Monterrey: 15 Dead In One Night but AMLO has a Plan

Posted by Yaqui for Borderland Beat from: Occrp.org

By: Jesse Chase Lubitz  June 9, 2018
Additional Material from Universal, MND, El Horizonte

Extortion is believed to have been behind a night of violence Saturday in three municipalities in Nuevo León in which 15 people were killed. Twelve of the victims died in attacks on bars and cantinas. Ten people were wounded as suspected organized crime gangs launched attacks on six bars.

Three more people were assassinated in the municipalities of Cadereyta and Linares. More attacks followed in Juárez, Monterrey and Apodaca.

The offensive began just before 10:00pm Saturday at a bar in front of the central bus terminal in Monterrey. It was followed almost immediately by another at a bar some 400 meters away.

State Security Secretary Bernardo González said yesterday the motive for the attacks appeared to be extortion by organized crime. There will be increased state police presence in the city center of Monterrey in response, he said.

González called on municipal governments to continue working together in coordination to combat crime. He said those efforts have paid off in a reduction in homicides. June saw the least number of homicides recorded so far this year.

The Nuevo León Attorney General's Office reported that four of the six people who died at the Rancho Viejo bar in the municipality of Juarez were identified and two were murdered at the Bohemios bar on the border between Guadalupe and Apodaca.

The four victims in Juárez are José Eduardo Soto Luna, 38; Darío Moreno Lugo, 58, and Misael Alejandro Rodríguez Cervantes, 23, all were customers of the establishment, in addition to the waitress Neyda Yazmín Paz Méndez, 19 years old.

The two deceased in Bohemios were identified as Francisco Javier Montoya Turrubiates, 25, and Ovidio Servando González Bernal, no age determined; They were both customers.

The gunmen allegedly used .40 and .9 millimeter pistols in the assaults.

So far, the authorities have as a main line of investigation to an organized crime group that would claim the payment of an extorsion fee or "piso" to the bars which were attacked, according to the Secretary of Public Security of Nuevo León, Bernardo González

Meanwhile, yesterday morning, the authorities found a "narco manta " in the Puerta de Hierro neighborhood west of Monterrey, which  referred to the attacks. In the message, one of the groups refers to the alleged support they receive from state police. A total of 3 threatening "Narco Mantas" were found around town hanging from bridges; responsibility claimed by Cartel de Noreste and a cell calling themselves Cartel Indepe de Santa.

Official silence: 

In spite of the demands of the citizens of Nuevo León, for the violence that left 15 executions related to organized crime between Saturday and Sunday -12 in armed attacks to six bars-, Governor Jaime Rodríguez Calderón, "El Bronco", has kept silence on the issue; however, he has been active on social networks promoting the independent cause.

The Governor  has not appeared in public events since he returned to the state government, on July 2, when the six-month license granted by the local Congress for the presidential campaign expired.

"Within a week of the election, I remain firm in my decision to change the attitude of Mexicans. It is not easy, it is a battle against an old system that does not want to let citizens take the reins of this country.

"But in spite of that, we will continue to be an example in Nuevo León that an independent government works hand in hand with the citizens, do not you?" Said the governor in one of his last messages on social networks.

On Sunday, while the media gave broad coverage to the attacks on bars, "El Bronco" published on its Facebook its reflections on the electoral process.

The same attitude has been maintained by the Secretary General of the Government, Manuel González Flores, who commented yesterday: "We are sure that this week will be unforgettable for all. Full of successes and goals to fulfill. You can!".

Former Presidential Candidate and current Gov of the State of Nuevo Leon: "El Bronco".

Six of the victims were killed at the Rancho Viejo restaurant and bar. The prosecutor’s office has attributed the shooting to organized crime. Police have not made any arrests yet and they are not sure if the incidents were linked.

Fifteen people were left dead and nine wounded on Sunday night, after a series of attacks in and around the northern Mexican city of Monterrey. Twelve were killed in attacks at six bars, a man and a 14-year-old boy were shot in their car, and another man was killed in a fight between rival gangs after leaving a private party.

The attacks came just two days after the transition team of Mexican President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s incoming government announced a plan to reduce crime in the country, which includes offering amnesty for certain drug war crimes, Reuters reported. 

The plan, which they dubbed “transitional justice,” aims to create more lenient policies: 

For example, it proposes reducing jail time and forming truth commissions to investigate disappearances and extrajudicial killings. The government also promises to grant reparations for victims, focus on the causes of poverty, and work to get kids out of areas with drugs by providing scholarships. 

“It’s an integrated public policy,” Olga Sanchez, Lopez Obrador’s proposed interior minister, told Reuters, explaining that the goal is to “pacify the nation.”

The amnesty program will be focusing on individuals from vulnerable social groups such as youth and rural farmers. The New Republic points to two studies that reveal how such groups are targeted more than others by organized crime. You can access New Republic here: AMLO

The first was conducted by the Mexican Senate in 2012 and found that eight out of ten federal prisoners for drug crimes had not finished high school. The second, by Mexican NGO, Equis, showed that the number of women prosecuted for drug crimes had doubled between 2015 and 2017. 

In an attempt to distinguish highly violent criminals from impressionable youth, only individuals who are willing to go through a rehabilitation process and attend sessions with victims can take part in the amnesty program. Murderers and torturers will not be allowed to participate.

This new approach is a response to the steadily increasing rates of murder, kidnappings, and forced disappearances in Mexico since the war on drug-trafficking began in 2006 under then president, Felipe Calderon. 

The homicide rate has been rising since 2015, with 2,948 murders in May 2018, according to monthly data collection from the Secretariado Ejecutivo del Sistema Nacional de Seguridad Publica and collated by Mexico Crime Report. 

In most of Monterrey, reported homicides increased by between 1.9 percent and 57 percent between 2016 and 2017, depending on the district, according to the US Bureau of Diplomatic Security Mexico Crime and Safety Report 2018.

The military, which was deployed to patrol the streets under Calderon, has only added to the violence. In 2017, Human Rights Watch had received almost 10,000 complaints of abuse by the army since 2006.

Lopez Obrador’s proposal seeks to remove a significant portion of the military from patrolling the streets and put resources into professionalizing the local police.

The new administration will also form an office of the Sub-Secretary of Transitional Justice, Human Rights, and Attention to Victims, to conduct the truth commissions and then pass on information to federal and state prosecutors, according to The New Republic. There will then be an independent federal prosecutor that is not linked to the executive branch and therefore can make decisions free from political biases.

This “transitional justice” style of governance has already been used in Colombia and Guatemala. In Colombia, the program enrolls former FARC members in educational and rehabilitation programs that allow them to reintegrate into civilian life and it seems to have been successful.

The New Republic points to a former militant with the M-19 guerrilla organization who ran in the Progressive Movement party in Colombia’s recent presidential election. He came in second place, suggesting that the general public is open to allowing these individuals back into the community.