Maggie's Madness Drug War Chronicles: Baja California (Norte)

01/29/12 VIOLENCE TIJUANA MASSACRE IN TIJUANA BROTHER OF "R-12" KILLED SHOOT OUT IN ROSARITO BEACH

2012-01-29T12:22:00.000-08:00

This is initial information reported by AFN and El Mex: Last night at a party in colonia Tres de Octubre in Tijuana gunmen arriving in at least three vehicles opened fire on the party group killing at least five people according to El Mex, one of those included a child who later died at the General Hospital. According to AFN, three are dead and there are different versions of this story including the version that more bodies were found at that scene - it is unclear if these people were wounded or killed.

One of those killed was Daniel Alberto Cabrera Bengochea, the brother of Omar Bengochea aka "R-12", the former Tijuana Municipal Police Officer and chief bodyguard of El Aquiles of the Sinaloa cartel. As you recall, "R-12" was arrested just a few weeks back in Tijuana.

El Mex reports that authorities had descriptions of the vehicles and caught up with them in colonia Aztlan in Rosarito Beach at about midnight which they state was one hour after the executions in Tijuana. It was at this point the assassins stopped their vehicles in front of a house and opened fire on the PEP agents, currently we do not know how many units of PEP were at the scene. There was a gun battle with the PEP agents repelling the attack. Five men were arrested, weapons and dope were seized. AFN reports that five firearms were seized including two AK-47's. El Mex reports that an AR-15 was part of the arsenal seized. Initial reports are saying one of the assassins was injured, so far no reports of PEP agents being injured or killed. No reports yet on if any of the gunmen escaped. El Mex notes that it is suspected these gunmen were related to the executions in colonia Tres de Octubre and is waiting for the official confirmation of the story.

UPDATE 12:37pm: AFN is updating their story that five people were killed, including the minor and the brother of "R-12". From a statement of a witness the commando group was made up of three armed men who broke in to the party house, carrying rifles and dressed in military style black uniforms. The gunmen separated the men, women and children, making the women lay on the floor and then started shooting. AFN also notes the operation to track the commando group included the Municipals of Tijuana and Rosarito Beach, the PEP and the Mexican Army. AFN does not elaborate in this update if there were actually three vehicles used by the gunmen. It has not been reported how seriously the person was injured during the shoot out at this moment. AFN notes the area the gun battle took place in Rosarito Beach is known for the activities of El Aquiles and the Sinaloa cartel.

UPDATE@ 10:30pm: AFN is reporting that according to their sources the attack took place last night at about 8:00PM and that the assassins were heavily armed. this report does not indicate the time of the following shoot out in Rosarito Beach. There has been a brief press release from the Military who took the five men into their custody. According to the Military Report, at the scene of the shoot out in Rosarito Beach, five rifles, six magazines, 416 rounds of ammo, three vehicles, 200 grams of glass, 10 grams of mota and one kilo of precursor chemicals were seized. BTW, included in this Military Report are the results of some of their operations, including a clandestine airfield destroyed southeast of Ensenada, and another in Mexicali:

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At this moment there has been no other official report from the authorities, expect that tomorrow or Tuesday.

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UPDATE/EDIT 01/30 @ 9:37pm: AFN updates this story: The party in colonia Tres de Octubre was held at the house of the Mother of the Bengochea-Cabrera brothers, it was a family reunion. The 13 year old Ulises ( Daniel ) Beltran Castrejon who was killed was born in San Ysidro, California. There is a reference to the San Diego Union Tribune on Ulises's school in San Ysidro and reactions from teachers, however still the Tribune is only calling the shootout in Rosarito Beach an "incident".

There had been a prior threat against "R-12's" brother and if you recall after the "R-12" arrest,it was reported by AFN that he had only just returned to Tijuana, apparently thinking that things had cooled down. This update does not mention who or what group made the initial threat, although most people are assuming it came from elements within the CAF. Certainly there are still many bad feelings left over from the days of El Teo-Sanchez Arellano war; authorities have not commented on this aspect of the case or if they are anticipating a renewal of hostilities between the two cartel groups or if this was a one time revenge act, and if that was the case, revenge for who or what?

AFN notes the women were most likely saved from the firing squad because they were locked in a separate room. It has been reported previously that the assassins made the women move to another room and lay on the floor - it is unclear if the women themselves locked the door.

After the shoot out in Rosarito Beach some of the attackers were found in adjacent houses, this report doesn't say how many houses were involved and it is unclear if this was a cluster of a cell group in different houses or if the attackers had forced their way into these homes to hide. The weapons seized were a 9mm sub machine gun, one AK-47 with 100 rounds, One AK-47 with 40 rounds and one AR-15.

Those arrested are:

Hugo Sanchez Franciso Lucero - 54 years old
Juan Valentin Vazquez Serrano - 31 years old
Juan Carlos Perez Santos - 37 years old
Juan Carlos Perez Hernandez - 28 years old
Javier Ramirez de la Cruz - 33 years old

According to AFN what they call down here a "zipezap" or a confrontation took place between the Mexican Army and the PEP, where the Military took the prisoners and the weapons which were seized away from the PEP.

AFN places the time of the attack at the Tres de Octubre house at 8:30PM. At the scene of the crime 34 spent shells were located. AFN details how many shots each victim received, please refer to article below.

end edit.

EL MEX:

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AFN

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More updates as they become available.

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01/27/12 VIOLENCE TIJUANA DOPE AT PLAYA SALDAMANDO EXECUTIONS CONTINUE AS DO THE ARRESTS

2012-01-27T14:47:00.000-08:00

PLAYA SALDAMANDO, ENSENADA:

We always loved Playa Saldamando even though the water was a bit cold, you could either pitch a tent or rent a little trailer or pull your camper in and experience to this date how the northern coast of Baja was before all of the development. I always felt safe there, the owners had strict rules including no dopers, the gates shut at midnight, and it was very clean - probably still is. I thought the best time to go and camp was in August or September when the water was a bit warmer - I never did find good waves there, but it was fun for swimming and snorkeling. In fact, for the past several years with the drug activity and violence surrounding us and most places on our list eliminated of where we could still go and feel secure, Playa Saldamando remained an option. I'd prefer to think it still is, but then you have to consider if this next event which happened two days ago is a commonplace occurrence in that particular area or just an anomaly.

- According to the news sources here, the Mexican Army doing coastal recon seize two tons and 250 kilos of mota on the beach at Playa Saldamando. According to Frontera most of the dope was inside of two trucks which were parked on the beach and some of it had been loaded into a panga - my question is - was it the other way around? According to El Mex, all of the dope was inside of the boat, which was also seized. There were no arrests in this case, and no mention on any of the news sources if the two vehicles were also seized however it is noted that the boat seemed to have mechanical difficulties:

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- And more dope: In Villa Floresta, three people arrested, 26 kilos of mota seized, one rifle, 33 cartridges and one vehicle seized. In the Zona Norte: one woman arrested with 6 kilos and 997 gr. of mota. In Mexicali: Five people arrested with one kilo 970 gr. of crystal, two rifles, one handgun, one mag, 97 cartridges and two vehicles also seized:

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- In Mexicali, Mexican Army seizes 1/2 ton of dope, one man arrested with weapon. Had the dope reached the US, street value would have been 750K dollars:

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MORE UPDATES - PLEASE REFER TO THE LOCAL MEXICAN NEWS LINKS FOR MORE NEWS:

- Let's start off with the fuel syphoning, it still is happening. These are cases which were detected, however no arrests made in any of these cases. I mention this for a couple of reasons - months ago authorities stated that these clandestine operations were run by organized crime. We don't know how many more are out there, or how closely they are located to populated areas:

More fuel syphoning detected, one on the Rosarito-Mexicali pipeline near to Rumorosa, the other located in Tijuana however the exact location is not revealed:

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Two were found earlier this month, one in Ensenada and one in Tijuana:

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Edit: Some of the lanes at the San Ysidro POE and all of the pedestrian crossing closed and the pedestrian building evacuated due to a suspicious package. The package was reported shortly after 4PM, the closure was from according to El Mex 4:55PM - 5:12PM. San Diego Bomb Squad found nothing in the package and lanes were reopened:

Cierran filas de garita por paquette sospechoso

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- In Otay, the owner of an import shop shot and killed in front of family members as he resisted a robbery attempt. Witnesses say there were three assailants including a woman, no arrests yet:

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- In Nueva Tijuana the body of a man found burned inside of a vehicle which was afire. His hands and feet tied and a rope around his neck:

Hallan cadaver dentro de auto quemado

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- San Quintin: One man arrested for attempting to rob the vehicle of an American
family in colonia Playitas. El Vigia describes the attempt was made "...with great violence". Apparently neighbors came to their aid, and the man was arrested:

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- Two people executed in separate events: One in the courtyard of his home in colonia Obrera Segundo seccion, the other found in a lot in Matamoros. Witnesses say in the second case that the man was attacked by four gunmen who repeatedly shot him from their vehicle. No arrests yet:

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- Four people executed within a few hours: The first group included two women and one man who were attacked inside of their home in El Soler (Playas de Tijuana Delegacion) by an unknown number of assassins who it is reported, shot them repeatedly. Apparently the three people were according to AFN playing cards and taking drugs when they were attacked. Other news agencies said that residue from crystal was found inside of the house. A little baby was found unharmed in another room of the house. The next incident was the body of a man found beaten to death by the pedestrian bridge and the Tijuana River channel:

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- At K-114 on the Transpenisular Highway (San Vicente-Camalu area) the body of a man found, hands and feet tied, plastic bag over his head with several gunshots:

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- In Ensenada in the Villas del Sol I neighborhood, one man found executed inside of his home:

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- In colonia Rinconada I (Centenario) a family assaulted by two men with a loaded AK-47 in their home; the robbers take the family car and other items. There were arrests in the case after the family call the police: one of those arrested had recently been deported from the US and was a member of the San Diego street gang, "Los Paisas":

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- On Blvd. Insurgentes two men aboard a motorcycle rob a man at gunpoint and fire their weapon. There was one arrest in this case:

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- One man shot and killed inside of an abandoned house in colonia Rinconada de Otay:

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- One man shot and wounded as he was getting out of his vehicle close to the Regional south Command. there have been three arrested in this case:

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Let's take a look at news we've received regarding the migrants in our area:

- Rosarito Beach: A commercial Rosarito Beach police officer and his wife arrested for human trafficking and labor exploitation having brought a 14 year old from Veracruz here with promises of a good paying job. Instead, the minor was held captive to do housework with no pay. The victim managed to escape:

Detienen agente comercial y esposa por explotacion

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- In the Poniente area of Mexicali nine migrants who were malnourished and dehydrated rescued by the Grupo Beta and Municipal Police. There had been a report of an armed group who had kidnapped another group of migrants in the Bomba Cero area, however after a search by the Mexican authorities, no traffickers were found:

Rescatan a migrantes en zona fronteriza Mex-EU

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- In the Zona Central, two polleros arrested having a group of five migrants they were supposedly going to take into the States. Actually these migrants were lucky because many time the migrants are promised this journey and then kidnapped, tortured and their families extorted for more money.

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- The only way to fly...Polleros are now using light aircraft to smuggle migrants into the US. In El Centro three migrants paid 2K500 dollars (a considerably low amount by the going rate of sometimes up to 10K dlls these days) to be flown into the US. USBP remarked that this was the fourth airplane seized with smuggling migrants since last year in the El Centro sector. Other aircraft which have been seized in the area were bound for Long Beach and Santa Monica. In this last case, the smuggler was US citizen Lino Rodriquez of Hemet, California who pleaded innocent to the charges and was released on 20K dollar bail:

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Here's a good one:
"Free Mexican Air Force"

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Here are the local links for all of the news:

ZETA TIJUANA

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AFN

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FRONTERA

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EL MEXICANO

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Noticias Ensenada.net - Ensenada News

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El Vigia de Ensenada - Ensenada News

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Encuentro 29.com - Mexicali News

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Mundo Narco - Formerly Blog del Narco

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LA Times

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01/24/12 VIOLENCE TIJUANA STRATFOR'S PROJECTIONS MEXICO DRUG WAR 2012

2012-01-24T20:27:00.000-08:00

Most all of the Mexican New sources are covering the recent Stratfor assessment of the drug war and what their analysts and experts are projecting for Mexico in 2012. Of course, the government figures of those killed in the past year(s) are still in question according to Zeta Magazine and their analysts and investigators, a point which Stratfor also covers.

But no matter which experts and analysts you tend to believe, it's always a good idea to read and listen to all of the interpretations of events I think. Also, looking through the headlines this evening, it seems quiet in our area which of course is good news, I personally experienced no problems traveling through Tijuana today. So for your consideration (if you haven't read it already) here is the report from Stratfor which everyone in Mexico is reading and I'll try to catch up with events in the next few days:

Stratfor
January 24, 2012

Polarization and Sustained Violence In Mexico's Cartel War

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On edit: Here is a much older report from a few months back addressing other "facts" which BBC reports as having been manipulated - but of course, with a question mark in the title:

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01/22/12 VIOLENCE TIJUANA CARTEL VS. FRAGMENTATION-INDIVIDUAL CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES

2012-01-22T19:14:00.000-08:00

Record amount of cocaine seized by the Tijuana Municipals:

We are back from the thermal waters of the San Diego desert, and it was really nice. Before we left however there seemed to be a lot of people patting each other on the back, Americans and Mexicans alike proclaiming that Tijuana was now a safe destination for tourists and that soon Mexicali too would be turned around, the organized criminal groups run out of Dodge. I'm not naive enough to ever believe the cartels will be run out of Dodge, but they probably would prefer to keep a lower profile so they can continue with their businesses of human and dope trafficking unhindered.

Looking over the news from the past few days there have been many seizures and many arrests, but also many violent assaults. We can attribute the large quantities of dope seized by the Mexican Army as belonging to the cartels, but unlike a few years ago when authorities would attribute shootings, kidnappings and assaults to one cartel criminal cell group or another, this time around we are not receiving information as to who exactly is responsible for these assaults (unless of course the person or person is arrested). We are unsure if these are the fragmented groups we've read so much about, or individuals acting as their own agents.

None the less, the trend seems to be escalating in Tijuana not diminishing. Importantly, all of these events over the past few days did not take place in the east part of Tijuana, one took place in a tourist area of the Zona Rio. Granted, in many of the cases there was quick response from the authorities - but if this trend is escalating, which it appears to be doing, will the authorities be able to keep up? And if the Mexican authorities are able to keep up and prove to be a deterrent to assaults, is it possible that the U.S. State Department will reduce the current Travel Warning advisory to a Travel Alert advisory for Tijuana - if not all of Baja California?

Just a quick note that as far as Rosarito Beach, it has been very quiet with only the four tons of dope found on the beach south of town a few weeks back, and there were no arrests in that case. Another quick note or my neighbor will crown me, he reports that yesterday in Rosarito Beach it was quiet, no tourists, but he saw three patrols of Municipals on Benito Juarez and one truckload of Marinos headed south - so Rosarito despite all of the reports of US gang members and criminal cell members living there seems to be holding her own and the presence of the authorities is obvious.

In an earlier analysis from last year on the changing shift in violence patterns in Mexico, June Beittel writes:

"...The DTO's (Drug Trafficking Organizations) that pose a serious challenge to governance in Mexico today are more fragmented and competitive than the larger and more stable organizations that Presidente Calderon faced at the beginning of his administration. Analysts disagree about the extent of this fragmentation and its importance, and whether the resulting highly competitive groups of smaller organizations will be easier to dismantle. There is more agreement that the environment is growing more violent and that the "violent free for all" is a relatively new development in Mexico."

"Mexico's Drug Trafficking Organizations: Source and Scope of the Rising Violence"

by, June S. Beittel
Analyst in Latin American Affairs
09/07/2011

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So let's take a look at the known cartel activities brought to a halt by the Mexican authorities in the past few days:

- At the Otay border crossing, Mexican Army seizes one ton and forty kilos of mota hidden in a load of tomatoes headed for the States - unsure where this load was coming from because it's been too cold around here to grow tomatoes. Also, southeast of San Vincente, Ensenada mota plants destroyed and another clandestine airstrip south of Ensenada destroyed by the Mexican Army. The article does not state where south of Ensenada, however there have been at least five airstrips destroyed in San Quintin in the past few months:

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- Tijuana Municipal Police arrest four men and seize a record amount of 81 kilos of cocaine - this was in the east part of town, El Florido and El Rubi respectively. The product belonged to El Chapo of the Sinaloa cartel, two of those arrested were from Mexicali. According to Chief Capella the dope was due to be transported to the US the very same evening, and also commended the Municipals for their abilties to not only work in unison with the other corporations but to be able to work singularly in the fight against organized crime:

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- Two tons of mota seized by the Mexican Army in the east part of the Mexicali Valley, no word on any people arrested in this case:

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- Two and a half tons of mota seized by the Mexican Army at the port of San Felipe, no arrests in this case:

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- More and more dope: In La Mesa inside of a building, four tons and 255 kilos; four people arrested with rifles, mags and 100 cartridges and five vehicles seized. In the Villas de Tijuana neighborhood 28 kilos, a rifle, 6 cartridges and a vehicle seized. In colonia Lucio Blanco, Rosarito Beach 335 kilos found inside of a house. On the Mexicali-Tecate Highway at one of the checkpoints, 110 cases of liquor seized which seems was smuggled into Mexico.

Ah, the reason why the exotic birds were found at the Airport: Airport authorities allowed two trucks into the cargo zone. When inside, people started unloading the boxes which contained the birds and since this was an irregular procedure the Mexican Army stepped in. Aside from the birds, there were also two sheep dogs and a sable rifle:

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- I've mentioned this before, but here is the link to the nearly four tons of abandoned dope found by the Mexican Army earlier in December down the road at La Burrita:

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- Down south in Vizcaino which may be an indication that matters are not exactly smooth, Governor Mario Covarrubias Villasenor delivers money, nine patrol units (three of those will go to Santa Rosalia) and eleven bulletproof vests to beef up security in the area: (Also I believe Mexican Army is posted at or around Guerrero Negro)

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Now let's look at some of the fragmentation or individual criminal activities from this last week; also check out the police reports on the links, more are there:

- In Tecate, the PME arrest the man responsible for the murder of a man on 12/26/11. Also seized was a .223 rifle and charger with 15 shots:

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- In colonia Zona Urbana del Rio two men arrested by the Tijuana Municipals after an attempted kidnapping, assault and robbery of the son of a former Commander of the Tijuana Police:

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- A taxi driver and his accomplice kidnap a family, hold and threaten them for three days after picking them up from the bus station. The woman manages to escape and alert authorities, there is one arrest by the Municipals of the accomplice:

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- In colonia Industrial Chilpancingo (Centennial) Municipals arrest one man transporting five migrants - not indicated in this report is how much the migrants paid the pollero, and we're assuming he was working on his own - but there's the possibility this was cartel related:

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- Five arrested in Mexicali, two of those minors, all with knives:

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- Two men posing as police officers in plain clothes handcuff a man then shoot him in front of witnesses in colonia El Lago:

Asesinan a joven haciendose pasar por policias

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- In Mexicali, Municipal Police Officer Samaniego Jesus Felix shot dead in a drive by by armed men who later abandoned their vehicle. AFN notes in this case the officer had four cases against him for abuse of authority, some of those cases had been dropped and several properties which were in his name which raised some eyebrows since of course this would seem a bit extravagant for a policeman's salary.
The abandoned vehicle used by the gunmen turned out to be stolen from San Diego, inside were 17 shell casings from an AK-47, tactical gloves and a 40 gauge gun. AFN has a video:

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- AFN reports an armed commando group opens fire on a man killing him in the El Lago neighborhood - so maybe this one and the police officer killed should have gone under cartel crime? Hard to say:

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- Finally, this week's Zeta states that according to the records from the Medical Examiner (SEMEFO) of Mexicali twenty three deaths have been recorded in Mexicali for the first two weeks of January. Seventy percent of these are drug related murders, living up to the NY Times standard of reported "Zetanification" of brutality. No one cartel is singled out or blamed, so this may be a real indication of fragmentation at work. Zeta lists all of them:

Zeta
Edicion 1973
Asesinatos por control de droga

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And what is happening throughout the country?

Mexico Drug War Bloodies Areas Thought to Be Safe
NY Times
by, Randal C. Archibold

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Here are the links for all of the news:

Zeta Tijuana

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AFN

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FRONTERA

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EL MEXICANO

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El VIGIA - ENSENADA NEWS

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Noticias Ensenada.net - Ensenada News

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Encuentro 29.com - Mexicali News

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Mundo Narco - Formerly Blog del Narco

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LA Times

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01/17/2012 VIOLENCE TIJUANA AIN'T NOBODY HERE BUT US CHICKENS ACCORDING TO ZETA MAGAZINE, THE NUMBERS DEAD FROM THE DRUG WAR ARE BEING MINIMALIZED BOTH STATE AND NATION WIDE

2012-01-17T17:32:00.000-08:00

ONE OF TWENTY FOUR EXOTIC BIRDS BEING SMUGGLED IN BY THE BODYGUARDS OF JORGE HANK ROHN IN CARDBOARD BOXES (courtesy El Mex): Is that blood in the the box?

UPDATE/edit @11:00pm: There have been many searches here for the exact numbers of executions or deaths related to organized crime in Baja California for 2011. Towards the end of last month just before Christmas, Zeta Magazine stated and I blogged it here that the national number was up to sixty thousand plus. This was ridiculed by one other blog-forum, you know the one - "Baja No Mas", as if this should not be reported before Christmas, as if this was not important.

I noticed that Insight Crime, Molly Malone of Frontera and the NY Times are all attempting to update the numbers - but the truth is, who knows? Zeta states that the numbers from the PGR are far from the reality of the death toll in Mexico from the drug war. Each day they report it is obvious the mess of bodies on roads, in neighborhoods, in public squares, in graves - in so many words, the smell of death permeates the air.

According to Zeta, the national numbers are more like a staggering 104,692 dead. Minimizing the numbers is occurring according to Zeta for several reasons; it's an election year and the National Information System is categorizing thousands and thousands of deaths as "other" or "no data".

For our purposes, let's look at Baja California whose numbers are also being minimalized. According to Zeta the State government of Baja California reported 183 deaths related to organized criminal activity in the first nine months of 2011 - but in reality during those months there were 378. At the end of the year so far it looks like there were 476. However, the official "Deceased Briefing Card" issued by the PGJE of Baja California was last issued 11/10/2011 and since then there has been no official Baja California state report. According to the Attorney General of the State Rommel Moreno Manjarrez, the PGR is simply not investigating many of these murders (there is a link within the article to Zeta's past coverage of that issue). An important report from Zeta:

Zeta
Minimizan ejecuciones
Edicion 1972
01/16/2012

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There has not been a rash of executions in our area since the last recorded events of 01/12/12 however there have been attacks on police, human limbs found in a burning house in Mexicali and many arrests. Once again, the rumor is circulating that a truce has been made in our area, but we've been there and done that before, only time will tell.

Here Are The Updates:

- In Mexicali two human legs found in a burning abandoned house in the Jazmines neighborhood:

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- In the ZONA NORTE a Police Officer from Oaxaca thought to be an undercover cop kidnapped and tortured, El Mex states the kidnappers cut off part of his penis. He managed to escape and alert the authorities who subsequently arrested fifteen people:

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- On this same story, AFN reports that some of those arrested were former gang members from California and Nevada who operate as coyotes, or human smugglers. It is unclear if this victim approached the coyotes for assistance to cross over and then was found out to be because of his identification a police officer from Oaxaca. At any rate, initially it was reported that this man was a migrant who was attempting to cross into the U.S. This report from AFN states he was also tortured with electric shocks. Why this police officer from Oaxaca was on the run was not reported by any of the agencies:

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- While waiting to have their tires changed at a tire shop in colonia Obrera, two Tijuana Municipal Police Officers were attacked by gunfire. There was a chase involved with other patrol units who came to their aid, the offenders rolled their vehicle down a baranca and escaped. El Mex notes that two weapons were found inside of the abandoned vehicle:

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- On the same story, AFN notes that there were five spent shells from a 9mm and one from a 223 found at the scene, and that it was a 357 which was found inside of the vehicle. There have been no reports that the police returned fire. AFN has a video:

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- The initial reports on this event which took place on the beach in Playas de Tijuana stated that eight people were arrested including a member of the Ensenada Municipal Police Special-Ops Division. Of course - this raised everyone's eyebrows around here. This report goes on to state the people arrested were in three panga boats which dropped several packages on the beach which were picked up by two trucks which left the scene before the arrival of the authorities. Frontera goes on to state that it was believed these packages contained dope:

Aseguran a 8 en Playas; trian droga en pangas

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- Same story yesterday updates: All agencies are reporting that it was eighteen people who were arrested by the Municipals of Tijuana backed up by the Mexican Army and of this eighteen one was a member of the Special Forces Police of
Ensenada. Again, two trucks picked up the packages, which the fishermen are saying were full of clams. All of these people have been released, there was no evidence of the three pangas transporting dope or migrants. The Special Forces Police officer from Ensenada is actually from San Quintin, his father is head of a fishing co-op in San Quintin.

El Vigia does make a special note that it was on January the 4th of this year that three jet skis with migrants aboard being smuggled into the U.S. were in this same area and were not caught by the authorities. So, to me at least it is obvious why the authorities arrested the eighteen people - the smuggling on this coast by criminal groups is rampant. However,the comments under this article are extremely anti-authority, citing these arrests as an abuse of power. A lot of jangled nerves over this one:

Detuvieron en Tijuana a policia de Ensenada

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- Four bodyguards of Grupo Caliente's owner, Jorge Hank Rohn were arrested at the airport while picking up Hank and Maria Elvia on their private flight into Tijuana from the State of Mexico with twenty four exotic birds which are protected under Mexican law, one of the birds was dead. The four men were detained by the Mexican Army and handed over to the PGR, one of the bodyguards is an active Tijuana Municipal Police officer who works in the commercial zone.

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What? No weapons? Nope, ain't nobody here but us chickens...

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UPDATE/EDIT 01/18: All agencies are reporting this morning that the four employees of Grupo Caliente arrested for smuggling the birds are out on bail. Frontera states the case is open and there is plenty of evidence to presume the commission of a crime. This would be violation (s) of Article 420 of the Federal Criminal Code, or Crimes Against the Environment and Environmental Management and Biodiversity. The birds were stashed in cardboard boxes and there was no documentation.(I would say something here but I won't)

According to the Military, the birds arrived in Tijuana on a private jet coming from Toluca. Flight records show the flight plan of the G11-59 jet registration number N25OMS carried Jorge Hank Rohn and family members from Toluca to Tijuana arriving Tijuana at 8pm this last Sunday. Google in title if URL doesn't come up.

En Libertad bajo fianza los 4 detenidos por aves

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UPDATE/EDIT 01/23: Wait a minute, not so fast - seems Hank is off the hook. According to Zeta the PGR decided that it was the bodyguard of Hank who was also an active Commercial police officer in Tijuana who actually acquired the birds on his little tiny salary, not Hank. You might want to check out the other story from Zeta on the cruel conditions the birds were transferred in :

Zeta
Edicion 1973
01/23/2012

PGR al servicio de Hank

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Oh what the heck let's do another song already...

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And on to the elections....

~

Just a small sample of the arrests, interestingly these are of people associated with Raydel Lopez Uriate (aka "the Crutches"), close to Bengochea who is still as far as we know being held at the Military barracks and has not been transferred to OFDI in Mexico City:

- Two men arrested with arms and ammo. AFN places these arrests in Tijuana, El Mex reports they happened in Mexicali. Still, both men are reported to be former operatives of Raydel Lopez Uriarte, one of these men stated he is married to the cousin of Uriarte and both admitted to being involved in narcotics trafficking. Although the name of El Aquiles was not mentioned in this report, some people have remarked in the comments section that there is a connection to El Aquiles:

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- Officers of Mexican Military Intelligence arrest five people in the Downtown area of Tijuana - the pictures look like the Zona Rio. All were taken to the Army barracks in colonia Morelos. Although unconfirmed, one of the five could be a relative of Raydel Lopez Uriarte. This article from AFN states it is unknown what the charges are against these people, nor have they been identified:

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~

Here are the links for all of the local news:

Zeta Tijuana

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AFN

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FRONTERA

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EL MEXICANO

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Noticias Ensenada.net - Ensenada News

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El Vigia de ensenada - Ensenada News

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Encuentro 29.com - Mexicali News

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Mundo Narco

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LA Times

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~

01/15/12 VIOLENCE TIJUANA DAMAGE CONTROL

2012-01-15T00:07:00.000-08:00

We subscribe to several news and political sites both liberal and conservative from the United States, Mexico and Latin America. Interestingly as you probably already know, the Stratfor site was hacked by the group "Anonymous" recently and went off line for awhile, they have recovered and are back on line again. Since we receive their "Security Weekly" updates, our email ended up in the hands of "Anonymous", from whom we received three emails with basically end of the world warnings pronouncing the coming days of anarchy worldwide.

Perhaps instead of either soft selling or white washing the drug war in Mexico which seems to be popular with the travel, real estate and tourist business industry (particularly of San Diego) or to accept the standard of the anarchists, it might be wise to instead consider the merits and disadvantages of the current drug war strategies. So, from the Pan American Post feed here is an article and perspective of the current drug war strategy in Mexico:

From The Washington Monthly
Fighting the Last War
by, Elizabeth Dickinson

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I'll be back with the updates later, mostly in the past three days we have seen a series of arrests in our area.

~

01/11/2012 VIOLENCE TIJUANA WHERE'S BENGOCHEA? OR HOW MUCH OF THE TIJUANA POLICE DEPARTMENT HAS BEEN INFILTRATED BY THE SINALOA CARTEL - JUST ONE ?

2012-01-12T00:30:00.000-08:00

El Aquiles cell shut down (courtesy AFN):

It was Friday 1/06 at 10PM that AFN reported Bengochea aka "R-12" the ex-Tijuana Municipal Police officer and Chief in charge of bodyguards of El Aquiles of the Sinaloa cartel had been transferred to the Military barracks in Tijuana instead of being transferred to OFDI in Mexico City. Some blogs reported that Bengochea would be out of Tijuana and transferred to Mexico City within 48 hours. That was five days ago and there have been no reports here that "R-12" has gone anywhere, but there have been several arrests of operatives of El Aquiles. Let's take a look at those:

- All agencies have reported that the PEP conducted three operations where dope was seized and six people including an active Tijuana police officer were arrested. First stop: Playas de Tijuana in the Jardines area, two men arrested with dope. Those men have been identified as Rueda Ricardo Izquierdo and Llaven Filberto de los Santos. Izquierdo is the Tijuana Municipal Police Officer whose primary role was to provide protection to this cell group. (All by himself?) Second stop in the Costa Hermosa area of Playas de Tijuana two more arrested with dope. Third stop is in the private development of Mediterraneo of colonia Rio, two more people arrested with more dope and a stolen vehicle.

All total dope seized was 214 kilos with a street value of 8 million 560K pesos. Let me check those numbers again before Linton Robinson jumps all over my case. Yes, those numbers are correct - street value is 8 million 560K pesos.

More importantly, this cell group belongs to El Aquiles of the Sinaloa cartel. Even more important is that obviously the Sinaloa cartel has infiltrated the Tijuana Municipal Police Department. Was this just this one operative, or are there more and was this arrest made on past intelligence of the PEP or current statements made by Bengochea? Is this the reason "R-12" was not transferred to Mexico City but as far as all of us know is still in Tijuana and should we expect to see more of El Aquiles men arrested?

Also arrested in the Loma Dorado neighborhood by agents of the Ministerial Police Special Operations Group (GOE) two members of La Familia Michoacana with a shotgun and an AK-47. Nowhere has it been printed that these arrests are related to the arrests of the El Aquiles cell, guess we'll have to wait for Zeta Magazine to investigate this one:

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A quick report from Rosarito Beach this evening, we went in to pick up my car which was in the shop and it was very quiet, nothing out of the ordinary. There were no gang people hanging out on the streets, everything was clean, we spotted at least three patrol units and had a nice dinner. I did not feel scared (although I would not go camping anywhere around here these days), the only person who scares me is THE MULTIPLE PERSONALITY "Fulano"... oh and the HOA of SADM who are advertising they respect height limits and protect views here and we all know that is not true, our views are all blocked and the City of Tijuana issued three violation notices to the builder (whose projects were APPROVED by the HOA) which were thrown in the trash by the renter occupants, but we'll deal with that bullshit another time.

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The Updates - added 01/12/2012 :

- This morning just in case you might have missed it, MSNBC published a summary of the Excelsior article giving the Mexican government's latest stats on the number of people killed during this drug war, within the article is the link to Excelsior. I'm also including again the article which Zeta ran front page for weeks with the numbers they have come up with in their investigations - and the number Zeta gives us is quite a bit larger that the Excelsior Mexican government numbers, you will have to decide which one to believe:

MSNBC

"One killed every half hour in Mexico drug-related violence"

TEXT

Zeta Magazine
Edicion 1967
12/12/11

"Quinto ano de gobierno: 60 mil 420 ejecuciones"

TEXT

- All agencies reporting an auxiliary Police Officer attacked around midnight last night in the San Antonio de los Buenos neighborhood by three gunmen who shot at him and his vehicle repeatedly. The officer, Ramirez Hernandez sustained a bullet injury to his back - AFN has a video:

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- Frontera reports in colonia Villas de Sol (La Presa) one man shot and wounded while resisting an armed robbery attempt:

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- In Mexicali, two men executed, both bodies are found burned. The first in the southern part of the Mexicali valley, this victim had been shot in the head and then burned with tires. The second victim was found in the west part of Mexicali, his body found in a lot half burned with Christmas trees:

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- AFN reports two more bodies located Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. The first case was a body found by children in the Vaso de la Presa area (sub-delegacion de Los Pinos) bound hand and foot, shot in the head. In the second case, a body found in the Downtown area although the cause of death was not reported, so this could be of natural causes. Both bodies were in an advanced state of decomposition.

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- In a baranca (gully, ravine)of colonia Pedregal de Santa Julia the remains of a woman found half buried:

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- A migrant living in the Canon del Matadero shot and wounded, his two dogs were shot and killed:

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Here are the links for all of news:

Zeta Tijuana

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AFN

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FRONTERA

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EL MEXICANO

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Noticias Ensenada.net - Ensenada News

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El Vigia de Ensenada

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Encuentro 29.com - Mexicali News

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Mundo Narco

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LA Times

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~

01/10/12 VIOLENCE TIJUANA SHOOT OUT IN ENSENADA UPDATES ON TALK BAJA THE SITE THAT JUST LOVES SEX SLAVERY IN MEXICO OR AT LEAST DOES NOT WANT TO ADMIT IT EXISTS OR ANOTHER ATTACK BY LINTON ROBINSON

2012-01-10T23:33:00.000-08:00

Noticias Ensenada.net is reporting that at this moment there is an intense police mobilization in the southern colonias of Ensenada after a shoot out in Lomas de San Fernando which left one man injured. This is an initial report, details are expected later. The man was taken to the Hospital San Jose in Chapultepec which most of you are familiar with, the Hospital has been cordoned off by Municipal and Ministerial elements. More details as they become available:

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UPDATE/EDIT 01/11: Noticias Ensenada.net updates this story this morning: It was 35 year old Alonso Jimenez Marillo who was attacked outside of his home in colonia Lomas de San Fernando, he was taken to the San Jose Hospital by relatives/friends. According to the authorities, the gunmen who attacked him were unknown to him, or strangers. At this point it has not been reported if the gunmen were on foot or in a vehicle, which caliber of weapon was used and how shells were left at the scene. As far as the condition of Murillo, it is unknown. the Tijuana media has not picked this story up yet, and there have been no arrests reported:

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I'm not quite sure why there has been such an uproar over my translating the Mexican news regarding the problems down in San Quintin. This area is certainly not sacrosanct, it is well known and has been documented as part of the drug transport routes, this includes San Quintin, Camulu and even further south to Guerrero Negro. In addition the area has been documented as a plantation haven. It is part of the drug war, and that is why there are Mexican Army troops at checkpoints and conducting surveillance by land and air and Marinos conducting operations by sea.

To just point the finger at Tijuana, Rosarito Beach, Mexicali and Tecate is sophomoric. This southern zone is extremely active, it always has been and unless we see a transformation of the cartel groups suddenly becoming more caring and loving (as Kate de Castillo seems to view El Chapo) these areas will experience crime in the same manner as we in the upper north areas are experiencing, they are not immune. These conditions are a reality which the Mexican people are living under, I don't know what is so difficult to understand about that - unless you don't want people to know the conditions which the Mexican people are living under.

Speaking of plantations, here is an article which states that eradication of both mota and poppy fields in Mexico is way down, and this is acknowledged by the DEA and the United Nations:

A la baja la erradicacion

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UPDATE/EDIT 01/11: Speaking of attempting to compare crime rates in Mexico to those in the United States, which has to be the lamest argument ever, here is this mornings report from MSNBC:

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And, to TALK BAJA who just love to portray me as the boogieman without giving me an opportunity to respond on their Baja travel forum (nazis), and to question what my "agenda" is - I am translating the local news regarding the drug war in our area and the results of the social and economic conditions which affect daily life here. I've been doing it for almost six years and apparently it is so threatening to you you whore you talk about me behind my back - say it to my face cunt. I live here - you don't. You are sitting on your ass up in the States with Linton the greatest opportunist of all time trying to figure out how to make money off the Mexican people, promoting is your agenda and money. And not only that you are unqualified to make reviews of anything, all you are qualified to do is to promote a tourist travel board and we all know what that is about. Here's an idea you dumb broad, why don't you include all the links to the local Mexican News sources and encourage people to read all of the news, I do. YOU FUCKING DON'T and you never will, sort of like you don't want anyone to know what's going on, at least that is how it appears to me. And that is one of the big problems and always has been in the United States - no one really pays or has ever paid attention to the Mexican press. Had they starting forty fifty sixty years ago gringos might have a clue. Mexico was sold down the river, the image the majority of Americans had was that it was the place where people sat under the cactus, ate tacos and drank beer - oh they danced, that's right, they danced and wore sombreros. Oh brother.

As far as boogiemen - I think you are, and your agenda of dishonestly promoting Baja California is pathetic. Fuckin whore.

Btw TALK BAJA your boy Linton Robinson was here aka "JoeJustJoe" correcting a typo I made. I'm just curious, is Sandra Dibble writing for you guys too? Or perhaps Ms. Rivas, who flits about town in a 65K vehicle? So here is the correction, and please note the threats made to me even translating these articles and further harassment by linking me to the Hong Kong Club. Why don't you guys just come out and admit it, YOUR SITE IS RUN BY LINTON ROBINSON WHO ALSO RUNS BAJA.COM, THE BAJA NOMADS AND TIJUANA AMIGOS? WHAT? YOU DON'T WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW YOU ARE UP TO YOUR EYEBALLS IN COLLABORATION with what according to to Rosy Orozco are places which are known by the Mexican Federal government to be involved with sex slavery of women and children? Wow, what a bunch of greaseballs. You guys are disgusting, SCUM OF THE EARTH. How's that project going of promoting ERENDIRA these days?

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Oh what a coincidence, the Wallace Medeiros story covered by Fulano (Linton Robinson) and the Baja Nomads both have the same title: "Another Dead Gringo". I was thinking about Fulano yesterday, how when Gifford's was shot and the other people killed in Arizona he tried to somehow portray me and the fake character 'Joe Just Joe' he has developed as curiously responsible or at least having an affinity with the shooter. This, after months of him rampaging and just instilling hate as a supporter of AZ1070. Remember?

"The Psychopath in Arizona"

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But the fact is that " Fulano" has most in common with George Morris:

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And finally, I recall when "Fulano" character first started 'The Fulano Files', he made several errors in translating stories - and this was before I knew who he really was (Linton Robinson). I sent him confidential messages so that he would not suffer embarrassment correcting his translations and facts and made it quite clear these were private messages. He changed his wording and never even thanked me, so fuck you Fulano.

Yes, it is true I turned him in to the FBI along with his hate filled sites.

So, I imagine they are also looking at you too TALK BAJA.

And the most disgusting fact of all - that all of this time The San Diego Union Tribune and The San Diego Reader knew all about Linton Robinson the greatest bullshit artist and opportunist who ever lived and his bullshit characters made up on the Baja Nomads, Borderland Beat, Tijuana Amigos and Talk Baja. And they knew all about his shake yo money maker Baja.com. Prove me wrong because I am not and try to sue me, you can not because it is all true. In fact, it is not just recently that Linton writes as the "Fulano"character at the Reader, he has been there for years. What a sweet set up, what a con.

Now here's the question - knowing this and the fact that the Tribune also promoted Diane Gibbs when there were problems with her questionable business practices at SADM which they ignored and the people she ripped off here at SADM and chose to ignore how culpable are they for the people she recently ripped off for not just a little bit of money but for millions of dollars? And, it wasn't until the beans were spilled down here that they finally printed a piece on her grand theft. Yet in that piece, nowhere to be found was an apology for supporting her for years, and during the time she was ripping people off. How many of those Americans who lost hundreds of thousands of dollars googled in "Diane Gibbs" and saw that the Tribune basically promoted her and her enterprise and thought, well this gal seems okay, the Tribune seems to think she is okay let's go for it - and then they lost everything, people lost millions of dollars. How can we ever trust the Tribune again? So, I am tired of hearing how the Mexicans are constantly ripping off people, although it does happen, especially when a culprit in scam, a brother in arms to scam at least ideologically is the Tribune. The other atrocity is that months back I looked at the Dibble tweet page, and there she was sitting down holding up a copy of Zeta Magazine with the picture of Blancornelas on it. How dare she, what an insult to his memory and to everything that Zeta stands for.

To whoever the chick is who is writing at Talk Baja and spreading malicious lies about me, you come here to my house you know where I live. Say those things to my face and I guarantee you that looonnggg nose of yours will somehow end up in your ass. And then, you will eat these CHP & Police reports and the letter from Mike Pabloff to the school that was taking money when the basic requirements of the applicant were not valid including his arrest record in the United States among other things, the emails from Grabman and Frank and swallow them - copies of course dear. Boom, it's fucking over. But you won't because you are a chicken shit liar and you like to suck Linton's dick, along with Grabman and Fat Fuck Frank. Oh I forgot, you have to wait and let the gals at the Tribune go first. Five years I have been putting up with you and your promoter friends bullshit, and it is going to end one way or another. And I'm not going anywhere. All bullshit and tormenting me you fucking bitch well I'm going to start tormenting you, how about that? What? You say you don't like what I wrote about the Baja Nomads? But it was all true, you know that. What? You say you don't want anyone to know how almost the entire group were Bush supporters and didn't think there was global warming? Prior to that they were the "Swiftboaters" against John Kerry. Why not? Why change now? Why try to cover it up? Are you ashamed ? How could that be?

I know, we can label and call you "Borderline" personality,we can say you have an addictive problem (well you are addicted, to being a liar and an opportunist), we already know you are a con, we can start bullshit about your sex life and your past,(even though you really are a whore) we can make it all up, just like you did. Regardless if the character "Fulano" finally took down his comments on 'The Fulano Files' for months they ran where he and his other characters discussed who would fuck me, I have copies. Should we call you a "sweathog" like your friend Dennis called me on Talk Baja (I made a copy). In fact, let's start now. The chick that runs Talk Baha with Linton and Ron Hoff is a whore.(the whore part is true) She and her mother I heard go down and pull trains at Erendira, in fact I heard they were going to start up a whorehouse down there and both the mother and the daughter will be available to give blow jobs and fast fucks. One of the reasons they will be doing this is because their husbands or boyfriends don't fuck them and they are tired of fucking the staff at the Radar and the Sun Diego Union. So they do have sex, but not with their husbands and boyfriends, with everyone else. Their husbands and boyfriends usually can be found cleaning out toilets and then sticking the dirty mops up these gals asses - after all, they won't fuck them, they just stick those dirty slimy mops up their asses. Wow. How's that for character assassination ? I learned that from YOU. How does it feel you cunt? Don't take it personally. who knows, maybe Linton will steal those ideas and put them in a new book. Anything is possible.

Regarding the new character "Manny" on Talk Baja - he doesn't exist, another bullshit character made up by Linton Robinson. And who designed "Manny's" new profile - Roels? Well, we know he's a crook and a fraud, we know how he is able to manipulate software. And we all know he has a warrant out for his arrest in the United States for software fraud. Loved the way he changed Corina's data to say she actually graduated from Marion High. BTW, we have contacted the school on that one.

Oh wait a minute, there's even more. When we thought Mike Pabloff was our "friend" (Hahahaha) he told us that Danny Loya (Rush Limbaugh's fervent fan) provided all kinds of parts for their race cars. According to Mike Pabloff, the parts turned out to be stolen. Why would he tell us that? We did not ask for this information, he offered it. Will he deny it now? Probably, but that's what he said. And apparently Loya is your source for saying we scare children. Well fuck you, the fact is this: we asked the boys to not throw their ball against our garage and make the dogs bark - it was on a Sunday afternoon, Mike was taking a nap he needed to get up at 3:00am and go to work. But here's something you may not know about Loya - when our good neighbors were trying to sell their house he went around telling everyone the roof and house was full of termites. He also made the wife (Bella House) of Bob House who we bought 83D from cry. When Bella was relating how Bob's heart was bad and that was one reason she wanted to leave to neighbors, he confronted them and started arguing with her and calling her full of shit - Bella broke down in tears. Loya is an asshole, he always was and he always will be. And he sucks on Rush Limbaugh's dick. But another thing Mike Pabloff told us about him - Pabloff said that Loya's brother called him "...slow and stupid...not very bright." But that is your source, makes sense.

One more thing, I went to go look up "Manny's" blog on Campo La Joya, and could find nothing. However, I did watch a video of a realtor down there who claims that the $1.25 per day fee covers water, trash pick up and sewer. Correction : there is no sewer at Campo La Joya, it is all outdated cesspools and septic tanks, and there is quite a charge to have those emptied. I guess you could say though that the place is a sewer.

And I don't need no stinkin locked "private" area , I'll write it for the world to see...am considering this header:"Whore from Talk Baha and her slut mother from New Mexico planning to open brothel in Erendira after they finish giving everyone a blow job at the Sun Diego Union Tribune". Well, something like that, maybe you - since you are the queen of lies and character assassination can help me out with the title, after all you are the pro, right? Oh sorry, that is after you are finished with your blow jobs. Better yet, let's do a weekly parody of you and "Fulano" the pimp character. "Whore from Talk Baha and Foolano or Linton the Faggot Discuss How Much Money Linton Is making Off Running the Tihuana Amigos And How They Can Cover Up Any Sex Slavery Going On By Calling Rosie Orozco A Cunt" Yea, that would work, let's go for it.

Fuck you promoter bullshit slut. And fuck your George Bush and Sarah Palin lover friends. I'm waiting to meet up with your ass, come on over you lying whore and bring Linton with you. We already know what he looks like. You think I'm going off on you now, ha wait until you meet me. Oh for cryin out loud, take that dildo out of your pussy you whore. Oh sorry, Linton's there and you're doing it for him while you are reading his latest nasty, nasty book. Scum. You are one cheap whore. Here's a good parody..."Lyndon Robbensons Sister is Actually the woman behind the keyboard at Talk Baha and Incest runs in their family."

One question, does Linton's sister run the San Diego Raedar?

Lest we forget those happier days...my only regret is that I didn't stick the fuckin book up "Fulano's" ass. On second thought, from what I hear he might have enjoyed that, so fuck it.

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I'll be back later with more updates...

~

01/07 VIOLENCE TIJUANA THE RETURN OF THE HANKISTAS ! PROBLEMAS EN SAN QUINTIN ANOTHER GRINGO ATTACKED - THIS TIME THEY KILLED HIM

2012-01-07T19:08:00.000-08:00

Don't Say Nothin Bad About My Baby Hank (courtesy AFN):

Not as though the Hankistas ever really went away, but they are back in the news. Zeta describes what happened here in Tijuana this last week in their latest edicion: The National Executive Committee (CEN) of the PRI arrrived in Tijuana represented by the eyes and ears of Delegados Enrique Martinez and Heriberto Ramos. The objective of the CEN was to whittle down and to evaluate all of the potential candidates and to choose those who had the best chances of winning in the upcoming elections.

To avoid internal elections and bickering CEN formed a "Junta" between authorities and party members privately to choose the candidates who will ultimately lead their party to not only State victory, but on the National level. The candidates for the Senate of Baja California signed an agreement which basically rejects individual interest and supports party unity - or a pre-nuptual agreement if you will. Fourteen of the candidates were present on 01/04 at the Hotel Lucerno in Tijuana to sign the pact except for Maria Elvia Amaya de Hank and the Federal Deputy Humberto Lee, who both had already signed the pact in private meetings.

And so it was that Maria Elvia Amaya de Hank made the list of pre-candidates for the office of Senate. The week before, the word was already circulating that Maria Elvia Amaya de Hank would be a candidate for the Senate and Frontera reports that the News commentator (Televisa) Joaquin Lopez Doriga famous for "Juay de rita" remarked that Maria Elvia Amaya's only political merit was that she is the wife of Jorge Hank Rohn. Y'all know who that is...however even if Sr. Doriga was being critical, this alone may prove to be a powerful asset:

Revela aspiraciones por la candidatura

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Which leads us to big daddy. For nearly two days this next article was front page news on AFN. Jorge Hank Rohn sternly objected to any attacks on Maria Elvia's candidacy during a short interview. He remarked that although such things happen in politics, it is mean, it is slander and it is libel linking him and his family to crimes such as the murders of Hector Felix Miranda of Zeta Magazine and daughter-in-law Angelica Cervantes Munoz or for having an arsenal of weapons in his home.

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Well yea...you don't want to mess with this guy....

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~

The Updates: (sorry I'm late, we had unexpected visitors)

- San Quintin, just south of Ensenada used to be known as the quiet little place down the coast where there was good fishing, good surf, beautiful beaches, vistas and immaculate open space, safe and relaxing camping, and of course who can forget the good crab dinners at the Cielto Lindo? We particularly loved El Socorro and even considered building down there at one time. Events from the past months and the comments by the Mexican people on the news sources (OTHER THAN JUST THE ONE WHICH I REFER TO HERE) indicate that San Quintin is no longer the way it used to be. This is tragic not only for the present security condition of San Quintin but for a positive prognosis of it's future.

- In San Quintin a commando group of six men kidnapped the owner of the grocery store "Luke" - which is just north of San Quintin in Ejido Padre Kino. Although witnesses stated that the vehicle with the hostage sped northwards, authorities have been unable to locate the suspects or the vehicle:

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- The only news source which has picked up these two stories coming out of San Quintin was El Vigia de Ensenada: Two men found dead in San Quintin, one of these was a U.S. citizen, 90 years old identified as Wallace James Medeiros. Medeiros was a native of Hawaii and had lived in the Ejido Juan Maria Salvatierra of San Quintin (also known as Granjas Salvatierra) for roughly the past ten years. The father of the boy who worked for Medeiros discovered the body inside of Medeiros home which was bound hand and foot and had been stabbed in the stomach. El Vigia reports that the home of Medeiros had been ransacked and suggests the intruders might have been looking for something "special". Our take on this was that maybe they were just looking for money. In addition, the assassins stole the two vehicles owned by Medeiros which were later found burned. No arrests, suspects still at large.

The other victim was found inside of his living quarters in Benito Garcia. An autopsy is being performed to determine the cause of death in this case. It is under this article where one Mexican respondent states that there are murderers hiding out in Maneadero, on the run from places like Sinaloa, Guerrero and Chiapas.

Years ago when we lived in Ensenada, the son of our vet told us the same thing - except he said the "murderers" and "criminals" were all over the area - this was at the time prior to the major drug war outbreak in our area. The Mexicans always knew this, it is only just now that this fact is coming to light, and the promoters still do not want you to know about it. Google in title if URL doesn't come up:

El Vigia de Ensenada:
Hallan dos cadavers

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- El Mex reports the body of a 30 year old woman found in colonia Popular, San Quintin. The body was found in a lot used for pasture between the streets Lazaro Cardenas and Poligono. The victim had been stabbed fifty times:

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UPDATE 01/09: El Mex has updated this story, the woman was 18 years old, not 30 years old:

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UPDATE/Edit 01/10: El Mex is reporting an arrest in this case:

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- At the La Mancha Internet Cafe in Ensenada an armed robbery by two young men results in one woman woman being robbed of her purse. Police did arrest the two attackers, aged 17 and eighteen:

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- Also in Ensenada PEP officer Gerado Curiel Moneal making a routine inspection on Avenida Mexico in Ensenada was intentionally run down by a driver of what was initially described as a yellow VW Beetle. At first reported to be in serious condition, Officer Monreal is now reported to be out of danger. There was confusion regarding another vehicle which was parked in the area which matched the description, it turned out not to be the vehicle in question - it and the driver are still at large:

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UPDATE 01/09: Two people have been arrested in this case, both involved in selling drugs:

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Let's move back up the coast, as of 01/08 at 7:56pm Rosarito Beach remains quiet. And despite the combined forces of the Mexican Army, the Tijuana and other Preventive Police the assaults continue. Naturally most of these are drug war related, but there are many which are simply armed assaults and robberies, some of these ending up with people dead. So we're looking at not only drug war events but results of implosion due to economic and social factors. Please check the links so that you can get an idea of how many arrests are being made - all agencies contain"Policia" reports.

- All agencies reporting a "free" taxi driver shot and killed in a robbery attempt in colonia Esperanza. the robber was accompanied by his 15 year old son who was also shot and wounded during the scuffle inside of the taxi. Police have arrested the shooter in this case:

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- In colonia Emperadores two men shot to death inside of a home. Witnesses report the assassin wore a black ski mask over his face and was driving a Honda Civic which was later found abandoned:

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- Four young men shot and wounded on the corner of Justo Sierra and 20 de Noviembre in colonia Jardines de la Cruces, normally a quiet neighborhood by a man driving a white Ford Expedition, no arrests in this case yet:

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- UPDATE 01/09: El Mex reports one man executed in colonia Camino Verde, and there has been one arrest in this case:

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- Frontera reports a violent assault on the Nepcomex Company located on the old Tecate Road in La Presa by armed men who made off with 70K pesos and 3K dlls. meant for payroll. An oddity in this case is that the attackers were able to get past security without having to show their identifications of have their vehicle checked. No arrests so far:

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- A woman assaulted in the Villa del Prado area while walking home from work by three armed men in a vehicle. In this case, the three men were subsequently arrested; they were part of a street gang known as "Hondo Blanco" and the youngest member of this group was 17 years old - so an example of how the Police are working under a lot of pressure trying to protect the citizens and also the ages of the gang members, we're seeing again the young people being pulled into these groups:

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- Here is another example of young people acting as attackers: three minors aged 14, 15 and 16 involved in an armed attack on a gas station in Mariano Matamoros, all were arrested:

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- Outside of the landfill in Valle de Las Palmas one man executed by shotgun blasts. Witnesses report the attacker also stuck the body of the victim with a tube (AFN reports it was a metal tube):

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Here are the links for all of the news:

Zeta Tijuana: This week everything from illegal donations to the XOLOS to the
Corrizo Gorge Rail line, to the sentence received by Benjamin Arellano and how the Mexicans feel about that - should be online by Tuesday:

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AFN

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FRONTERA

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EL MEXICANO

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Noticias Ensenada.net - Ensenada News

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Encuentro 29.com - Mexicali News

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El Vigia de Ensenada - Ensenada News

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LA Times

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Mundo Narco - Formerly Blog del Narco

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See youy guys in a few days.

~

01/04 VIOLENCE TIJUANA EL CAPITAN DE LOS BODYGUARDS OF EL AQUILES " CABRERA BENGOCHEA " CAPTURED IN TIJUANA - ROSARITO BEACH GETS GUARDHOUSES AND UPDATES

2012-01-04T21:45:00.000-08:00

OMAR CONTRERAS BENGOCHEA AKA CABRERA BENGOCHEA AKA R - 15 (courtesy AFN):

01/05 @ 3:27 pm: UPDATE BELOW THAT BENGOCHEA IS STILL AT THE PGR FEDERAL BUILDING DOWNTOWN TIJUANA, ACCORDING TO THE NEWS SOURCES HE HAS NOT YET BEEN TRANSFERRED TO MEXICO CITY AND WE HAVE HAD A SHOOTING IN THE ZONA RIO AREA, UNKNOWN IF THIS IS RETALIATION FOR THIS ARREST OF IMPORTANCE DETAILS BELOW. EL MEX IS ADVISING PEOPLE TO STAY OUT OF THE ZONA RIO TO AVOID DRIVING THERE BECAUSE OF THE HEAVY SECURITY. THE PGR BUILDING WHERE BENGOCHEA IS CURRENTLY BEING HELD IS LOCATED IN THE ZONA RIO.

Director of AFN, Dora Elena Cortes is the first to report that the Jefe (chief) of the bodyguards for "El Aquiles" was arrested along with two other men early this evening at 6:30pm in the Los Pinos area of Tijuana.

This early report states that initially Tijuana Municipal Police were conducting an operation culminating in the arrest of a narcomenudista when they spotted who AFN is calling " Mencochea Cabrera." He was inside of a vehicle in the area of the police ops with two other people. There was a chase involved, this report does not mention a shoot out.

Mencochea Cabrera is a former police officer who was on SEIDO's list for his participation in federal crimes. He is currently being held under guard at the Military Headquarters in Tijuana.

El Aquiles is well known in our area, working for El Chapo Guzman of the Sinaloa cartel. AFN notes that the narco-tunnel discovered 11/16/11 in Otay belonged to El Aquiles; you might recall that sources close to AFN reported that most of the dope in that tunnel belonged to Sanchez Arellano of the CAF.

Mencochea Cabrera would be considered a big fish of importance arrest who is privy to intimate details of El Aquiles - whether these men have contingency plans to relocate after an arrest of this nature is not known, but they probably do. Here is the link, normally AFN updates their stories, so more information is expected during the hours tonight and tomorrow, check the links:

TEXT

01/05 updates on this story:

Although Frontera is reporting the identification of this man has not been confirmed by the authorities, both El Mex and AFN are printing his name - AFN is now referring to him as "Cabrera Bengochea" and "Omar Contreras Bengochea"; El Mex is referring to him as "Omar Contrera Bengochea aka R-12". He did have an outstanding warrant out for his arrest.

He is still being described as head of the bodyguards for El Achiles of the Sinaloa cartel and close to Raydel Uriarte ("The Crutches") arrested several months ago and who worked with El Teo.

According to AFN, Bengochea operated under El Teo and commanded a group of assassins and kidnappers in our area known as the "R's" during the 2008-2009 period. This was the old guard, or old armed wing of the Sinaloa cartel during the period of time when they had infiltrated the police department among others, and El Gil also a former police officer was part of this group. El Gil remains under arrest. Bengochea is linked to the balacera in Centenario in 2008 also known as "El Canaveral" where fifteen people were massacred, this was one of the bloody incidents representative of the fight between El Teo of the Sinaloa cartel and Sanchez Arellano of the CAF. Bengochea is also linked to the attacks against Tijuana Police Officers Jesus Hurtado and Raymundo Contreras. Currently or as of yesterday, Bengochea was believed to have been the leader of a Sinaloa drug trafficking cell in San Antonio de los Buenos.

We have different reports on the weapons seized during this arrest; one states that unofficially it was reported an AK-47 and a handgun were seized, the other under the Chief Capella story from AFN states that three weapons were seized. From all of the reports we are receiving, this arrest was happens chance - nowhere so far has it been reported that Bengochea was an actual target or that the operation yesterday was an effort to trap and arrest Bengochea.

From the following pictures, you will be able to see how the streets were closed down transferring Bengochea to the Federal PGR building downtown from Military headquarters for interrogation. From there it is reported that he will be transferred to the Office of Special Investigations for Organized Crime (OFDI) in Mexico City. Chief Capella has noted that this was an arrest of importance.

AFN includes video:

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Chief Capella:

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UPDATE 01/05 @ 3:31pm: None of the news sources here have reported that Bengochea has been flown out of Tijuana to Mexico City - those arrangements will most likely remain very secret, because Bengochea himself could be a target with all the information he has. As far as everyone knows right now he is still inside of the Downtown PGR building in Tijuana and we have just had a shooting in the Zona Rio. The PGR Federal building where Bengochea is being held is located in the Zona Rio. Let's take a look, unknown if this is related to the arrest of Bengochea:

- AFN reports in the Rio district (ZONA RIO) near to the City Hall buildings there was gunfire this afternoon @ 2:20pm. At least four shots were reported which caused alarm in the area. Police have been scrutinizing or canvassing the area including residential, shopping malls and parking lots as well as the inside and outside of the Palacio Municipal, more details as they become available:

AFN:

TEXT

- Frontera reports that a man and a woman have been arrested in connection with this shooting; this article says they lived in a building there and they were high on dope:

Detienen a hombre por tiroteo en zona rio

TEXT

- El Mex reports on these arrests and has a picture of the woman involved in this shooting being detained. They are also advising people to stay out of the area and avoid driving there because of heavy security:

TEXT

UPDATE 01/05 @ 8:38PM: It seems to have quieted down in the Zona Rio, there have been no more reports of attacks on the authorities or gunfire. Keep an eye on the links.

UPDATE 01/05 @ 11:30pm - It is official from AFN and somewhat of a mystery that at 10:00pm this evening, Omar Cabrera Bengochea is still in Tijuana. It was thought that he would be transported to the OFDI in Mexico City at some point today, but that hasn't happened. AFN states officials are giving no reason for this, and people are beginning to get nervous; there is speculation that maybe Oswal...sorry I meant Bengochea (by reading the comments)might know a little bit too much regarding other people's involvement with organized crime in the City, or perhaps there could be a legal glitch and local investigations will take priority. But this is unusual for local investigations to supercede OFDI in Mexico City. All of this is speculation right now, there has been no official statement - yet, he's still here. I'll leave you with the links:

TEXT

P.S. I won't be here tomorrow so you will probably know what happens before I do.

(c;

~

In the past there have been complaints made here that organized criminal groups seemed to have the upper hand in Rosarito Beach regarding human and drug trafficking. Known for geographic open spaces, canyons and hills famous for popular hideaways and safe-houses for criminal groups, today's news will come as a relief to many the citizens of Rosarito Beach.

Five guardhouses have been installed in colonias La Mina, Los Ramos, Lomas Altos, Volcanes and Ejido Santa Ana and were presented today by Chief Magdeleno Luis Vazques. The guardhouses will be activated in the coming weeks operating 7-24.

36 million pesos is being invested into each of the guardhouses ( on edit: actually more than 36 million pesos will be invested into each guardhouse, and I apologize for the typo of "billion" instead of "million"); the Chief stated these will act as a security measure for the citizens. This means the authorities will have the upper hand this time around, with them surrounding the criminals and affording them with the ability to control security issues instead of the other way around. The Chief also stated that the installation of these guardhouses is being supervised by PRODEUR and have received the green light from senior management of the neighborhood committees.

So, good news for the citizens of Rosarito Beach. Now that area down by San Quintin.....

TEXT

01/05: MORE UPDATES AS LONG AS WE ARE HERE:

- In colonia Hacienda Las Delicias of La Presa Rural, four gunmen in a vehicle open fire on a man, killing him. One witness reported he was driving when he heard the gunfire and one of the bullets smashed through the back rear window of his vehicle, no arrests yet:

TEXT

- In the Granjas El Encanto neighborhood of Mexicali which is K12 on the Mexicali-San Felipe highway, a man who worked at a local grocery store and described by neighbors as quiet and trustworthy enough that the owner of the grocery store would let him stay there overnight gunned down on the road; no arrests so far:

TEXT

- More chemicals from China discovered at the Ensenada Port - this is the second seizure of chemicals within the past few weeks at the Port of Ensenada. 900 liters of the precursor chemical monomethylamine which could have produced fourteen tons of synthetic drugs was seized:

TEXT

- From a couple of days back in colonia Morelos II of Ensenada, one man executed, no arrests yet:

TEXT

- Ensenada in the picture again, this time for human smuggling. Frontera reports that in full view, broad daylight and in front of the Mexican authorities yesterday polleros openly were transporting migrants in six vessels en route to the USA. Strangely however according to this report, there were only two migrants in each boat. This is unusual because according to Deputy Chief of the USBP Liason Unit Miadra Botto, the pangas which are meant to carry only ten people are loaded down with 25 people. According to the Deputy Chief the polleros are coming out of Ensenada destined for Santa Barbara. ( I remember saying that awhile back...) Also of course, Rosarito Beach has always been a take off area and the Deputy Chief mentioned that once there was a load which departed from Playas. The going price now - according to the Deputy Chief it is ten thousand dollars per person:

Ven a traficantes cruzar por mar

TEXT

- Finally, Cuauhtemoc Cardona Benavides, head of the state internal politics is not pleased with the deal made between U.S. Authorities and Benjamin Arellano Felix. The academic feels that the capo deserved a full penalty of 140 years in prison instead of the 25 he was given in lieu of a trial.

Cardona Benavides feels that this is sending the wrong message to drug traffickers and that now the narcos would prefer to go the USA and receive reduced sentences. (Not to mention 3 squares a day) He believes the traffickers need stricter sentences which would act as a deterrent to their activities.

Well, many people agree with Cardona Benavides and I do not know this for a fact, but I imagine that Benjamin probably gave the USA authorities information on cartel activities in the USA, thus the reduced sentence. So, if that is true then what is better - an elongated sentence or a shorter sentence ? At any rate, you can see the conviction and how the narcos are absolutely despised by Cardona Benavides, and he represents how millions of Mexicans feel. (They're just outgunned, thanks to the USA.)

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Here are the links for all of the local news - see you guys in a few days:

AFN

TEXT

FRONTERA

TEXT

EL MEXICANO

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Noticias Ensenada.net - Ensenada News

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Encuentro 29.com - Mexicali News

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ZETA TIJUANA

TEXT

LA TIMES

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MUNDO NARCO (Formerly Blog del Narco)

TEXT

~

01/03 VIOLENCE TIJUANA BAJA CALIFORNIA CONSIDERED HIGH RISK BY AGENCIES OF THE MEXICAN GOVERNMENT FROM ZETA: 28 CARTELS NATIONWIDE

2012-01-03T22:34:00.000-08:00

Lidia Gallegos Aguilar found dead in Maneadero, Ensenada:

Excelsior rocked the world here with with their article which has been reprinted by several Mexican news agencies regarding high risk areas due to violence throughout Mexico, including Vanguardia. If you think our U.S. State Department is just full of ninnys and alarmists based on false warnings from the thank-god-past-Condi-Rice- days claiming there were weapons of mass destruction perhaps you need to consider the findings of the Executive Secretariat of National Public Security of Mexico, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Social Development of Mexico.

For our purposes here, we will zero in on Baja California, although this article does break down political parties which govern the most insecure areas, for the most part that would be the PRI. According to these Federal agencies, thirty four of the most important tourist areas of the country among which are Cancun, Cozumel, Puerto Vallarta, Manzanillo, Mexico City, Acapulco, Mazatlan, LA PAZ and LOS CABOS are in the group of the 186 most dangerous cities in the country.

It is within these 186 Municipalities that sixty percent of the population lives, roughly 66.8 million people. In other words, sixty percent of the Mexican population lives in unsafe areas. Of these 186 Municipalities with the most violence, 109 are governed by the PRI, 29 by the PRD and 48 by the PAN.

And here is something you simply will not read on any Baja travel forum: All of the Federal District (Mexico City) and all of BAJA CALIFORNIA are considered to be high risk. In fact, according to these studies, BAJA CALIFORNIA and the Federal District are considered to be HIGH HAZARD.

Billions of pesos are earmarked to assist these Municipalities in 2012. Officials are hoping this will create safe environments by improving police departments and security agencies, educational facilities and recover entire public areas which have been overcome by organized crime. Tijuana is specifically mentioned for these super funds as is the entire BAJA CALIFORNIA and BAJA CALIFORNIA SUR.

Here is the entire article reprinted by Vanguardia and also I'm giving you the link to Excelsior: (you can also google in the title)

Crimen ataca a turismo, afecta 34 zonas de descanso
por, Leticia Robles de la Rosa

TEXT

Excelsior

TEXT

So what are the authorities up against in Baja California? We've spoken about organized crime fragmentation here before, according to Zeta Magazine not only Baja California but the entire country of Mexico is now facing such fragmentation which we can attribute (although they didn't use this term) to the "Kingpin Strategy."

Zeta reports that at the end of the Fox administration it was believed that seven cartels dominated Mexico. Last year, Presidente Calderon recognized eleven cartels; these eleven were considered to be the armed wings of the big cartels, but with no control or management from the big bosses. As wild cards they were involved with the movement of drugs, domestic sale of drugs within the Municipalities, kidnapping, extortion and the trafficking in persons. Now there are twenty eight nationwide.

Given the fact that each time a big named capo is either arrested or killed (i.e. "The Kingpin Strategy") there are three to ten more attempting to replace him. In a scenario much like the Borgia and other political families of 1492 Italy, it is ambition and betrayal and the struggle for territorial control plus the expansion of the drug trafficking alone which has propelled Mexico from seven reigning cartels to twenty eight criminal groups in operation throughout the country, and that number Zeta anticipates will rise beyond thirty in 2012.

Zeta lists these groups, let's look at what they had to say about Baja California: Fragmentation of Mexican organized crime has encouraged the expansion of these "cartelitos" which are extensions of the Sinaloa, Juarez, Gulf and Los Zetas...and they are here.

For example, La Familia and Los Zetas were known to operate in the Tecate region. It was Jose de Jesus Mendez Vargas aka "El Chango" the leader of a group of La Familia who allied themselves with Los Zetas who had staked out territory in Tecate. He was arrested in Aguascalientes in June of 2011 - but keep in mind the rule of thumb of fragmentation - one leader or capo goes down, three to ten others vie to take his place.

El Achilles of the Sinaloa cartel has become according to this report more active than ever in our area, with the Sinaloa cartel in domination. Also in the coastal zone of Baja California there are independent groups from the Guadalajara Cartel who pay Sanchez Arellano (CAF) to operate, they are under the protection of Manuel Lopez Nunez aka "Don Balas". Consider the fact that during 2011 the PEP captured three hundred and four criminals from Jalisco, Michoaca and Sonora in Baja California. And of course in the Baja Coastal Zone seven cells of the CAF are still in operation.

As a military strategist, would it be more difficult to fight one or two or three large unified organizations or many different criminal cells ? And despite their apparent contempt of each other and individual disloyalty to their leaders after arrested, would it be a possibility that these many different organized crime cells would unite? Whatever the projections may be of the future of these armed cell groups, it is clear why the Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Social Development have designated Baja California and Baja California Sur high risk and high hazard.

Although the stats on high impact crime from 2011 for Baja California will most likely show a drop of several hundreds when they are released, will this growing trend of fragmentation result in a resurgence of high numbers in 2012 as the "cartelitos" establish themselves ? Here is the entire article, google in title if URL doesn't come up:

Zeta Magazine
Edicion 1970
"28 carteles en Mexico"

TEXT

Here are the updates:

- Someone left a message asking for the report on crime increase in Rosarito Beach; Frontera reported that violent deaths caused by firearms in Rosarito Beach grew by almost fifty percent compared to last year. According to Bertilla Ontiveras who is the coordinator of Forensic Medical Service (SEMEFO), from January of 2011 to December 31, 2011 forty eight deaths were reported as a result of shootings compared to 2010 where twenty eight of the same type were recorded:

Aumentan 50% muertos por arma en Rosarito:

TEXT

- The first homicide or execution of 2012 reported by all agencies, according to Frontera the body was found burned with signs of torture in colonia Torres de Lago. El Mex reported that gunshots were heard shortly before the body was set afire and that witnesses report the victim was set afire while he was still alive:

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- El Mex reports this morning in Mexicali two people reported shot and killed, this was a man and a woman at the Rancho El Peligro which seems to have lived up to its name. AFN notes that the man who was killed was American citizen Kenneth Lyle Jones of Arizona, with pics:

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- AFN reports in the Salvatierra neighborhood of San Antonio de los Buenos one man shot to death on the street, 13 spent shells found at scene. One person has been arrested and is under investigation, although it is unclear if this person was involved with the killing:

TEXT

- In the Villa del Campo neighborhood an attempt on the lives of two police officers who arrived at the scene to break up a fight between four men. The men disarmed the police and attempted to kill them; during the struggle one of the attackers was shot and wounded, all four were subsequently arrested:

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- In Ensenada at the Rancho San Jorge en La Encantada one man dead and another seriously injured from gunfire; this report states were two people arrested, El Mex is saying one person was arrested:

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- Something you would never expect to read about ten to twenty years ago, but the second instance of a child killing in the past few months in Maneadero, Ensenada; little Lidia Gallegos Aquilar aged 15 who was reported missing earlier in December, found with her hands and feet bound, strangled. AFN notes that forensic work is still being done to determine if in fact this is Lidia. This is the other side of the violence which prevails in our area aside from the drug violence:

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Here are the links with all of the news:

Zeta Tijuana

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AFN

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EL MEXICANO

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FRONTERA

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Noticias Ensenada.net - Ensenada News

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Encuentro 29.com - Mexicali News

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Mundo Narco

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LA Times

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~

01/01 VIOLENCE TIJUANA A LOCAL HERO

2012-01-01T22:21:00.000-08:00

Luis Lopez Medina (courtesy AFN):

The latest crime report from Rosarito Beach states that crimes of high impact have increased by fifty percent in that town. The most recent crime stats are not complete for Tijuana yet, but the last eleven days of December witnessed thirty executions and shootings, drug related. We all know things are bad. Do we as St. Paul said, "hope against hope" (or to hope for something although there is little or no chance of the wish being fulfilled), carry on with current conditions in a state of apathy and denial, or give up hope entirely and stop trying to work for a better world?

AFN reports that Jose Luis Lopez Medina was awarded and recognized as a local hero receiving a plaque, a monetary stipend and a medal last Christmas week from the civil organization, "Tijuana Agradecida" for defending his son and other civilians during an assault last spring in Tijuana.

It was last March when Lopez Medina was present at an armed assault on an auto-service store in Tijuana with his son and other customers. Two young armed men entered the store, threatening the customers who even included the instructor for the Police Academy. Lopez Medina, who is now referred to as "Commandante Medina" by his co-workers drew his weapon on the assailants. We gather from this report that he stopped the gunmen.

After the incident, Jose Luis Lopez Medina resigned his job as an engineer in a maquiladora plant in Tijuana and became a Tijuana Police Officer, following the footsteps of his father. The goal in his heart - to care for his fellow citizens.

He is proud to be considered a hero by his own son, and invited all agents to always be an example to their families, to work with respect towards the population and to always hold their position as agents of the Tijuana Municipal Police Department in a place of honor:

TEXT

We need more heroes with good intentions and compassion like Sr.Lopez Medina and honest leaders in both countries in my opinion to foster hope for the future.

TEXT

I'll be back...

01/01 VIOLENCE TIJUANA THEY MUST DO THIS TO ROSY OROSCO ALL OF THE TIME: ACCIDENTIN.COM

2012-01-01T13:18:00.000-08:00

The google search for "Maggie's Madness" made 12/31:

The fake webpage created to harass me:

As you recall, several days ago I blogged four stories regarding the issue of women and child sex slavery in Tijuana, those stories were from El Mexicano and AFN - these reports were written by Mexican journalists. The blog was from 12/22/11 entitled "Violence Tijuana Mayor Bustamonte Will Not Be Sending Rosie Orozco a Christmas Card and Vice Versa" - you can just scroll down to read it. I was threatened for translating these stories and Rosy was called a "cunt" on this blog. BTW, I've made copies of that blog just in case "JoeJustJoe" decides to delete his comments.

TEXT

In addition since that blog was published, I have received 857 messages through blogspot referring to me as a "slut", 27 referring to me as a "slut wife", 10 saying, "slut wife pictures" (which I assume someone is planning to put up some bogus pictures of me if they haven't already), 278 referring to me as "chubby", 59 referring to me as "chubby ass", at least 10 in cryptic Arabic which we all know Linton uses regularly, several referring to Robert Roels as having left Canada and being in the United States illegally, one implying he was actually down here in Mexico, and one from this morning saying, "maggie has a death wish".

But the one which takes the cake is a fake website linking my blog to this Hong Kong Club. Above you can see the google search for "Maggie's Madness" and towards the bottom of the the page is a link to a place called "Maggie's Madness - Accidentin.com". If you hit the link what comes up is picture number two. That link is entitled "Maggie's Madness" with a link to this Hong Kong Club.

I did contact this "accidentin.com" and this is what I wrote:

~

To: contact@accidentin.com

Hello, Last night a web page showed up on a google search for my blog, "Maggie's Madness". It is:

www.accidentin.com/worldnews/3203928/maggie_apos_s_madness.htm

If one tries to google in the link, it will not come up.

However, on the very top of the page, you will see the title of my bog, "Maggie's Madness" then a link to this Hong Kong Club in Tijuana.

This "fake" entry was made on purpose and put up on the internet in retaliation for me simply translating four news stories from the news agencies El Mexicano and AFN of Tijuana regarding events which took place at this business establishment. I was also threatened on my blog and Rosy Orosco was called a "cunt" on my blog.

(blog enclosed)

I am in no way associated with this Hong Kong club, and I am reporting this as inappropriate - that is, if in fact your website is legitimate.

I have made copies of this "accidentin.com" entry and am submitting it to the FBI in San Diego.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

~

Wow, I wonder what they do to Rosy.

Happy New Year everyone and I will be back with the updates a bit later.

~

12/31/2011 Happy New Year !

2011-12-31T19:02:00.000-08:00

12/29 VIOLENCE TIJUANA GABINETE DE COMMUNICACION ESTRATEGICA (GCE)

2011-12-29T19:24:00.000-08:00

The GCE Team:

It is no secret that according to the Institute of Latin American Studies at Colombia University from 2009 that "...crime in multiple forms has become one of the key issues in public life in contemporary Mexico. The country has witnessed a spectacular increase in organized criminal activities throughout its territory...insecurity and police corruption have become central public concerns." In two years, have matters improved, stayed the same, or degenerated and how exactly do the Mexican people feel about the issue of insecurity? Has the issue become passe, are people in general to be considered alarmists, and what impact will the issue of insecurity have on the upcoming elections, will the fear factor be manipulated ?

AFN reported that it is insecurity which is on everyone's lips these days and compared it to a ghost who runs (I wonder if they meant haunts) the nation north to south and east to west. A current survey made by the Gabinete de Communicacion Estrategica (GCE) - reports that the major concern of people from 61 Municipalities throughout Mexico is insecurity and crime, followed by concern over unemployment and then public services with the exception of La Paz where the major concern is over water scarcity then insecurity followed by unemployment:

TEXT

The Gabinete de Communicacion Estrategica (GCE) according to their website, specializes in public opinion surveys using state of the art research services. They describe themselves as a research team who is responsible for improving and constantly updating research tools based on the latest findings and international trends in public opinion research. Using integrated communication strategies, GCE monitors governments, performs positioning surveys, is a diagnostic tool for election polls, conducts assessment surveys of government, utilities and public policy:

TEXT

But are they in reality a political tool? Last March according to CNN, both the PAN and the PRD parties accused the PRI and the polling firm GCE of attempting to manipulate the public consultation on a possible PAN-PRD alliance in last July's election in the State of Mexico. Further, leaders of both the PAN and the PRD stated in a press conference that GCE publishes surveys which are biased in favor of the PRI. In the case of the alliance of the PAN and PRD last July, GCE actually had a call center denouncing the proposed alliance. And, Luis Sanchez Jimenez accused the PRI Governor Enrique Pena Nieto (favored to be in the GCE current polls the next Presidente of Mexico)and the GCE of intervening in the elections and filed a complaint against them: (google in title if URL doesn't come up)

Mexico CNN:

El PAN y el PRD acusan a encuestadora de boicotear su consulta en Edomex

TEXT

In this report from Noticias Zona Centro, GCE is branded an "electoral strategy of deception" regarding their poll placing the PRI candidate for the governorship of Veracruz twenty points above the PAN candidate: (again sorry you'll have to google in the title)

Noticias Zona Centro:

Presenta (GCE) encuesta manipulada a favor de Javier Duarte de Ochoa

TEXT

The complaints against GCE go back through the years linking GCE as a contract component of Grupo Milenio and Televisa who subsequently publish GCE's reports. Further it is two ranking members of the PRI who manage GCE; Liebano Saenz who was the Private Secretary to former PRI Presidente Zedillo and Frederico Berrueto Pruneda who is the nephew of Eliseo Mendoza former PRI Governor of Coahuila who also worked in public offices in Mexico City.

In 2010 GCE was a relatively new company which worked with the political marketing device Televisa, offering advertising packages to politicians, strategic advise and surveys by the company and Berrueto Saenz and in return depended on the Televisa executive committee to negotiate the ballot boxes with the politician Alejandro Quintero.

Initially GCE began conducting surveys which were published by Milenio TV and in their newspapers. There was a falling out at Milenio with Maria de las Heras who represented the Demotecnia Company also working for Milenio. Shortly after the appearance of GCE, Maria de las Heras resigned her position with Milennium citing GCE as conducting unprofessional surveys in turn making Demotecnia look bad to even be associated with them. According to Maria de la Heras, GCE were terrible interviewers seeking to protect their interests. This article goes on to accuse GCE of lack of professionalism and ethics and notes other polls conducted by GCE which favored PRI candidates. Additionally, some believe the managers of GCE pave the way for electoral fraud. Another polling company this article mentions is the Wilsa Company, who in the author's view are scoundrels just as GCE is.

Gabinete de Comunicacion Estrategica y Televisa complices
por, Luis Jorge Montalvo

TEXT

The only fly in the ointment however was the more recent poll conducted last October by GCE which put Luisa Maria Calderon Hinojosa (PAN) as in the lead of the Michoacan elections. The outcome was of course, she lost - but was GCE using reverse psychology to insure her defeat?

From Grupo Formula:

PAN encabeza preferencia en Michoacan con 39%: GCE
con Denise Maerker

TEXT

Finally but surely not the end to this story, the article from Jenaro Villami which states there is the perception that the PRI and especially Enrique Pena Nieto have established trade agreements with Televisa which would benefit them in the polls. Mexico WikiLeak 09Mexico212, written in 2009 by the analyst Leslie Basser of the U.S. Embassy in Mexico said that Enrique Pena Nieto paid "...under the table to the media in exchange for favorable coverage and financing to pollsters."

Encuestadoras y Televisoras
por, Jenaro Villami

TEXT

The issue of insecurity is hardly passe in our area, it is true that our zone has seen improvements despite the twenty eight executions and shootings in the past ten days. (I'll update those later for you Doubting Thomases) Still, the question remains are we now seeing the political manipulation of current events to benefit a political party without providing solutions for disordered social conditions? Who in this case would you say the "alarmists" are?

Here are the links:

Zeta Tijuana : A note on 12/29 - someone has done a search for the latest edicion de Zeta. I haven't picked up this weeks, will do tomorrow in Rosarito, last weeks was "Los Hombres de "El Chapo" en BC", and on line Zeta is continuing to run the story I think on purpose of the numbers of people killed in the drug war (sixty thousand plus).

TEXT

AFN

TEXT

FRONTERA

TEXT

EL MEXICANO

TEXT

Noticias Ensenada.net - Ensenada News

TEXT

Encuentro29.com - Mexicali News

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Mundo Narco

TEXT

LA Times

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~

12/27 VIOLENCE TIJUANA ONE FOR THE GOOD GUYS - VICTOR LOZA BAZAN AND THE CEPIBC

2011-12-27T22:48:00.000-08:00

"JoejustJoe" announced he was going to I guess brand me an "alarmist" again on the Baja Nomads and Tijuana Amigos for translating the Rosie Orozco story from AFN regarding the problem of sex slavery in Tijuana. I just wonder why he doesn't blast the author of the story - well, he did call Rosie a "cunt", but he did it here and not on AFN, what a chicken. You can read his remarks under the blog here from a few days back. BTW, I added in the comments section a clip from Al Jazeera of Rosie and her work and another from LibertadLatina.org with more news on this situation in Mexico which you may or may not be interested in.

I mention this because the reason I went to some of these Baja Travel forums was to see not "Joe Just Joe's" remarks, but if in fact anyone had covered the closure of the Century 21 Acacia offices for fraud. I could not see anything, and this happened a few weeks back when we were dealing with our neighbor's emergency so I didn't have time to blog it.

If you recall it was this last July that 15 to 17 cases of fraud had been filed against Century 21 Acacia:

Denucian mas fraudes de bienes raices en Rosarito

TEXT

Although this story was covered by Noticias Ensenada.net, Ecos de Rosarito and El Informador, it was only Elizabeth Vargas who mentioned the Century 21 Acacia branch offices in Rosarito Beach were closed. From what I gather the main office in Tijuana was closed along with the branch offices. If you google in Century 21 Acacia Rosarito Beach, you can see that they did have many listings for homes for sale and for rent in Rosarito.

Several good things will result from this action; clearly it is the Mexican Real Estate Agents who have organized and are taking back their territory, working with the Federal government to insure the law is upheld and proving to be pro-consumer, which is exactly what Baja needs particularly after the millions of dollars in fraud cases involving Gringo and Canadian Real Estate Agents over the past few years. So let's look at the article:

Victor Loza Bazan, President of the National Council of Real Estate Professionals of Baja California (CEPIBC) announced that PROFECO closed down Centruy 21 Acacia after reviewing twenty one documented cases of fraud including the case of Sr. Galo Tello who was defrauded out of 80K dollars.

Loza Bazan applauded the action of PROFECO under the direction of Delgado Martin Dominguez Rocha. CEPIBC had been in constant touch with PROFECO over the past months regarding the fraud cases. Lozan Bazan feels this is a huge step in favor of legitimate real estate agents and that the overall image of Baja California will improve because ultimately this action will instill greater confidence in investors. It is also a clear signal that the system works and a show of strength from the union
CEPIBC.

Loza Bazan also feels confident that another new measure known as the "Property
Act" will be enforced requiring real estate agents to comply with the code of ethics of the State Council. Importantly, the cases against Century 21 Acacia were Federal in nature and an example of how Loza Bazan believes the CEPIBC is able to work in coordination with government agencies to uphold the law. It also casts the CEPIBC in a positive light as pro-consumer and pro- consumer rights and most importantly, transparent. Too bad they weren't around for the people who lost their homes in Punta Banda, the Trump Towers and Diane Gibbs.

So one for the good guys, who are in this case, Mexicans.

Clausuro Profeco oficina de Century 21 en Rosarito

TEXT

There's been a lot going on, this time I have company but I'll try to get over here tomorrow.

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12/27 VIOLENCE TIJUANA IS ANYONE LOOKING FOR LINTON ROBINSON ?

2011-12-27T11:04:00.000-08:00

Here he is on the very right, or so I've been told. Gosh he's not so scary looking is he? He's a fat little pimp:

Here he is on the very left with some of his investor friends (or so I was told) - I was told the woman standing next to him is his sister, who plays a huge part in Linton's business ventures here in Baja California - well that's what I was told: (So does that answer the question of what does a slut look like? Yea, pretty much I think):

Well I think that is pretty good payback after all the bullshit he and his goons have written about me, don't you?

As a footnote, let's all remember who the best storyteller of all is, the best maker upper of characters from here to Timbuktu - the master of deceit- because I have received so many denials on these photos (all from himself the Mexican Guru and his pals). However, the names "Pierce and Val O'Shaunghnessy" were in fact, aliases. The old restaurant also dealt in real estate, but there was never a drug informant to the Canadian government, no one fled to South Carolina, but there were swindles. A hat tip to "anonymous".

~

12/24/2011 Merry Christmas !

2011-12-24T17:55:00.000-08:00

Not really Christmas, but it sounds good when the turkey is cookin...

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(c;

12/22 VIOLENCE TIJUANA MAYOR BUSTAMANTE WILL NOT BE SENDING ROSY OROZCO A CHRISTMAS CARD AND VICE VERSA

2011-12-22T19:21:00.000-08:00

The Raids on 12/08 of the Hong Kong Bar, Chavelas and Adelitas in the Zona Norte:

El Mex reported that it was early Friday morning at 1:40am December the 8th when a convoy of five trucks carrying ninety agents of SEIDO backed up by the Mexican Army pulled up to and behind in the alley of the Hong Kong, Adelitas and Chavelas bars in the Zona Norte. While SEIDO agents entered the bars, the Mexican Army took positions on all street corners blocking access to traffic.

Inside of the bars the men and the women were separated, at the Hong Kong bar the men were made to kneel. The women were interviewed to determine if they were legitimately registered sex workers, minors and questioned if they had been pressured into prostitution. Although one employee stated that the SEIDO Agents did not have a warrant and he saw them taking money, a warrant had indeed been issued by a Federal Judge based on the complaint filed against these businesses by PAN Federal Deputy Rosy Orozco to the PGR for the engagement of human trafficking by these businesses. And according to the investigating Agents, the identifications which the women showed were false, or counterfeit. The complaint that the SEIDO Agents stole money was never corroborated.

It was at 11:00am, nine hours later that three hundred people who had been held in these bars were released, except for twenty. Ten of this number were men, some of whom were managers of these bars, they were arrested for pandering. Their cases were presented to the Public Ministry of Sex Crimes of the PGJE whose staff works in concert with issues of human trafficking. The other ten were women who were witnesses against these men. An attorney for one of the bars came forward - and wishing to remain anonymous declared that nothing had been found, yet ten men were under arrest.

The following day in the afternoon, another raid took place at the Hong Kong Bar. From confidential reports made to El Mex, this raid was composed of again ninety agents, including Police Officers and Federal Prosecutors for Crimes of Violence Against Women and Trafficking in Persons (FEVIMTRA). So far, the results of this raid are unknown as are the results from the first raids. For instance, the names of the ten men arrested have not been released and we do not know if the ten women are receiving any type of witness protection. As usually happens in these cases of alleged sex trafficking, particularly involving minors, everything went silent for the last two weeks, until yesterday.

The first raid:

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The second raid:

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It is not a pleasant subject, especially at Christmas time but yesterday Federal Deputy Rosie Orozco spoke at the National Chamber of Commerce in Tijuana during the presentation of the book she co-authored with Evangelina Hernandez, "Del Cielo al Infierno" - or "From Heaven to Hell" which documents human trafficking and the sex slavery business in Mexico.

Without hesitation, Ms. Orozco noted that internationally as you have already probably heard or read before, Tijuana is viewed as the "Bangkok of Latin America" and the "Brothel of Mexico". Due to the proximity of Tijuana to the United States and given the large number of pedophiles living in the United States, the city serves as a conduit and hot spot in human trafficking and prostitution. There are also large numbers of people from the British market who come to Tijuana in search of sex slaves - either women or children. And of course, not only does the sex slave industry operate within the city of Tijuana, but the city serves as a transition point to move these women and children into the United States.

According to Orozco's stats, Mexico ranks second worldwide to providing the victims, Thailand is still in first place. And the profits? Well, this is big business, mafia style. According to Orozco, each sex slave generates on a weekly basis fifteen to twenty thousand dollars (correction: pesos) profit to the exploiter(s). Orozco touched on some other facts from her book, noted in this article was her discussion of the state of Tlaxcala which has the largest number of criminal gangs and the deepest involvement in the sex trade industry. She said that despite this, only three people have been arrested in recent months on charges of trafficking - which sort of hints that a lot of other people are getting paid off to do and say nothing. An alarming culture has developed in the eight villages of Tlaxcala where entire families are involved in the "trade" - children are kidnapped and the mothers of the sexual exploiters "care" for the children prior to them being shipped stateside and worldwide - she cites instances where children were found in Miami and Atlanta who were "cared" for by the mothers of the exploiters.

Importantly, for years Orozco and her team have followed the trail of the exploiters and victims which led to her recent complaint against the prostitution bars in the Zona Norte of Tijuana. Unfortunately for Rosie, this ain't no PAN town. In fact the motto of Tijuana should be - "Federal Prosecutors - We Don't Need No Stinkin Federal Prosecutors." Surely after the Jorge Hank Rohn episode, Rosie must have known she was in for a rough ride in Tijuana.

TEXT

In the blink of an eye Mayor Bustamante shot back at Rosie and told her not to come back to Tijuana. He said he was very angry and offended by her statements which were insulting to the city of Tijuana. So I'm pretty sure we won't be hearing much more about the sex trafficking of women and children in Tijuana.

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Are they going to you know - like ban her book here?

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See you guys later.

12/19 VIOLENCE TIJUANA MORE PROBLEMS IN MANEADERO, ENSENADA AND JUST ABOUT EVERY OTHER PLACE TOO

2011-12-19T15:37:00.000-08:00

THE ANTI-HEROES

Ahmed Edgar Navarro Noriega - El Zorrillo, Maneadero, Ensenada:

Miquel Callas - ROSARITO BEACH

I doubt if I'll be completely able to catch up with the past two weeks, but I'll try to highlight some of the events which have been reported in the Mexican news. Last week's Zeta magazine placed Baja California in fourth place overall as far as violence rated in Mexico. This is relatively good news, because for the past few years, Baja California has held the third place position. Most if not all of the US MSM sources continually exercise caution in reporting just how many people have been killed in Mexico in the past five years during the drug war, sometimes you might see a U.S. news agency report "over 40,000 people killed..." but, the truth is - we are over 60,000 people killed. According to Zeta, the number is in reality 60,420 people who have been executed and someone is cooking the books obviously to make it appear that it's not all as bad as it seems:

Quinto ano de gobierno:60 mil 420 ejecuciones
Zeta Magazine
Edicion 1967 12/12/2011

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An important undercurrent to note as we watch the police sweeps and arrests throughout our area is that it seems there is a sympathetic allegiance to some criminal groups - at least in the poorest of poor communities. An example of this is how the Ensenada police were attacked by residents of El Zorrillo a few days ago, also known as Canon Buena Vista, part of the Maneadero Delegacion.

In this instance, Police were on patrol in El Zorrillo and chased a vehicle of chollos whom they thought were suspicious after one person threw rocks at the unit breaking the passenger window of the police unit. The one gang member, Ahmed Edgar Navarro Noriega jumped from the fleeing vehicle and held the police at bay with a 20 inch knife before he was subdued. However, a crowd of people attempted to free Navarro Noriega and attacked the police unit. According to the article, this crowd was not necessarily made up of gang members and chollo guys - these were people of the community including mini-bus drivers. Eventually more police units arrived on the scene, the crowd dispersed and seven people from the crowd were arrested.

But the question remains what sway does organized crime have and is its influence increasing particularly among the poorest communities whose members feel forsaken by the government and hassled by the authorities. Poor communities dominate the demographics of Baja California, are we seeing the beginnings of some type of anti-establishment organization within these communities ?

TEXT

In Rosarito Beach today, one hundred taxi drivers from ten unions or guilds protested at the Palacio Municipal demanding the resignation of the Director of the Rosarito Beach Municipal Police for the beating received by the son of Miquel Calles, the leader of one of the unions who had been arrested then badly beaten by three police officers in his cell as others looked on and did nothing. The drivers say they are fed up with the police abuse, and just are not going to take it anymore. What this article does not mention is that there was a execution of a cab driver in his vehicle in Rosarito Beach just a few days back - and it is generally believed that some of the taxi drivers are somewhat associated with members of organized crime, not all, but some. Still, one hundred working people at odds with the authorities and their methods:

Piden taxistas renuncia de policias en Rosarito

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And an attack on a police supervisor in Tijuana: Yesterday Jesus Alberto Hurtado Estrada, Supervisor of the Centennial District was attacked by gunmen in a vehicle using high powered weapons at his home in colonia Pipila. He managed to shoot back and attempted to chase the attackers in his vehicle, but they got away. AFN notes this is the second time Hurtado Estrada has been a target, in 2008 he and his bodyguards were attacked by gunmen who were also carrying grenades. In that attack, he was wounded:

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Many people are blaming the Sinaloa characters as responsible for this attack. BTW, this attack on Hurtado Estrada comes after the arrest of Rodriquez Perez, aka "El Con", who has been linked to twelve murders of narcomenudistas in the Centennial District and who worked under Alfredo Arteaga Gonzalez, aka "El Aquiles" of the Sinaloa Cartel:

TEXT

Although Frontera has reported that three people were arrested after more than forty units of Municipal Police, State Police and Ministerials converged on the area after the attempted assassination of Hurtado Estrada, AFN reports that in fact there have been no arrests, there were two suspects - but they turned out to be State Police dressed as civilians - so no arrests:

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So, it may just be coincidence, but lately the natives are restless.

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More Updates/edit 12/20: Not documented here this evening but I will come back to these events because they are important were the closure of the Century 21 Real Estate Office in Rosarito Beach by the authorities, the 4 tons of mota found just down the road on the beach, Americans arrested for involvement in human smuggling, the shutting down of the Hong Kong Bar and another in the Zona Norte by authorities and the arrests of many people for their involvement in the sex trade of minors,the mass firing of Mexican Immigration workers for corruption and of course all of the arrests and weapons seized by the authorities. As you can see, the executions and shootings continue, we'll work back:

12/20:

- In the Zona Norte a man shoots another man then exchanges gunfire with police this morning; he was wounded and taken into custody:

TEXT

12/19:

- In La Mesa, a shooting between two men leaves one injured and another under arrest:

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- One man injured by gunfire when occupants in another vehicle open fire on him in the Casa Grandes neighborhood of La Presa, no arrests so far:

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- An armed robbery of a grocery store in colonia Villa del Prado results in an employee being shot and wounded:

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- Residents of the La Morita neighborhood fed up with a man who had persistently robbed them of money and cell phones at gunpoint beat the robber up and shoot him six times in his legs:

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12/18:

- Reported today, although this happened on 12/18; in colonia Las Torres (Centenario) one man found executed:

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- AFN adds another one, this was the body of a 28 year old woman found in an unnamed Hotel in the Zona Central:

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- Woman shot in her back in colonia Las Torres (Centenario):

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12/17:

- In colonia Terrazas del Valle two men killed by gunfire; attacked by three gunmen:

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12/16:

- Two reports on this one; an exchange of gunfire between two men and police in front of an elementary school which was in session in Mexicali after a car chase because of a stolen vehicle. According to AFN, both men were arrested, one of them was wounded. According to El Mex, the situation was a bit more dramatic and only one man was arrested, but the report is that there was a retirement party inside of the primary school going on when the car thief tried to hide in their midst. In the shootout with police, one vehicle with two children inside was hit by gunfire, El Mex calls the scene chaotic:

TEXT

12/14:

- A supposed American woman found (nothing official yet on this one) dead inside an apartment in colonia 20 de Noviembre - the person who found her describes her as having blood on her clothes. Authorities have not said if this was from a shooting or something else:

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- A bus driver decides to grab a rolled up carpet he has noticed in a vacant lot, when he gets it home inside is an executed person, tape covering his face and limbs are bound:

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- In San Quintin, Ensenada behind the Restaurante Jardines one man found executed:

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12/12:

- In colonia Valle Verde (La Presa) two young men attacked - beaten and then shot, no arrests yet:

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- In the Bonilla neighborhood of Rosarito Beach, one body found encobijado:

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- Unknown if this was an intentional killing or a hit and run (which we see a lot of) or if this was drug related; one man who worked as a parking valet for the Marabou Bar in Cerro Colorado found dead: (there is a hit and run added to this report)

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12/08:

- In colonia Nueva Tijuana one woman attacked, shot and wounded while she was sleeping:

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- In Mexicali on the border, remains of a person found, believed to possibly be a migrant:

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- In colonia Virreyes, Mexicali one man found executed; authorities believe his characteristics match a known robber in that area:

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Here are the links:

Insight Crime - Best coverage of organized crime in our hemisphere:

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Zeta Tijuana

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AFN

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FRONTERA

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EL MEXICANO

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Noticias Ensenada.net - Ensenada News

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Encuentro29.com - Mexicali News

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Mundo Narco

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LA Times

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12/06 VIOLENCE TIJUANA Bad news regarding Toma Barth - PTS among the natives from Molly @ Frontera

2011-12-06T19:21:00.000-08:00

At 7:15pm we received a call that there is bad news regarding Toma Barth, one of our neighbors. I know many of you knew the Barths when they lived in Rosarito Beach 20 years ago. Toma was a really good singer. The news is that she collapsed today up in San Diego, her husband Ron and son William were with her when this happened.. William administered CPR, she is now in a coma at Sharp Hospital in Mission Valley. Ron has just broken down, William called here and said he will call back with more information. This is not a good situation.

As soon as I hear anything, I'll let you know so say a little prayer for Toma, she's had a really hard time these past few years with her health and has been under a great deal of stress living here.

Maggie

9:09PM: William just called,Toma is in ICU at Sharp Medical Center in Chula Vista - not Mission Valley - so sorry for that confusion - nothing known at this moment, the doctors have not told them anything yet.

UPDATE 12/07: 10:49am: The situation is this - Toma is still in ICU once again a correction it is the Sharp on Telegraph Canyon Road. Mike was there at 5:30am this morning, Ron was still up waiting for the Doctor to give him a diagnosis and prognosis supposedly at 8:00am. William had to go to a motel and get some sleep. Mike said Toma did not good, she is on a ventilator in ICU in an induced coma.

Ron told Mike the complete story: Toma had eye surgery yesterday, they gave her some medicine to stop coughing prior to the operation. After the operation, they were on 805 when William looked in the back rear view mirror and saw that Toma had collapsed. He called 911, pulled over - they took her out of the car and he started CPR - this was on the freeway. A woman pulled over who obviously knew about medicine and helped with the CPR. Toma had just had one eye op - we had taken her up for that one.

Still waiting to hear from Ron, but right now he's really shook, so Mike will go over there during his lunch and we'll go from there. That is all I know right now.

UPDATE 12/07 1:28pm: The doctor told Ron they do not know what is wrong with her, but in eight hours they will begin to revive her from the induced coma. That's all for now other than Mike was impressed by the Sharp Hospital facility and staff.

~

Perhaps this isn't the time to bring this up, but a few days ago I received a message here which I did not print, and the person said, "This is a ridiculous blog. If there is so much violence there, why do you live there?" Well, we along with people like Toma & Ron and many other Americans moved here to escape the rat race in San Diego and southern California, and even though many of us grew up here and spent umpteen time as touristas in Mexico, we were naive.

Now, it is unaffordable to move back. That is why Ron and Toma have not returned to the States, and that is why we have not returned to the States and many more Americans are in the same boat. Most of the wealthy Americans have already left, but they were wealthy.

In lieu of a blog on the events of the violence and drug war going on all around us because of the development with Toma, here is an article on how this violent state is affecting the people who live here; the article focuses on Veracruz, but I can assure you, people are stressed here too. This is not something the gringo promoters and speculators want you to know about, this is something you will never read or hear about in any Baja Travel Blog, a hat tip to Molly over at Frontera for this article. And, whatever happens to Toma, she would have wanted all of you out there to know the reality and the truth. I can also assure you that Toma was not a paranoid or a slut or a flake or an alarmist or any of the vile things Linton Robinson and his promoter and speculator friends like to say about me or any other person who talks about the reality of conditions here. Now where is that "mop" of Mike's - I think I know a real good place where it can be shoved up on a permanent basis.

From The Christian Science Monitor

Mexico Drug War Casuality: Citizenry Suffers Post Traumatic Stress
By, Sara Miller Llana

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And here is one of Toma's favorite songs, she sang it like an angel, too bad we never got a video of her performance - and too bad that members of the Baja Nomads broke the City of Tijuana ordinance on height restrictions and blocked her freakin view, assholes.

TEXT

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UPDATE 12/07 @ 5:27pm: It was a heart attack, don't know much more than that. Will be talking to them around 8:00pm, will fill you in.

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UPDATE 12/08 @ 2:21pm: Toma is slowly coming out of the induced coma. She is slightly responsive; she moved her eyebrow, slightly moved her hand and closed her mouth. It was a heart attack, the doctors said she has an enlarged and weak heart. She is also having a difficult time with her bladder. Will keep you posted, probably will not know anything more until this evening.

~

UPDATE 12/08 @ 6:24PM: The doctors have put Toma back into an induced coma because she showed signs of distress when they were taking her out of it. There is concern also over a possible infection, Ron - who is 75 years old is holding up. William I think is preparing himself for the worse, but he's doing pretty good under the circumstances. That's it for now.

~

UPDATE 12/09 11:16AM: The doctors are going to try to take her out of the induced coma again today and received permission from Ron to do dialysis. Mike was up there again last night with them, he's going to come back and I'll go up.

~

UPDATE 12/11 6:47 pm: Toma was taken out of the induced coma and is unresponsive. The neurologist will be there tomorrow to check brain function, the family is in the process of making final arrangements. Sorry for the bad news, everyone is wiped out it has been rough. Thanks to Ed for calling and contacting William.

~

UPDATE 12/14 1:44PM: The past few days have been stressful on everyone. Toma was taken off all the machine supports and will be moved to hospice - so when we find out which one if any of you want to say goodbye, that would probably be the best time to do it. William is worn out, he seems to be making the decisions and that is a lot for a young man. Will let you know on services.

~

UPDATE 12/16 6:44PM: The doctors decided not to move her to hospice because they said it would kill her. She is still off all machines and life support, no brain function. William & Ron came home one night to get clean clothes, they went back up this morning plus William had to go back to work, they were really pressuring him - he did not want to leave her side. So we are looking into the one good thing Bill Clinton did, the FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act) and it looks like his employers have to give him up to 12 weeks leave to deal with this, although of course they don't have to pay him but he by law should not be penalized. So we'll see how it goes, he's a good kid, working and going to school. Everyone is just waiting now. I made a huge thing of soup and baked some bread.

No blog, so just check the links.

~

UPDATE 12/18 12:00PM: Toma passed yesterday morning.

~

12/05 VIOLENCE TIJUANA EL SILLAS TALKS PHOENIX RISING OR JUST TALK ?

2011-12-05T16:40:00.000-08:00

While Mexican officials are conducting research and attempting to put the pieces of the puzzle together regarding who controls the wholesale trafficking of narcotics between Tijuana and San Diego and insisting that the CAF has weakened as a criminal force, if we believe the statements made by El Sillas who was recently arrested what in fact is happening is a hands down power based restructuring of the Arellano-Felix Cartel(CAF), which in fact is the current thinking of the FBI.

According to statements made by El Sillas to authorities after his arrest, Sanchez Arellano continues to maintain an extensive network of wholesale drug trafficking between San Diego and Tijuana. Just a few days back in her article on AFN, Dora Elena Cortes's sources stated that the majority of dope found in and outside of the recently discovered tunnel in Otay belonged to Sanchez Arellano, a small portion of it belonged to the Sinaloa cartel. The tunnel itself is believed to belong to the Sinaloa Cartel. With these developments, we might be thinking of an alliance of sorts between the two cartels. And the Mexican officials and local authorities seem confident, according to this Zeta Magazine article, that Alfredo Arteaga Arzate, aka "El Aquiles" of the Sinaloa cartel is currently the main wholesale drug dealer and responsible for recent executions of narcomenudistas in our area - in fact, he is viewed as the new head of drug trafficking in Tijuana.

On the other hand, what very well may be happening is the Phoenix is rising. Keep in mind that at the time of the arrest of El Teo, it was believed that Sanchez Arellano had five active cells. According to El Sillas, there are now eleven. These cells are made up of old CAF operatives, old and still alive Narco-Juniors, ex-police officials and members of the Barrio Logan gangs from San Diego, California. These cell groups are dedicated to the wholesale transfer of dope. El Sillas acknowledges that Alfredo Arteaga Arzate's sphere of influence has grown and that he has a lot of money with which he is able to infiltrate and control the three levels of government including the Mexican Army. But instead of actually coming out and saying who exactly is in control, the focus of El Sillas is on the restructuring and active cells of the CAF. He names the operatives:

- "Pelioni" who lives and operates in the Zona Hipodromo (Racetrack) area of Tijuana.

- "El Kieto" in charge of bringing narcotics in from the southern countries, managing these operations via radio principally from Cancun.

- "El Mostro" manages operations from Guadalajara - the mid section of Mexico - controlling their movement and transport to Tijuana.

- "Chikaka", aka 'Zarate', who it is possibly thought worked for El Marquito under El Aquiles at one time - so here may be a possible switch over in sides. Although it could also be viewed as a unifying force between the cartels.

- Manuel Nunez Lopez aka "Don Balas" an independent although he has a son "El Balitas" who fought with El Sillas against El Teo during 2009-2010. "Don Balas" was arrested in Tijuana in September of 2008 and released this year in Mexico City.

- Mario Montes de Oca aka "El Mario" thought to be the brother of narco-junior "El Ciego". According to El Sillas, El Mario has less contact with Sanchez Arellano and less privileges than Peliono - but still, an active force.

- "El Tubo", who is also known as Ivan and another side switcher - in the past he has moved his allegiance back and forth between the CAF and El Teo. Unofficially authorities link him to the kidnapping and murder of the two frozen and one beheaded bodies found in Tijuana on 11/11/2011.

- "El Bibi" - not a lot of information on this guy.

- Melvin Gutierrez Quiroz aka "El Melvin", "El Camacho" or "El Marino" - who we've covered before; he has been a steadfast component of the CAF since the 1980's, believed to be the leader of the gang members of Barrio Logan of San Diego. Other detainees have stated that El Melvin is in charge of the drug sales and responsible for the killings in the Otay and Centenario areas of Tijuana, particularly in the industrial zones.

- Armando Gabriel Perez Borjon, wanted in San Diego for the murder of his wife, has long known to be the right hand man of "El Melvin" who controls the Barrio Logan groups. His associations with organized crime in our area goes back to at least the 1990's the heydays of the CAF, when in 1997 an assassination attempt was made against Jesus Blancornelius of Zeta Magazine.

- Julio Cesar Quinonez aka "El M4" or "El M&M" whose forces were the most depleted by the war between the CAF and El Teo. It is perhaps due to this streamlining that Quinonez now is involved in the transiting or movement of narcotics.

The list of former Tijuana police and Minisiterial Agents all working for the CAF is lengthy, I'll mention some of them with some real eye openers:

- Vargas Gallado who was arrested on 12/21/2010 along with PRI official Liliana Sevilla, Elizabeth Rocha Martinez Rojas and Jesus Rodriquez on murder charges. All of them were released. Although there have have been narcomenudistas and assassins arrested throughout the city who have referred to Gallardo as the boss, no charges have been filed against him.

- Enrique Guerrero Jorquera who currently operates control over the Tijuana Municipal Police Force for both the CAF and the Sinaloa cartels; according to El Sillas, Jorquera is playing both sides, but with the permission of Sanchez Arellano. Also in the case of Jorquera Zeta notes a wiki leak cable 08TIJUANA1253 in 2008 reveals Jorquera orders any DEA Agent based in Tijuana to be killed, the hit man would be another former Ministerial agent named Gerardo Vizaiz.

- Here is something we did not read about in the local news - a former police officer working for the CAF offered a bribe to release El Sillas after he was arrested. Although it is not completely certain, it is thought that this man's name is Esquivel or "El Mostro". So, why wasn't he arrested for offering a bribe?

- "El Licenciado" who is believed to control a cell group for the CAF based on statements made by people arrested both in 2010 and 2011. One of those statements made by Leon Rodriguez aka "El Sica" cited Eduardo Gonzalez Tosatado aka"El Mandil" as
having said that despite the fact he was a participant in the Witness Protection Program of the US, he still transports narcotics from Tijuana into the United States. And this wasn't clear if he does this himself or he oversees the action.

Despite arrest warrants out and being prepared for CAF operatives including Sanchez Arellano, Edgardo Leyva Escandero, Fernando Arila Valenzuela, Paul Saloman Saucel and Paul Rodriquez Palacio, there are twenty five more whose names are known yet no charges have been brought against them. In other words, the CAF is organizing and restructuring while the authorities are investigating and conducting research. The question is, who is going to organize and dominate quicker - the CAF or the authorities? And the next question is - with the top men and cells in position, will this "truce" we keep hearing about between the CAF and the Sinaloa cartels endure (if it exists at all to begin with) or is The Engineer readying his troops? The next question is do we completely believe El Sillas? Should we believe him? I guess we'll find out one way of the other, but according to Dora Elena Cortes.....

From Zeta:

11 Celulas de "El Ingeniero"

TEXT

Then again, maybe the Sinaloa guys will head home to protect their turf....

Attacks in Sinaloa Herald Entrance of Zetas
by, Patrick Corcoran

TEXT

I'll be back...it's freezing here !

~

12/04 VIOLENCE TIJUANA IN FIVE DAYS ONLY ONE EXECUTION AND THAT WAS IN ENSENADA EXTREME LINES AT SAN YSIDRO POE

2011-12-04T11:03:00.001-08:00

There is good news believe or don't - no executions or kidnappings reported in Tijuana or Rosarito Beach for five days straight. I think that is a record, let's keep our fingers crossed that this will turn out to be the norm. The peso this morning is at 13.6, although neighbors report that yesterday they received a 13.2 rate at HSBC in Rosarito. This of course is good news for the Mexican people who have been suffering from the high peso rate.

Report from neighbors yesterday in Rosarito Beach: No touristas but heavy local traffic. No Army spotted, but three different (separate) Rosarito Beach Municipal units cruising in various locations - so this does not jive, nor does our experience last weekend with the report that the RB police had no petrol for their units.

You probably already know this one already, but here it is again - twelve lanes at the San Ysidro POE will be closed all of next week, which means extreme waits there and everywhere else for that matter. A note that other neighbors tried Otay, but turned back because the wait was too long. You might want to consider Tecate as an alternative, three neighbors here are going up this afternoon and are getting motel rooms rather than waiting and breathing in all the fumes, so that is something you might want to consider too.

TEXT

El Mex is reporting this morning at 8:30am the body of a young man found on a road leading to Rancho de Tule which is just off the road going east to Ojos Negros. Not a lot of information on this one and unknown if this is drug war related so watch the links:

TEXT

Is the shock and awe in our area over? We'll see, right? Meanwhile have a nice week everyone and yea you are going to hear it wherever you go, including here:

TEXT

Here are the links for all of the news:

Best coverage of Organized Crime in our hemisphere - don't miss the story on human smuggling out in Jacumba:

INSIGHT CRIME

TEXT

ZETA TIJUANA

TEXT

AFN

TEXT

FRONTERA

TEXT

EL MEXICANO

TEXT

Noticias Ensenada.net - Ensenada News

TEXT

Encuentro 29.com - Mexicali News

TEXT

Mundo Narco

TEXT

LA TIMES

TEXT

~

12/02 VIOLENCE TIJUANA DEVELOPMENTS IN THE TUNNEL FOUND 11/29 STORY

2011-12-02T00:00:00.000-08:00

Hmmm...the wrong owners perhaps, and the wrong man for sure:

We were led to believe that the 36 tons of dope found inside and outside of the Otay tunnel three days ago belonged to El Chapo Guzman of the Sinaloa cartel, but Dora Elena Cortes of AFN presents a different story. According to her sources close to the recent tunnel investigation, three different viewpoints have been presented. The first is that the entire 36 tons of dope belonged to Sanchez Arellano of the CAF, not to El Chapo. The second source points out that the markings on the packages of the initials "JR" could refer to "Junior", a son of El Chapo's - although not said directly, this could mean an alliance with the CAF. The third source believes the dope belonged to Sanchez Arellano and indicated that both the CAF and the Sinaloa cartels have been working together here for some time.

Despite the bloodshed after the arrests of El Teo and The Crutches, all the while according to this article, a truce was being negotiated between the two cartels. The thorn in the side or problem child was El Sillas who held grudges from the old days and old alliances - a wild card who would not always clear business with his boss, Sanchez Arellano. This would include kidnappings, famously the kidnappings of El Mayo's relatives in Tijuana who were later rescued and numerous executions. Problem solved, right? El Sillas was arrested - but he may have to face extradition charges from the United States regarding meth sales in Fargo, North Dakota. Although it is not stated in this article, this could prove to be problematic to both of the cartels, because of the potential that he could turn evidence over to US authorities regarding operations of both cartels stateside. The father of El Sillas, who Zeta reported two weeks ago would run the business because of the unstable nature of El Sillas and his fondness for drugs, is mentioned in the AFN article as having respect for both the CAF and Sinaloa cartels.

And, according to Dora Elena Cortes, there exists a rivalry or a "fragile state" of coordination between the Mexican Army and the police forces here - at least regarding
who exactly received credit for finding the opening of the tunnel on the Mexican side. Although it seems the Municipal Police were first on the scene and located the entrance to the tunnel which was photographed by the press, followed by the Military and the the PEP, once the entrance was located, the Military took control forcing the Municipals and the PEP back. There was also no joint press conference, there was a Military press conference where it was announced that it was they who found the entrance, not the Municipals. So, there have been some feathers ruffled. However, nothing was said in this article about the close proximity of the tunnel's entrance - just a few doors down from the headquarters of the Federal Preventative Police.

TEXT

More information on the Mexican Army claiming they were the ones who discovered the tunnel, not the Tijuana Municipal Police: At the press call after the discovery of the entrance to the tunnel on the Mexican side, General Briseno denied that members of the Tijuana Municipal Police force were responsible for the discovery of the tunnel's entrance on the Mexican side.

However, several people from the media photographed the Municipals as they were in the process of discovering the entrance and turned these pictures over to the US authorities. Also, when the General was questioned regarding the close proximity of the tunnel - just doors away - to the Headquarters of the Federal Preventative Police and the Mexican Air Force, the General rationalized that the cartel (s) chose this spot intentionally, perhaps thinking that since the location was so close to these facilities, it would go undetected. Check out the comments from the Mexican people under this article:

TEXT

I dunno, sounds like a wreck on the highway and nobody prayed:

TEXT

UPDATE 12/02 @ 11:00AM:

Meanwhile this morning El Mex reports that from the United States, the DEA attributes the tunnel itself as belonging to the Sinaloa cartel. Federal Prosecutor Laura Duffy stated that the tunnel is an example of the desperation on the part of the Sinaloa cartel to smuggle dope into the US. As far as tunnels go, the cartel(s) should be stressed out at this point - because according to ICE, the United States has unmanned drones which are equipped with technology to identify underground tunnels. In addition, the Federal Prosecutor sent a clear message to the cartel(s) that if they build the tunnels, they will be discovered and destroyed.

US authorities have also stated that it took millions of dollars to construct this latest tunnel; according to the FBI, because of the the discovery of the last two tunnels in the Tijuana border region the cartel (s) not only lost their investments in construction, but profits from the 50 tons of mota which was confiscated:

TEXT

~

In the past three days, there have been no executions or kidnappings reported. However, a twist to a couple of other stories, one is that Jose Antonio Guzman the man arrested for shooting and seriously wounding the driver and a passenger on the Ensenada mini-bus and holding the other passengers hostage before he was disarmed and arrested has admitted to the authorities that it was he who shot the PEP officer Carlos Hernandez Garcia in Ensenada last October. You might recall that Zeta questioned the arrest of the initial suspect, Jose Antonio Arredondo Moran because gun powder tests results came back negative, and no weapon was ever located.

Ballistic tests run on the weapon (32 revolver) Guzman used the day of the mini bus shootings match the weapon used against the PEP officer. Guzman has also admitted to shooting a person three times at the grocery store robbery in colonia Valle Verde. Also,there was speculation at the time of the killing of the PEP officer in Ensenada that it was related to the recent seizure of dope in Cantu. There were also questions raised as to why the other two PEP Agents did not shoot Guzman. According to Guzman, they hit the pavement. Perhaps they too might have thought the shooting of Agent Garcia was cartel related and related to the dope in Cantu and were scared.

El Mex reports that after Moran was arrested that night, police officers beat, tortured and held him incommunicado for hours. Six people had identified Moran as the shooter, two of them State Agents. Meanwhile, AFN is reporting that the real shooter,Jose Antonio Guzman has admitted to "hearing voices" during and after the shooting of the PEP officer.

TEXT

The next twist on a story is that Police Chief Alberto Capella has denied that a shot or shots were fired at the police unit in colonia Valle Verde last Tuesday. As you recall, two agencies reported that one shot was fired at the police unit which hit the passenger door, and another report stated that three shots were fired at the unit and there were no arrests. These reports were based on official statements. He stated that only rocks were thrown at the unit and one person was detained, although his identity was not made public. He also said that some news sources said that one officer was wounded (I didn't see that) which was incorrect, no one was wounded. Well, that's that I guess:

TEXT

I'll be back later this weekend with a report from Rosarito Beach.

~

11/29 VIOLENCE TIJUANA ANOTHER NARCO TUNNEL ,GRENADES, EXECUTIONS, ATTACK ON POLICE TYPICAL COUPLE OF DAYS REALLY

2011-11-29T16:11:00.000-08:00

LOOK AT THESE IDIOTS IN ARIZONA:

Army guarding entrance to tunnel on Mexican side (courtesy Frontera):

The marching ants managed to dig and equip yet another tunnel which all agencies have been reporting here since noon. The tunnel was discovered by the American authorities in the Industrial Park area of Otay Mesa on Cactus Street. So far, we have not received pictures of the tunnel from either side. The Americans alerted the Mexicans and at first it was thought that the entrance on the Mexican side was located at the Tijuana International Airport; an update at around 3:30pm from all the news agencies reporting the entrance was found in colonia 70-76 inside of an abandoned warehouse, just a few meters from the Headquarters of the Federal Preventative Police. On the Mexican side, three tons of dope was seized. Descriptions of the tunnel from the Mexican side was that it was sophisticated in engineering and incorporated an elevator and track system.

UPDATE: AFN Has updated the story at 5:30pm; there was between 2-3 tons of drugs on the Mexican side, the tunnel belonged to El Chapo of the Sinaloa cartel, it measured 553 yards long and authorities are saying it was very sophisticated, here are the recent pics:

AFN

TEXT

FRONTERA:

Localizan salida de tunel en colonia 70-76

TEXT

UPDATE @ 10:30PM: Here is am interesting report from AFN on the history of narco tunnels along the Mexico-US border, at your Christmas parties you can wow your friends with facts like in the past 21 years there have been 160 narco tunnels discovered along the border between Mexico and the United States, the first discovered by accident while investigating huge cocaine shipments between Sonora and Arizona on May the 19th, 1990. That tunnel was almost as long as a football field and was sophisticated to the max; it's entrance on the Mexico side was in a house which belonged to a friend of El Chapo's - so he's had a lot of practice....or that this year in Tijuana seven tunnels have been detected and since 2005 according to the DEA seven out of ten tunnels penetrate into US territory. They didn't mention the one in Mexicali which was supposed to have been shut down but was still in use, oh well. Here's the article:

TEXT

UPDATE 11/30 @ 7:36PM: By now you guys already know the scoop, we just walked in the door - 32 tons of dope which the Americans found all total, some of that not actually inside of the tunnel, but in the process of being unloaded. US authorities were aware of, watching and following three suspects and knew they were on their their way to Otay - letting them pass through the San Clemente Checkpoint. In Otay, US authorities arrested these three men as they were unloading the dope, and in that haul there was 11 tons of mota. In addition, three more people involved were arrested in Baldwin Park, California. So obviously the authorities on the US side let all these people play right into their hands in a very sweet and smooth operation.

AFN has a video tape of the tunnel from the Mexican side, and you will be able to see how sophisticated it was, probably the most sophisticated tunnel since the discovery of the very first tunnel back in 1990; street value placed on all of the dope is running at sixty five million dollars:

TEXT

~

- Before noon today in Ensenada, El Mex and Noticias Ensenada.net are reporting that an armed man took the passengers of a mini bus hostage. Initially the man tried to kidnap a person in colonia Puerto Azul and after that failed attempt, boarded the mini bus, shot the driver three times and another passenger who are both reported to be in critical condition at this moment. He then threatened to kill more passengers but eventually was subdued by Police and the passengers were rescued:

TEXT

- They didn't catch him last weekend but one hundred and thirty other people were picked up and swept away last weekend in raids throughout Ensenada during police sweeps aimed at disorganizing organized crime:

TEXT

- Which was a drop in the bucket as my neighbor would say compared to the arrests made in Mexicali: In one week, two thousand one hundred and thirteen people arrested as part of the "Familias Seguras" program in Mexicali and San Felipe. Will these sweep programs be effective in circumventing the high levels or crime or put a dent in organized criminal cells? Known to criminologists as a "proactive policing strategy" it is a technique which is used worldwide, in fact there were recent sweeps in Gary, Indiana and Michigan. For the moment it does take the criminal element off the street, but it seems to me in the case of the Mexico drug war and the cartels, it would force the criminal element to burrow further underground and reinforce more hostility. But, what are the choices? One is to "...recognize the relationship between poverty, economic inequality and crime, and make a national effort to reduce the conditions in which crime most easily takes root." However the truth is that those conditions are a cancer in Mexico.

TEXT

- An example of this power struggle between criminals and the authorities happened in colonia Camino Verde where Police were attacked on Monday night while on patrol according to El Mex and Frontera first by rocks hurled at the unit with the unit sustaining several dents, then being fired on with the unit sustaining a bullet in the passenger door. Although the authorities reported that only shot was fired, it was still fired and it was still fired at them. Frontera reported that neighbors identified three young people involved in this attack going by the aliases of "El Cucho", "El Lalo" and "Abraham". AFN has a different version, the patrol unit was parked not on patrol when it was attacked by the rock throwing. According to their report, officials heard at least three shots, not just one. So, isn't this how the bigger fish got started, like El Teo - making a name for themselves? And is this an isolated incident or an indication of the unrest within the colonias?

TEXT

- Yesterday an attack in colonia Cacho on a man who had just withdrawn 16K pesos from the Bancomer on Agua Caliente Blvd. The same routine used as in previous armed robberies which we have read about; after making the withdrawal and leaving the bank, the victim's vehicle was blocked and shot at. His arm was injured by a bullet graze, but managed to shake the robbers. No arrests so far. The sad thing about the Mexican criminal is that he turns on his own people instead of working with them to change the social conditions, although that is probably true of criminals everywhere.

TEXT

- And more stuff belonging to El Chapo of the Sinaloa cartel is seized along with one man arrested in Mariano Matamoros: Based on an anonymous tip, PEP agents arrest one man and seize eight grenades, three of these are fragmentation the others are 40 gauge capable of penetrating light armored vehicles. The man arrested was from Colima,
The other weapons seized were:

- a belt to carry the grenades

- 2 tactical vests

- 1 bib and 1 chaps

- 1 12 gauge shotgun

- 1 AK-47

- 4 chargers

- 31 12 gauge shotgun shells

In addition, various quantities of dope including crystal and mota seized:

TEXT

- One man shot dead in front of his house in colonia Mariano Matamoros Sur and one suspect has been detained:

TEXT

- One man executed outside of a laundromat in colonia Arboledas (Los Pinos), shot by a man riding a motorcycle. El Mex notes that during the reign of Pablo Escobar in Colombia, this was the standard method used by his assassins, i.e. driving on motorcycles. Police located the bike and a suspect, but no weapon:

TEXT

- One man shot and wounded outside of an electric shop in San Antonio de los Buenos. A witness has come forward and reported the shots came from a Chevy pickup truck, but could not say how many people were inside of the truck:

TEXT

- OK well here are some real idiots, if you didn't see it, here it is:

Arizona Club Offers Pics With Santa, Machine Guns

TEXT

Thank God they are not down here....right, but their guns are. I wonder how many more tunnels those marching ants have dug?

TEXT

Here are the links for all of the news, don't miss the Palco de Prensa on AFN:

ZETA TIJUANA

TEXT

AFN

TEXT

FRONTERA

TEXT

EL MEXICANO

TEXT

Noticias Ensenada.net - Ensenada News

TEXT

Encuentro 29.com - Mexicali News

TEXT

Mundo Narco

TEXT

LA times

TEXT

Best coverage of organized crime in our hemisphere:

Insight Crime

TEXT

See you guys in a few days, take care.

~

11/28 VIOLENCE TIJUANA SEVEN LANES CLOSED ALL WEEK AT THE SAN YSIDRO POE & UPDATE: CBP NUMBER YOU CAN CALL FOR WAIT TIMES

2011-11-28T09:57:00.000-08:00

Noticias Ensenada.net is reporting this morning that seven lanes at the San Ysidro POE will be closed all week, this started yesterday and will continue through Friday, 12/02.

Very early this morning at 4:30am the lines were long, it was a two hour wait for most people - however, the report is that this time around, the lines were moving much faster.(at least they were at that hour)) You guys might want to try Tecate, Otay is overwhelmed. Google in title if URL doesn't come up:

Cierran 7 carriles centrales cruce San Ysidro

TEXT

UPDATE: Only two this evening,just really busy here - but this is good one:

Here is the CBP number you can call if you didn't already have it with updates every half to one hour on the wait times at the San Ysidro POE; the coverage is only for San Ysidro, but they are accurate:

CBP

(619) 690-8999

UPDATE: For you Holiday shoppers here's a little news: KOHLS prices on quilts are way over the top. The same quilts at KOHLS you can find at Walmart or Wayfair on line for anywhere from 80 to 100 dollars less for the queens and kings, 30 to 40 dollars less for the twins. For example, even at today's sales at KOHLS with a king quilt priced at $185.00 minus the 20% discount (which was only good today BTW) and free shipping, Walmart and Wayfair still beat this price with Wayfair's no tax and no shipping charges and Walmart's no shipping charges. The problem is, KOHLS advertises these quilts as if they are manufactured in America. They are not, they are made in slave shops in China. They are marketed in the States under the name of "Greenland Home" and "Home Classics".

I'm not trying to plug Walmart or Wayfair, but KOHLS is a rip off. And at least Walmart and Wayfair have the decency to admit that these quilts are imported, unlike KOHLS which tries to highbrow it, acting like the new Broadway.

Ho-Ho-Ho

(c;

~

11/26 VIOLENCE TIJUANA ANOTHER EXECUTION IN ROSARITO BEACH

2011-11-26T18:53:00.000-08:00

Another sunset in Rosarito Beach and another execution

Here is an update on Rosarito Beach from this afternoon: We left SADM around 1:00pm to keep our Dental appointments. After stopping at the bank, we made our way towards Benito Juarez - there was one Army unit parked in front of the large Calimax, three Military on guard while the others were inside of the store. At Coppel, another Army unit again with three men on guard by the truck. On Benito Juarez headed south I spotted two private security guards wearing bulletproof vests in front of Flor de Michocan restaurant, one of them was walking south. One patrol unit behind us, then passed us when we turned into get gas.

At the Dentist's, we ran into Guillermo in the parking lot - he had an appointment too and was running late. So, Guillermo went first, then Mike went in at about 2:00pm. Guillermo and I sat and talked about everything - appliances, USA going down the tubes and taking Mexico along with her, Obama (he thinks Obama is a whimp) and the crime situation. Finally it was my turn - I probably should have gone over to get a haircut while I was waiting. At about 3:05pm the electricity went out, so I had to reschedule. Meanwhile, Mike picked up propane and water. I met Mike in the parking lot and almost exactly at 3:30pm there were these seven pops. Mike said, "Those were gunshots, someone just got whacked." I didn't think they were gunshots, I thought they were firecrackers. Pulling out of the parking lot, three Municipal Police units with sirens on racing north on Benito Juarez followed by two ambulances, one of these had just pulled out of the Red Cross.

I thought it was a car accident. Continued south towards Popotla because I needed some ceramic pots, and I remarked that Rosarito really looked nice this afternoon, no drunk gringos hanging out on the corners, no obnoxious loud music from the tourist bars, the rains had washed all the dust away - they have installed nice statues in the middle of Popotla Boulevard, everything looked nice. Returned to town which was busy with heavy traffic all afternoon- no gringos. Went out to dinner and did see one group of gringos. Came home and yep, those were gunshots:

- El Mex reports at 3:30PM a suspected narcotics (retail) drug dealer shot seven times in front of a house with the address of 137 Villas Del Mar, in the Villas Del Mar neighborhood of Rosarito Beach. This neighborhood is just north of the baseball field. No arrests so far:

TEXT

UPDATE 11/27: None of the other news sources I use are covering this story this morning, but El Mex has an update: The victim was identified as Luis Nunez Lopez who was inside of the house when two chollo looking guys knocked on the door and asked for him. Meeting outside with them for a few moments one of the assassins pulled a gun and shot Lopez. Lopez attempted to go back into the house and was repeatedly shot. (That is how BTW the pop sounds went that we heard - pop..pop, pause then pop,pop,pop,pop,pop.) Witnesses said that the two chollo guys then walked quickly towards the beach and no one dared to follow them.

Neighbors commented that this incident and the other executions we have been reading about in Rosarito Beach are part of the aftermath of the arrest of El Guicho and El Cuervito - or a restructuring of control. So, there is quite a bit of instability still in Rosarito Beach. Also, neighbors of Lopez said that although Lopez was only a small time dealer, he had recently backed away from the trade because of a relationship he was involved in with an American woman. I guess once you're in, there's no way out.

TEXT

~

11/25 VIOLENCE TIJUANA TO BUY OR NOT TO BUY THAT IS THE QUESTION & UPDATES CLONED FEDERAL AND MILITARY AGENTS IN MEXICALI

2011-11-25T13:50:00.000-08:00

Early reports from this morning at the San Ysidro POE are saying the lines were miniscule, what they were like after 10:00am, I don't know. But the peso here is headed towards 14.0 - infact a couple of days ago two banks in Tijuana were giving the 14.0 rate - so everyone is broke, whether they break down and blast some plastic at the U.S.malls is an unknown.(current exchange rate is 14.2) The crowds just across the border at the International Plaza have been big for the past few days though.

So, did you run with the lemmings I mean crowds in the USA and shop till you drop? I didn't - but then, I never really did participate in Black Friday. Okay, I admit it - yesterday I took advantage of the Vermont Country Store sale offering 15% off and free shipping (which is still good all day today BTW) and bought some Irish pajamas for Mike at a big savings. Oh, and some buckwheat pancake mix. The thing I'm worried about is my newish oven which took a dump yesterday, I need to find the warranty !

UPDATE ON TRAFFIC CROSSING INTO THE STATES AT THE SAN YSIDRO poe @ 4;30pm: NADA, CARS WERE ONLY BACKED UP TO THE VENDOR BOOTHS
.

So here are some articles on Black Friday, better late than never:

How weird is this? It sounds like Mexico !

From MSNBC:

Black Friday violence 2 shot In Armed Robberies 15 Others Pepper Sprayed

TEXT

Here's a cool one:

Go Green On Black Friday Make Your Day After thanksgiving Better For The Environment
By, Anne Englebert

TEXT

Another....

Black Friday Anti Deals what Not To Buy
by, Prof. Dealzmodo

TEXT

Well, that's America.

~

The Updates:

- Did the gringo travel and real estate forums cover Javier Sicilia - or are they just ignoring him? I know I said that none of the local news sources mentioned Javier Sicilia's feelings towards Jorge Hank Rohn; however this edicion of Zeta Magazine which came out after I said that does cover Sicilia's feelings towards Jorge Hank Rohn, and what he believes is the current status of Mexico's stability and future prospects - if URL doesn't come up, google in the title:

Javier Sicilia "sigo hasta la madre"

TEXT

- According to Mayor Francisco Padilla of Mexicali, "...citizens should be alert to these issues..."; and what he was referring to is a presence of armed commando group(s) making raids in Mexicali by men posing as Federal Agents and Military whose purpose so far is to kidnap, torture and rob people. I haven't checked to see if the local San Diego news sources decided this was important enough to print. At any rate, one woman describes her and her family's close encounter with these people and was threatened with death if she said anything. AFN also reports another incident is under investigation. The picture before the article is of cloned Army vehicles seized in Tijuana just a couple years back when Leyzaola was Chief - these were supposed to be used by El Teo's men in an assassination attempt of the Chief. It is unclear if this crime group(s) in Mexicali also uses cloned official or Military vehicles. We do know however in Jacume, just across the border from Jacumba, California there are groups of men who are armed and cloned as Military elements and have tortured and robbed migrants attempting to cross the border out in the desert area. An investigation of this 'newer' group(s) is underway by the Grupo de Coordinacion de Baja California:

TEXT

- On the last blog there were disturbing events in Ensenada just prior to Thanksgiving involving the American attacked on the Scenic Highway and the body dumped at Rancho Packard, Punta Banda. Prior to these events, El Mex reports a shootout in Ensenada; El Mex is calling it a "pitched battle" between the Surenos and the Nortenos gangs - in fact,they are reporting, "...once again a pitched battle " between these two chollo gangs. This shootout took place in the Canon Buena Vista - also known as Zorrillo on Ignacio Zargoza and Tlacoluda streets. Canon Buena Vista is just outside of Maneadero and considered to be part of the Maneadero Delegation. Here is an older report on Canon Buena Vista, and apparently the problems there have multiplied since 2009:

TEXT

The results from this latest confrontation was one person was shot in the face, there has been no word on his condition and the person who shot him was a minor (aged 17) who was arrested. Like I said, it's rough in Maneadero:

TEXT

- In the Zona Norte more problems: A man and his dog were executed on the sidewalk; investigation underway to determine if this man was involved in the robbery of a watch. Witnesses say two vehicles stopped, people got out of the vehicles and shot the man and his dog, no arrests yet:

TEXT

Although Frontera and El Mex mentioned the dog and the watch, AFN didn't. The interesting thing about this report are the comments which indicate that this is the beginning of territorial disputes by "El Mono" and "don Balas" who are patrolling the Zona Norte (assuming they meant for control of the Zona Norte):

TEXT

- Frontera reports one man found executed on Blvd. 2000 in the colonia Hacienda Las Delicias area:

TEXT

- In Rosarito Beach at the Pemex Condos, a woman's residence robbed of 25K dlls. worth of jewelry:

Roban a septugenaria joyas en Rosarito

TEXT

- Two more; one gunned down on Avenida Guerreo in colonia Guerrero and one body found behind a building executed on calle Transpeninsular and BC:

TEXT

- Two men in colonia Obrera resisting a robbery attempt both shot - no word on their conditions:

TEXT

AFN does not mention the robbery but reports the two men were walking down the street when attacked by gunfire coming from a pick up truck:

TEXT

- In the Zona Norte the security guard at the Hong Kong Gentlemen's Nightclub shot and killed by an irate customer who the guard had just thrown out of the bar. There was an arrest in this case: (Link is fixed, still sometimes these older Frontera's won't come up so google in the title)

Mato a tiros a guardia porque lo saco del bar

TEXT

- In self defense, Tijuana Municipal Police shoot and kill a man in colonia Buenos Aires Sur. The officers had pulled over to check out a parked vehicle with the man, a woman and a baby inside; the man pulled a gun on the cops first, officers report the man was either drunk or on drugs:

TEXT

- In colonia Vistas del Valle (La Presa) a gas truck driver was shot and killed and robbed of 300 pesos (roughly 22 dlls). Two men aged 18 and 19 were arrested in this case:

TEXT

- In Rosarito Beach at K30 on Blvd. 2000 the body of a man found, executed. Only Frontera reported this one:(Sorry someone just brought it to my attention this link wasn't coming up. Try it now I fixed it. If it still doesn't come up, google in the title)

Dejan cadaver en Corredor 2000

TEXT

There were many arrests, some medium-big fish, I'll try to catch up on those tomorrow.

Here are the links for all of the news:

ZETA TIJUANA

TEXT

AFN

TEXT

FRONTERA

TEXT

EL MEXICANO

TEXT

Noticias Ensenada. net - Ensenada News

TEXT

Encuentro 29.com - Mexicali News

TEXT

Mundo Narco

TEXT

LA Times

TEXT

Best coverage of organized crime in our hemisphere:

Insight Crime

TEXT

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11/23 VIOLENCE TIJUANA AMERICAN WOMAN ATTACKED ON SCENIC HIGHWAY IN FULL DAYLIGHT- BODY DUMPED IN PUNTA BANDA AT RANCHO PACKARD

2011-11-23T17:06:00.000-08:00

Entrance to Bajamar, Ensenada where attack took place:

I thought I could get away from this during the Holiday, but guess not. Noticias Ensenada.net is reporting that in full daylight a 65 year old American woman driving a Windstar attempting to take the turnoff from the Scenic Highway into Bajamar was stopped and her van blocked by a white colored vehicle. She was robbed at gunpoint by the assailants who took her purse, money and documents. No arrests so far. The comments by the Mexican people indicate there are many assaults in this area, but since the victims are Mexicans little coverage is given to them. So, careful out there everyone:

Asalto carretero a ciudadana norteamericana

TEXT

- Also in Ensenada, a man's body thrown into a barranca or ravine close to La Bufadora; he had been beaten to death by three men in Maneadero in a robbery attempt. Reported missing by his brother on Monday who then saw his brother's truck being towed, he notified the authorities. Three people were arrested by Preventative Agents, one of those was a 15 year old minor. The other two, Erasmus and Kevin Reyes Sepulved are 28 and 18 years old respectively. Accomplices were also arrested, although this article does not say how many:

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UPDATE 11/24: Here is an update on this story this morning from Noticias Ensenada .net: The last name of the brothers from Maneadero involved in this murder is "Sepulveda". The body of the victim was dumped in Punta Banda, very close to Rancho Packard. Well, Maneadero is rough. This article contains a list of those arrested and the accomplices:

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I'll be back with more updates later.

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11/22 VIOLENCE TIJUANA OPERATION ZORRO: SOMEONE LOST THEIR CHRISTMAS BONUS HOW DOES THIS TIE INTO JAVIER SICILIA ?

2011-11-22T14:16:00.000-08:00

Javier Sicilia:

EL MEX is running this pic of the house which we are being told was the "Financial Center" of the Sinaloa Cartel in Tijuana::

FRONTERA is running this picture of a house involved in this big money seizure:

No soup for you....

An update from last weekend on Rosarito Beach for ya'll: We spotted many Municipal Police units throughout town over the weekend, both trucks and sedans. We witnessed one woman being cuffed downtown and units coming down the hill from Constitucion; town was busy with the Mexican people out and about. Other than one body being dumped off Boulevard 2000, there were no other major shootings or executions in Rosarito Beach. Sunday evening after the celebrations and parade in town, La Estancia was packed with Mexican families and of course, the food is still great there. There have been complaints regarding the sanitary conditions at Popotla, I'll get to that a bit later. Naturally everyone is hoping for a calm Holiday season despite the reports of active cartel cell groups in Rosarito Beach. Wouldn't that be nice? We have had an unusual amount of rain this month which historically is in the "Indian Summer" pattern - I've measured 4 and 6/10 inches so far and more rain is on the way, so if you are coming down for Thanksgiving weekend, drive careful.

As far as the San Ysidro POE, it seems things are back to more normal with only one lane being closed to traffic, so the waits now are not the killer three and four hour waits people without Sentri passes experienced over a week ago.

The top story today is that although this event took place on 11/18, it was reported by all agencies earlier this morning: The Mexican Army through "Operation Zorro" seized 15 million 350 thousand dollars, 3 kilos of cocaine, one vehicle, 2 rifles, 2 handguns and assorted jewelry inside of what the initial reports said was a van in colonia Cumbre de Juarez (Centro neighborhood). AFN notes that Operation Zorro is the attempt by the Mexican Army, Navy and Air Force to weaken or destabilize the structural organization of organized crime on financial, operational, logistical and control levels. Baja California Norte, Baja California Sur and the state of Sonora form the triad of scope of Operation Zorro in this part of Mexico under the command of the Second Military Region.

Frontera and El Mex have run a pic of the house where this van was parked. Later reports are stating the money was inside of the house which is located in the Rincon Toscano neighborhood on calles Via Donato and Via Toscano. Officials have stated that the money belongs to El Chapo Guzman of the Sinaloa cartel. There were no arrests, Federal Police are guarding the property.

Reports are that this is the third largest seizure of cash made by the authorities; the largest so far was made in 2007 in a house in Mexico City of $207 million dollars which belonged to a Chinese businessman, believed to be the proceeds from the sale of the chemical pseudoephedrine for the manufacture of meth; the second largest was $26.2 million dollars seized in Culiacan, Sinaloa. Authorities here are calling this seizure a big blow to El Chapo, but my neighbor says this is just a drop in the bucket. Still, so much for those Christmas bonuses.

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- UPDATE 4:45PM: According to Secretario de Seguridad Publico (State) Daniel de la Rosa Anaya, this seizure represents a blow to the financial structure of the Sinaloa Cartel in our area - although he states, it is not representative of the dismantling of the cartel. But surely, without this money less arms from the United States will be bought.

Should there be violent reactions to this seizure he stated that the military and civil authorities are prepared; there are protocols of action which are in place to guarantee the security of the population.

As far as minute details of this operation, because of the fact that this was a Federal operation, those details most likely will be guarded including if any people were arrested. We are being told however that the van with the money in it led the authorities to the plush house in Cumbres de Juarez, which served as the "financial center" for operations of the Sinaloa cartel.

One of the comments under this article is somewhat similar to what my neighbor said; that to the Sinaloa cartel fifteen million dollars is equivalent to a regular citizen's fifteen dollars. According to "critical" from information he received from CNN, the Sinaloa cartel takes in on average 125 million dollars a day from daily sales operations in seventeen countries worldwide. "critical" believes that this seizure is only serving the politicos and public security authorities as PR - or a feather in their cap. (Hmmm...my neighbor didn't say that...) And "critical" ends his comment by telling us to remember that as far as the narcos are concerned, there never is a crisis. So, if you think about what "critical" said then who's really winning the drug war and if those figures are correct, how in the world is any agency ever going to overcome corruption ? Anyway, just a taste of some of the feelings going around around here. There was one comment over on AFN, "I wish I could find 15 million dollars." Well, me too.

Descartan reaccion violenta por decomiso a 'El Chapo'

TEXT

- Two days ago in Mexicali, the Mexican Army seized nearly 118 kilos of cocaine , two weapons and arrest one person, based on an anonymous tip. According to the authorities, this dope belonged to the Sinaloa cartel. And over the last weekend in Tijuana, the Mexican Army arrests four people in the Hacienda Los Venados neighborhood (La Presa) with 10 kilos of mota, 458 grams of crystal, 6 kilos of chemicals to make meth, 9 rifles, 5 handguns, 16 mags, and 224 rounds of ammo plus cash:

TEXT

With all of the recent arrests and seizures you might think matters have improved in Baja California and throughout Mexico. And it is true, no gunmen burst into La Estancia with rifles last Sunday night like they did a couple of years back, but reading the comments from the news sources and talking to Mexican people there is a sense of trepidation regarding the future.

Here is one account of the Javier Sicilia presentation last week in Tijuana which also contains a link to Frontera's coverage of the Javier Sicilia presentation, who was also accompanied by Victor Clark Alfaro, Victor Soto Ferrel and Fernando Ocegueda:

"Poet-activist Javier Sicilia presents book in Tijuana; Police Chief attends, speaks and meets with Sicilia after some in crowd seek Chief's removal from auditorium"

By, David Gaddis Smith

TEXT

But truthfully, Javier Sicilia is political. Although none of the local news sources actually reported this, he is extremely critical of the political leaders of other states in Mexico and of Baja California including Jorge Hank Rohn, who Sicilia believes is being sheltered by the State and the PRI. Sicilia has forecast the 2012 election to be an election of shame because of a lack of public political consciousness.

When the Mexican people go to the polls in 2012 according to Sicilia, they will not be voting for a political party, they will be voting for a cartel. The politicians (he should have added the gringo speculators) according to Sicilia promote Mexico as a country of peace and have not realized or taken into account that Mexico has been balkanized and is in a state of national emergency. AFN reported that Sicilia remarked that in essence the leaders of organized crime who keep Mexico under their yoke are the true leaders of the country. In the CNN interview, Sicilia remarked that the numbers here are more like 50,000 dead since December of 2006 and 10,000 missing - and these are numbers we never see even in the U.S. press.

From CNN-MEXICO:

"Sicilia critica a los partidos politicos por cobijan a delincuentes"

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Coverage from AFN:

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So how does the 15 million dollars and other arrests tie into Sicilia? Well, if you believe Sicilia - and many people do - "...it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." Or, the Mexican Cartels and the U.S. Corporations - unstoppable.

Have a nice Thanksgiving everyone.

Here are the links:

Zeta Tijuana

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AFN

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FRONTERA

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EL MEXICANO

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Noticias Ensenada.net

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Encuentro29.com - Mexicali News

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Mundo Narco

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LA Times

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Best coverage of organized crime in our hemisphere:

Insight Crime

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11/16 VIOLENCE TIJUANA EXECUTIONS, KIDNAPPINGS AND NARCOTUNNEL IT WAS A BIG ONE EVEN SOMETHING IN ERENDIRA

2011-11-16T12:06:00.000-08:00

ALFREADO ARTEAGA GONZALEZ AKA "EL ACHILLES" AKA "CAPTAIN AMERICA":

Narco tunnel in Otay - completed and was being used (courtesy AFN):

I have been up all night with my cat so I'm tired. Someone just sent a message asking if I thought that the Sinaloa and CAF cartels had made some sort of a pact or agreement to cease fire in our area. I just think it's too early to say - it sure didn't look that way in Rosarito Beach over the past few weeks and with what SEMEFO sorry I am so tired I meant SIEDO (SEE LAST BLOG) is describing as a 200% rise in homicides in Rosarito Beach which are all related to organized crime. Further, the report from Stratfor indicates although there may be a cooling down, they expect the CAF to strike back by next year to take back control of the plazas and even forecast that it was possible the Los Zetas would be on the side of the CAF. So, I think we just have to wait and see and keep in mind that the one predictable thing about this drug war is that it is unpredictable.

Let's look at the narco tunnel which was detected by authorities in Otay. AFN reports the tunnel was located next to the Aberlardo Rodriguez Airport (formerly Ejido Tampico), it was 370 meters in length, 1.20 meters wide and 1.6 meters high and did not seem to be as sophisticated as other tunnels. Inside were 7 tons and 977 kilos of mota in packages with "Captain America" stickers on them.

The agencies here are reporting that the dope belonged to Alfreado Arteago Gonzalez aka "El Achilles" of the Sinaloa cartel. "Captain America" is believed to be an allegory of "El Achilles." I guess that's sort of a inside Sinaloa cartel joke, but that's what officials here are saying. AFN states the tunnel was completed and already in use. Here are great pics and a video from AFN:

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UPDATE: Frontera is reporting two people were arrested, their citizenship has not been revealed and more than seventeen(17) tons of mota seized - with a street value of between more than 20-35 million dollars. This, of course is much more than was reported earlier. Apparently U.S. authorities were watching this site because according to this report, U.S. officials had a search warrant for the basement of the warehouse on the U.S. side where the tunnel exited. The two men who were arrested had left the building and were about to drive a truck with 3 tons of mota inside of it bound for La Mesa, California. Additionally, initial reports stated this tunnel was not very sophisticated, however the reaction to the tunnel was completely different from Paul A. Beeson, the Director of Border Patrol San Diego Sector (Chief) who remarked that it was one of the most sophisticated tunnels that he has seen; although lacking a rail line, it was equipped with electricity and a ventilation system. William R. Sherman, Special Agent in charge of the DEA noted that the mota was packaged and marked with labels of Captain America, Sprite soda and Budweiser beer. Sherman did not elaborate on the Captain America label as symbolic of El Achilles. About a year ago, a tunnel was found in the same area:

Arrestan en SD a dos por 'narcotunel'

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The Kidnappings:

- A young man was kidnapped and robbed by several people in colonia Nino de Las Aguilas, this report is not clear if he escaped or was released. But he did lead the authorities to one of the men who kidnapped him and the abductor was arrested - in the Zona Central:

TEXT

- The U.S. press is reporting there were three U.S. citizens who were kidnapped in Mariano Matamoros, so far the local Mexican press has only identified one of those victims as a U.S. citizen. All three were rescued by the Tijuana Municipal Police Department. I am accused constantly of not blogging about anything positive - and there really isn't a lot positive in the drug war and current economic situation and it's consequences on a social level, which is what this blog is all about. But it is positive that these people were rescued by the Tijuana Municipal Police Department. Four to five to six years ago, many members of the police department owned by El Teo would have been in on the kidnappings. Americans or Mexicans, the three had gone to a house in Mariano Matamoros which they owned to collect rent money and were met by armed people inside of the house, a shot was fired, there was a contrived scene of two of the kidnappers pretending to be kidnapped themselves - but in the end, all eight abductors were arrested and two rifles were seized:

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- Two men arrested for kidnapping a 25 year old woman then trying to bribe police. This happened in the west part of Zona Central, and area which we've been talking about on and off here. The woman was forced in to vehicle and offered her freedom if she provided sexual services for the abductors. Police just happened to stop the vehicle because it was speeding. So there is another story that ends good, and is a good reflection on the Tijuana Municipal Police.

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- Three men arrested for the kidnapping of four migrants in the Tecate area on 09/26/11. These men belong to a kidnapping group from Tlalnepantlas, State of Mexico, known as "Los Chilangros" who prey on migrants. Authorities here believe that are at least ten more belonging to this group that they know of with five warrants out, these three men arrested were part of the five. One of the kidnappers said that he had recently been deported, had no work here in Mexico and was offered an opportunity to join the Los Chilangros which he did, this was his first and last job. Also, there is no mention if this group are the same people who were involved in kidnapping the twenty two migrants in Tecate just days ago:

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The Executions and shootings:

- A late report, this event happened according to AFN last
Saturday night a group of men including a 16 year old boy attacked for what other news sources are saying are unknown reasons by another group of three men on the patio of a building just off of Via Rapida Oriente and Blvd. Bernardo O'Higgins. One of the victims was shot in his chest, the young boy and other victim were severely beaten:

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- In colonia Rubi, Frontera also puts this attack on last Saturday;one man shot in the face while driving by armed men in another vehicle, no arrests so far:

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- In a vacant lot in the Alta Pan neighborhood, two bodies are found both are frozen and one has been beheaded. AFN did not report the beheading but speculates that these could have been people who were recently kidnapped. So, we are seeing censure of details more often, probably an attempt to try to get the touristas back:

El Mexicano:

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AFN:

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- Body of a man found in another vacant lot in colonia Vista del Valle - the body was found by the man's brother:

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In the Zona Norte:

- The Federal Ministerial Police (PFM) raided and shut down two hotels in the Zona Norte, the Hotel Acapulco and the Irma Hotel located of Constitucion and calle Coahuila for human sex trafficking. Some girls were arrested and were taken to the AG's office to determine their age, if they are minors. Of course, this is just the tiny tip of the iceberg, sex trafficking is big business and Tijuana is now known as the Thailand of the west. It is unclear from this report how long these Hotels will be shut down. We usually don't hear much about this though:

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Down the coast at Erendira:

- Don't ask me why this report only appeared in El Mex and not the Ensenada news sources. It's not a huge-huge deal, but still: A beach house in Punta Cabras of Erendira was robbed...but someone saw the robber and reported the act. Are there phones down there now, or just cell phones? At any rate, the robber was captured by the police and he stated he had gone to Punta Cabras to intentionally rob a house, so heads up:

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Here are the links for all of the news:

ZETA TIJUANA

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AFN

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FRONTERA

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EL MEXICANO

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Noticias ensenada.net - Ensenada News

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Encuentro29.com - Mexicali News

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MUNDO NARCO

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LA TIMES

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Best coverage of organized crime in our hemisphere:

Insight Crime

TEXT

~

And if you see a guy dressed like Captain America in Rosarito Beach, run !

(c;

See you guys in a few days....

11/13 VIOLENCE TIJUANA ZETA MAG : ROSARITO BEACH HAS BEEN LEFT ABANDONED TO THE CRIMINALS

2011-11-13T12:32:00.000-08:00

Check out the machine gun - seized in TJ:

Is everything okay in Rosarito Beach? Well no, not according to Mayor Robles, Chief Magdaleno Vazquez and Ricardo Moreno, President of the Citizen's Public Safety Council - not to mention the recent SIEDO statistics. As we watch other Municipalities in our area conduct massive sweeps in an effort to disorganize organized crime groups and the corporations working side by side, the same cannot be said for Rosarito Beach.

This week's edition of Zeta magazine takes a closer look at the security problems in Rosarito Beach, which are on the rise. A few days back we witnessed seven executions in Rosarito one right after the next. According to some people, these have been just petty disturbances between organized crime cells or low level engagements reflecting territorial disputes for narcotics trafficking. However, according to SIEDO, assassinations here have increased by two hundred percent. And, according to the authorities these are not just little low level engagements, these killings are territorial disputes between the Sinaloa cartel and the CAF. After the arrest of El Guicho on May the 9th of this year, there has been a very treacherous and constant switching of sides of some cell groups, an expansion and realignment of the Sinaloa cartel groups led by Rene Arteaga aka "La Rana" and his right hand man, Jehova Israel Ilhuicatzi, aka "El Cuervito", the independent narcomenudistas and those who aligned themselves with and sought the protection from the CAF. The situation in Rosarito Beach is not only dangerous because of this disorganized feeding frenzy, but also because of the lack of coordination between the corporations.

A quick note that I had three reports from neighbors who were in Rosarito Beach on three separate days this last weekend. On Friday, four RB Municipal Police units were spotted on the main boulevard Benito Juarez, one of these had pulled over and the officers had one guy in handcuffs, making an arrest. On Saturday, a half a dozen units going up and down Benito Juarez were spotted, and today very early no visible sign of police, although that's not to say they weren't there later on. So, the Rosarito Beach Police force is out and doing their job - the problem is they aren't receiving any or enough back up which is extremely dangerous. If you were in a cell group say in Ensenada, Mexicali or Tecate, or Tijuana - and you knew they were conducting sweeps throughout those areas and you knew through the grapevine that Rosarito Beach lacked security, where would you go?

There is less security now in Rosarito Beach according to Zeta and military intervention is practically non existent, and this is despite the declarations from the authorities of a coordinated affront of combined Federal, State and Municipal forces to fight organized crime. Since January of this year, SEIDO accounts for 45 violent murders in Rosarito Beach with all of the characteristics common to organized crime. The two hundred per cent increase according to SEIDO reflects these homicides, and there has been a two percent increase in assaults and battery, homicides, threats and burglaries in colonias Constitucion, Lucio Blanco, Monte Carlo, Plan Libertador and Ejido Primo Tapia, at all hours of the day. Zeta says these figures are on the rise.

Several factors are at play in this situation, one is the fact that there are barely 185 Rosarito Beach Municipal Police officers to provide security for 120,000 people. Mayor Robles says that is just not enough and presently, the Municipals are in a defensive role. (With what seems to be members of organized crime more and more taking control.) Although the Mayor indicated that the Municipal Police force is on the defense, Zeta feels that city authorities are compounding the problem even further by distancing themselves from the crime and security problems by lack of support and a repeated laissez faire or noninterference pattern of the past. Chief Magdaleno Vazquez agrees and he too feels that Rosarito has been abandoned. Although Rosarito has received some support from other corporations, the Chief stated it is not enough, the Rosarito Beach Municipal Police are doing everything they can possibly do, their hands are full.

So where is the Army? Zeta does give the Mexican Army under the command of Comandante Gilberto Landeros credit for making some seizures of narcotics in Rosarito even though these are in no way large quantities particularly in comparison to seizures in other Municipalities; still, they did make these seizures: In Rosarito since January,the Army has seized 3 1/2 tons of mota, 6.75 kilos of crystal, 43 weapons including 25 rifles, 14,337 pesos - and all of this with no shoot outs. Still, Zeta implies the coordination is not apparent between the Army and the Municipals. I have heard some people say, "Well, all the trafficking has moved east." No it hasn't. Rosarito is still one of the most important transhipment routes of narcotics.

So where are the Federal Police? Well, according to Zeta the PGR is indifferent to the situation in Rosarito Beach. According to Fermin Gomez Gomez, there is an absence of Federal Police because that corporation is undergoing a vetting or purification - and that's all right with Ricardo Moreno, the President of the Citizen's Public Safety Council who would rather not have a corrupt police force in Rosarito Beach. But Sr. Moreno is begging for the help along with the Mayor and the Chief of Police of the State Police, even knowing they are stretched thin throughout the State of Baja California because he says, "We do not want even one more execution in Rosarito Beach. We are afraid that Rosarito Beach will return to the conditions of 2008-2009."

Meanwhile, the Municipal Police of Rosarito Beach are on patrol, alone.

Rosarito en poder del crimen
Zeta Magazine
(on line tomorrow)

UPDATE/EDIT 11/14 @ 8:00pm: HERE IS THE LINK AND ALSO THIS WEEK IN ZETA, TWO REALLY GOOD ARTICLES ON WHAT IS HAPPENING OVER IN MEXICALI:

TEXT

The Updates:

- In a joint operation by the Mexican Army and the Municipal Police based on Government Intelligence Reports, two people (crew of the bus) are arrested and a small arsenal seized on a bus in the area of arroyo Alamar. Seized were a 7.62 mm machine gun military issue, 111 magazines, 500 rounds of ammo and 2,000 metal clasps. The clasps were to enable the machine gun to be mounted on a vehicle. According to Mexican Intelligence there are buses departing from Tijuana traveling south which transport weapons. This particular bus belonged to the company, "Estrella del Pacifico" and was bound for Guadalajara, Jalisco. Preliminary investigations believe this shipment of arms was to be delivered to the Bajio area:

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- An American woman found dead inside a room at the City Express hotel in the Zona Rio. this was Lynn Steven Glumarra, 58 years old from Long Beach, CA. It is unclear from this report if this death was drug related:

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- In Mexicali, one man executed outside of the bar "Jalale Ahi". BTW, this week's Zeta has a short blip on Governor Milan's reaction to this wave of violence in Mexicali, blaming it on organized crime, specifically members of oc from San Luis Rio Colorado. Edition will be online tomorrow:

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- El Mex reports the wave of executions continues in Mexicali, this was one man shot by several gunmen in the Infonavit Cucapah neighborhood. Check the Mexicali link for more reports:

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- In the Villa del Campo neighborhood, woman arrives home to find husband wounded, he later died. It is unclear if this murder is drug related or a robbery:

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- In Tecate five heavily armed men kidnap a total of twenty two migrants, holding them for two days, and of course stealing everything the migrants had on them. By chance, Municipal police do a patrol in the Cienega Redondo area on 11/11/11 and rescue the migrants, so that number turned out to be lucky for some people. There is no mention in this report if arrests were made:

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- One shootout and chase in Los Pinos; this guy had a gun turret on his vehicle, but he was shot and arrested by Municipal Police after he pulled a gun on them:

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- In colonia Otay Constituyentes (Centenario) man at first thought to be an American found murdered in his apartment. He was not a gringo turns out. He had just given a party at his place, and it is unclear if this murder is drug related or a robbery:

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- In Rosarito Beach, one woman found executed near to Boulevard 2000 by Rancho El Toro:

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- For you collectors, here is a site I found with an old postcard from Tijuana from the good old days:

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- I measured two inches of rain here, and there's another storm on the way, here's a link to the radar you can bookmark:

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The Links:

ZETA TIJUANA

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AFN

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FRONTERA

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EL MEXICANO

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NOTICIAS ENSENADA.NET - Ensenada News

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ENCUENTRO 29.COM - MEXICALI NEWS

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MUNDO NARCO

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LA TIMES

TEXT

Best coverage of organized crime in our hemisphere:

Insight Crime

TEXT

Have a good week everyone.

11/11 VIOLENCE TIJUANA INTERIOR SECRETAY FRANCISCO BLAKE MORA DEAD IN HELICOPTER CRASH

2011-11-11T13:30:00.000-08:00

SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR FRANCISCO BLAKE MORE DEAD IN HELICOPTER CRASH; THREE YEARS AGO SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR JUAN CAMILO MOURINO ALSO DIED IN FATAL PLANE CRASH:

A bad news day for the family of Interior Secretary Francisco Blake Mora and the PAN: at first there were simply rumors of a missing helicopter, then it was confirmed that the helicopter carrying Interior Secretary Francisco Blake Mora went down in the area known as Xochimilco, about fourteen miles from Mexico City. Blake Mora was killed along with seven other people.

Last year after the elections where the PAN lost so many Municipalities and Legislative seats, people were calling for Blake Mora's resignation. Instead, Presidente Calderon came to his rescue and appointed him as the Interior Secretary, a move which shocked many who claimed Blake Mora was not qualified. But other people thought that Blake Mora had put together a tough team and was showing a strong grasp of the political office, a position which put Blake Mora the top official after the President, a very senior position in charge of domestic affairs and security.

It was widely believed that Blake-Mora would have been the PAN gubernatorial candidate in 2013 for Baja California. Now, as Gilberto Levenant points out, the situation for the country as well as for Presidente Calderon is "extremely delicate". Calderon was very close to Blake Mora, this will be the second close political ally and friend he has lost within a matter of days. On the third day of this month, Richard Guzman Romero, the young and handsome PAN Mayor of La Piedad, Michoacan, was shot down by a carload of gunmen when he was campaigning for the Presidente's sister Maria Luisa who is running for Governor of Michoacan. So, the inner circle of the PAN is eclipsing rapidly, not to mention a tough race for Maria Luisa where the PRD has had a stronghold since 2002.

Francisco Blake Mora was 45 years old, married with two children. He was born in Tijuana on May 22, 1966 and started an early political career after graduating from the Faculty of Law, UABC. From 1995-1998 he served as Alderman in Tijuana, then as Federal Deputy from 2000-2003, and prior to his appointment as Interior Secretary from 2007-2010 he served as the Secretary General of Government of Baja California.

The other fatalities were:

- Felipe Zamora Castro, Secretary for Legal Affairs and Human Rights

- Alfredo Garcia Medina, Social Media Director

- Diana Eaton Miriam Sanchez, Technical Secretary for the Office of the Secretary of Interior

- Mayor Rene de Leon Sapien

CREW:

- Teniente Coronel Felipe Cortez Dasio

- Lieutenant Peter Escobar Ramon Becerra

- Sergeant Gomez Jorge Luis Juarez

Conmocion politica en Baja California: Fallece Blake Mora
por, Gilberto Lavenant

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In the same month three years ago on November 4, 2008 Juan Camilo Mourino, the Secretary of the Interior's airplane went down over Mexico City during rush hour traffic, all eight aboard were killed as well as fatalities on the ground. Camilo Mourino was said to be the mastermind behind Presidente Calderon's drug war. At the time of that accident, there was much speculation that foul play was involved, some witnesses said the plane was hit by a missile. However both government reports from Mexico and the United States officially declared that the crash was caused by pilot error.

From the AP Report a few hours ago: ... Sinaloa Congressman Manuel Clouthier whose father, a popular politician of the PAN died in a still-unexplained highway accident in 1989: " There are many coincidences because now we have two interior ministers (lost) in one presidential term...Who knows if we'll ever really know what happened."

I'll be back....

11/10 VIOLENCE TIJUANA VERY LONG WAIT AT SAN YSIDRO POE

2011-11-10T18:58:00.000-08:00

Because of the construction work being done at the San Ysidro POE, if you don't have a Sentri expect to wait for a long time. Five lanes have been consistently closed down all week, neighbors without Sentri report four hour and three and a half hour and three hour waits. One person reports on this last Tuesday at 4:20AM he arrived several blocks before the Cathedral and he waited four hours until he was able to cross the border. Other neighbors report today they arrived at the Smart & Final intersection at 11:00AM today and waited three and a half hours. Another set of neighbors said they waited three hours and were surprised that although the lanes were closed off they couldn't see any construction work being done. They were particularly upset because they said that they checked the wait times on line were given the "bum scoop." This is really bad especially when folks have Doctor's appointments.

The meteorologists are changing the forecast of when this huge storm is supposed to blow in, and some are downgrading it. Still, if you need to go up to the States and you don't have a Sentri, consider changing your route to the Otay POE.

I'll be back with the updates later.

~

11/08 VIOLENCE TIJUANA MORE INFORMATION ON EL SILLAS SHOOTING AT EL FARO BEACH ENSENADA TODAY

2011-11-08T15:42:00.000-08:00

EL SILLAS CAPTURED (Courtesy AFN):

It has been over 72 hours since the arrest of Juan Francisco Sillas Rochas aka "El Sillas" or aka "El Rueda" and we have not seen retributive strike backs at the authorities, which is good news. Normally in the past with big fish arrests, police and authorities have been victims of organized crime's version of payback - which has generally been a death sentence for many authorities. It is still too soon to say if this quiet lull is due to perhaps the disorganization or deteriorating hierarchy of the CAF.

Dora Elena Cortes offers some inside information and more background on El Sillas which many of you may remember from 2007. But first, it was the bodyguards of Chief Alberto Capella Ibarra who actually first located the vehicle used by the assassins in the Boulevard Insurgentes shooting on last Friday. Chief Capella and his bodyguards were returning from a meeting when the call came over police dispatch that a shooting had occurred on Blvd. Insurgentes. The Chief ordered his men to the Buena Vista neighborhood in order to prevent the attackers from escaping. It was there they found the vehicle and suspects and were backed up by the Mexican Army, the State Police and the Municipal Police. It was also Chief Alberto Capella and the Director of Police, Captain Richard Garduno who delivered El Sillas to the SEIDO facilities. So, another historical footnote to Alberto Capella Ibarra's fight against organized crime.

Dora Elena Cortes reminds us that it was El Marquitas - the person attacked along with his girlfriend Farah on Boulevard Insurgentes last Friday who was responsible for the attack on the then Coordinador de la Unidad contra Homicidos Dolosos de la PGJE, Francisco Castro Trenti and his bodyguards. There were no people injured in this attack, and according to Castro Trenti, the attack was most likely based on an investigation being conducted at the time - but there was substantial damage to buildings in Tijuana with gunfire. This attack was sanctioned by Francisoco Merado Leon Hinojosa, aka "El Abulon" and it was after this attack that El Marquitos became the security chief for El Abulon.

In November of 2007 at the Baja 1000 race, El Abulon was killed in a helicopter crash. In the Zeta report it was 35 to 40 gunmen all armed with R-15's and AK-47's who arrived at the SEMEFO offices in six to eight luxury late model trucks to retrieve the body of El Abulon. They took two hostages and fled towards the town of Francisco Zarco in the Valley de Guadalupe. Remember also, that El Teo had a couple of ranches in this vicinity. It was there that they encountered two Ensenada Municipal Police officers and mowed them down with their weapons. They escaped to the valle del los Palmas. This is a good historical reference from Zeta which shows how strong and well organized the CAF was back in those days and going back even further to 1997 when it was well known that organized crime members had infiltrated the Baja 500 and 1000 races, and yet Zeta states that even knowing this, SCORE and the PGR did nothing.

Zeta Tijuana Edicion 1755:

"Narcojunior" estaba protegido

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El Marquitos from that point went on to work under El Sillas, the man who would have or attempt to have him assassinated four years later. It was during those years the battle raged in our area with El Sillas and his troops fighting El Teo. Frontera points out that it was El Sillas who ordered the kidnapping of El Mayo Zambada's relatives in Tijuana on 09/25/2010 in revenge for the kidnapping of his sister. El Sillas gave the order to El Marquitos, who dispatched his men to kidnap the three women who were later rescued by the Mexican Army in a shoot out with one of El Marquitas's men killed and the others arrested. Most of the sources here agree that this kidnapping was not sanctioned by the CAF - or Sanchez Arellano. It is unclear what happened between El Sillas and El Marquitos during this last brief year, if there was a power struggle between them.

Ordeno "El Sillas' plagiar a familiares del 'Mayo'

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El Sillas is 34 years old who started out as a narco-junior, has a standing extradition order from the US Government and according to AFN is responsible for countless murders under the direction of Sanchez Arellano. AFN also notes that some people consider him to be insane because of his uncontrollable temperament and his use of drugs. AFN also reports that their sources have indicated that it was El Silla's father who would run matters because of El Silla's inability to be in command due do his drug use. The State Attorney, Rommel Moreno Manjarrez stated today that authorities have enough evidence against him to convict him on nine murder charges and two kidnappings, along with conspiracy charges. And what happened to El Marquitas ? He was released from the hospital, and is free.

Sorprenden a El Sillas en su huida
By, Dora Elena Cortes

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THE UPDATES:

- El Mex and Noticias Ensenada.net are both reporting a shooting today at El Faro Beach, Ensenada. One man opened fire and shot at least eight times at the El Faro Beach, Ensenada tourist office. El Faro is run by the Oscar Molina Mitchell family; one worker and the owner, Oscar Molina Mitchell were inside of the building at the time of the shooting, but were uninjured.

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- Also in Ensenada the Mexican Army seized 397 kilos of mota, two rifles and 229 rounds of ammo in a house in San Antonio Necuaj about 70K from Ensenada, east of Francisco Zarva. And in Tijuana, one package found inside of a vehicle with 500gr. of heroin and 2 pkgs. of cocaine:

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- Also in Ensenada at Playa Rincon in Punta Banda authorities seize 600 kilos of the "protected" red sea urchins arriving on that famous beach via several boats at night. Only one of the pirates/smugglers was arrested. Prior to this seizure at Playa Rincon on 10/24/11 1,300 kilos of red sea urchins seized and one person arrested;and on 10/11/2011 450 kilos of red sea urchins and 150 kilos of the "morado" or purple urchin seized and two people arrested. Boy, that is one busy place - for just about everything. Google in title if url doesn't come up, there is a video:

Sorprendidos en "la movida"

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- Back in Tijuana two bodies found inside of a house which were burned; this was in the private Cerezos development of Quinta del Cedro. Officials believe this was a double homicide:

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- Yesterday afternoon in colonia Camino Verde one man shot and killed inside of an internet-cafe:

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So, as you can see, so far after the arrest of El Sillas, it has been quiet as compared to years past, Rosarito Beach has been quiet and if you check the links, you can also see the many arrests made by the authorities. Well, except for this one:

- In the valley of Mexicali, rumors of "El Chupacabras" are circulating with eight sheep and 13 goats mutilated in a strange way. On last Saturday in the village between Toluca and Veracruz there were nine sheep and goats mutilated, three of those showed traces of fang marks in the neck and no blood. Then one hour later a similar incident in the town of Ciudad Guadalupe Victoria where four sheep and five goats were found with the same M.O. Authorities have warned people in the area to be on the lookout for wild animal or animals who are looking for food. Also, carry Holy Water and a Crucifix:

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Some good news...

- GPS tracking devices will be incorporated in the new Criminal Justice System:

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- In the Zona Central, Judicial agents launched an operation to curb the assaults and robberies of shops and pedestrians. Yesterday, eighty officers were on foot and forty units were active in the Zona Central to the Zona Norte. This is what CANACO wanted and this is what Chief Alberto Capella gave them. Good luck:

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- For good measure, here is a link you can subscribe to for free email updates:

The Pan-American Post

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Here are the links for all of the news:

Zeta Tijuana

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AFN

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FRONTERA

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EL MEXICANO

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Noticias Ensenada.net - Ensenada News

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Encuentro29.com - Mexicali News

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Mundo Narco

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LA TIMES

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Best coverage of organized crime in our hemisphere:

Insight Crime

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See you guys in a couple of days.

11/06 VIOLENCE TIJUANA LOST HORIZON SO WHERE IS SHANGRI-LA ER...AVALON? EL SILLAS ARRESTED !

2011-11-05T14:56:00.000-07:00

Friday at the line going into the States at the San Ysidro POE, there were no visible Police directing traffic, on the street corners or walking in between the lines of cars waiting to cross. Of course it was drizzling then, which turned into a downpour throughout the rest of the day - we got 1 + 1/2 inches here, and more rain is on the way. Saturday afternoon Rosarito Beach was very busy with the Mexican people shopping, many people buying propane for their heaters and three patrol cars spotted at various points throughout town. There was one group of gringos at Zeta propane, four guys and one gal, but no other gringos spotted.

So despite the recent executions in Rosarito Beach, people are still coming out and buying groceries and doing what they need to do in town. I need to mention though that there was another execution in Rosarito Beach which I only found out about because I picked up the recent edition of Zeta Magazine - and this was not reported in any of the Mexican new sources I read. This edition of Zeta should be on line this coming Tuesday.

Zeta Magazine
Los Culpables
Homicidios de la semana, pagina 17-a

- On November the 2nd Alfredo Alba, a 28 year old taxi driver was shot and killed while he was inside of his cab, there have been no arrests. The exact location of this killing was not provided. That will make six executions in the past two weeks in Rosarito Beach.

- Another incident not reported in the local news happened in Mexicali: On November the 1st, a shoot out in the hotel zone inside of the "El Cotorro" bar leaves three people dead, two of those were patrons, one was an employee. Since Mexicali is a virtual hot spot, I'm going to add a link for you guys to browse on what is going on in this area.

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We are entering the "most wonderful time of the year" with Christmas music being played over the intercoms with gusto trying to drown out the woes of the consumers up in the States, down here front page this morning on Frontera an article reporting that 65% of Mexican territory is classified as unsafe for travel by the governments of Australia (where El Chapo controls the drug trade), USA (where El Chapo controls the drug trade), France, Italy ( where El Chapo has set up shop), UK, Spain and Germany (they say he's there too) due to the violence associated with the narco and/or organized crime.

The hazardous to your health areas are Chihuahua, Nuevo Leon, Tamaulipas, Baja California, Sonora, Coahuila, Sinaloa, Durango, Michoacan and Guerrero. All total, that make twenty one entities including the Federal district which qualify for the places to avoid.

In 2011 there have been twelve travel alerts worldwide concerning the risks of traveling to parts of Mexico. But the Ministry of Tourism and Foreign Affairs of Mexico does not agree at all with this assessment of danger zones nor do they agree with the methodology used to categorize these areas as hazardous. What Gloria Guevara, the head of Mexican Tourism wants is for a standard to be developed so that touristas are not confused and she disputes the characteristics which designate so many areas as hazardous. According to Guevara, the problems of violence are only concentrated in eighty municipalities throughout Mexico. Some governors of Mexico are pressuring the SRE to "work with their counterparts" abroad to persuade them to eliminate these travel warnings:

Alertan de peligro en 65% del pais

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I'm not sure what a "standard" would be - what does that mean - places where huge mass graves are not discovered of migrants, places where US gangs have not been imported to act as assassins, places where say there have been less than six executions in two weeks, places where there is no extortion and kidnappings, places where authorities are not being killed at random, places where there for sure are no arsenals, meth labs or packing houses for dope, places where there is no active transporting of women and children for the sex industry, highways where there are no dead bodies dumped, places where ordinary hard working Mexicans are not terrorized by crime, places where there are good opportunities for everyone where everyone has a good job and education and hope for the future? Where is that place, I want to go there.

The Updates - raining but the electricity is still on...

- Two events which are intertwined, one leading to the next: Late Friday afternoon a man and a woman aboard a PT Cruiser on Blvd. Insurgentes in Cerro Colorado attacked by gunmen in a grey Silverado pickup truck. Dozens of shells were left at the scene from different calibers including "cop killers." The man and woman were seriously injured and AFN has reported their identities today. These are
the right hand man of "El Abulon" known as "El Marquitas" and his girlfriend, "Farah". El Abulon worked for Fernando Arellano;but more importantly, El Marquitas at one time worked for "El Sillas" and it was the El Marquita's group of people who were involved in the kidnapping of El Mayo Zambada's family members in October of 2010, those women were rescued and four members of the El Marquita's group were arrested. According to later reports, this kidnapping was never sanctioned by the CAF.

Later the same evening, the Mexican Army and Municipal Police arrested Juan Francisco Sillas Rochas, aka "El Sillas", one of the top operators of the CAF under Sanchez Arellano who answered directly to Sanchez Arellano. According to AFN, the arrest was based on research involving the weapon used against the couple - we are assuming this means ballistic tests. El Sillas is described as "a big fish" in the CAF and "very dangerous" involved in kidnappings, drug trafficking, settling scores and coordinated the transfer of drugs for the CAF plus in charge of the "cobro de piso" - or the fees for operation in Tijuana and other Municipalities. In other words, El Sillas probably knew everyone who is anyone in the drug trafficking hierarchies on all sides.

Going back even further to 2008, it was El Sillas who battled the breakaway El Teo cell in our area - El Teo of course the renegade from the CAF who switched sides and aligned himself with the Sinaloa cartel. Prior to 2008, El Sillas actually worked under El Teo. According to Frontera, El Sillas held old grudges against cells belonging to the Sinaloa cartel. Reading the comments under all of the news reports, some people think we are going into a repeat pattern of 2008, with a huge battle brewing between the CAF and the Sinaloa cartels, members switching sides and positioning themselves. But with the arrest of El Sillas, unless he has a strong heir apparent it is difficult to say with certainty that the blood letting will begin anew. People are also commenting that Chief Leyzaola needs to return to Tijuana. Some news agencies in Mexico are describing El Sillas as a Sinaloa cartel operator, which I think is incorrect.

This afternoon at about 4PM, AFN has reported that El Sillas was transferred under tight security to Mexico City along with five other people who were arrested with him. After these arrests on Friday, Tijuana Municipal Police have modified their surveillance tactics, they are now moving in groups of patrols of two to three units throughout the city. More details as they become available.

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- Also on Friday, all agencies reporting that a man was thrown from a vehicle on to Blvd. 2000 with his head covered to his neck in tape, his hands and feet bound. El Mex states this was after thirty tortuous hours of anguish and the fear of being killed after he was kidnapped, chased down by armed men in three vehicles in colonia Pipila. Turns out the kidnappers grabbed the wrong guy - they were looking for the son of the victim's employer who owns a bus company in Tijuana:

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- Friday was a busy day, more events leave one dead and two more injured by gunfire:

- At 1:40pm in El Flordio, one man shot on the street, not a lot of input from the witnesses. No arrests yet.

- Five minutes later at 1:45pm at the Plaza El Tigre in Mariano Matamoros two men wounded by gunfire by two other men who had been asked to leave the "La Botano" bar. They left, but returned with weapons and opened fire on one of the patrons and a security guard. No arrests yet.

Matan a 1 y lesionan a 4 en 3 hechos

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- In colonia Lomas Mision of Playas de Tijuana, one man killed by a group of four people, beaten to death. Witnesses state the group of people beat the man repeatedly with rocks and pieces of wood. The four people tried to escape, but Municipal Police were able to arrest them. One of those arrested who was involved in this killing was a minor, aged 16 years old.

Muere hombre a golpes en Playas de Tijuana

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That's it for now.

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Here are the links for all of the local news:

ZETA TIJUANA

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AFN

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FRONTERA

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EL MEXICANO

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Noticias Ensenada.net

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Encuento29.com - Mexicali News

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Mundo Narco - Formerly Blog del Narco

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LA Times

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Best coverage of organized crime in our hemisphere:

Insight Crime

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~

11/03 VIOLENCE TIJUANA BOMB THREAT MEXICALI-CALEXICO POE CRIME STATS FOR ENSENADA

2011-11-03T08:40:00.000-07:00

As promised an update on Tijuana Municipal Police activity at the San Ysidro POE: Last two mornings from 4:30 am - 5:40 am no visible police on the street corners or walking between vehicles waiting in line. Two police directing traffic at the Smart and Final this morning, the wait was backed up this morning for two and a half hours. DHS/USBP are being closed-mouthed regarding the bomb threat(s) at the Calexico POE, it is unclear if the long wait times at San Ysidro are a reaction to this threat(s). Following are links from the Mexican news, the Imperial Valley Press, an older report on bomb threats from MSNBC and finally a synopsis from Stratfor on bomb threats in Mexico published last April.

- El Mex is reporting the United States authorities received a terrorist threat Tuesday that a bomb would explode at the Mexicali "Centre Garita"/POE. El Mex reports the threat was made in retaliation for the U.S. Government's involvement against drug trafficking, money laundering and attempts to halt the flow of weapons into Mexico.

Unofficial sources informed the press they were told that the bomb would be left on Avenida Colon (see map above). The threat was taken seriously by both the US and Mexican authorities who deployed operational reviews of the area which included the placement of snipers on both sides of the border atop buildings in Mexicali and Calexico. This report states the port was closed for nearly one and a half hours, the OEM report states the port was closed twenty minutes. The preventative actions continued into Wednesday with revisions of vehicles by US authorities being conducted 25 meters beyond where normal reviews take place.

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- This morning the Imperial Valley Press reported that US authorities are stepping up their presence at both of the Calexico POE's following this threat or threats. This article (in English) is non-specific as to exactly when the threat or threats were made, but it or they were made in the past few days. This article is also non-specific regarding the closure of the Mexicali-Calexico POE on the day of the threat or the placement of snipers atop buildings on both sides of the border. DHS/USBP are remaining close mouthed on this situation, we are only receiving unofficial information nothing official yet: (link takes a little bit of time coming up)

Authorities Step Up Presence At Ports Of Entry Following Threat

(As a note, click on the USBP link in this article and checkout all of the heroin and cocaine and other dope being seized in Calexico coming from Mexicali, unbelievable.)

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- From July 15, 2011 this report from MSNBC regarding bomb threats at POE's:

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- From April 13, 2011 this Stratfor report, a synopsis on bomb threats in Mexico:

Perceived Car Bomb Threats

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The Updates which of course do not include all of the arrests:

- Some stats from Instituto Nacional de Estadistica, Geografia e Informatica (INEGI) - these are for Baja California:

- In Baja California violent assaults account for the deaths of 49.7 % of young
men between the ages of 15-29 years old.

- 5.6% of this same age group of young men are killed in traffic accidents.

- HIV kills 3.1% of this group of young men.

- In Baja California violent assaults account for the deaths of 21.3% of young
women between the ages of 15 to 29 years old.

- 7 % of this same age group of young women are kiulled in traffic accidents.

- HIV kills 5.1% of this group of young women. Google in title if link doesn't come up:

Mueren 49.7% de jovenes en Baja California por agresiones - Frontera

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- You can find all the stats here:

INEGI

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- Speaking of stats, here are the SSPE's crime stats for Ensenada from January to September of this year, with Maneadero taking the lead. Google in title if link doesn't come up.

Informan cifras de delitos locales - El Vigia de Ensenada

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The executions continue in Tijuana, Mexicali and Ensenada - Rosarito Beach has been quiet:

- Monday afternoon, in the private neighborhood of Padre Hidalgo of colonia La Jolla, one man found executed inside of his vehicle:

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- In the Los Cumbres neighborhood of Playas de Tijuana Monday evening at 8:30pm, a 14 year old boy walking on Cerro de la Jolla and Cerro de la Silla streets is wounded by gunfire, shot in his chest by two men wearing masks. there has been no update on the boy's condition and so far, no arrests:

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- Tuesday afternoon in Mexicali, Ernesto Flores Gallego, the Deputy of the High Court of the State (TSJE) got up from the table having dinner with his family to answer a knock on the door. Gunmen shot him, mistaking him for attorney Ciprano Cabrera who was the previous owner of the Flores Galleo's home. His condition is serious but stable, the vehicle used by the gunmen was located, but no arrests so far:

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- Tuesday evening in the canyon Santa Rosa of colonia Manuel Paredes (Playas de Tijuana) one man attacked and shot. He later dies at the Hospital:

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- Yesterday, another executed body was found on the road to La Encanta, Ensenada. the victim was handcuffed and burned and has been identified as Esiah Real Jesus Bernal. Noticias Ensenada.net points out there have been several executed bodies
dumped at this site:

- 10/24/11: Body of a man who was maimed and skinned, not identified.

- 09/17/11: Body of a woman found, advanced state of decomposition.

- 08/09/11: Body of Raul Garcia Gomez found, executed.

- 08/14/11: In the same vicinity, body of a 73 year old man found, motive
believed to be robbery.

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- On Wednesday, General Briseno Gilberto Landeros announced the Mexican Army's seizure of SIX tons of mota in the private Las Palmas neighborhood of colonia Jardines de la Mesa. In addition, six people were arrested. Also seized were one submachine gun, one handgun, 2 mags, 42 cartridges and 3 vehicles:

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- Arrest of importance by agents of the PGJE; this was Juan Manuel Leon Rodriquez aka "El Sica" a dangerous criminal who worked for "El Lic" who received his orders from Sanchez Arellano. El Sica has been linked to violent robberies and murders and served in the position of a 'pointer - point man - hawk- look out guy' who would stand guard and alert assassins if the police were nearby.

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- Finally tomorrow is D-Day, November the 5th, the day that Anonymous is supposed to take on Los Zetas - the whole world will be watching, or maybe we should call it Z-Day ?

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I guess we'll find out manana.

Here are the links for all of the news:

Zeta Tijuana

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AFN

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FRONTERA

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EL MEXICANO

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NOTICIAS ENSENADA.NET

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Mundo Narco - formerly Blog del Narco

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LA Times

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Best coverage of organized crime in our hemisphere:

Insight Crime

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See you guys later.

11/01 VIOLENCE TIJUANA MORE EXECUTIONS IN ROSARITO BEACH SHOOT OUT IN TIJUANA PROBLEMAS EN ZONA CENTRAL

2011-11-01T13:06:00.000-07:00

POPOTLA, ROSARITO BEACH YESTERDAY TWO MORE EXECUTIONS (courtesy El Mex):

Unofficially authorities say this shoot out in Tijuana this morning was in retribution for the 4 Rosarito Beach executions (courtesy AFN):

Yesterday morning waiting in the line to cross at the San Ysidro POE, we saw two police officers wearing bullet proof vests walking in between the cars which were waiting to cross, so this should be comforting news to those of you who are concerned about armed robberies while waiting in line. We had to take neighbors up to the doctors and will have to go back up towards the end of the week, so I'll keep you guys posted on that situation.

It looks as though the Stratfor prediction about violence in our area increasing with CAF forces fighting Sinaloa forces over control of the plazas might be coming true (two blogs ago), which is bad news all around. Of course we all hope this is not the case, everyone is war weary here, just fed up including me. If you have been reading the links and the police reports, you can clearly see the corporations are just running full time arresting people, and I've pointed out before that this is an entirely different situation from what we experienced four, five and six years ago. But if we believe the latest Zeta report (last blog) that the corporations have been infiltrated by the Sinaloa cartel it is unclear if the forces will be viewed in the near future as the men on the white horses. Let's take a look:

- On Monday, another attack in broad daylight in Popotla, Rosarito Beach leaves two men dead. This attack happened on the roadside across the street from the curio shops when a parked van with two men inside was approached by a black Jeep Cherokee, gunmen open fire on the van killing the two occupants, Omar Cortes and Richard Berg (it is unclear if Berg was a US citizen; you might recall last year in July of 2010, there was a Richard Berg Pontious American citizen executed at La Barca Rosarito Beach who had a long history of criminal activity including human smuggling). This attack makes four dead in the same area in 24 hours. And counting the execution of the American Moses Gwendal Sewell III 10/26, it makes five executions in Rosarito Beach in five days. In the first attack on Sunday by the Film Studios, one man was killed, the other died in the hospital. Authorities are linking the person responsible for the first attack as Jose Francisco Villa Padilla aka "El Villa" who used to work for El Guicho of the Sinaloa cartel. Remember on those Frontera links, if link doesn't come up google in the title:

Vive Popotla jornada violenta, matan a 4

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- AFN reports this morning a combined operation of Municipal Police, the PEP and the PEP's helicopter in the El Tecolote neighborhood which affected several colonias including Parque Industrial Pacifico and Canada Verde after a shoot out and attempting kidnapping. Initial reports are that armed men attempted to kidnap one person, this resulted in one person seriously injured and the intervention of the two corporations. Police did arrest four men and have released the identities of three of them. Unofficially authorities stated to the press that they believe this shoot out and attempted kidnapping had to do with retribution for the four recent executions in Rosarito Beach. Officials also said that the four people who were executed in Rosarito Beach worked for "El Ranas":

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- Another shoot out, this one in Ojos Negros, Ensenada where officers exchange gunfire with one man and are able to disarm and arrest him. When he was being booked, he threatened the officers with death - so we're not sure if this was just him being macho or if in fact he works for one of the cartels and this is something the cartel guys are talking about lately:

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- El Mex reporting a woman and shot and stabbed by two men in her home in Ejido Maclovio Rojas on Sunday - this was a robbery, she survived, no arrests so far:

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- Another violent robbery, this one was in colonia Paseo del Guaycura of Cerro Colorado of another woman robbed at gunpoint by two men. The vehicle used by the attackers abandoned, no arrests yet:

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- All agencies reporting yesterday in Ejido Lazaro Cardenas a body found inside of a car, shot several times:

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- We are back to people attempting to steal ATM machines, except in this case Municipal Police arrest three men; two of them in the act who had been hired by the third man who was also arrested:

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- Let's circle back to the Zona Central where all agencies are reporting that business owners are living in terror of attempted kidnapping, extortion and robberies by gangs. They are blaming the rise in crime on the lack of supervision by Police in the Zona Central.

Karim Chalta Rodriquez, President of CANACO and Guillermo Orozco Diaz, President of the Zona Central Association of Merchants have asked Chief Alberto Capella Ibarra for a special meeting to address this wave of attacks against business people, bystanders and tourists in the Zona Central.

According to Chalta Rodriquez, three attacks happened on last Sunday within an hour and feels that the gangs are better organized than the Municipal Police. He went on to say that the attacks occur during the day and the night and feels that since crime prevention has been relaxed the crooks are taking advantage of the situation and that business people or anyone who passes through the Zona Central is at the mercy of the underworld. Orozco Diaz added that business people are not only fearful of being kidnapped or extorted, they are also afraid to denounce the criminals to the authorities.

Just a note that this morning, traffic was backed up to the Cathedral and there were two cops on each corner - how long they stuck around I don't know:

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- A disturbing report from Elizabeth Vargas that two women have filed complaints against the Army for rape. Both women live in Ensenada, both were arrested for drug trafficking, both say they have been threatened if they talk, and according to this report, both incidents occurred this year. Ensenada.net reports that it is unclear if the military personnel involved in these cases are still active Military:

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Today, Ensenada.net ran another article on this story with taped testimony of one of these women, however the tape has been removed.

UPDATE/EDIT 11/02: THE TAPE IS BACK UP:

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- SEDENA reports in colonia Nacozari of Mexicali, 26+ kilos of cocaine and one vehicle seized last weekend on 10/29:

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- Here's a weird one: Neighbors report that crossing back into Mexico late this afternoon the traffic was backed up and slow due to what they say were about thirty tour buses, all different companies both Mexican and American crossing the border. The buses appeared to have few people aboard, they were not packed at all. Finally when my neighbors came to the first toll booth, one of the buses which had pulled over, was being escorted by six Municipal Police units down the Scenic Highway. (?)

Here are the links for all of the local news:

ZETA TIJUANA

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AFN

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FRONTERA

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EL MEXICANO

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BLOG DEL NARCO - WHICH HAS BEEN RENAMED MUNDO NARCO - YOU HAVE TO BE OVER 18 TO VIEW

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LA Times

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Best coverage of organized crime in our hemisphere:

Insight Crime

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See you guys later.

10/30 VIOLENCE TIJUANA YOU OUGHTA BE IN PICTURES..ACCORDING TO ZETA MAN SHOT IN ROSARITO ON 10/26 WAS AN AMERICAN.

2011-10-30T21:43:00.000-07:00

Both Frontera and AFN covered the remarks of Jorge Hank Rohn during the halftime of the Xolos game this afternoon and on Facebook. In response to the question, "Do you want to be in pictures?" - sorry, the question was "Do you want to be the Governor?" Jorge Hank answered, "I am a soldier of my party, when they call me... I'll be there." Then, more directly, "Yes, I want to be Governor", and again, "I, Jorge Hank want to be Governor."

And regardless of who wins the 2012 Presidential race, Jorge Hank's hat will still be in the ring. The Hankistas are already savoring victory, the predominate feeling amongst them is that they do not want the Mexican Army in the streets of Tijuana, or anywhere for that matter. Does this mean Zeta Magazine will have to move back to San Diego for the second time? This should be interesting.

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A few updates:

- This afternoon an armed attack in Rosarito Beach on Popotla Boulevard by the Film Studios; a group of gunmen open fire on another vehicle, killing one man and leaving the other seriously injured, shot in the head. According to AFN the injured man, Hector Manuel Garcia Urrea is believed to have been involved in seven murders including the killing of the Rosarito Beach Municipal Police Commander Carlos Venture last March in Primo Tapia.

Drugs (crystal) were found in the executed man's sock; both men have been tied to retail drug sales. The shooters fled, although this report does not say in which direction:

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- In colonia Plan de Iguala today, a couple's car was blocked and forced to stop, two men approached their vehicle, opened fire on them shooting the man in his legs and robbing them of 8K pesos, 2 cell phone and several credit cards. Police found the vehicle the assailants used in Los Pinos, but no arrests have been made:

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- In Mexicali this afternoon one man killed killed on Blvd. Venustiano Carranzo; this report states that several other men chased and attacked him in a robbery.

Also, a late report from Friday; an employee of the Riviera Exchange Center leaving work was attacked by armed people aboard a van, he was shot twice, but survived:

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- Zeta reports irregularities and impunity within government agencies, with the Sinaloa cartel gaining a powerful foothold and expanding in Baja California. I will highlight the important parts of the article, take the time to read the article in it's entirety. According to Zeta, the Sinaloa cartel has bought off authorities on all levels of government, and includes the Military checkpoints of Baja California.

The recent murders in Tijuana, Mexicali, Tecate and Rosarito Beach reek of the Sinaloa cartel's presence. On the coastal zone, these murders are related to conflicts between Melvin Guiterrez criminal groups vs. "Los Teos" and then "Los Litos" against the Arellano Felix cartel (CAF). As far as the Mexicali killings, these are believed to be internal purges. Moreover, Zeta puts the homicide number at 540 dead in less that 10 months in the State of Baja California, a number we don't usually see - instead, we see the city numbers.

Zeta questions why it is that Sinaloa cartel members families are known to be living in some of the wealthier neighborhoods of Monte Carlo and San Pedro of Mexicali, and yet nothing is done. According to Zeta, authorities are aware of their presence and false paperwork, yet no agencies have moved against these people.

Specifically, Zeta holds the Sinaloa cartel responsible for the killing in Tijuana of former Ministerial agent Morfin Jose Amador Ortiz, Martha Fernandez the real estate agent of Mexicali who is believed to have been a Mexican Army informant and the grizzly murder on 10/24 on the road to La Encanta, Ensenada.

According to Zeta, Tijuana Municipal Police have received reports that Army checkpoints in Rosarito Beach and Ensenada are allowing trucks loaded with dope through. Apparently these reports contain specific car information, hours, days and even the personnel involved - yet despite the reports, no action is being taken. In addition, the State has received reports that some Military task forces are actually keeping, or holding back dope which has been seized. General Mujica, for his part, denies these charges.

There are more charges, these against "Hurtado" recently appointed by Chief Alberto Capella for protecting areas - or declaring them off limits (i.e. 5y10)for police intervention because these areas belong to the Sinaloa cartel. Zeta also implicates Hurtado along with politicos for protecting and releasing (or at least looking the other way) a former Municipal Police Officer who was believed to be involved in kidnapping, murder and dope going back to 2000 and arrested by the PEP in 2009.

As far as the assassination of PEP Agent Carlos Hernandez Garcia on 10/25 in Ensenada, officially it has not been linked as a retributive act for the seizure of the 1.7 tons of dope in Cantu last week, but according to Zeta, the shooting has been described by the investigating officers as "illogical, bizarre and suspicious." Said one investigating officer: "It's difficult to believe that a kid would go up against a PEP Agent in front of his armed companions and then flee on foot." Further, the suspect in custody tested negative for gunpowder, positive for marijuana, has no State criminal record and so far no criminal record on a national level. Currently there is an internal investigation underway because of the unusual circumstances surrounding this case - for example, why didn't the other two PEP officers who were not inside of the unit, but outside open fire on the suspect when he was only two feet away from them.

But here is information which we did not receive from either the Mexican or US Press - the man shot inside of his BMW in Rosarito Beach last Wednesday was an American. His name was Moses Gwendal Sewell III. If you remember the reports we received here, they stated that the shooter was captured. However, Zeta states that early inquiries of the person arrested was that he was actually a passenger in Sewell's vehicle, not the shooter. The arrested suspect admitted he was a drug retailer, that he was going to buy mota and cocaine from Sewell, and that Sewell had told him that he had problems with people in Tijuana regarding drug sales and money disputes. Additionally, the tests for gunpowder on the suspect's clothes and skin came back negative. The ballistic tests have linked the weapon used in this murder to four other killings, all having a connection to drug distribution in North and Central Tijuana, and all connected to "Los Litos", the Sinaloa cell dedicated to eradicating the CAF. This report, along with the Agent killed in Ensenada from Zeta leads us to wonder if perhaps they "...rounded up the usual suspects."

A doozie of a report:

Ejecuciones de Sinaloa en BC

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Here's a thought, does anyone out there think that maybe as Zeta states drugs are knowingly being allowed to pass through the Military checkpoints that maybe, maybe this is being done intentionally in order for the authorities to follow the drugs and lead them them to important cell groups, safe houses, cell leaders and maybe also be able to seize weapons at these points? Or perhaps maybe if drugs are being allowed to pass through the Military checkpoints as Zeta states, it could be with the intention of giving the drug guys a false sense of security, exposing themselves, letting their guard down or letting the drugs build up in one or more places, then swooping in on them?

See you guys in a couple of days, have Happy Hauntings, oh almost forgot....

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Here are the links:

ZETA TIJUANA

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AFN

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FRONTERA

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EL MEXICANO

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Noticias Ensenada.Net

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Blog del Narco

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LA Times

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Best coverage of organized crime in our Hemisphere:

Insight Crime

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