Mexico-Watch Thread

[Fishrrman]

"Mexican foreign minister Marcelo Ebrard opposes terrorist designation for murderous cartels."

Sounds like he's "on the payroll"...

[rangerrebew]

    At least 14 dead in Mexico gunbattle near Texas border

    At least 14 people died after Mexican security forces engaged in an hour-long gun battle with suspected cartel gunmen in the town of Villa Unión, in the state of Coahuila, about an hour’s drive southwest of Eagle Pass, Texas

    By The Associated Press
    November 30, 2019, 9:29 PM


    A damaged pick up is on the streets after a gun battle between Mexican security forces and suspected cartel gunmen, in Villa Union, Mexico, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2019. At least 14 people were killed, four of them police officers, after an armed group in a convoy of trucks stormed the town, in Coahuila state, prompting security forces to intervene, state Gov. Miguel Riquelme Solis said. (AP Photo/Gerardo Sanchez)


    A damaged pick up is on the streets after a gun battle between Mexican security forces and suspected cartel gunmen, in Villa Union, Mexico, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2019. At least 14 people were killed, four of them police officers, after an armed group in a convoy of trucks stormed the town, in Coahuila state, prompting security forces to intervene, state Gov. Miguel Riquelme Solis said. (AP Photo/Gerardo Sanchez)The Associated Press

 

    https://abcnews.go.com/International...order-67411221

[rangerrebew]

I suspect that, with open borders, this may happen in an American border town in the future.

[rangerrebew]

Tom Homan: Latest cartel violence shows Mexico needs help from US forces
By David Montanaro | Fox News


At least 21 people were killed in a gunbattle near the Texas border between suspected members of a drug cartel and police; Fox News contributor Tom Homan weighs in.

Former Acting ICE Director Tom Homan said Monday that it may be time for the United States to more substantially help Mexican forces against powerful drug cartels.

Homan was asked on "Fox & Friends" by host Brian Kilmeade about Saturday's shootout between suspected cartel gunmen and Mexican police near the Texas border. Four police officers were among the nearly two dozen people killed in Villa Union, a small town in Coahuila state located about an hour’s drive southwest of Eagle Pass, Texas.

Homan, a Fox News contributor, credited the brave police officers but noted that they are facing increasing firepower from the cartels.

https://www.foxnews.com/media/homan-mexican-cartel-violence-us-forces

[sneakypete]

I suspect that, with open borders, this may happen in an American border town in the future.

@rangerrebew

And the future may be nearer than we think.

[TomSea]

Surviving member of the LeBaron family, the Mormons attacked down there, said he'd welcome the terrorist designation....

This looks like another thread that can go into world news, "Mexico Watch", I don't mind at all. It's just that I don't want to leave the big blue band across forums  "Moved"... that's a bit of a distration too.

Will move thread, this has more to do with world news. @PeteS in CA

[Smokin Joe]

I suspect that, with open borders, this may happen in an American border town in the future.

If it does, the usual suspects would see it as a reason to take away OUR guns, not to deal with the people who are the problem.

[rangerrebew]

Mexico arrests judge linked by US to notorious cartel

MarÍa Verza, Associated Press Updated 6:02 pm CST, Friday, November 22, 2019

MEXICO CITY (AP) — A Mexico judge whom the U.S. Treasury Department accuses of ties to Jalisco New Generation, one of the country’s bloodiest drug cartels, was arrested in the city of Guadalajara on Friday, judicial authorities said.

Mexico’s General Council of the Judiciary, which announced the arrest of 59-year-old Isidro Avelar Gutiérrez and said he was being taken to Mexico City, had filed a complaint against him with federal prosecutors in May over purported “asset irregularities and additional income.”

https://www.lmtonline.com/news/crime/article/Mexico-arrests-judge-linked-by-US-to-notorious-14856477.php

[PeteS in CA]

Happened in Mexico, topic is drugs and cartels, not Immigration.

[sneakypete]

Is it just me,or does it look like Mexico is starting to sweep up it's trash?

[Fishrrman]

Pete wrote:
"Is it just me,or does it look like Mexico is starting to sweep up it's trash?"

They ain't got a trash train long enough to haul all that garbage away:

[TomSea]

Another wild story out of Mexico, thank goodness, this is not gruesome, violent though, it's certainly not a happy story and I don't know if stuff like this even gets reported in the news... maybe My San Antonio, LA Hoy or newspapers like the El Paso Times might end up carrying it eventually.

Over 100 people rescued from a religious rehab center. No, I don't think it is run by the major religion there and whatever religion it was is not of importance here.

Bing translation:

Rescue more than 100 people crammed into Oaxaca's religious center

Juchitán, Oax.- An anonymous complaint of maltreatment and overcrowding at a religious rehabilitation centre alerted the Attorney General's Office of Oaxaca, which implemented an operation and rescued 110 people who were overcrowded and under conditions unhealthy on the site located in the community of San Antonio de la Cal, 7 kilometers from the capital of Oaxaqueña.

The people rescued inside the house of worship "Liberators of Israel, House of Prayer and Restoration" were 82 men, 14 women and 14 adolescents, of whom 101 victims have returned with their families and only nine people are waiting to rejoin Them.

The Oaxaca Prosecutor's Office reported that during the operation, six men were arrested and brought before the public prosecutor's office to de-allay responsibilities.

More: https://aristeguinoticias.com/0412/mexico/rescatan-a-mas-de-100-personas-hacinadas-en-centro-religioso-de-oaxaca/

This lady, Aristegui seems to run this news service. They have quite a few interesting articles.  Maybe they even lay off the darker side, I don't know.  It's dangerous for journalists and others down there, you almost have to check out reporting in other countries for stories on that "darker side." Oaxaca, some other states, hopefully, see quite a bit less of the fighting than the real troubled states in Mexico do.

[TomSea]

Mexico to seek cooperation on arms flows with U.S. attorney general

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Wednesday his government will seek to strengthen cooperation with the United States to control the flow of “arms and dollars” during meetings this week with U.S. Attorney General William Barr.

“Two issues that must be discussed are the introduction of arms and dollars, and of course drugs,” Lopez Obrador said during his regular morning news conference. “There must be cooperation on those issues.”

Barr is due to visit Mexico to discuss cooperation on security. U.S. President Donald Trump’s pledge to label drug gangs as terrorist groups has stirred concern in Mexico that Washington could try to take unilateral action to crush the cartels.

More at: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-mexico/mexico-president-to-seek-cooperation-on-flow-of-arms-with-u-s-attorney-general-idUSKBN1Y81YA

And we should help them out....

In washers, TVs, Toys, Arms are trafficked from the USA to Mexico


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https://aristeguinoticias.com/0412/mexico/en-lavadoras-televisiones-juguetes-asi-trafican-armamento-de-eu-a-mexico-video/

[Smokin Joe]

So how many of those guns are legit purchases, and how many would 'hit' on the NCIC?

Are these stolen guns, straw purchases (Fast and Furious), or bought legally and sent 'back home' (illegaly)?

It isn't legal to send firearms interstate or across town through the mail, UPS, FedEs, etc. without FFL transfer paperwork  in the US, I have little doubt even more restrictions apply to international shipping.

[TomSea]

After the big shoot out in Villa Union.. these hunters actually ran into some of the "Sicarios" (gun men) from there, this is pretty scary.

Daily Beast excerpt: 

Texas Deer Hunters Tell Tale of Kidnapping After Deadly Mexican Cartel Shootout

..

As they faced the sicarios, Williams and Chapman also faced the possibility of being as dead as a bagged buck.

But they said that as soon as they obeyed a command to get down on the ground, the Mexicans threw their guns over their shoulders.

The Texans said their captors took their rifles and their cellphones. But that was just a precaution. What they really wanted was Chapman’s pick-up along with Williams’ pick-up, which they had left back at the ranch house.

Read more at: https://www.thedailybeast.com/texans-donald-chapman-and-colby-williams-tell-tale-of-kidnapping-after-deadly-mexican-cartel-shootout

[TomSea]

So how many of those guns are legit purchases, and how many would 'hit' on the NCIC?

Are these stolen guns, straw purchases (Fast and Furious), or bought legally and sent 'back home' (illegaly)?

It isn't legal to send firearms interstate or across town through the mail, UPS, FedEs, etc. without FFL transfer paperwork  in the US, I have little doubt even more restrictions apply to international shipping.

We are talking about guns smuggled across the Mexican border and hidden in vehicles in part.... so wherever they were purchased in the USA, they should be declared going into Mexico I'd think. Maybe they illegally push them across the border as well, some isolated place with no port of entry. I know they busted someone in the Columbus New Mexico area on that.  Smuggling at this point.

Duck hunters fly down to the Guaymas, Los Mochis area, I guess, one could easily try to smuggle that way as well and a bunch of Chinese gun parts were busted in LA. Those could have made way to Mexico too.

[TomSea]

Journalists get killed down in Mexico BUT.... with these big stories hitting the US, a handful of stories have come out on Mexico and related over this. You know, the media, they will follow a story <--- and is it possible this could help the situation? If one knew what was going on at the border and inside Mexico,  many should be shouting to build a wall (or more enforcement, I'm not totally sold on the wall except with a lot of enforcement backing it up, CCTV, what have you). I think a lot of liberal lenient borders types actually, aren't aware of what is going on.

24 hours in the shadow of Mexico's violence
[AFP]   Patrick Anidjar   ,AFP•December 4, 2019

Mexico City (AFP) - As Mexico struggles to stop the bloodshed unleashed by its "drug wars," the violence casts a long shadow over ordinary life for many Mexicans.

On November 22, AFP deployed a team of photo and video journalists across the country to document the daily brutality for 24 hours.

These are their reflections on covering the deadly onslaught gripping the country, where more than 250,000 people have been murdered since the government deployed the army to fight drug cartels in 2006.

Read more at: https://news.yahoo.com/24-hours-shadow-mexicos-violence-030820490.html

Videos at link, this could go into immigration, so wherever:

A toddler thrown from a train, a pregnant woman beaten, a father’s head in a box: Migrant stories from the US-Mexico border
For 12 years, UTEP professor Mark Lusk has shared stories of immigrants fleeing violence in their home countries in hopes of gaining asylum in the United States.
Author: Anastasiya Bolton
Published: 1:05 PM CST December 4, 2019
Updated: 1:05 PM CST December 4, 2019

Editor’s note: Some of the material in this article could be disturbing to some readers.

EL PASO, Texas — The stories of torture, sacrifice and faith fill the office of professor Mark Lusk at the University of Texas at El Paso.

For the last 12 years, the professor of social work has been recording, translating and transcribing interviews of stories from migrants from Mexico and Central America who have told him they fled their countries in hopes of gaining asylum in the United States.

“I’ve spoken with over a thousand migrants who have opted to come here because they felt they had to,” said Lusk, who’s published their stories and presented them across the country. “One thing I think people don’t really understand is how much pain and suffering is involved in the decision to leave your country, to leave your village, to leave your family, to leave your job, not knowing even if you’ll be able to survive that journey at all.”

Read more at: https://www.khou.com/article/news/special-reports/at-the-border/stories-from-the-us-mexico-border/285-1f697d24-ec97-404c-8f7f-77a44b748cab

[TomSea]

LeBarons in Mexico City asked for meeting to be opened with a prayer and the president accepted, the clip is so short, it does not show the prayer itself:

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https://aristeguinoticias.com/0512/multimedia/familia-lebaron-pidio-iniciar-la-reunion-con-una-oracion-y-se-acepto-amlo-enterate/

Mexico Frees Accounts of Maduro Ally Linked to Food Program Corruption
The Venezuelan Parliament asked AMLO's government to explain why the accounts of Nicolas Maduro's frontman were unblocked
MexicoPoliticsVenezuela
By Sabrina Martín Last updated Dec 3, 2019

 Mexico unblocked the accounts of Nicolas Maduro’s ally, Alex Saab, and at the same time, allowed the illegal money laundering business to continue within the framework of the importation of the subsidized CLAP food boxes.

Despite being aware of international sanctions, and knowing that the Colombian national is linked with the Venezuelan dictatorship in cases of corruption and money laundering, the Mexican government has preferred to ignore these red flags and allow him to continue operating these illicit networks.

More: https://panampost.com/sabrina-martin/2019/12/03/mexico-maduro-food-program/

That's bad, I have heard about this money laundering through the food program. This sounds very corrupt.  Who made this decision and why?

Amazing, the son of that "El Mencho" fellow we've heard so much about lately, the son, "El Menchito" (Little Mencho) could be extradited to the USA. Yes, he helps run the business and he must be in custody.

Picture and more:   https://www.infobae.com/america/mexico/2019/12/05/el-menchito-podria-recibir-sentencia-de-cadena-perpetua-en-eeuu-temen-abogados/

Some of this of course, is not news we ordinarily get here.

[libertybele]

If it does, the usual suspects would see it as a reason to take away OUR guns, not to deal with the people who are the problem.

God forbid if we actually DEFEND ourselves and our border!

[bigheadfred]

These are their reflections on covering the deadly onslaught gripping the country, where more than 250,000 people have been murdered since the government deployed the army to fight drug cartels in 2006.

I wonder if that is a body count? @TomSea

Between people migrating or just disappearing that number may be FAR greater.

As far as this food thing and "El Mencho" goes, I think he should he referred to as "El Muncho".

[TomSea]

Lopez Obrador may be a liberal but Trump spoke well of him, he called him a "great president" or something like that. Lopez Obrador probably has more pluses than minuses and he can't change the whole system overnight, talking about draining the swamp.

Mexico President Lopez Obrador tweets that U.S. Atty. Gen. Barr gets non-intervention in foreign policy
By Patrick J. McDonnell   Mexico City Bureau Chief
Dec. 5, 2019
4:42 PM
MEXICO CITY —

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Thursday said visiting U.S. Atty. Gen. William Barr understood the importance of nonintervention in foreign policy, but there was no public indication that the two nations had resolved deep differences about the Trump administration’s plans to classify Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organizations.

President Trump’s statement late last month that Washington planned to designate the cartels as foreign terrorist groups sparked profound opposition in Mexico, where many view the idea as opening the door to direct U.S. intervention — while sullying Mexico’s international image and possibly damaging trade and tourism.

In a Twitter message, Lopez Obrador described the session with Barr as a “good meeting” and signaled that the top U.S. law enforcement official was aware of domestic sensitivities on the issue.

Read more at: https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2019-12-05/mexico-president-lopez-obrador-tweets-that-u-s-atty-gen-barr-gets-non-intervention-in-foreign-policy

In ways, Latin America is improving. Mexico would be in a downspin at that.

[TomSea]

I think we can unpin this now. Some of the news is just too gloomy to dwell upon. We can always bring it back up.