Chivis Martínez for Borderland Beat

Dr. Mireles in Nueva Italia

“Yesterday, there was a general meeting of the Council. We agreed to identify and clear out all the criminal element who have infiltrated.  Things are going well…. yesterday Tocumbo and Cotija was liberated”.
 

The above is part of a message from Dr Mireles.  He also sent the  Nueva Italia photo, taken a couple hours ago.  In the photo one can see how well he looks, and much healthier compared to how he appeared when he returned to Michoacán from his therapy.  Nueva Italia was liberated on Jan 13, 2014.  It appears that the return of Dr. Mireles has stabilized AD and provided the strong leadership needed for the group, and lifted the spirits of citizens.

In both  Tocumbo (below forming barricade) and Cotija (above) autodefensas arrived in the company of agents of the State Preventive Police, and set up barricades in the road access to the county.  Alberto Mendoza Contreras, Cotija municipal mayor confirmed the arrival of autodefensas.
 Leaders of the self-defense of Michoacán along with the federal government agreed to "clean" their ranks from infiltrators. Spokesmen for the community guards, Dr Manuel  Mireles, Estanislao Beltran and Hipólito Mora met with Commissioner of Security, Alfredo Castillo and negotiated help in expelling those who are posing as autodefensas but are in reality criminals or having a criminal past, in order to maintain the moral authority of the group.

Other highlights of the meeting:

Autodefensas will refrain from entering the municipalities in urban areas (previous agreements was in the reverse, having AD in large urban areas with the government taking on the smaller towns)

Autodefensas agreed to share information with the Commission for Security and Integral Development of Michoacán.

Autodefensas to remove their barricades, in coordination with federal and state authorities, where they are no longer necessary "because of the presence of federal forces and organized groups themselves”

Recognized, was that in the south of Tierra Caliente, "security has improved considerably, because there is an atmosphere of calm and certainty."

Agreement for weekly meetings to be conducted between the autodefensas group, and the Commission for Security and Integral Development of Michoacán.  The agreements and progress are hoped to result in  gradual demobilization. 

Autodefensas have stated from the onset,  their goal was to establish security in Michoacán, with the government conducting their duty in maintaining law and order in the region, and the capture of the seven “heads” of the Caballeros Templarios.

Padre Goyo (above in Apatzingán)
Padre Goyo announced on Wednesday he was taking a break and leaving to France for a couple of months.  Stating he was "Too tired, too angry, it is time to pause", was subsequent to the attempted ouster of the mayor of Apatzingán, Uriel Chavez Mendoza, the nephew of "EL Chayo", premier leader of Caballeros Templarios.

After Padre Goyo accused Chavez of being complicit in the disappearance of 300 Apatzingán residents, Chavez shot back accusing Padre Goyo of being a"viejo liar", a pedophile and a drug trafficker. 

The much respected and loved priest, was enraged and filed a slander lawsuit. 

I asked about Goyo and was told he remains in Apatzingán at this time.

Search Continues

Autodefensas have sent 300 members to the sierras to assist in the search from Chayo and La Tuta, they, along with federal forces, have identified the trail of the two maximum leaders of Caballeros Templarios.

Federal Police and AD working together..for now
Autodefensas and federal police,  working together continue making strides against organized crime.  As they work together in the sierras, they are executing important arrests on the plaza level.

An example is in the photo above, depicting yesterday   the moment of the arrest of a plaza chief by federal police and the autodefensas of Yurécuaro.

Javier Álvarez was stopped in a residential area, as he approached Churitnzio, a community 15 miles south of La Piedad.

His BMW was confiscated (shown in the photo)

The detainee is recognized as a plaza chief for Caballeros Templarios.  With him was found a book containing records of  quota collections and payroll payments.   These types of arrests are imperative in disrupting  organized crime activities on the regional level, and gathering  information as to who the membership consists of, and arrest those members as well.

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Borderland Beat

The demonstration in favor of Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán Loera in Sinaloa shows that the cartel boss constructed a social network to protect himself in his zone of greatest influence. It’s also possible that, with the lack of heroes that demonstrate honor and moral integrity, people are seeking options in figures that are tormentors, according to university investigators. 

“There exists in the social conscience the idea that politicians are worse. That they're full of impunity, and of cruelty... Characters like El Chapo, that come from nothing, that are illiterate, make it so that the people have an option, even if it is as degrading, as degenerate as a leader of a criminal gang.”

So thought Raúl Villamil Uriarte, Research Professor from the Metropolitan Autonomous University at Xochimilco.

Nevertheless, the doctor of social anthropology thinks the march was arranged by the cartel that is now using civilian society-based strategies to defend an anti-hero. He said that in these protests there is symbolism related to a kind of "subversion against the national symbols that no longer function." El Chapo, he added, embodies a criminal who has killed many people, but who is described by his defenders in Sinaloa 

"—that part of the population that benefits from the drug trafficking—as a good guy who gives them money, helps them and protects their people. There is a series of contradictions in the idealization and the assimilation of the heroes. But with the state of things in Mexico, the situation is truly interesting, because the idols, the heroes, who should be official figures of moral integrity, decency, and honor, don’t exist."

For his part, René Jiménez Ornelas, coordinator for the Unit for Analysis of Social Violence of the Institute for Social Research of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, considered that the people that went out to protest did it because the boss 

“gave them work, even if it were just as a lookout, and because going to protest also is going to have some type of payoff, since, according to them, they're defending El Chapo.”

He recalled that this hasn't been the only such mobilization, since there were also some in support of La Familia Michoacana.

"This illustrates how the cartel bosses favor the population that is near them, where they live, where their territory is, because they require a social network that in a sense can shelter and protect them."

More than being a benefactor for the locals, he affirmed, El Chapo represents 

“a type of stability.. he’s giving me work. Just for hiring me as a lookout, he pays me.”

The fact that the people said that he had paid them or given them something in exchange speaks 

“of the great economic power of the cartel. El Chapo is in prison, but as for the cartel, they are only bugging it; it already has to have five others to substitute for him; the structure is not being hit.”

 

 Source: La Jornada and translated by Jillian Droste for Mexico Voices

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Borderland Beat

Wearing khaki pants and a khaki-colored T-shirt, Ivan Velazquez Caballero “El Taliban,” shuffled his shackled feet as he made his way into the courtroom for his hearing before U.S. District Judge Micaela Alvarez.

Velazquez was expected to plead guilty to a drug trafficking conspiracy or say he wanted to go to trial; Neither happened.

The once imposing figure of one of Mexico’s most powerful drug lords was replaced by a frail looking man. During Thursday’s hearing, Velasquez’s tall frame showed the signs of a man who had lost several pounds with a stubbly beard on his face. He cracked a brief smile that was rapidly replaced by a saddened grimace when he turned to the audience and saw his relatives.

A woman in the audience broke into tears and choked back sobs when she locked eyes with Velasquez, who turned back to face the court and kept his hands crossed in front of him.

Once Alvarez entered the courtroom, Velasquez’s attorney, Douglas Mulder, asked to speak with the judge and with Assistant U.S. Attorney Angel Moreno in private at the judge’s bench.

After the 20-minute off-the-record conversation, Alvarez ordered the case be reset for April 7 and dismissed Velázquez and the attorneys. The man also known as “Z-50” and “L-50” gave one last look to his relatives before walking back to into federal custody.

Velazquez has been behind bars since Sept. 26, 2012, when Mexican marines acting on intelligence from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration caught up with the drug lord in the state of San Luis Potosi. He was extradited to Laredo just before his initial hearing in November.

Velazquez began his criminal career as a car thief in Nuevo Laredo and soon joined the Zetas at the age of 22 where he started off as an errand boy for Zeta boss Heriberto Lazcano, said Jose Luis Vergara, a spokesman for the Mexican navy, following his arrest in 2012.

Eventually Velazquez worked as a local foot soldier for the then armed wing of the Gulf Cartel with the call sign L50, which referred to his affiliation with the Lobos or the guard for Nuevo Laredo, a Tamaulipas law enforcement official told TheMonitor in 2012.

The Zetas started more than a decade ago as enforcers for the Gulf Cartel, but set themselves apart by their acts of cruelty and brazen attacks towards their rivals. In 2010, the Gulf Cartel joined forces with the Sinaloa Cartel and the Familia Michoacana to take out the Zetas, which had grown into its own crime syndicate that had turned against its former bosses, Monitor archives show.

Over time Velazquez, climbed his way to the highest echelons of the Zetas. But in late 2011, he had a falling out with the organization’s top enforcer and eventual leader Miguel Angel “L40 or Z40” Trevino Morales. In 2012 Velazquez took a faction of the Zetas and joined forces with their former employer the Gulf Cartel to combat Treviño, Mexican court records state.

From The Monitor and posted by Friendly Girl on BB forum

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By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com

Tamaulipas state police and Mexican Policia Federal have been reportedly involved a a number of armed confrontations with criminal groups in south-central Tamaulipas state, according to official government reports.

According to a news release posted on the Tamaulipas state website, the fighting has been going on at a location between Jimenez and Padilla municipalities.  The report said that Mexican security forces were fired on by armed suspects, and apparently security forces returned fire.

No one from either side were reported hurt in the encounters.

Possibly unrelated is the report from the same website that two unidentified assistants of the municipal president of Abasolo were injured in an auto accident a few hours later about 20 kilometers away,

According to the news release the vehicle's tires had been punctured or were blown out, causing the crash.  Both victims were said to be at a hospital in Ciudad Victoria, the state capital of Tamaulipas.

The latest two incidents comes on the heels of the announcement of a new self defense group in southern Tamaulipas, colloquially known as autodefensas.

According to a news report which appeared in the leftist Proceso news weekly, said that the new group had distributed a leaflet detailing their existence earlier in the week.

The group, dubbed the  Brigada Alberto Carreta Torres, was formed to counter the criminal activities of Los Zetas drug cartel in the area.

According to a separate report which appeared in El Universal news daily  last February 11th, several autodefensas have formed in Tamaulipas, and were operating in Hidalgo, Tula and Ocampo municipalities.  The Proceso article, dated two days ago, said that the newest group was operating in Ciudad Victoria.  The article also hinted that the new group were operating checkpoints in the city.

The Brigada Alberto Carreta Torres  group has claimed a number of executions of Los Zetas criminal operatives.  The autodefensas of Michocan, unlike the Brigada Alberto Carreta Torres, had not, to this writer's understanding, targeted one criminal group over another as they began their own security operations

The Brigada Alberto Carreta Torres sounds like the Matazetas group from Veracruz and Jalisco states three years ago, which were groups funded and operated by local drug gangs to gain public sympathy for their goals, even as they rounded up and brutally murdered innocents at the time.  The Matazetas were later found to be funded by the Sinaloa drug cartel. 

The absence of a reference to the Sinaloa and Gulf cartels in the announcement of the existence of the group, both of which are in alliance would seem to indicate they were in fact funded and operated by one and/or the other group.

The Proceso article also said that another group, autodefensa Columna Pedro J Mendez, was operating in Hidalgo municipality and had claimed the lives of a number of Los Zetas.

Dip. Elizondo Salazar

In the El Universal article a Tamaulipas state deputy, Francisco Elizondo Salazar lamented that since elements of the Policia Federal had been redeployed to Michoacan, "insecurity permeated the streets" of the state.

Two days later, at least some Policia Federal units returned to the state to begin new operations.

Deputy Francisco Salazar also repeated a warning that travel in Tamaulipas at night should be discouraged.

Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com and Borderlandbeat.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com

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Two individuals were shot to death and another was wounded in three separate shooting incidents in southern Chihuahua state municipalities.

According to a news account which appeared in El Monitor de Parral news daily, Marco Antonio Sanchez Zavala was shot to death at the Cantina Foreing Bar on Avenida Ortiz Mena and at around 1740 hrs Wednesday evening in Parral.

According to the report, a number of armed suspects entered the bar after dismounting from at least one sedan and started firing.  Sanchez Zavala was originally from Ciudad Juarez where he had been  working in a factory only two weeks before.

Meanwhile in Carichi municipality, an American national was found shot to death in her vehicle parked near a medical clinic Tuesday afternoon.

According to a news report which appeared in El Diario de Chihuahua news daily, Kathelyn Nicole Lambert Koegler, 20, had been shot in the chest and left to die in her Jeep Cherokee. Lambert Koegler had been resident of Carichi municipality since childhood.

On Wednesday night a man in his 20s was shot and wounded in Parral, according to a news report which appeared in the online edition of El Sol de Parral news daily.

Jesus Anselmo Bustillos Bustillos, 25, was wounded by a number of armed suspects who were aboard a black sedan at around 2040 hrs.  The incident took place at the victim's residence on Calle Maria Herrera Quiñones in PRI colony,  At least three shots were fired at the victim.

An anonymous writer for El Monitor de Parral wrote that a shouting match occurred between elements of the Chihuahua state police and elements of the Mexican Army who were on the scene.  The shouting was about ministerial agents at the scene contaminating the crime scene, an accusation advanced by the military site commander.

The shouting ended as prosecutors arrived on the scene to conduct their investigation.

Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com and Borderlandbeat.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com

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Chivis Martínez for Borderland Beat

During a press conference, the head of the Ministry of State Security (SSPE), Carlos Hugo Castellanos Becerra, revealed that, on Monday night a man named Luis Alfredo Aguilera Esquivel was arrested. 

The  23-year-old, was identified as  the son of Servando Gómez Martínez, alias "La Tuta", maximum leader of Caballeros Templarios cartel..

In an operation by the SSPE and the Attorney General of the State (PGJE); the detainee was arrested and  in possession of a check for a million pesos, plus 10 thousand dollars in cash.  He is being investigated on charges of kidnapping and extortion in the city of Los Reyes, the official said.

Along with Luis Alfredo Aguilera, an accomplice was also arrested named Cristian Salinas Ruiz, 30.

The public safety secretary explained that all data has corroborated the fact that  Aguilera Esquivel is a descendant of La Tuta, "mainly because the accused made a historical narrative explaining  how Servando Gomez is related to him and is in fact his father," said Carlos Hugo Castellanos  adding: "I want to clarify that the prisoner said in his statement, that his given name  does not match surnames of his “father”, since he is not legally recognized."

Aguilera Esquivel has illegitimate birth status in Mexico.  Children born out of wedlock must be formally recognized to attain legal birthright status, if the detainee’s story is factual, that would explain the difference in surnames.

The basis of proof of his parentage, seems to be solely the assertion of the relationship by the detainee.  However, Aguilera Esquivel was apprehended with a large amount of Templarios extortion funds, and he offered the personal information.  There would be no reason for him to fabricate the information and many reasons not to.

Castellanos Becerra said the alleged son of Servando Gómez and his companion were captured  in Los Reyes  "at the time they  were extorting  a large sum of money in check and cash discovered on him when arrested.”

He also revealed;  "According to investigations, in January, 2014,  the extortion victim  was kidnapped by people who claimed to belong to a “criminal group  operating in the area”.

In lieu of the immediate payment of ransom, the victim, an avocado farmer, was released but was forced to sign a document, a promissory note; agreeing to forward a massive payment in June 2014.

But, earlier this week, the victim received a threatening call demanding a partial payment.  He agreed to provide a portion of the requested funds, to prevent harm to him and his family.

And it is those funds, in check and cash that was discovered with Aguilera Esquivel when apprehended. Additionally, 550 grams of meth and 30 packets of meth were found in the possession of the detainee.

"The defendants provided details of the organizational structure of the Caballeros Templarios, the criminal group to which they belong." Stated SSPE spokesman Christian Salinas

Sources used to write this post: Cambio, La Voz, Facebook, Esquema

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A total of three individuals were killed on ongoing drug and gang related violence in southern Chihuahua state municipalities since last Sunday, according to Mexican news reports.

Sunday the deputy commander of the Chihuahua state police was found shot to dead on a road between Parral and Los Charco Sunday, according to a news report which appeared in the online edition of El Diario de Chihuahua news daily.

Javier Enrique Nuñez, 42 has been shot multiple times with armed suspects who used 9mm and 12 gauge weapons.  He was described as a sub commander of the State ministerial police in Villa Colorado.

Also near Parral a man in his 20s was shot to death in an apparent hit in Matamoros municipality Tuesday.

According to a news account in El Diario de Chihuahua armed suspects aboard several truck were firing on the victim, identified as Juan Antonio Barragan Noriega, 22, before he was struck with gunfire and died.

Mexican press are calling the incident a shootout, which means the victim at least tried to shoot back at his attackers.  The shootout took place near the Chihuahua state and Durango state borders.

Meanwhile in Parral Tuesday a man in his 20s being treated in a hospital was shot to death by an armed suspect.

Alejandro Julian Almanza, 24, was shot by an unidentified man who demanded to see his victim, shot him and then took the victim's cell phone.  The shooter used a 9mm semiautomatic pistol in the attack.

According to the El Sol de Parral news daily account, several dozen witnessed the shooting.

Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com and Borderlandbeat.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com

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Chivis Martínez for Borderland Beat

Autodefensa advocate, Catholic priest known as Padre Goyo, reported a dozen bodies were discovered in Apatzingán Michoacán fosa yesterday.

Goyo said the 12 executed people were of the same family, including children, that were murdered by the Caballeros Templarios cartel.

The narco fosas (clandestine grave) was in the community of "El Alcalde", town of Apatzingán.  

An anonymous tip alerted authorities, which led to the location of the grave.

Later today authorities asserted that the number of bodies found was  thirteen and not twelve. Victims were 9 adults, the eldest being a female 68 years of age and four children.  The children ranged in ages of 13 months to 15 years.

Identification was found in the clothing of some of the victims.

The group was kidnapped last August, and no information surfaced of their whereabouts, until the anonymous call disclosed the location of the clandestine grave.

It is being reported that the patriarch of the family had joined the autodefensas movement in Apatzingán, which in August was still in its infancy, in the Templarios stronghold . 

The family was kidnapped from their home, bounded, and transported to a hilly area away from the city where they were tortured, raped and killed.

Today, there was an arrest of a man, who was identified by relatives of the victims as a participant on  the mass kidnap and murder  "surge".

Father Goyo is accusing the mayor of Apatzingán, who is the nephew of El Chayo one of the maximum leaders of Templarios, of being complicit in the narconappings in Apatzingán.

UPDATE:  Although a few versions have surfaced of this story, the essential facts remain the same. However,  other reports say the family was taken in October, and that remains of  3 month old baby was found along side his mother in the fosa.

Another report states the arrested man was part of a group of  CT killers/ kidnappers that kidnapped several families, this was the first family whose remains were found.  The arrested man says he hid by infiltrating AD for a couple of months.  Reports of AD giving the information leading to the fossa, information they became aware of when citizens came forth and provided information about the infiltrator.

Father Goyo:  Has decided to take a break from the autodefensas struggle.  He is leaving to Rome.


Father Goyo, the usually tough priest, breaks down in an interview

 

Agencia Esquema and facebook were used to write this post.

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By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com

Despite  the seemingly good news a few days ago of a dramatic drop in homicides from the Coahuila Procuraduria General de Justicia del Estado (PGJE), in the first two months of 2014, according to a group in Mexico the La Laguna region registered the fourth highest murders in Mexico nationwide in 2013, according to Mexican news accounts.

According to a news dispatch posted on the online edition of El Diario de Coahuila news daily, the group El Observatorio Nacional Ciudadano de Seguridad, Justicia y Legalidad (CCI)  said that murder rates have dropped from 2012 to 2013, 35.9% in the Durango side and in La Laguna Metropolitan Area fell 42.4%.

Despite the drop in homicides, according to the group, murder rates have risen seven percent in 2013 in all of Coahuila state when compared with 2012. 

Marco Zamarripa, director of the La Laguna Consejo Civico de las Instituciones (CCI-Laguna), was quoted in the report saying there is a large information gap in gaining crime statistics in the region.  The CCI-Laguna says on their Facebook page they are a non-government organization. 

Marco Zamarripa may have been referring to the Coahuila PGJE report last week, which has been no help as in the past that office has cooked statistics to make crime statistics appear more moderate.

La Laguna is a metropolitan area consisting of several municipalities from eastern Durango state and western Coahuila state.  Police operations even with federal support have failed in the region because of jurisdictional problems between the two states and among the several municipalities which compose La Laguna.  The three largest municipalities in the region include Torreon, Coahuila and Lerdo and Gomez Palacio, both of Durango.

Four individuals were killed in the La Laguna region since last Saturday according to Mexican news reports.

Three victims were found aboard a Ford Explorer midnight Saturday by local police in Lerdo municipality, according to a news report which appeared in El Siglo de Durango news daily.

The victims were two men and a female, one of the men of which was identified as Ricardo Marquez Rivera, 25.  They were found in ejido El Huarache on Avenida San Carlos in Benito Juárez colony. The location where the dead were found was near the Coahuila-Durango border.

Meanwhile in Gomez Palacio, Durango a bus driver was shot and later died Sunday, according to a separate news account which appeared in El Siglo de Durango.

The victim was identified as  Gregorio Lopez Mireles, 56, who was driving a bus between Gomez Palacio and Tlahualilo, near ejido  Arturo Martinez Adame.  An armed suspect shot the victim in an apparent robbery attempt.

According to data supplied by El Siglo de Durango, a total of 22 individuals have been murdered since the start of the year in the Durango side of La Laguna, including the three found in ejido El Huarache, but apparently not including the bus driver killed last Sunday.

In January, nine men died, while in February eight men and two women were reportedly killed in the region.

Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com and Borderlandbeat.com he can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com

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