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Friday, September 24, 2010

Another Mayor slain in Nuevo Leon

By MARK WALSH
(AP)
MONTERREY, Mexico — Gunmen killed a town mayor near the drug-plagued industrial city of Monterrey, authorities said Friday, the fourth mayor in northern Mexico to be murdered in little more than a month.

Prisciliano Rodriguez Salinas was gunned down late Thursday as he was leaving his house with a personal employee in the town of Doctor Gonzalez, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) east of Monterrey, the Nuevo Leon state Attorney General's Office said.

The employee, Eliseo Lopez Riojas, who was picking up equipment from the mayor's house, was also killed when gunmen in a white car waiting outside started firing. Investigators found 19 shells from two different weapons at the scene. The mayor was shot seven times.

Drug gangs warring for territory and smuggling routes in northern Mexico have increasingly targeted political figures in the region, though the attorney general said aspects of Rodriguez's killing were uncharacteristic of gangs.

"The act, in terms of waiting for the mayor outside his house ... is not a very common tactic for organized crime," state Attorney General Alejandro Garza y Garza said. "So we're not ruling out any line of investigation."

Garza y Garza said he was unaware of any threats against the mayor. Town clerk Reinaldo Campos also told The Associated Press that he knew of no threats.

Soldiers guard the crime scene where Prisciliano Rodriguez, mayor of the Doctor Gonzalez municipality, was shot dead by gunmen at his ranch 50 kilometers, some 31 miles, east of Monterrey, northern Mexico, Thursday Sept. 23, 2010. Rodriguez is the fourth mayor in northern Mexico to be murdered in little more than a month. (AP Photo/Carlos Jasso).

Police officers from the town were taken to Monterrey for questioning about the killings, though Garza y Garza said none were under arrest.

Hermenegildo Linares Robledo, assistant to the town clerk, said normal activities at the town hall had been suspended and confirmed that state police were patrolling the streets, though there were no soldiers in view.

"There are very few people in the streets," he told the AP. "Right now the mood is tense and quiet."

Nuevo Leon Gov. Rodrigo Medina said that his administration "will not be intimidated, that we do not give in."

President Felipe Calderon condemned the attack and sent his condolences to the family as his government reiterated its commitment to the security of all Mexicans. The government has attributed the spike in violence in the border states of Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas to a breakup between the Gulf and Zetas cartels.

Monterrey-area mayor Edelmiro Cavazos was kidnapped in August and his body dumped three days later. Seven police officers who authorities said were paid monthly salaries by the Zetas were arrested in connection with that killing.

It was followed two weeks later by a fatal attack on Mayor Marco Antonio Leal Garcia in Hidalgo, Tamaulipas.

Hooded gunmen shot to death Mayor Alexander Lopez Garcia in the town of El Naranjo in San Luis Potosi state on Sept. 8. The methods used in all three slayings were similar to those used by Mexico's drug cartels.
In June, gunmen killed the leading gubernatorial candidate in Tamaulipas.
Meanwhile, a congressman-elect sought by federal authorities for alleged drug ties slipped into the Chamber of Deputies on Thursday and took his oath of office — making him immune from apprehension and prosecution for the duration of his term.

Julio Godoy was elected to congress in July 2009 and went into hiding after he was charged days later with protecting La Familia cartel in the western state of Michoacan.

The congressman called himself the innocent victim of an attack by the federal government, saying, "I am not a criminal."

The president of the Chamber of Deputies, Jorge Carlos Marin, said a judge ruled that Godoy maintains his political rights despite the warrant for his arrest.

Godoy was elected as a candidate for the leftist Democratic Revolution Party, which governs Michoacan and has been one of the biggest critics of President Felipe Calderon's strategy against organized crime.

More than 28,000 people have been killed in drug-related violence since Calderon launched his attack on drug cartels in late 2006.

8 comments:

  1. This was sent to me by my office..

    http://www.zocalo.com.mx/seccion/articulo/asesinan-a-edil-de-doctor-gonzalez-nl/

    ReplyDelete
  2. What I find to be absolute bullshit is what the Attorney General's office of N.L. is saying:

    Seems they have decided the execution of the mayor has nothing to do with organized crime because the 20 casings they found only came from two weapons: an AK-47(19 casings) and a 9mm (1 casing)...

    (FYI...Apparently after apart from the mayor being shot 3 times, the killers wanted to make sure of his death by shooting him twice execution style as well)

    "En rueda de prensa, esta mañana, el Procurador del Estado, Alejandro Garza y Garza, mencionó que las autoridades descartan que el Alcalde de Doctor González y su empleado hayan sido asesinados por un comando armado, ya que en la escena del crimen sólo encontraron casquillos correspondientes a dos armas.

    Mencionó también que de acuerdo a la declaración de la concubina del empleado que acompañaba al Alcalde, se dijo que los asesinos viajaban en un auto blanco y que cerca del lugar, sobre una loma, los esperaban otros hombres a bordo de una camioneta, quienes se alejaron juntos tras el doble crimen.

    Garza y Garza dijo que en el lugar fueron encontrados 19 casquillos de bala calibre 223 y un casquillo de .9 milímetros, por lo que llegaron a la conclusión que sólo se utilizaron dos armas de fuego en el ataque.

    Ante estas evidencias y aunque tienen varias líneas de investigación, las autoridades descartaron que el doble homicidio haya sido perpetrado por integrantes del crimen organizado, ya que en ese Municipio no tenían reportes sobre este problema ni que el Alcalde haya recibido amenazas." EL NORTE

    Ya, I feel safer knowing it wasn't cartel members that shot off 19 AK-47 rounds and 1 9mm. They say the mayor has not received any threats, so I guess they'll just chalk it up to "a personal dispute"

    ReplyDelete
  3. God bless the honest public servants.

    An honest man in Mexico knows he is marked. Why don't they get trusted friends to escort them? They could armour them up and put some steele plate in the car doors.

    I mean you know, you are marked, why make it easy for these _ _ _ _'s?
    ?
    ?
    ?

    ReplyDelete
  4. @Ovemex

    Everyone knows the truth, I just got off Skype conference and my employees said exactly the same thing "this is org crime, it is bullshit to say it was not, it insults our logic and intelligence to say differently"

    ReplyDelete
  5. Here's another article ..includes a photo from the scene

    http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-mexico-mayor-slain-20100925,0,7164157.story

    ReplyDelete
  6. update:

    Governor Medina now "vetos" the Attorney General's remark with "Es importante aclarar que no es que se asegure que esa sea la línea, es una línea más de investigación."

    Does anyone else feel like Nuevo Leon is in the hands of Twiddle Dee and Twiddle Dum"

    On the other hand, it takes some serious "huevos" (sarcasm) to keep spouting such bullshit, press conference after press conference, murder after murder, day after day..

    Basically at every press conference, for every crime the same statement comes from each of their mouths:

    No lo descartamos, ni tampoco lo confirmamos, ni si, ni no, sino todo lo contrario. Ese es nuestro efectivo trabajo.

    I guess they feel with statements like these they can buy time while they try to figure out which is the lesser of two evils in they eyes of the common citizen of Nuevo Leon: another narco execution or just a run of the mill common delinquent going commando on a whim.

    ReplyDelete
  7. i have been there many times...such a pleasant little town...but now it has it;s blood stains....does anyone else thing gob Medina looked real scared at el grito

    ReplyDelete
  8. i am a us citizen but i use to love going to mexico and going to the centro etc.....now i'm scared i'll get kidnapped or shot or robbed....its so sad cuz most of the mexican citizens are GOOD people just caught in a horriable situation....i pray everyday that this violence well stop i know its wishful thinking but it doesnt hurt to try...i still go to mexico when i can but its not the same, i barely go to the stores as much for the fear of being targeted and i know the local business need the money etc......as i said i will always continue to pray for the people...

    ReplyDelete

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