10 dead in attack on beer distributor in northern Mexico

AP:  Note: As always, there is more to this than meets the eye...

At least 10 people are dead after armed men attacked a beer distribution center on the outskirts of the northern city of Monterrey, Mexican authorities said Friday.

Nuevo Leon State Attorney General Javier Flores told a news conference that authorities are investigating the possibility that the attack involved organized crime. He said drugs and a weapon were found at the scene. Read more. 

Mexico's 'Crisis Of Disappearance': Families Seek Answers

NPR by Carrie Kahn

February 21, 2013

Maximina Hernandez says she begged her 23-year old son, Dionicio, to give up his job as a police officer in a suburb of Monterrey. Rival drug cartels have been battling in the northern Mexican city for years.

But he told her being a police officer was in his blood, a family tradition. He was detailed to guard the town's mayor.

In May 2007, on his way to work, two men wearing police uniforms stopped Dionicio on a busy street, pulled him from his car and drove him away. That same day, the mayor's other two bodyguards were also abducted. Witnesses say the kidnappers wore uniforms of an elite anti-drug police unit. The three men haven't been seen since.  Read more.  

Violence in Mexico 2012: A Halfway Report

Although outgoing president Felipe Calderon claimed a week ago that cartel-related violence is down "15 to 20 percent" in the first half of 2012, data from a nonpartisan report suggests that violence is on the rise this year. While Ciudad Juarez and Monterrey have seen violence decrease, other cities in the north have seen a significant uptick.

InSight Crime: Patrick Corcoran. Some of the most dangerous parts of Mexico have grown far safer in the last six months, though the gangland rivalries driving much of the violence have intensified and spread to regions that had been relatively untouched by organized crime.

According to a report from Lantia Consultores, a Mexico City firm founded by analyst Eduardo Guerrero Gutierrez, Mexico witnessed 7,022 murders linked to organized crime (often labeled “executions”) from January through June 2012. (See graph, below, from the report.) According to the report, which is based on the monitoring of dozens of media outlets, this represents an increase of roughly 10 percent from the final six months of 2011, and a high proportion of the 10,500 or so total murders in the country during that period. (Mexico’s National Public Security System, or SNSP, for its initials in Spanish, tallied 8,662 murders nationwide through May, though the June figures have not yet been released.) Read more.

Posted by Ryan Gentzler.  

Dozens More Murdered In Mexico; Count Of Headless Bodies May Near 70

NPR: Few headlines are more horrific than this: "49 Headless Bodies Dumped In Mexican Town."

But the news may be even more gruesome. According to El Blog del Narco, which as Eyder has reported previously follows the drug violence in graphic detail, there may be as many as 68 victims in this latest atrocity apparently related to Mexico's drug wars.

As the Los Angeles Times says, "the exact number of dead [is] being sorted out, made unclear by the condition of the bodies." read more

Mexican officials report 49 bodies dumped on highway to US border

Washington Post: Forty-nine decapitated and mutilated bodies were found Sunday dumped on a highway connecting the northern Mexican metropolis of Monterrey to the U.S. border, officials said.

The bodies of 43 men and six women were found in the town of San Juan on the non-toll highway to the border city of Reynosa at about 4 a.m. (5 a.m. EDT; 0900 GMT), forcing police and troops to close off the highway. Nuevo Leon state security spokesman Jorge Domene said a banner left at the site left a threatening message in the name of the Zetas drug cartel.

The identities of the victims were not immediately clear. Domene said the fact they were found with their heads, hands and feet cut off will make identification difficult. read more

Mexico casino fire mastermind killed in gunfight

CBC News: "One of the masterminds behind an arson attack on a Mexican casino that killed 52 people last year was killed in a gunbattle with soldiers Wednesday.

Suspect Franisco Medina Mejia was among the four gunmen killed during the confrontation on a highway near the border city of Nuevo Laredo, across from Laredo, Texas, the Defence Department said in a statement." read more

Drug War Threatens Mexico's Richest City

HispanicBusiness.com: "Growing drug-related violence threatens to take over the city Monterrey, a technology center that is currently Mexico's richest city, researchers said.

More than 400 people have been reported killed in Nuevo Leon state so far in 2012, up from 314 in the first three months of 2011, the Los Angeles Times reported Monday. There are visible signs of violence in the city from the bullet holes at the Cafe Iguana, where four people were shot dead in May, to the charred remains of the Casino Royale, where an arson fire killed 52 in August." read more

In Monterrey, Mexico, a culture of fear is evident

LA Times. Monterrey, the sleek capital of Nuevo Leon state, is said to be in danger of "falling" to organized crime. The city is beset by shootouts, armed robberies and "mass panic" incidents over any sign of danger.

More than 400 people have been killed in the state so far this year, compared with 315 in the same period of 2011, one local news report said. Extortion by cartels or petty criminals is believed to be widespread. And, according to a leaked U.S. diplomatic cable from 2009, "all of the region's police forces are controlled by organized crime."

A culture of fear is evident. A shootout near a mall last month forced panicked shoppers to remain inside stores in confusion, a now-familiar scene in the city. In 2010, five people died during a stampede at a concert in the suburb of Guadalupe after shots were heard.

Read more.

Mexico Prisons: Updates on Apodaca prison riot and break one month later

Justice in Mexico: "Nearly a month after the February 19 massive prison riot and break in the Apodaca medium security prison, which is just outside of Monterrey, Nuevo León, authorities reported a correction to the number of inmates who escaped during the violent uprising, increasing the number originally reported from 30 to 37.

... Only one of the 37 fugitives has since been recaptured by authorities since the February incident –Agustín Manuel Olvera Pérez– who gave a rather damning testimony to officials in the State Agency of Investiation (Agencia Estatal de Investigaciones, AEI) about the corrupt role of prison guards and staff, not only in the break itself, but in their everyday interactions with the inmates. According to Diario de Yucatán, the recaptured inmate pointed specifically to guards allowing Zetas-affiliated inmates to have prostitutes, throw parties, sell other prisoners alcohol and drugs, and occasionally leave the prison facilities without supervision, allegedly “to kill [their] enemies.”" read more

Mexico Prisons: 37 prisoners, not 29, escaped from the Apodaca prison in Monterrey

CNN Mexico: "The attorney general of Nuevo Leon corrected figures regarding the number of prisoners who escaped from the Apodaca prison in February. The total was 37, Jorge Domene, spokesman for the State Security Council, said on Friday. One has been captured. ... Almost a month after the last count presented by the prosecutor, which reported 29 inmates escaped, it was clarified that two inmates who were included in the first list are actually in prison in Apodaca." Spanish original

Drug War and the Arts: Despite violence, music festival big in Mexico's Monterrey

latimes.com: "The independent music scene has proven itself alive and well in Mexico's wealthiest but increasingly violent city of Monterrey. Last weekend's NRML festival took place without a major problem and was the largest in three years.

Metropolitan Monterrey was once a refuge from the nation's raging drug war. But it has steadily fallen into the same vortex of gang shootings and neighborhood takeovers that plague Mexicans elsewhere. One of the deadliest incidents in the entire drug war was the August 2011 firebombing of a Monterrey casino, in which 52 people were killed." read more

Drug War Bloodshed: At least 19 bodies found in Mexico’s latest mass graves

Channel 6 News: " At least nineteen bodies were recovered on Wednesday from three newly discovered mass graves in northern Mexico, local authorities said on Thursday. They are believed to be victims of the Mexican drug war. The mass graves were found ... in the municipality of Juarez, located some 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) northeast of Monterrey, the capital of Nuevo Leon state.

Local authorities said the graves were found after preliminary investigative reports were filed following the arrest of several suspected members of the 'Los Zetas' drug cartel. The mass graves were reportedly used to dump the bodies of victims of kidnapping and extortion cases, as well as members of rival groups." read more

Mexico Violence: American missionaries found slain in north Mexico

msnbc.: "An American missionary couple has been found slain in their home near the violence-plagued industrial city of Monterrey, the U.S. Embassy and family members said Wednesday.

The embassy in Mexico identified the couple as John and Wanda Casias, former residents of Amarillo, Texas.
Valerie Alirez, the eldest child of John Casias, told The Associated Press from her home in Greeley, Colo., that one of her brothers found her father and stepmother Tuesday dead in their home in Santiago, Nuevo Leon." read more

Drug War Bloodshed: In Mexico, eight men are executed in downtown Monterrey

latimes.com: "Eight men were executed and left on the street early Thursday in downtown Monterrey, in the latest outburst of violence to buffet the industrial northern city." read more

Human Rights Violations: Nuevo Leon government demands that police who claim they were tortured present their accusations

CNN Mexico: "The government of the northern state of Nuevo Leon demanded that the Monterrey municipal police who, on Tuesday night made accusations of torture by the State Investigation Agency (IEA), present their evidence to prove or clarify responsibility, the government spokesman for state security, Jorge Domene Zambrano, said at a press conference.

On Tuesday night, three presumed municipal police, wearing hoods, appeared at police headquarters in Monterrey, the state capital, where they held a press conference to make accusations that they were tortured by elements of the State Investigation Agency (IEA).

The complainants say they were tortured during an operation by the State and the Army on January 21 as part of the police security purification process at municipal police headquarters. The state spokesman said that  a total of 109 policemen had been retained that day, of which 60 were released the same day.

Five policemen continue to be held in the facilities of the AEI "because they appear to have links to some previous investigatons," while another 44 were taken that day to the University for Security Sciences, where they are being evaluated, explained Domene Zambrano.

"We reiterate the official position of the state government is to attend to this and, if necessary, punish those responsible, if this is true, or (determine) if it is a falsehood, which the statements of these individuals can turn out to be," he added. ... The spokesman stated that identity of the persons who publicly made accusations of  alleged human rights violations is unknown and demanded that the municipal police department provide their identity.

... The State Ombudsman, Minerva Martinez announced that the Human Rights Commission (CEDHNL) has opened an inquiry to investigate these events, and invited the police to file a complaint with the agency. "I guarantee the safety of these people and their privacy," she said. The attorney general of Nuevo Leon, Adrian de la Garza Santos, reiterated that "total protection" will be provided to the alleged victims and he invited them to approach the authorities to file their complaint." Spanish original 

Mexico Rule of Law: Relative of victim says fear hinders reconstruction of the facts of Casino Royal attack

CNN Mexico: Fear inhibits the reconstruction of the facts of the tragedy in the Casino Royal in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, where, on August 25, 2011, 52 people were killed. So stated Edmundo Jimenez Ramirez, a relative of one of the victims of the attack, to the press during a meeting of families of the victims.

"The problem is the issue of witnesses. We are hopeful. There are people who were present who took notice of everything bad about (the establishment)," he said. "People don't want to get into trouble, because there is fear, which we all have."

This Wednesday afternoon, five months after the attack, a dozen mourners gathered outside the casino to pray for the victims and demand punishment of the authorities for crimes of omission or commission and to require changes to the law to provide more security in this type of establishment.

Without specifying whether the fear is of the authorities or organized crime, Jimenez Ramirez said that, so far, there are three people who are willing to give their statements for the reconstruction of events, including two who lost relatives in the attack.

Samara Pérez Muñiz, a survivor of the attack, estimated that at least 10 people are necessary for a comprehensive reconstruction of the event and to refute the results of the official investigation of the casino fire, which concluded that the tragedy was inevitable." Spanish original

Mexico Drug War Bloodshed; 47,512 drug war deaths during during Calderon's presidency

MexicoBlog note: The statistics for 2011, as noted by El Universal, only include through September. If the average rate of 4,301 deaths per quarter continued, the total for all twelve months of 2011 would be 17,294. This would put the five year total at 51,816. The official total for 2010 was 15,273. That would mean a 13.3% increase in deaths in 2011 over 2010.

El Universal: The Mexico Attorney General Office released statistics today on the number of deaths related to "presumed criminal rivalries" from December 2006 to September 2011. The total given is 47,512. The breakdown is as follows: in

• December 2006 - 62 
• 2007 - 2,826
• 2008 - 6,858
• 2009 - 9,614
• 2010 - 15,273
• 2011 - 12,903 (through September)

While the Attorney Generals Office states that there has been an 11% decline in deaths from 2010 to 2011, the 2011 data only includes up until September. 

For the nine months of 2011, the states with the highest number of deaths were Chihuahua (2,276), Guerrero (1,533), Tamaulipas (1,153), Sinaloa (1,100), Veracruz (538), Baja California (250).

The municipalities with the highest number of deaths were Ciudad Juarez (1,206), Acapulco (795), Monterrey (399), Culiacan (365), San Fernando (292), Tijuana (183) and Veracruz city (155). Spanish original

Drug War: Mexican Businesses Pitch In to Counter Violence in Monterrey

NYTimes.com: "“I confess and make mea culpa that we woke up late,” said José Antonio Fernández Carbajal, the chief executive of Femsa, one of the world’s largest Coca-Cola bottlers and a big Mexican retailer.

Mr. Fernández and other business executives are now in the thick of efforts to recover Monterrey's peace. Their companies helped design the advertising image and campaign for the new state police force, and they are staffing recruiting booths and a call center. They are also paying part of the cost of government redevelopment plans, injecting money into community groups and sponsoring school programs." read more

Mexico Drug War - Collateral Damage: Monterrey residents flee violence

La Jornada: "Once considered one of the most secure and prosperous cities in the country, Monterrey has begun to register, in recent years, the  forced  exodus of many of its inhabitants, who have sought to escape the violence.

The capital of Nuevo Leon is not unique. Tens of thousands of people from various regions, mostly in the north of the country, are directing their steps to other places to live quietly, as internal refugees. Many move to the Federal District (Mexico City).

... Although no official data is available about the exodus, the Center for Monitoring of Internal Displacement (CMID) warned that, due to the war against organized crime, some 230,000 people in Mexico have been forced to leave their places of origin, especially in states like Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon, Chihuahua, Baja California, Sinaloa and Michoacán. Of these, 115 000 have emigrated to the United States. Spanish original

Drug War: Mexico police nab key suspect in casino fire that killed 52 in Monterrey

AP/Washington Post: "Police in Mexico captured an alleged member of the Zetas drug cartel considered the mastermind behind a casino fire that killed 52 people in the northern city of Monterrey, authorities said Friday. A security agency spokesman for Nuevo Leon state, where Monterrey is located, said Baltazar Saucedo Estrada is a main hitman that was sought on a 15 million-peso, or $1 million, reward because of the casino attack." read more