8 die in Tamaulipas

Eight individuals were were killed or were found dead in separate incidents in drug or gang violence in the northern Mexican border state of Tamaulipas since Monday, according to official Mexican news reports.

According to a news release posted onm the website of Tamaulipas state government, one man was killed by a Mexican Army patrol last Thursday in Ciudad Vitoria, the state capital of Tamauliapas.

The incident took place near the intersection of Avenida Jose Sulaiman Chagnon and  Calle Carlos Adrian Aviles in La Paz colony.

Armed suspects were observed by a Mexican Army patrol which attempted a traffic stop.  According to the report, the armed suspects opened fire on the soldiers.  Army return fire hit and killed one suspect.

Two other suspects were detained at the scene and were identified as Daniel Rafael Martinez Gonzalez, 24, and Juan Ramon Alvarez Jaramillo, 30.  Soldiers also seized one rifle, one weapons magazine and 27 rounds of ammunition.

Three days before, a Tamaulipas state police agent was killed in Ciudad Victoria as he was dining at a seafood restaurant.  The agent was identified in the official new release as  Omar Oswaldo Nava Gil.  The news release failed to detail how Nava Gil died.

On Monday in Nuevo Laredo, two inmates were killed in a prison brawl, according to a separate news release.  The victims were identified as Jorge Gonzalez Gomez, 21, and Luis Eduardo Corral Oropeza, 28.  Both men had been admitted to the Nuevo Laredo Centro de Ejecucion de Sanciones (CEDES) only the day before.

Three inmates, identified as Humberto Lopez Perez, 32, Valentin Casas Franco, 26, and Vidal Gutierrez Chavez, 28, were said to have committed the murder, which was the result of a "personal grudge".

A second prison brawl took place on Thursday, this time at the Centro de Ejecución de Sanciones (CEDES) in Ciudad Victoria.

According to the data supplied,  Carlos Palacios Ramirez, 39 and  Edgar Villafuerte Cabriales, 28,were attacked by two other inmates using a makeshift knife.  Both victims were serving time for murder.

Two other inmates, identified as Arturo Valdez Loera, 29, and Rodolfo Solis Rodriguez, 28, were said to have confessed to the crime.

Finally, the Tamaulipas Procuraduría General de Justicia del Estado (PGJE) or attorney general reported finding at least two dead in separate graves. 

In Gomez Farias, charred remains, presumably of an unidentified woman were found in a field, along with articles of women's clothing on January 31st.

Meanwhile in El Mante municipality, charred remains were found in a creek bed in ejido El Abra, also with articles of women's clothing, February 12th.

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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7 die in Tamaulipas

Updated with corrected death toll
A total of seven individuals were killed in Tamaulipas, including six prisoners in a prison brawl in Reynosa, according to Mexican news and official reports.

A news release published by the Tamaulipas state  Procuraduria General de Justicia del Estado (PGJE) said that six inmates at the Centro de Ejecucion de Sanciones (CEDES) prison in Reynosa were killed in a prison brawl Sunday evening.

The dead were identified as José Guadalupe Marín Rocha, 41, Lauro Treviño, 31, Humberto Hernández Gonzalez, 36, José Santos Gonzalez Villarreal, 41, Carlos Mario Grajales Garza, 31 and Rafiel Lopez Calzado, 30.

The news release said only that the victims had all been stabbed to death in the observation area of the prison at around 1900 hrs.

The news release said that three inmates, identified as Agapito Arredondo, 28,  Humberto Gámez, 26 and Juan Manuel Bautista Cruz, 36, were identified as being responsible for the attack.

Meanwhile Monday, also in Reynosa, one unidentified armed suspect was killed and another was captured in an exchange of gunfire and pursuit with a Mexican Army road patrol.

According to a news account in El Diario de Coahuila news daily, several armed suspects were traveling aboard two vehicles in  Juarez 5 colony when the drivers were signaled to stop.  Instead, a pursuit ensued across two other colonies in the city ending in  Lopez Portillo colony, where one of the vehicles crashed by overturning.

The other passengers in the crashed vehicle made their escape aboard the second vehicle.  Indications in news account are that an undisclosed number of suspects had been wounded in the encounter, but had escaped and that weapons had been seized by security forces.

Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com and BorderlandBeat.com

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8 die in prison brawl in Nuevo Laredo

A total of eight inmates at a prison in Tamaulipas state were killed in a brawl Wednesday, according to an official government news announcement.

A news release posted on the website of Tamaulipas state government said that the fight took place at the Centro de Ejecucion de Sanciones (CEDES) in Nuevo Laredo at around 1800 hrs in the observation area of the prison.  The victims were stabbed with homemade stabbing weapons.

The victims were identified as  Vicente Hernandez Cervantes, Hector Gabino Cruz, Eduardo Cortes Fernando, Rogelio Valero Quiroz, José Garcia Najera, Alfonso Navarro Morato, Manuel Ruiz Martinez and Pablo Luna Domingo.  All had been admitted to the prison less than 24 hours before the fight.  The victims had been detained August 15th in Zaragoza  colony in Nuevo Laredo for a variety of offenses.

The press release said that five inmates, identified as Lorenzo Quiroz Acosta, Luis Alberto Corral Soto, Hector Torres Ortega, Mario Alberto Gil Ibarra, Pablo Garza Carranza and Gilberto Lopez had admitted their roles in the deaths of the inmates.

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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24 inmates transfered following riot in Altamira Tamaulipas

By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com

A total of 24 inmates were transferred from a prison in Altamira to other prisons in Tamaulipas state following a riot which took place last Sunday, according to Mexican news accounts.

According to a news account which appeared in Milenio news daily, the transfer took place Monday morning with tight security provided by Tamaulipas state police, Policia Federal Preventiva (PFP) and Mexican Army troops.

The report quoted a presumed security official, Maria Gonzalez Flores, saying that a brawl had taken place Sunday in the Centro de Ejecuciones de Sancciones (CEDES), which closed the prison to visitors for six hours.

A total of 19 inmates imprisoned for state crimes were to be transferred to the CEDES in Reynosa, while another five inmates serving time for federal crimes were to be transferred to a federal facility in Matamoros.

The Milenio report goes on to note that Tamaulipas' Secretaria de Seguridad Publica del Estado (SSPE) had released a statement on the disturbance. A statement had been released on the Tamaulipas state official government website by he SSPE last Monday, but only a mention of the reason for the transfer being the prevention of violence, not that a disturbance had occurred closing the prison to visitors for six hours.

The Milenio report also notes that no one was hurt in the disturbance and no weapons were used.

The prison transfer is the third action taken by Mexican Federal authorities of problems inside Tamaulipas prisons.  Tamaulipas state is one of Mexico's most violent with an ongoing war entering its fourth year between the nascent Los Zetas drug cartel and their former employers, the Gulf Cartel.

Actions taken by the new federal government headed by President Enrique Pena Nieto indicate the security officials intend to regard Mexico's prisons as another battleground in the drug war.

Actions taken by government officials, or by drug cartels in prisons include:

• The closing of the Centro de Readaptacion Social (CERESO) Numero 2 in Gomez Palacio, Durango a day after a bloody attempted prison break in which 24 inmates were gunned down by prison guards last December.  The action to close the prison taken by the Mexican federal Secretaria de Gobernacion (SEGOB) or interior ministry, has left Durango state with the nearest prison to Gomez Palacio being in Durango city, the capital of Durango state, hundreds of kilometers to the west.
• Earlier in March the CEDES in Miguel Aleman was closed and all of its inmates transferred to a CEDES in Nuevo Laredo after a mass prison break.  Fifteen armed suspects entered the prison and held prison staff at gunpoint as 12 inmates were freed late February.
• Last Sunday the CEDES in Ciudad Mante was closed with all of its state prison inmates transferred to Nuevo Laredo as well.
• Five prison inmates in the Nuevo Laredo CEDES were killed in a brawl last Sunday, including two who had been in the prison less than 24 hours before they died.

Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com

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5 prison inmates die in Nuevo Laredo

A total of five prison inmates died Sunday in a Nuevo Laredo prison, according to Mexican government news releases and press accounts.

The Centro de Ejecucion de Sancciones (CEDES) in Nuevo Laredo was the scene where a brawl erupted among inmates using handmade knives Sunday afternoon.

The dead were identified as Alejandro Flores Charles, José Torres Garcia, Gerardo Javier Colunga Padron and José Juan Antonio Carvajal.  News accounts say three inmates had claimed alleged responsibility for the deaths.  They were identified as Pablo Zamarripa Guerrero, Oscar Velez Andrade and José Angel Vazquez Presa.

The four victims had entered the prison only one day before they were killed.

A second incident at the prison involved a female inmate identified as Adriana Yacare del Toro Lopez, 23.  Toro Lopez was found hanged in her cell Sunday afternoon.  She had entered the prison only one day before her death.

The CEDES in Nuevo Laredo has seen a large increase in the number of prison inmates as prisoners from two separate prisons in Tamaulipas state were closed and heir inmates transferred to the Nuevo Laredo CEDES.

March 9th the CEDES in Ciudad Mante was closed with its 179 prisoners moved to the CEDES in Nuevo Laredo late last week, while the CEDES in Miguel Aleman was closed just a few days before.

The Miguel Aleman prison was closed only days following a mass prison break where armed suspects forced the release of 12 inmates at gunpoint.

Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com

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41 Alleged Zetas and Gulf Cartels Members Escape

41 escape Matamoros-area facility known to detain Zeta, Gulf Cartel members.

Matamoros, Tamaulipas - Tamaulipas authorities are on the hunt for two prison guards who are accused of helping 41 inmates escape from the Matamoros municipal detention center (CEDES, formerly known as CERESO) early Thursday morning.

The escape took place between 4 and 5 a.m. at the center when 38 federal inmates, three state inmates and two prison guards fled the center, said State Security Secretary Jose Ives Soberón Tijerina.

CEDES is located on the outskirts of Matamoros in the rural community of Santa Adelaida, about 15 miles from Brownsville.

The two prison guards were identified as Jose Angel Reyes Segovia and Agapito Uvalle Escalante.

In response to the escape, Soberón fired CEDES Director Jaime Cano Gallardo and the state director for the detention centers, Orlando Sauceda Pinta.

“They are subject to an investigation,” Soberón said.

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Jail Brawl in Northern Mexico Kills 23

Inmates with links to powerful Sinaloa cartel clash with rivals.

Durango, Mexico - Twenty-three inmates were killed and several others injured during a prison brawl Wednesday morning at a northern Mexico penitentiary, prison officials said.

The fight broke out between inmates at the state prison in the city of Durango that houses 2,025 inmates, said prison spokeswoman Carla Puente.

Puente said she did not know the specific number of injuries nor the reason for the fight, which was quelled by guards.

More than 60 inmates have died during fierce fights at Mexico's often overcrowded and loosely run prisons in the past two years. Officials at the state-run prisons frequently complain that they are not equipped to handle violent drug traffickers who are being held on federal charges.

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