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
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
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
Drug violence swept through Mexico’s Pacific Coast state of Guerrero this weekend, killing at least 45 people – more than 30 in the beach resort town of Acapulco. Among the dead are policemen killed in drive-by shootings, suspected members of the drug trade targeted by assassins or killed in a gun battle with soldiers, and at least one civilian hit by a stray bullet.
While there’s no official explanation for the surge in violence in Guerrero, widely circulated rumors tell of a new alliance among 3 powerful cartels to eliminate another.
Weekends with double digit death tolls are usually only seen in Ciudad Juarez. The northern border city located across from El Paso, Texas was also the site of violence this weekend. Among the dead are 3 people connected to the US consulate in Juarez.
They were shot in front of their children in two separate attacks after leaving a child’s birthday party. Two of the children were injured. The State Department has since authorized consular employees in 6 border cities to move their families to the US.
Tags: Drug War, Mexico
