Sinaloa Cartel Establishes Industrial Scale Meth Production in Guatemala

by Chivis for Borderland Beat It is evident that meth production has moved south.  South of Mexico that is, to Guatemala.  This week, in the pacific coast port of Lazaro Cardenas, Mexican authorities made a seizure of 120 metric tons of a precursor chemical needed to manufacture meth.  It was destined to Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala.  This brings...

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Six Gunmen Die in Clashes with Mexican Troops

Six gunmen thought to work for the Los Caballeros Templarios drug cartel were killed in two separate clashes with troops in the western state of Michoacan, Mexico’s defense department said. The first incident took place around midnight Wednesday, when an army patrol confronted armed men in the municipality of Buenavista Tomatlan, the stronghold of the Caballeros. Soldiers...

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Zetas Take Most Hits in 2011

The criminal organization of Los Zetas took the brunt of hits from the Mexican authorities in 2011 but have managed to remain in power in the gulf coast where they continue their wave of violence. Video (Spanish) of some of the blows to the structure:...

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As Homicide Rate Doubles; Costa Rica's Peaceful Reputation At Risk From Cartels

by Nick Miroff Costa Rica is Central America's most stable democracy, a peaceful country that abolished its army in 1948 and now draws nearly a million U.S. tourists a year to its national parks and beaches. But it's also right in the middle of the world's most lucrative cocaine trafficking corridor. As Mexican drug cartels push deeper into Central America, they've cast...

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Zetas Deny Murder of Americans in Veracruz

Source: US Open Borders The Zetas have placed a banner in Veracruz stating they are not responsible for the murders on passenger buses (which included 3 Americans). Attacks were carried out which resulted in at least 7 deaths among buses traveling through Veracruz State. The Zeta banner states the killings were from the hands of corrupt police officers. The Zetas have...

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Clashes with Mexican Military Leave 2,321 Dead

A total of 2,321 suspected criminals have died in clashes with army and air force personnel over the past five years, the Mexican Defense Secretariat said. Since President Felipe Calderon took office on Dec. 1, 2006, 356 people have been wounded and 41,023 others have been arrested in operations targeting drug cartels and other criminal organizations, the secretariat said. The...

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Ex-Police Chief Gets 10 Years for Helping Mexican Traffickers

A former Federal Police regional security coordinator has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for providing assistance to the Sinaloa drug cartel, the Mexican Attorney General’s Office said. Javier Herrera Valles was given the prison time, a fine and banned from holding any public office by a court in the state of Nayarit, the AG’s office said. Herrera Valles provided...

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"El Mil Amores" Arrested in Violent Ciudad Juarez

A suspected leader of the La Linea gang was arrested by municipal police in Ciudad Juarez, a border city in northern Mexico, city spokesman Manuel del Castillo said. Julio Cesar Perez allegedly planned kidnappings, ran extortion rackets and ordered hits in Ciudad Juarez by members of La Linea, a gang that is considered the armed wing of the Juarez drug cartel, Del Castillo...

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Sinaloa Cartel Member Wanted by U.S. Arrested in Mexico City

A Sinaloa cartel member who was the subject of a $5 million reward being offered by the United States was arrested at the Mexico City international airport, the Public Safety Secretariat said Wednesday. Luis Rodriguez Olivera,  El Güero, was detained Tuesday after he was spotted by a group of Federal Police officers, the secretariat said. The 39-year-old suspect...

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CDG Responds to Christmas Message by "La Ultima Letra"

 This is a video by Gulf Cartel (CDG) responding to a Christmas message from a video by Los Zetas where they executed three Golfos. CDG denies any attempt against any government officials or any government agency, but are merely targeting Zetas. They say they do not target innocent people, but Zetas. They also blamed a municipal police commander Ramon Rodriguez Rivera of Jerez of capturing a family and turning them over...

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Little Mike Gives Details of the Horror, As a Complicated Family Dynamic Unfolds

by Chivis for Borderland Beat  "Dear Wonderful Daddy, I know we will make it there and back safely". Those were the words of 13 year old Cristina Hartsell, in a letter she wrote to her father before her ill-fated trip to Mexico.  Her father, Mike Hartsell Sr. was very concerned for their safety and had begged them not to go. Left to right:Cristina, Angie and...

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2 Men, One U.S. Teenager Found Dead

From the archives: By Mark Stevenson Huff Post In this photo taken Dec. 24, 2011, a burned out vehicle stands by the of a road near the town of Ixtlan de los Hervores, state of Michoacan, western Mexico. The body of a U.S. teenager was found in the trunk of a burned-out car in western Mexico along with the bodies of two other youths, prosecutors said Tuesday. An employee...

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Mexico Uncovers Drug Lab in Sinaloa

An army raid on a ranch in Mexico's Sinaloa state busts a crystal meth drug laboratory in the latest blow to the country's powerful cartels. Source: Reuters...

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Intelligence Compromised in Stratfor Attack

On December 24th hacker collective Anonymous stole credit card info and other sensitive data from U.S. security firm Stratfor. Anonymous claims it obtained personal information about the company's high-profile clients as well as thousands of credit card numbers, which were then used to make donations to charities like Save the Children and the Red Cross. It is noted...

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Aftershock Video of the Veracruz Bus Attack

By Chivis Note: "Seeing the baby is something I wish I had not seen and may not be something easily tolerated by some folks..." Paz, Chivis A toll of 16 people left for dead by sicarios in the north of the Mexican state of Veracruz.  The attacks occurred near the border of Tamaulipas in the municipalities of Pánuco and Tantoyuca.   "It is presumed that buses were intercepted at dawn at different times," said the spokesman of the Government...

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Felipe Cabrera Falls, Personal Bodyguard of “El Chapo” Guzmán

Mexican Army arrest "El Inge," lieutenant of the Pacific Drug Cartel Members of the Mexican Army (SEDENA) arrest Felipe Cabrera Sarabia (aka) "El Inge" as a result of a military intelligence operation in Culiacan. Mexico City, Mexico. 26th December 2011. The Mexican army says it has dealt a significant blow to the powerful Sinaloa drug cartel with the arrest of the cartel...

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A Crime Fighter Draws Plaudits and Scrutiny

By Damien Cave The New York Times "You can't apply a strategy from a desk. You have to apply it in the street." - Julián Leyzaola, Chief of Police in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. JUST a few days into his new job as the police chief here in Mexico’s longtime murder capital, Julián Leyzaola said, he received a phone call from the boss of a crime syndicate named La Linea. Mr. Leyzaola...

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Cartel Bosses Arrested in 2011

 Despite the unstoppable wave of violence, Mexico made some key arrests of Mexican cartel bosses in 2011....

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Three Die in Shootouts in Coahuila

A series of shootouts between suspected gunmen and police in Saltillo, the capital of the northern Mexican state of Coahuila, left three people dead and a fourth person wounded, prosecutors said Sunday. “The State Attorney General’s Office reports that in the city of Saltillo, Coahuila, on Dec. 24 of this year, a report was received of armed persons aboard a vehicle,” the AG’s office said in a statement. State police officers intercepted a vehicle...

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Mexico Nabs Suspected Zetas Boss

Mexican federal police arrested a suspected leader of the Los Zetas cartel in the violence-racked Gulf coast state of Veracruz, officials said Saturday. Amado Mercado Guerrero, "El Indio" a former police officer in several towns of Veracruz and the purported head of a Zetas cell in the northern part of the state, was arrested Friday, the federal Public Safety Secretariat...

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10 Bodies – Some Decapitated – Found in Veracruz

Ten bodies were found in a town in the northern part of the Mexican Gulf coast state of Veracruz, a region battered by a wave of drug-related violence in recent days, officials said. The corpses were found Friday morning near Veracruz’s border with the neighboring state of Tamaulipas, the Veracruz state Attorney General’s Office said. Although authorities did not provide...

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Mexican Army Says It Has Arrested Head of Security for Drug Cartel Chief 'El Chapo'

The Associated Press The Mexican army announced Sunday that it had captured the head of security for Sinaloa drug cartel head Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, one of the world's most wanted men. The suspect, who was not identified by name, was captured in the Sinaloa state capital of Culiacan and will be presented to the media Monday morning, the army said. Guzman, Mexico's...

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Zetas Question and Execute Three Golfos

A video where Los Zetas question and execute three members of the Gulf Cartel, a Christmas gift to the CDG and Los Carteles Unidos. Video graphi...

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Alone for Christmas

Posted on Borderland Beat Forum by wenglenca Alone for Christmas: South Texans separated from Mexican relatives by drug violence, immigration statuses. By Rhiannon Meyers Corpus Christi Caller Times This Christmas season, as 40 of Silvia Rodriguez's family members gather at her sister's house in Monterrey, she will stay 300 miles away, separated by drug violence. While...

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