican soldiers.











A Mexican state governor found himself in an uncomfortable spotlight on Wednesday after police issued an arrest warrant for his half brother, a federal congressman, on charges he belongs to a dangerous local drug cartel called "La Familia."


Leonel Godoy, governor of the state of Michoacán for the leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution, said he had no idea whether his brother, Julio César Godoy Toscano, was involved in anything illegal. He also said he wouldn't resign and had nothing to hide.

"I know some people would like me to resign, but I'm not going to give them the pleasure," the governor told reporters.

A curious answer.

Late on Tuesday, Mexico's Federal Police said that Mr. Godoy Toscano, who won a seat in Mexico's Congress July 5 for the same PRD as his brother, was in charge of ensuring official protection for the cartel in several districts throughout the state, and reported directly to a major cartel boss.

Mr. Godoy Toscano, who police said was called "the Lynx" in the drug underworld, is missing and considered a fugitive, said Monte Alejandro Rubido, a national security spokesman for the federal government.

Experts say drug gangs are getting more involved in financing political campaigns for several reasons, including an attempt to blunt the crackdown on drug gangs launched by President Felipe Calderón.

U.S. Slams Caracas on Drugs

Venezuelan guards escort a man suspected of drug trafficking to a plane for deportation to Colombia in May.






Venezuela is fast becoming a major hub for cocaine trafficking in the Western Hemisphere, according to a report written by the investigative arm of the U.S. Congress. The report from the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office is sure to raise tensions between Venezuela and the U.S. at a delicate moment in the two countries' often testy relations.

Rather than hysterically attack or defend either party, I thought this following sentence interesting, all the more in having been reading Gringo (an 'anti-imperialist' tract by Chesa Boudin that I found tiring in its constant self-righteous lecturing, and put down):

The biggest problem: corruption of Venezuelan officials at all levels, according to the report. Corruption within the Venezuelan National Guard "poses the most significant threat," the report says, because the "Guard reports directly to President Chávez and controls Venezuela's airports, borders and ports." In some cases, the report says, drugs captured by the National Guard and Venezuela's Investigative Police, who are often themselves involved in drug trafficking, aren't destroyed, but are taken by the officials or returned to drug traffickers.

Boudin discussed that very concept, of Chávez constructing (perhaps erecting would be fitting) a parallel government bureaucracy that reports directly to him.

Regresa el PRI

“The PRI comes back” shouted the front page headline of the daily newspaper El Universal on Monday, the day after the political party known as the PRI swept midterm elections.

Regresa el PRI

But the story was all in the photograph, a shot of former President Carlos Salinas de Gortari as he left a voting booth. He was not running for any office, but the photograph seemed to ask why Mexicans were returning to power the party identified with Mr. Salinas, who left office 15 years ago amid political scandal and economic chaos.

Presidente Calderón's campaign to eradicate corruption and narcos has been violent, disruptive, and does not seem to have been effective (insofar as the results are not complete, and people generally wish they were now complete).

“Yes, I admit the PRI is corrupt,” said Luis Osorio, a juice vendor in Mexico City, on Monday as he discussed election news with customers stopping by his stand. “So we voted for the PAN, and they turned out to be just as corrupt. They turned everything into their personal business.”

Although Mr. Calderón is personally popular, his economic policies are not. Mexico has been buffeted especially hard by the global economic crisis, and the economy is expected to contract by as much as 8 percent this year.

So now PRI is demanding a Cabinet shuffle.

And the leader of the PAN, Germán Martínez, has resigned.




The image of the PRI outside the capital is very different from its reputation among the political and social elite in Mexico City. “If you say you’re a PRI-ista in Tamaulipas, it’s something to be proud of,” said Francisco Abundis Luna, a pollster with the firm Parametría, referring to the state of Tamaulipas, which is on the Gulf of Mexico and borders Texas.


Many voters think that PRI politicians are corrupt, Mr. Mercado said, but his polling found what he called a perverse nostalgia for the PRI’s style of corruption. The PRI tolerates a bending of the rules that allows working people, like illegal street vendors or unlicensed cabdrivers, to earn a living. [Lauro Mercado Gasca, a pollster who directs Mercaei]

“It’s perverse and antimodern, but it’s functional,” Mr. Mercado said.

It works.

The PRI will have de facto control over the lower house in an alliance with a smaller party. Mr. Calderón’s only leverage now is in the Senate, whose members were not up for election and where his party has a 40 percent plurality.

Still, many analysts warned against interpreting the election results as a broad shift of power in Mexico, noting that the PRI won only slightly more of the popular vote, about 37 percent on Sunday, than it did during the 2003 midterm elections.

The PRI also prospered from what appears to have been the near-collapse of the left-wing Party of the Democratic Revolution, or P.R.D., which was split by an internal feud. Once-solid P.R.D. territory went to the PRI.

That's interesting: PAN kept its vote percentage, and PRI picked up PRD support.

The PRI has successfully painted itself as more experienced than the PAN. Its new slogan says "Today's PRI: Proven Experience. New Attitude." But analysts said the party has done little soul-searching from its loss of the presidency, when it was widely viewed as corrupt.

Spin. It works.

"Among voters, they have credibility as a governing party that can be summed up like this: 'We might be corrupt, but we're more efficient than the other guys,'" Mr. Rubio said.

Perceptions might be summed up: everyone is corrupt, and PRI delivers.

Growing political clout from the PRI could hurt Mr. Calderón's war on drugs. Many PRI members have been ambivalent about the effort, worried about the army's growing presence in various cities. Some party insiders have also argued that cutting backroom deals with organized crime in Mexico is the best way to control violence.

Negotiate with narcocriminals; nice strategy.

Some analysts hold out hope that the PRI's victory will push it to be cooperative as it tries to convince voters that it can be trusted with the presidency. They said the PRI may even cooperate on thorny issues like tax reform to shore up the country's weakening finances.

That window, analysts say, will stay open for about a year and a half before the next election begins to pit the PAN and the PRI against each other again. Mr. Calderón won't have much time.

Two PRI candidates whose relatives or associates had links to the drugs trade, and who were the subjects of a Wall Street Journal article Friday, romped to easy victories at the polls.

Mario Anguiano Moreno won with about 53% of the vote in his race for governor in the state of Colima, while former Ciudad Juárez Mayor Héctor Murgía Lardizábal easily won his race for a seat in Mexico's national assembly -- beating his nearest rival by 30 percentage points.

Militares filtraban datos a “El Chapo”

Descubren que el cártel del Pacífico logró reclutar a 10 elementos, entre los que se encuentran subtenientes y al parecer hasta un teniente, quienes fueron detenidos y entregados a la PGR

It was discovered that the Pacific cartel recruited 10 elemenst (of the Armed Forces), among them sublieutenants, and even one lieutenant, who were detained and turned over to the Attorney General

Government hits drug cartels

Ejército decomisa avioneta y droga en Sinaloa

Servían 10 oficiales militares a “El Chapo”

Business in time of drugs

Marijuana entered a Sharp Electronics assembly plant in Rosarito, Mexico, last year via a components supplier.





U.S. Customs agents got a surprise on April 9, when they checked a trailer of an 18-wheel truck crossing into El Paso, Texas, from Mexico and found more than 9,000 pounds of marijuana hidden among auto parts bound for U.S. factories.

A startling aspect of the bust: The pot was packed into a shipment belonging to auto parts giant Delphi Corp. The Michigan-based company has operated in Mexico for decades, ranks among the country's top three private employers, and, until now, has never had an incident where drugs were found among its cargo, according to the company.

The question, of course, is how 4.5 tons of weed got inside the truck; another question is how, and where, it was to be offloaded.

A year ago, a ton and a half of marijuana entered Sharp Electronics Co.'s television assembly plant in Rosarito, a suburb of Tijuana, through a Mexican supplier delivering components, and then was transferred to an outbound trailer of widescreen TVs, according to one person familiar with the case. The drugs were detected before the trailer left the plant, according to the company. Company officials declined to offer other details, but said no Sharp employee was implicated.

Who was implicated, then?

Mexico is the U.S.'s second-largest trade partner and perennially among the top ten destinations for U.S. companies investing abroad, getting about $10 billion worth of U.S. investment last year. Most of that investment is in the north of the country -- where assembly plants known as maquiladoras import components for items like auto parts and then export the finished goods. That border region is also where the drug-related violence is worst.

Is it more than coincidence that both investment and violence are great by the border?

Besides installing GPS monitors, trucking firm Rapid Transfer Express, known as RTX, also equipped each of its 250 trucks in Mexico with "panic" buttons that drivers can activate in the event of a hijack attempt. RTX dispatchers view computer screens in the U.S. to constantly monitor trucks' progress and can shut down a truck's motor remotely at the first sign of trouble.

Impressive technology.

Drugs grab mexican political spotlight

This is just an amazing story, rich with texture and, well, interest. As Twain said, “Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn’t.”

Revelations that army troops confiscated 14.5 tons of marijuana at a warehouse belonging to the brother of a prominent Mexican senator have heightened feuding in an election season that has been shaken by claims that drug barons have infiltrated the political establishment.

Fourteen and a half tons are about thirty two thousand pounds (14.5 * 2,200 = 31, 900). A lot of weed.

Authorities said the seizure, which took place in January and was reported by the Reforma newspaper Monday, happened at a chili-drying facility owned by Cándido Monreal, the brother of Sen. Ricardo Monreal.

[Ricardo Monreal Ávila is a Mexican politician affiliated to the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD). He is a former senator, a former Governor of Zacatecas and a former member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) being closely identified during his tenure in that party with former president Carlos Salinas de Gortari. He has a BA and a PhD, states his wiki-bio. He serves in the Senate currently.]

Their brother David, the mayor of Fresnillo, where the warehouse is situated, said Tuesday that the marijuana had been "planted" by his political enemies. David Monreal is running with the left-wing Workers' Party for governor of the state, Zacatecas, in elections next year.

32 thousand pounds of anything planted? What kind of security system does the warehouse have?

Asked how it was possible to slip in tons of marijuana, Mr. Monreal said, "I think in trucks. I don't know what they used, but it's very simple for those who are in power and for delinquents to do that kind of thing."

Don't bother me with details. Perhaps in camiones. Who knows? The fact is, those in power and criminals can do such things. Er, wait un segundo, Señor Alcalde (Mr. Mayor) -- aren't you in power?

Sen. Ricardo Monreal said his family was the victim of "dirty tricks" by Zacatecas Gov. Amalia García and her daughter, Sen. Claudia Corichi, both of whom are political rivals to the Monreals among Mexico's fractured left-wing parties.

O, I see, the governor is the one in power. So, why does Fresnillo need a mayor?

Gov. García couldn't be reached to comment. Ms. Corichi said the Monreals' allegations were "a smokescreen" to cover up the marijuana bust.

The metaphors are very rich: a smokescreen. O, and, yes, it gets better. After all, this isn't fiction.

No charges have been filed in the case because the investigation is ongoing, according to the Attorney General's Office.

Touchè. Yet, there still is more.

Recent allegations against the PRI haven't come only from outside the party. Last week, former President Miguel de la Madrid of the PRI, who was in power from 1982 to 1988, said in a radio interview he regretted choosing Carlos Salinas as his successor because Mr. Salinas was corrupt and his brother Raúl had ties to drug traffickers.

From 1982 to 1988, de la Madrid, of PRI, was President. Lopez Portillo preceded him, Carlos Salinas followed.

Within hours of the broadcast, after being visited by top PRI legislators, Mr. de la Madrid issued a statement that he had misspoken because he was old and infirm. Both Salinas brothers denied the allegations.

Not quoted out of context, de la Madrid simply misspoke because he's old and sick.

The marijuana scandal isn't the first time charges of drug trafficking have affected Ricardo Monreal's career. In 1998, PRI party elders and top government officials barred him from running for governor because of allegations his brothers were involved in drug trafficking. Mr. Monreal quit the party and went on to win the governorship of Zacatecas for the leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution.

Perhaps the PRI's tent was too small for Señor Monreal.

On Monday, Mr. Monreal referred to those past allegations, which he denied: "They already tried to do this to my family 10 years ago, and are now trying to do this again."

Voilá.

Cae Beltrán Leyva operador en NL

Redacción El Universal Monterrey, Nuevo León Martes 19 de mayo de 2009

Rodolfo López Ibarra, alias ‘el Nito', quien presuntamente es el sucesor de Héctor Huerta Ríos, alias ‘La Burra' o El Junior', fue detenido junto con 12 personas más mediante tres operativos del Ejército

La Secretaría de la Defensa Nacional detuvo a 13 integrantes del Cartel de los Beltrán Leyva al momento que aterrizaron en el Aeropuerto del Norte, en Apodaca Nuevo León, procedentes de Acapulco, Guerrero. Entre los detenidos se encontraba Rodolfo López Ibarra, alias ‘el Nito', quien presuntamente era el sucesor de Héctor Huerta Ríos, alias ‘La Burra' o El Junior', apresado el 25 de marzo por ser el principal operador de dicho grupo del crimen organizado en Nuevo León. La captura del nuevo capo de la droga, quien se encargaría de "la plaza" en esta entidad y despacharía desde el municipio de San Pedro Garza García, se realizó prácticamente antes de que tomara posesión de la misma. Al momento de la detención de los 8 varones y las 5 mujeres (una de ellas menor de edad) les fueron asegurados una aeronave Cessna 550 matrícula XB-IZK, 7 armas aortas y 7 largas, 25 Cargadores, 736 cartuchos de diferentes calibres, una granada de fragmentación y 2 vehículos. Además portaban 30 mil dólares y más de 40 mil pesos, 19 kilos de mariguana, 560 gramos de cocaína, 3 computadoras Laptop, 15 radios nextel, 28 celulares de diferentes marcas y modelos, 1 radio matra, 3 radios Motorola y 6 maletas con ropa y artículos personales. También se les decomisó una manta con una leyenda donde se amenazaba al Presidente de México, Felipe Calderón. Cabe señalar que la detención de "El Nito" y sus 12 cómplices, se realizaron durante tres operativos llevados a cabo por los elementos del Ejército, uno en un domicilio de la colonia Fuentes del Valle, otro en el piso número 28 de la Torre Dataflux, en la colonia San Agustín, en San Pedro Garza García, además el del Aeropuerto del Norte, donde finalmente se capturó al capo. De acuerdo al comunicado que las fuerzas castrenses entregaron al momento de presentar a los detenidos en las instalaciones de la delegación de la Procuraduría General de la Republica, el arresto se dio gracias a una llamada anónima. Dicha comunicación telefónica alertó a los militares sobre la presencia de hombres fuertemente armados en el estacionamiento de la terminal aérea, anónimo que generó la rápida movilización de los soldados, se efectuaron las detenciones y se realizaron tres operativos, que finalmente culminaron con la captura de "El Nito". López Ibarra declaró a los elementos de la séptima zona militar que llegó a esta entidad procedente de la ciudad de Acapulco, Guerrero, por instrucciones de Arturo Beltrán Leyva (líder del Cártel de los Beltrán Leyva), quien le ordeno ocupar "la plaza". Dijo que procedía de la entidad guerrerense, ya que acudió a una fiesta que organizó Arturo Beltrán con motivo de un bautizo, en donde recibió instrucciones de parte de éste, acerca de las actividades que debería realizar al ocupar el territorio nuevoleonés. Los detenidos fueron identificados como María de Jesús López Ibarra, de 23 años de edad, originaria de Guaymas, Sonora y Hermana del "Nito"; María de Mállela villa Lucio, de 31 años; Cristina Estefanía Quintanar garza, de 16 y María de Lourdes Berardi Treviño, de 22, estas últimas tres originarias de Monterrey. Además, Flor Noemí Córdova Rodríguez, de 33 años, originaria de Guadalajara, Jalisco y piloto de la aeronave; Efrén Córdova Martínez, de 28; Rigoberto Tovar Córdova, alias "El Rigo", de 33 ambos de Llera, Tampaulipas; César Gabriel Cortes Díaz, alias "El Gaby", de 34 y José Nihey Ogata Vera, de 45, los dos de Santa Catarina, Nuevo León. Rodolfo López Ibarra alias "nito", de 33 años, con domicilio en San Pedro Garza García; Rurico Neri Ochoa, piloto aviador, con número de licencia 148007 de 47 años con casa en San Nicolás de los Garza, Nuevo León. Finalmente, Filiberto Leyva Valenzuela alias "Fili" y Aldaluz López Almabizca, "El Tío", de 38 años, originarios de Hermosillo, Sonora.

Drug war?

The Obama administration's new drug czar says he wants to banish the idea that the U.S. is fighting "a war on drugs," a move that would underscore a shift favoring treatment over incarceration in trying to reduce illicit drug use.

In his first interview since being confirmed to head the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, Gil Kerlikowske said Wednesday the bellicose analogy was a barrier to dealing with the nation's drug issues.

"Regardless of how you try to explain to people it's a 'war on drugs' or a 'war on a product,' people see a war as a war on them," he said. "We're not at war with people in this country."

Mr. Kerlikowske's comments are a signal that the Obama administration is set to follow a more moderate -- and likely more controversial -- stance on the nation's drug problems. Prior administrations talked about pushing treatment and reducing demand while continuing to focus primarily on a tough criminal-justice approach.

More moderate and more controversial; interesting phrasing. Other administrations talked about a lot of things, and got very littel done.

Colombia's Most Wanted Captured

Desperate to escape the Colombian authorities, Don Mario—described by President Alvaro Uribe as "one of the most feared drug traffickers in the world—offered $1,000 for every killed cop on his trail. But the law (or at least what passes for it) eventually caught up to him, and Don Mario, who had a $2 million bounty on his head, was found "cowering like a dog" under a tree in northern Colombia. Don Mario, a.k.a. Daniel Rendon Herrera, was the boss of a paramilitary organization thought to be responsible for 3,000 murders in the last 18 months. The arrest marks a major coup for Uribe, who now has orchestrated the disarmament of most paramilitary organizations and the arrests of the leaders that refused to lay down their weapons.

At least what passes for it? A rather sweeping assertion.

Rendon Herrera allegedly commanded hundreds of armed men in a private militia and directed a criminal organization that sent hundreds of tons of cocaine to the U.S.

Colombian officials had offered a reward of up to $2 million for information leading to the capture of the man whose organization has allegedly served as a key link between right-wing paramilitary groups and Mexico's drug-trafficking cartels.

Mexico safe?

Las playas de Boca del Río, Veracruz, lucen abarrotadas por turistas nacionales y extranjeros. Los bañistas pudieron disfrutar de las tranquilas aguas del Golfo de México. Tis picture is from El Universal; it shows a beach in Veracruz. "Beaches of Boca del Rio, Veracruz, look crowded by tourists and foreigners. Bathers could enjoy the tranquil waters of the Gulf of Mexico" Look how close the highway is to the beach.







A tourist police officer patrols a beach in Playas de Rosarito on March 30. (Baja)

Cabo San Lucas, at the southern tip of Baja California. (Reminds me of La Punta, Oaxaca)

The bay of Acapulco, the city that ex-CIA director George J. Tenet urged his son to avoid.

Paper flags in front of Parochia Church, San Miguel de Allende

Playa del Carmen on Mexico's Mayan Riviera. (Beautiful, but crowded)

Untried Soldier Carries the Weight of Guinea’s Desperate Hopes

Capt. Moussa Dadis Camara, Guinea’s new leader, waving to students on March 5 in Conakry, the capital. He and other junior officers seized power in December.









The captain likes to sleep late. Most days he rises well into the afternoon. Sometimes it is not until after sunset. He governs in darkness, his aides whisper, because that is when coups happen, like the one he staged early one December morning.

Smart.

Capt. Moussa Dadis Camara, who seized power along with a group of junior officers after the death of Guinea’s longtime president, is only the third man to rule this abysmally poor, perpetually broken nation.


According to the CIA's World Factbook, its Natural resources are bauxite, iron ore, diamonds, gold, uranium, hydropower, fish, salt.








Guinea has suffered through years of tyranny. The country chose to be independent from a reluctant France in 1958, but a nation that seemed like a beacon of hope for Africa quickly slipped under the shroud of socialist dictatorship, ruled by the charismatic but brutal Sékou Touré. Isolated and impoverished, Guinea became a redoubt of misery.

The warmth with which this young, untested soldier has been welcomed by many of the people is a testament to just how low Guinea, a onetime pioneer in African independence, has sunk, and how desperate for change its people have become.

South American drug traffickers, who ship cocaine to Europe via West Africa, infiltrated the government at the highest levels. Mr. Conté’s son Ousmane confessed on television last month to aiding the cocaine traffickers who had turned Guinea into a virtual narco-state. Senior police officials and some of the country’s top drug enforcers were involved, according to investigators.

Amazing how far narcos reach.

Captain Camara, sensing the public outrage at corruption and the drug trade, vowed to clean up the country. In a bizarre but riveting set of televised interrogations, the compact, square-jawed captain extracted confessions from some of the most feared and powerful figures of the ancien régime.

Under pressure from Western countries and the African Union, the junta has pledged to hold elections by the end of the year, but there is little evidence of preparations for a transition to civilian rule.

What is the hurry? Let the country stabilize first.

The United States has cut off some aid, and has refused to recognize the junta. “By remaining in power through repeated refusals to set a timely election date, the military regime in Guinea is fast becoming the poster boy for misrule in West Africa,” said a statement from Phillip Carter III, the acting assistant secretary of state for African affairs.

Why cut off aid? And what does this diplomat mean?

But some European governments take a softer line, contending that a fragile country like Guinea needs stability as much as democracy, according to diplomats and analysts in the region.

Precisely.

Cocaine Trade Helps Rebels Reignite War in Peru

Police officers arrested a man who was caught transporting 2.3 kilograms of cocaine, which was hidden inside an electrical transformer.

Photographs Inside Peru’s Cocaine War

Narco Internacional

NARCO INTERNACIONAL Vista de la avioneta cargada con más de mil kilos de hachís, que fue interceptada en la provincia de Ciudad Real, España, y cuyos dos pilotos, de nacionalidad mexicana, fueron detenidos

Hachís is hashish.

Also, this story: México impone barrera aérea contra narco.

Señala la SSP que cualquier avión que entra al espacio aéreo mexicano procedente del sur debe hacer escala en los aeropuertos de Cozumel o de Tapachula, de lo contrario, se considera una aeronave sospechosa 13:26

Necesario, refuerzo en frontera con México: EU 09:37

Calderón llama a Congreso a aprobar leyes de seguridad 10:23

Militares comandan seguridad en Juárez

Agentes fronterizos decomisan 27 kilos de cocaína en Tamaulipas 09:31

Senado rechaza legislar por presiones del Ejecutivo 12:37

Cobertura Narcotráfico: La disputa por el territorio