Security & Law Enforcement Issues

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Frontera NorteSur
2006

SECURITY & LAW ENFORCEMENT

Violent Surge Signals End of Fox Era

Blood flowed generously on the streets of Mexican border and other cities during the last days of President Vicente Fox's term. From Ciudad Juarez to Acapulco , and from Reynosa to Toluca , gang-land style ambushes, executions and kidnappings jolted society and filled the press with more gruesome headlines. Standing out in the latest bout of bloodletting was the professional affiliations of many victims. Entertainers, politicians, law enforcement agents, lawyers, and former government officials ranked high in the list of the apparent targets.

Easily grabbing the most attention was the early-morning November 25 murder of singer Valentin Elizalde minutes after he finished a concert in Reynosa across from McAllen , Texas . Known as the "Golden Rooster," the 27-year-old Elizalde was a rising star in the "Grupero" genre of popular music. Horrified fans witnessed the entertainer's vehicle ambushed by two car loads of killers as Elizalde was leaving the concert grounds; two of Elizalde's companions were also killed. Provoking revulsion -and vows of revenge- Elizalde's wake and funeral in Sinaloa state were attended by crowds estimated from 10-20,000 people.

Two days after Elizalde was slain, Reynosa was the scene of more violence when almost two dozen bullets were fired into 32-year-old lawyer Cynthia Indira Castro Gonzalez. The young attorney was killed near the very spot where her brother was murdered last March.

In Tijuana , the city was once again shaken on November 28, when three local enforcement officers, including Gerardo Santiago Prado, the chief the Mesa de Otay division, were killed in yet another attack bearing the signs of organized crime. In Guerrero state on the Pacific Coast , at least 10 men have been killed and as a many as 6 people have been kidnapped in separate, gangland-style incidents reported in various regions of the state since November 24.

Among the victims were two men previously associated with local and state intelligence and police agencies. Identified as Horacio Gutierrez and Fidel Sanguillan, the pair fell in a burst of AK-47 rifle fire in Acapulco on Tuesday, November 28, during mid-day, rush hour traffic only yards from the city's police headquarters and near an Estrella Blanca bus station that serves large numbers of tourists. The next day, November 29, Acapulco was the scene of an afternoon shootout between gunmen and police. The gun battle left three people wounded.

To the north, in Michoacan state, gun battles and executions continued without any let-up. By November 28, at least 471 people have been killed in narco-tainted violence in Michoacan during 2006.

Individuals from Ciudad Juarez who were formerly or currently associated with the Office of the Federal Attorney General (PGR) have also been among recent victims. Jose Hernandez Aguirre, a former PGR who was dismissed last year over corruption allegations, was shot to death in broad daylight on November 28 in Ciudad Juarez . Antonio Sanchez Medina, a PGR prosecutor who recently served in Ciudad Juarez before being assigned to Nuevo Leon state, was murdered on November 25 in Monterrey .

In another high-profile crime, federal Deputy David Figueroa Ortega, a member of incoming President Felipe Calderon's National Action Party (PAN), was shot and wounded November 27 while driving on the highway between Toluca and Mexico City . The former mayor of Agua Prieta , Sonora , Figueroa was Calderon's campaign coordinator for Sonora state during the presidential campaign. The federal deputy has been mentioned as a possible Sonora gubernatorial candidate.

Accompanying Figueroa was another PAN federal deputy, Maria Mercedes Corral, who was apparently uninjured in the shooting attack. Figueroa, Corral and others had just deplaned at the Toluca airport and were headed back to Mexico City after returning from a trip to Sonora when they were attacked. Figueroa's father, 62-year-old David Figueroa Coronado, was shot and wounded in another mysterious ambush in Agua Prieta last May.

Located on the Arizona border, Agua Prieta is a known hot-bed of narco-traffickers and immigrant smugglers. The Figueroa attack is but the latest in a growing list of violent incidents involving elected officials or persons close to them. Spanning the political spectrum, the victims have included persons associated with the PAN, PRI and PRD political parties. In mid-November, for instance, a business belonging to the PAN mayor of Nogales , Sonora , Marco Antonio Martinez Dabdoub, was firebombed.

In Veracruz , Cirilio Vazquez Lagunes, a prominent rancher, was ambushed and killed November 17. Vazquez was the boyfriend of Deisi Valencia , the mayor of San Juan Evangelista , Veracruz . Two days before the Vazquez murder, on November 15, Walter Herrera, the PRD mayor of Huimanguillo , Tabasco , was shot to death outside his ranch. Reportedly, Herrera had been investigated by the PGR during the governorship of former PRI presidential candidate Roberto Madrazo for drug trafficking and abetting prisoner escape.

Earlier, on September 9, Omar Alberto Amaya Nunez, the former mayor of Guadalupe Bravo, Chihuahua , was shot to death. Days prior to Amaya's murder, an armed commando of about 15 men kidnapped four men from the rural municipality bordering Texas . South of Ciudad Juarez, Guadalupe Bravo has the reputation for being a narco's no-man's land. Guadalupe Bravo was the scene of a well-publicized, international incident between Mexico and the US after Border Patrol agents allegedly crossed into Mexico without in permission on November 10 while in hot pursuit of suspected drug traffickers. Employing only 18 policemen to patrol 99 rural communities with a population of about 15,000 people, Guadalupe Bravo was occupied November 19 by Mexican soldiers and Chihuahua state policemen, who set up highway checkpoints.

No suspects have been reported in the latest wave of suspected narco violence that marred the final days of Vicente Fox's presidency. A recent tally of narco-killings in Mexico by the El Universal newspaper put the toll at 2,012 victims for the period from January 1 to November 29 of this year. According to the newspaper, 1,395 people were murdered gangland-style during the same period in 2005.

Sources: Enlineadirecta.info, November 29, 2006. Univision, November 28, 2006. El Sur, November 28 and 29, 2006. Proceso/Apro, November 28, 2006. Article by Ricardo Ravelo. La Jornada/Notimex, November 28, 2006. Frontera/SUN, November 28, 2006. El Imparcial/SUN, November 28, 2006. El Diario de Juarez, November 15, 26 and 28, 2006. Articles by Cecilia Guerrero Ortiz, Notimex and the SUN news agency. El Universal, November 15, 27, 28, 29, 2006. Articles by Roberto Barboza Sosa, Javier Cabrera Martinez, Julieta Martinez, and other correspondents. Lapolaka.com, November 25, 2006.

Mayors Mobilize Against Border Walls

Mayors in Texas and the northern Mexican border state of Coahuila are mobilizing their opposition to the new series of border walls planned by the Bush Administration. Supported by Mexican mayors and representatives of non-governmental organizations, a 3-day march against the walls commenced November 7 in the Coahuila border city of Ciudad Acuna . Evaristo Lenin Perez Rivera, the mayor of Ciudad Acuna, said the action was directed against both Washington and Mexico City because of the two national governments' "incapacity to resolve common problems while trying to divide a community of neighbors with a mud wall."

Drawing the support of Coahuila state labor, educational and commercial groups like the Canacintra and Canaco business associations, the march is expected to culminate at a November 10 rally in Piedras Negras, which is also on the Mexico-US border. The Coahuila anti-border wall march moved forward as incoming Mexican President Felipe Calderon flew to Washington this week for meetings with US Latino leaders and President Bush. A critic of the border wall plan, Calderon has called for "bridges for progress and not walls that isolate and divide."

Back on the protest march, meanwhile, Mayor Perez, who was joined by Mayor Francisco Trujillo of Jimenez, Coahuila, said he was uplifted by the results of the November 7 election in the United States that saw President Bush's Republican Party lose control of Congress. Mayor Perez said he was confident the new US Congress would cut the budget for the planned series of walls that will extend 700 miles along Mexico 's northern border.

On the US side of the border, Richard F. Cortez, the mayor of McAllen, Texas, said in a recent interview with the Mexican press that he and other Texas mayors from "El Paso to Brownsville" hope to meet soon in Laredo, Texas, with United States Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff in order to convey their rejection of the fencing plans.

" Washington politicians should understand that for us, the citizens of Texas , crossing the Rio Grande is like crossing the Potomac . We have friends and cousins on the other side.." Cortez said. "The people of the United States are uninformed. They think that immigrants come to carry out crimes."

While criticizing Washington , Mayor Cortez also scored Mexico City for not doing enough to curb emigration. Calling on both countries to seek the "path" of dialogue, Mayor Cortez said that the Texas border economy depends on the dollars spent by Mexican consumers who shop in McAllen and other cities. "Between 35-45 percent of the sales of businesses in McAllen depend on Mexican customers," Mayor Cortez added. "This is a very serious situation," Mayor Cortez said. "As neighboring countries we should not be just cousins," he added. We should get along as brothers."

Sources: Zocalo.com.mx, November 9, 2006. Article by Enrique Gonzalez Correa. El Universal, November 6, 2006. Articles by Juan Cedillo and Hilda Fernandez Valverde. Albuquerque Journal/Associated Press, November 9, 2006. Article by George Gedda.

The Battle for Mexico 's Narco Jewel

Long viewed as the gleaming jewel of Mexico 's industrialized north, the city of Monterrey and the state of Nuevo Leon have joined the list of locales bloodied by narco-violence. Since the beginning of the year, at least 40 murders attributed to organized crime feuds have been logged in the border state, while brazen kidnappings, popularly known as "levantones," have shaken the peace. As in other regions of Mexico , policemen, businessmen and lawyers figured high on the list of victims. Marco Garza, the commander of the State Agency of Investigations (AEI), was one of the prominent victims slain this year.

A purported report from the Office of the Federal Attorney General (PGR) blames the violent upsurge in part on the breaking of old narco-rules that respected the lives of traffickers' family members.

Like other places hard-hit by narco-violence, all evidence indicates that law enforcement authorities are either infiltrated or overwhelmed by well-armed and organized criminal bands. "The advance of drug trafficking can't be understood without the complicity of some persons invested with authority," said Roman Catholic Archbishop Francisco Robles Ortega of Monterrey.

Monterrey 's security climate has deteriorated to such an extent that police and gang members imitate each other in order to cover their tracks. For instance, three active-duty or former policemen were recently arrested by the AEI for allegedly passing themselves off as members of the Zetas paramilitary group and extorting highway travelers on their way to the Monterrey International Airport .

Persistent reports place Nuevo Leon state as the meeting site of a a reported 2001 "narco-summit" that united the Sinaloa Cartel with other crime organizations, but Monterrey largely escaped the episodes of violence that have torn apart cities like Tijuana or Ciudad Juarez for many years, though different drug trafficking gangs reputedly used the city for money laundering in real estate and other economic sectors and as a safe haven for family members.

In mid-October, personnel from the elite SIEDO anti-organized crime squad of the PGR searched a Monterrey-area branch of the Body Works Gym in a money-laundering investigation with possible ramifications in the Guadalajara region and in the United States . Four persons were reportedly detained as a result of the raid in an upscale neighborhood.

Various reports now point to Nuevo Leon 's strategic location along drug-smuggling corridors; the growth of the street-level narco business, and the importance of arms trafficking in the northern border state.

Four main groups-the Zetas, Gulf Cartel, Sinaloa Cartel and Valdez family-are widely believed to be involved in the violent war for the Nuevo Leon "plaza." More than 12 men were reported kidnapped during the month of October in Monterrey and the municipalities of Marin and Allende. Lately, public "levantones" from restaurants are in fashion.

In one incident registered on the morning of October 24, a group of 10 armed men burst into the Pirate's Island dining establishment in Monterrey , forcing customers to the ground and making off with three men. In another incident on the weekend of October 28, about a dozen black-clad gunmen invaded the Los Arcos seafood restaurant in an upscale Monterrey neighborhood during the peak dining hour. Invoking terror, they threatened customers and violently snatched 31-year-old Carlos Maldonado who had been dining with two of his sisters. A police mobilization did not succeed in finding Maldonado or his captors.

Reportedly a resident of Allende, Jacinto Catalan, popped up far to the south in the Guerrero state city of Ciudad Altamirano on October 18. In a violent encounter, Catalan was beaten but narrowly escaped would-be kidnappers after finding refuge in a bank. Responding to the chase, the police shot it out with the gunmen, who escaped. Startled tellers, who suffered nervous attacks, were treated by emergency response personnel. After questioning, Catalan was allowed by the police to depart for the neighboring town of Huetamo , Michoacan.

Nuevo Leon's law enforcement authorities and elected officials have announced a series of measures designed to curb the narco-violence, including helicopter over flights and street checkpoints. A bill in the state legislature would prohibit the use of tinted windows in vehicles (a regulation currently in effect in varying degrees in Sinaloa and Michoacan states), develop a data base of hotel guests who stay in Nuevo Leon , create the status of protected witnesses, and offer more protection to judges and officials who act against organized crime interests.

"It's a common practice to bring tinted windows into our region," said state Deputy Gregorio Hurtado Lejia of the PAN party, "but these types of actions must be taken to fight the narco."

Sources: El Universal, October 4, 19, 20, 21, 24, 26, 29, 2006. Articles by Juan Cedillo, Luciano Campos Garza and the Notimex news agency. Proceso/Apro, October 16 and 19, 2006. Articles by Ricardo Ravelo and Luciano Campos Garza. El Sur, October 19, 2006.

War Report

The news reports are graphic: "7 Bodies Found," "Attack with Grenades," "Three Kidnapped and Others Murdered," "Two De-Quartered Bodies Found." Iraq ? Afghanistan ? Guess again. The death toll and motives might be different, but the newspaper headlines in question actually hail from Mexican newspapers that print daily stories about narco-violence that's extended from northern border states to the central and southern parts of the nation. Depending on the estimate, anywhere from 1200 to 1400 Mexicans have been slaughtered in violence connected to organized crime since the beginning of the year, but it is widely suspected by the press and other close observers that the real number of victims is higher. If current murder rates continue, the body count will equal or surpass the figure for 2005.

While much of the recent attention on Mexico has focused on the post-electoral conflict in Mexico City or the popular uprising against Oaxaca Governor Ulises Ruiz, violence attributed to wars between drug cartels and to organized crime shows no signs of abating. Nor does the Mexican state show any new ability or desire to put a halt to the carnage.

"It's an all-out battle that's become more visible, above all because the violence has come to zones where the drug traffickers didn't regularly move around in," said Mexican criminologist Rafael Ruiz Harrell. "Regrettably, we're talking about an all-out war in which the authorities seem only to be witnesses."

Flashpoints include the capital of Mexico City , as well as the states of Baja California , Sonora , Sinaloa , Chihuahua , Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon , Michoacan, Guerrero, Quintana Roo and Yucatan , among others. The tourist resorts of Cancun, Acapulco and Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo continue being hot spots. Indeed, the major part of the nation is now embroiled in organized crime feuds. Violence is reaching such levels that some "narco-families" are reportedly fleeing their home bases and seeking refuge in the few remaining tranquil spots of the country or attempting to relocate to the United States and Canada .

While certainly not new, gangland violence is evolving in new ways, ranging from the military-style ferocity of the bloodletting to the changing geographic origins and demographic profiles of both the victims and victimizers. Alongside the AK-47 rifle, grenades and bazookas now are popular weapons of choice. Recurring government reports claim that Central Americans, including members of the Mara Salvatrucha gang, have been employed to do the cartels' dirty work. Few, however, have been detained.

A LOST GENERATION?

A review of episodes of suspected narco-violence in recent weeks confirms several trends. More of the victims are young, a growing number are female and a good percentage are somehow connected to the police or military. A disturbing number of the casualties are made up of by-standers who happen to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. A high-noon shoot-out between two gangs on August 31 in Ciudad Altamirano, Guerrero, left two young boys wounded, 11-year-old Daniel Yair Vega Felix and his 6-year-old brother Felix. Other school children were present at the scene of the gun battle but were not injured.

In early August, residents of the Ciudad Juarez neighborhood of Tierra Nueva witnessed the abductions of two teenagers by a band of armed men who were driving a truck with Texas license plates. The youths, 16-year-old Hector Moncayo Gomez and 17-year-old Alonso Prieto, were later found executed and dumped in an empty lot near the city's airport. Shocked and angered neighbors insisted the young men never caused trouble. "We know who is trouble here in the colonia, who takes drugs, one is not blind," said an unidentified woman amid tears. "They didn't take drugs or do bad things. They were just boys!"

Independent of whether or not Moncayo and Prieto were involved in criminal activities, Mexican academic researchers report that more youth are being lured into the fast-money temptations of the narco-world. According to Guillermo Alonso Meneses, a researcher with El Colegio de la Frontera Norte, many youths from marginalized backgrounds do not have problems at all with committing violent crimes if it means earning an income.

"Nowadays, youths say they want to become politicians, work in the United States or get involved in drug trafficking to have money and power," added Luis Garcia, coordinator of the criminology faculty at the Autonomous University of Nuevo Leon.

Another trend involves the increasing number of women who are victims of narco-executions. Since late July, for example, at least 8 women in several states have been kidnapped or murdered in incidents reeking of the involvement of organized crime. Two of the victims, Viviana Mendoza Chavez and Lorena Gallardo Rosiles, were shot to death inside an Internet cafe and cell phone sales outlet in the violence-wracked port of Lazaro Cardenas, Michoacan.

THE PRESS UNDER FURTHER SIEGE

In his last report before leaving office, outgoing President Vicente Fox stated on September 1 that freedom of press is a reality in Mexico . What President Fox did not mention was that Mexico now ranks only second to Colombia in terms of murdered journalists, according to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. For many Mexican journalists, covering the news about organized crime is practically akin to being a Middle Eastern war correspondent.

Just hours before President Fox delivered his upbeat report, a grenade exploded at the offices of the Por Esto! newspaper in Merida , Yucatan , wounding three workers. The attack occurred within 180 feet of a school that had just begun classes for the day. It was the second grenade attack suffered by a branch of the newspaper in recent days. Known for its audacious reporting, recent stories of Por Esto! have discussed the smuggling of undocumented Cubans and the involvement of law enforcement officials in drug trafficking.

Yucatan state law enforcement authorities detained a collaborator of Por Esto!, Ricardo Delfin Quezada, for questioning, but according to Miguel Menendez Camara, the newspaper's assistant editor, serious leads pointed to organized crime. Menendez complained that state and municipal authorities did not immediately contact the newspaper after the explosion to express their concern. “This shows their interest in what's going on in Yucatan and in a city like Merida ,” Menendez said.

At the same time they physically intimidate the press, narco-gangs are also getting craftier about using the media to spread threats against their rivals and send messages to the government. Especially gruesome are the messages left alongside decapitated heads or mutilated corpses by presumed members of Zetas and Pelones gangs against each other and the government. Fueled by revenge and counter-revenge, strong indications exist that the narco wars are escalating beyond simple economic turf battles and acquiring a life of their own.

Mexican Federal Attorney General Daniel Cabeza de Vaca blames the upsurge in violence to the “success” of the Fox Administration in arresting major traffickers and disrupting criminal organizations. According to Cabeza de Vaca, detentions have delivered major blows to drug cartels, leaving the golden cookie jar open to second or third-level operators who fight over the spoils.

Nonetheless, many leading, alleged traffickers like Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman have yet to be captured. For criminologist Rafael Ruiz Harrell, all levels of the Mexican government have let whatever control they might have had over drug trafficking "slip from their hands."

A tiny sampling of the firepower available for use in the narco wars was revealed by the Mexican army recently after its soldiers seized three vehicles-one of which was armored-in Sinaloa state. Eugenio Hidalgo Heddi, the commander of 9 th Military Zone, reported that his soldiers confiscated several AK-47 and G-3 rifles, ammunition, dynamite, cell-phones, radios, camouflage clothing, and a bullet-proof vest. No suspects were reported detained, however.

Sources: Frontera, September 3, 2006 . Article by Manuel Villegas. el Mexicano, September 2, 2006 . Article by Jacinto Segura Garnica. Enlineadirecta.info, September 1, 2006 . El Universal, July 20 and 31, 2006. August 1, 2, 6, and 31, 2006. September 1 and 3, 2006. Articles by Yazmin Rodrgiuez, Nayeli Cortes, Jorge Herrera, Jaime Marquez, Rafael Rivera, Adriana Varrillas, Rosa Maria Mendez Fierros, Monica Perla Hernandez, Juan Cedillo, Laura Reyes Maciel, other correspondents, and the Notimex news agency.

La Jornada, July 20, 2006 ; August 16, 2006 ; September 1 and 2, 2006. Articles by Misael Habana de los Santos, Hugo Martoccia, Julia le Duc, Antonio Heras, Sergio Ocampo, Alfredo Valadez, Ruben Villalpando, Rodolfo Villalba, Cristobal Garcia Bernal, Nelda Anzar, Ernesto Martinez, Javier Valdez, Angeles Mariscal, Laura Poy, and the Notimex news agency. El Sur, July 26, 2006 ; August 1 and 25/26, 2006. September 1, 2006 . Articles by Israel Flores, editorial staff and the AFP news agency. Proceso/Apro, September 2, 2006 . Article by Jose Palacios Tepate. El Diario de Juarez , August 5, 2006 and September 3, 2006 , Articles by Mauricio Rodriguez and the Notimex and SUN news agencies.

Behind the Retail Narco Business

Fighting the illegal drug trade was one of the questions addressed by Mexico 's five presidential candidates during the televised debate held on June 6. In today's Mexico , the narco trade is not only an issue of export. A recent study by the Federal Preventive Police ( PFP ) estimated that street-level sales of illegal drugs to Mexican consumers rake in about $1.5 billion dollars per year. The PFP calculated that at least 35,000 retail outlets, or tienditas, where users can purchase illegal drugs exist throughout Mexico .

Besides “stores,” illegal drugs are also delivered by motorcycle or bicycle, much like a take-out pizza order.

Not surprisingly, Mexico City has the most tienditas, estimated by the PFP to number about 10,000. Counting a far smaller population than Mexico 's capital city, the border states of Baja California and Chihuahua nevertheless host significant numbers of tienditas, with Baja California having more than 2,000 and Chihuahua anywhere from 1-2,000.

In the Baja California city of Tijuana, another recent study detected the presence of tienditas in between 90-100 neighborhoods, or colonias. Sponsored by two civil society groups, the Public Safety Citizen's Council and Graffiti Busters, the study examined the structure of the retail narco trade. According to the report's authors, the business functions like a hybrid between the nightclub and convenience store trades. “Promoters” lure customers to a storefront that offers drugs for sale. A manager is in charge of operating the store, which is characterized by round-the-clock activity. Cash is constantly moved off the premises to another stash house, and only relatively small amounts of merchandise are maintained on the premises to guard against losses in the event of a bust.

David Solis Jusaino, the study's coordinator, contended that the structure of the narco street trade renders it almost immune to serious disruption. “There is never going to be a big confiscation of money or drugs in (tienditas)…” Solis said. “They are constantly taking them out, every half hour. It doesn't suit them to have a lot stocked-up…”

Like a big corporate retail chain, Tijuana 's drug houses are reliably supplied by regular wholesalers, in this case, by four large warehouses. Alleging that the businesses enjoy protection from different police agencies, the Tijuana study suggests how public subsidies also help the retail narco trade thrive. “The warehouses that supply (tienditas) are as untouchable as always,” Solis added. “This is an important point. Arresting or killing a seller is insignificant.”

Sources: El Universal, May 28 and June 6, 2006 . Articles by Maria de la Luz Gonzalez and editorial staff. Frontera, May 31, 2006 . Article by Daniel Salinas.

The Cross-Border Narco-Drama

Accustomed to wielding power from the shadows, elements of Mexico 's drug cartels are increasingly going public in apparent bids to win mass sympathy, strike public relations blows against their rivals and gain clout during the nation's political transition. For two days last week, television station KRGV of Weslaco, Texas, ran an interview with two purported former members of the Zetas, the notorious hit squad linked to the Gulf Cartel of Osiel Cardenas Guillen. In a chat with reporter Tony Castelan, the two men, whose faces were not shown, claimed they had been active-duty members of the Mexican army but deserted to the Zetas because of economic necessity. One man claimed to have been trained by the United States ' special military forces.

During the interview the two men contended the heavily-armed Zetas operate freely on both sides of the US-Mexico border and maintain an isolated base camp in Camargo, Tamaulipas, where they dispose of their enemies. According to the men, whose stories could not be independently confirmed, the Zetas have a presence in the Tamaulipas cities of Miguel Aleman, Nuevo Laredo and Reynosa . The pair maintained they had abandoned the paramilitary squad because of their revulsion over the group's targeting of innocent people for kidnapping, robbery and murder. "They cross (the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo), and do their work here (in the US )," said "Zeta 1." "They kill, kidnap, disappear people and return to the Mexican side," he said. Reportedly video-taped in the United States , the Zetas' interview reached an audience concentrated in the south Texas border cities of Harlingen , McAllen and Brownsville .

An anti-Zeta line also was the central message in a statement reportedly from alleged US drug trafficker Edgar "La Barbie" Valdez Villareal published last Sunday, May 28, in the Mexico City daily El Milenio. In a paid ad directed at Mexico 's business leaders and five presidential candidates, as well as the governor of Nuevo Leon state, Valdez fulminated against the Zetas, whom he characterized as a group of "narco-kidnappers and murderers of women and children." Valdez accused the Zetas of mounting a campaign of defamation and distortion against him, falsely tying the Laredo-born fugitive to violent episodes like the recent, bloody grenade attack on a Monterrey-area bar.

In a series of explosive statements, Valdez charged that the Zetas, in their drive to monopolize the illegal drug trade, have converted numerous Mexican states into a "zone of death." He accused the group of luring Colombian drug traffickers to the port of Veracruz , where the unsuspecting traffickers are then disappeared and their shipments valued from $40 to 50 million dollars stolen. Valdez charged that the Zetas have bought protection from local officials in Nuevo Leon and from the elite anti-organized crime enforcement unit attached to Mexico 's Office of the Federal Attorney General ( PGR ). Proclaiming that he does not pretend to be an angel, or is out to clean his image, Valdez added, "I am sure of what I have done and what I am responsible for..”

The 32-year-old Valdez appealed to the next Mexican president to uphold the law in an equal manner and eliminate "the cancer" of the Zetas. There was no immediate comment from Mexican officials (or the Zetas) about Valdez 's statements. . Nicknamed "La Barbie" because of his blonde, good looks and flamboyant lifestyle, Valdez is the reputed head of the Sinaloa drug cartel's hit squad variously known as "Los Negroes" or "Los Pelones." On the lam, Valdez faces a 2003 indictment in Louisiana on two charges of conspiracy with intent to distribute marijuana. He was once reportedly picked up in Missouri on drug charges but released. Labeling Valdez "a significant trafficker," US Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent Steve Robertson said, "We definitely want to get our hands on him."

Since his scraps with US law, Valdez has publicly emerged as the reputed commander of the Sinaloa Cartel's bloody battle with the Gulf Cartel over large sections of Mexican and US territory used to import, transport and export drugs. The PGR has linked Valdez to the filming of last year's gruesome "narco-video" in Acapulco that showed 4 tortured Zetas under interrogation; at the conclusion of the video, one of the men is executed with a pistol shot to his head.

According to a PGR document, Valdez helped buy protection for the Sinaloa and Juarez drug cartels from a former PGR official, Domingo Gonzalez Diaz, who was allegedly paid $1.5 million dollars in March 2003 to ensure that the Zetas were expelled from their Nuevo Laredo stronghold and free reign given in the border city to the Juarez organization of Vicente Carrillo Fuentes. Despite the deployment of new PGR forces, 2003 was the year that the violence between rival drug cartels in Nuevo Laredo dramatically escalated. Gonzalez has since vanished from public sight.

Valdez 's Milenio statement is not the first time the fugitive has made a public pitch. Purchasing a full-page ad in the Monterrey newspaper Norte in September 2004, Valdez declared himself a persecuted businessman and requested justice from President Vicente Fox .The anti-Zeta declarations on US television and in the Mexican press follow scandals that erupted earlier this month in Reynosa and Piedras Negras, Coahuila, in which individuals allegedly associated with Osiel Cardenas and the Zetas organized well-attended public events held in honor of Children's Day.

Sources: enlineadirecta.info/Proceso, May 28, 2006 . Article by Alejandro Gutierrez. El Diario de Juarez/ Notimex, May 24, 2006 . La Jornada, May 2, 2006 . Article by Leopoldo Ramos and Martin Sanchez. Dallas Morning News, March 20, 2006 . Article by Lennox Samuels.

Father of PAN Campaign Coordinator Shot in Border Town

Key details are still not known about the reported May 10 shooting of 62-year-old David Figueroa Coronado in the Sonoran border town of Aguas Prieta . Figueroa is the father of former Agua Prieta Mayor David Figueroa Ortega, who currently serves as the Sonora state coordinator for the campaign of conservative National Action Party (PAN) presidential candidate Felipe Calderon.

According to Gaudencio Orduno Herrera, chief of the Sonora State Judicial Police (PJE), the elder Figueroa was driving in his 2003 Dodge Ram pick up at 8:30 in the morning last Wednesday when a white Chevy Suburban suddenly pulled up alongside the Dodge Ram. Shots rang out from the Chevy Suburban, striking Figueroa three times and reportedly killing his security guard. The shooting supposedly happened about four blocks from Figueroa's home.

In another unconfirmed account of the shooting, a police officer supposedly found Figueroa wounded but still walking near his Agua Prieta business. After the shooting, Figueroa was then reportedly transported to Agua Prieta's Latino Hospital . Reportedly, the shooting victim will survive. Figueroa's slain security guard was not identified.

The Figueroa shooting prompted an intense police mobilization that involved the Sonora State Preventive Police and PJE agents from Cananea, Santa Cruz and Naco. At least three helicopters and an airplane belonging to Figueroa's son were used in the search for the shooters, but no arrests were immediately made. The possible motive of the shooting has not been revealed.

Marco Antonio Martinez Dabdoub, the PAN's mayoral candidate for Nogales , condemned the attack. Calling mounting violence worrisome, Martinez declared that “gangs should not be able to act like they are playing ball.”

Source: Nuevo Dia ( Nogales ), May 11 and 12, 2006.

The Cocaine Clown Scandals

Even from his federal prison cell, accused drug lord Osiel Cardenas could still wield considerable power and public influence. In Piedras Negras, Coahuila, and Reynosa , Tamaulipas, Cardenas ' name surfaced in twin scandals that surfaced this week after public celebrations in honor of Children's Day were held in the northern border cities and supposedly sponsored by the alleged chieftan of the Gulf drug cartel.

In Piedras Negras, an April 30 event publicly sponsored by a group called "The Piedras Negras Anonymous Altruist Syndicate" attracted hundreds of working-class children who were handed free food and gifts. Musicians and clowns performed for the youngsters at the dance hall event. Taking the microphone during the celebration, an unidentified person then solicited applause for a Tamaulipas drug trafficker who supposedly made the fun and games possible.

As the bash was concluding, federal agents from the Office of the Attorney General's SIEDO anti-organized crime squad suddenly arrested four men and hustled them off in an airplane to Mexico City for questioning. Emir Mendez, the owner of the El Cortijo dance hall where the Children's Day celebration was held, and Jose Luis "El Doc" Hernandez, the owner of the musical group that played at the party, were among the detainees.

Press accounts of the alleged narco-sponsored fiesta played up the use of the letter "z" in publicity that preceded the big party. The replacement of the letter "z" for "s" in the words "sindicato" (syndicate) and "alturista (altruist) " in a newspaper ad announcing the event was interpreted by the media as a lexical allusion to the Zetas, the armed enforcers of the Gulf Cartel. Media stories about the planned event prior to April 30 suggest the authorities got wind of it.

The April 30 celebration wasn't the first time Cardenas ' name has been associated with a mass children's gathering in Piedras Negras. Thousands of children attended a 2004 event in a Piedras Negras bull-fighting ring where they were given food, drinks, gifts, and even fancy bicycles. A tape recording praised Cardenas as the sponsor of the give-away.

Meanwhile, the National Action Party-controlled city government of Reynosa swiflty denied any involvement in another April 30 celebration that was held in the Tamaulipas city's Adolfo Lopez Mateos baseball stadium. Like the Piedras Negras celebration, children were treated to gifts, music, clowns and a wrestling performance. Cards distributed to the estimated 17,000 adult and child attendees credited Osiel Cardenas as the celebration's sponsor. Los Payasonicos, a group of musical clowns from Monterrey , Nuevo Leon , helped produce the show.

Horacio Ortiz Renan, the secretary of Reynosa 's municipal government, said a businessman requested the use of the baseball stadium for a non-profit event, but denied the city government had any prior knowledge that Cardenas was associated with the celebration. Unlike Piedras Negras, no immediate arrests in the Reynosa scandal were announced.

Sources: La Jornada, May 2, 2006 . Article by Leopoldo Ramos and Martin Sanchez. El Universal, April 28, 2006 .

The Cocaine Clown Scandals

Sources: La Jornada, May 2, 2006 . Article by Leopoldo Ramos and Martin Sanchez. El Universal, April 28, 2006 .

Violence Stains Easter Celebrations on the Southern Front

Marring the Easter season, a new spate of violence linked to organized crime has broken out in Guerrero, the southern Mexican state famous for the sunny tourist resorts of Acapulco and Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo. Since late March, executions and grenade attacks in the two internationally known port cities and the adjoining Costa Grande region have left at least 12 people dead and 39 injured. Standing out as victims of the bloodbath are current and former policemen, businessmen, lawyers, government employees, taxi drivers, and innocent bystanders. Adding to a growing popular alarm is the brazen nature of many attacks, some of which have been carried out on the Costera main drag of Acapulco where tourist hotels and eateries abound.

During the last three years, Guerrero has emerged as the southern front of a war between the Tamaulipas-based Gulf Cartel associated with Osiel Cardenas and purported followers of Sinaloa capo Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman for control of the lucrative cocaine market. Acapulco and Zihuatanejo also have become important internal markets in their own right, hosting large numbers of so-called “narco-tiendas,” stores where locals can purchase small amounts of cocaine and other drugs for consumption.

Acapulco Mayor Felix Salgado Macedonio, who took office on the PRD political party ticket last December, acknowledged that some of the latest bouts of violence bore “the stamp” of the narco.

Some observers note that the narco-violence escalated during a state government political transition away from the long-ruling PRI party to the now-governing PRD party, and picked up during the federal presidential and congressional election campaigns that culminate on July 2. Additionally, the latest carnage occurs on the eve of Zapatista Sub-Comandante Marcos's scheduled April 15 visit to the region, although no evidence at the moment exists to show the violence and the Zapatista's “Other Campaign” is somehow connected.

The worst incident this week happened on Wednesday, April 12, when an unknown assailant or assailants tossed two grenades into a cantina at the annual Petatlan fair near Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo. The bar is owned by the driver of Petatlan's new PRD municipal president. Held in honor of “Father Jesus,” or “Papa Chu” as he is locally known, Petatlan's Roman Catholic church and fair are well-known Easter season destinations that attract many visitors from across Mexico , as well as returning migrant workers from the United States .

A regional market for gold jewelry, the municipality of Petatlan is also a producer of marijuana and opium poppies, an economic attribute absent from citation in the tourist brochures. The April 12 cantina attack killed two men and injured 30 other people, 10 of them seriously. Many of the wounded party-goers were later transported to a hospital in nearby Zihuatanejo for treatment. In the 48-hours surrounding the Petatlan incident, two other grenade attacks against different targets were reported in Zihuatanejo.

In Acapulco , meanwhile, the city that never sleeps was fidgeting over its own round of violent episodes. On March 30, lawyer Napoleon Guevara Lacuzna, who was married to a former state attorney general's office (PGJE) functionary from the PRI administration of ex-Governor Rene Juarez Cisneros, was shot to death on a well-traveled public street. In 2001, Guevara was reportedly fired from the internal affairs section of the PGJE for freeing a group of men from San Luis La Loma, a narco-infested town situated in the Costa Grande municipality of Tecpan de Galeana , who had been detained with a shipment of marijuana. Guevara was later detained by the old Federal Judicial Police for allegedly picking up a shipment of marijuana at a bus company.

At the time of his slaying, Guevara was defending several suspected hit men, including residents of San Luis La Loma, who were arrested for weapons violations by the Mexican army on January 26 and 27 in Acapulco and Zihuatanejo, respectively. He also represented one party in the dispute over the ownership of the Aca Bay tourist hotel in Acapulco , a conflict that reportedly escalated to the drawing of weapons several days prior to Guevara's murder.

One week after Guevara was gunned down in Acapulco , Jose Luis Herrera Cevallos suffered the same fate. A PGJE investigator, Herrera was the son of controversial PGJE commander Tomas Herrera Basurto, the current commander of the state police detachment in Tecpan de Galeana. Three of Jose Luis Herrera's brothers, who served under the command of their father in Tecpan de Galeana, were quickly transferred to another post in Guerrero after the murder.

Yet another public servant may have been the target of an April 10 grenade attack in Acapulco on a two-story home featuring a swimming-pool and owned by city official Blanca Ascencio Villasenor. The explosion injured five people, including Ascencio's 19-year-old daughter, Maria Teresa, but Asencio escaped injury. Acsencio is a supervisor in the city department that inspects and regulates permits for bars, night clubs and strip joints.

Finally, more popular indignation followed the April 13 murder of Honda motorcycle dealer Roberto Herrera Luna in Acapulco , especially after it was revealed that the two suspected killers were videotaped hiding their faces in a business right before the crime. It was not immediately known if businessman Herrera was related to the Herreras of state police fame.

Business associations, political parties and the Roman Catholic Church all expressed varying degrees of outrage at the violent upsurge. Calls are mounting for the greater intervention of the Mexican army. No one has been arrested for any of the most recent crimes, despite the declared involvement of the Federal Attorney General's Office in some of the investigations. At the same time, confusion reigns over the true extent of the previously announced federal deployment for the Easter vacation break under the Safe Mexico program, a national anti-organized crime fighting campaign that was recently dismantled and replaced in Nuevo Laredo , because of its poor results in curbing narco-violence in the Tamaulipas border city.

Abelardo Luna David, the president of the Acapulco branch of the Canaco business association, said local residents are growing weary of the “inefficiency of the authorities” in stemming the violent tide. “How regrettable and absurd that in the middle of the tourist season the newspaper headlines are about grenade attacks and executions,” Luna said.

Sources: El Sur, March 31, April 7, 11 , 13 and 14, 2006. Articles by Jorge Nava, Roxanne Ibarra, David Espino, Monica Martinez Garcia, Magdalena Cisneros, Brenda Escobar, and editorial staff. La Opinion ( Los Angeles ), April 13, 2006 . Article by Francisco Robles Nava. La Jornada, March 31 and April 12, 2006 . Articles by Misael Habana de los Santos and Gustavo Castillo. El Universal, April 11, 2006 . Articles by Silvia Otero and the Notimex news agency.

That Heavenly Sound of Pesos and Pennies

Legal or not, commercial gaming is spreading on both sides of the US-Mexico border. In a continued crackdown on illegal gambling, law enforcement authorities in the Texas border county of Cameron seized 70 video slots and $8,000 dollars in cash from a Port Isabel business this month. Supposedly set up as an Avon promotion, the Pennies from Heaven business was located on property registered to Justice of the Peace Bennie Ochoa but operated by one Ovidio Guevara. Cameron County sheriff's deputies booked Guevara and Lucila Castillo on charges of promoting gambling, while 45 clients of the business were cited on minor charges. Guevara and Castillo face up to one year in jail and a $4,000 dollar fine.

Commenting on conflicting claims of who really owns Pennies from Heaven, Cameron County District Attorney Armando Villalobos said authorities will deepen their probe of the raided business. "It's very important to find out the truth about the property, because we suspect that the majority of these machines are from a select group of people who tend to use others as (front) operators," District Attorney Villalobos said.

On the Mexican side of the border, meanwhile, the Federal Office of the Attorney General confiscated 30 slot machines in the coastal resort of Acapulco , Guerrero, last week. Attracting children, the machines were set up in convenience stores and candy shops in working-class neighborhoods. Offering users a chance to win up to $20 dollars, the machines were reportedly installed by a man known only as "The Lord of the Games," who paid store owners a commission in return for allowing the slots on their premises. Resident Maria Higinia Cortes complained that many children were left without money for food after squandering their meager pesos on the gaming devices. Similar machines were confiscated by the authorities in Ciudad Juarez last year.

Despite initiatives to legalize slots and casino-class gambling in Mexico , casinos are still prohibited by law-with some important loopholes and exceptions. The federal government routinely grants temporary permits for casinos to operate during a number of annual fairs. In Cancun , a quasi-casino that boasts table games was given the go-ahead for the city's international fair that's scheduled to run through March 2 of this year. The federal Ministry of the Interior granted the permit to Enrique Mabuh, who also operates temporary casinos at several other Mexican fairs. The quasi-casino was approved for the Cancun Convention Center , a site managed by prominent Quintana Roo businessman Issac Hamui.

Seasonal casinos got another boost recently when Aguascalientes ' popular San Marcos Fair was extended by almost one week this year. Undergoing a major facelift for the opening-day in April, the now nearly month-long fair features a large casino that draws crowds from throughout central Mexico .

Advocates of fulltime casinos contend the gaming palaces will aid tourism in US-Mexico border cities and Mexican coastal resorts. But Carlos Valverde Rubizewiski, the operations director of the large Grupo Caliente gaming company associated with Tijuana Mayor Jorge Hank Rhon, said recently that locals, not tourists, make up the bulk of the gaming clients.

Sources: El Quintanarooense, February 17, 2006. Novedades de Acapulco, February 15, 2006. La Frontera, Febuary 13, 2006. Article by Emma Perez-Trevino. La Jornada, February 11, 2006. Article by Miriam Posada.