DEA: NARCO-GUERRA IN JUAREZ NOT OVER

by Jeff Barnet, Frontera NorteSur Staff Writer

The narco-guerra, or in-fighting between drug traffickers, in Ciudad Juárez is not over, Thomas L. Kennedy, special agent in charge in El Paso for the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), said in a recent interview. Kennedy made his statement to the Austin, Tex. television station KTBC, and was quoted in an April 15 New York Times story. The special agent went so far as to state that the "bloody street wars" in Juárez are "between [Rafael] Muñoz [Talavera] and his rivals." Although one Mexican official quoted by the Times said that Muñoz had retreated from Juárez, Kennedy disagreed, saying, "It's liable to end up in a crescendo of violence, a real blood bath, before somebody backs down."

Officials from both the U.S. and Mexico have identified Muñoz Talavera as either the controlling leader or the leading contender to take over the Cartel de Juárez, the Times report said. "Despite two trials, one conviction, and what U.S. prosecutors say is overwhelming evidence against him, Muñoz is free. Authorities say he is directing a violent campaign to seize control of a major part of the Mexican drug trade," wrote Times reporters Sam Dillon and Craig Pyes.

The Times article also asserted that alleged drug trafficker Muñoz Talavera has been a "leader" among Mexican narcos for many years. His influence and his money, U.S. officials allege, corrupted judges and police in Mexico, allowing Muñoz Talavera to escape prison on two occasions for his role in transporting 21 tons of cocaine (equivalent in size to two school buses, according to the Times) into Sylmar, Calif.--a case that some U.S. officials said "was open and shut." Officials say that all the persons arrested in Sylmar named Muñoz as their "leader." The 1989 drug seizure was the largest in history at the time and remains so today.

The first trial, which U.S. officials allege was "rigged," ended in Muñoz's acquittal. "The idea was not to present strong evidence," said one U.S. official. Both Mexican and U.S. observers speculate that Muñoz allegedly bribed the judge. The second trial, which lasted three years, involved several U.S. attorneys and a team of DEA agents--half a dozen U.S. officials even testified in Sonora. Muñoz was found guilty and sentenced to 24 years in prison; however, on appeal, a higher court tossed out the conviction, ruling that Muñoz has been subject to "double jeopardy," since he had already been acquitted of similar charges in Ciudad Juárez.

The Times story said the Muñoz trials illustrate the crisis of corruption within the Mexican judicial system. One Mexican official called the first trial "a masquerade." The official explained, "It was arranged ahead of time. They orchestrated a trial in Mexico so that Muñoz Talavera couldn't be extradited to the United States."

For years the owner of a Juárez restaurant, Muñoz is again being sought for extradition by U.S. officials in Texas. The U.S. has never successfully extradited a Mexican drugtrafficker, said the Times, but U.S. officials said they have been assured by the Mexican government that, in the future, U.S. requests for extradition would be honored.

The Times story on Muñoz was reprinted in Spanish in El Diario on the same day, April 15.

There were no reports of drug-related violence in Ciudad Juárez during the month of April, making it the second counsecutive month without any narco-related killings or shootings. The last incident tied to the narco-guerra was the AK-47 murder of a Juárez lawyer February 19, which Juárez police hypothesize was a case of mistaken identity.

The following is a selection of stories related to the narco-guerra:

Sun., April 26: Juárez Mayor Asks That Narcos Be Disarmed

Juárez Mayor Enrique Flores Almeida officially asked the Mexican Army to help disarm drugtraffickers operating in the city.

"The elements of the Mexican Army must begin operations to disarm drugtraffickers and all types of deliquents that threaten our society and who possess high caliber weapons," the mayor said. Flores also mentioned that the prevalence of high caliber weapons in the city made it more difficult for the police to protect the citizens of Juárez.

Source: El Diario

Sat., April 25: Mexican Sources Allege U.S. Knows Raul Salinas To Be A Narco

El Norte de Ciudad Juárez published a report alleging that officials within the Mexican federal judicial system have obtained documents from U.S. judicial authorities which prove that the United States government was and is aware of the money-laundering and drug-trafficking activities of Raul Salinas Gortari, brother of former Mexican President Carlos Salinas Gortari, the PRIista who was the country's chief executive from 1988 to 1994.

According to the allegations, the U.S. is conducting "secret investigations" into Raul Salinas' alleged laundering of $132 million (U.S.). In addition, the Mexican sources said the U.S. government is also "getting ready to accuse" Raul Salinas--or "RSG" as he is called in the Mexican papers--of "importation of cocaine," "distribution of cocaine," and "bribery."

The banner headline story of El Norte was not reported in El Diario.

Source: El Norte de Ciudad Norte

Thurs., April 23: Cartel de Juárez Cabecilla Sentenced to 27 Years in Prison

Carlos Enrique Tapia Anchondo, one of the primary cabecillas (little heads) of the Cartel de Juárez was sentenced to 27 years and 6 months in prison for "crimes against the public health," including "possession and exportation of cocaine."

Tapia Anchondo was sentenced by a federal judge in Toluca, near Mexico City, which had jurisdiction in the matter of his crimes.

Authorities also connected Tapia Anchondo to the seizure of 21 tons of cocaine found in Sylmar, Calif. in 1989.

Source: El Diario

Wed., April 22: Gen. Rebollo's Lawyer Shot To Death in Guadalajara

The lawyer who defended Gen. Jesus Gutierrez Rebollo, the former Mexican drug policy chief who was sentenced last month to 13 years in prison for his role in aiding the drugtrafficking operations of the Cartel de Juárez, was assassinated in the city of Guadalajara.

Tomás Arturo González Velázquez was found shot to death in his car at the intersection of Calle Colonia and Avenida de la Paz. The assassin allegedly walked up to the lawyer while he was in his car and fired two bullets, one into his side and another into his shoulder. The 45-year-old González Veláquez was pronounced dead by the Office of Forensic Medical Services.

The report noted that the lawyer was driving a car with Juárez plates. Rebollo gave information about the Guadalajara-based drug cartel to both Amado Carrillo "El Señor de los Cielos" Fuentes, former leader of the Cartel de Juárez, and to the Mexican government.

Source: El Diario

Wed., April 15: Governor Barrio Says Muñoz Has Ties to Tijuana Cartel

In an interview with the New York Times (and reprinted in Spanish in El Diario), Chihuahua Governor Francisco Barrio Terrazas said that alleged drugtrafficker Rafael Muñoz Talavera "forged an alliance with exceptionally violent traffickers from Tijuana." Barrio said he believes that Muñoz used "Tijuana henchmen" to seize control of the Cartel de Juárez, attacking followers of the late Amado Carrillo Fuentes. Barrio attributed the August 3 Max-Fim massacre, in which six people were killed, to Muñoz and his Tijuana assassins.

Sources: New York Times, El Diario

Wed., April 15: Lawyer Killed in October Represented Muñoz

Sergio Roldan Ramos, who was shot to death by a man carrying an AK-47 on a Juárez street October 15, was the lawyer who defended alleged drugtrafficker Rafael Muñoz Talavera during his seven-year-long legal battle with the Mexican government, according to a report in the New York Times and reprinted in El Diario.

The revelation that Roldan was Muñoz's lawyer had never before been published. El Diario reported the murder in October, but did not mention the lawyer's connection to Muñoz. In fact, El Diario quoted an anonymous source who said Dr. David Portillo Dominguez may have been behind the murder. Portillo is rumored to have been at the Max-Fim restaurant before the massacre, and has never been heard from since. Muñoz's trials, on the other hand, received much attention in the Mexican press.

Times reporters said they attempted to contact the law office where Roldan formerly worked, but no one would talk to them. Times reporters also attempted to speak with Rafael Muñoz at his Juárez restaurant, but were unsuccessful.

Source: El Diario, New York Times

Tues., April 14: One of Amado's Doctors Living in U.S.: Washington Post

According to a story in the Washington Post (and reprinted in El Diario), one of the three doctors who were unsuccessful in their attempt to perform plastic surgery and liposuction on alleged drug lord Amado Carrillo Fuentes in Mexico City July 4, 1997 is alive and living in the United States.

Pedro López Saucedo, also known as Pedro Rincón, is under the protection of authorities in exchange for information on the Cartel de Juárez, according to the Post.

Also, in Mexico City, the Attorney General's office of the Federal Government (PGJDF) and the federal Mexico police (PGR) officially declared that Dr. Jaime Godoy Singh, who was in charge of Carrillo's operation, is dead.

Godoy is believed to have been one of three persons who were found stuffed inside of cement-packed barrels alongside a highway in the state of Guerrero on Nov. 2.

PGR authorities determined that the doctors administered the anesthetic drug Dormicum to Carrillo, and believe this could have caused complications with other drugs in his system.

López Saucedo, or Rincón, left the site of the operation immediately, according to sources from the Santa Mónica Hospital quoted in El Diario.

According to an earlier, less detailed report published April 11, Rincón is in the U.S. with his family under the Witness Protection Program. According to an anonymous U.S. official, Rincón said that Carrillo had hepatitis when he arrived at the hospital, and that upon being given an anesthetic drug, he died. In addition, Rincón knew Amado Carrillo and had operated on many of Carrillo's friends.

Source: El Diario

Thurs., April 2: Encajuelado: Body of Man, Dead for Months, Found in Trunk of Car

The body of a man whom Chihuahua state police (PJE) officials say had been dead for at least three or four months was found in the trunk of an abandoned car. The vehicle had been left on the Boulevard Fronterizo on December 20, 1997, or before, according to police.

The corpse was found with hands and feet bound by gray adhesive tape and a plastic bag over the head. Police say the man was between 30 and 35 years old. The police said there was evidence that suggested he had been strangled, but needed an autopsy to prove it. Agents at the scene said that the man's skin color and texture indicated he had been dead for several months.

According to El Diario, police found a body of a man in the trunk of an abandoned car in the exact same location in the summer of 1997. Police slang for a body found in the trunk of a car is encajuelado.

Also, in late December 1997 and early January 1998, Juárez police discovered nine bodies of victims found in the trunk of cars, all killed in a similar manner. Usually, the victims' hands and feet were bound by gray adhesive tape. All of them had been strangled and tortured in various ways, some with ice picks. Police investigators later said that they believed the victims had all been part of an auto theft gang which had lost a load of cocaine supplied by local drugtraffickers. The traffickers decided to exact a payment for the lost drugs. (LINK: JAN98--Cartel story)

PGR authorites including Mexican drug policy chief Mario Herran Salvatti have named Arturo "El Chacky" Hernandez as a leading suspect in the murders. El Chacky is known for his distinctive style of strangulation. (Link: Mar98--Cartel story, Suspects Named)

Source: El Diario