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NUEVO LAREDO NEWS |
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October 21,
2004 One thousand Policía Federal Preventiva (Federal Preventative Police, PFP) arrived to the Tamaulipas cities of Matamoros, Reynosa, Nuevo Laredo and Tampico on Wednesday, October 20, 2004. Their goal is to support local and state authorities in the fight against organized crime. Through their combined efforts the law enforcement agencies hope to arrest an unstated number of people with outstanding arrest warrants. According to the Nuevo Laredo newspaper El Mañana, this is the first time that one thousand PFP agents have been simultaneously deployed in Tamaulipas. In the past only Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua has seen the arrival of so many PFP forces. The PFP is part of Mexico's Secretaría de Seguridad Pública (Secretary of Public Security, SSP). Ramón Martín Huerta, the head of the Secretaría de Seguridad Pública, announced the deployment of PFP agents at a meeting in Monterrey attended by the governors of Nuevo León, Coahuila, San Luis Potosí, Tamaulipas, Zacatecas and Durango. Martín noted that the region has seen an increase in the number of drug-related crimes in recent years. Also deployed to Tamaulipas are agents from the Agencia Federal de Investigación (Federal Investigation Agency, AFI) which is similar to the US's FBI. The AFI belongs to Mexico's Attorney General's Office, the Procuraduría General de la República (PGR). The number of AFI agents sent to the state was not given. Reynosa arrests Five Reynosa police officers were arrested by state officials this week according to an October 21, 2004 article in the Reynosa, on-line, news source EnLínea Directa. All five were charged with abuse of authority and aggravated robbery. Two of the men were also charged with the rape of a US citizen whose name was not given. According to EnLínea Directa, the arrests came after US authorities advised citizens not to travel to Reynosa or Nuevo Laredo because of safety concerns. Tamaulipas state officials have also said that there will be more arrest warrants against Reynosa city police and traffic officers who have allegedly committed crimes against Mexican and US citizens. Sources: October 12,
2004 The PRI
governors of four Mexican states meeting recently in Tampico, Tamaulipas
to discuss a wide-range of topics agreed that NAFTA is exhausted as a
source of job growth. They
believe that a new agreement is necessary with the U.S. that will include
issues such as migration, education, energy and drug trafficking. At the
meeting were Governor Tomás Yarrington Ruvalcaba of Tamaulipas, Gov.
Natividad González Parás of Nuevo León, Gov. Enrique Martínez y Martínez
of Coahuila, and Gov. Manuel Angel Núñez Soto of Hidalgo.
Proof to them of NAFTA’s growing irrelevance is the fact that
Mexican economic growth was under 3% during the past four years. Although the
four state leaders called on President Fox to launch new initiatives, they
themselves have already begun joint programs to push forward development
in the areas of energy, security and environment, said Governor González
of Nuevo León. Governor Martínez of Coahuila emphasized that Mexico
needs reforms that will allow for sustained development. “We have a gas basin in our region of which we can not take
advantage,” he said. The governor of Hidalgo, Manuel Angel Núñez
Soto, suggested that a major airport be constructed in Tizayuca, Hidalgo.
This would be instead of the new one planned for Mexico City which
has been delayed by protests linked to the acquisition of land for the
project. Governor
Yarrington of Tamaulipas noted that northeast Mexico has competitive
advantages in the generation of electric power and in the production of
natural gas. He and the other three governors at the October 2004 meeting
want these activities to become a springboard for regional development.
Yarrington
also called for greater inclusion of local companies and workers in the
region’s natural gas projects. The four
governors also proposed the improvement of the infrastructure that links
the U.S.-Mexico border crossings in northeast Mexico with Saltillo,
Monterrey, San Luis Potosí, Querétaro and Mexico City.
They want this infrastructure proposal to be included in the
working agenda of President Fox’s Consejo de Competividad (Competiveness
Council). Article by Martín Sánchez Trevino. October 5, 2004 Matamoros: Two Confirmed Dengue Cases, No West Nile Virus Matamoros has two confirmed and 13 suspected cases of dengue, both in the southern outskirts of the city, according to an article in the Matamoros newspaper El Bravo. Like West Nile virus and dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF), dengue is spread by mosquitoes. Currently there are no reported cases of either West Nile or DHF in Matamoros. Dengue's symptoms, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, are "high fever, severe headache, backache, joint pains, nausea and vomiting, eye pain and rash." Dengue hemorrhagic fever includes a fever that lasts from 2-7 days and is accompanied by symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and headache. This is followed by bleeding gums or nose and/or easy bruising and even internal bleeding. With good medical care, the mortality rate from DHF is under 1%. To prevent new cases of dengue from developing, Tamaulipas health officials have initiated a number of programs including fumigation to kill mosquitoes, information campaigns and visits to homes to find people that might be suffering from the illness. Ernesto Chanes Cano, head of the Third Health Area (III Jurisdicción Sanitaria), said that night-time spraying for mosquito control began three days ago. He also told El Bravo that healthcare workers visited 40 blocks of homes to search for people that might be suffering from dengue. Chanes says that there were 33 reported cases of dengue but that 18 of these were found not to be dengue. Two of the cases were confirmed and 13 others still await lab confirmation. The information campaign begun by the state includes a flyer on how to use insecticides to kill mosquito larvae. The flyer also discusses what can be done to stop the creation of habitats where mosquitoes lay eggs. This includes such things as not leaving old tires or similar objects outside where pools of water can accumulate. Another health official said that the region has not seen any cases of West Nile virus so far this year. The official noted that the number of visits to homes in search of people with the disease is being carried out at twice the usual level. He also noted that veterinarians have to report any suspicious bird or horse deaths which could be related to West Nile. Source: El Bravo (Matamoros), October 5, 2004. Article by Nannette Sedas. September 22,
2004 In October 2004 the Inter American Press Association will publish an advertisement in 250 newspapers throughout the western hemisphere that will ask the Mexican government to punish those responsible for killing journalists in that country. So far in 2004 three Mexican journalists including two editors have been murdered. Recent actions against the Tijuana newspaper Frontera (no relationship to FNS) are also a concern for the IAPA. The most recent Mexican journalist to be killed was Francisco Arratia Saldierna, a Tamaulipas writer, who died from a beating on August 31, 2004. Roberto Mora García, the editor of El Mañana in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas was murdered in March. Francisco Ortiz Franco, the editor of the Tijuana weekly Zeta was killed in his car in front of his children in June 2004. The IAPA has expressed concern about attacks against Tijuana's Frontera newspaper. On September 9 and September 11 gunfire destroyed parts of the main entrance and windows in parts of the newspaper's buildings. On June 7, 2004 a vehicle abandoned in the newspaper's parking lot was found to contain 800 kilograms of marijuana. Rafael Molina, chairman of the IAPA's Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, states that with respect to Mexico the IAPA "is alert of the situation of violence against the press that has been on the rise this year, and is especially concerned over the attacks that have been occurring on the country’s northern border." He also said that press freedom in Mexico will be brought up at the IAPA's annual meeting in October. The meeting will be in Guatemala this year. The IAPA, known in Spanish as the Sociedad Interamericana de Prensa , or SIP, is based in Miami. Source: IAPA web site. September 16,
2004 A young woman, age 14, who had been missing from Pharr, Texas for nearly half a month was located earlier this week by two Reynosa city police officers. According to her mother, the 14 year old had been missing since early September after she left to dance in a club in Reynosa's red-light district. The young woman's mother had previously sought the help of the Reynosa police in finding her daughter. Eventually the girl was spotted near a bus station by a pair of officers. She was accompanied by 28 year old man who said he was a security guard in a Reynosa bar. After the young woman's mother proved to Reynosa police that she was indeed the mother of the 14 year old, the family was taken to Mexican immigration officials. From there the pair was handed over to US officials in the middle of the Reyosa-Hidalgo bridge. No charges were filed by Mexican authorities against any of those involved. The man that was with the 14 year old when she was found by police proved to the satisfaction of the police that he was only walking with her and had not had a physical relationship with the young woman. Source: EnLínea Directa (Reynosa), September 15, 2004. Article by Erasmo Sánchez. September 1,
2004 Arratia is the fifth area journalist to be murdered in recent years. None of the murders have been resolved according to the on-line, Tamaulipas news source EnLínea Directa. Arratia's death also comes after the March 2004 killing of Nuevo Laredo editor Roberto Mora García (http://www.nmsu.edu/~frontera/mar-apr04/Matamorosnews.html) and the June 2004 murder of Tijuana editor Francisco Ortiz Franco. According to EnLínea Directa, at 1:30 p.m. on August 31, Arratia argued with two men that had entered a business owned by Arratia's son in law. Arratia left the business and headed home in his car but was intercepted by the men he had argued with at the business. Arratia was not seen again until 2:50 p.m. when he was thrown from a moving car near the city's Red Cross hospital. Emergency medical personnel and doctors from the hospital responded immediately but Arratia died three hours later, apparently from a heart attack brought on by the beating. Due to his injuries, Arratia was incapable of describing or identifying his attackers. Arratia was found with his wrists bound together, and his shirt, wallet and cell phone missing. According to one state investigator, Arratia's "fingers had been crushed and were very black as if someone had put them in acid." EnLínea Directa interpreted this as a clear message that Arratia had been killed because of his reporting. Arratia was working with EnLínea Directa at the time of his death and was working with or had worked with El Imparcial, El Regional, El Mercurio and El Cinco. His age was given by EnLínea Directa as 55 although Reynosa's El Mañana put his age as 60. State officials say they will bring to justice those
guilty for Arratia's death no matter who was behind it. It should be
noted that they said much the same thing in relation to the case of Nuevo
Laredo editor Roberto Mora García. However, many people in the
state believe that the gay couple arrested for that crime, Mario Medina
and Hiram Oliveros Ortiz, were scapegoats tortured into confessing
to Mora's death. Medina, a US citizen, was murdered in jail on May
13, 2004 despite reassurances from Mexican officials that he would be kept
safe. August 25, 2004 Mirna Jaqueline López Villanueva, an 18 year old woman from Laredo, Texas, has been missing in Nuevo Laredo since the early morning hours of Friday, August 20, 2004. López is a US citizen that resides in Laredo, Texas. According to her mother, whose name was not used in a story in the Nuevo Laredo newspaper El Mañana, López phoned her mother on Monday morning and told her that she was trapped in a blue room, entirely alone. During their brief conversation López told her mother that she was in downtown Nuevo Laredo in the early morning hours of Friday, August 20 when she was hit, almost knocked unconscious and then put into a vehicle. In a report she gave to the Tamaulipas state police, López's mother said that her daughter did not know whether or not the vehicle was a police vehicle or if she was being held in a jail. Her daughter also said that she was being held by a number of men and one woman, none of whom wore a uniform. None of her captors would identify themselves either. The woman's mother believes her daughter may have been kidnapped or that she is being held by law enforcement. It was not explained how López managed to make a phone call to her mother. The young woman's mother said she had gone to all of the city, state and federal police offices to look for her daughter but without results. Source: El Mañana (Nuevo Laredo), August 25, 2004. Article by Juan Rodríguez. |