Bloomberg: Deep on the southeastern side of Lake Nicaragua, along a bumpy dirt road that climbs gently through lush-green forest, sits the tiny town of El Tule. It is quintessential rural Central America: Chickens roam outside tin-roofed homes while pigs stand tied to trees, awaiting slaughter; the sound of drunk locals singing along to ranchera music greeted visitors on a recent weekend afternoon.
The village, if you listen to Nicaraguan officials, is a key point in what will be the biggest infrastructure project the region has ever seen, the construction of a $50 billion canal slated to run 170 miles from the country’s east to west coast. Awarded two years ago by President Daniel Ortega to an obscure Chinese businessman named Wang Jing, the concession calls for El Tule to be ripped up, erased essentially, in order to make way for the canal right before it plunges into the lake and then meets the Pacific Ocean a few miles later. Read more.
The MexicoBlog of the CIP Americas Program monitors and analyzes international press on Mexico with a focus on the US-backed War on Drugs in Mexico and the struggle in Mexico to strengthen the rule of law, justice and protection of human rights. Relevant political developments in both countries are also covered.
Showing posts with label Nicaragua. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nicaragua. Show all posts
Aug 24, 2015
Jan 24, 2013
Fake Mexico TV crew jailed in Nicaragua for 30 years
BBC
January 18, 2013
A court in Nicaragua has jailed for 30 years each 18 people who tried to enter the country with $9.2m (£5.8m), posing as Mexican TV journalists.
A judge in Managua found them guilty of money-laundering and organising a drug link between Mexico and Costa Rica.
They were arrested in August after police found the cash and traces of cocaine in six vans, some painted with Mexico's Televisa network logo.
Central America is increasingly a transit route for Mexican drug gangs.
The only woman in the group was named as their leader and sentenced to 20 years for international drug-trafficking, eight-and-a-half years for organised crime and seven years for money-laundering - a total of more than 35 years.
However, 30 years is set by Nicaraguan law as the maximum prison sentence.
"Raquel Alatorre Correa will finish her sentence on 24 August, 2042," said the judge.
The money and the vans have been confiscated by the judge.
The 18 Mexicans had already been found guilty in December but were awaiting their sentences.
At the time of their arrest, the self-proclaimed journalists said they had been sent to cover a high-profile murder for Televisa, Mexico's biggest TV network, but the company quickly denied any link to the group. Read more.
January 18, 2013
A court in Nicaragua has jailed for 30 years each 18 people who tried to enter the country with $9.2m (£5.8m), posing as Mexican TV journalists.
A judge in Managua found them guilty of money-laundering and organising a drug link between Mexico and Costa Rica.
They were arrested in August after police found the cash and traces of cocaine in six vans, some painted with Mexico's Televisa network logo.
Central America is increasingly a transit route for Mexican drug gangs.
The only woman in the group was named as their leader and sentenced to 20 years for international drug-trafficking, eight-and-a-half years for organised crime and seven years for money-laundering - a total of more than 35 years.
However, 30 years is set by Nicaraguan law as the maximum prison sentence.
"Raquel Alatorre Correa will finish her sentence on 24 August, 2042," said the judge.
The money and the vans have been confiscated by the judge.
The 18 Mexicans had already been found guilty in December but were awaiting their sentences.
At the time of their arrest, the self-proclaimed journalists said they had been sent to cover a high-profile murder for Televisa, Mexico's biggest TV network, but the company quickly denied any link to the group. Read more.
Nov 4, 2012
Mexico’s Narco Televisa Scandal: The Impunity of the Elite
MadCow Morning News posted on October 29, 2012 by Daniel Hopsicker
Even as he prepares to take office in a month, a mushrooming scandal in Mexico threatens that country’s new President, Enrique Pena Nieto.
Some call it Mexico’s Watergate; the comparison might even be apt.
Like Watergate—which picked up momentum only after Richard Nixon had won the ’72 Presidential election—the Narco Televisa Scandal is heating up just before Pena Nieto takes office.
Watergate had a largely unexplored Mexican connection. The Narco Televisa Scandal has an American angle. Both scandals involve drug money.
And therein lies the rub, explaining why reaction in the U.S.—despite billions of US taxpayer dollars pouring into the black hole of Mexico's drug war—has been a studied and exceedingly mild indifference.
“It has become known as the case of the fake journalists, read the lead in a recent wire report about the case distributed to American newspapers.
But this is untrue. No one in Mexico—where Televisa’s guilty involvement is almost a given—is calling it that. It is the Narco-Televisa Scandal. Read more.
Even as he prepares to take office in a month, a mushrooming scandal in Mexico threatens that country’s new President, Enrique Pena Nieto.
Some call it Mexico’s Watergate; the comparison might even be apt.
Like Watergate—which picked up momentum only after Richard Nixon had won the ’72 Presidential election—the Narco Televisa Scandal is heating up just before Pena Nieto takes office.
Watergate had a largely unexplored Mexican connection. The Narco Televisa Scandal has an American angle. Both scandals involve drug money.
And therein lies the rub, explaining why reaction in the U.S.—despite billions of US taxpayer dollars pouring into the black hole of Mexico's drug war—has been a studied and exceedingly mild indifference.
“It has become known as the case of the fake journalists, read the lead in a recent wire report about the case distributed to American newspapers.
But this is untrue. No one in Mexico—where Televisa’s guilty involvement is almost a given—is calling it that. It is the Narco-Televisa Scandal. Read more.
Sep 19, 2012
Nicaragua to try 18 fake Mexican journalists
By The Associated Press, Sept. 18, 2012
MANAGUA, Nicaragua — Eighteen Mexican citizens must stand trial on charges they tried to smuggle about $9.2 million in cash through Nicaragua by posing as members of a Mexican television news crew, a judge ruled Tuesday.
Judge Julio Cesar Arias said there is sufficient evidence to hold the 18 over for the trial, which will open Dec. 3.
The defendants entered Nicaragua travelling in six vans painted with the logo of Mexico's Televisa network. Televisa said it has no connection to the suspects.
They were detained in August just inside Nicaragua's northern border with Honduras. They were allegedly headed to Costa Rica.
Investigators say the money was apparently intended to pay for a drug shipment. Traces of cocaine were found on some of the bills hidden in the vans, officials say.
Rafael Magnalli, one of the lawyers for the defendants, argued the prosecutors' case is "subjective and speculative" and asked that the charges be dismissed. Read more.
MANAGUA, Nicaragua — Eighteen Mexican citizens must stand trial on charges they tried to smuggle about $9.2 million in cash through Nicaragua by posing as members of a Mexican television news crew, a judge ruled Tuesday.
Judge Julio Cesar Arias said there is sufficient evidence to hold the 18 over for the trial, which will open Dec. 3.
The defendants entered Nicaragua travelling in six vans painted with the logo of Mexico's Televisa network. Televisa said it has no connection to the suspects.
They were detained in August just inside Nicaragua's northern border with Honduras. They were allegedly headed to Costa Rica.
Investigators say the money was apparently intended to pay for a drug shipment. Traces of cocaine were found on some of the bills hidden in the vans, officials say.
Rafael Magnalli, one of the lawyers for the defendants, argued the prosecutors' case is "subjective and speculative" and asked that the charges be dismissed. Read more.
Apr 16, 2012
Mexican Gang, Linked to Facundo Cabral Murder, Sentenced in Nicaragua
InSight Crime: "The head of Mexican drug trafficking organization the Charros, which has been linked to investigations into the murder of Argentine folk singer Facundo Cabral, has been sentenced to 30 years in prison by a Nicaraguan court.
On April 13, a judge in Managua sentenced former Mexican federal police officer Gabriel Maldonado Soler, who headed the Charros, to 30 years in prison for drug trafficking and money laundering. Fourteen other members of the group -- one Mexican, one Salvadoran and several Nicaraguans -- have been sentenced to between six and 30 years in prison, a court official told reporters." read more
On April 13, a judge in Managua sentenced former Mexican federal police officer Gabriel Maldonado Soler, who headed the Charros, to 30 years in prison for drug trafficking and money laundering. Fourteen other members of the group -- one Mexican, one Salvadoran and several Nicaraguans -- have been sentenced to between six and 30 years in prison, a court official told reporters." read more
Sep 16, 2011
Drug War - Central America: How Central America's Crime Wave Has Spared Nicaragua, So Far
InSightCrime: "Nicaragua, along with its neighbors Panama and Costa Rica, is often described as a country that dodged the wave of organized crime violence swamping Central America, but that could be about to change.
The numbers are clear; Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, the three nations in the “Northern Triangle,” all had murder rates of more than 40 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2010, with Honduras on course for a staggeringly high rate of 86 per 100,000 this year. Meanwhile the three countries to the south all kept their rates below 25. Nicaragua, despite being the poorest nation in the isthmus, has one of the lowest murder rates, at 14."
The numbers are clear; Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, the three nations in the “Northern Triangle,” all had murder rates of more than 40 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2010, with Honduras on course for a staggeringly high rate of 86 per 100,000 this year. Meanwhile the three countries to the south all kept their rates below 25. Nicaragua, despite being the poorest nation in the isthmus, has one of the lowest murder rates, at 14."
Jul 19, 2011
Whack-a-mole Drug War: Organized Crime Working to Corrupt Nicaragua Military: Admiral
Organized Crime Working to Corrupt Nicaragua Military: Admiral: "The head of Nicaragua's Navy has warned that organized criminal organizations are increasingly trying to penetrate the country's armed forces.
In an interview with El Nuevo Diario, Rear Admiral Roger Gonzalez, head of the Nicaraguan Navy, said that drug traffickers are trying to corrupt the country's institutions. He said that foreign criminal groups are moving into Nicaragua in order to set up logistical support bases to run their illegitimate businesses in his country."
In an interview with El Nuevo Diario, Rear Admiral Roger Gonzalez, head of the Nicaraguan Navy, said that drug traffickers are trying to corrupt the country's institutions. He said that foreign criminal groups are moving into Nicaragua in order to set up logistical support bases to run their illegitimate businesses in his country."
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