This one hit hard, don’t ask me why, it just did. Today I am writing this the day they found the body of the Panista Mayor of Santiago, Nuevo Leon, Edelmiro Cavazos Leal, who had been abducted two days ago by an armed commando.
I was really hoping this would have turned out on a happy note, but the narcos would have it no other way, except with their common trademark of mayhem and unmerciful misery in order to plant fear on the people of this tranquil town.
The body of the Mayor was found by a group of motorcyclists who happened to pass through the area and reported finding a body to authorities, after which there was a massive mobilization of military and state police units. The governor Rodrigo Medina de la Cruz, the attorney general Alejandro Garza y Garza and the director of the State Agency of Investigation Adrian de la Garza, along with other state officials, also arrived at the scene to ensure a smooth process.
Cavazos was found dead at 8:30am, on km 6+400 on the road leading to the Cola de Caballo, a wooded area of the Sierra Madre Oriental. The body was handcuffed, blindfolded and had obvious signs of torture. Cavazos was said to have had two bullets wounds somewhere in the head and another in the chest. Field forensic experts found no spent casings at the crime scene where the body was found .
The state attorney indicated that the perpetrators are members of an organized crime group, but said he would not speculate on which group they belonged.
The attorney general Garza y Garza took this senseless execution as a challenge to the authority. "All they are doing is forcing us to unite even more with all our strength between all the authorities to fight against organized crime."
The attorney general said that the state governor, Rodrigo Medina, came to the town personally to speak with the family of the Cavazos and could not provide more details of the crime until relatives are informed of the facts.
President Felipe Calderon, who has staked his presidency on a faltering drug war, condemned the "cowardly assassination" of Cavazos. "The murder of Edelmiro is an outrage and forces us to redouble our efforts to fight these cowardly criminals," Calderon wrote in a Twitter update.
Nuevo Leon Governor Rodrigo Medina urged Calderon to send more troops to Monterrey and surrounding areas, echoing a plea published on Wednesday from Mexican business groups in a full-page statement in local newspapers.
Medina said this week that Cavazos, who took office last year, was probably targeted for his efforts to clean up Santiago's corrupt police force, part of a nationwide effort to curb endemic police graft.
In another note the mayor of San Pedro Garza García, Mauricio Fernandez, in an interview with W Radio, said the mayor of Santiago had confided about having problems with organized crime groups in the municipality and that the situation was becoming critical.
Mayor Fernandez explained that eight months ago Cavazos was scared by the presence of criminal groups in the town that he had just started to govern "When he became the mayor he told me that criminal groups had gone to visit him to tell him either you align yourself with us or we will fumigate you."
During the interview Mauricio Fernandez said right now is not the time to go looking for the guilty, but it's time to find solutions to the problems.
Asked if he felt threatened with the insecurity, the mayor said the two people who tried to kill him died first and the score was 2-0. If you remember Mauricio Fernandez was featured in Borderland Beat when he paid informants for information on cartel members and also announced the death of a sicario before authorities actually found the body.
U.S. educated Cavazos Leal, 38, and father of three children was abducted Sunday night from his residence in the Division of Cieneguillas. Alejandro Garza Garza, the Nuevo León state attorney, said Monday that the mayor was abducted by a commando wearing fake uniforms of the federal police of the attorney general (PGR).
I was really hoping this would have turned out on a happy note, but the narcos would have it no other way, except with their common trademark of mayhem and unmerciful misery in order to plant fear on the people of this tranquil town.
The body of the Mayor was found by a group of motorcyclists who happened to pass through the area and reported finding a body to authorities, after which there was a massive mobilization of military and state police units. The governor Rodrigo Medina de la Cruz, the attorney general Alejandro Garza y Garza and the director of the State Agency of Investigation Adrian de la Garza, along with other state officials, also arrived at the scene to ensure a smooth process.
Cavazos was found dead at 8:30am, on km 6+400 on the road leading to the Cola de Caballo, a wooded area of the Sierra Madre Oriental. The body was handcuffed, blindfolded and had obvious signs of torture. Cavazos was said to have had two bullets wounds somewhere in the head and another in the chest. Field forensic experts found no spent casings at the crime scene where the body was found .
The state attorney indicated that the perpetrators are members of an organized crime group, but said he would not speculate on which group they belonged.
The attorney general Garza y Garza took this senseless execution as a challenge to the authority. "All they are doing is forcing us to unite even more with all our strength between all the authorities to fight against organized crime."
The attorney general said that the state governor, Rodrigo Medina, came to the town personally to speak with the family of the Cavazos and could not provide more details of the crime until relatives are informed of the facts.
President Felipe Calderon, who has staked his presidency on a faltering drug war, condemned the "cowardly assassination" of Cavazos. "The murder of Edelmiro is an outrage and forces us to redouble our efforts to fight these cowardly criminals," Calderon wrote in a Twitter update.
Nuevo Leon Governor Rodrigo Medina urged Calderon to send more troops to Monterrey and surrounding areas, echoing a plea published on Wednesday from Mexican business groups in a full-page statement in local newspapers.
Medina said this week that Cavazos, who took office last year, was probably targeted for his efforts to clean up Santiago's corrupt police force, part of a nationwide effort to curb endemic police graft.
Mayor Fernandez explained that eight months ago Cavazos was scared by the presence of criminal groups in the town that he had just started to govern "When he became the mayor he told me that criminal groups had gone to visit him to tell him either you align yourself with us or we will fumigate you."
During the interview Mauricio Fernandez said right now is not the time to go looking for the guilty, but it's time to find solutions to the problems.
Asked if he felt threatened with the insecurity, the mayor said the two people who tried to kill him died first and the score was 2-0. If you remember Mauricio Fernandez was featured in Borderland Beat when he paid informants for information on cartel members and also announced the death of a sicario before authorities actually found the body.
Any thoughts on which of the many groups operating in the town of Santiago may be responsible for this reprehensible act?
ReplyDeleteTo the family ,especially his children,I am sad that this happened to you.May God be with you at this time.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry Buggs. And I agree, that it's very unfortunate that he was found dead.
ReplyDeleteHe had to have told someone else about the harassment issues, which were unreasonable and unwarranted to begin with. As to Mayor Fernandez paying informants for information, that's a path towards possible solutions.
All I can add, although it's difficult to the find the right words, is that the mayor of Santiago was extremely brave for standing against organized crime and being adamant about not becoming their ally.
Its always the light-skinned Mexican government employees that get the most sympathy and attention when they are executed.
ReplyDelete"Its always the light-skinned Mexican government employees that get the most sympathy and attention when they are executed."
ReplyDeleteJust because they have sympathy over a person who is light skin makes them racist? Are they supposed to rejoyce because he is light skin?
You are no better than the people who use the immigration debate to spew their racially motivated chraged rhetoric. Perhaps some people like the men because he was making a difference and was in a position to do so, but you had to turn this into a racial issue.
Idiot!
@ 08.19.2010 6:22
ReplyDeleteDid I say they were racist? No. Do you have the critical thinking capacity of a child? Yes.
It was an observation, you dolt.
The issue of light-skinned and dark-skinned Mexicans has always played a significant part in Mexican politics, entertainment and culture. This is just another example of that. How one politician gets national sympathy over another for "unknown" reasons. Get real you shmuck.
- BBA (Blue_Blood_American)
The horrendus price that is being paid. You can understand now when people talk of the high price of freedom. The clensing of Mexico MUST take place surley all the good people who have died and suffered will not be for nothing. One feels helpless. Regardless optimism support and encouragment to those who are risking their lives and thank you BB for your efforts they are informative and sorley needed Thanks.
ReplyDeleteWhy does this one hit hard? beautiful light skin Mexican seem to garner more sympathy for their demise then the multitude of innocent Brown or prieto Mexicans already dead. I had a feeling people would be moved more to sypathized with Santiago's small town mayor - because of his handsome looks.
ReplyDeleteWhen a young man is murdered, it hits particularly hard, because they have had such a short time to realize their hopes and aspirations. When it is a person in power, a father of young children, I think we feel the loss even more for the possibilities for the future that are lost. I really think comments on his color etc... are over the top - he was a Mexican man trying to make Mexico a safer place for his people. God help us all to make this so.
ReplyDeleteWhat a shame. Mexico is out of control. Some one mentioned the corruption of prevoius administration and that is true we are reaping havoc the corruption that took place and now we are paying the price. You cant play with with fire and evenutally not get burned
ReplyDeleteI cannot teach you violence, as I do not myself believe in it. I can only teach you not to bow your heads before any one even at the cost of your life. -Gandhi-
ReplyDeleteQEPD Edelmiro Cavazos and all Mexican citizens who have and will continue to die fighting for the Mexico they love, the Mexico they once knew, and the Mexico we all know is worth fighting for.
My heart goes out to his family, this the price that is more often than not paid for doing the right thing. The world needs more leaders like him. It is sad that there exists a lack of people with strong ethics and morals to have stood at his side in the current battle to regain control.
ReplyDeleteSiempre que alguien muere decimos maravillas de él pero en este caso verdaderamente Edelmiro era un ejemplo de sencillez y bondad además de carismático y detallista. Muy triste noticia. Mi más sentido pésame a su familia que Dios les otorgue toda la paz que necesiten. Te vamos a extrañar Edelmiro!!!
ReplyDeleteUn Neolon
que tristeza la verdad ...santiago que bellos recuerdos de mi juventud ..la presa, bahia escondida, la cola de caballo , la sierra ... bueno todo santiago y su hermosa gente ..la neta señores criminales pos que les hicieron para hacer semejante crueldad ...adelante pueblo hermoso ...mi pueblo magico... abrazos para todos los santiagenses y edelmiro que dios te tenga en su reino TU SI DISTE LA VIDA POR TU PUEBLO Y COMO TAL SERAS RECORDADO. : ( Q.E.P.D,
ReplyDeleteEl espíritu de grandeza y humildad de este hombre tan carismático, no puede ser eliminado por la estúpida insensatez de grupos que sólo quieren desestabilizar la paz de este estado tan maravilloso, luchemos porque esto no sea logrado, unámonos en oración por Edelmiro Cavazos y sigamos su ejemplo de lucha.
ReplyDelete