Blog dedicated to reporting on Mexican drug cartels
on the border line between the US and Mexico
.

Monday, October 26, 2020

Footage of state police attempting to rescue CAF's El Flaquito

 Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat  Thank You Gus

Baja Calfornia State Police attempting  to rescue "El Flaquito" leader of the Los Arellano Felix Cartel captured by Ministeriales, outside the Prosecutor's Office

Saturday, October 24, 2020

The Sinaloa Cartel and the 'Shark Case'

 Steve C Borderland Beat  El Universal


Through the company Corporativo Pesquero Velázquez, owned by Martín Velázquez Cuevas, the Sinaloa Cartel was transporting cocaine from Costa Rica in frozen sharks that were filled with the drug and transferred from Central America to the Port of Progreso, Yucatán, to later be transported to Jalisco. This operation, for which they slaughtered tens of thousands of sharks, lasted several years, at least since 2009 when a first shipment of sharks containing cocaine was seized in Progreso, by the Secretary of the Navy, until 2017, the year in which he was arrested. and accused the fishing businessman Velázquez.

This operation, in which drugs were also sent to Houston, Texas, and other parts of the world was called the "Shark Case" and is part of the arrests and blows to the Sinaloan cartel, documented by the Mexican government. The fishing company that worked for the Sinaloan drug traffickers reported deposits of 272 million pesos from 2007 to 2019 and withdrawals in the same period for 1,783 million pesos, while in its tax returns, the Corporativo Pesquero Velázquez only reported the accumulative income of 6.4 million pesos to the SAT, from 2014 to 2018. According to financial investigations from the federal government, this company received in its accounts transfers of 139.2 million pesos between 2018 and 2019, resources that it triangulated by sending them to the accounts of an individual identified with the Sinaloa Cartel.

Guanajuato: 21 killed in one day, 9 in León, which has become the hot spot

 Steve C Borderland Beat from AM

Guanajuato- Guanajuato experienced a violent day this Thursday, when 21 people were killed in different municipalities, including two merchants who died in an armed attack in the Piel de León area.



León was the city that registered the most victims this day, with 9 deaths in total.

Salamanca was the second municipality with the most victims.

• A cyclist was shot to death in the La Gloria neighborhood in said municipality.

• In that same municipality, a 15-year-old minor was shot to death in the San Juan de la Presa neighborhood; in addition, a man was injured.

• Around midnight, the body of a man was found in the Celaya - Valle de Santiago bypass near the La Luz community.

'Hot zone' in the Laja Region.

EL 85: Doing what drug lords do best

 Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat  from OZY

Narcocorridos, the Mexican ballads about drug trafficking and its attendant violence, have succeeded in making manifest an unshakable reality. The bloody day-to-day of drug crime is not what really gets criminals out of bed in the morning. The inevitable cinematic glamour masks the motivating principle behind drug lording and that, as Nelly once suggested, “must be the money.”

When Zhenli Ye Gon, a Chinese-Mexican associate of fugitive drug lord Érick Valencia Salazar, or El 85 as he’s known for reasons unknown, was raided back in 2007, authorities found $205 million in cash in Zhenli’s home. Just laying around.

Ye Gon extradited from U.S. back to Mexico

León Guanajuato: killed in EL Retiro neighborhood including teen

 Steve C Borderland Beat  en linea

An armed attack in the El Retiro neighborhood left three men dead and two wounded who later died while receiving medical attention, including a boy of approximately 17 years old.

The massive attack was registered in a workshop that is located in a three-story house on Tancítaro street, almost at the corner of Autlán, where neighbors made a report to the 911 Emergency System after hearing several detonations, around 9:30 p.m. hours this Thursday.

Police elements immediately moved to the place and upon entering they observed the five bodies of the victims, all face down and shot in the head.

CAF: Reports allege EL Flaquito arrested in Tijuana, with municipal police attempting to free him

Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat TY Follower of BB via comments

A year ago Huerta was almost captured at the 1st floor of parking lots (E1) of the Grand Hotel Tijuana. A shootout ensued. Pablo Edwin Huerta Nuño aka “El Flaquito”, 28 years old and considered by the authorities as one of the most threatening criminals among drug trafficking operators in the Baja California Coast Zone, fled on foot from the scene where his brother (some say nephew) Ronaldo Alexis Huerta Nuño “El Bananas” was shot dead.  (image at bottom)

Pablo Edwin Huerta Nuño, CAF

“El Flakito”, “El Flaco”, “El 26”, “El Flash”

There are early reports of the capture of  Pablo Edwin Huerta Nuño, of CAF.  This is a big capture.

The arrest was made and as he was being held inside the FGR (Federal Attorney Offices) in Tijuana, allegedly municipal police made an attempt to free him.

Tijuana: The links of 'El Chucky'

 Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat  Zeta Tijuana

Among the belongings of "El Chucky" there were notes with contacts from the Social Reintegration Center, National Guard, Attorney General's Office, Mulegé municipal police, journalists, house rentals, and account numbers to which to make deposits.


On October 7, in the community of Santa Rosalía, Jazziel Huerta García and/or Reyes Jazziel Huerta García “El Chucky”, 29 years old, originally from Ensenada, Baja California, was captured. He had a warrant for kidnapping.

Authorities warn of the rise of Los Solís in the North Zone

In recent days, disappearances of young people have been reported in Guerrero Negro, El Vizcaíno, Santa Rosalía and Bahía Tortugas, although citizens confirmed that this crime also persists in Mulegé Pueblo.

"There have been hard blows to the criminal structure, however, a successor quickly arrives to continue operating on the site, and the control that has been evidenced goes from Ensenada, Baja California to Comondú in this State, unfortunately there are law enforcement authorities federal and local protection of criminals, this is how all containment work is complicated”, revealed a source to  ZETA from the Baja California Sur Security Board.

From the dismantling of criminal leaders such as Edson Reyes Reyes "El Chucky", Kevin Armando Martínez González "El Kevin" and/or "El Flash"; and recently Juan Manuel Lazcano Ramírez "El Tío", "El Apá" and/or "El Viejo", the North Zone has been in the sights, since they quickly rise to the top and there is no way to dismantle the organization.

Thursday, October 22, 2020

'Los Durangos' send threats to Caro Quintero's group via videos

 Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat TY Gus   Diario

A video circulates where narcos who call themselves Los Durango or Jinetes de la Muerte exhibited themselves on social networks displaying their powerful arsenal as they walk through the limits of the states of Sonora and Durango in Mexico and launch a threat to the group allegedly headed by Rafael Caro Quintero, alias el Narco de Narcos.

Later in the video, they exit  the truck and once again show off their weapons, ready to shoot, all this while listening to a narcocorrido.

While in another video, which everything indicates was taken from a live broadcast, the alleged leader of said criminal cell launches a threat:

“We are not going to leave until the town is cleansed, (…) all those who have been causing harm to people who live their life doing good, people who work, Just as they killed the footballer, also when they have gone to collect piso they have killed  innocents, the people in the restaurant,  people that have done nothing to you.”

Sinaloa Cartel: Narco banners hung in Zacatecas blaming senator for allowing CJNG territorial access

 Chivis Martinez  Borderland Beat   TY Gus

Also in a video message  “Operation MZ” (Mayo Zambada) of the Sinaloa Cartel announces its arrival in Nayarit.

Narco-banners were hung in Zacatecas, ‘signed” by CDS and point to the Zacatecas Senator David Monreal, as being responsible for given access to the territory to CJNG, causing violence to citizens.

The senators brother, Saul Monreal (below) denounced the narco messages as “dirty politics” implying the messages were a smear campaign of lies.  Saul Monreal is the mayor of Fresnillo.

The messages read: (thank you Sol)

Citizens of Zacatecas. You are not alone. We are still working for a better State, free of kidnappers, extortionists, and rapists who only harm society. David Monreal gave CJNG access to the territory,  which is being led by Audias Flores Silva aka El Jardinero. 

'If it’s drugs, you shoot and kill,' says the leader of one nation of his fight against drugs

 Chivis Martinez Borderland Bat TY Gus  Guardian

He calls it his war on drugs, others call it social cleansing as his death squads kill thousands of "suspects" on sight....

Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte has said he has no problem with being held responsible for the thousands of killings under his government’s war on drugs, adding that he was ready to face charges that could land him in jail, though not charges of crimes against humanity.

The president’s televised remarks on Monday night were among his clearest acknowledgment of the prospects that he could face a deluge of criminal charges for the bloody campaign he launched after taking office in mid-2016.

The killing of nearly 6,000 drug suspects have been reported by police but rights watchdogs suspect the death toll is far higher.

“If there’s killing there, I’m saying I’m the one ... you can hold me responsible for anything, any death that has occurred in the execution of the drug war,” Duterte said.

“If you get killed it’s because I’m enraged by drugs,” the president said. “If that’s what I’m saying, bring me to court to be imprisoned. Fine, I have no problem. If I serve my country by going to jail, gladly.”

The sons of “Chapo” against Rafael Caro Quintero in the incessant dispute for control of the Sonoran desert

 Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat TY Gus  Source

Now that Joaquín el “Chapo” Guzmán is in custody, it is his sons who have continued with the drug trafficking business and have tried to maintain and extend the dominions of the Sinaloa Cartel.

Currently, they seek to dominate the Sonoran desert, where there have been several confrontations with the Caborca ​​Cartel, led by Rafael Caro Quintero, who has also settled in the place.

In recent months, this area has increased its levels of violence due to the presence of criminal cells from both cartels that it constantly confronts in the municipality of Caborca.

An En Punto report by journalists Marco Antonio Coronel and Adrián Tinoco revealed that between January and August 2020 intentional homicides have increased 28% compared to the same period last year. That is, they went from 809 to 1,036 victims.

In an interview on the subject with the municipal president of the place, Librado Macías, who said that "it is something that has to do with the proximity that this region has with the United States, it is a very long border area."

He accepted that the sale of drugs persist in the municipality and the constant appearance of narcomantas that threaten to continue the wave of violence while one of the two cartels is the winner.

Wednesday, October 21, 2020

How Mexico's former defense minister, general Cienfuegos, fought the Zetas, and protected the Beltrán Leyva

 Steve C Borderland Beat La Silla Rota


During the government of Enrique Peña Nieto, the arrest and capture of leaders of cartels and criminal organizations had only four apprehensions of the Los Beltrán Leyva cartel, a group for which General Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda allegedly worked through H-2 , according to the United States government.

The federal government's operations focused on the arrest of members of Los Zetas, del Poniente and del Pacifico, as well as in El Golfo, Juárez, Jalisco Nueva Generación and Familia or Caballeros Templarios. There are even captures of Los Arellano Félix.

According to documents from the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic (FGR), the defunct Federal Police and the Secretary of the Navy (Semar), between December 1, 2012 and November 30, 2018 they were detained or killed in clashes. 109 of the 122 objectives contemplated by the National Security cabinet.

Among the captures or casualties of the Los Beltrán Leyva cartel are Daniel Fernández Domínguez, "El Siete"; Wenceslao Carmona Álvarez, "El Huerco"; Héctor Beltrán Leyva, "El H" and Víctor Hugo Aguirre Garzón, El Gordo, from the Independent Cartel of Acapulco, a cell of Los Beltrán Leyva.

Zetas Founder 'El Hummer' Confirmed Ready for US Extradition After Decade-Long Process

 "MX" for Borderland Beat

Los Zetas founding member Jaime Gonzalez Duran ("El Hummer") is ready to be extradited to the U.S., where he faces drug trafficking charges. This announcement was confirmed by a Mexican federal judge who revoked a motion issued by El Hummer's defense that intended to halt his extradition.

Although El Hummer was arrested nearly 12 years ago, authorities have been unable to extradite him to the U.S. His extradition process began in 2015 and has been filled with motions, suspensions and delays.

Should El Hummer be extradited, he would be one of the highest-ranking Zetas members to ever face trial in the U.S. The highest-ranking Zetas member imprisoned in the U.S. today is Jesus Enrique Rejon Aguilar ("El Mamito"), who was also a founding member.

Tuesday, October 20, 2020

Celaya Guanajuato: The body of "Dulce" 13 year old abducted girl, discovered partially buried at a narco "safe house"

Steve C  Borderland Beat   Proceso


The body of missing girl named Dulce, a minor from Celaya who was searched for  after being abducted from her home since October 1, was found semi-buried by staff of the State Attorney General's Office when inspecting a house that served as a safe-house for an organized crime cell that was arrested after shooting at agents of the State Forces in that municipality.

The attack by the hit men occurred on October 9. Nine of them were arrested and brought before a judge.

It wasn't until Sunday 18 when the State Attorney General's Office revealed that when searching the home where the armed group was sheltered, a semi-buried young girls  body was found in the backyard. The body was transferred to the Forensic Service to carry out the autopsy and identification.

[Below are the subhuman bastards that had little Dulce then half-buried her.  They are charged with abduction, femicide, and homicide among other charges.  Let's hope Ducle receives justice, one way or another.]

Tijuana: 15 most wanted murderers, 1570 Tijuana murders in 2020 so far

 Steve C Borderland Beat  Zeta Tijuana

 With arrest warrants against them and as part of Operative Alert, the Municipal Security and Citizen Protection Secretariat, the Sedena and the National Guard, are going after the 15 most dangerous murderers, generators of violence in Tijuana. All, in addition, criminal operators of the Jalisco, Sinaloa and Arellano Félix cartels

 

By recruiting David López Jiménez alias "El Lobo" or "Cabo 20", Pablo Edwin Huerta Nuño "El Flaquito" and Roque García, from the Arellano Félix Cartel (CAF), managed to grow in number their cells of hitmen and drug dealers, and with This will gain territory from the Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel (CJNG) in Tijuana.

"Los Cabos" are a group of thugs formed from 2015 by the CJNG in Tijuana, but many of them changed to CAF, and are currently facing death with the Sinaloa mafia and their former colleagues from Jalisco, generating a high percentage of the more than 1,570 murders that have been committed so far in 2020 in Tijuana.

López operated with Jalisco until 2018, when he confronted Héctor Manuel Morales Guzmán “El Gallero” -disappeared on May 5, 2019-, leader of the CJNG who, drugged, ordered to kill left and right.

In 2019, "El Lobo" allied with the CAF and was arrested in Querétaro in March 2020, and as of the night of July 18, when thugs murdered Mario Delval Barocio alias "Cabo 33", "Tony" and / or “Mariola” on Alba Roja street in the Hipódromo Dos neighborhood, La Mesa Delegation, the rout was accelerated.

“Many of 'Los Cabos' went over with the CAF”, and “those who still remain with Jalisco are afraid and stay away from Alfonso Trapero”, the CJNG operative leader in the Baja California Coast Zone who remains hidden in the mountainous area of ​​Tecate.

Mexican Judge Suspends US Extradition of 'El Tio'

 "Morogris" for Borderland Beat

Raul Flores Hernandez (El Tío)

A Mexican federal judge suspended the U.S. extradition of Raúl Flores Hernández ("El Tío"), an independent drug kingpin who had strategic alliances with multiple drug cartels. El Tio's defense issued a motion arguing that 60 days had passed without him being extradited to the U.S., a threshold stipulated in the extradition treaty between the U.S. and Mexico. He asked for his immediate release from prison.

El Tio told the federal judge he was worried about his extradition because he is also accused of murder and does not want to face the death penalty in the U.S. However, Mexican officials reassured him that he will not face death penalty if he is extradited Mexico will not agree to extradite a national under such conditions.

In October 2019, Borderland Beat reported that El Tio had been approved for U.S. extradition after he had exhausted all of the legal remedies available to avoid it. Mexican authorities said that there was not a single obstacle preventing his extradition to the U.S. Today's action may highlight the government's inability and/or unwillingness to effectively bring some drug cartel leaders to justice.

Leader of Zetas Faction 'Los Xs' Arrested in Chihuahua

 "stevectpa" for Borderland Beat

Jesus Gilberto Acuña Jurado

Chihuahua state authorities arrested a Tamaulipas cartel boss Jesus Gilberto Acuna Jurado over the weekend. He was the head of Los Xs, a Zetas faction. The detainee was hiding in Chihuahua, over 860 km (534 mi) from Tamaulipas, where the Xs are based.

Investigators say that Jesus Gilberto was coordinating marijuana and cocaine shipments from Chihuahua to Tamaulipas with the help of local drug cartels. His associates in Chihuahua were Francisco Arvizu Marquez ("El Jaguar") and Gerardo Garza Santana ("El 300"), heads of Gente Nueva and La Empresa. The Xs also smuggled narcotics to the U.S. through the El Paso–Juárez corridor with the assistance of local smugglers.

AMLO thanks Trump while questioning Obama's Fast & Furious, and DEA breaking Mexican sovereignty

 Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat Fronteras Desk

Last week, a former Mexican secretary of defense was arrested in Los Angeles, accused of helping in drug trafficking and organized crime. Mexico's president is demanding information from the U.S. while questioning the DEA’s intervention in his country.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said the arrest of Gen. Salvador Cienfuegos could help in his fight against corruption.

He said his government will ask the U.S. to provide details against the former secretary so he can be prosecuted in Mexico.

Monday, October 19, 2020

Veterinary Student From Zacatecas Was Kidnapped, Tortured and Murdered After Family Pays Her Ransom

 "stevectpa" for Borderland Beat

Jennifer Mejia Perez 

The lifeless body a woman who was found last week was identified as Jennifer Mejia Perez (aged 20), a veterinary student of the Autonomous University of Zacatecas (UAZ). She had been kidnapped the day before. Her body was dumped on the side of the highway leading to Villa Gonzalez Ortega municipality.

Different police corporations arrived and cordoned off the scene when the body was found. The body of the young woman showed apparent signs of torture and firearm impacts. At the scene authorities said the killers left a written message that alluded to an organized crime group. 

Her body was handed over to the Forensic Medical Service team in Zacatecas. When the body was first found, she had not been identified; her relatives showed up at the local morgue and confirmed her identity hours later.

Sources outside the investigation mentioned that Jennifer was kidnapped and that those responsible demanded a considerable sum of money from the family to release her. However, despite the ransom payments made to the abductors, the young woman was tortured and killed.

Young lawyer killed in parking lot in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas

 "stevectpa" for Borderland Beat

David Coutiño Lara (pictured) specialized in Mexican criminal law

A young lawyer was killed yesterday afternoon in the Toks shopping center parking lot in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas. His name was David Coutiño Lara (aged 36). Eye-witnesses said that the lawyer had just left a restaurant and was walking towards his vehicle when armed men showed up and killed him at the scene. Coutiño was with his sister and another lady.

Investigators confirmed that Coutiño was shot at least five times from behind; the perpetrators of the attacked escaped in a vehicle and are at large. One of the officers stated that the now deceased had at least two shots in the head and the other shots were distributed in his back. Over 14 bullet casings were found at the scene. Eye-witnesses called the emergency number 911 when they saw the incident. Paramedics were the first to arrive at the scene and confirmed that Coutiño died instantly.

Monterrey Nuevo Leon: An extortioner wanted more money, an employee kills him, all caught on security cam

 Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat  El Norte

Detained "hero" released... new video

After he went into a Monterrey business multiple times attempting to charge “piso”, an extortioner was shot to death in Colonia Moisés Sáenz, in Apodaca.

The crime was reported to the police at 8:20 p.m. on Saturday, however the cameras recorded the incident at 6:02 p.m..

In a video recorded by the cameras of the business "Pollo y Carnes La Subida", to which EL NORTE had access, the alleged extortionist can be seen talking to another person on a cell phone to warn him that the employees did not want to give him money.

"No, they don't have anything, they won't give me anything".

"They say the boss took everything, I'm inside here, but they don't want to give anything."

Sonora: They finish off an injured Marina in an ambulance

 Chivis and Steve C Borderland Beat Source

Empalme, Son.- On Sunday afternoon, a group of armed men violently ended the life of a man identified as a military man who was being transported aboard a Red Cross ambulance and injured another.

After being initially shot, they got into a black sedan and drove to the Red Cross, where they were boarded on to an ambulance to be transported to a hospital.

20 armed men arrived and blocked the three accesses to the Red Cross facility. The hitmen got into the ambulance and finished off the young sailor in front of the paramedics who were attending to him. Empalme will be without emergency service as all staff left.

"La Fany" Zetas Veracruz plaza boss arrested

 Steve C Borderland Beat Source

Paso del Macho, Ver.- Fany N, alleged head of the Los Zetas plaza, in the Paso del Macho region, was detained by elements of the Public Security Secretariat this Saturday, October 17.

The Ministry of Public Security confirmed that Fany N, identified with the alias of “La Fany”, was detained while traveling on the Camarón de Tejeda-Paso del Macho highway, in the section of the town known as Actopan, about 80 kilometers from the port from Veracruz.

Along with “La Fany”, State Police arrested Santiago N, Jesús Alejandro N and Ember N, also members of the same criminal group Los Zeta, with influence in that region.

During the operation, elements of the Ministry of Public Security seized the vehicle in which they were traveling, a firearm, cartridges, a backpack with various doses of drugs, knives and knives.

The bodies of 4 men and 1 woman discovered in Veracruz/Oaxaca

 Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat   TY Steve C  Source

The five-fold execution is suspected to be related to the murder of the commander of the Jesús Carranza Municipal Police, Jaime Cervantes Milagro, which occurred on Saturday in Acayucan.


During the morning of this Sunday, inhabitants of the town El Paraíso, Oaxaca, belonging to the municipality of Matías Romero Avendaño, while they were going to their daily work, found five people without life on the ground near some private properties located on the road of dirt road Paraíso - Nuevo Morelos, which communicates Veracruz with the state of Oaxaca.

After the discovery, they notified the police authorities to arrive at the site, when they arrived at the site, they confirmed that the five people were already dead, including a woman, unofficially it was said that one of those executed was a former element of the Police Municipal of Jesús Carranza.

The five people found dead showed signs of blows, their hands were tied at the back and all were left on top and face down.

Sunday, October 18, 2020

Old-School Gulf Cartel Figure 'Rafita 82' Killed in Nuevo León

"Morogris" for Borderland Beat (formerly "MX"); TY "leChef"

Rafael Isassi Garcia held significant power in Tampico, Tamaulipas, as a Gulf Cartel plaza boss

Rafael Isassi Garcia, commonly referred to by his alias "Rafita 82", was killed in a drive-by shooting in Santiago Municipality, a suburb in the Monterrey metropolitan area. Investigators say four armed men attacked Isassi while he was heading to a ranch.

Neighborhood residents told the police that they heard at least nine gunshots and saw a Dodge Durango vehicle leave the crime scene at a high speed seconds after the attack. Paramedics were called to the site and confirmed that Isassi was killed instantly. He was traveling with his nephew Javier (aged 20) who survived with minor injuries. Surveillance cameras captured the Dodge Durango vehicle in question. Authorities have the vehicle's license plates but did not confirm if they were able to see the assailants' faces.

Isassi was a high-ranking Gulf Cartel member who once held a top cartel role in the Tampico, Tamaulipas, plaza for many years. He worked under former cartel boss Juan Carlos de la Cruz Reyna, a close henchmen of legendary kingpin Osiel Cardenas Guillen. Both of his former bosses are serving prison time in the United States after being extradited from Mexico over a decade ago.

"The brother of AMLO asks that I be imprisoned for 12 years" says journalist Carlos Loret de Mola

 Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat  Source

AMLO's brother was on film receiving bags of cash from AMLOs nominee for an anti-corruption position

By Carlos Loret de Mola

Pío López Obrador, brother of the president of Mexico, after being caught on videos illegally receiving packages of cash, filed a complaint with the Attorney General's Office (FGR). It says he is the "victim" and asks that whoever is responsible for the dissemination of the videos be punished with 12 years in prison. In the same letter, it establishes that the disclosure was made in the weekly program under my charge on the Latinus news platform.

Pío López Obrador and the person who gave him the money, David León Romero, have already testified before the FGR about the complaint filed by the opposition National Action and Democratic Revolution parties after the videos were released.

However, Pío López Obrador went further: he did not stop to give his statement, but instead sought to attack by means of a complaint. It was filed with the FGR on October 2. Pío López Obrador speaks of the disclosure of his videos as "facts allegedly constituting crimes committed to the detriment of his person and his family (...) through the Latinus communication platform, directed by journalist Carlos Loret de Mola." He asks that he be recognized as an adjunct to the Prosecutor's Office and that it initiates an investigation on the matter.

Guanajuato: Saturday murders total 8

Steve C Borderland Beat

Guanajuato-  The violence this Saturday continued with the murder of eight people with the most occurring in Salamanca.

2 Killed in León

The body of a woman was found in a plastic bag on a soccer field in the San Francisco de Asis neighborhood. The finding was reported at 6 p.m., witnesses said that during a soccer game a person approached in a car and discarded a black bag. Minutes later, a spectator realized that inside the bag was a human body.

They say she was a woman because she had long brown hair, "said a young man. Police confirmed the report and waited for the game to end to secure the scene, which was taken over by the State Attorney's Office.

Dies close to home

In another case, also in León, a man was shot to death near his home, in the Jol Gua Ber neighborhood.

The crime happened at 8 o'clock yesterday night on Recreación Street. According to neighbors, the victim was going home when two men on a black motorcycle approached her.

The 'Culiacanazo', remains an open wound

 Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat   Reforma

On October 17, 2019, the most shocking criminal event in the history of Sinaloa occurred: a series of decisions that paralyzed Culiacán and caused a wound that has not yet  healed.

That day, the Sinaloa Cartel took by surprise all the inhabitants of this city, threatening them with their rifles, blocking streets and causing terror as an act of negotiation with the federal authorities who had arrested one of the sons of Joaquín Guzmán Loera, "El Chapo".

The relationship that existed between civil society and the criminal organization was fractured, not broken, but strongly splintered, specialists have defined, because that day the violence that they can exercise against the population was revealed.

"That day we thought that war was going to come, we learned about all the weapons that criminal groups could have," said Anajilda Mondaca Cota, Doctor in Social Sciences and Humanities for the Autonomous University of the West.

Surrounding this at stake was  a social discourse constructed by criminal groups, that of their being protectors of the city.

"There was the belief that the cartel cared, but that day we wondered if they were really good, because maybe they never were," said Dante Aguilera, activist member of the Juan Panadero Popular Graphics Workshop.

"This has happened because the government has left them."

On October 17, 2019, an operation was carried out by the National Guard and the Army in Culiacán. They tried to arrest Ovidio Guzmán López, Guzmán Loera's son, and that was achieved, but that caused an unexpected reaction, said Tomás Guevara Martínez, Doctor of Social Sciences for the Autonomous University of Sinaloa.

"It took all citizens by surprise, we did not expect something like this to happen." he said.

The operation of the federal forces began around 2:00 p.m., when Guzmán López's house in the Tres Ríos subdivision began to be surrounded. Fifty minutes later, the elements entered the house and the sound of guns and rifles began to echo like a scene of terror.

There were at least 500 armed men, members of criminal groups, surrounding the house to prevent the arrest of Chapo’s son, but they did not succeed.

Immediately, that violence spread to the entire Tres Ríos sector, the Infonavit Humaya, Vicente Guerrero and Villa Universidad neighborhoods.

There, up to 13 people were said to have died, including a soldier and three civilians who were passing through the place without knowing of the violence unleashed.

The armed men stole more than 50 vehicles, threatened the people of Culiacan with rifles, some were beaten and others were injured.

"My girlfriend and I were coming to the University when we saw that there were some armed men. We turned around here and it sounded  like a bullet hit the car. It turned off and we ran, that's when I felt that a bullet had hit me in the leg "said Eddy, an anonymous witness.

"When we went out there were men in front shooting at the policemen and we hardly ran when I realized that blood was coming out of my chest, but I could not stop, the bullets hit the floor and buzzed very loudly past until we took shelter in the supermarket."

The strategy of the armed groups was to hold hostage the city, close the entrances and exits to roads with blockades made with trailers and burning cars. The same with different streets and the airport of the city.

The violence escalated until more than 40 prisoners from the Aguaruto prison fled after rioting and the lives of at least 200 people were threatened in the March 21 military housing complex.

"There were armed men who came in and wanted to take the military," said another witness.

All that event ended with the presidential order to release Guzmán Loera's son. The armed men withdrew celebrating with bullets in the air, leaving the ashes of the burned vehicles and damage quantified in millions of pesos.

"The attack that stained black on Thursday, October 17, 2019 was a disruptive event. It broke the level of violence that the city had experienced, broke the tranquility of its inhabitants, it sowed a latent fear that arises again when rumors spread or shootings occur.  They interrupt the daily routine again, "said Óscar Fidel González Mendívil, State Commissioner for Victims.

"The impacts of the violence deployed that day by organized crime have not yet been recognized or studied. As we said a year ago, the act made us all victims."

The important thing, he said, is to serve people with a social perspective, since everything was repaired, the walls, the windows of the restaurants in the Tres Ríos sector, the traffic lights and the streets, where the vehicles caught fire, however, in Culiacán the open wounds of the inhabitants still remain.


California: Mexican pharmacist smuggled counterfeit pills with fentanyl, across border, into Monterey County, triple spike in ODs

 Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat   TY Gus Source The Californian 

A Mexican pharmacist allegedly ran powerful sedative and opioid drugs across the border, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California.

Francisco Javier Schraidt Rodriguez, 61, would smuggle bottles of alprazolam and “M30 pills,” which are bluish counterfeit pills containing fentanyl and the letter “M” and number “30,” from his pharmacy across the U.S. and Mexico border.

Once in the United States, Schraidt Rodriguez would ship bottles of alprazolam (aka Xanax) and the M30s to contacts in Monterey County, prosecutors said.


Matthew Sanchez, 25, sell the alprazolam and M30 pills to users, prosecutors said in the Thursday press release.

One person who bought drugs, including the M30 pills, from Sanchez overdosed Sept. 5, 2019, after taking at least one of the fentanyl-laced pills.

Captured communications showed Schraidt Rodriguez and Sanchez both knew the counterfeit pills contained fentanyl, including those sold to the victim who died, prosecutors said.

Schraidt Rodriguez sold $81,859 of the counterfeit, fentanyl-laced M30 pills, alprazolam, and other drugs during the operations from June 2018 through Nov. 2019.

At the peak of their drug sales, Sanchez would buy approximately 100 counterfeit pills at a time, prosecutors said.

Sanchez and Schraidt Rodriguez are charged with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute fentanyl and alprazolam as well as the distribution of fentanyl resulting in death.


If convicted, the men each face up to 20 years in prison for distribution of the drugs as well as 20 years to life for distributing the fentanyl-laced pills to the victim.

Those powerful opioid pain killers are responsible for a spike in overdoses, hospitalizations and enrollment in treatment in Salinas and Monterey County, experts say. 

"Fake Oxycodone pills are flooding Monterey County,” U.S. Attorney David Anderson said. “These fake pills are laced with fentanyl. The drug dealers who are pushing these fake pills couldn’t control the amount of fentanyl in them even if they cared. Fentanyl is dosed in micrograms. Dealers don’t have the equipment or the ability to control what they are selling. Our young people are dying by the score from ignorance and indifference.”

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In 2019, Monterey County's fatal opioid overdoses more than tripled 2018's 10 deaths, according to Monterey County Public Health. 

Doctors have said they're seeing more younger people coming in after overdosing. 

Treatment centers say they have also seen increases in people seeking help for opioids. 

Sanchez would not be the first Monterey County defendant facing prosecution for selling fentanyl-laced drugs that killed someone. 

Xavier Jimenez-Robledo, 19, is facing 20 years if convicted of selling "M30s" to a teenager, who survived an overdose at his house in April, and to Thomas Henderson, 20, who died May 9 after an overdose, authorities have said.

Additional M30s were found in both victims' rooms. 

Jimenez-Robledo's case, filed June 12 in federal court, is pending, records show. 


Chivis note: use hyperlink at the top to access interesting infograms with this story

Editor's note: The federal judicial system normally does not provide mug shots of defendants.


Top Three Narcos Wanted by the DEA

 Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat  TY Gus  Source


The drug traffickers have not stopped their operations because of the Covid-19 restrictions, but the DEA, at the same time, has not stopped, either. The hunt for the top 3 most wanted Drug Lords, some of the most dangerous men wanted by the DEA continues.

According to the DEA, the capture of the famed Sinaloa Cartel Kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman and his appearance in U.S. Federal Court last year, sent a message you will get caught. With El Chapo behind bars, the DEA is now looking for his son.

"One of our fugitives is El Chapo Guzman‘s son Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar and he too has been involved in narcotics trade, involved with his father, trafficking cocaine methamphetamine heroin across the southwest border," said Dante Sorianello, the assistant special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration in the San Antonio district.

El Chapo’s son was released a few hours after his arrest, because the Sinaloa Cartel wreaked havoc in Mexico with gun fights and violence on the streets. El Chapo’s son was involved heavily in the business of his father, and while Mexico may have come under pressure to release him in order to save innocent lives, the DEA does not feel the same, which is why Guzman is still in hiding.