Note: Some of that background that should have been correctly
referenced in AZMEX EXTRA 4-12-11
AZMEX EXTRA 26 OCT 2011
Note: Direct reaction to Fast &Furious gun walking probe and el
vicentillo DEA relationship, to facilitate cover ups?
Justice Department Proposes Letting Government Deny Existence of
Sensitive Documents
By Shannon Bream
Published October 26, 2011
| FoxNews.com
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/10/26/justice-department-
proposes-letting-government-deny-existence-sensitive/
A longtime internal policy that allowed Justice Department officials
to deny the existence of sensitive information could become the law
of the land -- in effect a license to lie -- if a newly proposed rule
becomes federal regulation in the coming weeks.
The proposed rule directs federal law enforcement agencies, after
personnel have determined that documents are too delicate to be
released, to respond to Freedom of Information Act requests "as if
the excluded records did not exist."
Jay Sekulow, Chief Counsel of the American Center for Law and
Justice, says the move appears to be in direct conflict with the
administration's promise to be more open.
"Despite all the talk of transparency, I can't think of what's less
transparent than saying a document does not exist, when in fact, it
does," Sekulow told Fox News.
Justice Department officials say the practice has been in effect for
decades, dating back to a 1987 memo from then-Attorney General Edwin
Meese.
In that memo, and subsequent similar internal documents, Justice
Department staffers were advised that they could reply to certain
FOIA requests as if the documents had never been created. That policy
never became part of the law -- or even codified as a federal
regulation -- and it was recently challenged in court.
A final version of the proposal could be issued by the end of 2011.
If approved, the new rule would officially become a federal
regulation with the force of law.
But the Justice Department got so much pushback in response to the
proposal that it took the unusual step of re-opening the public
comment period after it had already been closed. That second comment
period closed last week.
When the new comment period began, the American Civil Liberties Union
became one of the most vocal critics of the proposal. Mike German,
Policy Counsel with the ACLU, authored a lengthy letter in opposition.
"It's shocking that you would twist what is supposed to be a statute
-- that's supposed to give people access to what the government is
doing -- in a way that would allow the government to actually mislead
the American public," German told Fox News.
Melanie Ann Pustay, director of the Justice Department's Office of
Information Policy, said the entire consideration process for the
proposal "has been open and transparent."
She also notes that sensitive information requires special
consideration.
"To ensure that the integrity of the exclusion is maintained,
agencies must ensure that their responses do not reveal the existence
of excluded records," Pustay said.
Sekulow says he is not buying that argument, and argued that FOIA
requesters who get a response telling them that officials can neither
confirm or deny the existence of documents now can at least go to
court to sue for more information.
If they're told that no documents exist, there is no basis for a
legal challenge at all, Sekulow said.
"The real concern is here is it changes the entire dynamic of what
the law was intended to do, and really gives the Department of
Justice the upper hand in area where they shouldn't have it."
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/10/26/justice-
department-proposes-letting-government-deny-existence-sensitive/
#ixzz1btgYyJLK
AZMEX EXTRA 28 SEP 2011
Note: The primary question remains: What if Vicentillo is telling
the truth? Consequences?
VICENTILLO ENTITLED TO EXERCISE : JUDGE
Wednesday September 28, 2011
http://www.riodoce.com.mx/content/view/11016/1/
Vicentillo. Pending the trial
Chicago. The alleged drug dealer Jesus Zambada Niebla, arrested in
Chicago while awaiting a trial in February, is entitled to exercise
outdoors even if it means moving to another place of detention, the
judge decided the case.
Federal Judge Ruben Castillo ruled that Zambada, alias "Vicentillo"
entitled to "see daylight and fresh air" after 18 months of isolation
at the Metropolitan Detention Center.
"Mr. Zambada Niebla has not violated any rules " said the judge
during a hearing in which he said had read "carefully" the arguments
for and against the request of the detainee.
He also stressed that the alleged member of the Sinaloa Cartel "has
not cooperated with the government", which would reduce the risk of
an attempt on his life, one of the arguments of the prison director
to not let him go outside.
The judge also considered a risk Zambada Niebla might try to escape
from the roof of the establishment of 27 apartments located in the
heart of the city.
The correctional center's director, Catherine Linaweaver said last
week in a letter to the judge could not guarantee the safety of the
detainee if allowed to recreate five hours per week on top of the
center, which is the only place outdoors in prison.
In his opinion, Zambada Niebla could be an easy target for snipers or
even attempt an escape.
Castillo did not set limits to the Bureau of Prisons to ensure
compliance with its opinion, but urged prison authorities to find a
solution to the order, even if it means the transfer of detainees to
another facility.
The judge said the continued detention in isolation of the accused
before the trial can be configured as a possible violation of the
right to due process that will help.
Moreover, due to the complexity and compliance orders by the defense
evidence, including Mexican documents and witnesses, the judge
feared could not start the trial in February.
"I'm not blaming anyone, but we must take action because the limits
may be extended beyond February," Castillo said at the hearing.
The judge clarified that permission for Zambada Niebla can exercise
outdoors does not automatically extend to the rest of the prison
population.
Defense attorneys had asked the judge, prosecutor's opposition, which
improve prison conditions Zambada Niebla while awaiting trial
scheduled to begin on February 13 for drug trafficking and money
laundering in the United States.
"Vicentillo" risks a sentence of life imprisonment for the
importation of more than 100 tons of cocaine and heroin into the
United States and laundering 500 million dollars.
EFE
AZMEX SPECIAL 2 30 OCT 2011
The case of "Vicentillo" infiltration, complicity, betrayal
J. Jesus Esquivel
OCTOBER 29, 2011 · NO COMMENT
FEATURED
http://www.proceso.com.mx/?p=286685
Plagued by charges among its advocates and prosecutors from the
Justice Department, the case of Vicente Zambada Niebla is becoming
more devious in federal court in Chicago. It seems to follow a script
that charges of treason intersect between U.S. authorities-especially
the DEA, his informants in Mexico and the senior leaders of Mexican
cartels, the Sinaloa specifically, headed by Joaquin El Chapo Guzman
and Ismael El Mayo Zambada. Forced by the judge, prosecutors will be
forced to hand over classified documents over the next few months,
shed light on the tangle of complicity surrounding the case.
CHICAGO (Process) .- Due to the repeated testimony in federal court
in Illinois in the sense that the Sinaloa cartel and its main leaders
have enjoyed protection on both sides of the border, the governments
of Mexico and the United States say that Joaquin El Chapo Guzman
Loera, the more protected capo in the last 10 years, will soon fall,
dead or alive.
On the eve of a pre-trial hearing that follows Jesus Vicente Zambada
Niebla, the son of Ismael Vicentillo-May Zambada-The last week The
New York Times reported that U.S. agents have infiltrated the Mexican
cartels and is ready to arrest the top leaders, in turn, The
Washington Post noted that the Mexican government has three full-time
units for the capture or killing of El Chapo.
Before the 2012 elections in both countries, El Chapo has become for
the governments of Barack Obama and Felipe Calderon in an electoral
dish (Proceso 1825), but before the alleged protection should be
clarified that it has received the bonnet, as seen from the hearings
in the case before it is to El Vicentillo.
In what appears to be a betrayal of the drug trafficking organization
leading El Chapo and El Mayo Zambada, the defendant instructed his
four lawyers to insist that there are direct agreements between the
Sinaloa cartel and the government of the United States.
The defense argues that the commitments Vicentillo between Washington
and the most wanted Mexican drug lord in the world is accomplished
through the offices of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and
intermediaries.
"The government (U.S.) is protecting the Sinaloa cartel and its
leaders under the agreement they have signed with the DEA informant
Loya Humberto Castro," said lawyer Edward Panzer before Federal Judge
Ruben Castillo.
At the hearing on Thursday 27 in the Northern District Federal Court
in Chicago, Illinois, lawyers accused the U.S. government had
betrayed his client, who was recruited by Castro Loya, a DEA informant.
Extract from the main story of the 1826 edition of Proceso magazine
that is already in circulation.
No comments:
Post a Comment