AZMEX UPDATE 8 FEB 2019
Note: Cajeme is a major layover stop on the way to AZ. With the consequences seen below. Almost daily / nightly?
Thx
They will reinforce security in Cajeme after eight executions
Details Published on Thursday February 07, 2019,
Written by Ángel Lozano
http://www.eldiariodesonora.com.mx/notas.php?nota=124647
Hermosillo, Son
Security will be reinforced in the South of the State after the acts of violence that occurred yesterday in Cajeme, informed the government secretary.
Miguel Ernesto Pompa Corella indicated that through the Table for the Construction of Peace, in which the three levels of Government participate, it was agreed to strengthen the Municipal Police of Cajeme.
He noted that the operations of the corporation will be strengthened with the participation of elements of the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic (FGR), State Public Security Police (PESP), Sedena, Ministry of the Navy, State Attorney General's Office (FGJE), Ministerial Agency of Criminal Investigation (AMIC) and Federal Police.
"Security will be strengthened in Guaymas, Empalme and Cajeme, and we are trying to have an effective coordination to be more effective with the personnel that each corporation has," he said.
The government secretary pointed out that according to the results of the investigations they state that the last three armed aggressions where eight people were killed by shots fired with long weapons correspond to organized crime.
Given the insecurity that is registered in the South of the entity, Pompa Corella ruled out that mass events such as the Carnival of Guaymas be suspended.
He said that it is intended that criminals be deprived and not citizens.
THE FACTS
According to the information provided by the FGJE, In a convenience store located at the South exit of Ciudad Obregón, on the International Highway, the lifeless body of Rey Ambrosio "N.", 30, who was traveling in a vehicle, was left in his Kia Rio that had bullet holes and in the interior, a semiautomatic 7.62x39 rifle was found.
Also in Ciudad Obregón, three people lost their lives from gunshot wounds while traveling in a Chevrolet Spark car, model 2018: Martina "N.", 54, her partner Silvano "N.", originally from Guasave, Sinaloa.
In addition, the driver of the unit, not identified so far, was found among his belongings two credentials with different names: Ramón Alonso "N." and Jorge Arturo "N."
In the other incident were deprived of life Rafael "N.", Ivan "N.", Itzel "N." and another woman identified as Judith "N.", besides being injured another man, they were all in a motel with the two presumed responsible ingesting alcoholic beverages and consuming drugs.
End
Also (Spanish). http://www.elregionaldesonora.com.mx/noticia/78215
End
Note: a farming community in the Sierras west of Navajoa, Son. Near the Sonora - Chihuahua line.
Destroy 54 tons of marijuana plantation in Alamos (Sonora)
By: / GH | 2/7/2019 11:58 AM
https://www.elimparcial.com/Policiaca/2019/02/07/1407370-Destruyen-plantio-de-54-toneladas-de-mariguana-en-Alamos.html
(GH)
In the state of Sonora, the Regional Security Divisions and Federal Forces of the Federal Police, located and destroyed approximately 54 tons of apparent marijuana, which were cultivated in a plantation, in the municipality of Alamos.
Cabinet and field investigation works developed by elements of the corporation, as well as tactical overflights, allowed locating a area with the drug in the vicinity of the Ejido El Cajón del Sabino, where an operation was deployed via land.
The federal police traveled approximately 40 kilometers on a dirt road to locate an field 150 meters long by 60 wide, with an approximate area of 9 thousand square meters, planted with plants of a green grass with the characteristics of the Marijuana, which had an irrigation system.
The federal elements carried out the destruction, by labor force, and later they incinerated around 135 thousand plants.
After destroying the plants, representative samples were taken and placed at the disposal of the corresponding authority to follow up the investigations.
End
Friday, February 8, 2019
AZMEX I3 5-2-19
AZMEX I3 5 FEB 2019
Migrant caravan reaches Mexican town across river from Eagle Pass, Texas
Posted: Feb 05, 2019 10:53 AM MST
Updated: Feb 05, 2019 01:56 PM MST
https://www.kvia.com/news/texas/migrant-caravan-reaches-mexican-town-across-river-from-eagle-pass-texas/1002523162
Central American migrants settle in a shelter at the Jesus Martinez stadium in Mexico City, in Mexico City, Monday, Jan. 28. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
MEXICO CITY (AP) - A caravan of about 1,700 Central American migrants was camped Tuesday in the Mexican border city of Piedras Negras, just west of Eagle Pass, Texas.
While previous caravans had preferred the border city of Tijuana, the relatively open section of the border around Eagle Pass is marked mainly by the Rio Grande and lacks the long sections of high barriers found in Tijuana.
Still, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security vowed that the "lawless caravan" would not be allowed in.
"Approximately 2,000 aliens have arrived in northern Mexico as part of a 'caravan' seeking to cross the border into Texas. Illegal entry will not be tolerated and we stand ready to prevent it," DHS Secretary Kirstjen M. Nielsen wrote in a statement Tuesday, adding "DHS will take all steps to ensure the safety and security of law enforcement personnel on the frontlines."
Images from local media show U.S. agents with riot gear and shields standing on a bridge separating Eagle Pass and Piedras Negras. DHS said Border Patrol agents had already apprehended some migrants who crossed the border illegally overnight.
Coahuila state Gov. Miguel Angel Riquelme said about 1,700 migrants arrived late Monday aboard 49 buses from the cities of Saltillo and Arteaga. Another smaller group headed toward the neighboring state of Nuevo Leon.
An improvised shelter was set up for the migrants at an unused maquiladora factory, and local officials said the migrants had been given sleeping mats, blankets, food and wireless access.
State child welfare officials reported there 46 unaccompanied youths aged between 15 and 17 in the caravan.
The area from Piedras Negras east to Nuevo Laredo had long been dominated by the now-fragmented Zetas cartel.
The caravan was escorted by soldiers and police, and the state government said migrants wouldn't be allowed to split off from the main group because "these types of caravans have been victims of organized crime groups that try to force the migrants to work for them."
"That is why we are being strict about security," said Coahuila state Interior Secretary Jose María Fraustro.
Local media reported that some migrants objected to guards and closed gates at the improvised shelter, saying they don't want to be locked in.
Previous caravans of mainly Honduran migrants had headed for the border city of Tijuana last year in their bid to reach the United States.
But Tijuana officials said their city was overwhelmed and unprepared to receive more migrants.
A second, larger caravan of several thousand migrants is expected to set out across Mexico soon.
The U.N. refugee agency noted that Mexico had received 12,574 requests for humanitarian visas from Jan. 17-29, almost all from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. The agency interviewed almost 1,000 of the migrants on the border bridge between Guatemala and Mexico.
Of those interviewed, almost 30 percent said they wanted to reach the United States; 46 percent said they might remain in Mexico. Almost one third were minors.
END
Migrant caravan reaches Mexican town across river from Eagle Pass, Texas
Posted: Feb 05, 2019 10:53 AM MST
Updated: Feb 05, 2019 01:56 PM MST
https://www.kvia.com/news/texas/migrant-caravan-reaches-mexican-town-across-river-from-eagle-pass-texas/1002523162
Central American migrants settle in a shelter at the Jesus Martinez stadium in Mexico City, in Mexico City, Monday, Jan. 28. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
MEXICO CITY (AP) - A caravan of about 1,700 Central American migrants was camped Tuesday in the Mexican border city of Piedras Negras, just west of Eagle Pass, Texas.
While previous caravans had preferred the border city of Tijuana, the relatively open section of the border around Eagle Pass is marked mainly by the Rio Grande and lacks the long sections of high barriers found in Tijuana.
Still, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security vowed that the "lawless caravan" would not be allowed in.
"Approximately 2,000 aliens have arrived in northern Mexico as part of a 'caravan' seeking to cross the border into Texas. Illegal entry will not be tolerated and we stand ready to prevent it," DHS Secretary Kirstjen M. Nielsen wrote in a statement Tuesday, adding "DHS will take all steps to ensure the safety and security of law enforcement personnel on the frontlines."
Images from local media show U.S. agents with riot gear and shields standing on a bridge separating Eagle Pass and Piedras Negras. DHS said Border Patrol agents had already apprehended some migrants who crossed the border illegally overnight.
Coahuila state Gov. Miguel Angel Riquelme said about 1,700 migrants arrived late Monday aboard 49 buses from the cities of Saltillo and Arteaga. Another smaller group headed toward the neighboring state of Nuevo Leon.
An improvised shelter was set up for the migrants at an unused maquiladora factory, and local officials said the migrants had been given sleeping mats, blankets, food and wireless access.
State child welfare officials reported there 46 unaccompanied youths aged between 15 and 17 in the caravan.
The area from Piedras Negras east to Nuevo Laredo had long been dominated by the now-fragmented Zetas cartel.
The caravan was escorted by soldiers and police, and the state government said migrants wouldn't be allowed to split off from the main group because "these types of caravans have been victims of organized crime groups that try to force the migrants to work for them."
"That is why we are being strict about security," said Coahuila state Interior Secretary Jose María Fraustro.
Local media reported that some migrants objected to guards and closed gates at the improvised shelter, saying they don't want to be locked in.
Previous caravans of mainly Honduran migrants had headed for the border city of Tijuana last year in their bid to reach the United States.
But Tijuana officials said their city was overwhelmed and unprepared to receive more migrants.
A second, larger caravan of several thousand migrants is expected to set out across Mexico soon.
The U.N. refugee agency noted that Mexico had received 12,574 requests for humanitarian visas from Jan. 17-29, almost all from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. The agency interviewed almost 1,000 of the migrants on the border bridge between Guatemala and Mexico.
Of those interviewed, almost 30 percent said they wanted to reach the United States; 46 percent said they might remain in Mexico. Almost one third were minors.
END
Thursday, February 7, 2019
TEXMEX POLICY 7-2-19
TEXMEX POLICY 7 FEB 2019
Note: Si, he is a dem. Read carefully the last paragraph.
Comment: El Paso was relatively safe for years because of the large number of federal law enforcement in the area.
Gracias
El Paso County Sheriff weighs in following President Trump's remarks on border wall
by Jamel Valencia | Associated Press
Wednesday, February 6th 2019
https://kfoxtv.com/news/local/el-paso-county-sheriff-weighs-in-following-president-trumps-remarks-on-border-wall
El Paso County Sheriff Richard D. Wiles
EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14) — President Donald Trump cited El Paso, Texas, in his State of the Union address, saying the city had extremely high rates of violent crime before a border wall was erected there.
He asserted that once a wall went up, El Paso became "one of the safest cities in our country."
"Simply put," he said, "walls work, and walls save lives."
Richard D. Wiles, who was chief of the El Paso Police Department and then sheriff of the El Paso County Sheriff's Office from 2004 to today, was upset to hear the President's remarks.
It is sad to hear President Trump state falsehoods about El Paso, Texas in an attempt to justify the building of a 2,000-mile wall.
The facts are clear. While it is true that El Paso is one of the safest cities in the nation, it has never been "...considered one of our Nation's most dangerous cities". And, El Paso was a safe city long before any wall was built. President Trump continues to give a false narrative about a great city that truly represents what this great Nation is all about.
Others also disputed that fences contributed to the low crime rate.
Fernando Garcia, executive director of the Border Network for Human Rights, said Trump "openly distorted the facts and the reality of our border region to justify the unjustifiable: his absurd obsession of a border wall."
"El Paso is safe due to its people, the good community relations with law enforcement, and the trust of all communities in our local institutions," Garcia said in a statement on Tuesday. "El Pasoans should be offended by the way the president used our community to advance his racist and xenophobic agenda."
Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-Texas, tweeted Tuesday that "El Paso has been one of the safest cities in the nation long before the wall was built in 2008. #WallsDontWork."
The White House offered no immediate response to criticism of the president's comments about El Paso.
Trump plans to rally supporters on Monday at the El Paso County Coliseum. His campaign manager, Brad Parscale, tweeted that the rally will be held "less than 1000 feet from the successful border fence that keeps El Paso safe!"
El Paso has never been considered one of the nation's most dangerous cities,
and its trends in violent crime mirror national swings before and after border barrier construction from 2006 to 2008, FBI data shows.
In 2005, the city had a murder rate of 2.5 for every 100,000 residents, compared with a national rate of 5.6.
By 2010, El Paso's murder rate had dropped to 0.9 for every 100,000 residents,
compared with a national average of 4.8.
END
Note: Si, he is a dem. Read carefully the last paragraph.
Comment: El Paso was relatively safe for years because of the large number of federal law enforcement in the area.
Gracias
El Paso County Sheriff weighs in following President Trump's remarks on border wall
by Jamel Valencia | Associated Press
Wednesday, February 6th 2019
https://kfoxtv.com/news/local/el-paso-county-sheriff-weighs-in-following-president-trumps-remarks-on-border-wall
El Paso County Sheriff Richard D. Wiles
EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14) — President Donald Trump cited El Paso, Texas, in his State of the Union address, saying the city had extremely high rates of violent crime before a border wall was erected there.
He asserted that once a wall went up, El Paso became "one of the safest cities in our country."
"Simply put," he said, "walls work, and walls save lives."
Richard D. Wiles, who was chief of the El Paso Police Department and then sheriff of the El Paso County Sheriff's Office from 2004 to today, was upset to hear the President's remarks.
It is sad to hear President Trump state falsehoods about El Paso, Texas in an attempt to justify the building of a 2,000-mile wall.
The facts are clear. While it is true that El Paso is one of the safest cities in the nation, it has never been "...considered one of our Nation's most dangerous cities". And, El Paso was a safe city long before any wall was built. President Trump continues to give a false narrative about a great city that truly represents what this great Nation is all about.
Others also disputed that fences contributed to the low crime rate.
Fernando Garcia, executive director of the Border Network for Human Rights, said Trump "openly distorted the facts and the reality of our border region to justify the unjustifiable: his absurd obsession of a border wall."
"El Paso is safe due to its people, the good community relations with law enforcement, and the trust of all communities in our local institutions," Garcia said in a statement on Tuesday. "El Pasoans should be offended by the way the president used our community to advance his racist and xenophobic agenda."
Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-Texas, tweeted Tuesday that "El Paso has been one of the safest cities in the nation long before the wall was built in 2008. #WallsDontWork."
The White House offered no immediate response to criticism of the president's comments about El Paso.
Trump plans to rally supporters on Monday at the El Paso County Coliseum. His campaign manager, Brad Parscale, tweeted that the rally will be held "less than 1000 feet from the successful border fence that keeps El Paso safe!"
El Paso has never been considered one of the nation's most dangerous cities,
and its trends in violent crime mirror national swings before and after border barrier construction from 2006 to 2008, FBI data shows.
In 2005, the city had a murder rate of 2.5 for every 100,000 residents, compared with a national rate of 5.6.
By 2010, El Paso's murder rate had dropped to 0.9 for every 100,000 residents,
compared with a national average of 4.8.
END
AZMEX POLICY2 6-2-19
AZMEX POLICY2 6 FEB 2019
Note: as mentioned before a time or several, many people north of the border are actively engaged in drug and human trafficking.
"It's not good for business,"
Gracias
Arizona city officials want border wall's razor wire removed
Feb 6, 2019 Updated 11 min ago
https://www.pinalcentral.com/ap/state/arizona-city-officials-want-border-wall-s-razor-wire-removed/article_05f918a3-4fc3-5ffd-ad6e-1737280976c9.html
Arizona city officials want border wall's razor wire removed
Bails of razor wire are awaiting installation on the U.S.-Mexico border fence on Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2019 in Nogales, Ariz.
The city council in Nogales, which sits on the border with Nogales, Mexico, is set to consider a proclamation Wednesday night condemning the use of concertina wire. It follows reports that U.S. military troops installed more horizontal layers of the wire along the downtown border fence over the weekend. (Tim Steller/Arizona Daily Star via AP)
Tim Steller
Arizona city officials want border wall's razor wire removed
Members of the military weld on the U.S-Mexico border fence near Nogales, Ariz., on Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2019. The city council in Nogales, which sits on the border with Nogales, Mexico, is set to consider a proclamation Wednesday night condemning the use of concertina wire. It follows reports that U.S. military troops installed more horizontal layers of the wire along the downtown border fence over the weekend. (Tim Steller/Arizona Daily Star via AP)
Tim Steller / Arizona Daily Star
Arizona city officials want border wall's razor wire removed
The additional concertina wire can be seen on the border fence in Nogales, Ariz, on Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2019. U.S. The city council in Nogales, which sits on the border with Nogales, Mexico, is set to consider a proclamation Wednesday night condemning the use of concertina wire. It follows reports that U.S. military troops installed more horizontal layers of the wire along the downtown border fence over the weekend. (Tim Steller/Arizona Daily Star via AP)
Mamta Popat / Arizona Daily Star
Arizona city officials want border wall's razor wire removed
In this Saturday, Feb. 2, 2019 photo, U.S. Army troops place additional concertina wire to the border fence on a hillside above Nelson Street in downtown Nogales, Ariz. Nogales, Mexico is seen at right. The small Arizona border city is fighting back against the installation of razor fencing that now covers the entirety of a tall border fence along the city's downtown area. The city of Nogales, which sits on the border with Nogales, Mexico, is contemplating a proclamation Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2019, condemning the use of concertina wire in its town. (Jonathan Clark/Nogales International via AP)
Jonathan Clark
Arizona city officials want border wall's razor wire removed
A school bus rolls past a razor wire-covered fence Monday at East International and Nelson Streets in downtown Nogales, Ariz.
Jonathan Clark/Nogales International
NOGALES, Ariz. (AP) — Officials in a small Arizona border city passed a resolution Wednesday night condemning the installation of new razor wire that now covers the entirety of a tall border wall through downtown.
The City Council in Nogales, which sits on the border with Nogales, Mexico, wants the federal government to remove all concertina wire installed within the city limits.
Otherwise, Nogales Mayor Arturo Garino said the city will sue.
City officials say Army troops installed more horizontal layers of the wire along the border wall last weekend.
The council's resolution says the razor wire would harm or kill anyone who scales the wall and "is only found in a war, prison or battle setting" and should not be in downtown Nogales.
The council's action came one day after President Donald Trump made his case to the American people about the need for a border wall and how he has ordered 3,750 troops to prepare for what he called a "tremendous onslaught."
Soldiers have installed concertina wire at or near several official crossings at the border. In late November, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said the military had sent 36 miles of concertina for use in California, Arizona, and Texas.
At the start of November, soldiers in Texas installed lines of wire coils below a major bridge near McAllen.
Photos published by the Nogales International newspaper show six rows of concertina wire stacked along the approximately two-story wall.
Nogales, a city of about 20,000 people, is a fraction of the size of its Mexican counterpart, but its economy is largely reliant on Mexican shoppers and cross-border trade. Illegal crossings in that area have dropped steeply in the past several years. (?)
Garino told the newspaper that he asked U.S. Sen. Martha McSally to help the city have the wire removed during a visit to the border last month.
A spokeswoman for McSally said the senator was working on a response to an inquiry from The Associated Press.
Garino said authorities didn't tell him why more wire was installed.
He said he was most concerned that children and others could be injured now that it reaches the ground. The downtown area is also residential, and there are homes that stand a few feet from the border fence.
"Aesthetically pleasing — it's not. It's very bad. It's not good for business,
it's not good for what we're trying to create, a business-friendly community here in Nogales," Garino told the AP.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Department of Defense did not respond to inquiries about why additional wire was installed last weekend.
City leaders were critical of military exercises at the border during the holiday season, saying they believed it scared shoppers.
The resolution the city council is scheduled to vote on says concertina wire is typically something found in battlefields, and that placing it along the border fence is "not only irresponsible but inhuman."
In a tweet, U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva, a Democrat, called its placement a stunt by the Trump administration, which he said is "trying to create the perception of rampant lawlessness and crime."
The Nogales measure would be one of the more direct swipes against one of Trump's signature initiatives. In September 2017, the San Diego City Council adopted a resolution that said Trump's walls would be "damaging symbols of fear and division that will increase tensions with Mexico, one of the United States' largest trading partners and a neighbor with which communities such as San Diego in the border region are inextricably linked culturally, physically, and economically."
It said Trump's proposal "could destroy the vitality of U.S.- Mexico relations and act as a separation to our unique, diverse, and beautiful region."
The San Diego resolution passed 5-3, with Democrats in favor and Republicans opposed. Kevin Faulconer, the city's Republican mayor didn't back the statement but didn't veto it either. The mayor often says the U.S. should focus on building bridges instead of walls.
Other border mayors have also been critical.
"We have a fence here. The fence is fine. It does what it's supposed to do," Dee Margo, the Republican mayor of El Paso, Texas, said last year. "I hear the term wall, I think of the Berlin Wall. I think it's pretty detrimental to the relationships that have lasted more than 400 years."
The number of arrests by the Border Patrol is the lowest since the early 1970s, while the number of agents has more than doubled.
Over 1.6 million arrests were made by just about 9,200 agents nationwide in the 2000. But those figures tapered off as the government dramatically increased staffing and resources like more surveillance technology and tall, steel fencing.
By last fiscal year, about 19,000 Border Patrol agents made 310,000 arrests.
———
Associated Press reporters Elliot Spagat in San Diego, Nomaan Merchant in Houston and Walter Berry in Phoenix contributed to this report.
END
Note: as mentioned before a time or several, many people north of the border are actively engaged in drug and human trafficking.
"It's not good for business,"
Gracias
Arizona city officials want border wall's razor wire removed
Feb 6, 2019 Updated 11 min ago
https://www.pinalcentral.com/ap/state/arizona-city-officials-want-border-wall-s-razor-wire-removed/article_05f918a3-4fc3-5ffd-ad6e-1737280976c9.html
Arizona city officials want border wall's razor wire removed
Bails of razor wire are awaiting installation on the U.S.-Mexico border fence on Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2019 in Nogales, Ariz.
The city council in Nogales, which sits on the border with Nogales, Mexico, is set to consider a proclamation Wednesday night condemning the use of concertina wire. It follows reports that U.S. military troops installed more horizontal layers of the wire along the downtown border fence over the weekend. (Tim Steller/Arizona Daily Star via AP)
Tim Steller
Arizona city officials want border wall's razor wire removed
Members of the military weld on the U.S-Mexico border fence near Nogales, Ariz., on Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2019. The city council in Nogales, which sits on the border with Nogales, Mexico, is set to consider a proclamation Wednesday night condemning the use of concertina wire. It follows reports that U.S. military troops installed more horizontal layers of the wire along the downtown border fence over the weekend. (Tim Steller/Arizona Daily Star via AP)
Tim Steller / Arizona Daily Star
Arizona city officials want border wall's razor wire removed
The additional concertina wire can be seen on the border fence in Nogales, Ariz, on Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2019. U.S. The city council in Nogales, which sits on the border with Nogales, Mexico, is set to consider a proclamation Wednesday night condemning the use of concertina wire. It follows reports that U.S. military troops installed more horizontal layers of the wire along the downtown border fence over the weekend. (Tim Steller/Arizona Daily Star via AP)
Mamta Popat / Arizona Daily Star
Arizona city officials want border wall's razor wire removed
In this Saturday, Feb. 2, 2019 photo, U.S. Army troops place additional concertina wire to the border fence on a hillside above Nelson Street in downtown Nogales, Ariz. Nogales, Mexico is seen at right. The small Arizona border city is fighting back against the installation of razor fencing that now covers the entirety of a tall border fence along the city's downtown area. The city of Nogales, which sits on the border with Nogales, Mexico, is contemplating a proclamation Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2019, condemning the use of concertina wire in its town. (Jonathan Clark/Nogales International via AP)
Jonathan Clark
Arizona city officials want border wall's razor wire removed
A school bus rolls past a razor wire-covered fence Monday at East International and Nelson Streets in downtown Nogales, Ariz.
Jonathan Clark/Nogales International
NOGALES, Ariz. (AP) — Officials in a small Arizona border city passed a resolution Wednesday night condemning the installation of new razor wire that now covers the entirety of a tall border wall through downtown.
The City Council in Nogales, which sits on the border with Nogales, Mexico, wants the federal government to remove all concertina wire installed within the city limits.
Otherwise, Nogales Mayor Arturo Garino said the city will sue.
City officials say Army troops installed more horizontal layers of the wire along the border wall last weekend.
The council's resolution says the razor wire would harm or kill anyone who scales the wall and "is only found in a war, prison or battle setting" and should not be in downtown Nogales.
The council's action came one day after President Donald Trump made his case to the American people about the need for a border wall and how he has ordered 3,750 troops to prepare for what he called a "tremendous onslaught."
Soldiers have installed concertina wire at or near several official crossings at the border. In late November, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said the military had sent 36 miles of concertina for use in California, Arizona, and Texas.
At the start of November, soldiers in Texas installed lines of wire coils below a major bridge near McAllen.
Photos published by the Nogales International newspaper show six rows of concertina wire stacked along the approximately two-story wall.
Nogales, a city of about 20,000 people, is a fraction of the size of its Mexican counterpart, but its economy is largely reliant on Mexican shoppers and cross-border trade. Illegal crossings in that area have dropped steeply in the past several years. (?)
Garino told the newspaper that he asked U.S. Sen. Martha McSally to help the city have the wire removed during a visit to the border last month.
A spokeswoman for McSally said the senator was working on a response to an inquiry from The Associated Press.
Garino said authorities didn't tell him why more wire was installed.
He said he was most concerned that children and others could be injured now that it reaches the ground. The downtown area is also residential, and there are homes that stand a few feet from the border fence.
"Aesthetically pleasing — it's not. It's very bad. It's not good for business,
it's not good for what we're trying to create, a business-friendly community here in Nogales," Garino told the AP.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Department of Defense did not respond to inquiries about why additional wire was installed last weekend.
City leaders were critical of military exercises at the border during the holiday season, saying they believed it scared shoppers.
The resolution the city council is scheduled to vote on says concertina wire is typically something found in battlefields, and that placing it along the border fence is "not only irresponsible but inhuman."
In a tweet, U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva, a Democrat, called its placement a stunt by the Trump administration, which he said is "trying to create the perception of rampant lawlessness and crime."
The Nogales measure would be one of the more direct swipes against one of Trump's signature initiatives. In September 2017, the San Diego City Council adopted a resolution that said Trump's walls would be "damaging symbols of fear and division that will increase tensions with Mexico, one of the United States' largest trading partners and a neighbor with which communities such as San Diego in the border region are inextricably linked culturally, physically, and economically."
It said Trump's proposal "could destroy the vitality of U.S.- Mexico relations and act as a separation to our unique, diverse, and beautiful region."
The San Diego resolution passed 5-3, with Democrats in favor and Republicans opposed. Kevin Faulconer, the city's Republican mayor didn't back the statement but didn't veto it either. The mayor often says the U.S. should focus on building bridges instead of walls.
Other border mayors have also been critical.
"We have a fence here. The fence is fine. It does what it's supposed to do," Dee Margo, the Republican mayor of El Paso, Texas, said last year. "I hear the term wall, I think of the Berlin Wall. I think it's pretty detrimental to the relationships that have lasted more than 400 years."
The number of arrests by the Border Patrol is the lowest since the early 1970s, while the number of agents has more than doubled.
Over 1.6 million arrests were made by just about 9,200 agents nationwide in the 2000. But those figures tapered off as the government dramatically increased staffing and resources like more surveillance technology and tall, steel fencing.
By last fiscal year, about 19,000 Border Patrol agents made 310,000 arrests.
———
Associated Press reporters Elliot Spagat in San Diego, Nomaan Merchant in Houston and Walter Berry in Phoenix contributed to this report.
END
Wednesday, February 6, 2019
AZMEX POLICY 6-2-19
AZMEX POLICY 6 FEB 2019
Note: she is, of course, a democrat.
Thx
New Mexico governor pulls National Guard troops from border
by MORGAN LEE, Associated PressWednesday, February 6th 2019
https://kfoxtv.com/news/local/new-mexico-governor-pulls-national-guard-troops-from-border-02-06-2019-175757776
FILE - This Oct. 30, 2018, file photo shows the international border between Mexico, left, and New Mexico of the U.S., three miles south of Columbus, N.M. New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham ordered the withdrawal of the majority of the state's National Guard troops from the U.S. border with Mexico on Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2019, in a move that challenges President Donald Trump's description of a security crisis. (Roberto E. Rosales/The Albuquerque Journal via AP, File)
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The governor of New Mexico ordered the withdrawal of the majority of the state's National Guard troops from the U.S. border with Mexico on Tuesday, in a move that challenges President Trump's description of a security crisis.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced the partial withdrawal shortly before Trump's State of the Union address. Her Republican predecessor deployed National Guard troops to the border in April 2018 at Trump's suggestion, and 118 remained there before Tuesday's reversal.
"New Mexico will not take part in the president's charade of border fear-mongering by misusing our diligent National Guard troops," Lujan Grisham said in a statement.
At the same time, the governor said a small contingent — around a dozen guardsmen — will remain in the southwestern corner of the state to assist with humanitarian needs in a remote corridor for cross-border immigration. She also mobilized state police to assist local law enforcement.
"I recognize and appreciate the legitimate concerns of residents and officials in southwestern New Mexico, particularly Hidalgo County, who have asked for our assistance, as migrants and asylum-seekers continue to appear at their doorstep," the governor said.
At remote stretches of New Mexico's border with Mexico, large numbers of Central American migrants have surrendered in recent months to U.S. authorities. The perils of the state's desert borderlands have been highlighted with the deaths of Guatemalan immigrant children Felipe Gomez Alonzo and Jakelin Caal while in U.S. custody in New Mexico.
New Mexico's contingent of border troops is dwarfed by recent federal deployments of active duty troops.
The Pentagon announced Sunday it would send 3,750 more troops to the U.S.-Mexico border to put up barbed wire and provide support for Customs and Border Protection, increasing the total number to 4,350.
Lujan Grisham traveled last month to New Mexico's southern edge for briefings from the National Guard and Customs and Border Protection, explaining that she wanted to see the situation for herself.
On Tuesday, she also directed 25 troops from other states — Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Wisconsin — to withdraw from the New Mexico border.
End
More: https://www.1776coalition.com/other-news-1/governor-withdraws-most-new-mexico-national-guard-from-border/
End
Note: she is, of course, a democrat.
Thx
New Mexico governor pulls National Guard troops from border
by MORGAN LEE, Associated PressWednesday, February 6th 2019
https://kfoxtv.com/news/local/new-mexico-governor-pulls-national-guard-troops-from-border-02-06-2019-175757776
FILE - This Oct. 30, 2018, file photo shows the international border between Mexico, left, and New Mexico of the U.S., three miles south of Columbus, N.M. New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham ordered the withdrawal of the majority of the state's National Guard troops from the U.S. border with Mexico on Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2019, in a move that challenges President Donald Trump's description of a security crisis. (Roberto E. Rosales/The Albuquerque Journal via AP, File)
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The governor of New Mexico ordered the withdrawal of the majority of the state's National Guard troops from the U.S. border with Mexico on Tuesday, in a move that challenges President Trump's description of a security crisis.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced the partial withdrawal shortly before Trump's State of the Union address. Her Republican predecessor deployed National Guard troops to the border in April 2018 at Trump's suggestion, and 118 remained there before Tuesday's reversal.
"New Mexico will not take part in the president's charade of border fear-mongering by misusing our diligent National Guard troops," Lujan Grisham said in a statement.
At the same time, the governor said a small contingent — around a dozen guardsmen — will remain in the southwestern corner of the state to assist with humanitarian needs in a remote corridor for cross-border immigration. She also mobilized state police to assist local law enforcement.
"I recognize and appreciate the legitimate concerns of residents and officials in southwestern New Mexico, particularly Hidalgo County, who have asked for our assistance, as migrants and asylum-seekers continue to appear at their doorstep," the governor said.
At remote stretches of New Mexico's border with Mexico, large numbers of Central American migrants have surrendered in recent months to U.S. authorities. The perils of the state's desert borderlands have been highlighted with the deaths of Guatemalan immigrant children Felipe Gomez Alonzo and Jakelin Caal while in U.S. custody in New Mexico.
New Mexico's contingent of border troops is dwarfed by recent federal deployments of active duty troops.
The Pentagon announced Sunday it would send 3,750 more troops to the U.S.-Mexico border to put up barbed wire and provide support for Customs and Border Protection, increasing the total number to 4,350.
Lujan Grisham traveled last month to New Mexico's southern edge for briefings from the National Guard and Customs and Border Protection, explaining that she wanted to see the situation for herself.
On Tuesday, she also directed 25 troops from other states — Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Wisconsin — to withdraw from the New Mexico border.
End
More: https://www.1776coalition.com/other-news-1/governor-withdraws-most-new-mexico-national-guard-from-border/
End
AZMEX UPDATE 5-2-19
AZMEX UPDATE 5 FEB 2019
Border States Less Likely To Report Crime Due To Fear Of Cartel Retaliation
OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 1:25 PM PT — Monday, February 4, 2019
https://www.oann.com/border-states-less-likely-to-report-crime-due-to-fear-of-cartel-retaliation/
Gang-related violence in Tijuana is making its way north of the border. Residents in New Mexico, who live within a 50-miles of the border are saying they are afraid to report crimes in the area due to the threat of retaliation from cartel members.
One rancher recalled turning in 700-pounds of marijuana that was found on his property, and waking up to vandalism and major damage to his ranch.
The president has repeatedly highlighted the threat of traffickers entering the U.S. as he continues to fight for border wall funding.
"Absolutely vital, will not work without it, this crisis threatens the safety of our country and thousands of American lives," stated President Trump. "Criminal cartels, narco-terrorists, transnational gangs like MS-13 and human traffickers are brazenly violating U.S. laws and terrorizing innocent communities."
The cartel is also an increasing concern in Mexico, with the number of homicides increasing at a record rate. Mexican law enforcement officials said many of those homicides are linked to drug trade, most of which involve opioids.
FILE – In this Aug. 11, 2017, file photo, a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol vehicle passes along a section of border levee wall in Hidalgo, Texas. The U.S. government is preparing to begin construction of more border walls and fencing in South Texas' Rio Grande Valley. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
According to the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Mexican cartels are responsible for most of the production of methamphetamine and heroin. They are also the leading manufacturer of fentanyl, which is a synthetic opioid many times more potent than heroin.
While former Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto and his predecessor have both waged war against criminal gangs in the country for more than a decade, the push has shown little results.
According to President Trump, increased border security would help stop the drugs and violence from entering the U.S.
END
The Night Shift: A look at changing smuggling patterns in the remote New Mexico desert
By: Julio-Cesar Chavez
Posted: Feb 01, 2019 02:55 PM MST
Updated: Feb 04, 2019 05:46 PM MST
https://www.kvia.com/news/border/border-patrol-adapting-to-changing-human-smuggling-patterns-with-more-agents-in-remote-areas/998079549
Surveillance image of the first group of 247 migrants crossing a border barrier into the US earlier this week. The Border Patrol says this group was used as a distraction by drug traffickers to smuggle drugs into the US.
ANTELOPE WELLS, New Mexico - The Antelope Wells port of entry, a remote border crossing in the New Mexico desert, has been seeing hundreds of undocumented immigrants turning themselves over to Border Patrol almost every week.
It's there seven-year-old Jakelin Caal crossed with her father and a group of 163 seeking asylum. She died 27 hours later; Her cause of death still pending.
Large groups of asylum seekers often wait until dark falls to turn themselves in.
The closest cities, Lordsburg and Deming, are nearly 100 miles away.
This tiny port is at the center of a shift in human smuggling.
The crowds mostly wait until the sun sets to turn themselves into the Border Patrol agents.
"Since October the beginning of October is when we started noticing larger groups coming across," said Joe Romero, a Border Patrol supervisor.
Earlier this month, Border Patrol cameras captured 247 migrants of all ages climbing over this vehicle barrier.
"I think we've had like 26 or 27 larger groups of over 100 since October. It's been a pretty steady flow," Romero said.
The migrants are dropped off one or two miles south of the border, where they are told to walk up to Border Patrol agents. They then climb though holes in the barbed wire fence, cross the border, and climb over vehicle barriers not meant to stop people in the remote expanse. It's then they walk about a quarter mile down to the port of entry and turn themselves in to Border Patrol agents.
Most have similar stories.
"Back in Guatemala, my son and I received death threats and so we decided to come to the US," said Carla Xocoy, a Guatemalan woman who was one of three people to turn themselves over to Border Patrol Wednesday night. Xocoy and her son traveled nearly 2,000 miles to reach to the US.
On this night, Border Patrol agents monitoring the area with infrared gear watched as the small group of three, including an unrelated teenage boy, were escorted to the border by what appeared to be smugglers.
Small numbers like these are easier to handle, but the larger groups -100 to 300 people at a time - also bring challenges. Agents here see groups like that sometimes twice a week.
"When you're talking about large groups of people we're seeing an increase in injuries and illnesses—from scabies to syphilis to chicken pox to flu," Romero said.
The Border Patrol has needed to adjust, stationing four specially trained Border Patrol Search, Trauma, and Rescue agents whose mission is to always be at the camp, waiting.
"Having our BORSTAR agents out there, they're trained EMTS, they're able to give a better analysis of what's happening out there and provide some further treatment than an agent typically would," Romero said.
But that means these agents can't be working their normal stations or patrolling the field.
"It's better to be prepared for something that doesn't't happen than not be prepared for something that does," Romero said.
Even with two crossings almost every week for months, no large groups turned themselves over last week.
The special operations agents still had their mission, to wait for the asylum seekers -- and the smugglers'-- next move... In a real-life chess game.
When large groups do come, drug smugglers take advantage.
"They're pushing drug mules both east and west of those areas to try to keep the agents occupied with those large groups while they're pushing drugs on the outskirts of those areas," Romero said.
As this group crossed, smugglers tried to sneak more than 250 pounds of pot. They were caught.
This is only one of the things lawmakers will have to take into account when they negotiate on Border Security with that February 15 deadline. For now the agents at this forward operating base have had their orders extended for at least one more month.
END
Border States Less Likely To Report Crime Due To Fear Of Cartel Retaliation
OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 1:25 PM PT — Monday, February 4, 2019
https://www.oann.com/border-states-less-likely-to-report-crime-due-to-fear-of-cartel-retaliation/
Gang-related violence in Tijuana is making its way north of the border. Residents in New Mexico, who live within a 50-miles of the border are saying they are afraid to report crimes in the area due to the threat of retaliation from cartel members.
One rancher recalled turning in 700-pounds of marijuana that was found on his property, and waking up to vandalism and major damage to his ranch.
The president has repeatedly highlighted the threat of traffickers entering the U.S. as he continues to fight for border wall funding.
"Absolutely vital, will not work without it, this crisis threatens the safety of our country and thousands of American lives," stated President Trump. "Criminal cartels, narco-terrorists, transnational gangs like MS-13 and human traffickers are brazenly violating U.S. laws and terrorizing innocent communities."
The cartel is also an increasing concern in Mexico, with the number of homicides increasing at a record rate. Mexican law enforcement officials said many of those homicides are linked to drug trade, most of which involve opioids.
FILE – In this Aug. 11, 2017, file photo, a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol vehicle passes along a section of border levee wall in Hidalgo, Texas. The U.S. government is preparing to begin construction of more border walls and fencing in South Texas' Rio Grande Valley. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
According to the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Mexican cartels are responsible for most of the production of methamphetamine and heroin. They are also the leading manufacturer of fentanyl, which is a synthetic opioid many times more potent than heroin.
While former Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto and his predecessor have both waged war against criminal gangs in the country for more than a decade, the push has shown little results.
According to President Trump, increased border security would help stop the drugs and violence from entering the U.S.
END
The Night Shift: A look at changing smuggling patterns in the remote New Mexico desert
By: Julio-Cesar Chavez
Posted: Feb 01, 2019 02:55 PM MST
Updated: Feb 04, 2019 05:46 PM MST
https://www.kvia.com/news/border/border-patrol-adapting-to-changing-human-smuggling-patterns-with-more-agents-in-remote-areas/998079549
Surveillance image of the first group of 247 migrants crossing a border barrier into the US earlier this week. The Border Patrol says this group was used as a distraction by drug traffickers to smuggle drugs into the US.
ANTELOPE WELLS, New Mexico - The Antelope Wells port of entry, a remote border crossing in the New Mexico desert, has been seeing hundreds of undocumented immigrants turning themselves over to Border Patrol almost every week.
It's there seven-year-old Jakelin Caal crossed with her father and a group of 163 seeking asylum. She died 27 hours later; Her cause of death still pending.
Large groups of asylum seekers often wait until dark falls to turn themselves in.
The closest cities, Lordsburg and Deming, are nearly 100 miles away.
This tiny port is at the center of a shift in human smuggling.
The crowds mostly wait until the sun sets to turn themselves into the Border Patrol agents.
"Since October the beginning of October is when we started noticing larger groups coming across," said Joe Romero, a Border Patrol supervisor.
Earlier this month, Border Patrol cameras captured 247 migrants of all ages climbing over this vehicle barrier.
"I think we've had like 26 or 27 larger groups of over 100 since October. It's been a pretty steady flow," Romero said.
The migrants are dropped off one or two miles south of the border, where they are told to walk up to Border Patrol agents. They then climb though holes in the barbed wire fence, cross the border, and climb over vehicle barriers not meant to stop people in the remote expanse. It's then they walk about a quarter mile down to the port of entry and turn themselves in to Border Patrol agents.
Most have similar stories.
"Back in Guatemala, my son and I received death threats and so we decided to come to the US," said Carla Xocoy, a Guatemalan woman who was one of three people to turn themselves over to Border Patrol Wednesday night. Xocoy and her son traveled nearly 2,000 miles to reach to the US.
On this night, Border Patrol agents monitoring the area with infrared gear watched as the small group of three, including an unrelated teenage boy, were escorted to the border by what appeared to be smugglers.
Small numbers like these are easier to handle, but the larger groups -100 to 300 people at a time - also bring challenges. Agents here see groups like that sometimes twice a week.
"When you're talking about large groups of people we're seeing an increase in injuries and illnesses—from scabies to syphilis to chicken pox to flu," Romero said.
The Border Patrol has needed to adjust, stationing four specially trained Border Patrol Search, Trauma, and Rescue agents whose mission is to always be at the camp, waiting.
"Having our BORSTAR agents out there, they're trained EMTS, they're able to give a better analysis of what's happening out there and provide some further treatment than an agent typically would," Romero said.
But that means these agents can't be working their normal stations or patrolling the field.
"It's better to be prepared for something that doesn't't happen than not be prepared for something that does," Romero said.
Even with two crossings almost every week for months, no large groups turned themselves over last week.
The special operations agents still had their mission, to wait for the asylum seekers -- and the smugglers'-- next move... In a real-life chess game.
When large groups do come, drug smugglers take advantage.
"They're pushing drug mules both east and west of those areas to try to keep the agents occupied with those large groups while they're pushing drugs on the outskirts of those areas," Romero said.
As this group crossed, smugglers tried to sneak more than 250 pounds of pot. They were caught.
This is only one of the things lawmakers will have to take into account when they negotiate on Border Security with that February 15 deadline. For now the agents at this forward operating base have had their orders extended for at least one more month.
END
Tuesday, February 5, 2019
AZMEX I3 5-2-19
AZMEX I3 5 FEB 2019
Migrant caravan reaches Mexican town across river from Eagle Pass, Texas
Posted: Feb 05, 2019 10:53 AM MST
Updated: Feb 05, 2019 01:56 PM MST
https://www.kvia.com/news/texas/migrant-caravan-reaches-mexican-town-across-river-from-eagle-pass-texas/1002523162
Central American migrants settle in a shelter at the Jesus Martinez stadium in Mexico City, in Mexico City, Monday, Jan. 28. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
MEXICO CITY (AP) - A caravan of about 1,700 Central American migrants was camped Tuesday in the Mexican border city of Piedras Negras, just west of Eagle Pass, Texas.
While previous caravans had preferred the border city of Tijuana, the relatively open section of the border around Eagle Pass is marked mainly by the Rio Grande and lacks the long sections of high barriers found in Tijuana.
Still, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security vowed that the "lawless caravan" would not be allowed in.
"Approximately 2,000 aliens have arrived in northern Mexico as part of a 'caravan' seeking to cross the border into Texas. Illegal entry will not be tolerated and we stand ready to prevent it," DHS Secretary Kirstjen M. Nielsen wrote in a statement Tuesday, adding "DHS will take all steps to ensure the safety and security of law enforcement personnel on the frontlines."
Images from local media show U.S. agents with riot gear and shields standing on a bridge separating Eagle Pass and Piedras Negras. DHS said Border Patrol agents had already apprehended some migrants who crossed the border illegally overnight.
Coahuila state Gov. Miguel Angel Riquelme said about 1,700 migrants arrived late Monday aboard 49 buses from the cities of Saltillo and Arteaga. Another smaller group headed toward the neighboring state of Nuevo Leon.
An improvised shelter was set up for the migrants at an unused maquiladora factory, and local officials said the migrants had been given sleeping mats, blankets, food and wireless access.
State child welfare officials reported there 46 unaccompanied youths aged between 15 and 17 in the caravan.
The area from Piedras Negras east to Nuevo Laredo had long been dominated by the now-fragmented Zetas cartel.
The caravan was escorted by soldiers and police, and the state government said migrants wouldn't be allowed to split off from the main group because "these types of caravans have been victims of organized crime groups that try to force the migrants to work for them."
"That is why we are being strict about security," said Coahuila state Interior Secretary Jose María Fraustro.
Local media reported that some migrants objected to guards and closed gates at the improvised shelter, saying they don't want to be locked in.
Previous caravans of mainly Honduran migrants had headed for the border city of Tijuana last year in their bid to reach the United States.
But Tijuana officials said their city was overwhelmed and unprepared to receive more migrants.
A second, larger caravan of several thousand migrants is expected to set out across Mexico soon.
The U.N. refugee agency noted that Mexico had received 12,574 requests for humanitarian visas from Jan. 17-29, almost all from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. The agency interviewed almost 1,000 of the migrants on the border bridge between Guatemala and Mexico.
Of those interviewed, almost 30 percent said they wanted to reach the United States; 46 percent said they might remain in Mexico. Almost one third were minors.
END
Migrant caravan reaches Mexican town across river from Eagle Pass, Texas
Posted: Feb 05, 2019 10:53 AM MST
Updated: Feb 05, 2019 01:56 PM MST
https://www.kvia.com/news/texas/migrant-caravan-reaches-mexican-town-across-river-from-eagle-pass-texas/1002523162
Central American migrants settle in a shelter at the Jesus Martinez stadium in Mexico City, in Mexico City, Monday, Jan. 28. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
MEXICO CITY (AP) - A caravan of about 1,700 Central American migrants was camped Tuesday in the Mexican border city of Piedras Negras, just west of Eagle Pass, Texas.
While previous caravans had preferred the border city of Tijuana, the relatively open section of the border around Eagle Pass is marked mainly by the Rio Grande and lacks the long sections of high barriers found in Tijuana.
Still, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security vowed that the "lawless caravan" would not be allowed in.
"Approximately 2,000 aliens have arrived in northern Mexico as part of a 'caravan' seeking to cross the border into Texas. Illegal entry will not be tolerated and we stand ready to prevent it," DHS Secretary Kirstjen M. Nielsen wrote in a statement Tuesday, adding "DHS will take all steps to ensure the safety and security of law enforcement personnel on the frontlines."
Images from local media show U.S. agents with riot gear and shields standing on a bridge separating Eagle Pass and Piedras Negras. DHS said Border Patrol agents had already apprehended some migrants who crossed the border illegally overnight.
Coahuila state Gov. Miguel Angel Riquelme said about 1,700 migrants arrived late Monday aboard 49 buses from the cities of Saltillo and Arteaga. Another smaller group headed toward the neighboring state of Nuevo Leon.
An improvised shelter was set up for the migrants at an unused maquiladora factory, and local officials said the migrants had been given sleeping mats, blankets, food and wireless access.
State child welfare officials reported there 46 unaccompanied youths aged between 15 and 17 in the caravan.
The area from Piedras Negras east to Nuevo Laredo had long been dominated by the now-fragmented Zetas cartel.
The caravan was escorted by soldiers and police, and the state government said migrants wouldn't be allowed to split off from the main group because "these types of caravans have been victims of organized crime groups that try to force the migrants to work for them."
"That is why we are being strict about security," said Coahuila state Interior Secretary Jose María Fraustro.
Local media reported that some migrants objected to guards and closed gates at the improvised shelter, saying they don't want to be locked in.
Previous caravans of mainly Honduran migrants had headed for the border city of Tijuana last year in their bid to reach the United States.
But Tijuana officials said their city was overwhelmed and unprepared to receive more migrants.
A second, larger caravan of several thousand migrants is expected to set out across Mexico soon.
The U.N. refugee agency noted that Mexico had received 12,574 requests for humanitarian visas from Jan. 17-29, almost all from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. The agency interviewed almost 1,000 of the migrants on the border bridge between Guatemala and Mexico.
Of those interviewed, almost 30 percent said they wanted to reach the United States; 46 percent said they might remain in Mexico. Almost one third were minors.
END
AZVEN UPDATE 4-2-19
AZVEN UPDATE 4 FEB 2019
Note: if accurate, could lead to big trouble. Including spreading US resources very thin.
Explaining why China and Russia also supporting El Burro Maduro.
Thx
Sunday, February 03 2019
Sources: Iran Sending Elite Forces to Venezuela to Assist Socialist Leaders to Crush Uprising Featured
Written by Jim Hoft
https://www.blabber.buzz/conservative-news/491747-sources-iranian-regime-is-sending-elite-forces-to-venezuela-to-assist-socialist-leaders-to-crush-the-popular-uprising-special?utm_source=c-alrt&utm_medium=c-alrt-email&utm_term=c-alrt-AOL
Sources: Iran Sending Elite Forces to Venezuela to Assist Socialist Leaders to Crush Uprising
Venezuelan Socialist tyrant Nicolas Maduro with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Iran.
Sources inside Iran say the Khomeiniist regime is sending top IRBC Commanders to Venezuela to quash the popular democratic uprising.
Iran already has military forces spread out to Syria, Yemen and Lebanon.
This is a frightening development.
ISICRC.org reported:
Sources from within the regime who asked not to be identified report that the Khomeiniist regime is dispatching special anti-riot units Chiefs accompanied by IRGC Commanders to Venezuela in order to offer instruction and reinforcement, in order to quash the anti-Maduro protests. This group of commanders are said to be travelling as oil consultants.
In December the Islamic regime announced that it will likely deploy a new-generation of warships, the Sahand destroyer — which can carry helicopters, fire torpedoes and shoot down airplanes —to Venezuela. The deputy commander of the Iranian navy, Rear Admiral Touraj Hassani Moqaddam, told Reuters: "Our plans for the near future include sending two or three ships, with special helicopters, to Venezuela on a South American mission that could last for five months".
Tehran's provocative actions are already raising serious concerns among analysts.
More than One Year Later, Iran's Protests Endure
'This is nothing."
So said Iranian president Hassan Rouhani on January 1, 2018, four days after nationwide protests began to consume his country. "Our great nation," he declared, "has witnessed a number of similar incidents in the past and has comfortably dealt with them.
The statement hasn't aged well.
Thirteen months later, the Iranian uprising has shown remarkable endurance. Although Western reporting about the demonstrations largely faded within weeks, protests continued throughout 2018. Dozens of rallies have already occurred this year. Yet unlike other revolts in the Middle East, which rapidly subsided, descended into civil war, or — as in the case of Egypt and Tunisia — resulted in swift regime change, Iran's unrest persists in a state of apparent deadlock.
But that may change. In recent weeks, key figures tied to the regime have begun to express doubts about the regime's future. Hassan Khomeini, the grandson of Iran's first supreme leader, the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, said the regime may collapse. "The foundation of any society is to win people's satisfaction," he warned. "There is no guarantee that we stay in power and the others go." Mohammad Reza Tajik, a political adviser to former president Mohammad Khatami, compared Tehran to the "Titanic in turbulent waters." A top cleric, Ayatollah Abdollah Javadi-Amoli, claimed that the insurrection could "push" the clergy "into the sea."
One Iranian lawmaker, Jalil Rahimi Jahanabadi, made a portentous comparison. "When the Soviet Union collapsed," he told the Iranian parliament, "it had 13,000 nuclear warheads and had influence in more than 20 countries and a space station, but it was torn apart on the streets of Moscow, losing its security and territorial integrity."
Faezeh Hashemi, the daughter of former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, added that the Islamic Republic clings to power primarily through "intimidation" and "fear," making its ultimate downfall "very likely." "Everywhere you look," she declared, "there's inefficiency, there's a lack of leadership and reason, everything is abandoned, there's no attempt to find solutions to the problems or if there is then things only get worse, there are no signs of improvement."
What explains the regime's paralysis?
It certainly isn't squeamishness about the use of force. Tehran's police state has murdered thousands of Iranians since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Since the demonstrations began, security forces have arrested more than 7,000 protesters and killed at least 26. And throughout the Middle East, Iranian forces and proxies continue to inflict untold bloodshed — most notably in Syria, where Tehran provides military support to a regime responsible for more than half a million deaths.
Yet Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is not Bashar al-Assad. Iran's current supreme leader, like his secular counterpart in Syria, seeks to retain power, but his Islamist ideology constrains his ability to wage a scorched-earth campaign. In Khamenei's mind, the Islamic Republic must not merely survive. It must also assume its divinely mandated role as the regional hegemon, with its radical Shiite doctrine commanding the allegiance of the umma, or Muslim world. This aspiration requires not only financial resources, but also — and perhaps more critically — a successful political template at home that can serve as a model for Iran's neighbors.
This ideological goal helps explain Tehran's dilemma. Replicating Assad's domestic barbarity would surely weaken the umma's faith in the glories of the Islamic Revolution. It would also deter international investment, which has already depreciated sharply in the wake of America's withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal. In the long term, Iran cannot sustain its influence abroad if its own territory lies in rubble, if its society remains riven by internal dissent, and if its economy collapses.
The collision of Khamenei's creed with the imperatives of realpolitik has left Tehran in a straitjacket. To address its people's manifold demands, Iran would need to restore its ailing economy, end regime corruption, ameliorate water shortages, cease human-rights abuses, and roll back its regional aggression. But achieving these goals would require Tehran, at a minimum, to reconcile with the United States, embrace liberal norms, and become, as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo put it, a "normal country."
Herein lies the revolution's fundamental contradiction. In order to survive, Tehran would need to deny its Islamist identity — the basis of its self-declared legitimacy. It would need to commit political suicide.
But it's not only the regime that faces an identity crisis. For many Iranian citizens, accepting the status quo not only threatens their prosperity and freedom but also amounts to its own form of political suicide. While its Arab neighbors are defined by artificial borders, Iran possess an organic, millennia-old national identity that belies Tehran's enforced — and historically anomalous — pan-Islamist creed. As populist movements rooted in nationalist fervor reshape global politics, the cumulative failures of the Islamic Republic have reignited its people's historical consciousness.
Iran's demonstrations are "attuned to the worldwide spirit of nationalist renewal," notes Sohrab Amari, the Iranian expatriate and journalist. "From the U.S. to India, and from South Africa to Britain, political leaders and the voters who elect them are reaffirming the enduring value of the nation-state. Iran hasn't been immured from these developments, as the slogans of the current protests indicate."
Strikingly, the chants of demonstrators have featured little discernible anti-American sentiment. Iranians primarily blame the regime for their problems — not, as Tehran posits, Western imperialism. Their most poignant rallying cry, "America is not the enemy, the enemy is right here," echoes in the streets of Tehran. Even the renewed sanctions triggered by Washington's exit from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action have not altered this narrative.
In this sense, the grievances of protesters may run the gamut of Iran's foreign and domestic policy, but they share a common root. Tehran, in the eyes of countless Iranians, has prioritized revolution over nationhood. The upheaval thus represents not merely a disagreement over policy but a fundamental — and irreconcilable — clash of identity and political vision.
To be sure, the Islamic Republic may yet prevail. Iran's security infrastructure remains loyal to the regime, and unarmed protesters can achieve only so much in a police state. Sanctions are squeezing Iran, but Tehran still retains lifelines in the form of exemptions for major oil buyers and significant gaps in the sanctions architecture.
President Trump appears uninterested in further intensifying economic pressure. And with the 2020 election just over the horizon, the mullahs may be hoping they can wait him out. A Democrat in the White House would likely reenter the nuclear deal, enabling Iran's reintegration into the global financial system.
Still, Iranians have reason for optimism. The endurance of the uprising surely reflects the desperation of its participants, but it also may reflect the citizenry's implicit recognition of Tehran's increasing vulnerability. In this sense, the protests may spring from hope as well — hope that, in the not too distant future, their efforts may yet succeed.
Iran, Russia, Venezuela Have 'Anti-West' Social Media Projects
Foreign countries and governments that are at odds with the U.S. government will stop at nothing to influence elections. In announcements made on January 31, Facebook and Twitter stated that several hundred pages and accounts linked to Iran, Russia, and Venezuela had been taken down.
These pages advocated for decidedly anti-West values, especially pro-Palestine propaganda and 9/11 conspiracy theories.
At least 783 pages and accounts were removed, according to Facebook.The Iranian accounts had been active for five years. Facebook said the accounts had hosted eight events on the platform. The accounts purchased more than $20,000 worth of advertising on both Facebook and Instagram. Some of the posts included statements like, "I do not recognize Israel at all." Another post showed a salesman with a star of David on his sleeve selling ties to a nervous man, with a comment about "The deal of the century."
On Twitter, Iranian accounts were targeting U.S. midterm elections in 2018. A majority of these accounts were suspended before the election. Over 2,617 accounts linked to Iran were suspended.
Twitter was also forced to remove 764 accounts in Venezuela. Many of these accounts were linked to a foreign campaign that focused on "divisive campaigns." While most of the accounts targeted Venezuelans, a few were aimed at other, unnamed audiences.
This article was sourced from NewsBusters
This article was sourced from The Gateway Pundit
This article was sourced from National Review
END
Note: if accurate, could lead to big trouble. Including spreading US resources very thin.
Explaining why China and Russia also supporting El Burro Maduro.
Thx
Sunday, February 03 2019
Sources: Iran Sending Elite Forces to Venezuela to Assist Socialist Leaders to Crush Uprising Featured
Written by Jim Hoft
https://www.blabber.buzz/conservative-news/491747-sources-iranian-regime-is-sending-elite-forces-to-venezuela-to-assist-socialist-leaders-to-crush-the-popular-uprising-special?utm_source=c-alrt&utm_medium=c-alrt-email&utm_term=c-alrt-AOL
Sources: Iran Sending Elite Forces to Venezuela to Assist Socialist Leaders to Crush Uprising
Venezuelan Socialist tyrant Nicolas Maduro with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Iran.
Sources inside Iran say the Khomeiniist regime is sending top IRBC Commanders to Venezuela to quash the popular democratic uprising.
Iran already has military forces spread out to Syria, Yemen and Lebanon.
This is a frightening development.
ISICRC.org reported:
Sources from within the regime who asked not to be identified report that the Khomeiniist regime is dispatching special anti-riot units Chiefs accompanied by IRGC Commanders to Venezuela in order to offer instruction and reinforcement, in order to quash the anti-Maduro protests. This group of commanders are said to be travelling as oil consultants.
In December the Islamic regime announced that it will likely deploy a new-generation of warships, the Sahand destroyer — which can carry helicopters, fire torpedoes and shoot down airplanes —to Venezuela. The deputy commander of the Iranian navy, Rear Admiral Touraj Hassani Moqaddam, told Reuters: "Our plans for the near future include sending two or three ships, with special helicopters, to Venezuela on a South American mission that could last for five months".
Tehran's provocative actions are already raising serious concerns among analysts.
More than One Year Later, Iran's Protests Endure
'This is nothing."
So said Iranian president Hassan Rouhani on January 1, 2018, four days after nationwide protests began to consume his country. "Our great nation," he declared, "has witnessed a number of similar incidents in the past and has comfortably dealt with them.
The statement hasn't aged well.
Thirteen months later, the Iranian uprising has shown remarkable endurance. Although Western reporting about the demonstrations largely faded within weeks, protests continued throughout 2018. Dozens of rallies have already occurred this year. Yet unlike other revolts in the Middle East, which rapidly subsided, descended into civil war, or — as in the case of Egypt and Tunisia — resulted in swift regime change, Iran's unrest persists in a state of apparent deadlock.
But that may change. In recent weeks, key figures tied to the regime have begun to express doubts about the regime's future. Hassan Khomeini, the grandson of Iran's first supreme leader, the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, said the regime may collapse. "The foundation of any society is to win people's satisfaction," he warned. "There is no guarantee that we stay in power and the others go." Mohammad Reza Tajik, a political adviser to former president Mohammad Khatami, compared Tehran to the "Titanic in turbulent waters." A top cleric, Ayatollah Abdollah Javadi-Amoli, claimed that the insurrection could "push" the clergy "into the sea."
One Iranian lawmaker, Jalil Rahimi Jahanabadi, made a portentous comparison. "When the Soviet Union collapsed," he told the Iranian parliament, "it had 13,000 nuclear warheads and had influence in more than 20 countries and a space station, but it was torn apart on the streets of Moscow, losing its security and territorial integrity."
Faezeh Hashemi, the daughter of former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, added that the Islamic Republic clings to power primarily through "intimidation" and "fear," making its ultimate downfall "very likely." "Everywhere you look," she declared, "there's inefficiency, there's a lack of leadership and reason, everything is abandoned, there's no attempt to find solutions to the problems or if there is then things only get worse, there are no signs of improvement."
What explains the regime's paralysis?
It certainly isn't squeamishness about the use of force. Tehran's police state has murdered thousands of Iranians since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Since the demonstrations began, security forces have arrested more than 7,000 protesters and killed at least 26. And throughout the Middle East, Iranian forces and proxies continue to inflict untold bloodshed — most notably in Syria, where Tehran provides military support to a regime responsible for more than half a million deaths.
Yet Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is not Bashar al-Assad. Iran's current supreme leader, like his secular counterpart in Syria, seeks to retain power, but his Islamist ideology constrains his ability to wage a scorched-earth campaign. In Khamenei's mind, the Islamic Republic must not merely survive. It must also assume its divinely mandated role as the regional hegemon, with its radical Shiite doctrine commanding the allegiance of the umma, or Muslim world. This aspiration requires not only financial resources, but also — and perhaps more critically — a successful political template at home that can serve as a model for Iran's neighbors.
This ideological goal helps explain Tehran's dilemma. Replicating Assad's domestic barbarity would surely weaken the umma's faith in the glories of the Islamic Revolution. It would also deter international investment, which has already depreciated sharply in the wake of America's withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal. In the long term, Iran cannot sustain its influence abroad if its own territory lies in rubble, if its society remains riven by internal dissent, and if its economy collapses.
The collision of Khamenei's creed with the imperatives of realpolitik has left Tehran in a straitjacket. To address its people's manifold demands, Iran would need to restore its ailing economy, end regime corruption, ameliorate water shortages, cease human-rights abuses, and roll back its regional aggression. But achieving these goals would require Tehran, at a minimum, to reconcile with the United States, embrace liberal norms, and become, as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo put it, a "normal country."
Herein lies the revolution's fundamental contradiction. In order to survive, Tehran would need to deny its Islamist identity — the basis of its self-declared legitimacy. It would need to commit political suicide.
But it's not only the regime that faces an identity crisis. For many Iranian citizens, accepting the status quo not only threatens their prosperity and freedom but also amounts to its own form of political suicide. While its Arab neighbors are defined by artificial borders, Iran possess an organic, millennia-old national identity that belies Tehran's enforced — and historically anomalous — pan-Islamist creed. As populist movements rooted in nationalist fervor reshape global politics, the cumulative failures of the Islamic Republic have reignited its people's historical consciousness.
Iran's demonstrations are "attuned to the worldwide spirit of nationalist renewal," notes Sohrab Amari, the Iranian expatriate and journalist. "From the U.S. to India, and from South Africa to Britain, political leaders and the voters who elect them are reaffirming the enduring value of the nation-state. Iran hasn't been immured from these developments, as the slogans of the current protests indicate."
Strikingly, the chants of demonstrators have featured little discernible anti-American sentiment. Iranians primarily blame the regime for their problems — not, as Tehran posits, Western imperialism. Their most poignant rallying cry, "America is not the enemy, the enemy is right here," echoes in the streets of Tehran. Even the renewed sanctions triggered by Washington's exit from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action have not altered this narrative.
In this sense, the grievances of protesters may run the gamut of Iran's foreign and domestic policy, but they share a common root. Tehran, in the eyes of countless Iranians, has prioritized revolution over nationhood. The upheaval thus represents not merely a disagreement over policy but a fundamental — and irreconcilable — clash of identity and political vision.
To be sure, the Islamic Republic may yet prevail. Iran's security infrastructure remains loyal to the regime, and unarmed protesters can achieve only so much in a police state. Sanctions are squeezing Iran, but Tehran still retains lifelines in the form of exemptions for major oil buyers and significant gaps in the sanctions architecture.
President Trump appears uninterested in further intensifying economic pressure. And with the 2020 election just over the horizon, the mullahs may be hoping they can wait him out. A Democrat in the White House would likely reenter the nuclear deal, enabling Iran's reintegration into the global financial system.
Still, Iranians have reason for optimism. The endurance of the uprising surely reflects the desperation of its participants, but it also may reflect the citizenry's implicit recognition of Tehran's increasing vulnerability. In this sense, the protests may spring from hope as well — hope that, in the not too distant future, their efforts may yet succeed.
Iran, Russia, Venezuela Have 'Anti-West' Social Media Projects
Foreign countries and governments that are at odds with the U.S. government will stop at nothing to influence elections. In announcements made on January 31, Facebook and Twitter stated that several hundred pages and accounts linked to Iran, Russia, and Venezuela had been taken down.
These pages advocated for decidedly anti-West values, especially pro-Palestine propaganda and 9/11 conspiracy theories.
At least 783 pages and accounts were removed, according to Facebook.The Iranian accounts had been active for five years. Facebook said the accounts had hosted eight events on the platform. The accounts purchased more than $20,000 worth of advertising on both Facebook and Instagram. Some of the posts included statements like, "I do not recognize Israel at all." Another post showed a salesman with a star of David on his sleeve selling ties to a nervous man, with a comment about "The deal of the century."
On Twitter, Iranian accounts were targeting U.S. midterm elections in 2018. A majority of these accounts were suspended before the election. Over 2,617 accounts linked to Iran were suspended.
Twitter was also forced to remove 764 accounts in Venezuela. Many of these accounts were linked to a foreign campaign that focused on "divisive campaigns." While most of the accounts targeted Venezuelans, a few were aimed at other, unnamed audiences.
This article was sourced from NewsBusters
This article was sourced from The Gateway Pundit
This article was sourced from National Review
END
AZMEX UPDATE 1-2-19
AZMEX UPDATE 1 FEB 2019
Note: mug shot at link.
News
Border Patrol arrests Sureño gang member
Posted: Jan 31, 2019 04:56 PM MST
Updated: Jan 31, 2019 05:01 PM MST
https://www.kyma.com/news/border-patrol-arrests-sureno-gang-member/997032668
CALEXICO, Calif. - Border Patrol agents assigned to El Centro Sector arrested a gang member Wednesday afternoon, 42 miles west of the Calexico Port of Entry, suspected of illegally entering the United States.
At around 5:30 p.m., Border Patrol agents patrolling west of the Calexico Port of Entry said they arrested Hugo Evangelista-Ibanes on suspicion of illegal entry into the United States and transported him to a Border Patrol facility for further processing.
Agents confirmed his identity and discovered he was a 36-year-old Mexican national that had been removed from the United States on two previous occasions. Agents also discovered that he had an extensive criminal history and served a 60 month sentence in Oregon for unlawful use of a weapon in 2011. Evangelista admitted that he is a member of the Sureño street gang.
Evangelista is being held in custody pending prosecution for felony Federal charges.
End
VALLEY
Former Southwest Key employee sentenced to 19 years in prison for sex abuse of migrant teens at Mesa facility
His sentence was increased because he exposed the victims to the HIV virus, according to the District of Arizona U.S. Attorney's Office.
Author: 12 News
Published: 2:17 PM MST February 1, 2019
Updated: 3:34 PM MST February 1, 2019
https://www.12news.com/article/news/local/valley/former-southwest-key-employee-sentenced-to-19-years-in-prison-for-sex-abuse-of-migrant-teens-at-mesa-facility/75-64c7c3ae-f317-4085-bd12-3ee604d8d85b
A former Southwest Key employee charged with sexually abusing migrant teenage boys has been sentenced to 19 years in prison, the District of Arizona U.S. Attorney's Office said in a statement.
Levian D. Pacheco, 25, was in charge of supervising the boys as a youth care worker at the Casa Kokopelli Southwest Key Facility in Mesa, Arizona.
Evidence at the trial showed that between August 2016 and July 2017, Pacheco sexually abused several teenage boys at the facility, according to the attorney's office.
RELATED: Mesa Southwest Key employee charged with sex acts against 8 migrant children
The jury convicted Pacheco of sexually abusing seven victims, some on more than one occasion, the attorney's office said.
Prosecutors said the acts of abuse included touching the boys' genitals over their clothes as well as other sexual abuse.
The victims had been detained at the Southwest Facility pending immigration cases.
RELATED: Former Mesa Southwest Key employee convicted on sex charges against migrant children
The attorney's office said Pacheco's sentence was increased because he exposed some of his victims to the HIV virus.
End
Note: mug shot at link.
News
Border Patrol arrests Sureño gang member
Posted: Jan 31, 2019 04:56 PM MST
Updated: Jan 31, 2019 05:01 PM MST
https://www.kyma.com/news/border-patrol-arrests-sureno-gang-member/997032668
CALEXICO, Calif. - Border Patrol agents assigned to El Centro Sector arrested a gang member Wednesday afternoon, 42 miles west of the Calexico Port of Entry, suspected of illegally entering the United States.
At around 5:30 p.m., Border Patrol agents patrolling west of the Calexico Port of Entry said they arrested Hugo Evangelista-Ibanes on suspicion of illegal entry into the United States and transported him to a Border Patrol facility for further processing.
Agents confirmed his identity and discovered he was a 36-year-old Mexican national that had been removed from the United States on two previous occasions. Agents also discovered that he had an extensive criminal history and served a 60 month sentence in Oregon for unlawful use of a weapon in 2011. Evangelista admitted that he is a member of the Sureño street gang.
Evangelista is being held in custody pending prosecution for felony Federal charges.
End
VALLEY
Former Southwest Key employee sentenced to 19 years in prison for sex abuse of migrant teens at Mesa facility
His sentence was increased because he exposed the victims to the HIV virus, according to the District of Arizona U.S. Attorney's Office.
Author: 12 News
Published: 2:17 PM MST February 1, 2019
Updated: 3:34 PM MST February 1, 2019
https://www.12news.com/article/news/local/valley/former-southwest-key-employee-sentenced-to-19-years-in-prison-for-sex-abuse-of-migrant-teens-at-mesa-facility/75-64c7c3ae-f317-4085-bd12-3ee604d8d85b
A former Southwest Key employee charged with sexually abusing migrant teenage boys has been sentenced to 19 years in prison, the District of Arizona U.S. Attorney's Office said in a statement.
Levian D. Pacheco, 25, was in charge of supervising the boys as a youth care worker at the Casa Kokopelli Southwest Key Facility in Mesa, Arizona.
Evidence at the trial showed that between August 2016 and July 2017, Pacheco sexually abused several teenage boys at the facility, according to the attorney's office.
RELATED: Mesa Southwest Key employee charged with sex acts against 8 migrant children
The jury convicted Pacheco of sexually abusing seven victims, some on more than one occasion, the attorney's office said.
Prosecutors said the acts of abuse included touching the boys' genitals over their clothes as well as other sexual abuse.
The victims had been detained at the Southwest Facility pending immigration cases.
RELATED: Former Mesa Southwest Key employee convicted on sex charges against migrant children
The attorney's office said Pacheco's sentence was increased because he exposed some of his victims to the HIV virus.
End
AZ-EL SALVADOR UPDATE 4-2-19
AZ - El Salvador UPDATE
El Salvador election: Nayib Bukele claims presidency
11 minutes ago
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-47113249
Nayib Bukele and his wife Gabriele de Bukele greet supporters in San Salvador, El Salvador, 3 February 2019Image copyrightEPA
Image caption
Nayib Bukele and his wife Gabriele de Bukele were cheered by supporters in San Salvador
Anti-corruption candidate Nayib Bukele has claimed victory in El Salvador's presidential election.
With most votes counted, the former mayor of San Salvador had nearly 53% of the vote with his closest rival, the conservative Carlos Calleja on 32%.
Mr Bukele, 37, needed more than 50% of the vote to avoid a run-off.
The businessman has vowed to tackle corruption and combat the criminal gangs responsible for one of the world's highest murder rates.
Politics in El Salvador has been dominated over the past three decades by two main parties - the incumbent left-wing FMLN and the conservative Arena.
"Today we won in the first round and we made history," Mr Bukele, who represents the Gana (National Alliance) party,
told cheering supporters, turning to include them in a selfie.
"We have turned the page on power."
Nayib Bukele takes a selfie with supportersImage copyrightEPA
Image caption
Nayib Bukele included his supporters in a selfie
His victory was acknowledged by Mr Calleja and by FMLN candidate Hugo Martinez.
"We recognise the results of these elections. We are going to call the president-elect to wish him luck in facing the challenges in this country," Mr Calleja said.
Mr Martinez was in third place with just over 14%.
Electoral officials said official results would be declared within two days.
Great National Alliance (GANA) supporters cheer after the presidential election in San Salvador, El Salvador, February 3, 2019Image copyrightREUTERS
Gana party supporters took to the streets of San Salvador in celebration
Earlier, the electoral court opened an investigation into whether Mr Bukele had broken the law by violating a news embargo.
He was accused of asking for votes during an interview broadcast live on Facebook earlier on Sunday.
Correspondents say Mr Bukele faces challenges in office including a sluggish economy and rampant poverty.
He has said he aims to increase investment in education and to set up an anti-corruption commission with the support of the UN.
To get his policies through he will need to form an alliance with right-wing parties, which dominate Congress.
END
MORE:
Bukele wins elections in El Salvador and breaks with bipartisanship
Calleja of the Republican Nationalist Alliance was second
https://www.nacion.com/el-mundo/bukele-gana-elecciones-de-el-salvador-y-rompe-con/4PORWZPDGBEVJF3CBS5BF7IFWM/story/
AFP Agency, AP Agency. 1 hour ago
The elected president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, with his wife Gabriela Rodríguez, after voting on Sunday.
The elected president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, with his wife Gabriela Rodríguez, after voting on Sunday.
San Salvador. The candidate of the Great Alliance for National Unity (GANA),
Nayib Bukele, will be the new president of El Salvador, after winning the elections held on Sunday.
Bukele won 53% of the vote, followed by Carlos Calleja - from the coalition of four conservative parties led by the Republican Nationalist Alliance (Arena) - with 32%.
On the other hand, former Foreign Minister Hugo Martínez -of the leftist Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberacion Nacional (FMLN) - won 14%
and Josué Alvarado -of the VAMOS party- barely 1%.
"At this moment we can announce with full certainty that we have won the presidency,"
Bukele told supporters at around 9:30 p.m. m. (local time) when the vote count was around 70% of the tables.
Then, the candidate summoned his supporters to the historical center of San Salvador, specifically to the Plaza Morazán to celebrate the triumph.
The new president will govern the country for the next five years, replacing former guerrilla commander Salvador Sánchez Cerén
who took office in 2014, promoted by the FMLN, the party that governs this Central American nation since 2009.
The triumph of GANA ends, in addition, with the bipartisanism that has governed the Central American country in the last 30 years,
in which only Arena and the FMLN had been in power.
Who is Bukele?
Known as "the swallow", by the emblem of his party,
Bukele managed to consolidate himself with an irreverent speech before the worn out traditional politics.
With short phrases that claim to the right "return the stolen", or that "money reaches when nobody steals,"
the president-elect of El Salvador has empathy with young people,
whom he maintains connected via social networks and his proposals presented by Facebook Live.
As mayor of San Salvador he identified with the "millennials", to the extent of projecting in the El Salvador del Mundo square
a film from the animated series Dragon Ball, participating in paintball competitions or participating in extreme mechanical games.
"This (electoral) battle is for every Salvadoran who has been ignored and abandoned by the governments of the day,
for every Salvadoran who had to migrate and leave everything behind,"
Nayib reflected last Sunday during the closing of his electoral campaign.
Bukele was born on July 24, 1981, son of the now deceased businessman Armando Bukele,
a doctor in industrial chemistry and representative of the Salvadoran community of Arab-Palestinian origin, and Olga Ortez.
Nayib has as brothers Yamil and Karim Bukele.
He studied law at the Jesuit Universidad Centroamericana (UCA) in San Salvador, although his opponents questioned him
that he did not manage to graduate by dedicating himself from the age of 18 to work in a company of his father.
Married to Gabriela Rodríguez in 2014, Bukele revealed a week ago that they expect a baby.
The Bukele family sympathized with the principles of social justice that the leftist guerrillas of the
Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) had been waging in the eighties to the extent of providing refuge to some of its leaders,
despite the risk of imprisonment or even death that he represented.
According to the book ¿Quién es Nayib Bukele ?, by the journalist Geovani Galeas, one afternoon in 1987
the candidate saw his guerrilla commander Schafik Handal, one of the five commanders of the FMLN leadership, enter secretly into his home.
This is how he inherited from his family the sympathy for the ex-guerrilla that,
after the end of the 12-year civil war, became a political party in 1992.
In 1999, from a publicity agency of his family, Bukele worked on a presidential campaign that the FMLN could not win,
with former commander Facundo Guardado as a candidate.
It was until 2011 that the FMLN was offered to compete for the mayoralty of Nuevo Cuscatlán,
a 10,000-inhabitant municipality next to the capital, where Bukele entered politics winning in the March 2012 election.
In November 2014, as part of World Cities Day, the UN invited him to talk about his transformative management in Nuevo Cuscatlán.
Given his popularity, the FMLN nominated him to recover the mayor's office of San Salvador that was in the hands of the right,
which he achieved for the period 2015-2018.
As mayor of San Salvador, his flagship projects were the lighting of the entire capital and the recovery and remodeling of part of the capital's historic center.
Although the FMLN bases supported him for a second term as mayor of the capital,
the party expelled him on October 10, 2017 for an altercation with a councilor.
During his campaign, Bukele lashed out against the 20 years of governments of the right-wing Arena
and the almost 10 years of the FMLN.
"The same as always (Arena and FMLN) thought that our people were never going to wake up,
they tried to tell us tirelessly that doing things right was impossible," he said at the end of the campaign.
END
El Salvador election: Nayib Bukele claims presidency
11 minutes ago
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-47113249
Nayib Bukele and his wife Gabriele de Bukele greet supporters in San Salvador, El Salvador, 3 February 2019Image copyrightEPA
Image caption
Nayib Bukele and his wife Gabriele de Bukele were cheered by supporters in San Salvador
Anti-corruption candidate Nayib Bukele has claimed victory in El Salvador's presidential election.
With most votes counted, the former mayor of San Salvador had nearly 53% of the vote with his closest rival, the conservative Carlos Calleja on 32%.
Mr Bukele, 37, needed more than 50% of the vote to avoid a run-off.
The businessman has vowed to tackle corruption and combat the criminal gangs responsible for one of the world's highest murder rates.
Politics in El Salvador has been dominated over the past three decades by two main parties - the incumbent left-wing FMLN and the conservative Arena.
"Today we won in the first round and we made history," Mr Bukele, who represents the Gana (National Alliance) party,
told cheering supporters, turning to include them in a selfie.
"We have turned the page on power."
Nayib Bukele takes a selfie with supportersImage copyrightEPA
Image caption
Nayib Bukele included his supporters in a selfie
His victory was acknowledged by Mr Calleja and by FMLN candidate Hugo Martinez.
"We recognise the results of these elections. We are going to call the president-elect to wish him luck in facing the challenges in this country," Mr Calleja said.
Mr Martinez was in third place with just over 14%.
Electoral officials said official results would be declared within two days.
Great National Alliance (GANA) supporters cheer after the presidential election in San Salvador, El Salvador, February 3, 2019Image copyrightREUTERS
Gana party supporters took to the streets of San Salvador in celebration
Earlier, the electoral court opened an investigation into whether Mr Bukele had broken the law by violating a news embargo.
He was accused of asking for votes during an interview broadcast live on Facebook earlier on Sunday.
Correspondents say Mr Bukele faces challenges in office including a sluggish economy and rampant poverty.
He has said he aims to increase investment in education and to set up an anti-corruption commission with the support of the UN.
To get his policies through he will need to form an alliance with right-wing parties, which dominate Congress.
END
MORE:
Bukele wins elections in El Salvador and breaks with bipartisanship
Calleja of the Republican Nationalist Alliance was second
https://www.nacion.com/el-mundo/bukele-gana-elecciones-de-el-salvador-y-rompe-con/4PORWZPDGBEVJF3CBS5BF7IFWM/story/
AFP Agency, AP Agency. 1 hour ago
The elected president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, with his wife Gabriela Rodríguez, after voting on Sunday.
The elected president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, with his wife Gabriela Rodríguez, after voting on Sunday.
San Salvador. The candidate of the Great Alliance for National Unity (GANA),
Nayib Bukele, will be the new president of El Salvador, after winning the elections held on Sunday.
Bukele won 53% of the vote, followed by Carlos Calleja - from the coalition of four conservative parties led by the Republican Nationalist Alliance (Arena) - with 32%.
On the other hand, former Foreign Minister Hugo Martínez -of the leftist Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberacion Nacional (FMLN) - won 14%
and Josué Alvarado -of the VAMOS party- barely 1%.
"At this moment we can announce with full certainty that we have won the presidency,"
Bukele told supporters at around 9:30 p.m. m. (local time) when the vote count was around 70% of the tables.
Then, the candidate summoned his supporters to the historical center of San Salvador, specifically to the Plaza Morazán to celebrate the triumph.
The new president will govern the country for the next five years, replacing former guerrilla commander Salvador Sánchez Cerén
who took office in 2014, promoted by the FMLN, the party that governs this Central American nation since 2009.
The triumph of GANA ends, in addition, with the bipartisanism that has governed the Central American country in the last 30 years,
in which only Arena and the FMLN had been in power.
Who is Bukele?
Known as "the swallow", by the emblem of his party,
Bukele managed to consolidate himself with an irreverent speech before the worn out traditional politics.
With short phrases that claim to the right "return the stolen", or that "money reaches when nobody steals,"
the president-elect of El Salvador has empathy with young people,
whom he maintains connected via social networks and his proposals presented by Facebook Live.
As mayor of San Salvador he identified with the "millennials", to the extent of projecting in the El Salvador del Mundo square
a film from the animated series Dragon Ball, participating in paintball competitions or participating in extreme mechanical games.
"This (electoral) battle is for every Salvadoran who has been ignored and abandoned by the governments of the day,
for every Salvadoran who had to migrate and leave everything behind,"
Nayib reflected last Sunday during the closing of his electoral campaign.
Bukele was born on July 24, 1981, son of the now deceased businessman Armando Bukele,
a doctor in industrial chemistry and representative of the Salvadoran community of Arab-Palestinian origin, and Olga Ortez.
Nayib has as brothers Yamil and Karim Bukele.
He studied law at the Jesuit Universidad Centroamericana (UCA) in San Salvador, although his opponents questioned him
that he did not manage to graduate by dedicating himself from the age of 18 to work in a company of his father.
Married to Gabriela Rodríguez in 2014, Bukele revealed a week ago that they expect a baby.
The Bukele family sympathized with the principles of social justice that the leftist guerrillas of the
Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) had been waging in the eighties to the extent of providing refuge to some of its leaders,
despite the risk of imprisonment or even death that he represented.
According to the book ¿Quién es Nayib Bukele ?, by the journalist Geovani Galeas, one afternoon in 1987
the candidate saw his guerrilla commander Schafik Handal, one of the five commanders of the FMLN leadership, enter secretly into his home.
This is how he inherited from his family the sympathy for the ex-guerrilla that,
after the end of the 12-year civil war, became a political party in 1992.
In 1999, from a publicity agency of his family, Bukele worked on a presidential campaign that the FMLN could not win,
with former commander Facundo Guardado as a candidate.
It was until 2011 that the FMLN was offered to compete for the mayoralty of Nuevo Cuscatlán,
a 10,000-inhabitant municipality next to the capital, where Bukele entered politics winning in the March 2012 election.
In November 2014, as part of World Cities Day, the UN invited him to talk about his transformative management in Nuevo Cuscatlán.
Given his popularity, the FMLN nominated him to recover the mayor's office of San Salvador that was in the hands of the right,
which he achieved for the period 2015-2018.
As mayor of San Salvador, his flagship projects were the lighting of the entire capital and the recovery and remodeling of part of the capital's historic center.
Although the FMLN bases supported him for a second term as mayor of the capital,
the party expelled him on October 10, 2017 for an altercation with a councilor.
During his campaign, Bukele lashed out against the 20 years of governments of the right-wing Arena
and the almost 10 years of the FMLN.
"The same as always (Arena and FMLN) thought that our people were never going to wake up,
they tried to tell us tirelessly that doing things right was impossible," he said at the end of the campaign.
END
Monday, February 4, 2019
AZMEX POLICY 4-2-19
AZMEX POLICY 4 FEB 2019
Note: not to forget than many on this side of the border also engaged in the drug and human trafficking business.
"Safety"? KOLD is a Tucson TV station. Ch 13.
Thx
Nogales mayor disapproves of razor wire along border fence
Source: (KOLD)
http://www.tucsonnewsnow.com/2019/02/03/nogales-mayor-disapproves-razor-wire-along-border-fence/
By Heather Janssen | February 3, 2019 at 4:53 PM MST - Updated February 3 at 5:24 PM
TUCSON, AZ (KOLD News 13) - Up until Saturday, the razor wire along this border fence lined only the top. Now it lines nearly the entire thing.
"Our question right now is this what we want to see in the downtown area?" asked Nogales Mayor Arturo Garino.
He's raising questions like these after more razor wire was added over the weekend.
A little more than a week ago, he asked lawmakers for help removing the wire - but now there's even more.
He's now putting plans in motion to write to Congress to let them know he feels the razor wire casts negativity on their border community.
He explained that gaps where there isn't fencing on the border could use the wire, but not places with a wall-like structure already in place.
Mayor Garino wants the wire gone, citing tourism and safety as his biggest concerns.
"See we respond to calls at the border.
We respond to people falling off the fence - broken legs, broken limbs.
We respond to even pregnancies.
We're the agency that responds to calls at the border," said Mayor Garino.
"I would not like to respond to one about concertina wire - because it's not going to be something good."
Mayor Garino said he plans with city officials to figure that out, starting Monday morning.
He plans on reaching out to other border towns for advice, as well as meeting with the mayor of Nogales, Sonora.
We also reached out to CBP and Border Patrol for comment on the razor wire - but still have yet to hear back.
End
Note: not to forget than many on this side of the border also engaged in the drug and human trafficking business.
"Safety"? KOLD is a Tucson TV station. Ch 13.
Thx
Nogales mayor disapproves of razor wire along border fence
Source: (KOLD)
http://www.tucsonnewsnow.com/2019/02/03/nogales-mayor-disapproves-razor-wire-along-border-fence/
By Heather Janssen | February 3, 2019 at 4:53 PM MST - Updated February 3 at 5:24 PM
TUCSON, AZ (KOLD News 13) - Up until Saturday, the razor wire along this border fence lined only the top. Now it lines nearly the entire thing.
"Our question right now is this what we want to see in the downtown area?" asked Nogales Mayor Arturo Garino.
He's raising questions like these after more razor wire was added over the weekend.
A little more than a week ago, he asked lawmakers for help removing the wire - but now there's even more.
He's now putting plans in motion to write to Congress to let them know he feels the razor wire casts negativity on their border community.
He explained that gaps where there isn't fencing on the border could use the wire, but not places with a wall-like structure already in place.
Mayor Garino wants the wire gone, citing tourism and safety as his biggest concerns.
"See we respond to calls at the border.
We respond to people falling off the fence - broken legs, broken limbs.
We respond to even pregnancies.
We're the agency that responds to calls at the border," said Mayor Garino.
"I would not like to respond to one about concertina wire - because it's not going to be something good."
Mayor Garino said he plans with city officials to figure that out, starting Monday morning.
He plans on reaching out to other border towns for advice, as well as meeting with the mayor of Nogales, Sonora.
We also reached out to CBP and Border Patrol for comment on the razor wire - but still have yet to hear back.
End
AZVEN UPDATE 2-2-19
AZVEN UPDATE 2 FEB 2019
Note: long article from UK Daily Mail. Numerous photos, video, etc. at the link.
Thx
Inside the hell of 'communist heaven':
Corpses dug up for jewellery, children jailed and a gangster regime that has looted billions.
Read this searing dispatch from a Venezuela on the bring of revolution
By ROBERT HARDMAN FOR THE DAILY MAIL
PUBLISHED: 18:49 EST, 1 February 2019 | UPDATED: 21:03 EST, 1 February 2019
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6659555/Inside-hell-communist-heaven-ROBERT-HARDMAN-collapse-Venezuela.html
Jose Moncon was on the way home from his school for the mentally disabled, clutching nothing more threatening than his colouring book, when a demonstration blocked the road ahead and forced him to take a detour.
Moments later, a police snatch squad coming the other way scooped him up and put him in prison for unspecified crimes against the state.
He is severely epileptic and has the mental age of a ten-year-old. But because Jose is 21 and classed as an adult, he shares an airless cell with 18 other adult men, many of them hardened criminals. As Venezuela is jostling for top spot in the world homicide league, there are plenty of those around here.
President Nicolas Maduro is clinging to power in Venezuala as opposition against his socialist regime increases as a result of the nation's economic collapse +9
President Maduro, pictured addressing troops at Libertador Air Base in Maracay on January 29, has lost the support of people who were loyal to his predecessor Hugo Chavez +9
Jose's mother Maria, 44, is distraught as I meet her outside the terrifying Soviet-style 'Palace of Justice' in Maracay, a garrison town 60 miles from the capital, Caracas. It is more than a week since her terrified son was taken and his lawyer says the police have no idea how to treat his epileptic fits.
With her is Rosanna Paz, another mother frantic with worry. Her daughter Ana Paula, 16, was returning from the gym when a snatch squad grabbed her off the street. A week on, Ana Paula is in jail, waiting to hear what crimes she is supposed to have committed.
'She's in her last year of high school. She's never been in any sort of trouble,' says Rosanna, who had been so proud when Ana Paula was chosen to organise this year's school prom. Now she has a criminal record for life.
Human rights lawyers here call it 'human hunting'. They know of more than 75 children aged between 12 and 16 who have been arrested in the past week alone, though there are thought to be many more.
They are a fraction of the total number of people detained for allegedly protesting against a brutal kleptocracy clinging ruthlessly to power as its authority, like its stolen wealth, crumbles by the day.
Most of the free world has finally decided it is time to topple Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro. Yet a few unreconstructed neo-Trots, including much of Britain's hard Left, still cling to the myth that Maduro's narco-gangster regime is some sort of socialist utopia. Only yesterday, Jeremy Corbyn was calling for an end to all outside intervention. Venezuela, he said, simply needs 'dialogue'.
As far as apologists like Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell are concerned, Jose and Ana Paula are not innocent children. They're part of a huge CIA conspiracy orchestrated by Donald Trump and American oil suits. Throw away the key, comrades!
Yet things are changing here — and fast. In recent days, the U.S. and much of the free world have recognised the country's new young opposition leader, Juan Guaido, as Venezuela's legitimate interim head of state.
The U.S. — the main importer of Venezuelan oil — has now imposed a ban on all payments to the state-owned oil company, thus depriving the Maduro regime of 80 per cent of its income.
On top of that, the Bank of England is refusing to return £1 billion of gold bars currently in its vaults, saying Maduro is not their rightful owner. The dictator must now turn to the drug cartels for cash.
So might this be the end of this tragic country's 20-year experiment with 'Chavismo', the bonkers socialist economics of Maduro's late predecessor, Hugo Chavez?
He was at the airbase to witness a military exercise to show he still has the loyalty of his army +9
The U.S. ¿ the main importer of Venezuelan oil ¿ has now imposed a ban on all payments to the state-owned oil company, thus depriving the Maduro regime of 80 per cent of its income +9
We may have a clearer picture this weekend as Venezuela steels itself for mass demonstrations. But like any cornered animal, Maduro is now at his most dangerous. Reprisals could be bloody.
I have spent the past week in a country where graves are routinely ransacked for a corpse's jewellery; where nurses must choose which premature baby gets the only functioning incubator and which must die; where 10 per cent of the population have fled over the borders with just the clothes on their back; where presidential cronies have looted billions of U.S. dollars from the economy; where inflation is set to hit ten million per cent this year; where parliament has been sidelined by a puppet assembly; where children are arrested on the whim of a Stalinist commissar with a grudge — and all this while sitting on the world's largest untapped oil reserves.
Petrol is cheaper than water here, but most people can't afford a car and the average weekly wage is £1.50 — barely enough for a couple of eggs.
I meet a group of cowed but angry residents of El Junquito, one of the poorest slum districts or barrios in Caracas. The capital is surrounded by these shanty cities, clinging to near-vertical hillsides amid unrelenting squalor.
I ask them what they would say to Corbynista supporters of the Maduro regime. 'These people are just playing politics with our poverty,' says Omaira, 27, a mother of two, as she shows me a grotesque mobile phone image of a local teenager shot dead by the National Guard during last week's protests.
We are joined by two of her neighbours, Jose, 21, and Jesus, 19. Both have a hunted look — the two men took part in the recent protests and live in fear of being denounced by the collectivos, the regime spies who permeate every community.
Yet there is a palpable spirit of revolution in the air. 'We feel it is now or never,' says Jesus.
The latest turmoil began with last year¿s presidential elections. Maduro won by a landslide ¿ although millions boycotted the poll
Many nations — including, crucially, almost every other South American state — rejected the result. When the new presidential term of office began on January 10, most of the world ignored Maduro's inauguration ceremony.
Opposition politicians invoked the Venezuelan constitution. It states that, in the absence of a legitimate president, the speaker of the national parliament becomes acting head of state. Step forward the current incumbent, Juan Guaido, an earnest 35-year-old former engineer and social democrat MP.
Standing in a city square, he duly proclaimed himself acting president before disappearing on the back of the motorbike that has been at his side ever since. He was swiftly endorsed by the U.S., Canada and most of South America.
Many European nations, including the UK, have given Maduro until tomorrow to announce fresh elections or they will follow suit.
Needless to say, Maduro has angrily denounced this upstart, pointing to all those honest countries that have endorsed him, namely Russia, China, North Korea, Cuba and Turkey, plus terror movements including Hezbollah and Hamas. Sinn Fein, it should be noted, proudly sent a delegation to his inauguration.
Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro: 'Donald Trump. Hands off Venezuela.'
Many European nations, including the UK, have given Maduro until tomorrow to announce fresh elections or they will follow suit and endorse the Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido as interim president +9
When Guaido called for demonstrations against the regime last week, Maduro's response was brutal. We can expect more of the same today at marches across the country. Most embassies have repatriated all but essential staff. Foreign journalists are being arrested.
No one seriously believes Maduro's promise of a new 'Vietnam' against the 'Yankee' imperialists, any more than they expect Donald Trump to invade. But those with cars are filling their tanks and those without are pouring Molotov cocktails.
Violent protest has been part of Venezuelan life for years, but now it has spread from the city centre to those slums that once adored Chavez and Maduro.
The daily struggle to exist here defies belief. Water and electricity come and go at random. In the countryside, people have had neither for months. Banknotes are almost worthless. Last year alone, Maduro lopped five zeros off Venezuela's currency, the bolivar, in a vain attempt to stabilise prices.
Yet it is so often the small things that tell the big picture. On my last visit here, I was struck by the dismal scenes in Caracas's zoo, where many animals had been eaten by the locals. One survivor was a lone elephant with a huge weeping sore. I was going to look her up this week, until I heard she starved to death last summer.
No one seriously believes Maduro¿s promise of a new ¿Vietnam¿ against the ¿Yankee¿ imperialists, any more than they expect Donald Trump to invade. But those with cars are filling their tanks and those without are pouring Molotov cocktails +9
The abiding image from this visit will be one of the city's main cemeteries. Almost every grave has been torn open in the quest for bodies buried with jewellery (a skull can also fetch a few bolivars from followers of a voodoo cult).
One tomb is daubed with a furious message in red paint: 'Cursed be those who dig out our dead. I will kill the one I catch.' The lid of the tomb has been smashed open regardless.
My guide urges me to leave. The cemetery is overlooked by a famously violent barrio from which gangs prey on isolated mourners.
His own mother, Josefina, was attacked last year while visiting her father's grave. A robber demanded her wedding ring. When it wouldn't budge, he tried to bite off her finger until his saliva miraculously loosened the ring.
It is the stuff of horror films — but everything about Venezuela is surreal, even getting here. In the boom days, you could fly from Caracas to Paris by Concorde. These days, the few airlines still operating all stop in neighbouring countries to change crew. Cabin staff refuse to stay overnight in Venezuela, as it is too dangerous.
It's not great for passenger morale to see all your flight attendants abandon ship in this way (and there is no one to complain to when your luggage vanishes, as mine did).
What next? It all hinges on the military. Hugo Chavez was a soldier. Portly 56-year-old Maduro, however, is an ex-bus driver. For now, the armed forces are on his side. He has made his senior generals dollar millionaires. But how long will the troops endure meagre pay and rations? +9
I am keen to track down Juan Guaido, the man who claims he can sort all this out. Understandably, he is hard to pin down. On Thursday, police raided his house (he wasn't there), while Maduro has frozen his assets and banned him from getting on a plane.
I find him making a surprise visit to a hospital, where medical staff have given him a white coat covered with handwritten messages — 'Save Our Nation' and the like.
He seems almost bashful. Charismatic he is not. But he is friendly and clearly brave.
I introduce myself and he smiles broadly at the mention of the UK and shakes my hand.
'I just had an amiable conversation with your Foreign Secretary,' he says, adding his thanks to the British people. And with that, he jumps on the motorbike and is off via a side road, avoiding the riot police at the main gate.
I drop in at the offices of Alfredo Romero's law firm. Educated at Harvard and the London School of Economics, he is a law professor and director of Foro Penal, the charity that defends political prisoners. Last weekend, so many detainees packed the main justice building in Caracas, he was in court until 3am and emerged to find a wheel missing from his car.
Over the years, Romero, 50, has helped defend more than 14,000 victims of 'Chavismo' but says there has been a major change in recent days. 'The police are now breaking into homes to arrest people and almost all of them are from the poorest areas,' he says.
'The other big change is that they are detaining children.'
Romero says he has no time for ideology. 'I am not Left or Right. It's just about natural justice.' By rights, he should be a darling of global bien pensant society — an award-winning and genuine human rights lawyer (not some huckster chasing British Army veterans).
'Never traitors!': Nicolas Maduro gives stirring speech to soldiers
Juan Guaido, pictured at a rally in Caracas on January 26, has to keep details of his movements confidential as he is likely to be arrested
following a raid by police this week on his house +9
Yet to the British Left, he and his ilk are in cahoots with evil Trump. Does he care? He laughs. 'They are just ignorant hypocrites.'
I hear the same thing from one of the country's best-known opposition figures still at large. 'It's very sad that Left-wing politicians don't understand the magnitude of our problems,' says Maria Corina Machado, an MP who has been subject to a travel ban for the past five years. She has been attacked many times and once had her nose broken in five places by a Maduro crony inside the parliamentary chamber.
She believes this week's events have been a game-changer. 'The international coalition is getting broader by the day and this is no ordinary dictatorship. There is no ideology,' she says. 'It's a criminal state and when a criminal state runs out of money, it collapses.'
Few expect change to be swift. The likeliest scenario, say Western analysts, is that moderate Chavismo elements will begin furtive talks with the opposition and cracks will start to appear — then Western governments stand ready to bombard the country not with weapons but with humanitarian aid.
Venezuela is not an Iraq or Libya, where the demise of the strong man allowed anarchy to fill the power vacuum. It thrived as a democracy before and can do so again — with our support.
Just don't expect Her Majesty's Opposition to help.
For nothing, surely, proves the moral inadequacy of our hard Left as eloquently as its bovine insistence that we should stand back and leave Maduro and his fraudsters to plunder what is left of their ruined state.
End
Note: long article from UK Daily Mail. Numerous photos, video, etc. at the link.
Thx
Inside the hell of 'communist heaven':
Corpses dug up for jewellery, children jailed and a gangster regime that has looted billions.
Read this searing dispatch from a Venezuela on the bring of revolution
By ROBERT HARDMAN FOR THE DAILY MAIL
PUBLISHED: 18:49 EST, 1 February 2019 | UPDATED: 21:03 EST, 1 February 2019
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6659555/Inside-hell-communist-heaven-ROBERT-HARDMAN-collapse-Venezuela.html
Jose Moncon was on the way home from his school for the mentally disabled, clutching nothing more threatening than his colouring book, when a demonstration blocked the road ahead and forced him to take a detour.
Moments later, a police snatch squad coming the other way scooped him up and put him in prison for unspecified crimes against the state.
He is severely epileptic and has the mental age of a ten-year-old. But because Jose is 21 and classed as an adult, he shares an airless cell with 18 other adult men, many of them hardened criminals. As Venezuela is jostling for top spot in the world homicide league, there are plenty of those around here.
President Nicolas Maduro is clinging to power in Venezuala as opposition against his socialist regime increases as a result of the nation's economic collapse +9
President Maduro, pictured addressing troops at Libertador Air Base in Maracay on January 29, has lost the support of people who were loyal to his predecessor Hugo Chavez +9
Jose's mother Maria, 44, is distraught as I meet her outside the terrifying Soviet-style 'Palace of Justice' in Maracay, a garrison town 60 miles from the capital, Caracas. It is more than a week since her terrified son was taken and his lawyer says the police have no idea how to treat his epileptic fits.
With her is Rosanna Paz, another mother frantic with worry. Her daughter Ana Paula, 16, was returning from the gym when a snatch squad grabbed her off the street. A week on, Ana Paula is in jail, waiting to hear what crimes she is supposed to have committed.
'She's in her last year of high school. She's never been in any sort of trouble,' says Rosanna, who had been so proud when Ana Paula was chosen to organise this year's school prom. Now she has a criminal record for life.
Human rights lawyers here call it 'human hunting'. They know of more than 75 children aged between 12 and 16 who have been arrested in the past week alone, though there are thought to be many more.
They are a fraction of the total number of people detained for allegedly protesting against a brutal kleptocracy clinging ruthlessly to power as its authority, like its stolen wealth, crumbles by the day.
Most of the free world has finally decided it is time to topple Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro. Yet a few unreconstructed neo-Trots, including much of Britain's hard Left, still cling to the myth that Maduro's narco-gangster regime is some sort of socialist utopia. Only yesterday, Jeremy Corbyn was calling for an end to all outside intervention. Venezuela, he said, simply needs 'dialogue'.
As far as apologists like Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell are concerned, Jose and Ana Paula are not innocent children. They're part of a huge CIA conspiracy orchestrated by Donald Trump and American oil suits. Throw away the key, comrades!
Yet things are changing here — and fast. In recent days, the U.S. and much of the free world have recognised the country's new young opposition leader, Juan Guaido, as Venezuela's legitimate interim head of state.
The U.S. — the main importer of Venezuelan oil — has now imposed a ban on all payments to the state-owned oil company, thus depriving the Maduro regime of 80 per cent of its income.
On top of that, the Bank of England is refusing to return £1 billion of gold bars currently in its vaults, saying Maduro is not their rightful owner. The dictator must now turn to the drug cartels for cash.
So might this be the end of this tragic country's 20-year experiment with 'Chavismo', the bonkers socialist economics of Maduro's late predecessor, Hugo Chavez?
He was at the airbase to witness a military exercise to show he still has the loyalty of his army +9
The U.S. ¿ the main importer of Venezuelan oil ¿ has now imposed a ban on all payments to the state-owned oil company, thus depriving the Maduro regime of 80 per cent of its income +9
We may have a clearer picture this weekend as Venezuela steels itself for mass demonstrations. But like any cornered animal, Maduro is now at his most dangerous. Reprisals could be bloody.
I have spent the past week in a country where graves are routinely ransacked for a corpse's jewellery; where nurses must choose which premature baby gets the only functioning incubator and which must die; where 10 per cent of the population have fled over the borders with just the clothes on their back; where presidential cronies have looted billions of U.S. dollars from the economy; where inflation is set to hit ten million per cent this year; where parliament has been sidelined by a puppet assembly; where children are arrested on the whim of a Stalinist commissar with a grudge — and all this while sitting on the world's largest untapped oil reserves.
Petrol is cheaper than water here, but most people can't afford a car and the average weekly wage is £1.50 — barely enough for a couple of eggs.
I meet a group of cowed but angry residents of El Junquito, one of the poorest slum districts or barrios in Caracas. The capital is surrounded by these shanty cities, clinging to near-vertical hillsides amid unrelenting squalor.
I ask them what they would say to Corbynista supporters of the Maduro regime. 'These people are just playing politics with our poverty,' says Omaira, 27, a mother of two, as she shows me a grotesque mobile phone image of a local teenager shot dead by the National Guard during last week's protests.
We are joined by two of her neighbours, Jose, 21, and Jesus, 19. Both have a hunted look — the two men took part in the recent protests and live in fear of being denounced by the collectivos, the regime spies who permeate every community.
Yet there is a palpable spirit of revolution in the air. 'We feel it is now or never,' says Jesus.
The latest turmoil began with last year¿s presidential elections. Maduro won by a landslide ¿ although millions boycotted the poll
Many nations — including, crucially, almost every other South American state — rejected the result. When the new presidential term of office began on January 10, most of the world ignored Maduro's inauguration ceremony.
Opposition politicians invoked the Venezuelan constitution. It states that, in the absence of a legitimate president, the speaker of the national parliament becomes acting head of state. Step forward the current incumbent, Juan Guaido, an earnest 35-year-old former engineer and social democrat MP.
Standing in a city square, he duly proclaimed himself acting president before disappearing on the back of the motorbike that has been at his side ever since. He was swiftly endorsed by the U.S., Canada and most of South America.
Many European nations, including the UK, have given Maduro until tomorrow to announce fresh elections or they will follow suit.
Needless to say, Maduro has angrily denounced this upstart, pointing to all those honest countries that have endorsed him, namely Russia, China, North Korea, Cuba and Turkey, plus terror movements including Hezbollah and Hamas. Sinn Fein, it should be noted, proudly sent a delegation to his inauguration.
Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro: 'Donald Trump. Hands off Venezuela.'
Many European nations, including the UK, have given Maduro until tomorrow to announce fresh elections or they will follow suit and endorse the Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido as interim president +9
When Guaido called for demonstrations against the regime last week, Maduro's response was brutal. We can expect more of the same today at marches across the country. Most embassies have repatriated all but essential staff. Foreign journalists are being arrested.
No one seriously believes Maduro's promise of a new 'Vietnam' against the 'Yankee' imperialists, any more than they expect Donald Trump to invade. But those with cars are filling their tanks and those without are pouring Molotov cocktails.
Violent protest has been part of Venezuelan life for years, but now it has spread from the city centre to those slums that once adored Chavez and Maduro.
The daily struggle to exist here defies belief. Water and electricity come and go at random. In the countryside, people have had neither for months. Banknotes are almost worthless. Last year alone, Maduro lopped five zeros off Venezuela's currency, the bolivar, in a vain attempt to stabilise prices.
Yet it is so often the small things that tell the big picture. On my last visit here, I was struck by the dismal scenes in Caracas's zoo, where many animals had been eaten by the locals. One survivor was a lone elephant with a huge weeping sore. I was going to look her up this week, until I heard she starved to death last summer.
No one seriously believes Maduro¿s promise of a new ¿Vietnam¿ against the ¿Yankee¿ imperialists, any more than they expect Donald Trump to invade. But those with cars are filling their tanks and those without are pouring Molotov cocktails +9
The abiding image from this visit will be one of the city's main cemeteries. Almost every grave has been torn open in the quest for bodies buried with jewellery (a skull can also fetch a few bolivars from followers of a voodoo cult).
One tomb is daubed with a furious message in red paint: 'Cursed be those who dig out our dead. I will kill the one I catch.' The lid of the tomb has been smashed open regardless.
My guide urges me to leave. The cemetery is overlooked by a famously violent barrio from which gangs prey on isolated mourners.
His own mother, Josefina, was attacked last year while visiting her father's grave. A robber demanded her wedding ring. When it wouldn't budge, he tried to bite off her finger until his saliva miraculously loosened the ring.
It is the stuff of horror films — but everything about Venezuela is surreal, even getting here. In the boom days, you could fly from Caracas to Paris by Concorde. These days, the few airlines still operating all stop in neighbouring countries to change crew. Cabin staff refuse to stay overnight in Venezuela, as it is too dangerous.
It's not great for passenger morale to see all your flight attendants abandon ship in this way (and there is no one to complain to when your luggage vanishes, as mine did).
What next? It all hinges on the military. Hugo Chavez was a soldier. Portly 56-year-old Maduro, however, is an ex-bus driver. For now, the armed forces are on his side. He has made his senior generals dollar millionaires. But how long will the troops endure meagre pay and rations? +9
I am keen to track down Juan Guaido, the man who claims he can sort all this out. Understandably, he is hard to pin down. On Thursday, police raided his house (he wasn't there), while Maduro has frozen his assets and banned him from getting on a plane.
I find him making a surprise visit to a hospital, where medical staff have given him a white coat covered with handwritten messages — 'Save Our Nation' and the like.
He seems almost bashful. Charismatic he is not. But he is friendly and clearly brave.
I introduce myself and he smiles broadly at the mention of the UK and shakes my hand.
'I just had an amiable conversation with your Foreign Secretary,' he says, adding his thanks to the British people. And with that, he jumps on the motorbike and is off via a side road, avoiding the riot police at the main gate.
I drop in at the offices of Alfredo Romero's law firm. Educated at Harvard and the London School of Economics, he is a law professor and director of Foro Penal, the charity that defends political prisoners. Last weekend, so many detainees packed the main justice building in Caracas, he was in court until 3am and emerged to find a wheel missing from his car.
Over the years, Romero, 50, has helped defend more than 14,000 victims of 'Chavismo' but says there has been a major change in recent days. 'The police are now breaking into homes to arrest people and almost all of them are from the poorest areas,' he says.
'The other big change is that they are detaining children.'
Romero says he has no time for ideology. 'I am not Left or Right. It's just about natural justice.' By rights, he should be a darling of global bien pensant society — an award-winning and genuine human rights lawyer (not some huckster chasing British Army veterans).
'Never traitors!': Nicolas Maduro gives stirring speech to soldiers
Juan Guaido, pictured at a rally in Caracas on January 26, has to keep details of his movements confidential as he is likely to be arrested
following a raid by police this week on his house +9
Yet to the British Left, he and his ilk are in cahoots with evil Trump. Does he care? He laughs. 'They are just ignorant hypocrites.'
I hear the same thing from one of the country's best-known opposition figures still at large. 'It's very sad that Left-wing politicians don't understand the magnitude of our problems,' says Maria Corina Machado, an MP who has been subject to a travel ban for the past five years. She has been attacked many times and once had her nose broken in five places by a Maduro crony inside the parliamentary chamber.
She believes this week's events have been a game-changer. 'The international coalition is getting broader by the day and this is no ordinary dictatorship. There is no ideology,' she says. 'It's a criminal state and when a criminal state runs out of money, it collapses.'
Few expect change to be swift. The likeliest scenario, say Western analysts, is that moderate Chavismo elements will begin furtive talks with the opposition and cracks will start to appear — then Western governments stand ready to bombard the country not with weapons but with humanitarian aid.
Venezuela is not an Iraq or Libya, where the demise of the strong man allowed anarchy to fill the power vacuum. It thrived as a democracy before and can do so again — with our support.
Just don't expect Her Majesty's Opposition to help.
For nothing, surely, proves the moral inadequacy of our hard Left as eloquently as its bovine insistence that we should stand back and leave Maduro and his fraudsters to plunder what is left of their ruined state.
End
AZMEX UPDATE 2-2-19
AZMEX UPDATE 2 FEB 2019
Note: photos at Link. No info on immigration / dreamer status if any.
Thx
MCSO: Three arrested in Gila Bend drug bust, $2 million seized in meth and marijuana
Posted: 7:15 PM, Feb 01, 2019 Updated: 7:15 PM, Feb 01, 2019
By: abc15.com staff
https://www.kgun9.com/news/region-central-southern-az/mcso-three-arrested-in-gila-bend-drug-bust-2-million-seized-in-meth-and-marijuana
MCSO: Three arrested in Gila Bend drug bust, $2 million seized in meth and marijuanaMCSO: Three arrested in Gila Bend drug bust, $2 million seized in meth and marijuanaMCSO: Three arrested in Gila Bend drug bust, $2 million seized in meth and marijuanaMCSO: Three arrested in Gila Bend drug bust, $2 million seized in meth and marijuana
Three men are in custody after detectives with the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office seized $2 million worth of drugs in a multi-agency bust on Wednesday night.
MCSO detectives and agents from the U.S Customs and Border Protection working in the Gila Bend area observed two trucks avoid a border checkpoint and drive into the desert with their lights off. Officials say tire deflation devices were deployed ahead of the trucks to prevent a potential pursuit, and both trucks became inoperable after striking the devices.
According to MCSO, four suspects fled from the trucks on foot. Detectives coordinated with CBP agents, and with the help of air support, took three suspects into custody. There was no information available about the fourth suspect's whereabouts.
When authorities searched the trucks, over 220 pounds of methamphetamine and 3,500 pounds of marijuana were found and seized. The estimated street value of the drugs is $2 million.
RELATED: US border officials in Arizona make record fentanyl seizure
"This seizure is an example of exceptional police work by our deputies and law enforcement partners," said MCSO Sheriff Paul Penzone. "It is also an example that the demand for drugs continues to be epidemic. Illicit drugs are the most impactful contributor to violence, crime and gang activity that continues to adversely impact our community and our families. We will be unwavering in our commitment to hold the line."
Officials say
31-year-old Jose Jaime Garcia-Lopez, 49-year-old Yoni Ontiveros-Torres, and 47-year-old Ruben Espericueta-Jiminez
are facing charges of possession and transportation of dangerous drugs for sale, and possession and transportation of marijuana for sale.
END
Border Patrol vehicle struck by gunshots on Border Highway
by Erika Esquivel
Friday, February 1st 2019
https://cbs4local.com/news/local/border-patrol-vehicle-struck-by-gunshots-near-bridge-of-the-americas-02-02-2019
EL PASO, Texas (CBS4) —
The El Paso FBI is offering a reward for help in finding the person responsible for shooting at a Border Patrol vehicle
near the Bridge of the Americas on Thursday.
A Border Patrol agent was on duty in his vehicle around 7:35 p.m. on the south of Loop 375 and Border Highway,
directly across from the X monument in Ciudad Juarez.
The agent was in his vehicle when it was hit by gunshots.
Officials believe the bullets were fired from a vehicle traveling eastbound on the Border Highway.
"It must have been like four or five shots [that sounded like] Pow Pow, and I knew it had to be gunfire, s
aid Rosario Minjarez a neighbor in the area that heard the gunshots.
The FBI is offering a $2,500 reward for information leading to an arrest.
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the El Paso FBI at 915-832-5000.
end
Note: photos at Link. No info on immigration / dreamer status if any.
Thx
MCSO: Three arrested in Gila Bend drug bust, $2 million seized in meth and marijuana
Posted: 7:15 PM, Feb 01, 2019 Updated: 7:15 PM, Feb 01, 2019
By: abc15.com staff
https://www.kgun9.com/news/region-central-southern-az/mcso-three-arrested-in-gila-bend-drug-bust-2-million-seized-in-meth-and-marijuana
MCSO: Three arrested in Gila Bend drug bust, $2 million seized in meth and marijuanaMCSO: Three arrested in Gila Bend drug bust, $2 million seized in meth and marijuanaMCSO: Three arrested in Gila Bend drug bust, $2 million seized in meth and marijuanaMCSO: Three arrested in Gila Bend drug bust, $2 million seized in meth and marijuana
Three men are in custody after detectives with the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office seized $2 million worth of drugs in a multi-agency bust on Wednesday night.
MCSO detectives and agents from the U.S Customs and Border Protection working in the Gila Bend area observed two trucks avoid a border checkpoint and drive into the desert with their lights off. Officials say tire deflation devices were deployed ahead of the trucks to prevent a potential pursuit, and both trucks became inoperable after striking the devices.
According to MCSO, four suspects fled from the trucks on foot. Detectives coordinated with CBP agents, and with the help of air support, took three suspects into custody. There was no information available about the fourth suspect's whereabouts.
When authorities searched the trucks, over 220 pounds of methamphetamine and 3,500 pounds of marijuana were found and seized. The estimated street value of the drugs is $2 million.
RELATED: US border officials in Arizona make record fentanyl seizure
"This seizure is an example of exceptional police work by our deputies and law enforcement partners," said MCSO Sheriff Paul Penzone. "It is also an example that the demand for drugs continues to be epidemic. Illicit drugs are the most impactful contributor to violence, crime and gang activity that continues to adversely impact our community and our families. We will be unwavering in our commitment to hold the line."
Officials say
31-year-old Jose Jaime Garcia-Lopez, 49-year-old Yoni Ontiveros-Torres, and 47-year-old Ruben Espericueta-Jiminez
are facing charges of possession and transportation of dangerous drugs for sale, and possession and transportation of marijuana for sale.
END
Border Patrol vehicle struck by gunshots on Border Highway
by Erika Esquivel
Friday, February 1st 2019
https://cbs4local.com/news/local/border-patrol-vehicle-struck-by-gunshots-near-bridge-of-the-americas-02-02-2019
EL PASO, Texas (CBS4) —
The El Paso FBI is offering a reward for help in finding the person responsible for shooting at a Border Patrol vehicle
near the Bridge of the Americas on Thursday.
A Border Patrol agent was on duty in his vehicle around 7:35 p.m. on the south of Loop 375 and Border Highway,
directly across from the X monument in Ciudad Juarez.
The agent was in his vehicle when it was hit by gunshots.
Officials believe the bullets were fired from a vehicle traveling eastbound on the Border Highway.
"It must have been like four or five shots [that sounded like] Pow Pow, and I knew it had to be gunfire, s
aid Rosario Minjarez a neighbor in the area that heard the gunshots.
The FBI is offering a $2,500 reward for information leading to an arrest.
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the El Paso FBI at 915-832-5000.
end
AZMEX EXTRA 2-2-19
AZMEX EXTRA 2 FEB 2019
Note: more interesting that the usual smuggling plot. Will they get probation?
Thx
3 arrested near Sierra Vista in machine-gun smuggling plot
By Terri Jo Neff For the Herald/Review Jan 26, 2019
https://www.myheraldreview.com/news/crime/arrested-near-sierra-vista-in-machine-gun-smuggling-plot/article_935af924-21a6-11e9-adb4-23c2f72a2adb.html
3 arrested near Sierra Vista in machine-gun smuggling plot
Mug shot - Victor H. Bocanegra
TUCSON — Three Cochise County residents (?) were arrested earlier this month near Sierra Vista after attempting to take delivery of five machine guns worth nearly $50,000 they ordered with the intent to deliver them to Mexico.
According to the criminal complaint, Victor A. Bocanegra, Kathia V. Bocanegra, and Victor H. Bocanegra are charged with attempting to export the FN Herstal M249 machine guns in violation of numerous federal codes.
The belt-fed guns — also known as the squad-automatic weapon or "SAW" in the U.S. Army — weigh 22 pounds when loaded and can fire 650 to 800 rounds per minute, each capable of traveling 3,000 feet per second.
The complaint signed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam D. Rossi states the Bocanegras, who range in age from 18 to 22 and are U.S. citizens, drove from Mexico into Arizona several times last year to order the guns. They deposited $32,020 toward a total purchase price of $46,698, even though records from the Arizona Department of Economic Security show none of the them reported any income last year.
The trio was arrested Jan. 9 when they traveled to the Sierra Vista area with another $6,000 hoping to take possession of the firearms. All three remain in custody of the U.S. Marshal Service pending a detention and dangerousness hearing on Feb. 7 at 1:30 p.m. at the U.S. District Court in Tucson.
In the complaint, Special Agent Robert Edwards of Homeland Security Investigations notes authorities believe the Bocanegras don't live in Arizona even though they provided home addresses in Pirtleville near Douglas when arrested.
"Agents were able to establish via border crossings, electronic surveillance, and physical observation that none of the defendants reside in Arizona, and in fact reside in Mexico," Edwards wrote. "After waiving their Miranda rights, Victor H. Bocanegra and Kathia V. Bocanegra both stated that the FN Herstal M249 Machine Guns they purchased and attempted to transport were intended for Mexico."
Victor A. Bocanegra denied knowing about the plan, Edwards wrote, even though the other two said he "was aware of the plan to illegally purchase and export [the guns] to Mexico."
Multiple agencies were involved in the investigation and arrest, including the Sierra Vista Police Department.
END
Note: more interesting that the usual smuggling plot. Will they get probation?
Thx
3 arrested near Sierra Vista in machine-gun smuggling plot
By Terri Jo Neff For the Herald/Review Jan 26, 2019
https://www.myheraldreview.com/news/crime/arrested-near-sierra-vista-in-machine-gun-smuggling-plot/article_935af924-21a6-11e9-adb4-23c2f72a2adb.html
3 arrested near Sierra Vista in machine-gun smuggling plot
Mug shot - Victor H. Bocanegra
TUCSON — Three Cochise County residents (?) were arrested earlier this month near Sierra Vista after attempting to take delivery of five machine guns worth nearly $50,000 they ordered with the intent to deliver them to Mexico.
According to the criminal complaint, Victor A. Bocanegra, Kathia V. Bocanegra, and Victor H. Bocanegra are charged with attempting to export the FN Herstal M249 machine guns in violation of numerous federal codes.
The belt-fed guns — also known as the squad-automatic weapon or "SAW" in the U.S. Army — weigh 22 pounds when loaded and can fire 650 to 800 rounds per minute, each capable of traveling 3,000 feet per second.
The complaint signed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam D. Rossi states the Bocanegras, who range in age from 18 to 22 and are U.S. citizens, drove from Mexico into Arizona several times last year to order the guns. They deposited $32,020 toward a total purchase price of $46,698, even though records from the Arizona Department of Economic Security show none of the them reported any income last year.
The trio was arrested Jan. 9 when they traveled to the Sierra Vista area with another $6,000 hoping to take possession of the firearms. All three remain in custody of the U.S. Marshal Service pending a detention and dangerousness hearing on Feb. 7 at 1:30 p.m. at the U.S. District Court in Tucson.
In the complaint, Special Agent Robert Edwards of Homeland Security Investigations notes authorities believe the Bocanegras don't live in Arizona even though they provided home addresses in Pirtleville near Douglas when arrested.
"Agents were able to establish via border crossings, electronic surveillance, and physical observation that none of the defendants reside in Arizona, and in fact reside in Mexico," Edwards wrote. "After waiving their Miranda rights, Victor H. Bocanegra and Kathia V. Bocanegra both stated that the FN Herstal M249 Machine Guns they purchased and attempted to transport were intended for Mexico."
Victor A. Bocanegra denied knowing about the plan, Edwards wrote, even though the other two said he "was aware of the plan to illegally purchase and export [the guns] to Mexico."
Multiple agencies were involved in the investigation and arrest, including the Sierra Vista Police Department.
END
Friday, February 1, 2019
AZVEN UPDATE 1-2-19
AZVEN UPDATE 1 FEB 2019
NOTE; Very interesting back story. From Daily Mail - UK
Gracias
The ruthless rise of Venezuela's first lady:
How a career in TV and law helped Nicolas Maduro's wife become his chief advisor, amid drug trafficking and human rights abuse claims
Cilia Flores has been at the heart of Venezuelan politics for three nearly decades
Over that period, the 62-year-old has faced numerous allegations of corruption ranging from nepotism to drug trafficking to human rights abuses
Flores grew up in the small town of Tinaquillo and rose to political prominence in the 1990s as a lawyer for revolutionary Hugo Chavez
It was during that time she was first introduced to Nicolas Maduro, whom she married some two decades later in 2013
Flores became the legislature's first woman president in 2006 under Chavez
She became attorney general in 2012, months before Chavez died from cancer
After Maduro took office, Venezuela descended into authoritarianism
Meanwhile, he and Flores put on a show of domestic bliss in a perceived attempt to soften the dictator's public image
By MEGAN SHEETS FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 17:55 EST, 31 January 2019 | UPDATED: 18:59 EST, 31 January 2019
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6654575/How-dictator-Nicolas-Maduros-wife-Venezuelas-powerful-woman.html
Standing proudly alongside her embattled dictator husband Nicolas Maduro, Cilia Flores may appear to be like any other first lady.
But she is more than a dutiful politician's wife.
She is a lawyer, television host, political trailblazer and trendsetter.
She is also - according to some - the most powerful woman, indeed person, in Venezuela.
A former Venezuelan government researcher described Flores as a 'secretive, conniving and ruthless political operative'
and 'Maduro's chief adviser in all political and legal matters'.
She has also been dubbed 'a Venezuelan Claire Underwood' - referencing the House of Cards character played by Robin Wright.
The 62-year-old has been at the heart of Venezuelan politics for nearly three decades, dating back before she and Maduro first met.
Over that period she has faced numerous allegations of corruption ranging from nepotism to drug trafficking to human rights abuses.
As conflict within the nation's presidency has reached a fever pitch over the last week, amid massive street protests
and the US recognition of opposition leader Juan Guaido as the rightful leader, many Venezuelans are pinning just as much blame on Flores as they are Maduro.
The insider said: 'In the end, she is Maduro's wife. She will fall on the same pit as Maduro.'
Scroll down for video
Cilia Flores, the wife of embattled dictator Nicolas Maduro, is widely regarded as the most powerful woman in Venezuela.
Insiders have described the veteran prosecutor and politician as a 'puppet master' who bears just as much responsibility
for the nation's ongoing political and humanitarian crisis as Maduro does +14
Flores has been at the heart of Venezuelan politics for nearly three decades, dating back before she and Maduro first met. Over that period she has faced numerous allegations of corruption ranging from nepotism to drug trafficking to human rights abuses +14
Flores came from humble beginnings, having been born in the small town of Tinaquillo.
She rose to prominence in the 1990s as a lawyer for Hugo Chavez, whom she pledged her loyalty to during his days leading the Bolivarian Revolution.
It was during that time she was first introduced to Maduro, who is ten years her junior, but the couple didn't get married until some two decades later.
After Chavez was arrested following an attempted coup d'état in 1992, it was Flores who helped to secure his release from prison in 1994. When he became president four years later, Flores was by his side as one of his most staunch defenders.
She became the first female president of the legislature in 2006 under the Chavez administration, a job she took over from Maduro.
Flores became Venezuela's attorney general in 2012, months before Chavez died from cancer and the year before Maduro took over the presidency.
Flores rose to prominence in the 1990s as a lawyer for Hugo Chavez, whom she pledged her loyalty to during his days leading the Bolivarian Revolution.
She is seen at the president's right hand in 2009 (above) +14
A former Venezuelan government researcher described Flores as a 'secretive, conniving and ruthless political operative'
and 'Maduro's chief advisor in all political and legal matters' +14
During the race to replace Chavez after his death five years ago, one senior official said of Flores:
'She will be Maduro's "strong arm".'
At the time, Maduro said Flores would not be a first lady but instead
'the first fighter of the fatherland, the first socialist, the first woman of the people of the barrios, of the streets'.
The political power couple tied the knot two months after Maduro's election -
a union that insiders say may have cemented her as the most powerful person in the country, even more powerful than her husband.
In the years after Maduro took office, Venezuela has descended into authoritarianism
and his administration's strong-arm tactics have become increasingly violent.
His regime has been blamed for dozens of murders, thousands of unlawful detentions, the displacement of more than a million people,
and widespread food shortages inflamed by Maduro's refusal to accept humanitarian aid.
Meanwhile, Flores and Maduro put on a show of domestic bliss, frequently holding hands in public,
exchanging loving glances in front of photographers
and referring to each other with pet names in a perceived attempt to soften the dictator's public image.
Flores has made an effort to soften her husband's image and counteract his abysmal approval ratings
by putting on a show of marital bliss in front of the cameras +14
During the election after Chavez' death, one senior official said of Flores: '
She will be Maduro's "strong arm".'
At the time, Maduro said Flores would not be 'the first fighter of the fatherland, the first socialist, the first woman of the people of the barrios, of the streets'
Flores launched a reality TV show called Con Cilia En Familia (With Cilia in the Family) in 2015.
The show's ratings were even more dismal than her husband's approval ratings +14
Flores even started hosting a reality TV show called Con Cilia En Familia (With Cilia in the Family) in 2015.
A Guardian review of the first episode describes her TV persona as 'the once-fiery lawyer in decidedly demure mode'.
In the first installment, the cameras followed Flores as she visited a pediatric hospital and an old people's home
before reminiscing with cabinet ministers about the Bolivarian socialist revolution.
The Guardian writes: 'The syrupy political correctness of the show could hardly be further removed from the risqué telenovelas that Venezuela was once famous for,
but Flores's appearance on Sunday is far more in keeping with government's views on how the media should be used.'
The show's ratings were even more dismal than the public's approval of her husband at the time.
'Cilia has tried to soften President Maduro's image by projecting a more relatable image,'
Los Angeles-based branding expert Jeetendr Sehdev told Fox News.
'But rumors of nepotism and her nephew's recent drug trafficking attempts make her and President Maduro seem like a deadly power duo.'
Cilia, who has three children from her previous marriage, is pictured with family during her husband's presidential campaign in 2013.
They were married two months after the election +14
'Cilia has tried to soften President Maduro's image by projecting a more relatable image,' branding expert Jeetendr Sehdev said.
'But rumors of nepotism and her nephew's recent drug trafficking attempts make her and President Maduro seem like a deadly power duo' +14
'
John Polga-Hecimovich, an assistant professor of political science at the US Naval Academy,
described her as 'a Venezuelan Claire Underwood' - referencing the House of Cards character played by Robin Wright.
He told Fox News: 'She is a true believer in Hugo Chávez's Bolivarian Revolution and is known as the
"Primera Combatiente Revolucionaria" or "First Revolutionary Combatant."'
That's a nickname that she gave herself.
The government researcher previously mentioned said of Flores:
'There is no decision issued by the Supreme Court that she hasn't reviewed and approved.
She is good friends with Minister Varela (Iris Varela, the Jail Minister) and his brother is the Chief of the CICPC, Venezuela's FBI.
She also discovered Maikel Moreno, head of the Supreme Court.'
'Her enemies are mostly out of the government now. Her arch nemesis was former Prosecutor General Luisa Ortega
,' the insider told Fox News. Flores was a leader of the ANC (Constituent National Assembly),
a legislative body responsible for penning a new constitution for Venezuela that was behind the decision to oust Ortega.
That body has been widely condemned as a sham.
Flores' time in positions of power has been wrought with a multiple allegations of misconduct.
'Cilia is a very intelligent and ambitious woman, she has supported this political model since Day One,'
Caracas-based journalist and political activist Noris Argotte said.
'In the pro-government media, she is portrayed as a fighter. Her haters, of course,
are all of the opposition supporters; they see her as a woman who has taken advantage of her position to have luxuries.'
Under her leadership, nearly 40 of Flores' relatives assumed prominent public service positions, leading to accusations of nepotism.
Flores was sanctioned last September by the US Treasury Department over her alleged promotion of corruption, drug trafficking, and human rights abuses.
'President Maduro relies on his inner circle to maintain his grip on power, as his regime systematically plunders what remains of Venezuela's wealth,'
Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin remarked at the time.
'We continue to designate loyalists who enable Maduro to solidify his hold on the military and the government while the Venezuelan people suffer.'
Maduro responded to the sanctions by saying:
'If you want to attack me, attack me, but do not mess with Cilia, do not mess with the family, do not be cowards.
'Today they issued a decree of sanctions against Cilia, her only crime is being my wife.
Because they could not beat Maduro, they went after Cilia but they will not be able to defeat Cilia either because Cilia is a brave woman.'
The first lady had been hit with sanctions by Canada and Panama earlier in the year.
Flores made headlines in 2015 when her two nephews, Efrain Antonio Campo Flores and Francisco Flores de Freitas,
were arrested by the US Drug Enforcement Agency
and charged with conspiring to import cocaine into America.
According to court documents, the men attempted to bring in $20 million in narcotics sales to 'keep their family in power' -
reigniting rampant rumors about the Flores -Maduro family's link to the drug trade in South America.
The men testified that they were raised by Flores and had been living at Maduro's residence.
END
NOTE; Very interesting back story. From Daily Mail - UK
Gracias
The ruthless rise of Venezuela's first lady:
How a career in TV and law helped Nicolas Maduro's wife become his chief advisor, amid drug trafficking and human rights abuse claims
Cilia Flores has been at the heart of Venezuelan politics for three nearly decades
Over that period, the 62-year-old has faced numerous allegations of corruption ranging from nepotism to drug trafficking to human rights abuses
Flores grew up in the small town of Tinaquillo and rose to political prominence in the 1990s as a lawyer for revolutionary Hugo Chavez
It was during that time she was first introduced to Nicolas Maduro, whom she married some two decades later in 2013
Flores became the legislature's first woman president in 2006 under Chavez
She became attorney general in 2012, months before Chavez died from cancer
After Maduro took office, Venezuela descended into authoritarianism
Meanwhile, he and Flores put on a show of domestic bliss in a perceived attempt to soften the dictator's public image
By MEGAN SHEETS FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 17:55 EST, 31 January 2019 | UPDATED: 18:59 EST, 31 January 2019
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6654575/How-dictator-Nicolas-Maduros-wife-Venezuelas-powerful-woman.html
Standing proudly alongside her embattled dictator husband Nicolas Maduro, Cilia Flores may appear to be like any other first lady.
But she is more than a dutiful politician's wife.
She is a lawyer, television host, political trailblazer and trendsetter.
She is also - according to some - the most powerful woman, indeed person, in Venezuela.
A former Venezuelan government researcher described Flores as a 'secretive, conniving and ruthless political operative'
and 'Maduro's chief adviser in all political and legal matters'.
She has also been dubbed 'a Venezuelan Claire Underwood' - referencing the House of Cards character played by Robin Wright.
The 62-year-old has been at the heart of Venezuelan politics for nearly three decades, dating back before she and Maduro first met.
Over that period she has faced numerous allegations of corruption ranging from nepotism to drug trafficking to human rights abuses.
As conflict within the nation's presidency has reached a fever pitch over the last week, amid massive street protests
and the US recognition of opposition leader Juan Guaido as the rightful leader, many Venezuelans are pinning just as much blame on Flores as they are Maduro.
The insider said: 'In the end, she is Maduro's wife. She will fall on the same pit as Maduro.'
Scroll down for video
Cilia Flores, the wife of embattled dictator Nicolas Maduro, is widely regarded as the most powerful woman in Venezuela.
Insiders have described the veteran prosecutor and politician as a 'puppet master' who bears just as much responsibility
for the nation's ongoing political and humanitarian crisis as Maduro does +14
Flores has been at the heart of Venezuelan politics for nearly three decades, dating back before she and Maduro first met. Over that period she has faced numerous allegations of corruption ranging from nepotism to drug trafficking to human rights abuses +14
Flores came from humble beginnings, having been born in the small town of Tinaquillo.
She rose to prominence in the 1990s as a lawyer for Hugo Chavez, whom she pledged her loyalty to during his days leading the Bolivarian Revolution.
It was during that time she was first introduced to Maduro, who is ten years her junior, but the couple didn't get married until some two decades later.
After Chavez was arrested following an attempted coup d'état in 1992, it was Flores who helped to secure his release from prison in 1994. When he became president four years later, Flores was by his side as one of his most staunch defenders.
She became the first female president of the legislature in 2006 under the Chavez administration, a job she took over from Maduro.
Flores became Venezuela's attorney general in 2012, months before Chavez died from cancer and the year before Maduro took over the presidency.
Flores rose to prominence in the 1990s as a lawyer for Hugo Chavez, whom she pledged her loyalty to during his days leading the Bolivarian Revolution.
She is seen at the president's right hand in 2009 (above) +14
A former Venezuelan government researcher described Flores as a 'secretive, conniving and ruthless political operative'
and 'Maduro's chief advisor in all political and legal matters' +14
During the race to replace Chavez after his death five years ago, one senior official said of Flores:
'She will be Maduro's "strong arm".'
At the time, Maduro said Flores would not be a first lady but instead
'the first fighter of the fatherland, the first socialist, the first woman of the people of the barrios, of the streets'.
The political power couple tied the knot two months after Maduro's election -
a union that insiders say may have cemented her as the most powerful person in the country, even more powerful than her husband.
In the years after Maduro took office, Venezuela has descended into authoritarianism
and his administration's strong-arm tactics have become increasingly violent.
His regime has been blamed for dozens of murders, thousands of unlawful detentions, the displacement of more than a million people,
and widespread food shortages inflamed by Maduro's refusal to accept humanitarian aid.
Meanwhile, Flores and Maduro put on a show of domestic bliss, frequently holding hands in public,
exchanging loving glances in front of photographers
and referring to each other with pet names in a perceived attempt to soften the dictator's public image.
Flores has made an effort to soften her husband's image and counteract his abysmal approval ratings
by putting on a show of marital bliss in front of the cameras +14
During the election after Chavez' death, one senior official said of Flores: '
She will be Maduro's "strong arm".'
At the time, Maduro said Flores would not be 'the first fighter of the fatherland, the first socialist, the first woman of the people of the barrios, of the streets'
Flores launched a reality TV show called Con Cilia En Familia (With Cilia in the Family) in 2015.
The show's ratings were even more dismal than her husband's approval ratings +14
Flores even started hosting a reality TV show called Con Cilia En Familia (With Cilia in the Family) in 2015.
A Guardian review of the first episode describes her TV persona as 'the once-fiery lawyer in decidedly demure mode'.
In the first installment, the cameras followed Flores as she visited a pediatric hospital and an old people's home
before reminiscing with cabinet ministers about the Bolivarian socialist revolution.
The Guardian writes: 'The syrupy political correctness of the show could hardly be further removed from the risqué telenovelas that Venezuela was once famous for,
but Flores's appearance on Sunday is far more in keeping with government's views on how the media should be used.'
The show's ratings were even more dismal than the public's approval of her husband at the time.
'Cilia has tried to soften President Maduro's image by projecting a more relatable image,'
Los Angeles-based branding expert Jeetendr Sehdev told Fox News.
'But rumors of nepotism and her nephew's recent drug trafficking attempts make her and President Maduro seem like a deadly power duo.'
Cilia, who has three children from her previous marriage, is pictured with family during her husband's presidential campaign in 2013.
They were married two months after the election +14
'Cilia has tried to soften President Maduro's image by projecting a more relatable image,' branding expert Jeetendr Sehdev said.
'But rumors of nepotism and her nephew's recent drug trafficking attempts make her and President Maduro seem like a deadly power duo' +14
'
John Polga-Hecimovich, an assistant professor of political science at the US Naval Academy,
described her as 'a Venezuelan Claire Underwood' - referencing the House of Cards character played by Robin Wright.
He told Fox News: 'She is a true believer in Hugo Chávez's Bolivarian Revolution and is known as the
"Primera Combatiente Revolucionaria" or "First Revolutionary Combatant."'
That's a nickname that she gave herself.
The government researcher previously mentioned said of Flores:
'There is no decision issued by the Supreme Court that she hasn't reviewed and approved.
She is good friends with Minister Varela (Iris Varela, the Jail Minister) and his brother is the Chief of the CICPC, Venezuela's FBI.
She also discovered Maikel Moreno, head of the Supreme Court.'
'Her enemies are mostly out of the government now. Her arch nemesis was former Prosecutor General Luisa Ortega
,' the insider told Fox News. Flores was a leader of the ANC (Constituent National Assembly),
a legislative body responsible for penning a new constitution for Venezuela that was behind the decision to oust Ortega.
That body has been widely condemned as a sham.
Flores' time in positions of power has been wrought with a multiple allegations of misconduct.
'Cilia is a very intelligent and ambitious woman, she has supported this political model since Day One,'
Caracas-based journalist and political activist Noris Argotte said.
'In the pro-government media, she is portrayed as a fighter. Her haters, of course,
are all of the opposition supporters; they see her as a woman who has taken advantage of her position to have luxuries.'
Under her leadership, nearly 40 of Flores' relatives assumed prominent public service positions, leading to accusations of nepotism.
Flores was sanctioned last September by the US Treasury Department over her alleged promotion of corruption, drug trafficking, and human rights abuses.
'President Maduro relies on his inner circle to maintain his grip on power, as his regime systematically plunders what remains of Venezuela's wealth,'
Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin remarked at the time.
'We continue to designate loyalists who enable Maduro to solidify his hold on the military and the government while the Venezuelan people suffer.'
Maduro responded to the sanctions by saying:
'If you want to attack me, attack me, but do not mess with Cilia, do not mess with the family, do not be cowards.
'Today they issued a decree of sanctions against Cilia, her only crime is being my wife.
Because they could not beat Maduro, they went after Cilia but they will not be able to defeat Cilia either because Cilia is a brave woman.'
The first lady had been hit with sanctions by Canada and Panama earlier in the year.
Flores made headlines in 2015 when her two nephews, Efrain Antonio Campo Flores and Francisco Flores de Freitas,
were arrested by the US Drug Enforcement Agency
and charged with conspiring to import cocaine into America.
According to court documents, the men attempted to bring in $20 million in narcotics sales to 'keep their family in power' -
reigniting rampant rumors about the Flores -Maduro family's link to the drug trade in South America.
The men testified that they were raised by Flores and had been living at Maduro's residence.
END
AZMEX POLICY 31-1-19
AZMEX POLICY 31 JAN 2019
Texas
Conservatives head to Texas to try to build their own wall
By: By NOMAAN MERCHANT, Associated Press
Posted: Jan 31, 2019 03:28 PM MST
Updated: Jan 31, 2019 03:28 PM MST
https://www.kvia.com/news/texas/conservatives-head-to-texas-to-try-to-build-their-own-wall/996964596
The "We The People Will Build the Wall" campaign has surpassed $20 million since it was created in December by Air Force veteran and triple amputee Brian Kolfage.
HOUSTON (AP) - What started as an online fundraiser to provide President Donald Trump with donations for his southern border wall has morphed into a foundation whose members vow to build a wall themselves.
The "We The People Will Build the Wall" campaign has surpassed $20 million since it was created in December by Air Force veteran and triple amputee Brian Kolfage. The campaign has received almost 350,000 donations even as wall opponents derided the effort and after the longest government shutdown in U.S. history ended with Congress refusing Trump's demand for billions in wall funding.
Kolfage and other Trump supporters have now organized a nonprofit corporation, WeBuildtheWall Inc. Its board of directors includes former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, a hardline immigration opponent who has advised Trump. The group spent part of this week in South Texas touring the U.S.-Mexico border and meeting landowners the group hopes will allow private construction on their land.
Whether a private group could build such as wall remains to be seen. There are legal and environmental obstacles in South Texas that have delayed the U.S. government, even with its powers to seize land and waive laws for national security.
The group acknowledges the obstacles. But Dustin Stockton, one of the group's leaders, said he still believed they could build something in "months, not years."
"We talked to several people who weren't interested in having a wall five or six years ago who have since changed their mind based on what they're seeing happening on their land," Stockton said. He declined to identify the landowners they met, but said they said the security situation at the border had gotten significantly worse.
Experts on border walls are skeptical.
"If there is a landowner who wants a wall built on their property and they happen to have property near the border, I suppose they could convince the person to let them build on their property," said Efren Olivares, a lawyer with the Texas Civil Rights Project who is organizing landowners against a border wall. "It's extremely silly for achieving any kind of objective."
The fundraising so far "is still a tiny sum compared to the cost of any significant fencing on the border," said Reece Jones, a University of Hawaii professor and author of the book "Violent Borders."
U.S. Customs and Border Protection is working to build 33 miles (53 kilometers) of new walls and fencing in the Rio Grande Valley. The construction was funded by Congress in March. So far, the government has awarded 14 miles (22.5 kilometers) of construction for a total of $313 million, or roughly $22 million a mile.
The average cost of 1 mile built by the government exceeds what the campaign has raised.
"Walls alone are a very ineffective way to secure a border because they are expensive and still need to be constantly guarded," Jones said. "Even then, people regularly go over, under, around, or through them."
Most land along the Rio Grande is privately owned, and many landowners oppose surrendering their land for a border wall.
The U.S. government has the authority to seize land under eminent domain and will likely have to sue many landowners to build more barriers. It can also waive environmental laws to speed construction. A private group doesn't have those powers.
The river also feeds wildlife - including many endangered species - as well as farmland on both sides. A bi-national commission governs flood control on the river, and building at the water's edge is particularly difficult due to concerns about terrain and flooding.
Kolfage originally promised to donate any proceeds from his campaign to the U.S. government. But the group announced in January that it would instead fund a private construction effort. Donors before the change had 90 days to opt into the new effort or receive a refund. A spokesman for GoFundMe, the online fundraising site Kolfage used, says 53 percent of donors have opted in, and 57 percent of donors had responded as of last Friday.
The online fundraiser claims to have Trump's blessing, though the president has not tweeted or spoken publicly about the effort. The White House did not respond to a request for comment last week.
Kolfage posted a photo Monday of the sign outside the CBP Rio Grande Valley sector headquarters. He captioned it: "Time to see what USCBP thinks of our border wall plans." An agency spokesman said Kolfage did not have any meetings with local agents or chiefs; Stockton later confirmed there'd been no meeting.
WeBuildtheWall Inc. will employ a paid staff, though the group has not said how many employees it will have or how much they will be paid.
It continues to raise tens of thousands of dollars a day, Stockton said.
"It's an expression of the frustration of people all over the country about our politicians in Washington's inability to get the job done," he said.
END
Texas
Conservatives head to Texas to try to build their own wall
By: By NOMAAN MERCHANT, Associated Press
Posted: Jan 31, 2019 03:28 PM MST
Updated: Jan 31, 2019 03:28 PM MST
https://www.kvia.com/news/texas/conservatives-head-to-texas-to-try-to-build-their-own-wall/996964596
The "We The People Will Build the Wall" campaign has surpassed $20 million since it was created in December by Air Force veteran and triple amputee Brian Kolfage.
HOUSTON (AP) - What started as an online fundraiser to provide President Donald Trump with donations for his southern border wall has morphed into a foundation whose members vow to build a wall themselves.
The "We The People Will Build the Wall" campaign has surpassed $20 million since it was created in December by Air Force veteran and triple amputee Brian Kolfage. The campaign has received almost 350,000 donations even as wall opponents derided the effort and after the longest government shutdown in U.S. history ended with Congress refusing Trump's demand for billions in wall funding.
Kolfage and other Trump supporters have now organized a nonprofit corporation, WeBuildtheWall Inc. Its board of directors includes former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, a hardline immigration opponent who has advised Trump. The group spent part of this week in South Texas touring the U.S.-Mexico border and meeting landowners the group hopes will allow private construction on their land.
Whether a private group could build such as wall remains to be seen. There are legal and environmental obstacles in South Texas that have delayed the U.S. government, even with its powers to seize land and waive laws for national security.
The group acknowledges the obstacles. But Dustin Stockton, one of the group's leaders, said he still believed they could build something in "months, not years."
"We talked to several people who weren't interested in having a wall five or six years ago who have since changed their mind based on what they're seeing happening on their land," Stockton said. He declined to identify the landowners they met, but said they said the security situation at the border had gotten significantly worse.
Experts on border walls are skeptical.
"If there is a landowner who wants a wall built on their property and they happen to have property near the border, I suppose they could convince the person to let them build on their property," said Efren Olivares, a lawyer with the Texas Civil Rights Project who is organizing landowners against a border wall. "It's extremely silly for achieving any kind of objective."
The fundraising so far "is still a tiny sum compared to the cost of any significant fencing on the border," said Reece Jones, a University of Hawaii professor and author of the book "Violent Borders."
U.S. Customs and Border Protection is working to build 33 miles (53 kilometers) of new walls and fencing in the Rio Grande Valley. The construction was funded by Congress in March. So far, the government has awarded 14 miles (22.5 kilometers) of construction for a total of $313 million, or roughly $22 million a mile.
The average cost of 1 mile built by the government exceeds what the campaign has raised.
"Walls alone are a very ineffective way to secure a border because they are expensive and still need to be constantly guarded," Jones said. "Even then, people regularly go over, under, around, or through them."
Most land along the Rio Grande is privately owned, and many landowners oppose surrendering their land for a border wall.
The U.S. government has the authority to seize land under eminent domain and will likely have to sue many landowners to build more barriers. It can also waive environmental laws to speed construction. A private group doesn't have those powers.
The river also feeds wildlife - including many endangered species - as well as farmland on both sides. A bi-national commission governs flood control on the river, and building at the water's edge is particularly difficult due to concerns about terrain and flooding.
Kolfage originally promised to donate any proceeds from his campaign to the U.S. government. But the group announced in January that it would instead fund a private construction effort. Donors before the change had 90 days to opt into the new effort or receive a refund. A spokesman for GoFundMe, the online fundraising site Kolfage used, says 53 percent of donors have opted in, and 57 percent of donors had responded as of last Friday.
The online fundraiser claims to have Trump's blessing, though the president has not tweeted or spoken publicly about the effort. The White House did not respond to a request for comment last week.
Kolfage posted a photo Monday of the sign outside the CBP Rio Grande Valley sector headquarters. He captioned it: "Time to see what USCBP thinks of our border wall plans." An agency spokesman said Kolfage did not have any meetings with local agents or chiefs; Stockton later confirmed there'd been no meeting.
WeBuildtheWall Inc. will employ a paid staff, though the group has not said how many employees it will have or how much they will be paid.
It continues to raise tens of thousands of dollars a day, Stockton said.
"It's an expression of the frustration of people all over the country about our politicians in Washington's inability to get the job done," he said.
END
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