El Chapo Trial: Defense on deck to begin calling their witnesses, as gov ready to wrap up

Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat

Memin finishes cross and at least one more agent called by the government.  Then defense calls their first witness maybe tomorrow...

The government has been working diligently to avoid any impeachment of cooperative witnesses by defense.

There is one potential witness that is incarcerated in U.S. prison. Hmmmm, could it be Alfredo El Mochomo Beltran Leyva?  His former cellie and good friend, who I will call “J”, told me that Mochomo does not believe that Chapo sold him out and caused his arrest.  If Mochomo were to testify, it would seem appropriate to this circus of a trial.  Defense attorney Balarezo was Mochomo’s attorney.  Stranger things have happened, I just don’t know what he would testify to that would help Chapo.

Speaking of Mochomo, I asked about him and “J” says “Fredo is going great.” I need to get clarification if he meant in general or in appeals court.  For you haters and doubters, I verified with the defense that “J” was who he said he is.

The defense also has a handwriting witness they plan to call.  Problem is, we have heard for years that Chapo is a low level literate who famously had other write his letters.  In fact his texts were so bad in grammar and spelling that U.S. agents could easily identify his texts base on the poor syntax.

Speaking of "A circus"

Adding to the circus today; Alejandro_Edda, who plays Chapo on Narcos is in attendance today in the courtroom.  He shook hands with Balarezo.  Keegan is reporting Balarezo said he thinks  Clooney should play him in a movie, Pupura went with Pacino.  Trust me, Balarezo is totally joking.

Apparently when Chapo was told the actor was in the courtroom he had a grin from ear to ear.  Edda apparently borrowed binoculars and studied Chapo intently.  That in of itself it weird.  And should the distraction even be allowed?

Chapo smiles at the actor.

Edda didn’t know what to make of it, and claims he became nervous. [of what?] "Is that a good thing?"  "I feel like I'm inside a movie," he said.

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Archive: Backstory of Emma's father's arrest and criminal history

Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat material from Proceso

The Capture of Chapo's Father-In-Law Was a "Gift" From DEA to Peña Nieto

woman wearing crown is Emma before plastic surgery

The Gift

The capture of Inés Coronel Barreras, father in law of Chapo Guzmán, in Sonora, last April 30, apparently was not the result of intelligence work of Mexican federal agencies in charge of anti-drug trafficking operations, it was the result of information and work conducted by the DEA.   

This is the information confided to Proceso by Mexican and American agents. The arrest was an attempt by the DEA to win favor of the Pena Nieto administration that would win support allowing them to continue operating freely in México, as it was  in the Calderón administration.

Operation Father-In-law Was a Gift from DEA to México

Intelligence agents from both Mexico and the US have unequivocally confirmed to Proceso that the capture of Inés Coronel Barreras, father in law of Joaquín El Chapo Guzmán, leader of Sinaloa Cartel, was a gift from DEA to the government of Enrique Peña Nieto.

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Court Rules Against the Extradition of CJNG Leader Abigael González Valencia

"MX" for Borderland Beat

Note to readers: Further background from archives, use this hyperlink

Background: Abigael González Valencia (alias "El Cuini"), one of original members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) and its financial branch Los Cuinis, was arrested in February 2015 in Puerto Vallarta. He is the brother-in-law of Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes (alias "El Mencho"), Mexico's most-wanted drug lord. The U.S. government has tried to extradite him for drug trafficking and money laundering charges since El Cuini was arrested, but his defense team has issued several motions to delay and/or reject his transfer.

A federal court gave Abigael González Valencia, "El Cuini", a breathing space that will allow him to extend his legal battle to prevent his extradition to the United States for another year. The Sixth Criminal Collegiate Court granted a writ of amparo (similar to a habeas corpus) in El Cuini's favor and obliged Mexico's Ministry of Foreign Affairs to analyze the proceedings against him for crimes committed in Mexico and, based on that, to assess whether or not to defer his delivery to the U.S.

Regardless of whether Mexico's Secretariat of Foreign Affairs (SRE). reorders his extradition, the ruling will lengthen the eventual delivery of the alleged drug trafficker, since his legal team can promote a new writ of amparo that would be resolved in at least one year. The U.S. seeks to extradite El Cuini because he faces drug trafficking, organized crime, and money laundering charges from an indictment of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. He's also been linked to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

 On October 11, 2016, the Sixteenth District Court of Federal Criminal Proceedings in Mexico City stated that El Cuini should be extradited, but left it up to SRE on whether or not the extradition should be deferred. A deferred extradition, established in Article 15 of the Extradition Treaty between Mexico and the United States, is expected when the individual claimed is subject to other legal proceedings in progress or is serving a sentence in Mexico.

On December 21, 2016, the SRE granted his extradition and stated that the criminal proceedings he had pending in Mexico were not an impediment to deliver him to the U.S. However, a court rejected this motion because the SRE did not mention the deferral process in his extradition request nor mentioned the charges he was facing in Mexico (specifically in the states of Jalisco and Chiapas).

In order for the plaintiff to file a new extradition process against El Cuini, they have to collect a copies of his arrest warrant / preventative detention order issued against him in Jalisco and Chiapas. Then the SRE has to include language of the deferral process and the charges he faces in Mexico in the extradition request. Once this is processed, El Cuini's defense could challenge it via a writ of amparo.

Sources: Diario de Juarez; Infobae

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Narcomantas left in Guadalajara accuse politicians of being directly involved with narcos

Translated by El Profe for Borderland Beat from Proceso

                            
 

The armed conflict led by criminal groups that dispute the production of heroin in the Sierra de Guerrero was publicly displayed in the metropolitan area of ​​Guadalajara, where narcomantas were placed in which the former PRD governor, Ángel Aguirre Rivero and the PRI local deputy Olaguer Hernandez Flores are accused of alleged links with narcos.

 

Official reports indicate that this morning two blankets were found in public places located on Adolfo López Mateos Avenue and Lázaro Cárdenas Road, as well as in the municipality of Zapopan.

 

The message is addressed to the secretary of Public Security of the federal government, Alfonso Durazo and the attorney general, Alejandro Gertz, and point out that in the states of Guerrero, Oaxaca, Morelos, Puebla and Jalisco, criminal gangs operate under the protection of political figures and that they are in charge of distributing narcotics to the United States and European countries.

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El Chapo Trial: "He was still attempting to breathe and that's how we dumped him in the hole and buried him"

Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat-from El Pais

From Eduardo Balarezo today 1.25.19: "To avoid any confusion or rumors, we will not disclose the names of any witnesses unless they are called to testify. Similarly, we will not disclose Joaquin’s plans about testifying until the time comes to inform the Court."

What else could be heard in the trial against Joaquín El Chapo Guzmán that the jury did not know? The answer to the question of Judge Brian Cogan was answered in a macabre manner by the last cooperative witness presented by the  Prosecutor's Office, which ends against El Chapo Guzman.

According to Isaías Valdez, aka Memín, [at left] his boss tortured and murdered a member of the Arellano Félix and two of the rival group of the Zetas.

AFO member

The aid worker described with two violent acts in which El Chapo was the executor. The first one took place between 2006 and 2007, in the town of Bastantitas, in Durango. Ismael El Mayo Zambada, according to his story, sent a member of Arellano Felix on his plane. "He was already quite tortured," he explained, "with his body burned with cigarette lighter marks." "He also  had been burned with an iron, an iron used to iron clothes. He had been burned all over his body. Even the bottom of his feet was burned."

The shirt, he said when he narrated his condition, had it attached to the flesh. El Chapo was upset, according to Memin, when he was informed. " 'How can they send me this bastard  like that? They might as well have killed him." Chapo asked. They waited three days until he came to see him and interrogate him to get information from other members of the cartel who were in the plaza. They decided at that moment to take the victim to another place and put him in a chicken coop.

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El Chapo Trial: Damaso, "My compadre's children are in collusion with the government, they blamed Valdez' murder on my son"

Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat

Damaso's questioning by defense below, regarding Valdez' murder

Damaso says he had a private army of 100 to defend against Chapo's sons 

In the trial of Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, Dámaso López Núnez, alias " El Licenciado ", stated thatit was Chapos sons that killed journalist Javier Valdez.  That the sons were angered by the Damaso article which was ready to be published.

The questioning on this subject was posted in RioDoce:

"He (Javier Valdez), complying with his journalistic ethics, disobeyed and that's why they killed him," Damaso said.

Defense lawyer, Eduardo Balarezo, asked him if he had ordered the journalist's murder because of an article that Ríodoce published about his son, Dámaso López, alias "El Mini Lic", which Damaso  rejected.

According to his testimony, López Núñez gave Valdez a telephone interview whose publication Chapo sons tried to stop, the children of Guzmán threatened the journalists in their editorial house attempting to force them to squash the article.

Javier Valdez Cárdenas was murdered on May 15, 2017, when he left the offices of Ríodoce in Culiacán.

Ríodoce reproduced the line of questioning defense attorney Eduardo Balarezo, submitted to Damaso López:

López Núñez: “Yes, he was a prestigious and well-known Sinaloan journalist”

Balarezo: And he was the founder of a newspaper called Ríodoce, right?

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El Chapo Trial: Gov wants to block agents testimony against Jorge Cifuentes truthfulness

Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat

Judge Cogan unsealed a government motion  that is very interesting.  You can read the document below in my Scribd Doc.

In the filing the government seeks to preclude evidence of cooperative witness Jorge Cifuentes, blocking previous statements to law enforcement agents.  Essentially because it proves that he is a deceiver.

From the filing:

“All of these statements that the defense seeks to elicit are purely collateral to Cifuentes-Villa’s testimony, and are, therefore, inadmissible…”

The filing was the first topic of conversation this am.

In the filing [read in full below] the government is concerned about the defense calling agents to the stand to support the fact that Jorge told them multiple statements that were lies, this is to impeach the witness. 

From the filing: Although this motion concerns law enforcement agents who the defendant has indicated he may call at trial in relation to the testimony of Jorge Cifuentes-Villa, the government reserves the right to raise similar objections should the defense seek to call additional law enforcement witnesses in an attempt to impeach other government witnesses  based on collateral matter.

False identification documents and then lied about the use of such documents, Tr. at 2998 (Dec. 12, 2018), and that he used his left hand instead of his right to provide a writing sample to authorities in a successful effort to avoid prosecution, Tr. at 3021 (Dec. 13, 2018)

The filing then goes on to list some of the statements in question.  [read in motion below]

The defense now indicated that they  intend to call some of the law enforcement officers involved in drafting the reports for this case.

On January 21, 2019, counsel for the defendant proposed stipulations to the government to the effect that the law enforcement witnesses who drafted the investigative reports in which Cifuentes-Villa made these statements would, if called to testify, testify that Cifuentes did in fact make the false statements.

What does this mean?

"false in one thing, false in everything." The premise that when a witness lies about one thing then a jury can impeach his entire testimony.  Although that principle is largely rejected, a pattern of lies could go to a full impeachment of his/her testimony.

The other Cifuentes—Alex the EPN bribe and DEA corruption

Notable: Judge Cogan noted that the gov did not offer evidence of the EPN bribe and  may not even believe Cifuentes,  their own cooperative witness Alex Cifuentes, who said Chapo paid $100 million to Pena Nieto.

Cogan noted that Alex was only “told” about the bribe by Chapo.  When Cogan suggested maybe the government believes Chapo was not being totally candid, defense attorney Lichtman replied;  “Or maybe they're desperately trying to protect the Mexican government.

Cogan agreed that may be a possibility, but he pointed out he was still wondering how the entire line of questioning even factored in the guilt or innocence of the defendant.

This puts the government in a position of using a witnesses that even they may not believe.

Witnesses that could have been done without and still having a mountain of evidence remaining to convict.

Also below is reply from defense to a motion filed by the government to block defense about DEA corruption. The reply provides additional details as to what transpired.  I know many of your followers have been asking about this.

Government motion to block evidence against Jorge Cifuentes truthfulness below

   Chapo Case Gov Wants Evidence of Cifuentes Lies Kept Out by Chivis Martinez on Scribd

Defense reply regarding gov motion to block questioning abut DEA corruption

El Chapo trial Litchman Rep... by on Scribd

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El Chapo Trial: Government submits verdict sheets

Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat

U.S government submits proposed verdict sheets, which is in page 1 through 8 in document below on next page…

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El Chapo Trial: "I love him", says Damaso of Chapo

Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat

Entered in court as a "demonstrative aid"-defense draws attention to the ridiculous assumption that Chito,
A low level maintenance worker, alone could have pulled off Chapo's Jalisco prison escape

Before Damaso’s claims about Emma, he testified about letters Chapo had written to him from prison.  These depicted the “how” Chapo operated the business.

Damaso says Chapo told him to make sure in his absence that the sicarios and their widows get paid.  [like other cartels they give widows support payments] He keeps up with the news on  their synthetic heroin project and reminds Damaso to pay rents on the “front” companies in Europe.

Chapo also would write things like; "Crop duster should be started and flown periodically, so it doesn't get ruined," There are also cryptic orders written in code.

Example; “Go easy on the thing with the three intellectuals."

In the letters Chapo make reference to drug trafficking with writing about kilos and tons, collection of debts and weapons sch as RPG7’s.   

Chapo typically had others write his letter, even love letters.  This was due to his low level literacy. US agents could easily tell his texts by how bad the syntax was.

Chapo invited an American lawyer to Culiacán in 2014. The meeting was with his four sons and Damaso about possible cooperation with the US government.

Damaso said he also made his separate outreach in 2016.

Letters below entered as evidence-highlighted notes by Keegan Hamilton

   Chapo s Prison Letter to Damaso Lopez Nunez El Lic by Chivis Martinez on Scribd

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El Chapo Trial: Emma sits stone-faced as Damaso Lopez Nunez implicates her in tunnel escape

Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat

Damaso Nunez Lopez continues his testimony today.  He may be the last government witness.

Altiplano Tunnel Escape of 2015

Damaso gave his version this morning of Chapo’s infamous 1.5 km tunnel escape from Altiplano.  Previous to the escape by the capo, no one had ever successfully escaped from the prison, Mexico’s first Max prison facility.

According to Damaso’s testimony, Emma played an integral role in the coordination and passing of messages in preparations of the escape.

 The top 3 Altiplano officials were all fired.  They were later arrested. The escape could not have transpired without the help of officials, as it was inmates were complaining about the noise during construction and excavation, which took months.

According to Damaso, A GPS watch was given to Chapo to wear inside the prison, which they used to pinpoints the shower area when Chapo would wear it.

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El Chapo Trial: Damaso “Licenciado” Nunez Lopez takes the stand

Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat

No lie: Chapo wears a red velvet blazer with a silk looking pocket square to court.  Emma wore a matching red blazer. 

Damaso Nunez Lopez aka Licenciado, is now on the stand giving testimony on behalf of the U.S. government.

The term “Licenciado” simply means a graduate, but in this case, Nunez studied law. The almost 63 year old was born in Sinaloa. 

He became a top chief of the prison administration by 1999.  He worked overseeing the maximum-security prison system, which included the Puente Grande Prison in Jalisco, where he met Chapo who was incarcerated there.

It was during the imprisonment of Chapo that the two became close in friendship and corruption.

Nunez formed a network of prison guards to accommodate Chapo’s needs, and Nunez was responsible for organizing Chapo’s infamous laundry cart escape on January 19, 2001.

To protect himself, he resigned his position at the prison two months before Chapo’s escape.  This caused a lowly maintenance worker nicknamed “Chito”, to take the brunt of blame.

Noteworthy: In Mexico it is not a crime to attempt or successfully escape from prison.  It is regarded as a natural instinct.  However, those in collusion are regarding as break the law.  In the case of Chapo’s tunnel escape over 20 were arrested, including the warden, yet all but 2 or 3 remain in prison as a trickle of those charged have gained freedom.  Most were high level personnel.

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El Chapo Trial: Sanchez meets Chapo--Months later her estranged husband is gunned down

Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat

Former mistress of Chapo, Lucero Guzman took the stand today to continue her testimony as a cooperative witness.

Sanchez, reportedly the mother of Chapo’s youngest child, was once a congressional ‘deputy’ representing the city of Cosalá, Sinaloa.

Although Sanchez was barely in her twenties when meeting Chapo, She was already married and a mother of a son.

Sanchez met Chapo at a party after the  separation from her husband.

After she and Chapo became involved, her estranged husband, Rubén Chávez Chaidez, who was 27 years old, was murdered.

Chávez Chaidez was executed by a commando of hitmen using AK47s as he exited his home.

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Human Rights denounces Army for Hidalgo tragedy

Translated by El Profe for Borderland Beat from Noreste

             

The military knew of the illegal fuel theft four hours before the fire

 

The National Commission of Human Rights (CNDH) has sent the president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, a complaint about the role of the military in the explosion last Friday in Tlahuelilpan (Hidalgo). The organization has asked the Mexican government for information on the precautions it took to try to avoid the tragedy. After the incident, the Administration of López Obrador acknowledged that only 25 soldiers arrived at Tlahuelilpan and that the Ministry of Defense had knowledge of the hydrocarbon leak four hours before the fire, which killed at least 91 people. "Information has been requested from authorities of the different levels and orders of government, to know first hand their version and the sense that, if it was the case, its intervention in the incident," the CNDH said in a statement.

 

The authorities have described a scenario in which between 600 and 800 people crowded to fill drums of gas, and that although the security forces came to add 60 elements -between soldiers, gendarmes and federal police- they were not able to stop the people. López Obrador has defended the role of the Armed Forces in this case and has assured that he will give all the information available to the CNDH. The Mexican Prosecutor will also collect the testimonies of the members of the Ministry of Defense, local authorities and workers of Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) involved in this emergency to expand the investigation.

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The Twilight Zone

Posted by El Profe for Borderland Beat from N + 1

  

An excess of people and an excess of desert.

April 20, 2017

Translator’s [Francisco Cantú] Note: Just over two weeks ago, on April 3, the renowned Mexican writer and investigative journalist Sergio González Rodríguez unexpectedly passed away from a heart attack at age 67. González Rodríguez was the author of a number of books, including a trilogy of nonfiction works examining the geopolitical roots of modern violence. The most famous of these, Bones in the Desert, was hailed by the New York Times as “the first great book on violence in Mexico.”

At the center of Bones in the Desert is a far-reaching investigation into the still-unsolved murders of hundreds of women and girls in the communities surrounding Mexico’s Ciudad Júarez, on the US border with El Paso, Texas. In the years since its publication in 2002, Bones in the Desert has left an indelible imprint on the modern literature of the Americas, both through its own merits and its foundational influence on Roberto Bolaño’s 2666. In crafting a fictionalized version of Ciudad Júarez, Bolaño collaborated directly with González Rodríguez, relying on him for substantial “technical help” in answering questions about the nature of the murders, and eventually including him as a character in the novel. (González also makes a literary cameo in Spanish novelist Javier Marias’s Dark Back of Time.) To Bolaño, the murders at the center of Bones in the Desert represented “a metaphor for Mexico, for its past, and for the uncertain future of all Latin America.” 

In a conversation with Words Without Borders, González Rodríguez stated “What I wanted to do with my books was raise to literary status a situation which others saw—and still see—as a featureless, blood-colored scene. I was interested in writing the history of a difficult present, complete with all its origins and complexities.” In the shadow of his untimely death, n+1 presents two chapters from Bones in the Desert, translated for the first time into English. Read the third chapter here.

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Testimony of the daily life of a huachicolera community

Translated by El Profe for Borderland Beat from Desinformémonos
 

              

 

by Karla Gutiérrez Hernández *

The gas station of Santa Cecilia ², a municipality in Hidalgo very close to the Pemex refinery, seems like a leit motive for an old Western film; where the only movement is the wind, with small cries of terror, lonely and sad in the middle of January 2019 as if there were no people, much less cars. On the dispatching machines there is a blanket where an advertisement reads: "station and plot of land for sale with everything." But the history of that station can not be summarized in a sale, or in its gloomy appearance.

 

For six years now, entire families of Santa Cecilia have dedicated themselves to "huachicol", a term used for the illegal extraction of gasoline through clandestine seizures for sale at a very low price. Of course, all of this is under the knowledge of Pemex workers, many of whom operate from the refinery and are the ones who have helped to locate outlets, routes and distribution schedules. The intake they have been supplied with is not located in this locality, it is about 10 or 12 kilometers away, in "El Mezquite" which used to be visited by residents of the neighboring community of Tenancingo as an attraction due to its very large and old tree that provides extensive shade. I have very good memories of that place, in my childhood during the Easter holidays with my whole family. Until a few days ago, this area was under control, because that's where the pipelines were "milked" and the distribution began; from the surrounding communities to other municipalities and other states.

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