TOP BORDER NEWS STORY OF THE DAY
by the Frontera NorteSur Staff
Frontera Norte/Sur will be on hiatus for the holidays until Monday, January 5, 1998. Please join us then for the January issue.
Mon., Dec. 29: Two Brothers Kidnapped
In a span of about two hours Sunday night, two brothers were kidnapped at gunpoint from different places in Juárez, according to police. Police did not know the whereabouts of the men, Rodolfo and Héctor Becerra Raygoza, or the motive for the kidnapping as of Sunday night, according to Diario de Juárez. Rodolfo Becerra Raygoza was playing with a boy in a park around 5:45pm when three armed subjects forced him into a late-model green pick-up, according to the paper. Héctor Becerra Raygoza was taken violently from his car around 8:20pm, after a grey 1990 Grand Marquis intercepted his vehicle.
Source: Diario de Juárez
Mon., Dec. 22: One Dead and Three Injured on Local Roads
Two automobile accidents killed one and injured three others on Sunday, according to Diario de Juárez. Two women and one man were hurt when the car they were traveling in at a high speed overturned, according to the Federal Highway Police(PFC). It was the second type of this accident in less than 24 hours on the Pan American Highway. Authorities would not reveal the names of the injured because they had not notified their families. In the other accident, Antonio Ortega Maldonado, 24, died in the early morning hours Sunday on the Juárez-Porvenir Highway.
Source: Diario de Juárez
Wed., Dec. 17: Official Tries to Clear Up "Toy Ban," Border Merchants Still Hurt
Toys are actually covered under a $50 daily exemption from border tariffs, the head of the Mexican Foreign Commerce Department said, despite comments a local customs official made last week, according to Diario de Juarez. The local adminstrator of Border Customs, Juan Manuel Rodríguez Cid, had told a local television news program that Mexicans shopping in the U.S. could only take one or two toys back into Mexico under a $400 monthly exemption. The statement hurt merchants in downtown El Paso, according to the El Paso Times. "It's been a ghost town today (Tuesday)," one store owner told the Times. Juárez Mayor Enrique Flores Almeda called the original ban "a shameless scheme" to cover bribes to customs officials, but Rodríguez Cid defended his actions. "We were simply enforcing existing laws to stop people from illegally importing toys and reselling them on the streets or selling them to vendors at inflated prices," the customs administrator said. "It was all a misunderstanding."
Sources: Diario de Juárez, El Paso Times
Sat., Dec. 13: Dual Citizenship Approved
The House of Deputies unanimously approved an intiative Friday by which Mexicans who live outside the country could aquire another citizenship without losing their Mexican nationality. By saying "no Mexican by birth can be deprived of their nationality," the legislature opened the door for the 3.5 million Mexican citizens who live in the United States to take U.S. citizenship and another 2 million who have already done so to regain their Mexican citizenship, according to El Diario de Juárez. An estimated 20 million Mexicans living in the United States could be affected by the legislation, the El Paso Times said. The law would allow Mexico's dual citizens to vote in presidential elections, enroll in health-care programs, pension and other retirement plans and invest in and own Mexican property more easily than foreigners.
Source: Diario de Juárez, El Paso Times
Fri., Dec. 12: Chihuahua in State of Alert Due to Cold
The Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Civil Protection Directorate, declared the state of Chihuahua in a state of alert because of low temperatures and storms. At least two deaths were attributed to the cold, including a three-month old baby in Juárez, many schools throughout the state closed, and some roads were temporarily shut down after weather-related accidents. Storms and Temperatures as low as 14 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 10 degrees Celsius) in some parts of the state were the result of a polar air system classified as "very intense," according to The National Center for the Prevention of Disasters (Cenapred).
Source: Diario de Juárez
Thurs., Dec. 11: Border Town Mayor Arrested
Doña Ana County,N.M., sheriff's deputies arrested Ruben Segura, 29, Mayor of Sunland Park, N.M., Wednesday during a conflict over construction of a water pipeline to land near the Santa Teresa Port of Entry, on the border between New Mexico and Mexico.
Sunland Park and Doña Ana County both have indicated interest in providing water to the port of entry area and taking over the existing state-built utility at the port. The arrest came after Sunland Park started digging a water line to the area along a state highway, with a state permit.
However, the state revoked the permit, verbally Tuesday and in a letter dated Wednesday, according to a state Highway Department official, because "further investigation...indicated Doña Ana County currently owns the right-of-way," the letter said. Meanwhile, the Doña Ana County Commision called an emergency meeting on three hours notice and voted to enact a moratorium on all road excavation permits.
Segura was arrested on charges of tresspassing on county land and obstructing deputies after the mayor directed work crews to continue digging despite the moratorium and lack of permit. Segura did not know of the state's letter until after his arrest and release on bail Wednesday, he said, and the head of a open meetings law watchdog organization questioned the legality of the county's emergency meeting.
Source: Las Cruces Sun-News
Wed., Dec. 10: El Nino Takes Toll As Authorities Prepare
Officials blamed a trash can used as an improvised fireplace for the eighth death from carbon monoxide inhalation in Juarez since October. Eduardo Mijares Villalobos, 50, was found dead in his apartment Tuesday, according to authorities. Firefighters warned against the use of such heaters, but cold weather continued in the area. Forecasters predicted a 30 percent chance of snow Wednesday afternoon, with temperatures ranging from -5 to 6 degrees Celsius, or about 25 to 43 degrees Fahrenheit. Forecasters blamed the weather on El Nino, and the phenomenon could bring floods, frosts, snowstorms, hurricane winds, landslides and cave-ins this winter, according to Civil Protection officials. For now, the agency is prepared to help the community in each emergency, but is contemplating a plan to coordinate emergency services, according to the chief of the Juarez Department of Civil Protection.
Source: Diario de Juárez
Tues., Dec. 9: Border Inspector Indicted for Bribery
Authorities arrested a U.S. Customs Service inspector on charges of letting cocaine-laden trucks through the border in return for bribes, according to a recently unsealed indictment. Former customs inspector Federico Garcia, 23, and an accomplice, Jesus Aguilera, 26, took $30,000 for allowing smugglers to bring 60 kilograms of cocaine into the United States, the document alleged. The men face 10 years to life in prison if convicted. The Customs Service switches inspectors to different lanes without warning and takes other measures to prevent such problems, but "Of course, no system is foolproof," spokesman Roger Maier said. Two former inspectors were convicted on similar charges in May 1995. While the El Paso Times reported the arrest took place Friday, Diario de Juárez said the arrest was Monday.
Source: El Paso Times, Diario de Juárez
Mon., Dec. 8: Juárez Celebrates Birthday, But History Is Neglected
A Catholic mass, civil ceremonies, and a concert were on the schedule Monday to celebrate the 338th anniversary of the founding of Ciudad Juárez, but much of the documentation of the city's history is stored hundreds of miles away, in private collections, or is in danger from time and mistreatment, according to Diario de Juárez. For example, the only existing copy of one important document from 1888 is in the collection of Harvard University, according to the paper.
Source: Diario de Juárez
Police Phone Tapping Common In Juarez
Federal and state Judicial Police commonly listen in on phone conversations on the pretext of fighting organized crime, according to officials with the Attorney General's office and the State Commission on Human Rights, Diario de Juárez reported Monday. The phone company cooperates in this apparenty illegal method of fighting crime, the paper added. Police presuppose the people on whom they eavesdrop are involved in illegal activities such as drug trafficking, trafficking in arms or contraband, or kidnapping, according to the paper. An inspector from the Commission on Human Rights warned against letting the prevention of crime become a reason for illegal activity on the part of those who enforce the law.
Source: Diario de Juárez
Sun., Dec. 7: Civil Radio Band Operators Find Human Skeleton
A civilian search group found an apparently female human skeleton Sunday, at the lot "Adolfo López Mateos," in the 35th kilometer of the highway to Casas Grandes, according to police. She would be the 29th woman assassinated in Juárez this year. Every Sunday the club searches in places like Bravo, Lomas de Poleo, and López Mateos, where the bodies of sexually assaulted and assasinated women have been found.
Source: Diario de Juárez
Sat., Dec. 6: PGR and DEA Offer Reward Leading to Arellano Brother's Arrest
The Attorney General's Office in Mexico City offered a $1 million (or eight million peso) cash reward Saturday for information leading to the arrest of Benjamín, Ramón and Francisco Javier Arellano Félix. The brothers head "Mexico's most ruthless drug gang,"according to the El Paso Times, and have been fighting for the top position in Mexico's drug trade. Since the July death of Juarez-based Amado Carillo Fuentes, head of the country's largest drug organization, more than 20 people have been killed in Juárez. The deaths could be results of a challenge from the Arellano Félix gang to Carillo Fuente's Juárez Cartel for control of the drug trade in the city.
Source: El Paso Times, Diario de Juarez
Fri., Dec. 5: Presumed Member of Juárez Cartel Kidnapped
Efrén Herrera Corral, presumed key member of the powerful Juárez Cartel, was kidnapped Wednesday morning in Juárez by an armed Commando, according to Diario de Juárez. Herrera Corral, 54 years-old, is leader of the "Clan Herrera," drug cartel from Durango. According to Judicial information sources, Herrera Corral is accused of introducing heroin to the U.S. through the Durango-El Paso-Chicago route. The most compelling testimony of Herrera's kidnapping is that a car with 4 armed suspects arrived at Herrera's place and dragged him from his business. Up to date, no information has been provided of Herrera's location.
Source: Diario de Juárez
Thurs., Dec. 4: Executed Man Laundered Drug Money, According to Paper.
The owner of a Juárez money exchange, who was found dead and tortured Monday, laundered money supposedly coming from drug trafficking activities, according to Juarez and U.S. authorities. Wednesday, F.B.I. personnel solicited information from the assistant prosecutor about the assassinations of David Desiderio Ibañez Calaski, 70, and his employee, Alfonso Gutiérrez Ortiz, 30, and indicated similarities to an investigation of a man with various businesses in El Paso. Unofficially, investigators are sure of connections with other similiar occurrences in the city, according to Diario de Juárez. The commander of the Federal Judicial Police in Juarez said he believed, due to the nature of the crime, it was perpetrated by members of a criminal organization. Investigators were considering revenge as the principal motive in the killings, according to the paper.
Source: Diario de Juárez
Wed., Dec. 3: Another Women Found Assassinated
Police found another assassinated woman Monday morning, this one in an empty lot one kilometer from the Avenue de las Torres. Police authorities identified the woman as Amalia Saucedo Díaz de León, 33 years-old. The victims clothes were very clean, leading authorities to suspect she was killed in her house, according to officials with the Public Ministry. Investigators believed her body was then taken to the place were she was found, they said. Police detained the main suspect in the case, but did not have enough evidence to keep him locked up Wednesday, according to the head of the Department of Previous Investigations. Saucedo was married, but having relations with another man, according to Diario de Juárez, and investigators suspect the killing was a crime of passion, according to the paper. Saucedo was the 28th woman killed in Juárez this year.
Source: Diario de Juárez
Tues., Dec. 2: Police Find Another Two Victims
City police found two tortured bodies, inside of an abandoned Ford Explorer van, at the intersection of 18 de Marzo and República de Cuba streets. Nobody has identified the dead men, according to Federal Police, but an unofficial source told Diario de Juárez they were the owner of a local money exchange and one of his employees. The deaths brought the total of execution-style killings in Juarez this year to 42.
Source: Diario de Juárez
Mon., Dec. 1: Commander Attacked
Six professional assassins tried to kill a man identified as Luis Marcelino Portillo Padilla around midnight Sunday night, according to El Norte. A blue Suburban and a recent model of Stratus intercepted Portillo's car and started shooting while they drove, according to some witnessess. Portillo drove for several miles until he found refuge at the fire station located at the Borunda park, the newspaper said. In unofficial information it was noted that Mr. Portillo was the former director of Interpol in México and was involved in the investigation of the Luis Donaldo Colosio murder.
Source: El Norte de Ciudad Juárez