AZMEX SPECIAL 31 AUG 2018
Note: from Comrade Ruben.
Dem rep warns immigration officers following 'illegal' Trump orders: 'You will not be safe'
Alex Pappas
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/08/30/dem-rep-warns-immigration-officers-following-illegal-trump-orders-will-not-be-safe.html
"If you are a US government official and you are deporting Americans be warned," Arizona Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego tweeted Thursday.
"When the worm turns you will not be safe because you were just following orders." (Official portrait )
A Democratic lawmaker issued a startling warning to government officials involved in "illegal" deportations that they "will not be safe" from future punishment when Donald Trump is no longer president.
"If you are a US government official and you are deporting Americans be warned," Arizona Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego tweeted early Thursday. "When the worm turns you will not be safe because you were just following orders. You do not have to take part in illegal acts ordered by this President's administration."
Gallego's comments go beyond those of other Democrats, even those who've called for confronting Trump administration officials in public over immigration policies.
Chris Crane, the president of the National ICE Council, which represents thousands of ICE employees, accused Gallego of inciting violence against them as they "enforce the nation's laws and keep our communities safe."
"It should be frightening to every American that a sitting member of Congress would threaten the safety of any person and their family, and incite the public to take acts of violence against them, let alone the lives of those whose job it is to protect us and keep us safe," Crane said in a statement.
Gallego, in a statement to Fox News, attempted to clarify his remarks.
"Government officials who violate the law or the constitution will not be immune to legal consequences," Gallego said Thursday. "They will eventually be held accountable for their actions, even if the Trump administration is refusing to do so."
A spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not return a request for comment. There have been growing calls from Democrats in recent months to abolish the agency.
STATE DEPT. PUSHES BACK ON REPORT ABOUT HISPANICS BEING DENIED PASSPORTS
Gallego's warning was prompted by a story in The Washington Post on Wednesday that examined how the U.S. government has denied passports to Hispanics who have U.S. citizenship but are suspected of possibly having fraudulent birth certificates.
In a statement to Fox News on Thursday, a State Department spokesman blasted the Washington Post report, saying passport denials in these cases have actually declined under this administration. Both the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations reportedly denied passports to people delivered by midwives in Texas's Rio Grande Valley, though the practice was hindered by a court challenge years ago.
"The facts don't back up the Washington Post's reporting. This is an irresponsible attempt to create division and stoke fear among American citizens while attempting to inflame tensions over immigration," said Heather Nauert, a State Department spokeswoman. "Under the Trump Administration, domestic passport denials for so called 'midwife cases' are at a 6-year low. The reporting is a political cheap shot."
But Democrats expressed outrage over the story, accusing the Trump administration of attacking minorities.
"US citizens including #Veterans & law enforcement being jailed on suspicion of being Mexican, denied US passports," Illinois Rep. Luis Gutiérrez said.
"Trump escalating attacks on US Latinos & people of color."
"Americans are being held, targeted, and denied their rights because of the color of their skin," tweeted Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez.
"This is a disgrace to our democracy and a vicious assault on our community.
We must make our voices heard. These families are counting on us."
"This administration's anti-immigrant, nationalistic rhetoric and policies are now targeting U.S. citizens, in an attempt to deny them of the rights that our Constitution guarantees," the Congressional Hispanic Caucus tweeted. "This is wrong, shameless and betrays our most sacred American ideals."
The State Department told The Washington Post they sometimes ask people suspected of having fraudulent papers to provide additional proof of birth.
Those flagged are applicants who have birth certificates filed by a "midwife or other birth attendant suspected of having engaged in fraudulent activities"
or those with both a U.S. and foreign birth certificate.
"Individuals who are unable to demonstrate that they were born in the United States are denied issuance of a passport," the State Department told the paper.
In its story, the Post cited several examples, including a 40-year-old named Juan who reportedly says he was born in the United States,
was delivered by a midwife in southern Texas and served in the Army, the Border Patrol and the state prison system.
"I served my country. I fought for my country," the man said.
( if true, there would be an very extensive paper trial )
END
Friday, August 31, 2018
AZMEX UPDATE 30-8-18
AZMEX UPDATE 30 AUG 2018
Note: local interest mostly.
The former commander of the Sonora State Police killed.
Details Published on Wednesday, August 29, 2018,
Written by Writing / The Journal
http://www.eldiariodesonora.com.mx/notas.php?nota=117503
Hermosillo
The former commander of the Investigative State Police Francisco Javier Angulo was gunned down when he was traveling from Ciudad Obregón to the rural area of the municipality of Cajeme yesterday morning.
According to the police report, the events occurred around 10:00 am, on Calle Meridiano between 600 and 700 avenue in the Yaqui Valley, when it was traveling from the north to the south aboard a van truck, Durango line, of recent model and white color.
Witnesses of the armed attack affirm that the vehicle presented a mechanical failure and when it was stopped to review it, the police command was riddled with bullets by several subjects who later escaped.
The victim had extensive experience in public security agencies in Sonora, was commander of the State Judicial, State Investigative Police and most recently Group Chief in the Ministerial Agency for Criminal Investigation, where he retired.
Recently, Francisco Javier Angulo had submitted his registration as an applicant to the Municipal Public Security Bureau of Hermosillo.
The victim was included in the final list of 61 candidates for municipal commissioner, composed of 52 men and nine women who completed the registration or presented all the necessary requirements to be considered for the position.
The crime scene was cordoned off by experts from the Attorney General's Office in Sonora and elements of the Ministry of National Defense, for the gathering of evidence; while police corporations of the three levels of government implemented an operation to find those responsible for this armed attack.
With this intentional homicide there are now 29 this month in Cajeme, where for several months the organized crime groups wage a struggle for the area that have turned this municipality into one of the 50 most violent in the country.
End
Comment: perhaps they should consider protesting the drug and human traffickers, for the causing the border to become in this condition?
several photos.
Thx
Faith leaders protest at Nogales Border Patrol Station
By Jonathan Clark
Nogales International Aug 30, 2018 Updated 2 hrs ago
https://www.nogalesinternational.com/news/faith-leaders-protest-at-nogales-border-patrol-station/article_a8bca7ac-aca0-11e8-a28c-cb5708ea49e5.html
Nearly 100 faith leaders from 15 different states prayed and protested Tuesday outside the Nogales Border Patrol Station, where they decried the separation of migrant families and what they characterized as the militarization of the border.
"We believe in welcoming our neighbor, loving our neighbor as ourselves and welcoming the sojourner in our midst and so that's why we're out here today," said the Rev. Noel Andersen of Church World Service in Washington, D.C.
The protesters, representing the United Church of Christ, Disciples of Christ, Presbyterian and United Methodist churches, among others, came from as far away as Iowa, Ohio, Massachusetts and Maine, and as nearby as Arizona and New Mexico. They held signs bearing slogans such as "Revitalize, not militarize border communities," "No more separating families" and "Reunite families now," and Rev. Hannah Bonner of St. Paul's United Methodist Church in Tucson led them in a chant of "All children are God's children."
On June 20, in the midst of fierce public outcry, President Trump signed an executive order to stop his administration's policy of separating children and parents caught illegally crossing the border. But Andersen said it's still important to speak out against the practice.
"He only signed that because of the public pressure, and there's still, the last I heard, around 500 families that aren't reunited," he said. "So we have to keep up that public pressure to reunite those families, but also to make sure similar policies don't continue."
Andersen added that the group was also protesting the administration's zero-tolerance policy, which calls for criminal prosecution of all undocumented border-crossers, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions' tightening of asylum laws to exclude most people fleeing domestic or gang violence.
Leaders at the Border Patrol Station came out of the compound's gates to observe, but not interact, with the protesters gathered on the opposite side of the street. Kevin Hecht, deputy patrol agent in charge at station, said he was not authorized to comment on the protest.
Nogales Police Department call logs show that the Border Patrol called at 4:07 p.m. Tuesday to request assistance dealing with protesters who were blocking the roadway. However, a follow-up call from a responding NPD officer at 4:16 p.m. said the protesters were on the side of the road.
End
Also:
Travel advisory lists no-go areas in Nogales, Sonora
Nogales International Aug 29, 2018
https://www.nogalesinternational.com/news/travel-advisory-lists-no-go-areas-in-nogales-sonora/article_0905714e-aa4d-11e8-856c-9b9d8d97d01f.html
The U.S. State Department's new travel advisory for Mexico maintains a "reconsider travel" rating for Sonora, and shares specific guidelines for its employees in Nogales, Sonora.
The advisory, issued Aug. 22, advises that U.S. citizens reconsider travel to Sonora due to crime, though it notes that "northern Sonora experiences much lower levels of crime than cities closer to Sinaloa and other parts of Mexico" – the same recommendation and caveat included in a travel advisory issued on Jan. 10.
The new advisory also shares the specific guidelines the State Department gives its own employees for travel in each state. For example, government employees are allowed to travel to Puerto Peñasco from Nogales on Highway 2 through Caborca, and to Hermosillo via Highway 15, but only during daylight hours.
However, all travel by U.S. government employees is prohibited to San Carlos, Guaymas, Empalme and points south of Hermosillo via Highway 15. The triangular region west of the Mariposa Port of Entry, east of Sonoyta and north of Altar, is also off limits.
In addition, the advisory notes that U.S. government employees in Nogales, Sonora are not allowed to go to the residential neighborhoods to the east of Plutarco Elias Calles (e.g. Buenos Aires) or an area on the west side of the city north of Avenida Instituto Tecnológico and between the periferico (Bulevar Luis Donaldo Colosio) and the Corredor Fiscal
In addition, U.S. government employees are not permitted to use taxi services in Nogales, Sonora, though bus travel is permitted.
"Movement around the city after dark is by vehicle only," the advisory says, adding: "U.S. government employees should avoid El Centro and all night clubs after 10 p.m."
See the full Mexico travel advisory here.
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories/mexico-travel-advisory.html
End
Asesinan a excomandante de la Policía Estatal
Detalles Publicado el Miercoles 29 de Agosto de 2018,
Escrito por Redacción / El Diario
http://www.eldiariodesonora.com.mx/notas.php?nota=117503
Hermosillo
El excomandante de la Policía Estatal Investigadora Francisco Javier Angulo fue acribillado a balazos cuando transitaba desde Ciudad Obregón hacia la zona rural del municipio de Cajeme ayer por la mañana.
Según el parte policiaco, los hechos ocurrieron alrededor de las 10:00 horas, en calle Meridiano entre avenida 600 y 700 del Valle del Yaqui, cuando transitaba del norte hacia el sur a bordo de una camioneta tipo vagoneta, línea Durango, de modelo reciente y color blanco.
Testigos del ataque armado afirman que el vehículo presentó una falla mecánica y cuando se bajó a revisarla, el mando policial fue acribillado a balazos por varios sujetos que luego escaparon.
La víctima tenía amplia trayectoria en agencias de seguridad pública en Sonora, fue comandante de la Judicial del Estado, en la Policía Estatal Investigadora y más recientemente Jefe de Grupo en la Agencia Ministerial de Investigación Criminal, donde obtuvo su jubilación.
Recientemente, Francisco Javier Angulo había presentado su registro como aspirante a la Comisaría de Seguridad Pública Municipal de Hermosillo.
La víctima figuraba en la terna final de 61 aspirantes a comisario municipal, integrada por 52 hombres y nueve mujeres que completaron el registro o presentaron todos los requisitos necesarios para ser considerados para el cargo.
La escena del crimen fue acordonada por peritos de la Fiscalía General de Justicia en Sonora y elementos de la Secretaría de la Defensa Nacional, para el levantamiento de pruebas; mientras que corporaciones policiacas de los tres niveles de gobierno implementaron un operativo para dar con los responsables de este ataque armado.
Con este homicidio doloso suman 29 en el presente mes en Cajeme, donde desde hace varios meses los grupos de la delincuencia organizada libran una lucha por la plaza que han convertido a este municipio en uno de los 50 más violentos del país.
End
Note: local interest mostly.
The former commander of the Sonora State Police killed.
Details Published on Wednesday, August 29, 2018,
Written by Writing / The Journal
http://www.eldiariodesonora.com.mx/notas.php?nota=117503
Hermosillo
The former commander of the Investigative State Police Francisco Javier Angulo was gunned down when he was traveling from Ciudad Obregón to the rural area of the municipality of Cajeme yesterday morning.
According to the police report, the events occurred around 10:00 am, on Calle Meridiano between 600 and 700 avenue in the Yaqui Valley, when it was traveling from the north to the south aboard a van truck, Durango line, of recent model and white color.
Witnesses of the armed attack affirm that the vehicle presented a mechanical failure and when it was stopped to review it, the police command was riddled with bullets by several subjects who later escaped.
The victim had extensive experience in public security agencies in Sonora, was commander of the State Judicial, State Investigative Police and most recently Group Chief in the Ministerial Agency for Criminal Investigation, where he retired.
Recently, Francisco Javier Angulo had submitted his registration as an applicant to the Municipal Public Security Bureau of Hermosillo.
The victim was included in the final list of 61 candidates for municipal commissioner, composed of 52 men and nine women who completed the registration or presented all the necessary requirements to be considered for the position.
The crime scene was cordoned off by experts from the Attorney General's Office in Sonora and elements of the Ministry of National Defense, for the gathering of evidence; while police corporations of the three levels of government implemented an operation to find those responsible for this armed attack.
With this intentional homicide there are now 29 this month in Cajeme, where for several months the organized crime groups wage a struggle for the area that have turned this municipality into one of the 50 most violent in the country.
End
Comment: perhaps they should consider protesting the drug and human traffickers, for the causing the border to become in this condition?
several photos.
Thx
Faith leaders protest at Nogales Border Patrol Station
By Jonathan Clark
Nogales International Aug 30, 2018 Updated 2 hrs ago
https://www.nogalesinternational.com/news/faith-leaders-protest-at-nogales-border-patrol-station/article_a8bca7ac-aca0-11e8-a28c-cb5708ea49e5.html
Nearly 100 faith leaders from 15 different states prayed and protested Tuesday outside the Nogales Border Patrol Station, where they decried the separation of migrant families and what they characterized as the militarization of the border.
"We believe in welcoming our neighbor, loving our neighbor as ourselves and welcoming the sojourner in our midst and so that's why we're out here today," said the Rev. Noel Andersen of Church World Service in Washington, D.C.
The protesters, representing the United Church of Christ, Disciples of Christ, Presbyterian and United Methodist churches, among others, came from as far away as Iowa, Ohio, Massachusetts and Maine, and as nearby as Arizona and New Mexico. They held signs bearing slogans such as "Revitalize, not militarize border communities," "No more separating families" and "Reunite families now," and Rev. Hannah Bonner of St. Paul's United Methodist Church in Tucson led them in a chant of "All children are God's children."
On June 20, in the midst of fierce public outcry, President Trump signed an executive order to stop his administration's policy of separating children and parents caught illegally crossing the border. But Andersen said it's still important to speak out against the practice.
"He only signed that because of the public pressure, and there's still, the last I heard, around 500 families that aren't reunited," he said. "So we have to keep up that public pressure to reunite those families, but also to make sure similar policies don't continue."
Andersen added that the group was also protesting the administration's zero-tolerance policy, which calls for criminal prosecution of all undocumented border-crossers, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions' tightening of asylum laws to exclude most people fleeing domestic or gang violence.
Leaders at the Border Patrol Station came out of the compound's gates to observe, but not interact, with the protesters gathered on the opposite side of the street. Kevin Hecht, deputy patrol agent in charge at station, said he was not authorized to comment on the protest.
Nogales Police Department call logs show that the Border Patrol called at 4:07 p.m. Tuesday to request assistance dealing with protesters who were blocking the roadway. However, a follow-up call from a responding NPD officer at 4:16 p.m. said the protesters were on the side of the road.
End
Also:
Travel advisory lists no-go areas in Nogales, Sonora
Nogales International Aug 29, 2018
https://www.nogalesinternational.com/news/travel-advisory-lists-no-go-areas-in-nogales-sonora/article_0905714e-aa4d-11e8-856c-9b9d8d97d01f.html
The U.S. State Department's new travel advisory for Mexico maintains a "reconsider travel" rating for Sonora, and shares specific guidelines for its employees in Nogales, Sonora.
The advisory, issued Aug. 22, advises that U.S. citizens reconsider travel to Sonora due to crime, though it notes that "northern Sonora experiences much lower levels of crime than cities closer to Sinaloa and other parts of Mexico" – the same recommendation and caveat included in a travel advisory issued on Jan. 10.
The new advisory also shares the specific guidelines the State Department gives its own employees for travel in each state. For example, government employees are allowed to travel to Puerto Peñasco from Nogales on Highway 2 through Caborca, and to Hermosillo via Highway 15, but only during daylight hours.
However, all travel by U.S. government employees is prohibited to San Carlos, Guaymas, Empalme and points south of Hermosillo via Highway 15. The triangular region west of the Mariposa Port of Entry, east of Sonoyta and north of Altar, is also off limits.
In addition, the advisory notes that U.S. government employees in Nogales, Sonora are not allowed to go to the residential neighborhoods to the east of Plutarco Elias Calles (e.g. Buenos Aires) or an area on the west side of the city north of Avenida Instituto Tecnológico and between the periferico (Bulevar Luis Donaldo Colosio) and the Corredor Fiscal
In addition, U.S. government employees are not permitted to use taxi services in Nogales, Sonora, though bus travel is permitted.
"Movement around the city after dark is by vehicle only," the advisory says, adding: "U.S. government employees should avoid El Centro and all night clubs after 10 p.m."
See the full Mexico travel advisory here.
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories/mexico-travel-advisory.html
End
Asesinan a excomandante de la Policía Estatal
Detalles Publicado el Miercoles 29 de Agosto de 2018,
Escrito por Redacción / El Diario
http://www.eldiariodesonora.com.mx/notas.php?nota=117503
Hermosillo
El excomandante de la Policía Estatal Investigadora Francisco Javier Angulo fue acribillado a balazos cuando transitaba desde Ciudad Obregón hacia la zona rural del municipio de Cajeme ayer por la mañana.
Según el parte policiaco, los hechos ocurrieron alrededor de las 10:00 horas, en calle Meridiano entre avenida 600 y 700 del Valle del Yaqui, cuando transitaba del norte hacia el sur a bordo de una camioneta tipo vagoneta, línea Durango, de modelo reciente y color blanco.
Testigos del ataque armado afirman que el vehículo presentó una falla mecánica y cuando se bajó a revisarla, el mando policial fue acribillado a balazos por varios sujetos que luego escaparon.
La víctima tenía amplia trayectoria en agencias de seguridad pública en Sonora, fue comandante de la Judicial del Estado, en la Policía Estatal Investigadora y más recientemente Jefe de Grupo en la Agencia Ministerial de Investigación Criminal, donde obtuvo su jubilación.
Recientemente, Francisco Javier Angulo había presentado su registro como aspirante a la Comisaría de Seguridad Pública Municipal de Hermosillo.
La víctima figuraba en la terna final de 61 aspirantes a comisario municipal, integrada por 52 hombres y nueve mujeres que completaron el registro o presentaron todos los requisitos necesarios para ser considerados para el cargo.
La escena del crimen fue acordonada por peritos de la Fiscalía General de Justicia en Sonora y elementos de la Secretaría de la Defensa Nacional, para el levantamiento de pruebas; mientras que corporaciones policiacas de los tres niveles de gobierno implementaron un operativo para dar con los responsables de este ataque armado.
Con este homicidio doloso suman 29 en el presente mes en Cajeme, donde desde hace varios meses los grupos de la delincuencia organizada libran una lucha por la plaza que han convertido a este municipio en uno de los 50 más violentos del país.
End
Wednesday, August 29, 2018
AZVEN UPDATE 29-8-18
AZVEN UPDATE 29 AUG 2018
Brazil mobilizes its army to the border with Venezuela
President Michel Temer signed a decree to send the army to Roraima, to strengthen security in that border state, the entry point for thousands of people fleeing the crisis in Venezuela.
The Brazilian president blamed the president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, for the exodus of Venezuelans that has caused a migratory crisis
AFP AGENCY
Brasilia / 28.08.2018 17:41:30
http://www.milenio.com/internacional/latinoamerica/brasil-moviliza-a-su-ejercito-a-la-frontera-con-venezuela
The Brazilian president, Michel Temer, signed a decree to send the Army to Roraima, to reinforce security in that border state, point of entry of thousands of people fleeing the crisis in Venezuela.
"The use of the Armed Forces for the Guarantee of Law and Order is authorized, in the period from August 29 to September 12, 2018", in the northern and eastern areas as well as in the federal highways of the state of Roraima, indicates the decree.
"We are going to seek the support of the international community to adopt diplomatic measures to solve this problem, which is no longer the internal policy of a country, but has advanced along the border of several countries and threatens the harmony of our entire continent," Temer said in a televised statement from the presidential palace of Planalto.
Venezuela faces "a tragic situation that today affects almost all of South America," the president said, referring to the hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans fleeing their country, including tens of thousands who arrive in Brazil through the Amazon state of Roraima. .
"It is not only Brazil that suffers the consequences, but also Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, several countries of Latin America," he added, announcing the decree to mobilize the armed forces to that region.
"Brazil respects the sovereignty of States, of nations, but we have to remember that only a country that respects and cares for its people is sovereign, sovereignty anywhere in the world belongs to the people," he proclaimed.
The presidential decree authorizes "the use of the Armed Forces for the Guarantee of Law and Order, in the period from August 29 to September 12, 2018", in the northern and eastern areas as well as in the federal highways of the state of Roraima
END
Brazil mobilizes its army to the border with Venezuela
President Michel Temer signed a decree to send the army to Roraima, to strengthen security in that border state, the entry point for thousands of people fleeing the crisis in Venezuela.
The Brazilian president blamed the president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, for the exodus of Venezuelans that has caused a migratory crisis
AFP AGENCY
Brasilia / 28.08.2018 17:41:30
http://www.milenio.com/internacional/latinoamerica/brasil-moviliza-a-su-ejercito-a-la-frontera-con-venezuela
The Brazilian president, Michel Temer, signed a decree to send the Army to Roraima, to reinforce security in that border state, point of entry of thousands of people fleeing the crisis in Venezuela.
"The use of the Armed Forces for the Guarantee of Law and Order is authorized, in the period from August 29 to September 12, 2018", in the northern and eastern areas as well as in the federal highways of the state of Roraima, indicates the decree.
"We are going to seek the support of the international community to adopt diplomatic measures to solve this problem, which is no longer the internal policy of a country, but has advanced along the border of several countries and threatens the harmony of our entire continent," Temer said in a televised statement from the presidential palace of Planalto.
Venezuela faces "a tragic situation that today affects almost all of South America," the president said, referring to the hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans fleeing their country, including tens of thousands who arrive in Brazil through the Amazon state of Roraima. .
"It is not only Brazil that suffers the consequences, but also Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, several countries of Latin America," he added, announcing the decree to mobilize the armed forces to that region.
"Brazil respects the sovereignty of States, of nations, but we have to remember that only a country that respects and cares for its people is sovereign, sovereignty anywhere in the world belongs to the people," he proclaimed.
The presidential decree authorizes "the use of the Armed Forces for the Guarantee of Law and Order, in the period from August 29 to September 12, 2018", in the northern and eastern areas as well as in the federal highways of the state of Roraima
END
Tuesday, August 28, 2018
AZVEN UPDATE 25-8-18
AZVEN UPDATE 25 AUG 2018
Note: yet another communist / democrat / progressive / socialist disaster.
Coming to Mexico on Dec. 1st. ?
will the USA be ready? Unfortunately, very unlikely.
Thx
Venezuela migrant crisis: Peru tightens border controls
2 hours ago.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-45307003
Media captionThe Venezuelans are fleeing their country's political and economic crises
Peru has brought into force new entry requirements to control the numbers of Venezuelan migrants.
Venezuelans will no longer be admitted with just an identity card, although children, pregnant women and the elderly are exempted.
Similar rules were introduced in Ecuador last week, only to be overturned by a court.
Tens of thousands of Venezuelans are fleeing their country amid chronic shortages of food and medicines.
The country's longstanding economic crisis has seen more than two million citizens leave since 2014,
causing regional tensions as neighbouring countries struggle to accommodate them.
The UN is setting up a special team to co-ordinate the regional response.
However, the UN's migration agency has warned that the continent faces a refugee "crisis moment" similar to that seen in the Mediterranean in 2015.
What is happening in Peru?
The authorities in Lima set a deadline of midnight on Friday for the new passport rules to come into force.
Many Venezuelans have been looking to start a new life in Peru - which has one of the region's fastest growing economies - travelling there via Colombia and Ecuador.
How Venezuela's crisis drove out millions of people
Venezuelan's bridge of desperation
My first week as a BBC Venezuela correspondent
On Friday there was a rush of people heading to the Peruvian border and Ecuador created what it called a "humanitarian corridor" by laying on buses to take migrants through the country.
Venezuelan nationals travel by bus in southern Ecuador towards the border with Peru on August 24, 2018Image copyrightAFP
Image caption
Ecuador provided buses to take Venezuelans from the Colombian border to the Peruvian border
Peruvian Prime Minister César Villanueva said requiring Venezuelans to show their passport at the border did not mean that Peru was "closing the door" to migrants.
He said ID cards did not provide enough information and could easily be forged.
Map showing emigration routes
Presentational white space
On Friday, more than 2,500 crossed into the small Peruvian border town of Aguas Verdes, with thousands more trying to reach Peru at the main crossing point at Tumbes.
Many were exhausted by their journey.
"We have been on the road for five days. We travelled by bus and saw people, Venezuelans, walking along the road," Jonathan Zambrano, 18, told AFP news agency.
The Tumbes crossing has seen about 3,000 arrivals per day in recent weeks.
Peru is already home to about 400,000 Venezuelan migrants, most of whom arrived in the past year.
Grey line
Race to the border
By Katy Watson, BBC News, Huaquillas, on the Peru-Ecuador border
A Venezuelan migrant at the end of the line in Tumbes, northern Peru minutes after the clock turned midnight on Friday August 24, 2018Image copyrightAFP
Throughout Friday evening Venezuelans kept arriving, many in government-commandeered buses that had brought them from the Colombia-Ecuador border.
It was called a humanitarian corridor but, of course, it was one that was in Ecuador's interests, too. They didn't want to be left with stranded Venezuelans once midnight had passed.
With less than 10 minutes to go before the deadline, there were more than 100 people with no passports waiting in the queue hoping to be allowed into Peru.
Migration officials handed out a small pink ticket to those lining up. Those who were in the queue before midnight would be allowed to cross the border. Anyone else arriving after midnight would not.
A seemingly insignificant piece of paper but one that would define the future for these Venezuelans heading to Peru to find work.
Grey line
What has the UN said? ( BS Alert1 )
Joel Millman, a spokesman for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) - a UN agency - said increasing border restrictions coupled with an outbreak of violence on the Brazilian border last week, was an early warning sign that the region was in need of help.
"This is building to a crisis moment that we've seen in other parts of the world, particularly in the Mediterranean," he told reporters.
"A difficult situation can become a crisis situation very quickly and we have to be prepared," he added.
Chiara Cardoletti of the UN's refugee agency (UNHCR), said other countries in the region had welcomed Venezuelans and were helping to "avoid a situation like the one we have seen in Europe".
Media caption"This is the largest exodus Latin America has experienced" - UNHCR's Chiara Cardoletti
"What we are seeing is a continent that has opened its doors to people who are fleeing and who need support," she told the BBC.
Ms Cardoletti added that Colombia had registered more than 450,000 Venezuelans and given them regular status.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is to set up a special UN team to co-ordinate a regional response to the crisis, while Ecuador is to host a 13-nation regional summit in September.
How are other countries affected?
Ecuador brought in new passport regulations last week, leaving hundreds of migrants stranded on it border with Colombia.
However, on Friday, a judge found that requiring Venezuelans to carry valid passports broke regional agreements on freedom of movement.
Citizens of most South American nations can visit other South American nations without needing a visa or to carry a passport. The Andean Community trading bloc - which includes Ecuador and Peru - also allows visa- and passport-free travel for its citizens, although Venezuela withdrew from the grouping in 2006.
Twitter post by @katywatson: This is the immigration queue to get in to #Peru - from midnight, they won't let Venezuelans through if they don't have passports. Less than half an hour left - immigration officials expect lots of angry people who can't get stamped in time. #migrationcrisis #venezuela Image Copyright @katywatson@KATYWATSON
Report
Presentational white space
More than half a million Venezuelans have crossed into Ecuador this year alone and more than a million have entered Colombia in the past 15 months.
Brazil's northern state of Roraima has also had its attempt to close the border with Venezuela thrown out by a judge.
Violence erupted in the border town of Pacaraima last week when local residents attacked makeshift camps housing Venezuelan migrants.
The camps were burned down and the occupants temporarily fled back across the border.
Despite the violence, the number of Venezuelans crossing daily into Brazil has continued to rise.
What has Venezuela said?
The government took drastic measures to stabilise the economy last week, issuing new banknotes that slashed five zeros off the bolívar. Runaway inflation had been predicted to hit one million per cent by the end of the year.
On Friday, Venezuela's information minister Jorge Rodriguez said the measures would persuade those Venezuelans who had left to return.
"The conclusion is that Venezuelans are going to return and furthermore we invite them to return because we need them for this recovery plan," he told a news conference.
Economists have warned that the new measures do not address the root causes of inflation in Venezuela and that the printing of new notes could exacerbate inflation rather than curb it.
END
Also: https://www.pinalcentral.com/world_news/venezuelan-migrants-pour-into-peru-before-new-rules-enforced/article_b72c27b5-76a0-5b33-baba-e4ab1b1f894e.html
End
Note: yet another communist / democrat / progressive / socialist disaster.
Coming to Mexico on Dec. 1st. ?
will the USA be ready? Unfortunately, very unlikely.
Thx
Venezuela migrant crisis: Peru tightens border controls
2 hours ago.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-45307003
Media captionThe Venezuelans are fleeing their country's political and economic crises
Peru has brought into force new entry requirements to control the numbers of Venezuelan migrants.
Venezuelans will no longer be admitted with just an identity card, although children, pregnant women and the elderly are exempted.
Similar rules were introduced in Ecuador last week, only to be overturned by a court.
Tens of thousands of Venezuelans are fleeing their country amid chronic shortages of food and medicines.
The country's longstanding economic crisis has seen more than two million citizens leave since 2014,
causing regional tensions as neighbouring countries struggle to accommodate them.
The UN is setting up a special team to co-ordinate the regional response.
However, the UN's migration agency has warned that the continent faces a refugee "crisis moment" similar to that seen in the Mediterranean in 2015.
What is happening in Peru?
The authorities in Lima set a deadline of midnight on Friday for the new passport rules to come into force.
Many Venezuelans have been looking to start a new life in Peru - which has one of the region's fastest growing economies - travelling there via Colombia and Ecuador.
How Venezuela's crisis drove out millions of people
Venezuelan's bridge of desperation
My first week as a BBC Venezuela correspondent
On Friday there was a rush of people heading to the Peruvian border and Ecuador created what it called a "humanitarian corridor" by laying on buses to take migrants through the country.
Venezuelan nationals travel by bus in southern Ecuador towards the border with Peru on August 24, 2018Image copyrightAFP
Image caption
Ecuador provided buses to take Venezuelans from the Colombian border to the Peruvian border
Peruvian Prime Minister César Villanueva said requiring Venezuelans to show their passport at the border did not mean that Peru was "closing the door" to migrants.
He said ID cards did not provide enough information and could easily be forged.
Map showing emigration routes
Presentational white space
On Friday, more than 2,500 crossed into the small Peruvian border town of Aguas Verdes, with thousands more trying to reach Peru at the main crossing point at Tumbes.
Many were exhausted by their journey.
"We have been on the road for five days. We travelled by bus and saw people, Venezuelans, walking along the road," Jonathan Zambrano, 18, told AFP news agency.
The Tumbes crossing has seen about 3,000 arrivals per day in recent weeks.
Peru is already home to about 400,000 Venezuelan migrants, most of whom arrived in the past year.
Grey line
Race to the border
By Katy Watson, BBC News, Huaquillas, on the Peru-Ecuador border
A Venezuelan migrant at the end of the line in Tumbes, northern Peru minutes after the clock turned midnight on Friday August 24, 2018Image copyrightAFP
Throughout Friday evening Venezuelans kept arriving, many in government-commandeered buses that had brought them from the Colombia-Ecuador border.
It was called a humanitarian corridor but, of course, it was one that was in Ecuador's interests, too. They didn't want to be left with stranded Venezuelans once midnight had passed.
With less than 10 minutes to go before the deadline, there were more than 100 people with no passports waiting in the queue hoping to be allowed into Peru.
Migration officials handed out a small pink ticket to those lining up. Those who were in the queue before midnight would be allowed to cross the border. Anyone else arriving after midnight would not.
A seemingly insignificant piece of paper but one that would define the future for these Venezuelans heading to Peru to find work.
Grey line
What has the UN said? ( BS Alert1 )
Joel Millman, a spokesman for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) - a UN agency - said increasing border restrictions coupled with an outbreak of violence on the Brazilian border last week, was an early warning sign that the region was in need of help.
"This is building to a crisis moment that we've seen in other parts of the world, particularly in the Mediterranean," he told reporters.
"A difficult situation can become a crisis situation very quickly and we have to be prepared," he added.
Chiara Cardoletti of the UN's refugee agency (UNHCR), said other countries in the region had welcomed Venezuelans and were helping to "avoid a situation like the one we have seen in Europe".
Media caption"This is the largest exodus Latin America has experienced" - UNHCR's Chiara Cardoletti
"What we are seeing is a continent that has opened its doors to people who are fleeing and who need support," she told the BBC.
Ms Cardoletti added that Colombia had registered more than 450,000 Venezuelans and given them regular status.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is to set up a special UN team to co-ordinate a regional response to the crisis, while Ecuador is to host a 13-nation regional summit in September.
How are other countries affected?
Ecuador brought in new passport regulations last week, leaving hundreds of migrants stranded on it border with Colombia.
However, on Friday, a judge found that requiring Venezuelans to carry valid passports broke regional agreements on freedom of movement.
Citizens of most South American nations can visit other South American nations without needing a visa or to carry a passport. The Andean Community trading bloc - which includes Ecuador and Peru - also allows visa- and passport-free travel for its citizens, although Venezuela withdrew from the grouping in 2006.
Twitter post by @katywatson: This is the immigration queue to get in to #Peru - from midnight, they won't let Venezuelans through if they don't have passports. Less than half an hour left - immigration officials expect lots of angry people who can't get stamped in time. #migrationcrisis #venezuela Image Copyright @katywatson@KATYWATSON
Report
Presentational white space
More than half a million Venezuelans have crossed into Ecuador this year alone and more than a million have entered Colombia in the past 15 months.
Brazil's northern state of Roraima has also had its attempt to close the border with Venezuela thrown out by a judge.
Violence erupted in the border town of Pacaraima last week when local residents attacked makeshift camps housing Venezuelan migrants.
The camps were burned down and the occupants temporarily fled back across the border.
Despite the violence, the number of Venezuelans crossing daily into Brazil has continued to rise.
What has Venezuela said?
The government took drastic measures to stabilise the economy last week, issuing new banknotes that slashed five zeros off the bolívar. Runaway inflation had been predicted to hit one million per cent by the end of the year.
On Friday, Venezuela's information minister Jorge Rodriguez said the measures would persuade those Venezuelans who had left to return.
"The conclusion is that Venezuelans are going to return and furthermore we invite them to return because we need them for this recovery plan," he told a news conference.
Economists have warned that the new measures do not address the root causes of inflation in Venezuela and that the printing of new notes could exacerbate inflation rather than curb it.
END
Also: https://www.pinalcentral.com/world_news/venezuelan-migrants-pour-into-peru-before-new-rules-enforced/article_b72c27b5-76a0-5b33-baba-e4ab1b1f894e.html
End
AZMEX SONORA SPECIAL 28-8-18
AZMEX SONORA SPECIAL 28 AUG 2018
Note: Of special local interest, from the good guys at Borderland Beat. http://www.borderlandbeat.com.
As mentioned before, Cajeme is a major waypoint for drug and human trafficking.
thx
Tuesday, August 28, 2018
"El Chapo" Isidro and "Los Chapitos": the fight for territory in Sonora
http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2018/08/el-chapo-isidro-and-los-chapitos-fight.html#more
Translated by El Profe for Borderland Beat from La Silla Rota
"El Chapo" Isidro y "Los Chapitos": la lucha por territorio en Sonora
by MONICA MIRANDA
Headlines such as "Three shot in Cajeme", "Dismembered left in ice cooler", "Pistoleros abduct a couple in the south", cease to leave an impression on Sonorans, especially those who live in cities such as Cajeme and Guaymas.
The plaza battles between "Los Chapitos " (Sinaloa Cartel) and "Chapo" Isidro (Beltrán Leyva) have the population of southern Sonora in suspense, municipalities near Sinaloa (Navojoa, Cajeme and Guaymas).
In recent days there have been dismembered bodies found, there are executions in broad daylight, 'levantones', and strong security operations from both the State Secretariat of Public Security and the Army and Gendarmerie.
j
"The Salazars" are a cell of Sonorans who have been operating for years for the Sinaloa Cartel, recently for the group of "Los Chapitos ", Iván Archivaldo and Jesús Alfredo Guzmán Salazar, who took more control of the organization after the capture of their father, "El Chapo" Guzmán and later, the arrest of Dámaso López "El Licenciado", with whom they fought for leadership.
On the other side of the camp is "El Chapo" Isidro, (Isidro Meza Flores), also from Sinaloa and who worked for Guzmán Loera, before forming his group "Los Mazatlecos", which joined the Cartel of the Beltrán Leyva to fight the square to the Sinaloa Cartel.
The capture of Guzmán Loera divided the "Los Salazar" cell in Sonora and made it an easy target for its smaller adversaries operating in the south of the country.
It was thus that the assassins of "El Chapo" Isidro managed to penetrate the security filters in order to try and seize the plaza.
Now, Los Salazar, led by "Los Chapitos ", now known as Gente Nueva Salazar (GNS), seek to recover the places they had held for decades for the planting, transfer and sale of drugs.
"They wanted to make their own group (Chapo Isidro), they left the fight because before they were good with the people here (Los Salazar), they are fighting for the Plaza de Obregón (head of Cajeme)," said a source close to the GNS organization to La Silla Rota.
This fight gained strength in 2018 and is reflected in the deaths recorded in Cajeme, with 126 officially registered homicides.
As of May 2018, there were 64 homicides counted. Since then, in June, 18 murders were counted, 28 in July, and 16 in August so far, according to figures from the Ministry of Public Security.
Homicides happen every day in Ciudad Obregón and Guaymas. As indicated by the laws of physics, before any action a reaction occurs and the behavior of these groups responds to the provoked attacks among themselves.
But in this war, innocent victims have had to pay the cost, without fear of it, just because they are in the wrong place at the wrong time, that is, the time when the criminals decide to launch their next move against their opponents.
During July of this year the wave of violence in Sonora skyrocketed, to the extent that citizens in Cajeme heard gunshots in broad daylight and close to their homes in different parts of the city.
The lives stolen by the struggle
Alexis Rafael Rivera, at dawn on Sunday, July 22, specifically at 2:00 a.m., told his mother in an agitated voice to open the door of his house as soon as possible, as he had been shot at.
Hours later she was informed that her son had died in the General Hospital of Ciudad Obregón.
The cause was indicated as an assault by the state police of public security, allegedly repelling the shots with a weapon carried by the young man, who was being pursued by the police.
"At 1:42 in the morning I received a call, where he told me, love, open the door for me, they're shooting at me, but it was his strong, firm voice, without hesitation, without any alcohol, you could tell that my son was doing well," said the mother.
The family claims that the police confused Alexis with a hitman, a member of one of the organized crime gangs operating in Obregón, Sonora.
The version sent in a press release indicates that the pursuit began when red alert was activated due to a firearm injury that occurred in the Miravalle neighborhood.
The vehicle reported as the aggressor was a gray Chevrolet Spark, which was driven by Alexis accompanied by three men, who are currently being detained.
During the chase, the Spark vehicle lost control hitting a parked car, from which a person got out and ran, at that time the driver (Alexis) apparently assaulted the officers, who repelled the attack.
In the statement it is indicated that, as the officers approached the car taking preventive measures, they realized that the person they identified as Alexis Rafael was injured, for which they requested the presence of the Red Cross, providing first aid and transfer to the General hospital, where moments later he lost his life.
"We do not believe that version, because of the call he made to my mother, if he was talking on the phone with one hand, how could he go shooting with the other? There are things that do not fit," said the sister of the deceased Uber driver, Johana Rivera.
Later, on July 28 in San Carlos, Guaymas, three young men were "picked up" by state police, and allegedly handed over to a criminal group that operates in the area.
On social networks, the population makes public announcements about missing relatives, mainly these young people who attended a weekend trip to San Carlos.
During the past month, a series of violent events occurred in this region of southern Sonora, such as the disappearance of seven people, four murders, one of them was shot, and a shooting of houses and vehicles in the San Vicente neighborhood, recorded last Sunday at dawn.
State public security points out that through social networks relatives are looking for missing persons between 20 and 40 years of age, and demand that they be found alive.
Faced with this climate of violence, the state, federal and Sedena police maintain security operations in the port of Guaymas and Empalme in order to suspend the travel warning made by the United States (State ) Department to its personnel, and also contain the violent acts recorded since last weekend when an armed group fired on vehicles parked during the early morning in the San Vicente neighborhood, confirmed Adolfo García Morales.
The Secretary of Security in Sonora said that work is being done to restore peace among the population of said municipalities, after the information that transpired in social networks about the disappearance of young people in San Carlos, on Saturday 28.
In addition, he said that the presence of municipal police patrolling the area was maintained, a fact that could be corroborated through the GPS system that the police units report, as the supposed absence of the elements in the streets due to threats of organized crime was reported.
"In the C5, the police are monitored by GPS patrols, where they are, there are calls to 911 incidents that were attended to by the municipal police. The GPS allowed us to see that there were municipal police patrolling the city, right now I do not have the exact data how many."
Following these events, an alert was issued by the United States Department calling for a travel ban of personnel from the American consulates to the municipalities of southern Sonora.
Escalating violence with dismemberment
A ice cooler containing human remains appeared on Friday, August 10, on Calle 600, a few meters from Calle Norman E. Borlaug, in the Valle del Yaqui, in Cajeme.
The municipal police received the report, detecting in the area a narcomanta adjudicated to Gente Nueva Salazar.
Elements of the Municipal and State police arrived in addition to expert services to collect the cooler and the official transfer towards the district attorney's office in Cajeme.
The constant violence in Cajeme with multiple murders, the last 4 registered in less than 24 hours on Friday the 10th, caused the population's boiling point to be reached. That is why the responsible authorities are required to rethink the coordination strategies between the different levels of police corporations, said Faustino Félix Chávez.
The mayor of Cajeme said that one of his last duties as a public servant of Ciudad Obregó is analyzing with the state government new measures to stop the murders registered almost daily in Cajeme, and alternatives to inhibit crimes related to organized crime.
"We have to listen to society, it is not something that is only happening in the south of Sonora, we know that it is not foreign to the rest of the country, but we worry about our house, we care where we live, where we have our families and although we said it is something between criminals, we have already seen people who are not criminals having to suffer the ravages of what is happening."
For its part, the government of Sonora has continued with operations in Cajeme, Guaymas and Empalme, where elements of the State Public Security Police, the Federal Police, the Gendarmerie and the Mexican Army arrived.
"For various sectors of Ciudad Obregón, monitoring and prevention points were installed in which elements of SEDENA, PESP, PF and Municipal Police participate," the state agency reported on its Twitter account.
Cajemenses seek to restore peace
Marches for Peace, organized by relatives of "levantadas" or disappeared persons, began with inhabitants of Cajeme and Guaymas going out into the streets to demand that the authorities contain the clashes between members of organized crime groups.
With placards and slogans of "No more violence " and "We want security and peace" they marched to the municipal palace.
Armida Salas Lapizco, denounced to the authority the disappearance of her nephew Miguel Ángel ITSON, student in the Systems Engineering degree, who disappeared on March 27, 2012.
"He was going to graduate in December 2012, he was doing his social service and we do not know anything, the authorities have not given us any response, we have never passed from the PGR window, my nephew's car appeared abandoned."
There are about 70 murders officially registered in Cajeme so far this year, but it should be noted that there is a percentage that is not reported to the judicial authorities, so it is not recorded in the lists reported by the Executive Secretariat of the National System of Public Security.
Borderland Beat Reporter El Profe Posted at 9:16 AM
End
Note: Of special local interest, from the good guys at Borderland Beat. http://www.borderlandbeat.com.
As mentioned before, Cajeme is a major waypoint for drug and human trafficking.
thx
Tuesday, August 28, 2018
"El Chapo" Isidro and "Los Chapitos": the fight for territory in Sonora
http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2018/08/el-chapo-isidro-and-los-chapitos-fight.html#more
Translated by El Profe for Borderland Beat from La Silla Rota
"El Chapo" Isidro y "Los Chapitos": la lucha por territorio en Sonora
by MONICA MIRANDA
Headlines such as "Three shot in Cajeme", "Dismembered left in ice cooler", "Pistoleros abduct a couple in the south", cease to leave an impression on Sonorans, especially those who live in cities such as Cajeme and Guaymas.
The plaza battles between "Los Chapitos " (Sinaloa Cartel) and "Chapo" Isidro (Beltrán Leyva) have the population of southern Sonora in suspense, municipalities near Sinaloa (Navojoa, Cajeme and Guaymas).
In recent days there have been dismembered bodies found, there are executions in broad daylight, 'levantones', and strong security operations from both the State Secretariat of Public Security and the Army and Gendarmerie.
j
"The Salazars" are a cell of Sonorans who have been operating for years for the Sinaloa Cartel, recently for the group of "Los Chapitos ", Iván Archivaldo and Jesús Alfredo Guzmán Salazar, who took more control of the organization after the capture of their father, "El Chapo" Guzmán and later, the arrest of Dámaso López "El Licenciado", with whom they fought for leadership.
On the other side of the camp is "El Chapo" Isidro, (Isidro Meza Flores), also from Sinaloa and who worked for Guzmán Loera, before forming his group "Los Mazatlecos", which joined the Cartel of the Beltrán Leyva to fight the square to the Sinaloa Cartel.
The capture of Guzmán Loera divided the "Los Salazar" cell in Sonora and made it an easy target for its smaller adversaries operating in the south of the country.
It was thus that the assassins of "El Chapo" Isidro managed to penetrate the security filters in order to try and seize the plaza.
Now, Los Salazar, led by "Los Chapitos ", now known as Gente Nueva Salazar (GNS), seek to recover the places they had held for decades for the planting, transfer and sale of drugs.
"They wanted to make their own group (Chapo Isidro), they left the fight because before they were good with the people here (Los Salazar), they are fighting for the Plaza de Obregón (head of Cajeme)," said a source close to the GNS organization to La Silla Rota.
This fight gained strength in 2018 and is reflected in the deaths recorded in Cajeme, with 126 officially registered homicides.
As of May 2018, there were 64 homicides counted. Since then, in June, 18 murders were counted, 28 in July, and 16 in August so far, according to figures from the Ministry of Public Security.
Homicides happen every day in Ciudad Obregón and Guaymas. As indicated by the laws of physics, before any action a reaction occurs and the behavior of these groups responds to the provoked attacks among themselves.
But in this war, innocent victims have had to pay the cost, without fear of it, just because they are in the wrong place at the wrong time, that is, the time when the criminals decide to launch their next move against their opponents.
During July of this year the wave of violence in Sonora skyrocketed, to the extent that citizens in Cajeme heard gunshots in broad daylight and close to their homes in different parts of the city.
The lives stolen by the struggle
Alexis Rafael Rivera, at dawn on Sunday, July 22, specifically at 2:00 a.m., told his mother in an agitated voice to open the door of his house as soon as possible, as he had been shot at.
Hours later she was informed that her son had died in the General Hospital of Ciudad Obregón.
The cause was indicated as an assault by the state police of public security, allegedly repelling the shots with a weapon carried by the young man, who was being pursued by the police.
"At 1:42 in the morning I received a call, where he told me, love, open the door for me, they're shooting at me, but it was his strong, firm voice, without hesitation, without any alcohol, you could tell that my son was doing well," said the mother.
The family claims that the police confused Alexis with a hitman, a member of one of the organized crime gangs operating in Obregón, Sonora.
The version sent in a press release indicates that the pursuit began when red alert was activated due to a firearm injury that occurred in the Miravalle neighborhood.
The vehicle reported as the aggressor was a gray Chevrolet Spark, which was driven by Alexis accompanied by three men, who are currently being detained.
During the chase, the Spark vehicle lost control hitting a parked car, from which a person got out and ran, at that time the driver (Alexis) apparently assaulted the officers, who repelled the attack.
In the statement it is indicated that, as the officers approached the car taking preventive measures, they realized that the person they identified as Alexis Rafael was injured, for which they requested the presence of the Red Cross, providing first aid and transfer to the General hospital, where moments later he lost his life.
"We do not believe that version, because of the call he made to my mother, if he was talking on the phone with one hand, how could he go shooting with the other? There are things that do not fit," said the sister of the deceased Uber driver, Johana Rivera.
Later, on July 28 in San Carlos, Guaymas, three young men were "picked up" by state police, and allegedly handed over to a criminal group that operates in the area.
On social networks, the population makes public announcements about missing relatives, mainly these young people who attended a weekend trip to San Carlos.
During the past month, a series of violent events occurred in this region of southern Sonora, such as the disappearance of seven people, four murders, one of them was shot, and a shooting of houses and vehicles in the San Vicente neighborhood, recorded last Sunday at dawn.
State public security points out that through social networks relatives are looking for missing persons between 20 and 40 years of age, and demand that they be found alive.
Faced with this climate of violence, the state, federal and Sedena police maintain security operations in the port of Guaymas and Empalme in order to suspend the travel warning made by the United States (State ) Department to its personnel, and also contain the violent acts recorded since last weekend when an armed group fired on vehicles parked during the early morning in the San Vicente neighborhood, confirmed Adolfo García Morales.
The Secretary of Security in Sonora said that work is being done to restore peace among the population of said municipalities, after the information that transpired in social networks about the disappearance of young people in San Carlos, on Saturday 28.
In addition, he said that the presence of municipal police patrolling the area was maintained, a fact that could be corroborated through the GPS system that the police units report, as the supposed absence of the elements in the streets due to threats of organized crime was reported.
"In the C5, the police are monitored by GPS patrols, where they are, there are calls to 911 incidents that were attended to by the municipal police. The GPS allowed us to see that there were municipal police patrolling the city, right now I do not have the exact data how many."
Following these events, an alert was issued by the United States Department calling for a travel ban of personnel from the American consulates to the municipalities of southern Sonora.
Escalating violence with dismemberment
A ice cooler containing human remains appeared on Friday, August 10, on Calle 600, a few meters from Calle Norman E. Borlaug, in the Valle del Yaqui, in Cajeme.
The municipal police received the report, detecting in the area a narcomanta adjudicated to Gente Nueva Salazar.
Elements of the Municipal and State police arrived in addition to expert services to collect the cooler and the official transfer towards the district attorney's office in Cajeme.
The constant violence in Cajeme with multiple murders, the last 4 registered in less than 24 hours on Friday the 10th, caused the population's boiling point to be reached. That is why the responsible authorities are required to rethink the coordination strategies between the different levels of police corporations, said Faustino Félix Chávez.
The mayor of Cajeme said that one of his last duties as a public servant of Ciudad Obregó is analyzing with the state government new measures to stop the murders registered almost daily in Cajeme, and alternatives to inhibit crimes related to organized crime.
"We have to listen to society, it is not something that is only happening in the south of Sonora, we know that it is not foreign to the rest of the country, but we worry about our house, we care where we live, where we have our families and although we said it is something between criminals, we have already seen people who are not criminals having to suffer the ravages of what is happening."
For its part, the government of Sonora has continued with operations in Cajeme, Guaymas and Empalme, where elements of the State Public Security Police, the Federal Police, the Gendarmerie and the Mexican Army arrived.
"For various sectors of Ciudad Obregón, monitoring and prevention points were installed in which elements of SEDENA, PESP, PF and Municipal Police participate," the state agency reported on its Twitter account.
Cajemenses seek to restore peace
Marches for Peace, organized by relatives of "levantadas" or disappeared persons, began with inhabitants of Cajeme and Guaymas going out into the streets to demand that the authorities contain the clashes between members of organized crime groups.
With placards and slogans of "No more violence " and "We want security and peace" they marched to the municipal palace.
Armida Salas Lapizco, denounced to the authority the disappearance of her nephew Miguel Ángel ITSON, student in the Systems Engineering degree, who disappeared on March 27, 2012.
"He was going to graduate in December 2012, he was doing his social service and we do not know anything, the authorities have not given us any response, we have never passed from the PGR window, my nephew's car appeared abandoned."
There are about 70 murders officially registered in Cajeme so far this year, but it should be noted that there is a percentage that is not reported to the judicial authorities, so it is not recorded in the lists reported by the Executive Secretariat of the National System of Public Security.
Borderland Beat Reporter El Profe Posted at 9:16 AM
End
Monday, August 27, 2018
AZMEX UPDATE 27-8-18
AZMEX UPDATE 27 AUG 2018
Note: a busy AZMEX Monday.
Seize 21 kilograms of methamphetamine on I-19
Details Published on Saturday August 25, 2018,
Written by Marco A. Flores
http://www.eldiariodesonora.com.mx/notas.php?nota=117324
Nogales, Az
More than 21 kilograms (47 pounds) of methamphetamine were seized by Border Patrol agents at the checkpoint located on Interstate 19,
with the arrest of two men of American nationality.
Customs and Border Protection announced that officers of the Nogales Station discovered the illicit cargo inside a Nissan Titan,
which was driven by a man of 27 years, who was accompanied by another man of 28.
In an additional inspection and with the support of a trained dog,
the federal agents took 40 packages of the narcotic in the trunk, a shipment valued at more than 150 thousand dollars.
In another case, officers assigned to the "Raul Hector Castro" sentry box in Douglas, Ariz.,
Arrested another US citizen in possession of 167 kilograms (370 pounds) of marijuana during an operation this week.
The arrest of a 60-year-old man, who was driving a Chevy Silverado, and in a secondary inspection,
a canine agent of the Border Patrol detected several packages with the drug, valued at almost 190 thousand dollars.
END
Find in Sonora and BC two narcolaboratories
Tribune of San Luis Monday August 27, 2018 in Police
https://www.tribunadesanluis.com.mx/metropoli/policia/hallan-en-sonora-y-bc-dos-narcolaboratorios
Just over 4 tons of the drug called "crystal" were found in a clandestine laboratory for the preparation of synthetic drugs,
at Kilometer 15, along the Tecate-Rumorosa highway, in the town of La Rumorosa, Baja California.
The finding was reported by personnel of the Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena), belonging to the Second Military Region of Mexicali, Baja California,
who indicated that the drug was placed inside 10 tubs, with a capacity of 400 kilograms each.
The discovery was camouflaged in a ditch, among pine trees, where 10 metal boilers with a capacity of 500 liters each were secured,
4 metal filters with a capacity of 80 liters each and 6 metal condensers with hoses of 2 meters each.
Likewise, chemical precursors were collected consisting of 1 drum of 200 liters of acetone, 28 blue metallic drums of 200 liters with the Legend "Remover",
4 metal drums of 200 liters of ethyl alcohol, 2 metallic gallons with the legend "Cola",
15 brown colored tubs with a capacity of 500 liters each, containing reddish paste and green drug in process.
Other articles considered chemical precursors found in the place are 25 sacks containing light sodium carbonate, 6 sacks with Sodium Hydroxide,
19 sacks with an unknown white powder, 27 sacks of caustic soda, 10 metal drums of 200 liters each, containing acetone .
In the place it was learned that there was a camp with tents and provisions for 10 people who worked in that laboratory.
IN URES MINE
Elements of the State Public Security Police (PESP), during tours through municipalities of the Sonora River received an anonymous report
in which they referred to an abandoned mine difficult to access in the vicinity of the Ures-Rayón highway, and where they detected strong toxic odors
Attending to the denunciation, officials of the (PESP) in coordination with elements of the Secretariat of the National Defense (SEDENA) moved to the place,
locating a tunnel of a mine in apparent abandonment; when inspecting in their interior they found drums and drums with chemicals,
diverse utensils as tanks of oxygen and gas, used in clandestine laboratories for elaboration of synthetic drugs.
The officers immediately notified the authorities of the Attorney General's Office (PGR), to again conduct an inspection of the mine tunnel,
where they found more objects, as well as chemical precursors for the preparation of the drug known as crystal. .
Because they are toxic materials, and safeguarding the physical integrity of the agents of the PESP and SEDENA,
it was supported by a highly qualified personnel for the handling of chemical substances,
who was responsible for transferring the findings and making them available to the public. the PGR, instance that will follow up the investigation.
It should be noted that the PESP closed the entrance to the tunnel to prevent the entry of people outside the investigation
and to avoid possible damage to the health of the people of the region due to the strong odors emitted.
End
Authorities seek 22 migrants kidnapped in Chiapas
Acurco with a testimony, the 'coyote' left the road, later forced them to enter a building, where they demanded the information of their families to pay their ransom
08/25/2018 20:25 GASPAR ROMERO / CORRESPONDENT
Authorities seek 22 migrants kidnapped in Chiapas
A score of immigrants from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala were kidnapped by a gang of criminals operating in the highland region of Chiapas. Photo: Special
https://www.excelsior.com.mx/nacional/autoridades-buscan-a-22-migrantes-secuestrados-en-chiapas/1260855
TUXTLA GUTIÉRREZ, CHIAPAS
Armed forces, as well as ministerial and federal police, are looking for a group of 22 immigrants who were kidnapped when they arrived at the municipality
of San Cristóbal de las Casas, where they were transported by a "coyote".
The state authority maintains close coordination with federal authorities, in order to locate them and that they can obtain their freedom as soon as possible,
said a source from the state government.
After the testimony of one of the victims who escaped from their kidnappers was heard, security was reinforced and an important task force
was deployed in San Cristóbal de Las Casas and nearby municipalities.
THE GROUP OF CENTRAL AMERICAN MIGRANTS IS KIDNAPPED IN CHIAPAS
A score of immigrants from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala were kidnapped by a gang of criminals operating in the highland region of Chiapas.
To free them, the kidnappers demand large amounts of money. So far, state and federal authorities remain in the search.
Among the immigrants are several minors; According to reports, the immigrants would have left the municipality of Comitán
aboard a van bound for Mexico City, guided by a trafficker of people.
However, on the Comitán stretch to San Cristóbal de las Casas, they had been intercepted.
At the moment the whereabouts are unknown.
The immigrants were going to the United States.
End
Note: a busy AZMEX Monday.
Seize 21 kilograms of methamphetamine on I-19
Details Published on Saturday August 25, 2018,
Written by Marco A. Flores
http://www.eldiariodesonora.com.mx/notas.php?nota=117324
Nogales, Az
More than 21 kilograms (47 pounds) of methamphetamine were seized by Border Patrol agents at the checkpoint located on Interstate 19,
with the arrest of two men of American nationality.
Customs and Border Protection announced that officers of the Nogales Station discovered the illicit cargo inside a Nissan Titan,
which was driven by a man of 27 years, who was accompanied by another man of 28.
In an additional inspection and with the support of a trained dog,
the federal agents took 40 packages of the narcotic in the trunk, a shipment valued at more than 150 thousand dollars.
In another case, officers assigned to the "Raul Hector Castro" sentry box in Douglas, Ariz.,
Arrested another US citizen in possession of 167 kilograms (370 pounds) of marijuana during an operation this week.
The arrest of a 60-year-old man, who was driving a Chevy Silverado, and in a secondary inspection,
a canine agent of the Border Patrol detected several packages with the drug, valued at almost 190 thousand dollars.
END
Find in Sonora and BC two narcolaboratories
Tribune of San Luis Monday August 27, 2018 in Police
https://www.tribunadesanluis.com.mx/metropoli/policia/hallan-en-sonora-y-bc-dos-narcolaboratorios
Just over 4 tons of the drug called "crystal" were found in a clandestine laboratory for the preparation of synthetic drugs,
at Kilometer 15, along the Tecate-Rumorosa highway, in the town of La Rumorosa, Baja California.
The finding was reported by personnel of the Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena), belonging to the Second Military Region of Mexicali, Baja California,
who indicated that the drug was placed inside 10 tubs, with a capacity of 400 kilograms each.
The discovery was camouflaged in a ditch, among pine trees, where 10 metal boilers with a capacity of 500 liters each were secured,
4 metal filters with a capacity of 80 liters each and 6 metal condensers with hoses of 2 meters each.
Likewise, chemical precursors were collected consisting of 1 drum of 200 liters of acetone, 28 blue metallic drums of 200 liters with the Legend "Remover",
4 metal drums of 200 liters of ethyl alcohol, 2 metallic gallons with the legend "Cola",
15 brown colored tubs with a capacity of 500 liters each, containing reddish paste and green drug in process.
Other articles considered chemical precursors found in the place are 25 sacks containing light sodium carbonate, 6 sacks with Sodium Hydroxide,
19 sacks with an unknown white powder, 27 sacks of caustic soda, 10 metal drums of 200 liters each, containing acetone .
In the place it was learned that there was a camp with tents and provisions for 10 people who worked in that laboratory.
IN URES MINE
Elements of the State Public Security Police (PESP), during tours through municipalities of the Sonora River received an anonymous report
in which they referred to an abandoned mine difficult to access in the vicinity of the Ures-Rayón highway, and where they detected strong toxic odors
Attending to the denunciation, officials of the (PESP) in coordination with elements of the Secretariat of the National Defense (SEDENA) moved to the place,
locating a tunnel of a mine in apparent abandonment; when inspecting in their interior they found drums and drums with chemicals,
diverse utensils as tanks of oxygen and gas, used in clandestine laboratories for elaboration of synthetic drugs.
The officers immediately notified the authorities of the Attorney General's Office (PGR), to again conduct an inspection of the mine tunnel,
where they found more objects, as well as chemical precursors for the preparation of the drug known as crystal. .
Because they are toxic materials, and safeguarding the physical integrity of the agents of the PESP and SEDENA,
it was supported by a highly qualified personnel for the handling of chemical substances,
who was responsible for transferring the findings and making them available to the public. the PGR, instance that will follow up the investigation.
It should be noted that the PESP closed the entrance to the tunnel to prevent the entry of people outside the investigation
and to avoid possible damage to the health of the people of the region due to the strong odors emitted.
End
Authorities seek 22 migrants kidnapped in Chiapas
Acurco with a testimony, the 'coyote' left the road, later forced them to enter a building, where they demanded the information of their families to pay their ransom
08/25/2018 20:25 GASPAR ROMERO / CORRESPONDENT
Authorities seek 22 migrants kidnapped in Chiapas
A score of immigrants from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala were kidnapped by a gang of criminals operating in the highland region of Chiapas. Photo: Special
https://www.excelsior.com.mx/nacional/autoridades-buscan-a-22-migrantes-secuestrados-en-chiapas/1260855
TUXTLA GUTIÉRREZ, CHIAPAS
Armed forces, as well as ministerial and federal police, are looking for a group of 22 immigrants who were kidnapped when they arrived at the municipality
of San Cristóbal de las Casas, where they were transported by a "coyote".
The state authority maintains close coordination with federal authorities, in order to locate them and that they can obtain their freedom as soon as possible,
said a source from the state government.
After the testimony of one of the victims who escaped from their kidnappers was heard, security was reinforced and an important task force
was deployed in San Cristóbal de Las Casas and nearby municipalities.
THE GROUP OF CENTRAL AMERICAN MIGRANTS IS KIDNAPPED IN CHIAPAS
A score of immigrants from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala were kidnapped by a gang of criminals operating in the highland region of Chiapas.
To free them, the kidnappers demand large amounts of money. So far, state and federal authorities remain in the search.
Among the immigrants are several minors; According to reports, the immigrants would have left the municipality of Comitán
aboard a van bound for Mexico City, guided by a trafficker of people.
However, on the Comitán stretch to San Cristóbal de las Casas, they had been intercepted.
At the moment the whereabouts are unknown.
The immigrants were going to the United States.
End
Saturday, August 25, 2018
AZMEX I3 25-8-18
AZMEX I3 25 AUG 2018.
Farm that hired Cristhian Rivera, Mollie Tibbetts' suspected killer, did not use E-Verify system, official says
August 25, 2018 -
http://azborderdefenders.org/farm-that-hired-cristhian-rivera-mollie-tibbetts-suspected-killer-did-not-use-e-verify-system-official-says/
Illegal Immigration National News - Tagged: Cristhian Rivera, E-Verify, Mollie Tibbetts, murder, Yarrabee Farms
AZBD Note: Every time our SAR Team helps Border Patrol apprehend another illegal alien its possibly saving the life of another American. Unfortunately the American public is still too asleep to understand what is going on. Mollie wasn't the first and she isn't going to be the last.
From foxnews.com:
The Mexican national accused of murdering college student Mollie Tibbetts in Iowa last month lived in the United States illegally for several years — and worked for a farm that used Social Security Administration data in part to vet potential employees, according to officials there.
However, Yarrabee Farms co-owner and manager Dane Lang clarified Wednesday afternoon
that the farm did not use a federal E-Verify check on suspect Cristhian Rivera, despite the company's claim earlier in the day that it did.
FOX story at the link:
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/08/22/mollie-tibbetts-murder-suspect-illegal-immigrant-cristhian-rivera-allegedly-passed-e-verify-system.html
End
Farm that hired Cristhian Rivera, Mollie Tibbetts' suspected killer, did not use E-Verify system, official says
August 25, 2018 -
http://azborderdefenders.org/farm-that-hired-cristhian-rivera-mollie-tibbetts-suspected-killer-did-not-use-e-verify-system-official-says/
Illegal Immigration National News - Tagged: Cristhian Rivera, E-Verify, Mollie Tibbetts, murder, Yarrabee Farms
AZBD Note: Every time our SAR Team helps Border Patrol apprehend another illegal alien its possibly saving the life of another American. Unfortunately the American public is still too asleep to understand what is going on. Mollie wasn't the first and she isn't going to be the last.
From foxnews.com:
The Mexican national accused of murdering college student Mollie Tibbetts in Iowa last month lived in the United States illegally for several years — and worked for a farm that used Social Security Administration data in part to vet potential employees, according to officials there.
However, Yarrabee Farms co-owner and manager Dane Lang clarified Wednesday afternoon
that the farm did not use a federal E-Verify check on suspect Cristhian Rivera, despite the company's claim earlier in the day that it did.
FOX story at the link:
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/08/22/mollie-tibbetts-murder-suspect-illegal-immigrant-cristhian-rivera-allegedly-passed-e-verify-system.html
End
Friday, August 24, 2018
AZMEX EXTRA2 22-8-18
AZMEX EXTRA2 22 AUG 2018
Note: Navojoa in SW Sonora.
Sonora Coordination Group detains three people with weapons, drugs and stolen vehicle in Navojoa. Son.
http://www.elregionaldesonora.com.mx/noticia/75227
Navojoa, Sonora, August 22, 2018.-
In relation to the events that took place today, where a person lost his life due to gunshot wounds and another was wounded in the foot in Navojoa, a strong operation was immediately activated by installing containment points by the group of Sonora coordination in different areas of the municipality.
It was at the exit of the road to the municipality of Álamos where elements of the State Public Security Police, PESP, arrested three people in possession of weapons and drugs, it is important to point out that it is not yet determined whether the alleged suspects are related to the aforementioned facts, that is, directly, since this will be determined by the prosecutors who are aware of the case.
The detainees are Luis Mario "N", originally from Cajeme, who has a history of several crimes, Ulises Ernesto "N" with a history of entry to Cereso for the crime of collecting firearms and possession of cartridges and Jesús Alfonso "N "Who has a warrant for re-arrest and entry to Cereso for various crimes.
During the detention 3 long guns, 3 handguns, 3 bulletproof vests, 3 tactical vests, 10 to 15 kilos of marijuana, 2 radios of the brand Kenwood and a white Chevrolet Tahoe, recent model, were secured. which has a report of theft.
The drugs, vehicle, accessories and detained persons were transferred for security reasons to the Attorney General's Office in the City of Hermosillo, to continue with the investigations and, as the case may be, to obtain knowledge from the State Prosecutor's Office for the possible crimes.
The containment points and the operational plan will continue in the municipality of Navojoa and the region.
END
Note: Navojoa in SW Sonora.
Sonora Coordination Group detains three people with weapons, drugs and stolen vehicle in Navojoa. Son.
http://www.elregionaldesonora.com.mx/noticia/75227
Navojoa, Sonora, August 22, 2018.-
In relation to the events that took place today, where a person lost his life due to gunshot wounds and another was wounded in the foot in Navojoa, a strong operation was immediately activated by installing containment points by the group of Sonora coordination in different areas of the municipality.
It was at the exit of the road to the municipality of Álamos where elements of the State Public Security Police, PESP, arrested three people in possession of weapons and drugs, it is important to point out that it is not yet determined whether the alleged suspects are related to the aforementioned facts, that is, directly, since this will be determined by the prosecutors who are aware of the case.
The detainees are Luis Mario "N", originally from Cajeme, who has a history of several crimes, Ulises Ernesto "N" with a history of entry to Cereso for the crime of collecting firearms and possession of cartridges and Jesús Alfonso "N "Who has a warrant for re-arrest and entry to Cereso for various crimes.
During the detention 3 long guns, 3 handguns, 3 bulletproof vests, 3 tactical vests, 10 to 15 kilos of marijuana, 2 radios of the brand Kenwood and a white Chevrolet Tahoe, recent model, were secured. which has a report of theft.
The drugs, vehicle, accessories and detained persons were transferred for security reasons to the Attorney General's Office in the City of Hermosillo, to continue with the investigations and, as the case may be, to obtain knowledge from the State Prosecutor's Office for the possible crimes.
The containment points and the operational plan will continue in the municipality of Navojoa and the region.
END
Wednesday, August 22, 2018
AZMEX UPDATE 22-8-18
AZMEX UPDATE 22 AUG 2018
DPS seizes $630k load of black tar heroin.
Posted: Aug 22, 2018 10:35 AM MST
Updated: Aug 22, 2018 1:13 PM MST
By azfamily.com News Staff.
http://www.azfamily.com/story/38939468/dps-seizes-630k-load-of-black-tar-heroin
(Source: Arizona Department of Public Safety)
HOLBROOK, AZ (3TV/CBS 5) -
A traffic stop for an unsafe lane change led to a huge drug seizure in northern Arizona.
On Aug. 15, an Arizona Department of Public Safety (AZDPS) trooper stopped a 2007 Nissan Armada for failure to signal a lane change and excessive window tint.
This happened along eastbound Interstate 40 at milepost 298 near Holbrook.
An AZDPS K9 was brought to the scene to check out the vehicle.
A subsequent search revealed 47.2 pounds of black tar heroin, which has an estimated street value of $630,000.
The two suspects were reportedly traveling from Phoenix to Oklahoma.
DPS says the driver was Loreto E. Meza, age 24, a Phoenix resident. The passenger was Francisca Meza Aramburo, age 43, also from Phoenix. The pair was arrested and booked into the Navajo County Jail.
They were charged with possession of a narcotic drug, possession of a narcotic drug for sale and transportation of a narcotic drug for sale. Additional charges are pending.
"This is excellent work by our troopers. Interstate 40 is known to be used frequently by drug couriers trying to get their product to the East and West Coast. Taking this dangerous drug off the streets helps to ensure the safety of communities everywhere. Troopers will be continually vigilant as we deter and dismantle criminal drug smuggling statewide," said Col. Frank Milstead.
End
Agents find drug tunnel after significant drug bust
Fentanyl found could to supply three million doses
By: Crystal Bedoya
Posted: August 22, 2018 10:25 AM MST
Updated: August 22, 2018 01:06 PM MST
https://www.kyma.com/news/top-stories/agents-find-drug-tunnel-after-significant-drug-bust/784599445.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
SAN LUIS, Ariz - Homeland Security Investigations and Border Patrol held a press conference Wednesday morning disclosing more details of the cross-border found in San Luis, Ariz. believed to be used for drug smuggling.
San Luis Tunnel Video
HSI said a traffic stop conducted Monday, August 13, by the San Luis Police Department led to the discovery of narcotics that were removed from the former Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant located at 552 San Luis Plaza Drive in San Luis, Ariz.
San Luis police stopped Ivan Lopez, a resident of Yuma, Ariz. and a canine unit alerted officers to two toolboxes that were found in the trailer of the truck Lopez was driving. Authorities said they found 168 kilograms of hard narcotics inside the toolboxes.
HSI's Special Agent in Charge Scott Brown said authorities found 118 kilograms of methamphetamine, six grams of cocaine, three kilograms of fentanyl, 13 kilograms of white heroin, and six kilograms of brown heroin inside the toolboxes. The fentanyl alone could supply three million dosage units.
Brown said Lopez, who is also the owner of the building that formerly served as a KFC restaurant, had been seen removing the toolboxes from the building earlier that day.
Agents executed a search warrant at both the former restaurant and Lopez's residence. The entrance of the tunnel was found in the kitchen area. It is only eight inches in diameter.
HSI officials said the tunnel was 22 feet deep and extended to 590 feet long towards its end point at a residence in San Luis Rio Colorado, Sonora, Mexico.
photo Yuma Sector Border Patrol
At the Mexican side, a trap door was found underneath a bed. Authorities believe the narcotics being smuggled through the tunnel were being pulled up with a rope.
End
More: updated SLRC just south of Yuma, AZ.
They locate military 'narcotúnel' in SLRC
Details Published on Friday, August 17, 2018,
Written by Writing / The Journal
http://www.eldiariodesonora.com.mx/notas.php?nota=116939
Nogales, Son
Personnel of the Secretariat of National Defense, through the Commanders of the II Military Region, and 45 / a. Military Zone, located a tunnel located in a construction area, which is presumed was used for the transfer of illicit drugs, between the border of the United States and Mexico, located in the municipality of San Luis Río Colorado, Sonora, where the entrance was to that excavation, coordinating with the civil authorities for the release of the technical investigation order (search).
For this reason, the Mexican Army is conducting joint operations with the Federal Police-Regional Security Division in the national territory, providing security in the operation and assisting the aforementioned authorities to obtain results.
With actions like these, the Mexican Army reaffirms its commitment to the people of Mexico to ensure and safeguard their well-being, through the materialization of activities that contribute to public needs in a prompt and timely manner.
We appreciate the collaboration of the population for their support in reporting illegal activities in an anonymous and completely confidential way to the following telephone numbers and emails: Headquarters of the II Military Region (01) 686 557 1095 or email denuncia.iirm @ mail.sedena.gob.mx, which are available 24 hours a day.
End
New record of intentional homicides in Mexico: SG
Fabiola Martínez |
Tuesday, 21 Aug 2018 11:34
http://www.jornada.com.mx/ultimas/2018/08/21/nuevo-record-de-homicidios-dolosos-en-mexico-sg-2552.html
Police personnel and experts at the scene of a crime committed in Baja California. Photo 'La Jornada Baja California' / Archive
Mexico City. Once again, a new record of intentional homicides was reached in the country. The previous maximum monthly figure was last May with 2 thousand 535 intentional murders; Now, the level reached 2 thousand 599 folders investigating this crime.
In a context of an equally high record of robberies, the use of firearms to commit these crimes also increased, reaching 67.9 percent of the total of intentional homicides.
In 2017 an unprecedented peak of 2 thousand 352 murders had already been reached in October, and almost a year later the level was exceeded with 247 more cases, in accordance with statistics compiled by the National Public Security System of the Ministry of the Interior.
This body collects data that is sent to it by the state prosecutors and prosecutors; the historical recount dates from what happened from 1997 to the date.
This is how the last year of the sexennium is confirmed as the most violent, even above the already critical 2017, 17.2 percent more than the first seven months of last year.
END
Note;
Note; did those gringos make them do it? More drugs staying in Mexico and the locals practicing and supporting their drug habit?
Thx
81 robberies and 75 vandalized schools on vacation
Details Published on Friday, August 17, 2018,
Written by Ángel Lozano
http://www.eldiariodesonora.com.mx/notas.php?nota=116944
Hermosillo, Son
A total of 81 robberies and 75 damages to schools were recorded in the period from June 27 to August 12 in Sonora.
According to information from the General Coordination of Health and School Safety of the Ministry of Education and Culture (SEC), no campus had severe damage that prevents the start of classes next Monday.
Based on information from C4, it is detailed that Hermosillo headed the crime incidence statistics in schools with 43 robberies and 27 vandalized schools.
They are followed by Cajeme with 21 robberies, Nogales with seven, San Luis Río Colorado with three and Navojoa and Guaymas with two each municipality, while Etchojoa, Ímuris and Empalme presented only one theft.
Among the main items that were stolen include electrical wiring, computers, projectors, sound equipment, air conditioners and furniture.
End
DPS seizes $630k load of black tar heroin.
Posted: Aug 22, 2018 10:35 AM MST
Updated: Aug 22, 2018 1:13 PM MST
By azfamily.com News Staff.
http://www.azfamily.com/story/38939468/dps-seizes-630k-load-of-black-tar-heroin
(Source: Arizona Department of Public Safety)
HOLBROOK, AZ (3TV/CBS 5) -
A traffic stop for an unsafe lane change led to a huge drug seizure in northern Arizona.
On Aug. 15, an Arizona Department of Public Safety (AZDPS) trooper stopped a 2007 Nissan Armada for failure to signal a lane change and excessive window tint.
This happened along eastbound Interstate 40 at milepost 298 near Holbrook.
An AZDPS K9 was brought to the scene to check out the vehicle.
A subsequent search revealed 47.2 pounds of black tar heroin, which has an estimated street value of $630,000.
The two suspects were reportedly traveling from Phoenix to Oklahoma.
DPS says the driver was Loreto E. Meza, age 24, a Phoenix resident. The passenger was Francisca Meza Aramburo, age 43, also from Phoenix. The pair was arrested and booked into the Navajo County Jail.
They were charged with possession of a narcotic drug, possession of a narcotic drug for sale and transportation of a narcotic drug for sale. Additional charges are pending.
"This is excellent work by our troopers. Interstate 40 is known to be used frequently by drug couriers trying to get their product to the East and West Coast. Taking this dangerous drug off the streets helps to ensure the safety of communities everywhere. Troopers will be continually vigilant as we deter and dismantle criminal drug smuggling statewide," said Col. Frank Milstead.
End
Agents find drug tunnel after significant drug bust
Fentanyl found could to supply three million doses
By: Crystal Bedoya
Posted: August 22, 2018 10:25 AM MST
Updated: August 22, 2018 01:06 PM MST
https://www.kyma.com/news/top-stories/agents-find-drug-tunnel-after-significant-drug-bust/784599445.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
SAN LUIS, Ariz - Homeland Security Investigations and Border Patrol held a press conference Wednesday morning disclosing more details of the cross-border found in San Luis, Ariz. believed to be used for drug smuggling.
San Luis Tunnel Video
HSI said a traffic stop conducted Monday, August 13, by the San Luis Police Department led to the discovery of narcotics that were removed from the former Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant located at 552 San Luis Plaza Drive in San Luis, Ariz.
San Luis police stopped Ivan Lopez, a resident of Yuma, Ariz. and a canine unit alerted officers to two toolboxes that were found in the trailer of the truck Lopez was driving. Authorities said they found 168 kilograms of hard narcotics inside the toolboxes.
HSI's Special Agent in Charge Scott Brown said authorities found 118 kilograms of methamphetamine, six grams of cocaine, three kilograms of fentanyl, 13 kilograms of white heroin, and six kilograms of brown heroin inside the toolboxes. The fentanyl alone could supply three million dosage units.
Brown said Lopez, who is also the owner of the building that formerly served as a KFC restaurant, had been seen removing the toolboxes from the building earlier that day.
Agents executed a search warrant at both the former restaurant and Lopez's residence. The entrance of the tunnel was found in the kitchen area. It is only eight inches in diameter.
HSI officials said the tunnel was 22 feet deep and extended to 590 feet long towards its end point at a residence in San Luis Rio Colorado, Sonora, Mexico.
photo Yuma Sector Border Patrol
At the Mexican side, a trap door was found underneath a bed. Authorities believe the narcotics being smuggled through the tunnel were being pulled up with a rope.
End
More: updated SLRC just south of Yuma, AZ.
They locate military 'narcotúnel' in SLRC
Details Published on Friday, August 17, 2018,
Written by Writing / The Journal
http://www.eldiariodesonora.com.mx/notas.php?nota=116939
Nogales, Son
Personnel of the Secretariat of National Defense, through the Commanders of the II Military Region, and 45 / a. Military Zone, located a tunnel located in a construction area, which is presumed was used for the transfer of illicit drugs, between the border of the United States and Mexico, located in the municipality of San Luis Río Colorado, Sonora, where the entrance was to that excavation, coordinating with the civil authorities for the release of the technical investigation order (search).
For this reason, the Mexican Army is conducting joint operations with the Federal Police-Regional Security Division in the national territory, providing security in the operation and assisting the aforementioned authorities to obtain results.
With actions like these, the Mexican Army reaffirms its commitment to the people of Mexico to ensure and safeguard their well-being, through the materialization of activities that contribute to public needs in a prompt and timely manner.
We appreciate the collaboration of the population for their support in reporting illegal activities in an anonymous and completely confidential way to the following telephone numbers and emails: Headquarters of the II Military Region (01) 686 557 1095 or email denuncia.iirm @ mail.sedena.gob.mx, which are available 24 hours a day.
End
New record of intentional homicides in Mexico: SG
Fabiola Martínez |
Tuesday, 21 Aug 2018 11:34
http://www.jornada.com.mx/ultimas/2018/08/21/nuevo-record-de-homicidios-dolosos-en-mexico-sg-2552.html
Police personnel and experts at the scene of a crime committed in Baja California. Photo 'La Jornada Baja California' / Archive
Mexico City. Once again, a new record of intentional homicides was reached in the country. The previous maximum monthly figure was last May with 2 thousand 535 intentional murders; Now, the level reached 2 thousand 599 folders investigating this crime.
In a context of an equally high record of robberies, the use of firearms to commit these crimes also increased, reaching 67.9 percent of the total of intentional homicides.
In 2017 an unprecedented peak of 2 thousand 352 murders had already been reached in October, and almost a year later the level was exceeded with 247 more cases, in accordance with statistics compiled by the National Public Security System of the Ministry of the Interior.
This body collects data that is sent to it by the state prosecutors and prosecutors; the historical recount dates from what happened from 1997 to the date.
This is how the last year of the sexennium is confirmed as the most violent, even above the already critical 2017, 17.2 percent more than the first seven months of last year.
END
Note;
Note; did those gringos make them do it? More drugs staying in Mexico and the locals practicing and supporting their drug habit?
Thx
81 robberies and 75 vandalized schools on vacation
Details Published on Friday, August 17, 2018,
Written by Ángel Lozano
http://www.eldiariodesonora.com.mx/notas.php?nota=116944
Hermosillo, Son
A total of 81 robberies and 75 damages to schools were recorded in the period from June 27 to August 12 in Sonora.
According to information from the General Coordination of Health and School Safety of the Ministry of Education and Culture (SEC), no campus had severe damage that prevents the start of classes next Monday.
Based on information from C4, it is detailed that Hermosillo headed the crime incidence statistics in schools with 43 robberies and 27 vandalized schools.
They are followed by Cajeme with 21 robberies, Nogales with seven, San Luis Río Colorado with three and Navojoa and Guaymas with two each municipality, while Etchojoa, Ímuris and Empalme presented only one theft.
Among the main items that were stolen include electrical wiring, computers, projectors, sound equipment, air conditioners and furniture.
End
AZMEX EXTRA 22-8-18
AZMEX EXTRA 22 AUG 2018
Note: story a bit short on relevant details. Probably 7.62x39? Poor photo at link. Camargo on the TEXMEX border, about 40 miles west of McAllen, TX
Intercept in Galeana, NL trailer with arsenal and money from Camargo, Tamaulipas
BY: RUBÉN PEÑA CALVILLO21 / AUGUST / 2018 - 02:53 P.M.COMPARTIR
https://www.elmanana.com/interceptan-galeana-nl-trailer-arsenal-dinero-procedente-camargo-tamaulipas-pgr-policia-federal-trailer/4532312
CONFISCATED ARMS Photo: El Mañana / Staff.
Monterrey, NL- A trailer from Camargo, Tamaulipas with a destination to Huetamo, Michoacan, was secured today in Galeana, Nuevo Leon by federal agents, after finding a special compartment with more than 50 long weapons and approximately one and a half million pesos in cash.
During the action the driver of the unit was arrested, Eleazar "L", who was put at the disposal of the Public Ministry of the Federation, as well as the confiscated items.
The Office of the Attorney General of the Republic (PGR), Delegación Nuevo León, confirmed this afternoon, that the operation by the Federal Ministerial Police occurred at the San Roberto checkpoint, at that town, on the Saltillo-Matehuala stretch of the Highway 57
He specified that they inspected a semitrailer, in which they found a compartment, under the floor of the box, in which the following was hidden:
50 long guns, rifle type, caliber 7.62;
210 magazines for long weapon;
47 tactical vests;
six thousand 130 cartridges caliber 7.62;
197 cartridges, caliber 5.56.
Also, they seized nearly one million 500 thousand pesos, a handgun, .38 super caliber, with its magazine, with seven cartridges .38 Super caliber.
End
OPERATION SECURES TWO SUBJECTS WITH ARMS, GRENADE AND CARTRIDGES IN CAJEME (SON.)
http://www.elregionaldesonora.com.mx/noticia/75168
Cajeme, Sonora.-
The arrest of two people who were transporting firearms, a grenade and cartridges in a prefabricated compartment were the result of a joint operation between SEDENA, PESP and the Federal Police (Federal Forces Division) carried out in this city.
The events occurred when the convoy of state and federal elements circulated from north to south through Francisco Villa and Fausto Topete streets, in the Leandro Valle neighborhood, where they saw a Honda Accord, with irregular plates, the driver, realizing the presence of the units braked in an untimely and dangerous way, stopping in a corner.
For this reason, the elements came down from their units to meet with the driver who said he was called Francisco Javier (N), who was explained that such behavior could be creditor to an infraction called reckless driving, which is why he was asked for the documentation of the vehicle, the person taking a nervous and evasive attitude.
Once again the documents of the vehicle were requested but he continued without answering and turning to see the copilot who responds to the name of Agustín Alberto (N), for that reason they were asked to carry out a physical inspection of the car and , not finding them an illicit object on their persons.
Meanwhile, another element carried out the inspection of the vehicle, finding under the driver's seat 1 hand grenade, black with a metal-colored key, apparently of handicraft origin.
Likewise, when checking the trunk, he observed that there was no cloth covering on the backrest of the rear seats and instead a repainted welded sheet was seen, this being a modification, so they chose to remove the backrest and saw a prefabricated compartment found in the back. inside the following weapons:
2 weapons AK47 type assault rifle,
one with a magazine supplied with 30 cartridges,
and the other with a silencer and with a magazine supplied with 25 cartridges.
1 handgun type automatic caliber 40.
1 9 × 19 caliber pistol with magazine supplied with 12 cartridges and one more in the chamber.
2 7.62x39 magazines, one with 30 cartridges and the other with 20 cartridges.
As well as 5 loose cartridges caliber 7.62 x .39.
Therefore, they were informed that they were being detained for the probable commission of the crime of carrying firearms, they read their rights and were transferred to the Attorney General's Office to continue with the corresponding investigations.
NOTE: They are presumed innocent until their responsibility is declared by the judicial authority. (Article 13 of the CNPP).
End
Note: story a bit short on relevant details. Probably 7.62x39? Poor photo at link. Camargo on the TEXMEX border, about 40 miles west of McAllen, TX
Intercept in Galeana, NL trailer with arsenal and money from Camargo, Tamaulipas
BY: RUBÉN PEÑA CALVILLO21 / AUGUST / 2018 - 02:53 P.M.COMPARTIR
https://www.elmanana.com/interceptan-galeana-nl-trailer-arsenal-dinero-procedente-camargo-tamaulipas-pgr-policia-federal-trailer/4532312
CONFISCATED ARMS Photo: El Mañana / Staff.
Monterrey, NL- A trailer from Camargo, Tamaulipas with a destination to Huetamo, Michoacan, was secured today in Galeana, Nuevo Leon by federal agents, after finding a special compartment with more than 50 long weapons and approximately one and a half million pesos in cash.
During the action the driver of the unit was arrested, Eleazar "L", who was put at the disposal of the Public Ministry of the Federation, as well as the confiscated items.
The Office of the Attorney General of the Republic (PGR), Delegación Nuevo León, confirmed this afternoon, that the operation by the Federal Ministerial Police occurred at the San Roberto checkpoint, at that town, on the Saltillo-Matehuala stretch of the Highway 57
He specified that they inspected a semitrailer, in which they found a compartment, under the floor of the box, in which the following was hidden:
50 long guns, rifle type, caliber 7.62;
210 magazines for long weapon;
47 tactical vests;
six thousand 130 cartridges caliber 7.62;
197 cartridges, caliber 5.56.
Also, they seized nearly one million 500 thousand pesos, a handgun, .38 super caliber, with its magazine, with seven cartridges .38 Super caliber.
End
OPERATION SECURES TWO SUBJECTS WITH ARMS, GRENADE AND CARTRIDGES IN CAJEME (SON.)
http://www.elregionaldesonora.com.mx/noticia/75168
Cajeme, Sonora.-
The arrest of two people who were transporting firearms, a grenade and cartridges in a prefabricated compartment were the result of a joint operation between SEDENA, PESP and the Federal Police (Federal Forces Division) carried out in this city.
The events occurred when the convoy of state and federal elements circulated from north to south through Francisco Villa and Fausto Topete streets, in the Leandro Valle neighborhood, where they saw a Honda Accord, with irregular plates, the driver, realizing the presence of the units braked in an untimely and dangerous way, stopping in a corner.
For this reason, the elements came down from their units to meet with the driver who said he was called Francisco Javier (N), who was explained that such behavior could be creditor to an infraction called reckless driving, which is why he was asked for the documentation of the vehicle, the person taking a nervous and evasive attitude.
Once again the documents of the vehicle were requested but he continued without answering and turning to see the copilot who responds to the name of Agustín Alberto (N), for that reason they were asked to carry out a physical inspection of the car and , not finding them an illicit object on their persons.
Meanwhile, another element carried out the inspection of the vehicle, finding under the driver's seat 1 hand grenade, black with a metal-colored key, apparently of handicraft origin.
Likewise, when checking the trunk, he observed that there was no cloth covering on the backrest of the rear seats and instead a repainted welded sheet was seen, this being a modification, so they chose to remove the backrest and saw a prefabricated compartment found in the back. inside the following weapons:
2 weapons AK47 type assault rifle,
one with a magazine supplied with 30 cartridges,
and the other with a silencer and with a magazine supplied with 25 cartridges.
1 handgun type automatic caliber 40.
1 9 × 19 caliber pistol with magazine supplied with 12 cartridges and one more in the chamber.
2 7.62x39 magazines, one with 30 cartridges and the other with 20 cartridges.
As well as 5 loose cartridges caliber 7.62 x .39.
Therefore, they were informed that they were being detained for the probable commission of the crime of carrying firearms, they read their rights and were transferred to the Attorney General's Office to continue with the corresponding investigations.
NOTE: They are presumed innocent until their responsibility is declared by the judicial authority. (Article 13 of the CNPP).
End
Tuesday, August 21, 2018
AZMEX I3 21-8-18
AZMEX I3 21 AUG 2018
Agents Encounter 128 Aliens Abandoned by Smugglers
Release Date: August 21, 2018
https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/local-media-release/agents-encounter-128-aliens-abandoned-smugglers
TUCSON, Ariz. – Ajo Station Border Patrol agents encountered a group of 128 illegal aliens several miles west of the Lukeville Port on Friday.
Agents patrolling near the international border fence found the group, presumably brought to the border by human smugglers who remained in Mexico.
The group was comprised of adults and children, some as young as four years of age, and are from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Mexico.
Agents also identified several adults in the group who had been previously been charged with immigration violations.
Agents medically evaluated all 128 immigrants and determined they were in good health.
Large group of aliens caught near Ajo
Crowd of aliens caught west of AZ POE
After transporting everyone to the Ajo Border Patrol station for processing, the immigrants were turned over to the Enforcement Removal Operations
within Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Transnational criminal organizations exploit the vulnerability of foreign nationals with false promises of legal status
and encourage dangerous crossing methods, placing their safety at risk.
The Border Patrol's mission is to protect U.S. borders between official ports of entry, but agents are equally concerned with the safety of anyone they encounter.
Tucson Sector Border Patrol officials continue to publicize warnings about the dangers of entering the U.S. illegally;
especially during the summer months when desert temperatures can exceed 120 degrees.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection welcomes assistance from the community.
Citizens can report suspicious activity to the Border Patrol by calling 1-877-872-7435Call: 1-877-872-7435 toll free.
All calls will be answered and remain anonymous.
END
Note: the AP version.
Thx
Smugglers abandon group of 128 migrants in southern Arizona desert
The Associated Press
Aug 21, 2018 Updated 16 min ago
https://tucson.com/news/state-and-regional/smugglers-abandon-group-of-migrants-in-southern-arizona-desert/article_445be349-b693-5d34-8e5c-eddfe781d578.html#tracking-source=home-top-story-1.
128 immigrants found abandoned in Arizona
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
Border Patrol says 128 immigrants believed to be abandoned by smugglers in a remote desert area at the Arizona border with Mexico are facing deportation.
Agents at the Ajo Station patrolling near a border fence say the group included children — some as young as 4 — from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Mexico.
The immigrants were found Friday after apparently being brought to the border by human smugglers who remained in Mexico.
Authorities say all the immigrants were medically evaluated and determined to be in good health before they were processed
and turned over to the enforcement removal operations within Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Agents identified several adults in the group who had been previously charged with immigration violations.
END
Agents Encounter 128 Aliens Abandoned by Smugglers
Release Date: August 21, 2018
https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/local-media-release/agents-encounter-128-aliens-abandoned-smugglers
TUCSON, Ariz. – Ajo Station Border Patrol agents encountered a group of 128 illegal aliens several miles west of the Lukeville Port on Friday.
Agents patrolling near the international border fence found the group, presumably brought to the border by human smugglers who remained in Mexico.
The group was comprised of adults and children, some as young as four years of age, and are from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Mexico.
Agents also identified several adults in the group who had been previously been charged with immigration violations.
Agents medically evaluated all 128 immigrants and determined they were in good health.
Large group of aliens caught near Ajo
Crowd of aliens caught west of AZ POE
After transporting everyone to the Ajo Border Patrol station for processing, the immigrants were turned over to the Enforcement Removal Operations
within Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Transnational criminal organizations exploit the vulnerability of foreign nationals with false promises of legal status
and encourage dangerous crossing methods, placing their safety at risk.
The Border Patrol's mission is to protect U.S. borders between official ports of entry, but agents are equally concerned with the safety of anyone they encounter.
Tucson Sector Border Patrol officials continue to publicize warnings about the dangers of entering the U.S. illegally;
especially during the summer months when desert temperatures can exceed 120 degrees.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection welcomes assistance from the community.
Citizens can report suspicious activity to the Border Patrol by calling 1-877-872-7435Call: 1-877-872-7435 toll free.
All calls will be answered and remain anonymous.
END
Note: the AP version.
Thx
Smugglers abandon group of 128 migrants in southern Arizona desert
The Associated Press
Aug 21, 2018 Updated 16 min ago
https://tucson.com/news/state-and-regional/smugglers-abandon-group-of-migrants-in-southern-arizona-desert/article_445be349-b693-5d34-8e5c-eddfe781d578.html#tracking-source=home-top-story-1.
128 immigrants found abandoned in Arizona
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
Border Patrol says 128 immigrants believed to be abandoned by smugglers in a remote desert area at the Arizona border with Mexico are facing deportation.
Agents at the Ajo Station patrolling near a border fence say the group included children — some as young as 4 — from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Mexico.
The immigrants were found Friday after apparently being brought to the border by human smugglers who remained in Mexico.
Authorities say all the immigrants were medically evaluated and determined to be in good health before they were processed
and turned over to the enforcement removal operations within Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Agents identified several adults in the group who had been previously charged with immigration violations.
END
AZMEX EXTRA 21-8-18
AZMEX EXTRA 21 AUG 2018
Note: update of AZMEX EXTRA2 15 AUG 2018
Altamira man sentenced to 39 months for arms smuggling
Man says loss of job led him to smuggle guns
LORENZO ZAZUETA-CASTRO | STAFF WRITER 4 hrs ago
https://www.themonitor.com/news/local/article_1e6b7dfc-a544-11e8-a94f-63df943934b7.html
McALLEN — A male Mexican national will serve more than three years in prison for his role in a firearms conspiracy.
On Friday U.S. District Judge Randy Crane sentenced Salvador Calvillo-Ramirez, the third and final defendant involved in a conspiracy to smuggle firearms and ammunition into Mexico, to 39 months in prison.
Calvillo-Ramirez, who was emotional during his sentencing hearing in front of Crane, apologized to the court and his family, while explaining that financial hardships led him to smuggle weapons into Mexico.
During the hearing, Calvillo-Ramirez asked for leniency, saying his family had to leave their home after receiving threats from his former associates, which led him to take the government's plea deal and to stop identifying others involved in the conspiracy.
The 29-year-old man said he had a steady job in Mexico for the better part of a decade, but that from "one day to the next," he found himself out of work with mounting debts.
Federal agents arrested Calvillo-Ramirez on Sept. 29, 2017, during what was later determined to be an attempt to smuggle weapons and ammunition through Hidalgo's port of entry, according to the criminal complaint.
During a secondary inspection of the man's vehicle, agents found two semi-automatic type rifles, a 9 mm pistol, about 87 rifle magazines and almost 3,455 rounds of ammunition hidden inside a speaker box, the complaint states.
"Calvillo admitted he traveled from Mexico into the United States to procure the firearms, ammunition, and rifle magazines found within (Calvillo's) vehicle," the complaint states.
The Altamira native also admitted to agents that he had successfully smuggled guns and ammunition from the U.S. into Mexico several times in the past.
His sentencing is the third related to the case after Jesus Alonso Perez and Gabriela Hinojosa-De Leon had received their respective sentencings last week.
Perez, 35, and Hinojosa-De Leon, 40, both of Mission, were given 70- and 12-month sentences, respectively.
In all, the court said at least 50 firearms, some of which were recovered by federal agents in Mexico, were involved with the case.
Perez admitted to selling Calvillo-Ramirez the aforementioned seized items and to selling him 25 to 30 firearms and other ammunition "within the past several months."
Hinojosa-De Leon was given a reduced sentence because the court determined she was a minor participant in the conspiracy after federal agents found 40 rounds of ammunition at her McAllen residence.
Calvillo-Ramirez, Perez and Hinojosa-De Leon all pleaded guilty to their respective charges in April, court records show.
lzazueta@themonitor.com
END
Note: update of AZMEX EXTRA2 15 AUG 2018
Altamira man sentenced to 39 months for arms smuggling
Man says loss of job led him to smuggle guns
LORENZO ZAZUETA-CASTRO | STAFF WRITER 4 hrs ago
https://www.themonitor.com/news/local/article_1e6b7dfc-a544-11e8-a94f-63df943934b7.html
McALLEN — A male Mexican national will serve more than three years in prison for his role in a firearms conspiracy.
On Friday U.S. District Judge Randy Crane sentenced Salvador Calvillo-Ramirez, the third and final defendant involved in a conspiracy to smuggle firearms and ammunition into Mexico, to 39 months in prison.
Calvillo-Ramirez, who was emotional during his sentencing hearing in front of Crane, apologized to the court and his family, while explaining that financial hardships led him to smuggle weapons into Mexico.
During the hearing, Calvillo-Ramirez asked for leniency, saying his family had to leave their home after receiving threats from his former associates, which led him to take the government's plea deal and to stop identifying others involved in the conspiracy.
The 29-year-old man said he had a steady job in Mexico for the better part of a decade, but that from "one day to the next," he found himself out of work with mounting debts.
Federal agents arrested Calvillo-Ramirez on Sept. 29, 2017, during what was later determined to be an attempt to smuggle weapons and ammunition through Hidalgo's port of entry, according to the criminal complaint.
During a secondary inspection of the man's vehicle, agents found two semi-automatic type rifles, a 9 mm pistol, about 87 rifle magazines and almost 3,455 rounds of ammunition hidden inside a speaker box, the complaint states.
"Calvillo admitted he traveled from Mexico into the United States to procure the firearms, ammunition, and rifle magazines found within (Calvillo's) vehicle," the complaint states.
The Altamira native also admitted to agents that he had successfully smuggled guns and ammunition from the U.S. into Mexico several times in the past.
His sentencing is the third related to the case after Jesus Alonso Perez and Gabriela Hinojosa-De Leon had received their respective sentencings last week.
Perez, 35, and Hinojosa-De Leon, 40, both of Mission, were given 70- and 12-month sentences, respectively.
In all, the court said at least 50 firearms, some of which were recovered by federal agents in Mexico, were involved with the case.
Perez admitted to selling Calvillo-Ramirez the aforementioned seized items and to selling him 25 to 30 firearms and other ammunition "within the past several months."
Hinojosa-De Leon was given a reduced sentence because the court determined she was a minor participant in the conspiracy after federal agents found 40 rounds of ammunition at her McAllen residence.
Calvillo-Ramirez, Perez and Hinojosa-De Leon all pleaded guilty to their respective charges in April, court records show.
lzazueta@themonitor.com
END
AZMEX VIDEO 17-8-18
Note: from the good guys at Arizona Border Defenders.
Take note also of the extensive use of camo.
At the link: http://azborderdefenders.org/new-trail-camera-video-from-the-azbd-sar-team/
End
Take note also of the extensive use of camo.
At the link: http://azborderdefenders.org/new-trail-camera-video-from-the-azbd-sar-team/
End
Monday, August 20, 2018
AZMEX SPECIAL 18-8-18
AZMEX SPECIAL 18 AUG 2018
Note: 50 tons? 110,000 U.S. pounds? Where did the chemicals to do all this come from? China? Photos, etc. at links.
Thx
Moment when the Navy discovers 50 tons of drug crystal
It is one of the largest shipments of synthetic drugs in history in Mexico and was in Sinaloa
08/17/2018 13:20 WITH INFORMATION FROM DAVID VICENTEÑO
https://www.excelsior.com.mx/nacional/momento-en-que-la-marina-descubre-50-toneladas-de-droga-crystal/1259288
Moment when the Navy discovers 50 tons of the drug crystal
BADIRAGUATO, Sinaloa
The Secretariat of the Navy announced the videos in which the moment in which they discover a mega drug load known as crystal.
Apparently the drug belongs to one of the largest capos in the country, "El Mayo" Zambada.
It is one of the largest amounts of synthetic drugs in the history of Mexico.
Data indicate that it was buried in two warehouses, 10 and 7 meters long and 4 meters deep.
The drug was located in a rustic narcolaboratorio, as well as in two hiding places called "clavos" or "deposits", consisting of deposits where the drug is buried in drums, in the case of liquid crystal, or in sacks, if it is powder.
The discovery was made between 8:00 am and 9:00 am last Thursday, August 16, at a point in the Sierra de Sinaloa near the town of Alcoyonqui, 30 kilometers from Culiacán, the capital of Sinaloa.
One of the Navy commanders, in charge of the security operation explained that intelligence work, with the support of technology led to the location of "the kitchen", where the crystal was prepared.
The place is protected only by a rustic roof, where grass and plants are placed, with the aim of not being located during air patrols.
From the traces of vehicles and footprints, the Navy personnel located two "deposits", consisting of points where the drums are buried with liquid crystal or sacks with the drug in its solid version, in this case powder.
Since Thursday, Navy personnel, with special equipment, to protect their bodies and preserve the place of the facts, performs the inspection of "the kitchen" the narcolaboratory, to establish the exact amount of drugs.
It was calculated that only 7 tons of crystal were ready for sale at the preparation site, while the first warehouse, until this Friday, had been located more than 400 drums and 50 sacks with the drug, with approximately 40 tons of crystal .
In the second "deposit", found until Thursday night, there were already more than 100 drums and followed the extraction of the deposits, with a calculation, until noon on Friday, of 3 tons.
* bb
Also:
https://www.noroeste.com.mx/publicaciones/view/asegura-la-semar-50-toneladas-de-crystal-en-escondites-de-cartel-del-pacifico-1138780
http://www.jornada.com.mx/ultimas/2018/08/17/asegura-semar-2018narcolaboratorio2019-en-el-coyonqui-culiacan-9022.html
END
Note: 50 tons? 110,000 U.S. pounds? Where did the chemicals to do all this come from? China? Photos, etc. at links.
Thx
Moment when the Navy discovers 50 tons of drug crystal
It is one of the largest shipments of synthetic drugs in history in Mexico and was in Sinaloa
08/17/2018 13:20 WITH INFORMATION FROM DAVID VICENTEÑO
https://www.excelsior.com.mx/nacional/momento-en-que-la-marina-descubre-50-toneladas-de-droga-crystal/1259288
Moment when the Navy discovers 50 tons of the drug crystal
BADIRAGUATO, Sinaloa
The Secretariat of the Navy announced the videos in which the moment in which they discover a mega drug load known as crystal.
Apparently the drug belongs to one of the largest capos in the country, "El Mayo" Zambada.
It is one of the largest amounts of synthetic drugs in the history of Mexico.
Data indicate that it was buried in two warehouses, 10 and 7 meters long and 4 meters deep.
The drug was located in a rustic narcolaboratorio, as well as in two hiding places called "clavos" or "deposits", consisting of deposits where the drug is buried in drums, in the case of liquid crystal, or in sacks, if it is powder.
The discovery was made between 8:00 am and 9:00 am last Thursday, August 16, at a point in the Sierra de Sinaloa near the town of Alcoyonqui, 30 kilometers from Culiacán, the capital of Sinaloa.
One of the Navy commanders, in charge of the security operation explained that intelligence work, with the support of technology led to the location of "the kitchen", where the crystal was prepared.
The place is protected only by a rustic roof, where grass and plants are placed, with the aim of not being located during air patrols.
From the traces of vehicles and footprints, the Navy personnel located two "deposits", consisting of points where the drums are buried with liquid crystal or sacks with the drug in its solid version, in this case powder.
Since Thursday, Navy personnel, with special equipment, to protect their bodies and preserve the place of the facts, performs the inspection of "the kitchen" the narcolaboratory, to establish the exact amount of drugs.
It was calculated that only 7 tons of crystal were ready for sale at the preparation site, while the first warehouse, until this Friday, had been located more than 400 drums and 50 sacks with the drug, with approximately 40 tons of crystal .
In the second "deposit", found until Thursday night, there were already more than 100 drums and followed the extraction of the deposits, with a calculation, until noon on Friday, of 3 tons.
* bb
Also:
https://www.noroeste.com.mx/publicaciones/view/asegura-la-semar-50-toneladas-de-crystal-en-escondites-de-cartel-del-pacifico-1138780
http://www.jornada.com.mx/ultimas/2018/08/17/asegura-semar-2018narcolaboratorio2019-en-el-coyonqui-culiacan-9022.html
END
AZMEX EXTRA 19-8-18
AZMEX EXTRA 19 AUG 2018
Comment: How about releasing the Make, Model and Serial Numbers of those 213,000 plus weapons?
Anyone in the federal (U.S.) government interested?
Could be very interesting.
Or is the number just made up? In just five years would be over a million !
Thx.
Approximately 213,000 illegal weapons arrive in Mexico from the US
Details Published on Saturday, August 18, 2018,
Written by Special
http://www.eldiariodesonora.com.mx/notas.php?nota=116967
CD. FROM MEXICO
They feed and empower crime, they said in the Foreign Ministry
More than 200,000 firearms are illegally introduced every year from the United States to Mexico to feed and empower the criminal organizations that operate in this country, experts say.
They agree that this fact is one of the main causes of the increase in violence, as well as the incidence of crime and the number of deaths in the Mexican Republic.
In 2017, the National Public Security System registered 13,671 crimes of federal jurisdiction for violations of the Federal Law on Firearms and Explosives, and from January to June 2018 registered 7,070 crimes of the same type.
According to the same source, in 2017 there were 16,989 homicides (16 thousand 830 intentional and 159 guilty) with a firearm, and from January to June 2018 another nine thousand 458 homicides (nine thousand 386 intentional and 72 guilty) .
In addition, between January and June of this year, 92,776 injuries have been committed, of which 5,263, equivalent to 5.69% of the total, were caused by firearms. And also 387 feminicides, of which 93 involve firearms.
In El camino del arma, Topher McDougal, professor and researcher at the University of Dan Diego, estimates that 213,000 weapons are smuggled from the US to Mexico every year.
McDougal's estimate coincides with a statement by the Under Secretary of Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Miguel Ruiz Cabañas.
More: http://www.sandiego.edu/peace/about/biography.php?profile_id=2016
End
Note: Poll in Excelsior news Mexico City. https://www.excelsior.com.mx
THE QUESTION OF THE DAY
213 thousand weapons arrive in Mexico every year.
Do you consider that this fact is one of the main causes of the increase in violence in the country?
YES 3844 (86%) NO 659 (14%). TOTAL. 4503
End
Comment: One of the 213k? " to recover the weapon in Mexico" ! No federal charges?
Second arrest made in case involving stolen police rifle
MOLLY SMITH | STAFF WRITER 4 hrs ago
https://www.themonitor.com/news/local/article_227e7004-a362-11e8-a1fb-071a0ff0e425.html
ALAMO — A second suspect was arrested this week in connection with a cold case involving a stolen police department rifle.
Ricardo Vera, 46, was arrested Wednesday on a property theft charge, and Alamo Municipal Judge Celia Garcia set his bond on the Class A misdemeanor at $15,000.
Vera allegedly purchased a stolen AR-15 from former Alamo police officer Jesus Ramirez at an unknown date, according to the criminal complaint tied to his arrest. Upon learning the weapon was stolen, Vera then sold the rifle to a buyer in Mexico.
Alamo police arrested Ramirez, 47, July 5 on the same property theft charge, according to jail records. His bond was set at $20,000 and he was released from jail July 6.
Police became aware of the stolen rifle valued at approximately $800 in January 2014, according to the complaint, after an inventory check of patrol rifles and night vision equipment stored inside a gun safe revealed it to be missing. The weapon was subsequently entered into the Texas Crime Information Center and National Crime Information Center databases as "stolen/missing," according to the complaint.
Ramirez resigned from the police department in 2014 for personal reasons, according to Alamo Police Chief Baudelio Castillo, who was not with the department at the time.
Castillo said he re-opened the missing AR-15 case, which he described as a cold case, soon after being hired to lead the department in February of this year. He said additional arrests may be made in the case and added that the department is working with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to recover the weapon in Mexico.
"I believe (the theft) was an isolated incident," Castillo said. "We have a great department (and) great officers."
msmith@themonitor.com
End
Comment: How about releasing the Make, Model and Serial Numbers of those 213,000 plus weapons?
Anyone in the federal (U.S.) government interested?
Could be very interesting.
Or is the number just made up? In just five years would be over a million !
Thx.
Approximately 213,000 illegal weapons arrive in Mexico from the US
Details Published on Saturday, August 18, 2018,
Written by Special
http://www.eldiariodesonora.com.mx/notas.php?nota=116967
CD. FROM MEXICO
They feed and empower crime, they said in the Foreign Ministry
More than 200,000 firearms are illegally introduced every year from the United States to Mexico to feed and empower the criminal organizations that operate in this country, experts say.
They agree that this fact is one of the main causes of the increase in violence, as well as the incidence of crime and the number of deaths in the Mexican Republic.
In 2017, the National Public Security System registered 13,671 crimes of federal jurisdiction for violations of the Federal Law on Firearms and Explosives, and from January to June 2018 registered 7,070 crimes of the same type.
According to the same source, in 2017 there were 16,989 homicides (16 thousand 830 intentional and 159 guilty) with a firearm, and from January to June 2018 another nine thousand 458 homicides (nine thousand 386 intentional and 72 guilty) .
In addition, between January and June of this year, 92,776 injuries have been committed, of which 5,263, equivalent to 5.69% of the total, were caused by firearms. And also 387 feminicides, of which 93 involve firearms.
In El camino del arma, Topher McDougal, professor and researcher at the University of Dan Diego, estimates that 213,000 weapons are smuggled from the US to Mexico every year.
McDougal's estimate coincides with a statement by the Under Secretary of Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Miguel Ruiz Cabañas.
More: http://www.sandiego.edu/peace/about/biography.php?profile_id=2016
End
Note: Poll in Excelsior news Mexico City. https://www.excelsior.com.mx
THE QUESTION OF THE DAY
213 thousand weapons arrive in Mexico every year.
Do you consider that this fact is one of the main causes of the increase in violence in the country?
YES 3844 (86%) NO 659 (14%). TOTAL. 4503
End
Comment: One of the 213k? " to recover the weapon in Mexico" ! No federal charges?
Second arrest made in case involving stolen police rifle
MOLLY SMITH | STAFF WRITER 4 hrs ago
https://www.themonitor.com/news/local/article_227e7004-a362-11e8-a1fb-071a0ff0e425.html
ALAMO — A second suspect was arrested this week in connection with a cold case involving a stolen police department rifle.
Ricardo Vera, 46, was arrested Wednesday on a property theft charge, and Alamo Municipal Judge Celia Garcia set his bond on the Class A misdemeanor at $15,000.
Vera allegedly purchased a stolen AR-15 from former Alamo police officer Jesus Ramirez at an unknown date, according to the criminal complaint tied to his arrest. Upon learning the weapon was stolen, Vera then sold the rifle to a buyer in Mexico.
Alamo police arrested Ramirez, 47, July 5 on the same property theft charge, according to jail records. His bond was set at $20,000 and he was released from jail July 6.
Police became aware of the stolen rifle valued at approximately $800 in January 2014, according to the complaint, after an inventory check of patrol rifles and night vision equipment stored inside a gun safe revealed it to be missing. The weapon was subsequently entered into the Texas Crime Information Center and National Crime Information Center databases as "stolen/missing," according to the complaint.
Ramirez resigned from the police department in 2014 for personal reasons, according to Alamo Police Chief Baudelio Castillo, who was not with the department at the time.
Castillo said he re-opened the missing AR-15 case, which he described as a cold case, soon after being hired to lead the department in February of this year. He said additional arrests may be made in the case and added that the department is working with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to recover the weapon in Mexico.
"I believe (the theft) was an isolated incident," Castillo said. "We have a great department (and) great officers."
msmith@themonitor.com
End
Friday, August 17, 2018
AZMEX POLICY / I3 16-8-18
AZMEX POLICY / I3 16 AUG 2018
Comments: Irregular / informal = illegal.
Also, some doubts about some of the medical/ psychological opinions in the article.
Your correspondent's ( not a medical professional) travels through the region over the years,
has the opinion that the people there are significantly more resilient than than their neighbors to the north.
But then they have to be.
"usually have difficulties to return to their places of origin." Sad, but true.
Thx
Mexico also separates migrant children from their families
yaritza ayon
08/16/2018
Nuevo Dia - Nogales, Son.
http://nuevodia.com.mx/2018/08/16/mexico-tambien-separa-a-ninos-migrantes-de-sus-familias/
Mexico City .- Almost 60 thousand migrant children were held in detention centers in Mexico before being deported to their countries of origin, reported UNICEF, this occurred between 2016 and 2017.
Of that number of children, children aged 12 and older were kept in a separate area, even if they were accompanied by their families, while children under 12 stayed with their mothers, a procedure normally followed by the National Migration Institute ( INM), alerted the international organization.
Children in these detention centers are not allowed to leave to make use of services or for leisure purposes, even in cases in which the process of determining their status as migrants or refugees is long.
In his report "Uprooted in Central America and Mexico. Migrant and refugee children face a vicious circle of adversity and danger, "reported Thursday that some 96,000 people - including 24,000 women and children, were returned to their places of origin from Mexico and the United States between January and December. April of this year.
In that same period, 9,995 children and adolescents from the Northern Triangle of Central America have been arrested.
Only on the border between Mexico and the United States, at least 286,290 migrants were intercepted from October 2017 to June 2018; of them, 37,450 were unaccompanied children and 68,560 were family units, that is, parents, mothers or relatives with minors.
"There are many doubts about how the immigration authorities take the decision to repatriate them and whether those decisions are in the best interests of migrants, especially children. In any case, once the decision is made, it is evident that it is more complex to reintegrate migrants safely into their communities than the mere fact of sending them home, "the report emphasized.
The concern of the organization regarding the way in which these minors are retained and deported has to do with the reasons that make them emigrate and uproot themselves from their places of origin: poverty, endemic violence and serious events such as civil conflicts, hurricanes , earthquakes, crop diseases and other crises.
This has led to more and more children being exposed to the dangers and stress of illegal migration, the report says.
"That families are aware of the dangers of travel and, even so, decide to do so is a proof of the seriousness of the structural causes of irregular migration from that region," the report explains.
And he adds that, as an example, the increasing violence and severe drought that occurred in northern Central America in 2014 generated an increase in the number of unaccompanied migrant children who crossed into the United States along the Mexican border.
A total of 68,541 unaccompanied minors were intercepted at the border between October 1, 2013 and September 30, 2014, compared to 38,759 from the previous 12 months. More than 68 thousand 400 family units (that is, parents and children) were intercepted in the same period. "
The problem is that the increase in the interception and detention of migrant children in Campeche, Chiapas, Quintana Roo and Tabasco, thanks to the implementation of the Southern Border Program, has not been accompanied by good management by the agencies in charge, indicates the report.
"Detention and family separation are traumatic experiences that can leave children exposed to exploitation and abuse, as well as causing toxic stress. Multiple studies have shown that stress alters the development of the child in the long term, even long after the experience that caused it is over, "he says.
Pia Rebello Britto, Head of Child Development in Early Childhood Unicef cited in the report, states that "continued exposure to traumatic situations (such as child detention and family separation) may result in the prolonged release of cortisol, the hormone of stress, which damages brain functionality. "
"Adverse experiences that extend over time can seriously undermine the brain development of children," says Luis Zayas, professor of psychiatry at Dell Medical School, Austin, Texas. "Executive functions, problem solving and social skills can be altered." In his opinion, situations of intense stress can also lead to the onset of a serious mental illness.
The hardening of the application of migration regulations has made it increasingly dangerous to cross southern Mexico, highlights the UNICEF report. As a result, many Central American migrants turn to coyotes (human traffickers) or choose informal routes such as forests or mountain passes, exposing them to a greater risk of being victims of exploitation, abuse, attacks and extortion.
"The dangers of crossing from the countries of northern Central America to Mexico and the United States are well documented (...) Unaccompanied children and women are the ones who take the most risks. Unprotected and often alone, they become easy prey for smugglers, criminals, organized gangs, security forces and other individuals or groups that abuse, exploit and even kill them. Irregular migrants are also very exposed to the danger of being intercepted and detained during the trip, and many children who migrate from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras have been separated from their parents or guardians along the way. "
The trip can cost three thousand 500 dollars per person with a coyote, or 15 thousand dollars if the coyote takes an unaccompanied child. Poor migrant families are often forced to finance their trip by selling the few belongings or properties they have or asking for substantial loans. If they are deported they will try to migrate despite the adversities and the dangers of the trip.
That is why some coyotes already offer rates that cover up to three attempts to reach the United States. "Unless a larger effort is made to address the structural causes of migration, people will continue to leave," says Nadine Perrault, UNICEF representative in El Salvador.
Once repatriated, migrants are often faced with large debts and are unable to regain the money they spent on the trip. When they return they have nothing and must face situations of extreme violence or serious events that made them flee in the first place.
This is compounded by the stigmatization suffered by adults in their communities, where they are rejected when seeking employment "for having failed in the attempts to reach the United States to stay," explains Alex Alvarado, a psychologist who works with migrants repatriated to Honduras. in the report.
This stigma extends to children, adolescents and in particular girls who have been returned to their communities of origin. Nadine Perrault identifies a form of "especially insidious" stigma: in some communities, people think that the girls who have returned have been victims of sexual violence during their trip to the United States and that, in some way, they are "tainted".
For his part, Dr. Zayas pointed out that children who have spent their formative years in the United States usually have difficulties to return to their places of origin.
END
Comments: Irregular / informal = illegal.
Also, some doubts about some of the medical/ psychological opinions in the article.
Your correspondent's ( not a medical professional) travels through the region over the years,
has the opinion that the people there are significantly more resilient than than their neighbors to the north.
But then they have to be.
"usually have difficulties to return to their places of origin." Sad, but true.
Thx
Mexico also separates migrant children from their families
yaritza ayon
08/16/2018
Nuevo Dia - Nogales, Son.
http://nuevodia.com.mx/2018/08/16/mexico-tambien-separa-a-ninos-migrantes-de-sus-familias/
Mexico City .- Almost 60 thousand migrant children were held in detention centers in Mexico before being deported to their countries of origin, reported UNICEF, this occurred between 2016 and 2017.
Of that number of children, children aged 12 and older were kept in a separate area, even if they were accompanied by their families, while children under 12 stayed with their mothers, a procedure normally followed by the National Migration Institute ( INM), alerted the international organization.
Children in these detention centers are not allowed to leave to make use of services or for leisure purposes, even in cases in which the process of determining their status as migrants or refugees is long.
In his report "Uprooted in Central America and Mexico. Migrant and refugee children face a vicious circle of adversity and danger, "reported Thursday that some 96,000 people - including 24,000 women and children, were returned to their places of origin from Mexico and the United States between January and December. April of this year.
In that same period, 9,995 children and adolescents from the Northern Triangle of Central America have been arrested.
Only on the border between Mexico and the United States, at least 286,290 migrants were intercepted from October 2017 to June 2018; of them, 37,450 were unaccompanied children and 68,560 were family units, that is, parents, mothers or relatives with minors.
"There are many doubts about how the immigration authorities take the decision to repatriate them and whether those decisions are in the best interests of migrants, especially children. In any case, once the decision is made, it is evident that it is more complex to reintegrate migrants safely into their communities than the mere fact of sending them home, "the report emphasized.
The concern of the organization regarding the way in which these minors are retained and deported has to do with the reasons that make them emigrate and uproot themselves from their places of origin: poverty, endemic violence and serious events such as civil conflicts, hurricanes , earthquakes, crop diseases and other crises.
This has led to more and more children being exposed to the dangers and stress of illegal migration, the report says.
"That families are aware of the dangers of travel and, even so, decide to do so is a proof of the seriousness of the structural causes of irregular migration from that region," the report explains.
And he adds that, as an example, the increasing violence and severe drought that occurred in northern Central America in 2014 generated an increase in the number of unaccompanied migrant children who crossed into the United States along the Mexican border.
A total of 68,541 unaccompanied minors were intercepted at the border between October 1, 2013 and September 30, 2014, compared to 38,759 from the previous 12 months. More than 68 thousand 400 family units (that is, parents and children) were intercepted in the same period. "
The problem is that the increase in the interception and detention of migrant children in Campeche, Chiapas, Quintana Roo and Tabasco, thanks to the implementation of the Southern Border Program, has not been accompanied by good management by the agencies in charge, indicates the report.
"Detention and family separation are traumatic experiences that can leave children exposed to exploitation and abuse, as well as causing toxic stress. Multiple studies have shown that stress alters the development of the child in the long term, even long after the experience that caused it is over, "he says.
Pia Rebello Britto, Head of Child Development in Early Childhood Unicef cited in the report, states that "continued exposure to traumatic situations (such as child detention and family separation) may result in the prolonged release of cortisol, the hormone of stress, which damages brain functionality. "
"Adverse experiences that extend over time can seriously undermine the brain development of children," says Luis Zayas, professor of psychiatry at Dell Medical School, Austin, Texas. "Executive functions, problem solving and social skills can be altered." In his opinion, situations of intense stress can also lead to the onset of a serious mental illness.
The hardening of the application of migration regulations has made it increasingly dangerous to cross southern Mexico, highlights the UNICEF report. As a result, many Central American migrants turn to coyotes (human traffickers) or choose informal routes such as forests or mountain passes, exposing them to a greater risk of being victims of exploitation, abuse, attacks and extortion.
"The dangers of crossing from the countries of northern Central America to Mexico and the United States are well documented (...) Unaccompanied children and women are the ones who take the most risks. Unprotected and often alone, they become easy prey for smugglers, criminals, organized gangs, security forces and other individuals or groups that abuse, exploit and even kill them. Irregular migrants are also very exposed to the danger of being intercepted and detained during the trip, and many children who migrate from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras have been separated from their parents or guardians along the way. "
The trip can cost three thousand 500 dollars per person with a coyote, or 15 thousand dollars if the coyote takes an unaccompanied child. Poor migrant families are often forced to finance their trip by selling the few belongings or properties they have or asking for substantial loans. If they are deported they will try to migrate despite the adversities and the dangers of the trip.
That is why some coyotes already offer rates that cover up to three attempts to reach the United States. "Unless a larger effort is made to address the structural causes of migration, people will continue to leave," says Nadine Perrault, UNICEF representative in El Salvador.
Once repatriated, migrants are often faced with large debts and are unable to regain the money they spent on the trip. When they return they have nothing and must face situations of extreme violence or serious events that made them flee in the first place.
This is compounded by the stigmatization suffered by adults in their communities, where they are rejected when seeking employment "for having failed in the attempts to reach the United States to stay," explains Alex Alvarado, a psychologist who works with migrants repatriated to Honduras. in the report.
This stigma extends to children, adolescents and in particular girls who have been returned to their communities of origin. Nadine Perrault identifies a form of "especially insidious" stigma: in some communities, people think that the girls who have returned have been victims of sexual violence during their trip to the United States and that, in some way, they are "tainted".
For his part, Dr. Zayas pointed out that children who have spent their formative years in the United States usually have difficulties to return to their places of origin.
END
Thursday, August 16, 2018
AZMEX EXTRA2 15-8-18
AZMEX EXTRA2 15 AUG 2018
Mission man sentenced; tied to case involving 50 firearms
LORENZO ZAZUETA-CASTRO | STAFF WRITER 20 hrs ago
https://www.themonitor.com/news/local/article_2134c674-a035-11e8-aabe-d3fcbbdb0955.html
McALLEN — A Mission man will serve more than five years in prison for his role in a weapons smuggling operation.
U.S. District Judge Randy Crane sentenced Jesus Alonso Perez to 70 months in prison in connection with a case that involved more than 50 firearms
that were smuggled into Mexico likely, the court acknowledged, headed into the arms of drug cartels and further fueling the violence in the country.
With his family in attendance for the Tuesday morning sentencing hearing, some of them openly wept, and wiped away tears, while Perez apologized to the court,
and said he had let his parents down by involving himself in the criminal offense.
The 35-year-old man was arrested last November after he admitted in an interview with federal agents that he had purchased and sold on several occasions various firearms
to a man who intended to smuggle them illegally into Mexico.
Perez was identified by a co-conspirator named Salvador Calvillo-Ramirez, who federal agents had arrested Sept. 29, 2017,
as he attempted to smuggle into Mexico two semi-automatic rifles, a glock,
87 (.223 caliber) rifle magazines, and
about 3,455 rounds of ammunition, according to the criminal complaint.
During an interview with agents, Calvillo admitted he traveled from Mexico to the U.S. to acquire the firearms, ammunition and rifle magazines
that agents found in his vehicle, and also identified Perez as the person who acquired the aforementioned items.
"Calvillo stated Perez was aware that he intended to illegally smuggle the firearms and ammunition from the United States into Mexico," the complaint states.
Less than a month later, federal agents interviewed Perez in connection with the Calvillo arrest.
Perez admitted to selling Calvillo the aforementioned seized items,
and to selling Calvillo 25 to 30 firearms and other ammunition "within the past several months."
Crane said the case will have lingering effects as there were more than 50 firearms tied to this case,
50 firearms that will ultimately be used in violence south of the border.
Also sentenced Tuesday in connection with this case was a Mission woman, who the court determined played a minimal role in the smuggling case.
U.S. Homeland Security Investigations agents seized 40 rounds of ammunition from Gabriela Hinojosa-De Leon's residence in McAllen.
"Hinojosa admitted to HSI agents that she was aware of the ammunition within her residence
and had previously received ammunition from someone else," the complaint states.
The 40-year-old woman was sentenced prior to Perez's hearing, receiving a 12-month sentence from Crane.
Hinojosa-De Leon, who does not legal authority to live in the country, will most likely be deported upon completion of her prison term.
Both Perez and Hinojosa-De Leon pleaded guilty to their respective charges in April of this year, court records show.
Calvillo-Ramirez, who remains in custody since his September 2017 arrest, is scheduled for sentencing later this week, court records show.
Perez, who had been free on a $30,000 bond, asked through his attorney, Mission-based Alejandro Guerra, if he could delay his surrender date.
But that was denied by the court and will begin serving his prison sentence immediately.
lzazueta@themonitor.com
END
Note: photo at link.
Woman smuggler in Nogales arrested, wanted in the US
Details Published on Wednesday, August 15, 2018,
Written by El Diario de Sonora
http://www.eldiariodesonora.com.mx/notas.php?nota=116806
Nogales, Son
A woman, a alleged smuggler of arms, who was wanted by the North American authorities was stopped in Nogales, by elements of the Ministerial Agency of Criminal Investigation (AMIC)
Information provided by the Attorney General of the State (FGJE) announced that it is Magda Amelia "N", 36, who was located and detained by elements of the AMIC, in compliance with a collaboration with the office of the US Marshall.
The data indicate that since June 26, 2017, Magda Amelia "N." was arrested with two other people, by officers from the United States, when she tried to bring two long guns and four handguns into Mexico.
For this reason, they were charged with smuggling and possession of firearms, and then violation of the conditions of provisional liberty, in case 4: 14-mj-00120-N / A-LAB3.
It was the same year last (2017) that the female fled to Nogales, Sonora, after taking advantage of the Judge of Tucson, Arizona, who granted her the benefit of bail, on conditional freedom.
For this reason, in a research and coordination work carried out in collaboration by said authorities, the woman named for the crime of arms smuggling was arrested in the Nuevo Nogales neighborhood of this city.
Subsequently, it was given to personnel of the National Institute of Migration (INM) who made the corresponding act to deliver the female to the authorities that require her.
END
Mission man sentenced; tied to case involving 50 firearms
LORENZO ZAZUETA-CASTRO | STAFF WRITER 20 hrs ago
https://www.themonitor.com/news/local/article_2134c674-a035-11e8-aabe-d3fcbbdb0955.html
McALLEN — A Mission man will serve more than five years in prison for his role in a weapons smuggling operation.
U.S. District Judge Randy Crane sentenced Jesus Alonso Perez to 70 months in prison in connection with a case that involved more than 50 firearms
that were smuggled into Mexico likely, the court acknowledged, headed into the arms of drug cartels and further fueling the violence in the country.
With his family in attendance for the Tuesday morning sentencing hearing, some of them openly wept, and wiped away tears, while Perez apologized to the court,
and said he had let his parents down by involving himself in the criminal offense.
The 35-year-old man was arrested last November after he admitted in an interview with federal agents that he had purchased and sold on several occasions various firearms
to a man who intended to smuggle them illegally into Mexico.
Perez was identified by a co-conspirator named Salvador Calvillo-Ramirez, who federal agents had arrested Sept. 29, 2017,
as he attempted to smuggle into Mexico two semi-automatic rifles, a glock,
87 (.223 caliber) rifle magazines, and
about 3,455 rounds of ammunition, according to the criminal complaint.
During an interview with agents, Calvillo admitted he traveled from Mexico to the U.S. to acquire the firearms, ammunition and rifle magazines
that agents found in his vehicle, and also identified Perez as the person who acquired the aforementioned items.
"Calvillo stated Perez was aware that he intended to illegally smuggle the firearms and ammunition from the United States into Mexico," the complaint states.
Less than a month later, federal agents interviewed Perez in connection with the Calvillo arrest.
Perez admitted to selling Calvillo the aforementioned seized items,
and to selling Calvillo 25 to 30 firearms and other ammunition "within the past several months."
Crane said the case will have lingering effects as there were more than 50 firearms tied to this case,
50 firearms that will ultimately be used in violence south of the border.
Also sentenced Tuesday in connection with this case was a Mission woman, who the court determined played a minimal role in the smuggling case.
U.S. Homeland Security Investigations agents seized 40 rounds of ammunition from Gabriela Hinojosa-De Leon's residence in McAllen.
"Hinojosa admitted to HSI agents that she was aware of the ammunition within her residence
and had previously received ammunition from someone else," the complaint states.
The 40-year-old woman was sentenced prior to Perez's hearing, receiving a 12-month sentence from Crane.
Hinojosa-De Leon, who does not legal authority to live in the country, will most likely be deported upon completion of her prison term.
Both Perez and Hinojosa-De Leon pleaded guilty to their respective charges in April of this year, court records show.
Calvillo-Ramirez, who remains in custody since his September 2017 arrest, is scheduled for sentencing later this week, court records show.
Perez, who had been free on a $30,000 bond, asked through his attorney, Mission-based Alejandro Guerra, if he could delay his surrender date.
But that was denied by the court and will begin serving his prison sentence immediately.
lzazueta@themonitor.com
END
Note: photo at link.
Woman smuggler in Nogales arrested, wanted in the US
Details Published on Wednesday, August 15, 2018,
Written by El Diario de Sonora
http://www.eldiariodesonora.com.mx/notas.php?nota=116806
Nogales, Son
A woman, a alleged smuggler of arms, who was wanted by the North American authorities was stopped in Nogales, by elements of the Ministerial Agency of Criminal Investigation (AMIC)
Information provided by the Attorney General of the State (FGJE) announced that it is Magda Amelia "N", 36, who was located and detained by elements of the AMIC, in compliance with a collaboration with the office of the US Marshall.
The data indicate that since June 26, 2017, Magda Amelia "N." was arrested with two other people, by officers from the United States, when she tried to bring two long guns and four handguns into Mexico.
For this reason, they were charged with smuggling and possession of firearms, and then violation of the conditions of provisional liberty, in case 4: 14-mj-00120-N / A-LAB3.
It was the same year last (2017) that the female fled to Nogales, Sonora, after taking advantage of the Judge of Tucson, Arizona, who granted her the benefit of bail, on conditional freedom.
For this reason, in a research and coordination work carried out in collaboration by said authorities, the woman named for the crime of arms smuggling was arrested in the Nuevo Nogales neighborhood of this city.
Subsequently, it was given to personnel of the National Institute of Migration (INM) who made the corresponding act to deliver the female to the authorities that require her.
END
Wednesday, August 15, 2018
AZMEX UPDATE 15-8-18
AZMEX UPDATE 15 AUG 2018
Comment: aiding and abetting drug and human trafficking. They need to go to prison.
"Cronkite News". A leftist media training op out of ASU.
Photos, etc. at link.
Thx
Humanitarian group duels with Border Patrol over water, food drops for migrants
By REBECCA SPIESS Cronkite News 15 hrs ago
https://www.pinalcentral.com/arizona_news/humanitarian-group-duels-with-border-patrol-over-water-food-drops/article_0b420bec-14a6-52cd-b8ff-cb443ac972a5.html
No-More-Deaths-13
Buy Now
David Melendez, from left, Paige Corich-Kleim and Vanessa Savel gather food and water that will be dropped in the desert for migrants.
Ellen O'Brien/Cronkite News
No-More-Deaths-24
Buy Now
Volunteers for No More Deaths leave water by a cross marking the spot where a migrant was found dead.
Rebecca Spiess/Cronkite News
No-More-Deaths-3
Buy Now
Vanessa Savel writes "We support you" on a gallon of water that will be left for migrants.
Ellen O'Brien/Cronkite News
No-More-Deaths-2
Buy Now
Vanessa Savel, right, and David Melendez leave water at a No More Deaths drop-off site.
Ellen O'Brien/Cronkite News
AJO. ( AZ )
The projected high for this July day is 105, and hints of the coming heat already glimmer at 6:45 a.m. The old Ram pickup shudders along uneven roads often traveled by Border Patrol agents in southern Arizona. Saguaros dot a desolate landscape.
Paige Corich-Kleim, a volunteer with No More Deaths, drives a truck packed with dozens of 1-gallon jugs of water and pallets of canned refried beans towards the U.S.-Mexico border.
Volunteers have been making the journey, up to five days a week, for more than a decade to drop off water and food supplies in a controversial mission to save the lives of migrants making the trek from Mexico into the U.S.
Corich-Kleim said water-drop spots are becoming more remote and that although the number of apprehensions at the border has dropped in the past year, the death rate remains disturbingly high. A strained relationship between the group and the Border Patrol, which arrested several No More Deaths members in January, has ratcheted tensions higher.
David Melendez, president of the No More Deaths chapter at Northern Arizona University, shrugs off critics who say the group's work is illegal.
"I think that humanitarian aid is never a crime," Melendez said.
Border Patrol said its main goal is to secure the border against illegal immigrants but also said the agency and the nonprofit share the same motive: to preserve lives.
"We all care about human lives," said Stephanie Dixon, a Border Patrol agent and spokeswoman. "We are all a humanitarian group at the end."
Even as both groups work toward a similar goal, their data, their approaches and even their accounts of what is occurring at the border diverge.
Mapping where migrants trek
The three volunteers in the pickup follow a strategy that has become routine as they head for drop sites. Other volunteers have already done much of the prep work to find the best places.
They have hiked the terrain, looking for such man-made structures as abandoned rescue beacons, ranch houses or cattle pens — places migrants might seek if something goes wrong.
The group looks for "obvious ways that people would move through different mountain systems," Corich-Kleim said. "It's really all a lot of experimentation and trial and error."
The group also analyzes the Arizona OpenGIS Initiative for Deceased Migrants, which maps deaths at the border. The Pima County Medical Examiner's Office puts the maps together along with Humane Borders, another organization maintaining water-drop spots in the Sonoran Desert.
The logic leads to the five or six stops planned for the day: Where there are deaths, there must be migrants.
Corich-Kleim stops the pickup at an abandoned beekeeping shed, the first drop. Rotting hives sit inside the crumbling wooden building. Nearby signs put up by the Bureau of Land Management read "Don't disrespect the dead."
Volunteers lift the crates meant to keep animals out to see how many gallons of water have been used. Two of the three crates are untouched, but a number of gallons are gone from the third. Volunteers retrieve the scattered empty jugs and replace them with fresh ones.
They also check white buckets filled with canned beans and other packaged foods. Some of them have been eaten, so the volunteers replace them with a new batch of snacks. Today's snack is Andy Capp's Hot Fries.
Vanessa Savel, who has volunteered with No More Deaths in Flagstaff for two years, sits on one of the crates and pulls out a black marker.
The volunteers draw pictures and write messages on the gallons, such as "Buena Suerte," "Que Dios les Bendiga" and "No te Preocupes": "Good luck," "God Bless You" and "Don't worry."
"A lot of it just to make it so people aren't afraid to take the water," Corich-Kleim said. "There's sometimes rumors that the water is a trap from Border Patrol or that it's poisoned."
Those rumors are false. The Border Patrol does not go to those extremes, but the agency and No More Deaths do have a fraught history. The Border Patrol came under fire in early 2018 when footage of agents destroying water and supplies left for migrants from 2010 to 2017 was released.
The footage was released as Part 2 of a study conducted by La Coalición de Derechos Humanos, an immigrant-rights organization working with No More Deaths.
The Arizona Republic reported nine No More Deaths volunteers, including Arizona State University professor Scott Warren, were arrested at a safehouse known as the Cabin near Ajo hours after the study was released. Volunteers claimed the timing of the arrests, on accusations of smuggling and harboring people who entered the country illegally, was suspicious.
According to the coalition study, supplies were vandalized 415 times over 46 months from 2012 to 2015. Volunteers recorded the incidents in an area near Tucson where No More Deaths operates.
"We don't condone those actions at all," Dixon of the Border Patrol said of the agents' behavior. "If any citizen sees that, we highly encourage them to call so we can hold agents accountable for those actions."
Dixon also said the Border Patrol will work with groups to save lives if given the chance.
"We are open to communicating and talking to any nongovernmental organization that wants to work with us," she said.
No More Deaths volunteers argue that the Border Patrol has created the problem they are working to solve.
"Their policies have created this crisis," Corich-Kleim said. "They're trying to clean up their own mess."
Dueling over data on deaths
The disconnect between the two groups also shows in inconsistent and contradictory approaches to collecting data on the number of migrant deaths.
"The number of apprehensions has slowly been going down over the years, but the number of remains that are found have stayed pretty constant," Corich-Kleim said.
The Missing Migrants Project, started in 2013 as part of the International Organization for Migration, relies on medical examiner records, news media reports, eyewitness accounts and non-governmental organizations, or NGOs, to compile their data on migrant deaths, according to their website.
They have found that reported migrant deaths have increased from 306 to 415 from 2014 to 2017 along the Mexican border.
Dixon cites the Border Patrol's data, which show the opposite.
"We are seeing a decrease of deaths in the desert," Dixon said, referring to the Tucson sector. "If we look at fiscal year 2012, it was 180 (deaths). In fiscal year 2017, it was 75."
However, Border Patrol only counts bodies agents discover in the field.
"We only report what we find," said Daniel Hernandez, a Border Patrol spokesman. "If Pima County Sheriff's or an NGO finds human remains, we do not track it ourselves."
Because of that approach, the Arizona Republic reports, the Border Patrol frequently undercounts the number of migrant deaths and disappearances.
Deaths known and mysterious
Both No More Death and the Border Patrol agree on one point: The route to the U.S. is deadly. According to the Missing Migrants Project, most causes of death at the border are unknown. Some people will never be found, but traces of the paths they traveled can still be recovered.
By 2 p.m., the No More Deaths volunteers arrive at the last drop site of the day. The supplies here are most heavily used, with at least seven gallons empty and sitting about ten feet away from the rest of the crates.
Three wooden crosses, one with a blue and white rosary hanging from the center post, mark the site where migrant remains were found. There are no names.
Corich-Kleim said the scope of migrant deaths at the border is still unknown. Experts can't determine cause of death or a home country for a large number of the bodies found at the border. Even the Pima County Medical Examiner's Office and Humane Borders' maps are incomplete.
"What's important to know is these aren't death maps. They're recovered remains maps," Corich-Kleim said. "So only people who die and are found are on the maps."
"There's a lot of people that just completely disappear and their remains are never found just because of the nature of the Sonoran Desert."
Over the course of the supply drops, volunteers have seen traces of the migrants they are trying to help. Strips of blue fabric lined with shag carpet-like fibers and black spray-painted water bottles are abandoned near the supply drops.
Migrants wear these "carpet slippers" over their shoes to obscure their footprints and spray paint the bottles to mitigate the glare of clear plastic and hopefully avoid detection by Border Patrol lights and helicopters.
At 3 p.m., the pickup rolls back into Ajo. Volunteers argue over who will pick up popsicles. Corich-Kleim says she just wants to shower.
She gets out of the truck and walks back to her car, her empty backpack slung over one shoulder. Tomorrow, at 6 a.m., she will be back in the pickup, restocking water and supplies for a fresh journey.
End
Comment: aiding and abetting drug and human trafficking. They need to go to prison.
"Cronkite News". A leftist media training op out of ASU.
Photos, etc. at link.
Thx
Humanitarian group duels with Border Patrol over water, food drops for migrants
By REBECCA SPIESS Cronkite News 15 hrs ago
https://www.pinalcentral.com/arizona_news/humanitarian-group-duels-with-border-patrol-over-water-food-drops/article_0b420bec-14a6-52cd-b8ff-cb443ac972a5.html
No-More-Deaths-13
Buy Now
David Melendez, from left, Paige Corich-Kleim and Vanessa Savel gather food and water that will be dropped in the desert for migrants.
Ellen O'Brien/Cronkite News
No-More-Deaths-24
Buy Now
Volunteers for No More Deaths leave water by a cross marking the spot where a migrant was found dead.
Rebecca Spiess/Cronkite News
No-More-Deaths-3
Buy Now
Vanessa Savel writes "We support you" on a gallon of water that will be left for migrants.
Ellen O'Brien/Cronkite News
No-More-Deaths-2
Buy Now
Vanessa Savel, right, and David Melendez leave water at a No More Deaths drop-off site.
Ellen O'Brien/Cronkite News
AJO. ( AZ )
The projected high for this July day is 105, and hints of the coming heat already glimmer at 6:45 a.m. The old Ram pickup shudders along uneven roads often traveled by Border Patrol agents in southern Arizona. Saguaros dot a desolate landscape.
Paige Corich-Kleim, a volunteer with No More Deaths, drives a truck packed with dozens of 1-gallon jugs of water and pallets of canned refried beans towards the U.S.-Mexico border.
Volunteers have been making the journey, up to five days a week, for more than a decade to drop off water and food supplies in a controversial mission to save the lives of migrants making the trek from Mexico into the U.S.
Corich-Kleim said water-drop spots are becoming more remote and that although the number of apprehensions at the border has dropped in the past year, the death rate remains disturbingly high. A strained relationship between the group and the Border Patrol, which arrested several No More Deaths members in January, has ratcheted tensions higher.
David Melendez, president of the No More Deaths chapter at Northern Arizona University, shrugs off critics who say the group's work is illegal.
"I think that humanitarian aid is never a crime," Melendez said.
Border Patrol said its main goal is to secure the border against illegal immigrants but also said the agency and the nonprofit share the same motive: to preserve lives.
"We all care about human lives," said Stephanie Dixon, a Border Patrol agent and spokeswoman. "We are all a humanitarian group at the end."
Even as both groups work toward a similar goal, their data, their approaches and even their accounts of what is occurring at the border diverge.
Mapping where migrants trek
The three volunteers in the pickup follow a strategy that has become routine as they head for drop sites. Other volunteers have already done much of the prep work to find the best places.
They have hiked the terrain, looking for such man-made structures as abandoned rescue beacons, ranch houses or cattle pens — places migrants might seek if something goes wrong.
The group looks for "obvious ways that people would move through different mountain systems," Corich-Kleim said. "It's really all a lot of experimentation and trial and error."
The group also analyzes the Arizona OpenGIS Initiative for Deceased Migrants, which maps deaths at the border. The Pima County Medical Examiner's Office puts the maps together along with Humane Borders, another organization maintaining water-drop spots in the Sonoran Desert.
The logic leads to the five or six stops planned for the day: Where there are deaths, there must be migrants.
Corich-Kleim stops the pickup at an abandoned beekeeping shed, the first drop. Rotting hives sit inside the crumbling wooden building. Nearby signs put up by the Bureau of Land Management read "Don't disrespect the dead."
Volunteers lift the crates meant to keep animals out to see how many gallons of water have been used. Two of the three crates are untouched, but a number of gallons are gone from the third. Volunteers retrieve the scattered empty jugs and replace them with fresh ones.
They also check white buckets filled with canned beans and other packaged foods. Some of them have been eaten, so the volunteers replace them with a new batch of snacks. Today's snack is Andy Capp's Hot Fries.
Vanessa Savel, who has volunteered with No More Deaths in Flagstaff for two years, sits on one of the crates and pulls out a black marker.
The volunteers draw pictures and write messages on the gallons, such as "Buena Suerte," "Que Dios les Bendiga" and "No te Preocupes": "Good luck," "God Bless You" and "Don't worry."
"A lot of it just to make it so people aren't afraid to take the water," Corich-Kleim said. "There's sometimes rumors that the water is a trap from Border Patrol or that it's poisoned."
Those rumors are false. The Border Patrol does not go to those extremes, but the agency and No More Deaths do have a fraught history. The Border Patrol came under fire in early 2018 when footage of agents destroying water and supplies left for migrants from 2010 to 2017 was released.
The footage was released as Part 2 of a study conducted by La Coalición de Derechos Humanos, an immigrant-rights organization working with No More Deaths.
The Arizona Republic reported nine No More Deaths volunteers, including Arizona State University professor Scott Warren, were arrested at a safehouse known as the Cabin near Ajo hours after the study was released. Volunteers claimed the timing of the arrests, on accusations of smuggling and harboring people who entered the country illegally, was suspicious.
According to the coalition study, supplies were vandalized 415 times over 46 months from 2012 to 2015. Volunteers recorded the incidents in an area near Tucson where No More Deaths operates.
"We don't condone those actions at all," Dixon of the Border Patrol said of the agents' behavior. "If any citizen sees that, we highly encourage them to call so we can hold agents accountable for those actions."
Dixon also said the Border Patrol will work with groups to save lives if given the chance.
"We are open to communicating and talking to any nongovernmental organization that wants to work with us," she said.
No More Deaths volunteers argue that the Border Patrol has created the problem they are working to solve.
"Their policies have created this crisis," Corich-Kleim said. "They're trying to clean up their own mess."
Dueling over data on deaths
The disconnect between the two groups also shows in inconsistent and contradictory approaches to collecting data on the number of migrant deaths.
"The number of apprehensions has slowly been going down over the years, but the number of remains that are found have stayed pretty constant," Corich-Kleim said.
The Missing Migrants Project, started in 2013 as part of the International Organization for Migration, relies on medical examiner records, news media reports, eyewitness accounts and non-governmental organizations, or NGOs, to compile their data on migrant deaths, according to their website.
They have found that reported migrant deaths have increased from 306 to 415 from 2014 to 2017 along the Mexican border.
Dixon cites the Border Patrol's data, which show the opposite.
"We are seeing a decrease of deaths in the desert," Dixon said, referring to the Tucson sector. "If we look at fiscal year 2012, it was 180 (deaths). In fiscal year 2017, it was 75."
However, Border Patrol only counts bodies agents discover in the field.
"We only report what we find," said Daniel Hernandez, a Border Patrol spokesman. "If Pima County Sheriff's or an NGO finds human remains, we do not track it ourselves."
Because of that approach, the Arizona Republic reports, the Border Patrol frequently undercounts the number of migrant deaths and disappearances.
Deaths known and mysterious
Both No More Death and the Border Patrol agree on one point: The route to the U.S. is deadly. According to the Missing Migrants Project, most causes of death at the border are unknown. Some people will never be found, but traces of the paths they traveled can still be recovered.
By 2 p.m., the No More Deaths volunteers arrive at the last drop site of the day. The supplies here are most heavily used, with at least seven gallons empty and sitting about ten feet away from the rest of the crates.
Three wooden crosses, one with a blue and white rosary hanging from the center post, mark the site where migrant remains were found. There are no names.
Corich-Kleim said the scope of migrant deaths at the border is still unknown. Experts can't determine cause of death or a home country for a large number of the bodies found at the border. Even the Pima County Medical Examiner's Office and Humane Borders' maps are incomplete.
"What's important to know is these aren't death maps. They're recovered remains maps," Corich-Kleim said. "So only people who die and are found are on the maps."
"There's a lot of people that just completely disappear and their remains are never found just because of the nature of the Sonoran Desert."
Over the course of the supply drops, volunteers have seen traces of the migrants they are trying to help. Strips of blue fabric lined with shag carpet-like fibers and black spray-painted water bottles are abandoned near the supply drops.
Migrants wear these "carpet slippers" over their shoes to obscure their footprints and spray paint the bottles to mitigate the glare of clear plastic and hopefully avoid detection by Border Patrol lights and helicopters.
At 3 p.m., the pickup rolls back into Ajo. Volunteers argue over who will pick up popsicles. Corich-Kleim says she just wants to shower.
She gets out of the truck and walks back to her car, her empty backpack slung over one shoulder. Tomorrow, at 6 a.m., she will be back in the pickup, restocking water and supplies for a fresh journey.
End
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)