Four journalists in the Lagunera region of northern Mexico have disappeared just days after the revelation of a major corruption story. According to a press release by the National Human Rights Commission, the missing journalists include a reporter from Multimedios, two cameramen from the Gómez Palacio Televisa affiliate who were “picked up” (or “levantado”) in broad daylight around noon on Monday the 26th. The fourth missing reporter works for the El Vespertino newspaper in Gómez Palacio and disappeared around 11pm or the same day.
This comes in the wake of a corruption scandal in which prison guards in Gómez Palacios, Durango allegedly released and armed convicts to carry out mass murder in Torreón, Chihuahua. The two sister cities are one metropolitan area separated by a river which marks the state line.
Federal police investigators dropped this bombshell in a weekend press conference after looking into the July 18th massacre of 17 people at a birthday in a hotel. Eighteen people were wounded in the same attack. This was the third such massacre this year thought to have been committed by inmates released from the state penitentiary in Gómez Palacios. Crime scene shell casings were traced to assault rifles used by guards at the prison.
The four missing journalists aren’t the only victims in the scandal’s immediate fall out. A prison guard has been killed and 8 human heads have been found around the city of Durango, capital of the state of the same name.
Tags: Drug War, human rights, impunity, Mexico, press freedom
Seventeen people died in the early hours of July 18th when gunmen attacked a birthday party in a hotel in the northern city of Torreón. Investigators from the Mexican Attorney General’s Office say those who committed the crime were supposed to be locked up in a prison across the Durango state line at the time of the massacre.
Federal authorities allege that not only were dangerous criminals released from their cells, but that prison guards lent them high-caliber firearms and official vehicles. Investigators traced the weapons back to the prison from crime scene shell casings. The same weapons were allegedly used in at least 2 other massacres this year.
This isn’t the first time prison officials in the state of Durango have been accused of colluding with inmates tied to the region’s powerful drug trafficking interests. Four prison officials are currently under investigation.
Many of Mexico’s overcrowded prisons are microcosms of the drug violence that has claimed more than 24 thousand lives here since President Felipe Calderón launched his military approach to the Drug War in December of 2006.
Mexican Senate leaders and cabinet officials are holding a closed door meeting this afternoon to discuss the administration’s Drug War strategy. The high level meeting comes after yet another bloody weekend in Mexico.
Eight people died in drug-related violence in the border state of Tamaulipas and an explosive device was thrown at the US consulate in the city of Nuevo Laredo. The consulate remains closed to the public today as part of the ongoing investigation.
Mexican states immediately south of Texas have been experiencing a surge in drug-related violence as the Gulf Cartel battles with its former enforcement wing, The Zetas, for control of strategic territory. Thousands marched Sunday in the cities of Tampico and Monterrey calling to an end to the violence.
Meanwhile, the vicious turf war in Ciudad Juarez may be tapering off, according to an FBI assessment leaked to the Associated Press. Mexican newspapers are widely citing statements by the FBI spokesperson in El Paso that the majority of drugs passing through Ciudad Juarez now belong to the Sinaloa Cartel.
The battle for the Juarez drug route has killed more than 5,000 since 2008.
Tags: Drug War, Mexico
A report on bribery practices in Mexico released by the non-profit association TRACE International has found that authorities account for 85 percent of the country’s reported bribery demands – with Mexican police officers the most frequent offenders.
Official corruption is suspected behind a major jailbreak near the northeastern border city of Matamoros. The 41 inmates simply walked through the front doors of the high-security prison to waiting vehicles. Most were in prison for federal crimes. Two guards disappeared along with the inmates. The prison’s director has been fired and all 200 staffers are under investigation.
Most of the escaped inmates allegedly have ties to organized crime. Their jailbreak comes at a time when the Gulf Cartel is said to be battling its former enforcement wing, The Zetas, for control of valuable drug trafficking territory in northeastern Mexico. The warfare has included heavy intimidation of the press in the region, resulting in very little on-the-ground coverage outside of posts on social networking sites.
North of the border, the Department of Justice says that Mexican cartel activity has expanded to every region of the US and the tonnage of drugs trafficked has increased despite a 1.4 billion dollar military aid package aimed at reducing supply.
Tags: corruption, narco, press freedom
Headlines from Tuesday’s high-level security summit emphasize the announcement of a more social approach to the issues at the root of Mexico’s Drug violence.
That may sound like good news to a public that has grown weary of the military strategy that has claimed 18,000 Mexican lives in the past 3 years, but the announcement was short on specifics on just how this new social strategy will be carried out. Also without concrete details was the US promise to try to curb demand at home – the world’s most lucrative drug market.
Other new bi-national initiatives will include the sharing of information on convicted criminals deported to Mexico, tougher penalties for people traveling with forged documents, and a joint security program for the violent border metropolis of Ciudad Juárez. Both countries also agreed to tackle the flow of arms and laundered money from the US into Mexico.
Financing for the plan comes from the 1.4 billion dollar Mérida Initiative – a military spending program similar to Plan Colombia.
Tags: Drug War, Mexico
