Vicente Carillo Fuentes being escorted by federal police at the time of his arrest in Torreón, Coahuila, in 2014.
A drug trafficker whose name is synonymous with the Juárez Cartel was sentenced to 28 years in prison on Tuesday.
The federal Attorney General’s Office (FGR) said it obtained a sentence against Vicente Carillo Fuentes for the organized crime offenses of drug trafficking, operations with resources of illicit origin and the stockpiling of firearms.
Nicknamed “The Viceroy,” Carillo led the Juárez Cartel – also known as the Vicente Carillo Fuentes Organization – from 1997 until his arrest in 2014.
He is the brother of Amado Carillo Fuentes, a former drug lord known as “The Lord of the Skies” because of the large fleet of aircraft he used to transport drugs.
Carillo took control of the notoriously violent cartel after his brother died during a botched plastic surgery procedure.
While leading the Juárez Cartel, Carillo developed a complex financial structure to launder drug money.
He developed a complex financial structure to launder drug money while at the helm of the cartel, which grew quickly under the leadership of his brother and established itself as one of the most powerful and violent criminal organizations in the country.
Prior to his arrest in Torreón, Coahuila, in October 2014, a reward of up to US $5 million was on offer in the United States for information leading to his capture.
A U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) webpage, which states that Carillo is wanted in the United States for “conspiracy to possess cocaine with intent to deliver,” remains online. It also says that the former police officer occasionally traveled to El Paso, Texas, the main entry point to the United States for drugs smuggled by the Ciudad Juárez-based cartel.
An indictment charging Carillo with running a criminal enterprise, firearms offenses, money laundering and other drug-related crimes was filed in a U.S. federal court in October 2019.
“According to the superseding indictment, between January 1990 and October 2014, Carrillo Fuentes was responsible for the importation into the United States, and distribution of, hundreds of tons of cocaine,” the DEA said at the time.
“To ensure the success of his cartel, he employed individuals to obtain transportation routes and warehouses to import and store narcotics, and sicarios, or hitmen, to carry out kidnappings and murders in Mexico to retaliate against rivals who threatened the cartel.”
Carillo took over the Juárez Cartel’s leadership in 1997 after his brother Amado Carillo Fuentes died in botched plastic surgery.
The DEA also said that Carillo and the Juárez Cartel were closely aligned with the Sinaloa Cartel, led by Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, until 2004.
“Those cartels shared investments in drug shipments, transportation infrastructure and contacts with corrupt government officials to facilitate the transfer of drugs through Mexico. The millions of dollars generated from the drug sales were then transported back to Mexico,” it said.
The two cartels later engaged in a bloody turf war that weakened the Vicente Carillo Fuentes Organization and turned Ciudad Juárez into one of the most violent cities in the world.
Carillo was held in preventative custody after his 2014 arrest. In 2018, he was a signatory to a letter to federal authorities that complained about the high prices of snacks and other products in prisons.
His 28-year-sentence takes the years he has already spent in jail into account. The 58-year-old is currently being held in a federal prison in Oaxaca, according to media reports.
The Juárez Cartel remains active, but the power it wields is greatly diminished compared to its heyday under The Viceroy’s leadership.
Authorities cordoned off the area near the clandestine grave in Zacatecas. Cuartoscuro
Ten bodies with signs of torture were found on an abandoned rural property in Zacatecas Tuesday.
According to security sources the bodies were discovered in a clandestine grave. Police were acting on reports of criminal activity through an anonymous tip from a member of the public.
The property is located in the community of González Ortega, better known as Machines, located 18 kilometers from Zacatecas city. It is near a ranch owned by former governor Miguel Alonso Reyes.
The state government confirmed an investigation was underway. “At this time, the state Attorney General’s Office is carrying out the investigation to identify the bodies, in order to determine their sex, identity and cause of death,” it said in a statement.
According to the National Public Security System (SENSP), Zacatecas recorded the highest rate in the country of intentional homicides per 100,000 inhabitants in the first half of the year at 52.21.
Baja California was a close second with 51.3 followed by Colima with 40.89, Chihuahua with 38.73, and Guanajuato with 35.40.
The daily homicide report released by the federal government recorded 323 murders in Zacatecas from August 1-September 1o.
The state is in the midst of a territorial battle between the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), although organized crime has not yet been implicated in this case.
Security officials reported Tuesday that they had destroyed six encampments and eight surveillance points used by organized crime groups in the nearby municipality of Jerez.
The newly inaugurated governor, David Monreal, addressed the wave of violence when he was sworn in on Sunday. He said violence had increased and that the state’s finances were in peril. “Public security is in its worst moment … the finances of municipalities are in disorder. Our state is dying,” he said.
In July of this year, residents of Aguililla, Michoacán, threw firecrackers and rocks at the local military base to demand that authorities take action against crime gangs. Cuartoscuro
The Tierra Caliente region of Michoacán is a war zone and the situation will worsen without federal intervention, according to attendees at a virtual conference organized by public policy think tank México Evalúa.
Jenny Pearce, a political scientist at the London School of Economics who specializes in Latin America, told Tuesday’s security-focused conference that she was extremely concerned about the situation in Tierra Caliente, a notoriously violent region of Michoacán that borders both Colima and Jalisco.
“… I’m hearing a lot from my friends in Tierra Caliente and … they’re suffering displacement, highway blockades [set up by organized crime groups], they can’t get food. It’s really a situation that I acknowledge as a state of war, it is war,” she said.
“The state ultimately has to take this problem seriously. I don’t see any progress if there is no federal policy against what is happening. It’s a war … [and] it needs an immediate response,” Pearce said.
Pearce also said there is an urgent need for humanitarian aid in the region and suggested that the intervention of international organizations is required.
Roberto Ramírez, Michoacán coordinator of the security-focused citizens’ organization México SOS, told the conference that municipal police forces must be strengthened in the region and their public security work must be supported by federal forces such as the army and National Guard.
He,and México Evalúa security program coordinator Romain Le Cour cited extortion as a significant problem in the region and Michoacán more broadly. The latter said the problem is prevalent in avocado, lime and banana-producing areas of the state.
Ramírez said that extortion is a problem in markets, noting that crime groups collect payments from stall holders in the municipality of Zamora.
Orlando Camacho, general director of México SOS, said federal intervention is needed to avoid an escalation of the conflict between the CJNG and the Cárteles Unidos.
“… There are very powerful and very violent actions by two … powerful criminal organizations that are giving their all to control the [Tierra Caliente] area,” he said.
Camacho said that civil society has to push the federal government and demand the intervention of federal forces.
“This is one of the things we have to achieve” in order to bring the problem under control, he said.
Jesús Iván Ríos and Sandra Villegas, who traveled four hours to attend the event, display their artisan wares. photos by Joseph Sorrentino
Every year on September 7 and 8, the Plaza de Concordia in San Pedro Cholula — one of the two municipalities that makes up the city of Cholula — turns into one large tianguis, the name for traditional Aztec markets.
Tianguis comes from the Náhuatl word, tiyanquiztli, which is translated as “an open-air market.” In Mexico, this type of market is often set up on streets and in parks but only on specific days of the week; typically it’s just once a week. But this particular tianguis only happens once a year.
Cholula is thought to be the oldest continuously occupied city in Mexico and is the site of Tlachihualtepetl, which by volume is the world’s largest pyramid. The tianguis here is believed to be one of the oldest in Mexico, dating back well into pre-Hispanic times, when the city was an important religious and commercial center.
On September 7 this year, the Plaza de Concordia was about half-full of shoppers and vendors selling crafts, produce and a variety of other items. The luscious smell of incense filled the air near some stalls.
Jesús Iván Ríos Pineda and Sandra Villegas Herrera drove four hours from Santa María Chigmecatitlán, a pueblo in the Mixteca region of Puebla that’s famous for making miniature figures from palm leaves.
Gabriel Morín, left, makes a successful swap at the trueque.
“The entire pueblo is dedicated to this artesanía [craft],” said Ríos. “There are people who make tiny figures from palm.” He spread an index finger and thumb apart about an inch to show the size. “Whatever figure one wants — a photographer, a doctor — they will make.”
In front of the couple sat figures of animals, baskets and people on bicycles. Some were made from palm, others from strips of plastic. Villegas was making small baskets from the plastic as she sat behind her wares.
Ríos said he can make about a dozen of the bicycle figures in a week, which he sells for 55 pesos each. “We sell at various fairs,” he said. “We move between different pueblos to sell and to survive.”
Because Santa María Chigmecatitlán is so far away and because he wanted to participate in the second day of the tianguis, Ríos said that they would sleep under the arches that ring one side of the plaza.
Adán Jiménez Hernández, from San Miguel Tenextatiloyan, Puebla, which is about a three-hour drive away, was selling his traditional ceramic pots a short distance from Ríos. He’s been coming to the tianguis for 30 years, “ever since I finished secundaria [middle school],” he said.
Last year, the pandemic canceled the event for the first time in its history. This year, Jiménez noticed that there are many fewer clients than in past years.
Before the pandemic, according to vendors, the plaza would have been jammed with people standing and moving shoulder-to-shoulder. Although it was still fairly crowded, officials were limiting the number of people they let in at a time.
On September 7, all items are paid for with cash, but on September 8, the tianguis turns into a trueque, defined as an exchange of goods. On that day, it becomes one large swap meet, a chance for people to barter for goods they want.
While the plaza was only partly filled with stalls and people on the first day, the adjacent parking lot, which had been closed to cars then, was filled on the second. Because of the ongoing pandemic, low metal gates surrounded the plaza this year and there were only two entrances, both manned by municipal officials taking temperatures, doling out hand gel and spritzing people with what was reportedly some sort of sanitizing liquid. Masks were required.
Ríos, who only took cash for his figures on the first day, was willing to exchange for goods on the second.
“It depends on what people bring,” he said. “If they bring beans, I will take that.” He pointed to some colorful flutes he was selling. “I exchanged one small flute for some seeds.”
Concepción Fernández Temich and her husband Santos Popoca García had a stand where they were selling nuts, seeds and vegetables.
“I think more people bring things to exchange than pay with money,” said Cristina Osorio Saloma, who brought to sell or trade seeds, nuts and roasted grasshoppers.
“Some people will exchange, some will pay with cash,” said Fernández. She was only looking for certain items. “I will exchange for food but not for things like clothing.”
Popoca said he was willing to consider other things. “Maybe I will exchange for a lamp or games for my grandchildren.”
A woman approached Fernández with several cloths with designs on them that could be embroidered. Fernández looked them over carefully, roughly calculating their worth before deciding to trade for a couple of them with a small bag of her vaina, a long, green vegetable pod. As the woman began to walk away, Fernández handed her an additional vaina.
Cristina Osorio Saloma’s small stand offered seeds, nuts and roasted chapulines (grasshoppers). “I think more people bring things to exchange than pay with money,” she said.
She prefers dispensa (exchange). “I will take clothing for me, for my family, for my children.”
During the trueque, people meandered throughout the plaza, looking over items and offering the ones they brought for exchange. “People can exchange anything: fruits, pots,” said Gabriel Morín. “I brought rice, oil and clothing.” He exchanged some of what he had brought for fruits and seeds.
Víctor Romero Silva was conducting a short survey for Puebla’s Ministry of Culture, and one of the questions was whether people were paying with cash or exchanging goods. “The results show it is about half and half,” he said.
The tianguis, and especially the trueque, are among the things that make San Pedro Cholula special. “This is something unique in Puebla,” said Silvia Zempoalteca, who brought rice and beans to exchange. “I have been coming all my life. It is fun to come and exchange things.”
“People come for tradition,” said Angélica Figueroa, who lives in San Andrés Cholula, the other municipality that makes up the city of Cholula. “That is why I come.”
There’s also a tradition that happens after people leave the trueque. “Many people will buy queso rancho [cheese from the ranch], cecina [dried beef] and nopales, then go home and make tacos with them. It is very common for people to come to the fair, buy these things and then prepare food for their family.”
Although people can bring virtually anything to exchange — bags of rice, cans of beans, clothing — it’s important that whatever is brought is of good quality. For example, used clothing is OK, but badly worn clothing isn’t.
“I think that people, myself included, want to help people in the trueque,” said Figueroa. “So I believe that people bring things that are in good condition. And the exchange should be more or less equal.”
Follow those two simple guidelines and the trueque will be a fun and interesting day (or two) out. And with luck, next year, the place will be jammed once again.
The president waves the flag during last year's ceremony.
Celebrations of “El Grito,” a symbol of the struggle for independence, will be heavily toned down on Wednesday in Mexico City due to COVID-19 restrictions despite this year being the two-century anniversary of the beginning of liberation from Spanish rule. The event was also heavily diluted in 2020 due to health considerations.
Traditionally, a large crowd congregates outside the National Palace and calls back to the president as he calls the names of the heroes of the independence movement, culminating in three cries of “Viva México!” or “Long live Mexico.”
President López Obrador confirmed Monday that the official ceremony will be an invitation-only event and that Mexico City’s central zócalo would remain empty. The capital is yellow on the government’s COVID-19 stoplight map.
However, the president assured that the commemoration would still take place, and that Mexicans could tune in on television. “El Grito means a lot … I assure you that in your homes most Mexicans will be able to participate, you will be able to see everything,” he said.
He added why the event carried political weight. “[Miguel] Hidalgo and [José María] Morelos sought, at the same time as independence, justice. Hidalgo proclaimed the abolition of slavery and Morelos wanted equality, for poverty and opulence to be moderated, so of course we are going to commemorate El Grito.”
Meanwhile, some state governments have decided to hold in person celebrations, the newspaper Milenio reported. Sinaloa, Durango, Campeche and Coahuila have all announced limited-capacity events. Campeche will allow a crowd of 2,000 people.
Some municipalities in Chiapas and Campeche will also allow limited crowds. In Puebla city, concerts will take place in the central square. At least 14 other states have completely canceled in person celebrations.
“El Grito” recalls the night of September 15, 1810 when Hidalgo, a priest from Dolores, Guanajuato, ordered the church bells to ring and urged people to fight their colonial rulers with the call to arms: “Long live Mexico!” Eleven years later Spain recognized Mexico’s independence through the Treaty of Córdoba.
Google's new Taste Mexico website offers visitors the opportunity to learn about the culture and history of Mexican food.
Google’s Arts & Culture department has published a visual and interactive project including thousands of photographs, illustrations, videos and articles to provide a comprehensive education on Mexican cuisine.
The encyclopedic Taste Mexico platform offers visitors the opportunity to “Learn the histories, meet the makers, and discover the secret ingredient of Mexico’s food culture” on a visually engaging website.
Users can browse through articles to learn the brief history of corn, gain insight on Mexican coffee culture, or examine a 19th century Mexican food market.
The platform provides an education on Mexican culture, including indigenous and regional traditions. It links to Google Street Maps in a “Now walk it off” section to highlight some of the country’s most beautiful cities, such as Puebla and Guanajuato. Lesson plans are also provided for teachers or parents to use as educational materials.
Luisella Mazza, head of Google Arts & Culture, said collaboration was key to the success of the project. “We aim to preserve the culture and show it around the world through Taste Mexico, one of Google’s largest projects, with more than 200 digital stories curated by more than 30 cultural institutions, who had the enthusiasm to share their own vision of Mexican gastronomy,” she said.
A chef at the Mexico City restaurant Dulce Patria, Martha Ortiz, said she was thrilled with Google’s efforts. “I love seeing this whole display. There are ingredients that make life complete and foundational recipes. If cuisine is history, if cuisine is memory, flavor and culture, I think this is one of the best platforms to show it,” she said.
Head of Google in Mexico, Julian Coulter, said the company is committed to improving lives through technology. “We want to help Mexicans take advantage of technology so that young people can consolidate their education, entrepreneurs can grow their businesses and so that all Mexicans can be better off,” he said.
The hotel from which guests were kidnapped on Tuesday.
Twenty-two foreigners including three minors and a pregnant woman were rescued on Tuesday after being kidnapped by armed men at a hotel in Matehuala, San Luis Potosí, the state Attorney General’s Office (FGE) said.
The victims, most of whom were Cubans and Haitians, were abducted from the Sol y Luna Hotel early on Tuesday. Sixteen Mexicans were also kidnapped from the same hotel but were later released.
Witnesses said the gunmen arrived in three pickup trucks and damaged hotel rooms and threatened employees in addition to abducting guests. The kidnappers reportedly removed the hotel’s guest registry, hindering authorities’ efforts to establish the identity of the victims.
Attorney General Federico Arturo Garza Herrera said federal, state and municipal authorities rescued the foreigners in an unpopulated area on a road between Matehuala and San Luis Potosí city. He didn’t reveal details of the rescue or say whether any of the victims were hurt. The official said they would be transported to the capital for psychological and medical treatment and to eat.
“… I’m going to notify the National Immigration Institute … given that we don’t know the migratory status of these people. We will review their nationality as we know there are Haitians and Cubans, but … we were also informed there were Venezuelans as well,” Garza said.
The Mexican victims were found outside a store in an undisclosed location after the FGE received an anonymous tip.
The identity of the armed men and the motive for their crime remained unclear on Wednesday morning. San Luis Potosí authorities are investigating the crime and seeking to detain the perpetrators.
Migrants traveling through Mexico en route to the United States are frequently targeted by organized crime groups, and many have become victims of kidnapping, extortion, rape and murder. Some migrants are forcibly recruited to the ranks of criminal gangs.
The United States-based organization Human Rights First reported in late June that 3,300 crimes has been documented against migrants in Mexico this year. The offenses included kidnappings, rape, human trafficking and assault.
Record numbers of migrants, including large numbers of Haitians, have crossed the southern border into Mexico this year, placing agencies such as the Mexican Commission for Refugee Assistance and the National Immigration Institute under severe pressure, especially in and around Tapachula, Chiapas.
Imco's index: dark green is high, light green is adequate, yellow is medium high, orange medium low, red low and dark red very low.
Mexico ranked 37th of 43 countries on a Mexican NGO’s International Competitiveness Index 2021.
That represents a two-place drop for Mexico, which occupied 35th place in the last ranking, and finds itself among a group of countries categorized as “low competitiveness.”
The Mexico Institute for Competitiveness (Imco) measures the ability of economies to generate, attract and retain talent and investment based on 85 indicators and 10 sub-indices. Norway topped the list while Nigeria was at the bottom in 43rd place, the only country considered to have “very low competitiveness.”
In five of 10 sub-indices Mexico fell in the rankings. Those were innovation, international relations, political system, society and environment. It improved its positioning under market conditions and economy.
Imco named health, energy and technological connectivity as factors that are limiting the country’s competitiveness and said the net decline in foreign investment and a fall in the trade freedom index have affected the attractiveness of the economy.
In terms of energy, although Mexico signed the Paris Agreement with the expectation it would generate 35% of its energy from clean sources by 2024, it only achieved 21% in 2019, slightly above last-place Nigeria at 18.8%.
In healthcare, Mexicans cover 42% of their costs. In Denmark, by comparison, citizens only pay 14%.
Problems in technological connectivity are best demonstrated by a dearth of mobile phone networks and a low penetration of technology in the financial system, Imco said.
Among Imco’s recommendations to improve competitiveness are reducing and modernizing government bureaucracy, improving training for police officers, strengthening analysis of evidence in trials, supporting small and medium sized business entrepreneurs, and better connecting the Yucatán Peninsula with the rest of the country.
Others suggestions are directing university education to the labor market, simplifying public university curricula, allowing domestic shipping in the Gulf of Mexico, widening lists for political candidates, designing a national system of care for young and old and the disabled, and redesigning clean energy certification.
The airport was more than two-thirds complete as of last week.
The army will spend almost 22 million pesos (about US $1.1 million) for a statue at the entrance of Mexico City’s new airport (AIFA)
The 10-meter, 200-tonne cast bronze figure of revolutionary general Felipe Ángeles, for whom the airport has been named, will stand on a traffic circle connecting roads leading to the passenger terminal.
It will be crafted by sculptor Edysa Ponzanelli, who has a track record of creating government sponsored sculptures, such as singer Juan Gabriel in Acapulco and ex-president Miguel Alemán in the president’s causeway at the former presidential residence Los Pinos.
The contract for the sculpture states a completion date of March 9, 2022, shortly before the planned inauguration of the AIFA on March 21.
The contract also stipulates that the sculpture will have a guarantee of five years during which any unreasonable damages must be repaired. Ponzanelli must also carry out a first maintenance at no cost in 2022, including structural analysis, and an inspection of rust and deterioration. The artist will also provide training to clean its surface.
Sculptor Edysa Ponzanelli has been contracted to create the statue.
The AIFA, which is being built by the army at the Santa Lucía Air Force Base, will have an initial capacity of 20 million passengers annually but it could eventually handle up to 80 million. In addition to the airport, the army is also building a maintenance base, a hotel and a terminal for travelers on private jets as well as rail and highway links to the facility. The Finance Ministry has estimated the total cost at about 85 billion pesos (about US $4.27 billion).
The airport is located around 45 kilometers north of downtown Mexico City, and was confirmed to be more than two thirds complete at the president’s news conference last week. It is part of a plan to reduce pressure on Mexico City Airport, which was used by 50.3 million passengers in 2019, making it Latin America’s busiest. The federal government is also upgrading AICM and the airport in Toluca, the state of México.
The airport projects are a replacement for the canceled, partially built Texcoco airport, which was destined to serve the capital. The president scrapped construction in 2018 on the grounds that the project was corrupt, too expensive, not needed, and being built on land that was sinking.
Meanwhile, another artistic endeavor for the AIFA — the airport’s logo — was widely panned when it was released in April. The logo featured the somewhat obscured letters AIFA, an airplane, a runway, a control tower and even a mammoth in recognition of the large number of mammoth bones that have been found on the site. Their discovery also led to the decision to build a mammoth museum at the new airport.
Miguel Díaz-Canel with President López Obrador during a visit to Mexico in October 2019.
The president of Cuba will be the guest of honor and give a speech at Thursday’s Independence Day celebrations, becoming the first foreign leader to address the event.
President López Obrador confirmed Tuesday that Miguel Díaz-Canel would speak at a ceremony prior to a military parade in downtown Mexico City to celebrate the 211th anniversary of the beginning of the fight for independence in Mexico.
Speaking at his regular news conference, López Obrador defended the Cuban leader’s participation in the Fiestas Patrias, emphasizing that Mexico has friendly relations with all the world’s nations.
However, the president has a special affection for Cuba, declaring in July that the Caribbean island nation is an “example of resistance” and the whole country should be declared a World Heritage site.
He also called for an end to the United States trade embargo as a way to end large protests in Cuba earlier this year, and sent three ships carrying diesel, medical supplies and food to the country in what experts described as Mexico’s biggest aid run to the country in three decades.
At his press conference on Tuesday, López Obrador also responded to criticism from former president Felipe Calderón, who said that it was unacceptable for a dictator to take a central role in Mexico’s Independence Day celebrations.
“ … It’s good that he doesn’t like it!” the president said before accusing his longtime foe of hypocrisy because he met with former Cuban president Raúl Castro while he was in office.
López Obrador also said Tuesday that United States President Joe Biden wouldn’t come to Mexico this month to join celebrations marking the 200th anniversary of the end of the 11-year War of Independence against the Spanish.
“President Biden was invited for the 27th [of September]. He can’t be here, but the head of the United States Department of State will be here,” he said, referring to Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
López Obrador said there is an open invitation for Biden to come to Mexico because a face-to-face meeting with his counterpart – rather than via video link – is important.
Returning to the topic of this week’s Independence celebrations, the president invited citizens to watch Wednesday night’s “El Grito” (Cry of Independence) ceremony on television because the event, which usually attracts large crowds to Mexico City’s central square, won’t be open to the public.
“We have to protect ourselves from COVID-19 infections,” López Obrador said before pledging that the event will be a “civil spectacle of the first order” and “a great surprise.”
