Saturday, March 13, 2010

Wilderness On The Border? 12 Articles On Border Violence

Go here to see my previous posts on this issue.

Please keep in mind what I previously wrote:

All of this violence is to control routes into the U.S. for human and drug trafficking. So as you read these posts ask yourself: Why would anyone deem it in the public interest to designate Wilderness in close proximity to our southern border? Why limit the use of motorized vehicles and mechanical equipment by federal, state and local law enforcement on over 400 square miles of southern NM?

This series is followed by two additional posts: One about Salazar visiting a wilderness area thoroughly destroyed by illegal trafficking and the other is two video reports where you can actually hear the 911 calls from our citizens on a violent event and the other where you can hear the officers on our side of the border reporting on the event.

It's really a shame I'm having to post about this at all.

Mexican military copter over U.S. neighborhood The Zapata County sheriff Thursday was questioning why a Mexican military helicopter was hovering over homes on the Texas side of the Rio Grande. It was one of the more jarring incidents of the fourth week of border tensions sparked by drug killings, and rumors of such killings, in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez said he'd reviewed photos of the chopper flown by armed personnel Tuesday over a residential area known as Falcon Heights-Falcon Village near the binational Falcon Lake, just south of the Starr-Zapata county line. He said the helicopter appeared to have the insignia of the Mexican navy. “It's always been said that the Mexican military does in fact ... that there have been incursions,” Gonzalez said. “But this is not New Mexico or Arizona. Here we've got a river; there's a boundary line. And then of course having Falcon Lake, Falcon Dam, it's a lot wider. It's not just a trickle of a river, it's an actual dam. You know where the boundary's at.” The sighting came amid ongoing fighting between the Gulf Cartel and its former enforcers, Los Zetas. The mounting death toll and crisis of fear in cities across from the Texas border have drawn global attention, as has a news blackout in affected cities due to the kidnappings of eight Mexican journalists, at least one of whom was killed...

Perry: State Looking Into Mexican Border Incursion Gov. Rick Perry said Friday state and federal authorities are trying to get answers about the Mexican military helicopter that crossed the Texas-Mexico border late Wednesday afternoon. U.S. Customs and Border Protection confirmed that a Mexican military helicopter crossed the border near Falcon Dam in Zapata County before returning to Mexico without landing. The Mexican army and navy are both involved in anti-drug trafficking operations in Mexican border cities. In a prepared statement Friday, Perry called for better communication between U.S. and Mexican authorities along the border. “As violence escalates in Mexican border cities, it’s critically important for Texas, U.S. and Mexican law enforcement to communicate and appropriately coordinate our efforts to combat border crime and protect legitimate cross-border trade and travel,” Perry said...

Photos released of Mexican helicopter flying over Falcon HeightsAuthorities have released photos showing a Mexican military helicopter flying on the American side of the border. Zapata County Sheriff Sigifredo “Sigi” Gonzalez said the photos and eyewitness accounts prove helicopter flew unauthorized into American airspace on Tuesday evening. The alleged incursion happened near Falcon Dam in the rural community of Falcon Heights. Witnesses said the chopper had the Mexican navy logo, armed men inside and the cargo ramp down. The chopper reportedly spent at least 15 minutes in the area before crossing back into Mexico.

Mexican Helicopter Flies over S. Texas - US gave permission A Mexican military helicopter which flew low over rural south Texas earlier this week, alarming residents, had permission to be in US air space, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials said today. The military helicopter, clearly marked with the insignia of the Mexican Navy, flew over Zapata County Texas Wednesday afternoon, alarming residents and lighting up the switchboard at local law enforcement offices. With the uptick in drug related violence in northern Mexico, and the alleged involvement of Mexican military personnel in some of that drug activity, the appearance of Mexican military aircraft over the U.S. prompts fears. "We were aware of it," Dovalina said of the Mexican helicopter's flight near Falcon Lake. "They notified the liaison between their government and our government, we gave them permission to cross over."...

Shooting linked to smuggling ring, police say A man shot multiple times Thursday evening at a Moreno Valley house where two others were killed may have been a victim of human smugglers' increasing violence against immigrants, authorities said Friday. The two shooting victims who died were found inside the house where police say undocumented immigrants were held while waiting for their families to pay for their release. The wounded man was able to escape and ran to a cell phone store nearly two miles away. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said they are seeing a preference among smugglers for holding immigrants in the Inland region rather Los Angeles. The officials say smugglers in general are becoming more violent and are demanding more money once the immigrants have been brought across the border...

U.S. kidnapping cases sheds light on roots of current Gulf-Zeta tensions Imurias Machado TreviƱo allegedly ran with a crew that kidnapped, beat and in at least one case killed drug dealers operating in Hidalgo County. Taking their orders from a top Zeta lieutenant, the group has been linked to seven abductions between August and October 2008, a stockpile of weapons found in Mission and a broad-daylight shootout in a San Juan medical plaza — all part of a campaign to expand the drug trafficking organization’s reach into South Texas...

Kidnapped, smuggled and worse The smuggler threatened to kill 4-year-old Nayli if he didn't receive $11,500 from her parents — immediately. He had sneaked the girl across the Mexican border nearly a month earlier and now was holding her for ransom somewhere near Los Angeles. "Mommy, I don't want to be here anymore," Nayli said through tears when the smuggler put her on the phone. Though Nayli's young age makes her case unique, kidnapping illegal immigrants for ransom is common as they cross the border into Southern California — a harrowing testament to the violent nature of smuggling rings. Smugglers make deals and break them. They hold men, women and children in locked stash houses, while using violence and threats to extort money from their relatives. The kidnapped immigrants have been beaten, starved, raped, even killed, said Miguel Unzueta, who oversees the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Los Angeles. Independent coyotes still operate all along the border, but law enforcement officers say highly sophisticated criminal networks and drug-trafficking cartels have taken over much of the trade...

Six Slain at Wake in Border City Six people were killed and five others were wounded here when gunmen opened fire at the wake for a young man killed three days ago in this northern border city, sources in the Chihuahua state Attorney General’s Office said Friday. The attack occurred shortly after 9:00 p.m. Thursday at a home in southeastern Ciudad Juarez. At the time of the attack, a group of family and friends were paying their final respects to Aaron Alberto Flores, who was killed March 9 while sitting in his vehicle outside a 24-hour convenience store. Authorities have not yet identified the six victims. In statements to Efe, the family members said several gunmen got out of two vehicles and entered the room where the minor’s remains were on view. The assailants fired at the people attending the wake, killing five men and a woman and wounding five others...

Mexico drug cartel uses rogue reporters to intimidate media A powerful drug cartel is buying off journalists in northern Mexico to work as spies and smother coverage of a spike in killings on the U.S. border in the latest attack on the media in Mexico. Hitmen from the Gulf cartel based over the border from Texas are paying reporters around $500 a month and showering them with liquor and prostitutes to intimidate and silence colleagues at radio stations and newspapers in towns near the Laredo-Brownsville area, journalists and editors say. A turf war that has erupted over the past three weeks around the manufacturing city of Reynosa has gone almost completely unreported despite more than 100 deaths, in a news blackout made more notable by the intense media coverage of other drug war flashpoints around the country. "Our newsrooms have been infiltrated by these reporters, they monitor what we write, they know where we live. With this system, the narcos have direct control over us," said a local newspaper editor who declined to be named for safety...

US-born capo, drug lord's brother fight for cartel Authorities say a U.S.-born hitman is fighting the brother of a deceased drug lord for control of the Beltran-Leyva cartel, marking what may be the first time an American has risen to the very top ranks of Mexican gangs. Ramon Pequeno, head of the anti-narcotics division of Mexico's federal police, said Tuesday that Texas-born Edgar Valdez Villarreal, nicknamed "La Barbie," is battling Hector Beltran Leyva for control of the Beltran Leyva cartel. Valdez Villarreal was born in the border city of Laredo, Texas, and has built a reputation as one of the most brutal enforcers employed by Mexican drug gangs. Late last week, the U.S. consulate in the northern city of Monterrey warned Americans to avoid traveling by road between Monterrey and the border cities of Nuevo Laredo and Reynosa, citing a "heightened risk of violence" on those highways...

Red Cross is latest victim of Mexican drug war Red Cross clinics in some parts of Mexico are refusing to treat people wounded by gunshots after finding themselves caught in the drug war, with cartel hit men intercepting ambulances to seize patients and even killing a Red Cross worker this week. In drug-plagued Sinaloa state on the Pacific coast, police started escorting ambulances and guarding Red Cross clinics after a Red Cross dispatcher was killed Sunday in crossfire by assailants who followed a wounded man to a clinic to finish him off. Maria Genoveva Rogers is believed to be the first Red Cross worker killed since President Felipe Calderon launched his drug war in 2006...

Immigrants Returned Through Presidio to Avoid Violence Beginning today illegal immigrants who are eligible to voluntarily return to Mexico will now go through the Presidio port of entry, instead of El Paso. Border patrol officials hope to prevent the Mexican citizens from being subjected to the violence in Juarez and surrounding areas. Once a day, everyday of the week, a bus will travel from El Paso to Presidio to carry the Mexican citizens who have requested voluntary return to Mexico. Officials say this modified program began today and will continue indefinitely to help reduce the risk for Mexican nationals.

COMMENT: It's not safe enough to return the illegal immigrants but it is safe enough to create a 400 square mile zone where law enforcement may not enter?

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