El Daily Post: Don’t bother. Over at Vice News, Andrea Noel tells a horrifying story about getting mugged in Mexico and then trying to report the crime. Here’s a taste: “Back in Mexico, I went into my nearest prosecutor's office last Monday, hoping to file a new police report and lodge a complaint against the attendant who had pressed me into lying on official documents. When I got to where I needed to be, the official behind the counter told me I would have to go to a different district to try to file a complaint. I was informed that the process would take at least 20 days, and I would likely face charges for signing erroneous documents. I jumped into another cab and made my way to the next prosecutor's office, conveniently located in an area far sketchier than the one I was originally mugged in. "What you are admitting to is a very serious offense," one officer said, nodding for me to follow him toward the curb. "If you file that complaint you'll be in pretty real trouble. It is cause for automatic arrest." He then lowered his voice, adding: "I would go home if I were you."… I decided to call it quits.”
Explaining complexity. Why is it so darn difficult to file a crime report in Mexico? Two reasons:
1. Design: in most countries, to report a crime, you just walk to the nearest police station, fill out a simple form, answer a few questions, and off you go. You won’t be bothered again unless a suspect is caught. Not so in Mexico. First, you don’t go to a police station, but to the Agencia del Ministerio Público, i.e., a branch of the state Attorney General’s Office that corresponds to the location where the crime took place. Second, you have to go through an hours-long grilling, while someone transcribes your every word. Third, a few days later, you have to return to ratify the initial report. Otherwise, the Ministerio Público (MP) will not open an averiguación previa (preliminary investigation) or a carpeta de investigación (investigation folder), i.e., no one will lift a finger. Some states (and the Federal District) have tried to make the process simpler by allowing victims to file the initial report online, but even in those cases, the aggrieved party needs to ratify the report in person at the Agencia.
2. Policy: as Andrea Noel describes very well in her piece, pretty much everyone in the system will try to deter you from filing a crime report. Why? Because politicians and law enforcement officials, abetted by part of the media and some NGOs, use crime reports as a performance metric. From their perspective, fewer crime reports means success, even if the underlying crime rate is going up. And that attitude seeps down the system. Employees at the Agencias del Ministerio Público know they will be judged negatively (and maybe even fired) if they let too many reports in. So they create all sorts of artificial obstacles. Read more.
The MexicoBlog of the Americas Program, a fiscally sponsored program of the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), is written by Laura Carlsen. I monitor and analyze international press on Mexico, with a focus on security, immigration, human rights and social movements for peace and justice, from a feminist perspective. And sometimes I simply muse.
Showing posts with label rule of law - crime. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rule of law - crime. Show all posts
Oct 12, 2015
Dec 11, 2014
Mexico's Security Dilemma: The Rise of Michoacan's Militias
InSightCrime: Volunteer community policing has been a tradition in indigenous communities across Southern Mexico for centuries. Though controversial, advocates argue the practice is supported by international law and has been codified in the 1917 constitution that permits local frameworks for "the regulation and solution of internal conflicts."[1] These volunteer police forces vary in size and function, depending on the communities they serve. Their main job is to keep "internal" order, targeting petty thieves and, in the worse case scenario, rapists. In almost all areas, they are directly under the control of community elders rather than state or federal officials. In Guerrero, the state bordering Michoacan to the east, community police were given official recognition by the governor in the mid 1990s to calm unrest related to a crime wave and police repression in indigenous communities. Read more.
Jun 10, 2014
Boomer Expatriates Demand Security
By fnsnews
Published June 3, 2014
Foreign-born residents joined Mexican nationals in a recent demonstration demanding security for a storied but troubled town. Dressed in white and carrying candles, about 400 people staged a silent march late last week through San Miguel de Allende in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato.
Ruth Kear, a former U.S. resident who currently lives in San Miguel de Allende, articulated public safety fears held by a growing number of residents which, in her case, is based on personal experience. Kear told a Mexican reporter that she had been robbed three times in her home, including on two occasions by armed and masked thieves.
“They put a pistol to my head and said, ‘Miss, do you want to taste the bullet?’” Kear was quoted. “I am afraid. Now I have many bad dreams. When I am in my studio, sometimes I see those men.”
The mounting complaints of insecurity contrast sharply with San Miguel de Allende’s commercialized image as a laid-back cultural and historic destination.
The cradle of Mexican independence, San Miguel de Allende was selected as the best city in the world in Conde Nast Traveler magazine’s 2013 reader’s choice poll. Classified by the Mexican federal government as among the nation’s “magic towns,” San Miguel de Allende has also been designated as a World Heritage Site by the United Nations.
Over the decades, the small city of 160,383 inhabitants (2010 Census), has attracted a sizable expatriate community drawn from North America, Europe, Asia and Latin America. An estimated 14,000 local residents are foreign-born, mainly from the United States, but also from Canada, England, Japan, Colombia, and other nations.
Aging retirees from the baby boom generation who retired to San Miguel Allende stand out in the expatriate population. Read more.
Published June 3, 2014
Foreign-born residents joined Mexican nationals in a recent demonstration demanding security for a storied but troubled town. Dressed in white and carrying candles, about 400 people staged a silent march late last week through San Miguel de Allende in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato.
Ruth Kear, a former U.S. resident who currently lives in San Miguel de Allende, articulated public safety fears held by a growing number of residents which, in her case, is based on personal experience. Kear told a Mexican reporter that she had been robbed three times in her home, including on two occasions by armed and masked thieves.
“They put a pistol to my head and said, ‘Miss, do you want to taste the bullet?’” Kear was quoted. “I am afraid. Now I have many bad dreams. When I am in my studio, sometimes I see those men.”
The mounting complaints of insecurity contrast sharply with San Miguel de Allende’s commercialized image as a laid-back cultural and historic destination.
The cradle of Mexican independence, San Miguel de Allende was selected as the best city in the world in Conde Nast Traveler magazine’s 2013 reader’s choice poll. Classified by the Mexican federal government as among the nation’s “magic towns,” San Miguel de Allende has also been designated as a World Heritage Site by the United Nations.
Over the decades, the small city of 160,383 inhabitants (2010 Census), has attracted a sizable expatriate community drawn from North America, Europe, Asia and Latin America. An estimated 14,000 local residents are foreign-born, mainly from the United States, but also from Canada, England, Japan, Colombia, and other nations.
Aging retirees from the baby boom generation who retired to San Miguel Allende stand out in the expatriate population. Read more.
Jun 6, 2014
Tamaulipas: Mexico's black hole gets even more dangerous
The English-language press has given an unusual amount of attention to Tamaulipas lately, soon after the federa government declared it the crisis state in turn and launched a federal offensive against organized crime there.
Tamaulipas is, indeed, on fire again, as is Ciudad Juarez. The specific reasons are different, but one thing is clear: that calling in the Army will not solve the problem. We have only to look back at Operation Chihuahua to see that.
A recent piece in InSight Crime titled "How Federal Security Deployments in Mexico Are Set Up to Fail" also argues that the federal efforts will not succeed. InSight Crime analyses are often not very deep and this one isn't an exception. However, they often gather interesting facts in one place and address current issues.
The main argument is that local corruption will always undermine federal law enforcement efforts. The criticism I have is first, the data offered on the corruption of local and state officials is important and undoubtedly affects the effectiveness of federal intervention, but the implication is that federal troops and forces are not corrupt. This is not true. Yet there is no mention of the collusion with crime and corruption that occur among federal forces.
Secondly, he report starts with teh premise that Tamaulipas was a success story last year with a significantly lower homicide rate. I was suspicious of the low 2013 homicide figure and in any case would not accept these government figures at face value. The government practice last year was to under-report violence, including through suppression of the press.
But actually the problem with the report is even worse. When I checked the citation, the number of homicides reported for Tamaulipas in 2013 is actually 1,043--twice what the author states. I requested an explanation from InSight Crime but have not heard back. Another lesson in being wary of reported data. Not only are government sources vastly under-reported (these are only homicides reported to the Public Ministry in a nation and state where few people choose to report crimes), but reporters and researchers make mistakes or manipulate data.
This year, the SNSP--a system of the Ministry of the Interior (Gobernación)--reports 553 murders in Tamaulipas through April, putting it on track to become a record year for violence there under the Peña Nieto administration that promised that public safety rather than the drug war would be its major priority.
In other reports, Washington Post reporter Joshua Partlow has been in Tamaulipas and offers some rare glimpses into daily life there. Most of what he describes has been common for years, although the shoot-outs have stepped up. He interviews residents accustomed to extortion and people who have to go to extraordinary measures to carry out their ordinary activities.
This June 2 piece by the Guardian also tells an interesting story of the death of Tampico over the years. An earlier article signaled the renewed violence. This article quotes a Mexican government agent reaffirming what was already clear--that in fact the Peña nieto government is bent on fighting Calderon and the U.S. government's drug war no matter what the results are for the population:
Tamaulipas has always been the black hole of Mexico--a place where people are unwilling to go into for fear of not coming out, a place where rule of law is practically non-existent and information is scarce.
- Laura Carlsen
Tamaulipas is, indeed, on fire again, as is Ciudad Juarez. The specific reasons are different, but one thing is clear: that calling in the Army will not solve the problem. We have only to look back at Operation Chihuahua to see that.
A recent piece in InSight Crime titled "How Federal Security Deployments in Mexico Are Set Up to Fail" also argues that the federal efforts will not succeed. InSight Crime analyses are often not very deep and this one isn't an exception. However, they often gather interesting facts in one place and address current issues.
The main argument is that local corruption will always undermine federal law enforcement efforts. The criticism I have is first, the data offered on the corruption of local and state officials is important and undoubtedly affects the effectiveness of federal intervention, but the implication is that federal troops and forces are not corrupt. This is not true. Yet there is no mention of the collusion with crime and corruption that occur among federal forces.
Secondly, he report starts with teh premise that Tamaulipas was a success story last year with a significantly lower homicide rate. I was suspicious of the low 2013 homicide figure and in any case would not accept these government figures at face value. The government practice last year was to under-report violence, including through suppression of the press.
But actually the problem with the report is even worse. When I checked the citation, the number of homicides reported for Tamaulipas in 2013 is actually 1,043--twice what the author states. I requested an explanation from InSight Crime but have not heard back. Another lesson in being wary of reported data. Not only are government sources vastly under-reported (these are only homicides reported to the Public Ministry in a nation and state where few people choose to report crimes), but reporters and researchers make mistakes or manipulate data.
This year, the SNSP--a system of the Ministry of the Interior (Gobernación)--reports 553 murders in Tamaulipas through April, putting it on track to become a record year for violence there under the Peña Nieto administration that promised that public safety rather than the drug war would be its major priority.
In other reports, Washington Post reporter Joshua Partlow has been in Tamaulipas and offers some rare glimpses into daily life there. Most of what he describes has been common for years, although the shoot-outs have stepped up. He interviews residents accustomed to extortion and people who have to go to extraordinary measures to carry out their ordinary activities.
This June 2 piece by the Guardian also tells an interesting story of the death of Tampico over the years. An earlier article signaled the renewed violence. This article quotes a Mexican government agent reaffirming what was already clear--that in fact the Peña nieto government is bent on fighting Calderon and the U.S. government's drug war no matter what the results are for the population:
The state government spokesman Guillermo Martínez said this week that the resurgence of violence in Tamaulipas was the result of government successes in "squeezing" the criminal groups. "The important thing is that we are facing the problem head on," he said.I'll be writing more extensively on Tamaulipas within the next couple of months. It is probably among the most difficult places to envision solutions to the fatal combination of governmental corruption and organized crime because the situation is exacerbated by the breakdown and fear among civil society. As the articles note, many have fled across the border an the rest have mostly learned to adapt the an extreme situation.
Tamaulipas has always been the black hole of Mexico--a place where people are unwilling to go into for fear of not coming out, a place where rule of law is practically non-existent and information is scarce.
- Laura Carlsen
May 30, 2014
A Bad Day or a New Bloodbath?
Frontera NorteSur: on-line, U.S.-Mexico border news
Center for Latin American and Border Studies
New Mexico State University
Las Cruces, New Mexico
Center for Latin American and Border Studies
New Mexico State University
Las Cruces, New Mexico
Ciudad Juarez News
May 28, 2014
In one of the bloodiest days in the last year or more, nine people were murdered Monday, May 26, in the northern Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez. In separate incidents, guns, knives, hammers and possibly bare hands were the instruments of homicide.
A prominent lawyer, Salvador Urbina Quiroz, along with Judge Cesar Cordero, was gunned down by assassins as the two men were meeting in Urbina’s office on Monday afternoon. The state prosecutor’s office (FGE), which is offering a $20,000 reward for the information leading to the arrests of the killers, said two suspects were captured on videotape at the crime scene.
Urbina was well-known in Ciudad Juarez for his leadership in professional associations, as well as his critical, published commentaries on legal affairs and the so-called drug war.
The 52-year-old criminal defense attorney handled controversial cases including the 2011 defenses of teacher Ana Isela Martinez, a young woman popularly known as “Miss Ana” who was imprisoned and falsely accused of trying to transport drugs to the United States, as well as four members of the Jaguars unit of the municipal police accused of killing four men.
Jun 12, 2013
In the hot land, Mexicans just say no to drug cartels
Los Angeles Times
By Tracy Wilkinson
June 11, 2013
COALCOMAN, Mexico — Rafael Garcia slaps the oversize wooden desk where he sits, one of the last mayors still in office in this region of Mexican farm country known as Tierra Caliente — hot land.
Mayors from a couple of the nearest towns fled with their drug-cartel pals, people here say, when locals took up arms against them.
But at Garcia's City Hall, the facade is festooned with hand-lettered signs supporting local gunmen who challenged the cartel, loosely referred to as community "self-defense" guards, comunitarios. Several cities in Tierra Caliente are now patrolled by such groups, whose members, often masked, man checkpoints and pull over passing vehicles for inspection. They have reached a kind of tense coexistence with the army, which moved in a couple of weeks ago in an attempt to bring order. Read more.
By Tracy Wilkinson
June 11, 2013
COALCOMAN, Mexico — Rafael Garcia slaps the oversize wooden desk where he sits, one of the last mayors still in office in this region of Mexican farm country known as Tierra Caliente — hot land.
Mayors from a couple of the nearest towns fled with their drug-cartel pals, people here say, when locals took up arms against them.
But at Garcia's City Hall, the facade is festooned with hand-lettered signs supporting local gunmen who challenged the cartel, loosely referred to as community "self-defense" guards, comunitarios. Several cities in Tierra Caliente are now patrolled by such groups, whose members, often masked, man checkpoints and pull over passing vehicles for inspection. They have reached a kind of tense coexistence with the army, which moved in a couple of weeks ago in an attempt to bring order. Read more.
Apr 12, 2013
Worry grows over Mexico vigilante movement
Armed citizen patrols fighting drug cartel violence join forces with a radical teachers union in Guerrero state opposed to an education reform law.
The Los Angeles Times
By Richard Fausset and Cecilia Sanchez
April 11, 2013
Mexico City - Debate is intensifying over armed vigilante patrols that have sprung up in crime-plagued sections of rural Mexico, particularly in the state of Guerrero, where some patrols joined forces this week with a radical teachers union that has been wreaking havoc with massive protests, vandalism and violent confrontations with police.
The two groups, on the surface, would appear to have little in common. The vigilante patrols, typically made up of masked campesinos, are among dozens that have emerged in the countryside in recent months, purporting to protect their communities from the depredations of the drug cartels. The state-level teachers union, meanwhile, has taken to the streets to protest a sweeping education reform law backed by Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto.
Their alliance was announced in a joint meeting Sunday. A leader of the vigilantes said they were joining with the teachers because it was the vigilantes' "watchword to fight against injustice." Read more.
The Los Angeles Times
By Richard Fausset and Cecilia Sanchez
April 11, 2013
Mexico City - Debate is intensifying over armed vigilante patrols that have sprung up in crime-plagued sections of rural Mexico, particularly in the state of Guerrero, where some patrols joined forces this week with a radical teachers union that has been wreaking havoc with massive protests, vandalism and violent confrontations with police.
The two groups, on the surface, would appear to have little in common. The vigilante patrols, typically made up of masked campesinos, are among dozens that have emerged in the countryside in recent months, purporting to protect their communities from the depredations of the drug cartels. The state-level teachers union, meanwhile, has taken to the streets to protest a sweeping education reform law backed by Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto.
Their alliance was announced in a joint meeting Sunday. A leader of the vigilantes said they were joining with the teachers because it was the vigilantes' "watchword to fight against injustice." Read more.
Feb 26, 2013
Mexico Goes After the Narcos—Before They Join the Gangs
Time
By Ioan Grillo and Dolly Mascareñas / Nezahualcóyotl
Feb. 25, 2013
The gunshots at dawn woke residents of the cinder block homes in Nezahualcóyotl, a working-class city on the edge of the Mexican capital, making a few people duck for cover behind their beds. When they finally peered out their windows, they saw the corpses of two young men, one stacked over the other, besides a threatening note written on cardboard and signed by the drug cartel called La Familia. The double murder, which took place on Feb. 16, was the latest in a series of killings that have brought the drug war to the edges of Mexico City – the mountain capital that has long been viewed as a safe haven from cartel violence ravaging other parts of Mexico.
Recently installed President Enrique Peña Nieto hopes to reverse this trend with a new anti crime strategy – transforming poor neighborhoods like Nezahualcóyotl where cartels make their bastions and preventing young people from joining their criminal armies. On Feb. 12, Peña Nieto announced there would be more than $9 billion for crime prevention aimed at 57 hotspots. “We must put special emphasis on prevention, because we can’t only keep employing more sophisticated weapons, better equipment, more police, a higher presence of the armed forces in the country as the only form of combating organized crime,” Peña Nieto said. Rather than just shooting or incarcerating the seemingly endless ranks of cartel gunmen, the president hopes to stop young people from becoming assassins in the first place. Read more.
By Ioan Grillo and Dolly Mascareñas / Nezahualcóyotl
Feb. 25, 2013
The gunshots at dawn woke residents of the cinder block homes in Nezahualcóyotl, a working-class city on the edge of the Mexican capital, making a few people duck for cover behind their beds. When they finally peered out their windows, they saw the corpses of two young men, one stacked over the other, besides a threatening note written on cardboard and signed by the drug cartel called La Familia. The double murder, which took place on Feb. 16, was the latest in a series of killings that have brought the drug war to the edges of Mexico City – the mountain capital that has long been viewed as a safe haven from cartel violence ravaging other parts of Mexico.
Recently installed President Enrique Peña Nieto hopes to reverse this trend with a new anti crime strategy – transforming poor neighborhoods like Nezahualcóyotl where cartels make their bastions and preventing young people from joining their criminal armies. On Feb. 12, Peña Nieto announced there would be more than $9 billion for crime prevention aimed at 57 hotspots. “We must put special emphasis on prevention, because we can’t only keep employing more sophisticated weapons, better equipment, more police, a higher presence of the armed forces in the country as the only form of combating organized crime,” Peña Nieto said. Rather than just shooting or incarcerating the seemingly endless ranks of cartel gunmen, the president hopes to stop young people from becoming assassins in the first place. Read more.
Jan 24, 2013
Mexican Court Frees Woman Imprisoned in Kidnapping
The NY Times
By Elisabeth Malkin
Published: January 23, 2013
MEXICO CITY — A Supreme Court panel in Mexico voted Wednesday to free a French woman serving a 60-year sentence for kidnapping, ending a case that has become emblematic of problems in the country’s opaque justice system and that has strained relations with France.
In voting 3-2 to free the woman, Florence Cassez, 38, the magistrates did not address whether she was guilty or innocent. What was clear, they said, was that her rights had been violated by a televised broadcast of what appeared to be her arrest and the liberation of three kidnapping victims at a ranch outside Mexico City in December 2005.
Authorities later acknowledged that the raid was staged, and that Ms. Cassez and her boyfriend at the time, Israel Vallarta, had been arrested the day before on a highway. They were held while the police set up the supposed raid, which was broadcast on national television. Read more.
Jan 11, 2013
Obama and Guns: 'Yes, You Must' (El Universal, Mexico)
Mexico - El Universal - Original Article (Spanish) By Dr. Arnoldo Kraus
Translated By Halszka Czarnocka for World Meets US
January 9, 2013
Choosing the appropriate slogan isn't easy. It requires imagination, creativity and following the maxim "less is more," as the message must say a lot with the fewest possible words. The slogan of Barack Obama's first presidential campaign, "Yes, we can," synthesized the desire for change and the need to come together. Now with the beginning of his second term, Obama will no longer need to invent apt and resonant phrases. He'll have to look back.
During his first term, civilian-on-civilian killings have left running rivers of blood and ink. Due to the innocence of the victims and heroism of teachers who gave their lives to protect their students, the massacre of children and adults at a school in Newtown hurts in another way. This mass killing should mark a new presidential commitment. This time, the slogan written on the part of the dead, is society's exhortation for Obama: "Yes, yes, you must." Read more.
Translated By Halszka Czarnocka for World Meets US
January 9, 2013
Choosing the appropriate slogan isn't easy. It requires imagination, creativity and following the maxim "less is more," as the message must say a lot with the fewest possible words. The slogan of Barack Obama's first presidential campaign, "Yes, we can," synthesized the desire for change and the need to come together. Now with the beginning of his second term, Obama will no longer need to invent apt and resonant phrases. He'll have to look back.
During his first term, civilian-on-civilian killings have left running rivers of blood and ink. Due to the innocence of the victims and heroism of teachers who gave their lives to protect their students, the massacre of children and adults at a school in Newtown hurts in another way. This mass killing should mark a new presidential commitment. This time, the slogan written on the part of the dead, is society's exhortation for Obama: "Yes, yes, you must." Read more.
Oct 8, 2012
Living in Mexico with Virtual Kidnappings
BorderlandBeat, Saturday, October 6, 2012
The fright caused by the deprivation of liberty without asking for ransom favors telephone extortion
The psychosis that has provoked in the collective unconscious the phenomenon of kidnapping, the kind that doesn't usually ask for ransom since the goal is homicide, is being used as an instrument of blackmail by the extortionists that have found home and cellular telephones are the best weapon to terrorize the population and obligate their victims to pay for a lie. Riodoce gathered ten stories that warn of the method in the performance of this crime in Sinaloa. Read more.
The fright caused by the deprivation of liberty without asking for ransom favors telephone extortion
The psychosis that has provoked in the collective unconscious the phenomenon of kidnapping, the kind that doesn't usually ask for ransom since the goal is homicide, is being used as an instrument of blackmail by the extortionists that have found home and cellular telephones are the best weapon to terrorize the population and obligate their victims to pay for a lie. Riodoce gathered ten stories that warn of the method in the performance of this crime in Sinaloa. Read more.
Nearly a third of Mexico households targets of crime, study says
LA Times: MEXICO CITY -- Nearly a of third of households in Mexico suffered a crime in 2011 and only in 8% of those cases was a preliminary investigation opened, according to new figures from the national statistics institute.
The numbers demonstrate that crimes with victims, including robbery, assault, car theft, extortion, identity theft, and kidnappings, are widely under-reported to authorities in Mexico and that the true scope is probably unknown.
The National Institute of Statistics and Geography, or Inegi by its Spanish acronym, polled 95,903 homes this spring and asked respondents to list instances of crime victimization in 2011, not including homicides.
In 30.6% of households polled, at least one adult resident was victimized in 2011. When the victim was present, "physical aggression" occurred in 26.6% of the cases. Read more.
The numbers demonstrate that crimes with victims, including robbery, assault, car theft, extortion, identity theft, and kidnappings, are widely under-reported to authorities in Mexico and that the true scope is probably unknown.
The National Institute of Statistics and Geography, or Inegi by its Spanish acronym, polled 95,903 homes this spring and asked respondents to list instances of crime victimization in 2011, not including homicides.
In 30.6% of households polled, at least one adult resident was victimized in 2011. When the victim was present, "physical aggression" occurred in 26.6% of the cases. Read more.
Sep 18, 2012
More than 130 escape from Mexican prison on U.S. border
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - More than 130 inmates escaped through a tunnel from a Mexican prison on the border with the United States in one of the worst jailbreaks the country's beleaguered penal system has suffered in recent years.
Homero Ramos, attorney general of the northern state of Coahuila, said 132 inmates of the prison in the city of Piedras Negras had got out through the tunnel in an old carpentry workshop, then cut the wire surrounding the complex.
Corrupt prison officials may have helped the inmates escape, said Jorge Luis Moran, chief of public security in Coahuila, adding that U.S. authorities had been alerted to help capture the fugitives if they try to cross the border.
The jailbreak is a reminder of the challenges that await Enrique Pena Nieto, the incoming president, who has pledged to reduce crime in the country after six years of increased gang-related violence under President Felipe Calderon.
Many of Mexico's prisons are overcrowded and struggle to counter the influence of criminal gangs that can use their financial muscle to corrupt those in charge.
Ramos said that the state government of Coahuila was offering a reward of 200,000 pesos ($15,700) for information leading to the capture of each fugitive.
The Piedras Negras complex housed a total of 734 inmates, and the tunnel through which the prisoners escaped was about 1.2 meters (four feet) wide, 2.9 meters (9-1/2 feet) deep and seven meters (23 feet) long, Ramos said. Read more.
Homero Ramos, attorney general of the northern state of Coahuila, said 132 inmates of the prison in the city of Piedras Negras had got out through the tunnel in an old carpentry workshop, then cut the wire surrounding the complex.
Corrupt prison officials may have helped the inmates escape, said Jorge Luis Moran, chief of public security in Coahuila, adding that U.S. authorities had been alerted to help capture the fugitives if they try to cross the border.
The jailbreak is a reminder of the challenges that await Enrique Pena Nieto, the incoming president, who has pledged to reduce crime in the country after six years of increased gang-related violence under President Felipe Calderon.
Many of Mexico's prisons are overcrowded and struggle to counter the influence of criminal gangs that can use their financial muscle to corrupt those in charge.
Ramos said that the state government of Coahuila was offering a reward of 200,000 pesos ($15,700) for information leading to the capture of each fugitive.
The Piedras Negras complex housed a total of 734 inmates, and the tunnel through which the prisoners escaped was about 1.2 meters (four feet) wide, 2.9 meters (9-1/2 feet) deep and seven meters (23 feet) long, Ramos said. Read more.
Jun 23, 2012
Oops! DEA and Mexican Authorities Admit Man Arrested is Not "Little Chapo"
On June 22 we posted a story that was all over the news in Mexican and U.S. sources, regarding the Mexican Navy's triumphant claim to have captured the son of "Most Wanted" drug kingpin, Joaquin Guzman "El Chapo". The announcement stated that the alleged son named Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar-- a wanted criminal in his own right--was nabbed thanks to U.S. intelligence in a wealthy neighborhood in Guadalajara.
Turns out it the announcement was wrong. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) came out with the announcement, forcing the Mexican government to eat its words--an act that causes severe indigestion, especially eating words right before elections--in this statement from the Federal Attorney General's Office:
“The past June 21 elements of the Ministry of the Navy presented two persons, one of which they considered could be Jesús Alfredo Guzmán Salazar (…) after carrying out the necessary tests for identity, we have determined that the individuals presented are Félix Beltrán León and Kevin Daniel Beltrán Ríos, 23 and 19 years of age, respectively.”
Representatives from both governments did some very public back patting before having to own up to the error. Rusty Payne of the DEA called the capture "a victory in the battle against drug traffickers throughout the world" and congratulated the Mexican government.
The Mexican and U.S. governments have been looking for a way to bolster the shared drug war before the presidential elections July 1. President Felipe Calderon's party runs a distant third in the polls, partly due to the political cost of the war on drugs that has sparked widespread violence that has taken the lives of more than 50,000 people in the country, with tens of thousands more disappeared. The bust of the son of El Chapo was just the break they could use to tell a skeptical public that the governments are making headway in the war on organized crime. When it became known it was false, skepticism deepened.
The families of the two young men detained are demanding justice, stating that they fear their sons are the victims of a media stunt by the Federal Government. The governments, incredibly, after admitting their mistake still insist that the arrest of the two young men is a serious blow to organized crime--indicating that the families' contentions that their sons are being railroaded have some merit in the presumption of guilt.
The mainstream media is trying to spin its way out of the confusion sowed by the false claims. This McClatchy article reports on the mistake and then bends over backwards to assert out of nowhere,
The case of mistaken identity just weeks before the presidential elections made "Confirma la DEA" (the DEA confirms) the instant favorite hashtag among Mexican tweeters. A sample of the hundreds of tweets under tag include: "The DEA confirms... El Chapo is laughing his head off at 'government intelligence'", "The DEA confirms... El Chapo has almost as many illegitimate children as Peña Nieto" , "The DEA confirms... the Mexican authorities are idiots", "The DEA confirms... I am REALLY hungry", etc.
Laura Carlsen
Turns out it the announcement was wrong. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) came out with the announcement, forcing the Mexican government to eat its words--an act that causes severe indigestion, especially eating words right before elections--in this statement from the Federal Attorney General's Office:
“The past June 21 elements of the Ministry of the Navy presented two persons, one of which they considered could be Jesús Alfredo Guzmán Salazar (…) after carrying out the necessary tests for identity, we have determined that the individuals presented are Félix Beltrán León and Kevin Daniel Beltrán Ríos, 23 and 19 years of age, respectively.”
Representatives from both governments did some very public back patting before having to own up to the error. Rusty Payne of the DEA called the capture "a victory in the battle against drug traffickers throughout the world" and congratulated the Mexican government.
The Mexican and U.S. governments have been looking for a way to bolster the shared drug war before the presidential elections July 1. President Felipe Calderon's party runs a distant third in the polls, partly due to the political cost of the war on drugs that has sparked widespread violence that has taken the lives of more than 50,000 people in the country, with tens of thousands more disappeared. The bust of the son of El Chapo was just the break they could use to tell a skeptical public that the governments are making headway in the war on organized crime. When it became known it was false, skepticism deepened.
The families of the two young men detained are demanding justice, stating that they fear their sons are the victims of a media stunt by the Federal Government. The governments, incredibly, after admitting their mistake still insist that the arrest of the two young men is a serious blow to organized crime--indicating that the families' contentions that their sons are being railroaded have some merit in the presumption of guilt.
The mainstream media is trying to spin its way out of the confusion sowed by the false claims. This McClatchy article reports on the mistake and then bends over backwards to assert out of nowhere,
While the latest arrest remained a puzzle, it’s clear that U.S. and Mexican authorities are tightening a noose around Guzman and his family.The only proof offered for this supposedly "clear" factoid, is that arrest orders have been issued for Guzman's other sons and that El Chapo was "nearly captured" in Los Cabos last February. As we reported here, the near capture (he apparently escaped through the basement door of a private residence) looked more like another case of El Chapo thumbing his nose (or winking his eye) at authorities, since it took place in Los Cabos when the entire area was heavily militarized due the visit of Hillary Clinton and other foreign ministers for a run-up meeting to the G20 summit.
The case of mistaken identity just weeks before the presidential elections made "Confirma la DEA" (the DEA confirms) the instant favorite hashtag among Mexican tweeters. A sample of the hundreds of tweets under tag include: "The DEA confirms... El Chapo is laughing his head off at 'government intelligence'", "The DEA confirms... El Chapo has almost as many illegitimate children as Peña Nieto" , "The DEA confirms... the Mexican authorities are idiots", "The DEA confirms... I am REALLY hungry", etc.
Laura Carlsen
Mar 9, 2012
Drug War and the Rule of Law: Death threats made against journalists in Tijuana
La Jornada: "Journalists of the news portal Ten4, based in Tijuana, received death threats for their work. In a dozen written messagess, they were insulted for their "f...king reports of sh.t." The threats, signed with the pseudonym Uncle John, were issued on March 6. The next day reporters filed a criminal complaint regarding the threats. One of them asked, "And then we'll wake up in bags, cut into quarters?"
This is the fourth assault perpetrated against journalists in the state in three weeks: on 23 February, persons riding in a van intercepted a correspondent of La Jornada in Tijuana, beating and intimidating him. Also in February, the team of the weekly newpaper, 'Zeta' was threatened with death by the Arellano Felix cartel, and last Wednesday, the director of the Image Group in Mexicali, Eduardo Pesqueira, was the victim of an act of intimidation." Spanish original
This is the fourth assault perpetrated against journalists in the state in three weeks: on 23 February, persons riding in a van intercepted a correspondent of La Jornada in Tijuana, beating and intimidating him. Also in February, the team of the weekly newpaper, 'Zeta' was threatened with death by the Arellano Felix cartel, and last Wednesday, the director of the Image Group in Mexicali, Eduardo Pesqueira, was the victim of an act of intimidation." Spanish original
Dec 1, 2011
Mexico Cime: Extortion Victim Takes Dilemma Public
Justice in Mexico: "Since 2006, attorneys general in Mexico (ministerios públicos) have received complaints of 24,000 cases of extortion, about half of which involve protection payments. The actual number of cases, however, is estimated by Vanguardia to be about 90% higher than this.
As Dr. Carlos R. Cordourier-Real, researcher at the Department of Law, Policy, and Government at the University of Guanajuato observes, Mexicans simply “do not report these threats, because they do not trust the judicial system: not only do they see only a very slim possibility that the crimes they report will be punished, but they are usually sure that the police involved are part of the criminal gangs.”" read more
As Dr. Carlos R. Cordourier-Real, researcher at the Department of Law, Policy, and Government at the University of Guanajuato observes, Mexicans simply “do not report these threats, because they do not trust the judicial system: not only do they see only a very slim possibility that the crimes they report will be punished, but they are usually sure that the police involved are part of the criminal gangs.”" read more
Nov 18, 2011
Drug War Collateral Damage: Mexican Businesses Forced to Pay Up or Play Along with Criminal Groups
InSight Crime: "While larger businesses can escape unscathed, small businesses in Mexico often have no other option in the extortion economy but to pay up, or get involved in criminal activities themselves. Those who don’t pay risk their lives, and those who do risk bankruptcy.
Mexican business is, in effect, at war with itself.·To the extent that businesses cooperate with organized crime, they are only making the security situation worse. Sources contacted for this article made it clear that, in the increasingly unstable environment unleashed by the war on drugs, extortion is the number one criminal strategy for preying on legitimate businesses." read more
Sep 25, 2011
Mexico Crime: Mexican Teachers Push Back Against Gangs’ Extortion Attempt
NYTimes.com: Acapulco, "Extortion is a booming industry in Mexico, with reported cases having almost tripled since 2004. To some analysts, it is an unintended consequence of the government’s strategy in the drug war: as the large cartels splinter, armies of street-level thugs schooled in threats and violence have brought their skills to new enterprises.
But the threat to teachers here in this tarnished tourist resort has taken the practice to a new level. Since the anonymous threats began last month, when students returned to classes after summer break, hundreds of schools have shut down."
But the threat to teachers here in this tarnished tourist resort has taken the practice to a new level. Since the anonymous threats began last month, when students returned to classes after summer break, hundreds of schools have shut down."
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