Police Chief Killed in Saltillo

NarcoBolo

Saltillo. - The commander of the South Delegation of the Municipal Police, César García Guevara, died in the line of duty in the early hours of Friday after being shot by a group of armed men in neighborhood Buenos Aires.

It was reported that at 01:00 hours, while on duty in his official patrol car, a Chevrolet Captiva  no.11,208, the chief was attacked and killed by unknown gunmen at the intersection of Division and Rios in the southern sector of the city. 

As a result of the shooting, the officer lost control of the police vehicle and impacted over the back of a parked Ford Model 79 truck.

That the officer was shot in the head and the body with various firearm projectiles in what  appeared to the naked eye to be the  same that took his life instantly.

The Chief of Police of Saltillo, Yáñez Clemente Carrillo confirmed to Radio Zócalo the assassination of Caesar Eleazar Garcia Guevara commander, 39 years old, who early Friday was riddled with 12 shots from a high caliber weapon.

It was reported at 12:38 pm, when a witness at the scene took the dead commander's radio and used it to notify the base of his death. Immediately police moved to the scene at Division Street and Rios in neighborhood Buenos Aires where Guevara Garcia found dead aboard his Chevrolet Captiva patrol car.  According to the witness, the commander was hit by shots from persons in a gray Dodge car who shot first into the back of the commander's vehicle, which swerved to the right and hit a parked truck and was dead instantly there," said the official.

Yanez Carrillo called the fallen Commander as an honest cop, courageous, with a very great future vocation with law enforcement. He had 13 years of service within the corporation. The fallen commander is survived by his parents, his wife and two small children.

Press Chief Confirms the criminal act against the municipal police 
Press Chief Confirms the criminal act against the municipal police 

In the morning broadcast of Radio Zócalo Saltillo, the CP Francisco Juaristi contacted the press chief of the municipal police, Patricia Moreno, confirming the fact and location where the commander of the South Delegation, Cesar Garcia Guevara, was killed.

Moreno explained that around 1:30 pm on División del Norte, in the neighborhood of  Buenos Aires, while on a routine neighborhood surveillance, the police vehicle was violently attacked. Garcia Guevara was traveling alone and died in his patrol vehicle.
For now, they haven't ascertained the identity or number of armed individuals who assaulted the officer. As of yet they have no details on the size of the bullets that took the life of the commander, except according to the authorities of the fourth group of Homicide Attorney General of the State, on the scene found shell casings of high caliber. The investigations are proceeding.


Patricia Moreno said Cesar Garcia Guevara had risen through the ranks of officers to become a commander of  the Southern Command Delegation indicated  he was the one who had previously personally informed  families of the unfortunate officers slain on duty to fact that the funerals would have to be held privately for security reasons as well as for the tranquility of the bereaved.


They have had at least Five Chiefs of Police killed in Saltillo
The Chief of Police in Saltillo Yáñez Clemente Carrillo recounted fallen cops along the year and said more than five, including Commander Marcial Barron, Captain Ignacio Meza, the official Reyna Barajas Munguia, Elisa Ugalde Maribel Torres and the latter, Commander Eleazar Garcia Cesar Guevara.

Of the violent acts  the prosecutor of Common Law, Rafael Martinez de la Rosa verified and ordered the the removal of the body and arranged transportation to the Medical Examiner for the autopsy.

Source: Zocolo,

 Zocolo

Los Zetas Cell killed 17 people, incinerating them at two ranches

NarcoBolo

MONTERREY - The Attorney General of the entity (PGJE) introduced a cell of Los Zetas involved in the killing of 22 people 12 men and 10 women, 17 of which were incinerated in two ranches located in the north.

Domene Jorge Zambrano, a spokesman for Public Safety, said that one of the ranch is named "La Barbie" and the other is in San Martin Dam, 220 kilometers from the capital, in the north end of Nuevo Leon.

Domene reported that two of the detainees, who were already caught, did job of killing. This is Jesus Mendoza Guadalupe Frias  aka Jesus Frias Alejandro Lozano, El Lupin , El Gordo , El Cochiloco or La Vaca , 19, and Mario Vazquez Ramirez,Chester , 20, who received 6000 pesos per fortnight.

The other three arrested were operating as halcones. They are: Carlos Arturo Escalante Bazaldua, El Anahuac or El Arturin , 26; Ezaú Alejandro Olvera Saldaña, El Tao , 29, and Francisco Javier Sánchez Robles, Chacho , 32.

At the time of arrest, the head of "hawks", identified with the nickname of Eru, managed to flee.

According Domene, the crimes committed by the Zetas were conducted between April and August this year, and its victims were residents of Anahuac. Some were eliminated by selling drugs and other rival groups for snitches.

The PGJE also involves them in car theft at gunpoint against at least four drivers circulating in the municipality border with Texas.

In total, the cell has four formal complaints.

Proceso,Narco

Zeta Leader " El Popeye" killed in Veracruz Confrontation

NarcoBolo

Jesús Daniel Vargas Ramírez, presunto líder de Los Zetas en la ciudad de Cardel dies in fire fight with armed forces on Dec. 21.

Forces participating in Operation Safe Veracruz repelled a coordinated assault in the community of Chichicaxtle  and after an air and ground operation formed to locate the assailants, they shot and killed Jesus Daniel Vargas Ramirez, alias "El Popeye" alleged leader of the criminal group "Los Zetas" in Ciudad Cardel, Veracruz. The incident occurred shortly after noon on a surveillance trip on the the Cardel-Tamarindo highway.  Armed forces were attacked by criminals, who immediately fled.   

A ground and air operation was launched achieving the location of Vargas Ramirez, who faced the elements and was gunned down by them.  He died at the scene..

During the operation they ensured three vehicles, among them a truck, a car, a taxi and weapons of various calibres which were made made available to competent federal authority. 

The abandoned units, shell casings were at a Cardel roadside gas station/restaurant. Officials collected the evidence the Attorney General of the State to continue fulfilling  procedures of body removal of the body and  corresponding ministerial research

Aztecinfo, Notinfomex, Excelsior, Veranews

Zetas Money Washed at JP Morgan Chase

Zetas used JP Morgan to Buy Horses

Mexico City (13 December 2012). - The cartel Los Zetas used bank accounts in the largest cities in theU.S. to transfer funds used in the purchase of racehorses. The Justice Department filed charges Dec. 4 against four additional accomplices of the Treviño Morales brothers , alleged leaders of Los Zetas cartel who were part of the process started last June by the money laundering operation by acquiring horses. Two of the new defendants are Jovan Erick Lozano Díaz, "El Chucho" financial operator of the Zetas arrested Nuevo Laredo in June, and Gerardo Garza Quintero, who in March and April 2012 used an account opened by the latter at the bank JP Morgan Chase to transfer $ 600,000 from Mexico.  JP Morgan Chase & Co. is the largest U.S. bank , with assets estimated at 2 trillion 290 billion dollars. 448 606 298 The account was opened  at JP Morgan by Gerardo Garza Quintero on the March 2, 2012, and immediately received $ 250,000 from Integra Logistics Customs, a front company controlled by Lozano Díaz, who was designated by the Navy as the manager od laundering funds obtained by Miguel Angel Treviño Morales, El Z-40. late April, $ 400,000 was deposited in the same account, including 90,000 in cash and 213,000 transferred by Lozano Díaz's wife. Upon receipt of funds, Garza issued company checks to Tremor Enterprises LLC, a facade of Treviño Morales' in America. In these documents, Garza said that money was for the purchase of the horses Fly Corona, and Feature Honor.  The indictment was filed in the Western District Court of Texas in Austin, does not clarify the occupation of Garza Quintero but his name matches that of a broker in Nuevo Laredo, who operated in the patent office since 1994, and who died at age 51 in Laredo, Texas on July 31.   More accounts JP Morgan was not the only bank used for this operation. In the original indictment, filed in June, securing twelve detailed accounts in the United States by Los Zetas front companies, including six in five Bank of America and Wells Fargo, which are the second and fourth largest financial institutions there. The new indictment against Los Zetas also includes Alexandra Garcia Treviño, daughter of Joseph Treviño Morales, brother of Miguel Angel and Oklahoma ranch owner where they were secured. In June nearly 400 horses and Jesus Maldonado Huitrón, a trainer of Quarter Horses arrested Dec. 10 in Austin. Altogether, 19 people are on trial in this case, although the two most important, Michelangelo and Omar Trevino Morales, remain at large, while the ten detainees-some out on bail-including his brother Joseph, his wife Zuleima, Veracruz businessman Francisco Colorado Cessa  and Carlos Miguel Nayen Borbolla.

Diario

Smugglers use cannon to hurl marijuana over U.S.-Mexico border

(Reuters) - Mexican smugglers used a pneumatic-powered cannon to propel cans packed with 85 pounds (38kg) of marijuana into the air and over a fence at the Mexican border near San Luis, Arizona, authorities said on Wednesday.

 "We haven't seen this before," said Kyle Estes, a U.S. Border Patrol spokesman. "We've seen catapults, but nothing like this. That's for sure."He estimated the marijuana's value at $42,500.

The plot was foiled when U.S. Border Patrol agents discovered the 33 pot-filled cans last week before they could be picked up by smugglers in an area about 500 feet from the border fence, on the United States side, Estes said.

Agents searching the area about 200 miles southwest of Phoenix recovered a carbon dioxide tank used to propel objects from the cannon, he said.

Smugglers have become increasingly inventive in trying to move contraband into the U.S. in light of stepped up efforts to crack down on border smuggling, Estes said.

U.S. authorities have added more fencing, agents and technologies including unmanned surveillance drones to tighten security along Arizona's border with Mexico in recent years.
Drug traffickers have responded with a variety of ruses including strapping marijuana loads to low-flying microlight aircraft and hurling it over the border fence using medieval-style catapults.

No one was arrested in connection with the latest scheme.




Reuters, Excelsior

Coast Guard joining war against Mexican drug cartels

 

LOS ANGELES, CA (CBS) - When a Coast Guard helicopter spotted a Mexican fishing boat loaded with marijuana, the drug smugglers started tossing bales of pot into the ocean. The waters off the California coast are now one of the prime drug routes from Mexico to the U.S.
Admiral Karl Shultz says, "This is challenging for us, as this increase goes up, we're trying to step up our game."

Admiral Shultz says intercepting drugs has always been part of the Coast Guard's mission but it's never been this widespread or this dangerous. Last week one of his guardsmen, Terrell Horne, was killed when a Mexican drug boat rammed an inflatable Coast Guard boat off the coast of Santa Barbara. He says, "I would say they're dangerous folks working for very dangerous criminal organizations that are looking to perpetuate illegal activity in our waters that concerns me."
Better security at the land border between the U.S. and Mexico has pushed the cartels to the water. They often hire Mexican fisherman who load their boats known as pangas with up to 8,000 pounds of pot. Claude Arnold, Special Agent, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement says, "They're doing the work of the Sinoloan drug cartel which controls this drug smuggling corridor and so they're being offered large amounts of money to smuggle drugs." 

In the past year from Oct. 2011 to Sept. 2012, authorities seized 102,000 pounds of marijuana off the California coast. That's nearly five times as much as the year before of 22,000 pounds.

The Coast Guard is having to quickly adapt to larger drug boats that are able to travel greater distances. Lt. Jennifer Osburn with the U.S. Coast Guard says, "There could be two people on board, there could be 8 to 10 people on board just depending on what operation they're carrying out at that particular time."

In 2008, drug runners were landing mainly in San Diego. By 2010 they were as far north as Los Angeles and this year they have moved nearly 400 miles up the coast to beach towns no one ever thought would be on a drug route.

Because the drug smugglers are now heading further north and further off shore, they're often sending two boats: one for the drugs, and one for fuel. Sometimes they off-load the drugs onto pleasure boats hoping to get to shore undetected.


thv

Prominent Architect gets 6 months for Calif. drug-smuggling attempt

SAN DIEGO - A highly acclaimed architect was sentenced Monday to six months in prison for trying to enter the U.S. with nearly 13 pounds of cocaine hidden in his minivan's battery.

A federal judge ordered the unusually light punishment after Eugenio Velazquez claimed drug traffickers threatened to kill him if he refused to carry drugs for them.

Velazquez, a dual citizen of the U.S. and Mexico who lives in suburban San Diego, had a distinguished 30-year career in Mexico designing some of Tijuana's most prominent buildings, including its new main cathedral, an expansion of the Tijuana Cultural Center and police headquarters.

The San Diego native embraced his smiling wife, daughters and supporters outside court after being told to report to prison Jan. 11 to begin the sentence in federal custody, followed by six more months of home confinement.

"I'm very satisfied," a beaming Velazquez told reporters. "I'm at peace with myself."

Velazquez pleaded guilty in June to trying to bring 12.8 pounds of cocaine into the U.S. in a special lane for prescreened, trusted motorists. A drug-sniffing dog alerted inspectors to five packages hidden in the battery of his 2004 Nissan Quest at San Diego's San Ysidro port of entry.

Velazquez faced a minimum mandatory sentence of 10 years for importing a controlled substance, but his lack of a criminal record and other factors gave the judge discretion to deliver the more lenient punishment.

Prosecutors asked for 2 1/2 years in prison in a brief court filing but made no argument after U.S. District Judge Thomas Whelan signaled he was leaning toward the lighter sentence.

The judge said the ability of Velazquez to verify threats against him were crucial to the reduced sentence. He was also acknowledged for leading "a good life" until his arrest.

A court filing by his attorney said Velazquez's downfall began with a project to design the facade of a ranch. The architect, fearful of drug-fueled violence in Tijuana, accepted his client's offer to provide personal security while Velazquez crossed the border between home and work.

The arrangement seemed to work out so well that Velazquez referred a friend who also wanted protection.

Then the client - unnamed in the filing - demanded the men pay $40,000 or drive drugs across the border. He flipped a coin to determine who would transport the drugs and Velazquez lost. His attorney told reporters after the sentencing that the friend verified the claims for U.S. investigators. Both men said they were threatened at gunpoint.

azstar.net

Armed Gunmen Kidnap and Kill Eight in Guadalupe y Calvo

Sealing off the main entrances of Guadalupe y Calvo, armed commandos executed six people overnight, then this morning victimized another two

According to initial reports, though this is not the official version of events, the shootings began at 8 pm last nigh, there was a chase in the southern area of Guadalupe y Calvo, but it is unclear whether authorities mobilized police. 

No further details 

Sources: Tiempo elmonitorparral.com 

'Miss Bala' Drector: Slain Mexican Beauty Queen's fate 'sad'

NarcoBolo

The highly publicized recent death of a 22-year-old beauty queen from Sinaloa, Mexico, during an apparent drug-related gunbattle drew many comparisons to the 2011 critically acclaimed movie "Miss Bala" ("Miss Bullet") by director Gerardo Naranjo, who is currently filming a TV pilot in El Paso.

On Saturday, the body of Maria Susana Flores Gámez was found near an assault rifle on a Sinaloa road. She was shot and killed during a shootout between Mexican soldiers and an alleged gang of drug traffickers whom she was traveling with. Several media outlets in Mexico quickly compared the shooting to a scene befitting Naranjo's movie about a woman competing for Miss Baja California who reluctantly becomes involved in a drug ring.

The movie was Mexico's Academy Awards submission in the Best Foreign Language Film category this year Naranjo, who was in El Paso this week directing the pilot for the FX series "The Bridge," called the comparison "sad," especially considering Flores Gámez's age.

"What I think is the saddest thing is what pushed this woman to be in that position," Naranjo said during a break in filming the TV pilot on Wednesday. "It was a very stupid thing that she did. I think it's sad."

In February, Flores Gámez won the 2012 Woman of Sinaloa beauty pageant, but in June she lost her bid for the title of Our Beauty Sinaloa, who goes on to compete in the Miss Mexico pageant.

Sinaloa state prosecutor Marco Antonio Higuera told The Associated Press that Flores Gámez was traveling in one of the vehicles that engaged soldiers in an hours-long chase and running gunbattle on Saturday near her native city of Guamuchil in Sinaloa state. Higuera said two other members of the drug gang were killed and four were detained.

In "Miss Bala," the film's main character gets arrested on suspicion of crimes she was forced to commit as part of the drug ring, emulating the arrest of 2008 Miss Sinaloa Laura Zuniga in 2010

The highly publicized recent death of a 20-year-old beauty queen from Sinaloa, Mexico, during an apparent drug-related gunbattle drew many comparisons to the 2011 critically acclaimed movie "Miss Bala" ("Miss Bullet") by director Gerardo Naranjo, who is currently filming a TV pilot in El Paso.  Last Saturday, the body of Maria Susana Flores Gámez was found near an assault rifle on a Sinaloa road. She was shot and killed during a shootout between Mexican soldiers and an alleged gang of drug traffickers whom she was traveling with. Several media outlets in Mexico quickly compared the shooting to a scene befitting Naranjo's movie about a woman competing for Miss Baja California who reluctantly becomes involved in a drug ring.

The movie was Mexico's Academy Awards submission in the Best Foreign Language Film category this year Naranjo, who was in El Paso this week directing the pilot for the FX series "The Bridge," called the comparison "sad," especially considering Flores Gámez's age. 

"What I think is the saddest thing is what pushed this woman to be in that position," Naranjo said during a break in filming the TV pilot on Wednesday. "It was a very stupid thing that she did. I think it's sad." 

In February, Flores Gámez won the 2012 Woman of Sinaloa beauty pageant, but in June she lost her bid for the title of Our Beauty Sinaloa, who goes on to compete in the Miss Mexico pageant. 

Sinaloa state prosecutor Marco Antonio Higuera told The Associated Press that Flores Gámez was traveling in one of the vehicles that engaged soldiers in an hours-long chase and running gun battle on Saturday near her native city of Guamuchil in Sinaloa state. Higuera said two other members of the drug gang were killed and four were detained. 

Naranjo said he made "Miss Bala" out of "fear, the feeling of not knowing where the evil came from. I tried to communicate the feeling of É how a woman would become involved in a world where organized crime conquers her life."

He said he doesn't think that drugs and criminals are the only elements making Mexico unsafe, and he hopes the incoming Mexican president, Enrique Peña Nieto, makes a difference in improving the nation's safety.

In "Miss Bala," the film's main character gets arrested on suspicion of crimes she was forced to commit as part of the drug ring, emulating the arrest of 2008 Miss Sinaloa Laura Zuniga in 2010.

Naranjo said he made "Miss Bala" out of "fear, the feeling of not knowing where the evil came from. I tried to communicate the feeling of É how a woman would become involved in a world where organized crime conquers her life." 

He said he doesn't think that drugs and criminals are the only elements making Mexico unsafe, and he hopes the incoming Mexican president, Enrique Peña Nieto makes a difference in improving the nation's safety."Socially it's broken. We don't have faith in the (Mexican federal) institution," Naranjo said. 

achavez@elpasotimes.com; 

EPT 

Hitman for El Chapo Fingered for 8 from Fingerprints

He admitted to Kidnapping,  Killing, Discarding 8 Bodies on the Highway 

Chihuahua Óscar Fernando Ruizesparza Ontiveros  revealed details of the murder of eight people whose bodies were found on the Highway from Rosales - Satevó. When being questioned Ruizesparza confessed that he sells marijuana and cocaine, as well as working for a criminal group in the city of Parral, of which no details were given. Later it became known he worked for El Chapo Guzman.

The FGE announced that the accused narrated in his statement that he received a call around 9 in the morning when his boss summoned him  of the city of Parral in which a person in a Dodge Ram expected him to travel to Jimenez. 

Ruizesparza recounted he joined a convoy of six cars, each manned by three or four with hooded,  clothing, tactical gear, radio communication devices, a long handgun . Complementing the statement of the accused, the authority researcher said he had video footage captured the moment when the group hit the streets armed of Mariano Jiménez and Miguel Hidalgo,in the town of Jimenez, where a violent up kidnapping of  of eight men .

The bodies of eight individuals deprived of their liberty with signs of torture were located kilómetro 45 and 700 of the highway leading from Satevó to Rosales. 

The FGE reported that they identified Ruizesparza taking  fingerprints on a card that he left  with the bodies that named the cartel responsible or attributed to the death.

Defendant was arrested in an operation involving undercover agents in the city of Parral, where they confiscated drugs and weapons. In addition, the state attorneys office said they will ask the judge  to be sentenced  Oscar Ruizesparza to Life, penalty prescribed for those involved in multiple murders.

Diario

Sinaloa Town of Las Tatemas Torched - Sinaloa VS BLO

NarcoBolo:Sinaloa

Fighting in the community of Las Tatemas, Sinaloa, forced some 50 families to flee their homes as armed groups burned 14 homes in that area; Las Tatemas becomes a ghost town

The information was confirmed by Eduardo Ramirez Cruz, police chief of the Sinaloa municipality, who said he only knows of the 14 homes burned.

The police chief said the damage occurred between morning and noon on Monday, but he only had the data as a rumor, because no complaint had been received and was just yesterday they sent patrols to the area that confirmed this fact, 

Las Tatemas was like a ghost town, since according to the Department of Public Safety all the inhabitants fled.   50 percent of families in El Amapal emigrated.

Ramirez Cruz said that officers at the scene found no bodies or injured people, nor did they find  burned vehicles.

The official police report does not state how many subjects participated in the attack or the number of vehicles.

In the Hospital de la Sierra of Sinaloa yesterday had not reported the number of of persons injured by gunfire or burned.

With this fact and are 27 homes that have been burned by heavily armed groups in the same area in the mountains of Sinaloa.

The fight between the cartels of Sinaloa and Beltran Leyva for control of planting marijuana

Commission on Human Rights Defenders in Sinaloa (CDDHS) estimated that in at least 11 of the 18 municipalities sinaloenses between 25,000 and 30,000 displaced by violence, especially in the mountainous area.

InSight Crime Analysis

Preliminary investigations suggest a large group of heavily armed men arrived in the village of Las Tatemas on the morning of November 24 and opened fire on residents. After a brief confrontation, the armed group set about torching the villagers' houses, local media reported.

Reports of the attack reached the authorities the same day, but police only began investigations four days later. When they arrived they found the town abandoned and the majority of houses destroyed.

The charred remains of two people have been found so far and authorities have not ruled out the possibility that more died in the attack.

Over the last year, thousands of people have been driven from their homes by the battle between the Sinaloa Cartel and the Beltran Leyva Organization over the prized drug production territory of the so-called “Golden Triangle.”

The region, which is the birthplace of both previously allied organizations, is the epicentre of Mexican marijuana and poppy production and authorities believe it is also home to many industrial-sized methamphetamine labs.

The Sinaloa Cartel and the BLO have been locked in a deadly conflict since their acrimonious split in 2008. The ensuing violence, along with several high profile arrests, has left the BLO severely weakened. Nevertheless the BLO, sometimes working alongside the Zetas or the Juarez Cartel, have recently been making incursions into Sinaloa state and the Golden Triangle, in an attempt to claim control of territories ceded to the Sinaloa Cartel, and this latest attack is likely to be linked to the resulting conflict.

The situation in the region is further complicated by small, mostly blood-related criminal clans known as "gavillas,” who have operated in the region since the Mexican civil war. The gavillas remained quiet and controlled when one organization dominated the region, but the conflict has has forced numerous gavillas into choosing sides or, in at least one case, break off on their own, and since then they have been blamed for attacks similar to the assault on Las Tatemas.

InSightCrime, La Jornada, Debate