Governor of Chihuahua Decries U.S. Travel Alert for Mexico
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Due to the serious safety concerns on the part of the
Department of State regarding travel in Mexico, we are now including their
travel alert. You can access it here:
http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/pa/pa_3028.html
Note: The Department of State only issues these alerts
when they feel there is credible danger.
Foreign News Report
The National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers (NAFBPO) extracts and condenses the material that follows from Mexican and Central and South American on-line media sources on a daily basis. You are free to disseminate this information, but we request that you credit NAFBPO as being the provider.
Norte (Juarez, Chihuahua) 4/17/08
The governor of the state of Chihuahua, Jose Reyes Baeza Terrazas, considers the decision of the U.S. yesterday to issue the strongly worded travel alert regarding violence and narcotraffic problems along the border to have little basis and not in keeping with the good relations between Mexico and the U.S. He stated, "It seems to me that the better solution would be to sit down at the table and establish which are the binational criteria that would allow diminishing the effects of narcotraffic in regards to violence on this and on that side of the border. He added that, "The problems have a cause, origin and destination. The reason for narcotraffic is not only on this side, it is also on the other, for which we ought to treat it as a shared problem." He pointed out that Mexico is only the territory of transport and that the U.S. is the territory of destination, "because it is there where the consumer is located."
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El Universal (Mexico City) 4/17/08
The positive identification of "El Cachetes," Daniel Perez Rojas, in Guatemala (reported yesterday} has sparked requests from both Mexico and the U.S. for his extradition. He was arrested April 8 in Guatemala under an assumed name and identified through the use of experts in physical identification. El Cachetes ranks high in the Gulf Cartel's armed branch, Los Zetas, and is wanted for prosecution in both countries. Mexico has had an extradition treaty with Guatemeala since 2005, but the U.S. treaty dates back to 1903, it was noted.
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La Jornada (Mexico D.F.)
Representatives from 32 cities along Mexico's northern border who met in Juarez, Chihuahua yesterday were critical of the federal government for lack of coordination and timely support to local authorities in holding back the traffic of arms, drugs and the undocumented among other variations of organized crime that generate violence in the region. They called for more effectiveness in the combat. "The federal government does not combat organized crime in an effective manner and so, call in the Army and Federal Preventive Police (PFP) charging the locals of being responsible for all the crime without accepting their share of the blame." they complained.
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El Porvenir (Monterrey, Nuevo Leon) 4/17/08
Federal agents seized a half ton of marihuana and arrested a woman in the border state of Coahuila. The operation took place in the town of Jimenez between Piedras Negras and Acuņa. The woman was arrested for possession of the marihuahua and agents also seized three vehicles, five rifles, ammo and bullet-proof vests.
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El Informador (Guadalajara, Jalisco)
The city of Guadalajara has received a grant of 31 million pesos (nearly $3 million U.S.) from the federal government to be used to form a special police unit to combat organized crime and narcotraffic. The project will also include the cities of Zapopan, Tlaquepaque, Tonala, Tlajomulco, Tepatitlan and Puerto Vallarta.
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a.m. (Guanajuato) 4/17/08
The Mexican news syndicate NOTIMEX reports that arms used in the March 25 gun battle between Mexican and Guatemalan drug cartels were acquired in South Florida. The intense battle left 11 dead in Zacapa, east of Guatemala City. An investigation into the source of the weapons lead to the arrest of Victor Needleman, owner of a gun shop in Broward County for selling a consignment of Glock and FN pistols to an unidentified convicted felon who delivered them to narcos in Guatemala in 2007.
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Cuarto Poder (Chiapas) 4/17/08
The public Minister of Guatemala said that all indications are that the Mexican Gulf Cartel has moved its narcotraffic operations to his country with the intention of controlling the local drug market.
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Frontera (Tijuana, Baja California) 4/17/08
High speed interrupted the plans of two would-be smugglers when they were stopped by police in Tijuana for speeding. The police only then discovered they were transporting six 1/2-pound packets of marihuana. They said they intended to smuggle them into the U.S. to sell.
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El Diario en Linea (Chihuahua) 4/17/08
In a search carried out last Tuesday in Cd. Juarez (see attached photo), Mexican soldiers seized 216 liters (57 gal.) of hashish, an extract of marihuana, valued at $412,000 U.S. They also seized 398 kilos (877 lbs.) of marihuana with a value of $133,580 U.S. The seizure was made mid-day at a residence in Colonia Granjero as part of the ongoing military operation in the area.
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