Mexican Drug Lord Transferred to State Prison

Drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero, who has been imprisoned since 1985, was transferred from a maximum-security Mexican federal prison to a state prison on the orders of a court, officials said.

Caro Quintero, considered one of the largest drug traffickers in Mexico in the 20th century, was serving a 40-year sentence at the Puente Grande maximum-security prison near the western city of Guadalajara.

The drug trafficker filed an appeal with a court requesting a transfer from the maximum-security federal prison to the Jalisco state penitentiary, which is also located at Puente Grande but has a lower level of security and more lax living conditions.

The Jalisco Public Safety Secretariat opposed the request, but a court ruled in favor of Caro Quintero.

The contents of the court order have not been made public.

Sinaloa cartel boss Joaquin “El Chapo” (Shorty) Guzman pulled off a Hollywood-style escape from Puente Grande on Jan. 19, 2001.

Prison employees helped Guzman, who leads Mexico’s oldest and most powerful cartel, to escape.

Sinaloa, the birthplace of many of Mexico’s drug lords, is located in northwestern Mexico.

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One Million and Moving On

On behalf of Borderland Beat we would like to thank our readership base, since December 3, 2009 we reach one million hits today.

We are trying to provide information about the war the Mexican government is waging against the drug cartels and the mayhem the drug cartel are causing on the population of Mexico. Most people in the US don't have the slightest idea what is really happening across their border in the south, primarily because it does not get a lot of coverage.

We think Mexico to a degree is trying to take control of the problem, the question is why are they not succeeding or showing any significant results. Statistics speak for themselves, I won’t bore you with the numbers as we have presented them here over and over.

But truth be told the answer is on the writings on the wall, all you have to do is read the chaos in every post on this site and you will start to see a disturbing pattern. Greed, corruption at all levels of government and a thirst for the demand for drugs, makes for a complicated and lethal combination. The only true victims are the people of Mexico, they deserve better.

We allow for readers to post on topic with constructive comments and insight to the issues at hand. We do moderate our comments. This site is not to discuss the immigration debate or to propagate hate toward any ethnic group, it is about the organize crime. We do an honest attempt to moderate this as best as we can, while allowing readers to participate without taking the discussion out in to left field to push unrelated issues and personal agendas. That is just how it is, sorry.

We also hear a lot of debate about gun control in the US and the problem of smuggling of weapons in to Mexico. I believe that the Mexico cartels have the money, in dollars, from the drug trade to purchase high caliber assault weapons where ever they need to get them from. So yes, Mexico needs to do a better job controlling what is coming in (drugs or guns) and the US needs to make sure we are not arming any terrorist or drugs cartels. The question is how to do it effectively without interfering with the rights of people in the US?

Thank you all for joining us in hitting a mile stone at Borderland Beat, with 1 million hits and growing in just 6 months in existence. I specifically want to thank all the Borderland reporters who post without earning a cent, just to inform others of what goes on in the other side of the border.

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US State Department Warns of Alliance Between Zetas and Federal Police

A confidential report issued by the US State Department warns the Mexican government of a complicity of a new alliance between the criminal group Zetas and the commission Secretariat of the Federal Public Security (PFP), Genaro Garcia Luna and other senior officers of the Preventive Federal Police.

It is alleged the Zetas were to make payoffs of sums of millions dollars in order for the federal police to implement an all out offensive through a mega operation against members of the Gulf Cartel.

Such alliance, according to the confidential report, was reached between Miguel Angel Treviño Morales, aka "Z-40," and mediated by a close relative who forms part of ranking members of the federal police agency, which calls for them to conduct operations to capture or kill his enemies.

Despite the fact that the Federal Police had been replaced in the direct fight against organized crime by elements of the Sedena and the Navy because they had lost trust and for suspected of being infiltration by organize crime and corruption, the federal police in full complicity with the Zetas is preparing to wage an all out offensive against the Gulf cartel in the border cities of Reynosa, Matamoros, Miguel Alemán, Camargo, Mier, Nueva Ciudad Guerrero y Díaz Ordaz (known as Frontera Chica).

This is according to the confidential U.S. report, which was obtained from statements given by a sicario that had been captured in the "frontera chica" and is one of the closest associates of Z-40.

As a result of this, the Federal Preventive Police in an unusual way has established bases of operation in "Hotel Tío Luz" in the town of Miguel Alemán, while in Camargo they have set up a base in "Hotel Arturo's." This new offensive was authorized by Genaro García Luna and senior officers of the PFP, after Morales Treviño through his family/contact used the excuse to blame the Gulf Cartel for recent killing of two highway officers in the municipality of China, Nuevo León.

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15 Sicarios Associated With Mass Grave In Custody

A band of 15 “sicarios” responsible for depositing the bodies of murder victims into the ventilation shaft of the Mina de la Cocha outside the tourist city of Taxco, Guerrero are now in the custody of the Procuradoria General de la Republica (PGR) in Acapulco.

The arrests occurred early Saturday morning in the city of Iguala, Guerrero.

According to press reports, the men were apprehended by Mexican army troops in response to an anonymous phone tip. The caller described a group of heavily armed men dressed in black uniforms of the previously disbanded AFI federal police force that were in a safe house in the colonia Arboledas section of Iguala.

After a brief fire fight the gunmen surrendered to the army. Several weapons and vehicles were confiscated.

In an increasingly common and ominous occurrence with organized crime arrests, various uniforms belonging to several federal and municipal police forces were also confiscated. These included the AFI, PFP and Transito Municipal.

After interrogating the suspects, authorities obtained the information leading to the discovery of the mass grave in Taxco

The state of Guerrero, for many years recognized as one of the more violent areas in Mexico, is the site of extensive cultivation of marijuana and opium.

The state suffered severe government repression in the 1970’s and 80’s due to a rural insurrection by a Marxist guerilla movement. The ERPI guerilla movement is still active in the more isolated areas of Guerrero and is said to tax the growers in their areas of control.

Drug trafficking in Guerrero was largely under the control of the La Familia drug cartel until the death of Arturo Beltran Leyva in December 2009 at the hands of the Mexican marine forces.

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The Accountant of Los Zetas Falls in NL

Guadalupe, Nuevo León - In the municipality of Guadalupe, Nuevo León elements of the Mexican Navy captured four people who are directly related to the cartel leader of the Zetas, Heriberto Lazcano Lazcano "El Lazca" or "El Verdugo," including his alleged accountant, who was in possession of more than $300,000 in dollars and 3,400,000 in pesos, in addition to weapons, vehicles, magazines and ammunition, among other items.

According to early reports, one of the detainees is Hipólito Bonilla Cespedes, 52 years old, who has been identified as the alleged counter Lazca.

The federal police also managed to arrest police officer Francisco Alejandro Aguilar Ibarra, 26, who allegedly provided security to Bonilla Céspedes. Arrested were also Maritza González Olivares, 21, and Jesus Gilberto Gonzalez Torres 50, both also associated with the same cartel and helpers of the accountant.

They were also found to have a PS90 rifle, an AK-47, two 9mm pistols, 411 rounds of ammunition, 12 magazines and one grenade. They also seized two machines for counting money, a machine to make identifications and four suitcases full of money.

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Ciudad Juarez: 242 Murders in May

Four more execution style murders in Ciudad Juarez on Sunday lead to a tally of 242 murders for the month of May. This is the highest number of murders per month so far this year and can only be explained by the ineffectiveness of joint federal, state and local police operations in combating crime.

“The numbers show that we the citizens must begin to take protection into our own hands as there is no authority that can stop this slaughter” said Laurencio Barraza, a member of the Organizacion Popular Independiente, a citizen’s watchdog group.

“We are attacked and nobody is imprisoned while there are thousands of police and dozens of policing operations . The administration of justice does not exist. The authorities have no clue where this is heading” he added.

“We are completely closed off to the world, isolated in our homes and neighborhoods for fear of becoming victims of violence” said Mr Barraza “ because until now the police forces have only protected the wealthy classes.”

Mr Barraza continued “Our government institutions don’t do their jobs, they take no actions. What we really need is for the state to provide justice because until now they have only increased our fear in Juarez.

Hernan Ortiz, a member of Ciudadanos por Una Mejor Administracion Publica, another citizen’s watchdog group, stated that the high level of violence in Juarez is due to a corresponding high level of impunity. “If the impunity of criminals is not addressed then crime will never decrease.”

“The level of violence is due to this impunity. It makes no difference how many police are brought or how many operations are implemented, if the law is not applied rigorously the situation will never change” said Mr Ortiz.

May was the most violent month of the year with 242 murders recorded. In April there were 240, in March 203, in February 163 and 227 in January, according to newspaper archives based on statistical data from the state of Chihuahua Attorney Generals’ office.

The murder rate so far this year equals the rate in 2009 when an average of 7 murders were recorded daily. So the annual murder rate in Ciudad Juarez, with a population of almost 1.5 million inhabitants, has remained steady at approximately 133 per 100,000 inhabitants since 2009, making the city the world's murder capital.

Most of these homicide victims are drug cartel gunmen and traffickers and street gang members. A significant number, however, were common middle and lower class citizens usually caught in crossfires or victims of mistaken identity.

To put these numbers in a meaningful perspective consider that the comparable murder rate in New York city ,with a population of 8.5 million people, was 6 per 100,000 inhabitants for the year of 2008.

Three cities in the U.S, with a similar population size to Juarez are Philadelphia Pa, Las Vegas Nv and San Antonio Tx. The 2008 murder rates for these 3 cities are 23 per 100,000 inhabitants in Philadelphia, 8.9 per 100,000 inhabitants in Las Vegas and 8.6 per 100,000 inhabitants in San Antonio.

Or put another way, San Antonio and Las Vegas typically average less than half the homicides in 1 year that Ciudad Juarez averages in 1 month.

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Two High-level Officials Kidnapped in Northern Mexico

Monterrey, NL - Gunmen kidnapped the transit chief of the northern Mexican city of Monterrey, Juan Enrique Barrios Rodriguez, on Monday, hours after abducting highway department director Reynaldo Ramos, city officials said.

Barrios Rodriguez was abducted at 3:30 a.m., when the gunmen knocked down the door of the official’s residence.

The gunmen also stole two cars from the garage of the official’s home.

The kidnappings occurred days after Monterrey Mayor Fernando Larrazabal purged the police department of officers suspected of having links to drug traffickers.

A total of 178 officers were dismissed.

The Nuevo Leon state Attorney General’s Office is investigating both kidnappings and launched an operation to try and nab the kidnappers.

Drug traffickers are fighting for control of Monterrey, one of Mexico’s largest cities and the main financial center in the northern part of the country.

Kidnappings like these are usually carried out by organized crime groups and no ransom is demanded, with the victim’s body being found soon afterwards, often showing signs of torture.

Nuevo Leon, whose capital is Monterrey, along with Chihuahua, Sonora and Coahuila, all located in northern Mexico, are the states most affected by armed activities carried out by drug cartels.

Tamaulipas, a border state in northeastern Mexico, has also been plagued by drug-related violence.

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