Note: computer english for now, will work on better translation
later if anyone needs.
thx
Alliance against Zetas and the Juarez cartel
Miguel Angel Vega
Monday December 19, 2011
http://www.riodoce.com.mx/content/view/11902/1/
What set off the war
In early 2008 exploded into the Sinaloa cartel conflict largest on
record, driven by capturing the Mochomo Alfredo Beltran Leyva. The
explosion brought nightmarish consequences to the bosom of the most
powerful criminal organization Mexico, causing an escalation of death
as never before seen in the areas of organized crime anywhere in the
world.
Along with this internal war, Joaquin El Chapo Guzman and Ismael
Zambada competed on May one of the most important places for the
smuggling of drugs to the criminal group then most violent and bloody
all over the country: the Juarez cartel.
The Juarez was a war that claimed the lives becoming more and more
people and where people of the Viceroy Vicente Carrillo Fuentes,
seemed to have every chance of winning, since they controlled the
police and political spheres of the city and Chihuahua, Patricia
Gonzalez even the prosecutor repeatedly been accused of protecting
the Juarez cartel and its armed wing, La Linea.
Chapo was then that the mechanism by which it sought to kill their
enemies in a way that does not even have to put your hands. The
formula, which even the most brilliant of his enemies had conceived,
was to involve the United States Government for them to take over
their opponents. And it was.
With initiative and a display that would have envied the president
Felipe Calderon, Chapo authorized his people to establish
communication with a federal agency of that country, in this case the
Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE acronym in
English) , to reveal information about their enemies, as thus would
the U.S. government who would be responsible to go for them. In plain
terms, the Yankees would be the armed wing of the Sinaloa cartel. The
response was immediate.
Rivers of blood
The alliance worked for both parties, except for citizenship, which
was in the crossfire and began to fall victim to an endless war
between the Sinaloa cartel and its allies of ICE, against the Juarez
cartel.
The mass killings were swift and ejecusiones document reached more
than twenty people in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua and communities in the
highlands and Creel, who was then known as a tourist destination
rather than a war zone.
"It's become a hell, and we see for after all," said Father Javier
Avila Ríodoce Aguirre, pastor of the church in Creel, where the
November 15, 2008, a command executed 13 people who apparently worked
for the Juarez cartel.
The numbers were gradually shooting: 2 000 400 executions in 2008,
some 2 000 944 deaths in 2009. Indeed, these two years coincided with
the time when the United States served as the armed wing of the
Sinaloa cartel. He also agreed that escalating operating death with
Fast and Furious, directed by the Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms and
Snuff (ATF), which allowed the entry of thousands of weapons into
Mexico, and whose recipients were people of Chapo Guzman.
That is, the U.S. not only acted as the working arm of the Sinaloa
cartel against its enemies, but also armed to the teeth and somehow
agreed not to touch it.
The narcobanners
The attacks only a cartel by the governments of Mexico and the United
States were so obvious that the group had no other Viceroy conclude
that the Mexican government protected the Chapo.
It was then that narcobanners launched a campaign in Ciudad Juarez
and different parts of the republic that required the president to
attack all the cartels equally and not only protect one of them: the
Sinaloa cartel.
Little or nothing was known then that the people of Chapo Guzman was
working with U.S. agencies, who were passing information about his
enemies.
But not only demanded narcobanners equity, people also accused of
murdering Chapo "innocent people" in Ciudad Juarez and other parts of
Mexico, where he also began to intensify the levels of violence after
the U.S. agreed with the cartel Sinaloa.
According to data from the PGJE the state of Sinaloa, in 2008 the
number of violent deaths was 166 thousand, while 2009 were 252
thousand. Those numbers, as statistics of Chihuahua, meant records in
both states. Coincidentally, this occurred when starting the pact
between the Sinaloa and the U.S..
Debacle of a covenant
Possibly the pact would have continued indefinitely, but the March
19, 2009, in an exclusive area of Mexico City, elements of the
Mexican army arrested Vicente Zambada Niebla, then considered one of
the main leaders of the Sinaloa cartel.
The arrest of Vicentillo also meant an eventual break between the
United States Government and the Sinaloa cartel, since Zambada Niebla
was the first high-profile drug dealer admits to being a DEA
informant, allegedly in exchange for immunity and freedom for the
transfer of drugs from Mexico to the United States.
From that moment everything changed and the U.S. responded that they
had never offered immunity to the son of Mayo Zambada. However, the
defense emphasized that Zambada Niebla was no evidence in the
possession of the prosecution that were necessary for the Vicentillo
receive a fair trial, otherwise it might be possible to go free if
the judge Ruben Castillo determined that "it was committing an
injustice to him. "
According to the Vicentillo, dealings between the Sinaloa cartel and
the United States dating from before 2004, when Loya Humberto Castro,
chief of Chapo, enabling it to provide information on the enemies of
freedom Chapo in exchange for free racking of drugs from Mexico to
the United States.
In March 2010, another Sinaloa cartel informant, Jesus Manuel Fierro
Mendez, admitted in federal court in El Paso Texas, have been
"spokesman" of the Chapo Guzman, who often had telephone
conversations and meetings with ICE agents .
In all cases, outside Loya Castro, fog or Fierro Zambada Mendez, the
Sinaloa cartel was touched by the authorities of Mexico or the United
States. Or at least that's what the testimony given point.
In the case of Zambada Niebla, explain the motions presented by the
prosecution, was the Mayo Zambada who have authorized his son to meet
with DEA agents because their intention was to move away from
drug trafficking. But being arrested Vicentillo, his legal team
uncovered a cesspool of corruption and favoritism, which included a
formula for the DEA to take the money confiscated from drug cartels
and bring it back to Mexico where he would wash through its operating .
A spokesman Joaquin Chapo Guzman made a pact with ICE
Betrayal by impunity
Kennis and Jason Andrew McGahan *
Loya Humberto Castro, Joaquin advisor Chapo Guzman and Vicente
Zambada Niebla, the son of Ismael Zambada May, are not the only
senior members of the Sinaloa cartel who served as liaison between
the criminal organization and U.S. agencies.
In March 2010, Jesus Manuel Fierro Mendez, a member of the Sinaloa
cartel and ex-captain of the police in Ciudad Juarez, El Paso
testified that he had been "spokesman" of the Chapo Guzman in
numerous telephone conversations and some meetings with U.S.
officials Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE acronym in English).
"There were two of us who were, say, as the voice-Fierro said Mendez.
We spent all the information. But we received this information,
obviously, higher levels. " He explained also that Chapo Guzman had
allowed to meet with ICE and report the activities of enemy cartels.
- Have you ever asked ICE about the veneers? He was asked during his
testimony in court.
She was not allowed and never asked me.
Until the day he was arrested, Fierro Mendez saved in your cell phone
number of an ICE agent that he knew only as Roger.
Fierro Mendez was arrested by the DEA on October 10, 2008 at his home
in Ciudad Juarez. After being extradited to Indianapolis, Indiana to
face charges of trafficking cocaine, sealed an agreement with the
Federal United States. He avoided being sentenced to 27 years in
prison in exchange for testifying against former associates of the
Sinaloa cartel, Manuel Chavez and Fernando Betancourt Ontiveros
Arambula.
Process testimony obtained a copy of Iron Mendez surrendered March 4,
2010 before the Court Western District of Texas. That day appeared as
a witness by the Government of the United States. Unless otherwise
indicated, U.S. Attorney Russell D. Leachman is the interlocutor in
the extracts from the transcript of the Court cited in the text.
IN THE "PAYROLL"
Five years before appearing as a witness in El Paso, Fierro was a
corrupt police captain in Ciudad Juarez. According to the DEA said
the day he was sentenced, "while supervising the transport and
distribution of cocaine, also served as an officer of Puma Unit in
Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Puma Unit is a narcotics task force that
operates within the Juárez Police. "
Fierro, whose nickname in the drug underworld of Juarez Puma was also
admitted receiving drug money while he was a police captain. In the
Court repeatedly referred to those bribes as "payroll".
Q. - And when he says "the list" are you referring to the bribes to
the police?
A. - It is not a bribe. It is a payment for a specific job. Is an
amount that is paid monthly to the Police to do the job they want.
Q - Okay. What is expected of the police once it is in "the list" as
you say?
A. - I do or not do what interests the drug traffickers.
Q. - And just for the ladies and gentlemen here understand what this
means, if you are a police officer in Mexico, and say that is not on
"the list", what would happen to a person within the corporation
police ?
A. - If you are not in "the list" if someone is not in "the list",
that person still must obey orders given. Because if you do not obey
orders, that person would be killed.
The Sinaloa cartel recruited Mendez Fierro who had resigned by then-
Police to increase their influence with local police and with their
old friends the Mexican Army. The fragile alliance of Chapo Guzman
with the Juarez cartel, known as The Federation was breaking. In
anticipation of the final rupture, the Chapo sent high-level
emissaries to secure local support of men like Fierro Mendez, to
launch a surprise military offensive against his former partner.
Q. - How did you meet Fernando Arambula?
R. - In late 2007 I was asked to meet with him to develop some
strategies for drug trafficking.
Q. - Who asked you meet him?
R. - Mayito.
Q. - And when he says Mayito, do you know with other names?
R. - M10 and Mario Nunez.
Q. - And you met with Mr. Arambula and Mario Núñez Mayito?
A. - Yes.
Q. - And when did the first of these meetings?
R. - I first met Mayito, probably in October 2007. And in November of
2007 I met with Fernando.
Q. - And was anyone else in these meetings?
A. - Yes.
Q. - Who else?
A. - There were many meetings, and each had different people. In the
first one I attended was the commander Fernando Loya, was the M10,
M11 his brother, Flais, Cuba, etc. I do not remember.
Q. - And what was the purpose of these meetings?
A. - At that time began to show a confrontation over the place and
the intention was to make arrangements to keep that place.
Q. - When speaking of the square keep, what you mean?
R. - To have control over the city and throughout the state.
Q. - And what it means to have control of the square?
R. - To be able to ... to maintain the ability to give orders over
the law to federal, state and municipal governments, and have a clear
field for drug trafficking can continue without problems.
Fierro Mendez testified that the main objective of the Sinaloa cartel
in the short term was to eliminate the line, the faction of the
Juarez cartel who claimed territorial control over the entire state
of Chihuahua. He said, however, that the Chapo clarified that
wherever possible he wanted to avoid a violent confrontation.
The strategy was to exhaust the last chance to hurt Line. Fierro
Mendez explained in court, "the aim was to eliminate the line of any
possible way out is legal or not. That is, either through the Army or
providing information to ICE, this was a legal way, or braking
information that came from the highest ranks of the Line. "
The prosecutor asked if the Sinaloa cartel tried to use ICE to
eliminate their rivals of La Linea. "That's right," was the answer.
After he broke Federation, members of the line were previously loyal
to the Juarez cartel began to pass information to the Sinaloa, Fierro
said Mendez. He noted that much of the information that was aimed at
the line came from former members of that organization changed their
loyalties when the violence erupted. Fierro said that these
individuals had a name: they were known as The New People. When
pressed to define the term, said that the new people was "The People
Against The Line".
Guzman Loera SENT
Fierro Mendez also said that he crossed the border to meet with ICE
agents in U.S. territory. To show the jury how easy it was to Fierro
contact ICE Mendez, Attorney Leachman recovered the names of two
members of this agency registered with the Mexican cellular wore the
day he was arrested. One of the agents working for the ICE office in
Phoenix, Arizona, the other in El Paso, Texas.
Fierro Mendez contacted the ICE in April 2008, offering his services
as an informant for sensitive intelligence material on the Sinaloa
cartel's enemies, especially the Juarez cartel.
"Originally I was willing to work with any U.S. agency, any Federal
agency, either the FBI, DEA or ICE" he explained.
Fierro Mendez and contacts ICE agreed to cooperate only in words,
there was no written agreement between them, he said. "I would give
them information they needed, and they corroborate information they
had."
-Besides these, were there other services performed for the ICE?
Asked the prosecutor.
-I contacted some people who are in the business of arms trafficking
replied.
Fierro Mendez notify ICE when a senior member of La Linea was
arrested in Mexico with the hope that the United States prevented his
prompt return to the battlefield in Juarez. He said U.S. authorities
had the power to delay the release from prison of members of a cartel
enemy. He also stated that the Sinaloa cartel ICE provided the
information to make arrests on U.S. soil. He said, however, if the
ICE carried out the arrests. He explained that he had set limits on
what could be said about its agreements with ICE.
The M10 and another member of the Sinaloa cartel, Julio Porras, were
those who made arrangements for Fierro Mendez could meet with ICE
agents in the United States. "I do not know how they did it," he
testified, "but through them I could enter the ICE without questions."
In cross-examination with Martha Eskesen, Arambula Ontiveros'
attorney, Fierro Mendez explained the nature of their dealings with
the ICE.
Q. - What are you looking for when he embarked on talks with ICE agents?
R. - arrests were made here in America.
Q. - Well. And remember those with whom he met when he began to deal
with the ICE?
A. - Yes.
Q. - Who were these agents?
R. - The agent that I was in charge was Roger.
Q. - And Roger was the actual name of agent or his nickname?
A. - I do not know.
Q. - Well. So was the only name I had for this person?
R. - The name he gave me.
Q. - Well. And there was some other agent with whom you also tried?
R. - Joseph.
Q. - And you know the name of Joseph?
A. - No.
Q. - Well. Were there more ICE agents with whom you have a deal?
A. - Whenever there was a meeting, there were at least two ICE
agents, but I do not know any of the others.
Q. - Well. And when you met at that time with them was not in custody
or imprisoned ... and there was no legal problem. Right?
A - Correct.
Q. - You were, and if I am using an incorrect term, tell me, 'you
were on a mission to come Chapo to provide information. Right?
A. - Yes.
LOYA COMMANDER
Fierro Mendez is not the first member of the Sinaloa cartel who
admits to having had regular telephone contact or meetings with U.S.
law enforcement agents. Loya Humberto Castro, one of the main
advisors of Chapo Guzman, maintained regular telephone contact with
the agent Manuel Castanon, the DEA office in Tijuana. The agent's
name Castanon was in the cell record Loya Castro.
The full name of the agent Castanon was revealed in a motion filed by
U.S. prosecutors in the case of Vicentillo. The motion included a
half page section titled Continuous Castro Loya communication with
U.S. officials. This is a chronicle of his telephone conversations
with the agent Castanon between October 2010 and August 24, 2011.
Before the prosecution disclose your name in the records of the Court
by the defense Castanon agent appeared as the "agent Manny"-the same
way that Fierro Mendez could not provide anything more specific than
"Roger" to identify your ICE contact in Phoenix.
Alvin Michaelson, a member of the defense of Vicentillo, told Judge
Ruben Castillo in an open session of the Court Loya Castro has been
in contact with the agent Castanon, "virtually on a daily basis for
almost ten years, there are thousands of reports supporting our
position, Your Excellency. He told us about e-mails, meetings, phone
calls. He had to hand the phone number of Mr. Manny. "
Court proceedings in the trial on drug charges against Zambada Niebla
provided U.S. officials revealed that senior members of the Sinaloa
cartel information that used to smite his enemies cartels.
In a legal document, dated September 9, 2011, the U.S. Federal Bureau
Loya admitted that Castro was a confidential informant record in the
United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA, for its acronym in English).
Zambada's legal team revealed the connection Fog Loya Castro filed a
legal motion in March. The Federal United States denies, however,
that the agreement with Castro Loya imply a guarantee of legal
immunity for the leaders of the Sinaloa cartel, as alleged in the
Court Vicentillo lawyers.
The connections between Fierro Loya Mendez Castro and extend beyond a
similar relationship with U.S. law enforcement. Fierro Mendez said in
court that Loya saw "three four" meetings convened by the Sinaloa
cartel in Mazatlan to prepare for drug shipments to Juarez. Fracture
of the Federation brought a great disruption in the supply of drugs.
Everlasting lieutenant, Fierro succinctly highlights the two main
objectives of the meetings in Mazatlan: "One was to keep hitting the
line in every way possible. The other was organized to at least be
able to cross the drugs. "
* Taken from the magazine Proceso.
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