Jalisco cartel shown delivering aid to tropical storm victims

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October 24, 2019

Presumed gang members hand out aid to storm victims in Jalisco. — Presumed gang members hand out supplies to storm victims in Jalisco.

The Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) appears to have diversified into humanitarian aid.

A video posted online shows suspected members of the powerful criminal organization distributing packages of food aid in Tomatlán, Jalisco, to victims of Tropical Storm Priscilla, which lashed the coast of western Mexico last weekend.

“Here we are with all the people giving them aid. The people are very grateful for this support. . .” a suspected CJNG gunman says.

“This aid . . . comes from the boss, our boss, the señor Mencho,” another man says, referring to CJNG leader Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes, one of the most wanted men on the planet.

“[I’m telling you] so that you know where it comes from, so that you don’t think that it’s from the [family services agency] DIF or another company,” he adds with a laugh.

Two pickup trucks filled with large aid packages appear in the video. Several residents of the community of Morelos accept the packages from the suspected cartel members.

The CJNG, considered Mexico’s most powerful criminal organization, has previously handed out toys to poor children in Veracruz on Children’s Day.

Children in 15 municipalities in the state’s mountainous central region received gifts accompanied by a card that read, “the CJNG wishes you a happy Children’s Day.”

The Sinaloa Cartel, whose gunman responded to the arrest of a son of former leader Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán last week with an unprecedented show of strength in Culiacán, has also shown that it has a charitable streak.

Just before Christmas last year, dozens of trucks turned up in several rural towns in the Sinaloa municipalities of Salvador Alvarado and Mocorito and delivered holiday gift baskets.

The baskets came with a card bearing a short message from the Sinaloa Cartel’s former chief lieutenant and security boss, Orso Iván Gastélum Cruz: “Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year from your friend Cholo Iván.”

Three months earlier, victims of Tropical Storm 19E in Ranchito, Angostura, also received a charitable visit from suspected Sinaloa Cartel members.

They received food supplies, mattresses, stoves and other appliances bearing a logo consisting of a black baseball cap with the initials JGL written in gold.

The donation of the disaster relief supplies was attributed to the former chief of the Sinaloa Cartel, Joaquín Guzmán Loera, who was convicted by a United States court on drug trafficking charges in February and sentenced to life in prison in July.

Source: Infobae (sp)

Mexico falls to No. 60 in World Bank’s Doing Business ranking

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MND Staff

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October 24, 2019

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Mexico dropped six places to 60th in the latest edition of a World Bank report that measures the ease of doing business in 190 countries.

The Doing Business report awards each country a score out of 10 in 10 different areas: starting a business; dealing with construction permits; getting electricity; registering property; getting credit; protecting minority investors; paying taxes; trading across borders; enforcing contracts; and resolving insolvency.

Mexico’s score of 72.4 is slightly better than the 72.09 it obtained last year but couldn’t prevent the country from taking a tumble in the rankings.

Mexico’s ranking only improved in one area – protecting minority investors (up to 61st from 72nd) – and held steady in two others: enforcing contracts (43rd) and dealing with construction permits (93rd).

The country’s ranking went backwards in the other seven areas. It is no longer among the top 10 countries in any of the areas, dropping three places in “getting credit” to 11th.

Mexico has fallen 15 places in the Doing Business rankings since 2016 and this year lost the top spot in Latin America to Chile, which ranked 59th.

Speaking at his regular news conference on Thursday, President López Obrador was incredulous that Chile – where protests have virtually paralyzed the country in recent days – has surpassed Mexico as the easiest place to do business in Latin America.

“Yesterday, something to do with the World Bank came out about Mexico’s [business] rating and, listen to this, Mexico supposedly occupied first place [in Latin America] for foreign investment confidence but now we’ve fallen to second place,” he said.

“And who do you think now occupies first place?” the president, with a wry grin on his face, asked reporters. “Chile, so they’re not infallible.”

New Zealand took out the top spot in this year’s Doing Business rankings with a score of 86.8. Singapore was second followed by Hong Kong, Denmark, South Korea, the United States, Georgia, the United Kingdom, Norway and Sweden.

Somalia is the hardest country in which to do business, followed by Eritrea, Venezuela, Yemen and Libya.

Source: El Economista (sp), El Financiero (sp)

Day of the Dead theme park opens in Guadalajara this week

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Cody Copeland

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October 24, 2019

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The Day of the Dead theme park opens this week. — Calaverandia celebrates the Day of the Dead.

Guadalajara’s Day of the Dead theme park Calaverandia opens on Friday to provide visitors with a colorful and immersive experience with which to celebrate Mexico’s most famous holiday.

Now in its second year, the park has been expanded with the expectation of hosting more guests, as Calaverandia’s inaugural run was a big hit with the public.

“We’re very proud that Calaverandia was a success last year,” said the park’s creative director, Marcos Jiménez. “We have big plans for growth.”

This year’s park will feature over 30 attractions, including immersive tours through the underworld, exhibitions of altars and decorated skulls, live music, a neon lights area, ball pits and more.

The park’s showpiece is El Inframundo, or The Underworld, which has been expanded 50% over last year. The immersive experience takes visitors through the Aztec netherworld of Mictlán.

Calaverandia will offer over 30 attractions this year.

The 4-D show Alma will tell the rich history of the Day of the Dead tradition. There will also be a seven-meter-tall alebrije statue, photography areas, themed characters, videomapping and Catrina shows, canoe tours and cultural games for the kids.

A mariachi band will play traditional songs every hour at the park’s main altar to the dead, and will perform tributes to famous Mexican singers who have now passed away, such as Juan Gabriel and José José.

The interactive cemetery has also been expanded to include activities for children, and there will be lots of traditional Mexican delights in the food court.

Last year’s park saw an estimated 3,000 visitors a day — about 40,000 in total, but the organizers are expecting that number to rise to 4,000 a day this year, so they have extended the hours of operation from 7:00pm-12:00am Sunday to Thursday, and 7:00pm-1:00am on Saturday.

Calaverandia will run from Friday, October 25 to Monday, November 18 (the only Monday on which it will open). Tickets cost 255 pesos (US $13) for children and 595 pesos for adults; VIP options are available.

Jiménez wants visitors to rest assured that he and his team have taken all the necessary precautions to allay fears of dengue, which Jalisco Governor Enrique Alfaro recently called an “epidemic” in his state, as they have performed regular inspections and fumigations on the park grounds.

Having seen such popularity in Guadalajara, the park’s creators have big plans for the years ahead.

“We’ve been asked to organize a Calaverandia in Los Angeles in 2021, and we have spoken with people in Chicago and even Madrid,” said Jiménez. “We’re in a really cool process of growth.”

Sources: Informador (sp), Milenio (sp), Dónde Ir (sp)

All the rides at amusement park found lacking in maintenance

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MND Staff

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October 24, 2019

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The Chapultepec park roller coaster called La Quimera.

None of the rides at a Mexico City amusement park where two people were killed in September had been properly maintained, the capital’s civil protection secretary revealed this week.

Two young men were killed on September 28 when the car in which they were traveling on the Quimera roller coaster at the Feria de Chapultepec amusement park derailed and fell about 10 meters to the ground. Authorities determined that the ride was lacking in maintenance.

Speaking before the Mexico City Congress, Myriam Urzúa Venegas said that during a visit to the fairgrounds she was informed that all rides in the park were lacking in maintenance.

She said the government’s investigation could extend to authorities in the borough of Miguel Hidalgo, where the park is located, because they failed to fulfill their duty to inspect all the rides and verify that they were in good working order.

However, Urzúa stressed that the ultimate responsibility for the roller coaster accident, in which two young women were seriously injured, lies with the amusement park management.

The secretary said there were several defects with the Quimera roller coaster and that the park management should have shut it down.

“. . . Management has to review the logbooks of each of the rides on a daily basis. I think that’s the first failure,” she told lawmakers.

Urzúa said that authorities are working with the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions “to bring national regulations into line with international ones,” adding that a local regulation initiative will be presented to Congress soon.

She noted that the number of visitors to Mexico City amusement parks has fallen by 30% since last month’s fatal accident. The Six Flags park, the largest in the capital, has clear safety protocols and very few accidents, Urzúa added.

Source: El Universal (sp)

Butt out: AMLO criticizes US official for comments on security strategy

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MND Staff

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October 24, 2019

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President López Obrador criticized a United States official Thursday for offering opinions about Mexico’s security strategy in the wake of the violence that terrorized Culiacán, Sinaloa, last week.

Rich Glenn, deputy assistant secretary of state for international narcotics and law enforcement affairs, said during an appearance in the United States Congress on Wednesday that “the events of last week were very concerning to us.”

The comment, referring to the arrest and subsequent release of suspected drug trafficker Ovidio Guzmán López and the Sinaloa Cartel takeover of Culiacán, is the harshest made by the U.S. government about last Thursday’s events.

Glenn also said the Trump administration does not expect Mexico to make progress in the fight against organized crime unless the highest level of the federal government shows political commitment to do so. He said that Mexico needs a comprehensive strategy to fight transnational organized crime.

Speaking at his regular news conference on Thursday, López Obrador said that “officials of other countries should not offer opinions about internal issues that only concern our government,” adding that it’s “objectionable” to do so.

“Imagine if I were to declare that the United States [security] strategy is bad because they allow, without control, the sale of weapons that are brought into Mexico and cause the death of civilians,” he said.

The president added that Mexico has a “very good” relationship with the United States government.

“One swallow doesn’t make a summer,” López Obrador said, characterizing Glenn as the sole voice in the U.S. government that is critical of Mexico’s security strategy. “President Trump’s opinion has been one of respect towards Mexico.”

The president said on Saturday that he received a telephone call from Trump, who expressed “solidarity” over what happened in Culiacán.

Glenn said that assistant secretary of state Kirsten Madison traveled to Mexico two weeks ago to discuss the need to develop and share a security strategy with clear goals and targets. Mexico and the United States have also struck an agreement to seal the borders against the illegal trafficking of firearms.

Asked by a lawmaker whether the United States should continue to provide security funding to Mexico in light of Guzmán’s release, Glenn said that cooperation had helped Mexican security forces to increase their capacity to tackle organized crime.

“We know they are capable. We know because we helped build that capacity,” he said.

The government’s security strategy is currently under intense scrutiny not only because of the events in Culiacán but also due to the high levels of violence plaguing many other parts of the country. Mexico is on track to record its most violent year in recent history

López Obrador came under fire this week for failing to keep a promise made in April to improve security in six months.

But the president remains committed to the government’s approach of avoiding whenever possible the use of force by armed forces, the National Guard and police, asserting that “you can’t fight fire with fire.”

Source: El Financiero (sp), The Associated Press (sp)

Propane gas vendors resist inspections by consumer protection agency

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Simon Schatzberg

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October 24, 2019

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A Profeco agent checks propane gas tanks.

The consumer protection agency Profeco is encountering difficulties conducting inspections of vendors of liquid petroleum gas, but is ready to use public force to carry them out, agency chief Ricardo Sheffield said at a convention of LP gas sellers.

“Every week, there are two or three vendors who don’t allow inspections,” he said. although complying is mandatory. “We are going to check absolutely everyone, without warning, simultaneously.”

In some cases, he said, managers of gas facilities have chased off inspectors with firearms.

Sheffield said that his agency previously carried out two inspections a week, but that the number will rise to 25.

“If you don’t allow yourselves to be verified, we will . . . come with force to make sure you’re not selling stolen or adulterated gas,” he said.

Between January and October of this year, 96 vendors have been fined a total of 38.6 million pesos (US $2 million) for refusing inspection.

Inspectors check scales used to weigh propane gas tanks and inspect the thanks themselves, among other checks.

Sheffield added that verification of LP gas sellers is important because there have been as many problems with LP gas as with gasoline.

Seven out of 10 Mexican homes use LP gas.

Source: Reforma (sp), Forbes México (sp)

Misleading information released about events in Culiacán: ex-DEA official

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MND Staff

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October 24, 2019

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Iván Archivaldo Guzmán was also arrested, according to unnamed Mexican police sources.

A former official with the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) claims that Mexican government has released misleading information about the events in Culiacán, Sinaloa, last week, asserting that security forces arrested and freed not one but two sons of convicted drug trafficker Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.

Mike Vigil, former head of international operations for the DEA, said in an interview with the news agency Bloomberg that the government has not revealed that while attempting to capture Ovidio Guzmán López last Thursday, security forces arrested Iván Archivaldo Guzmán Salazar.

Citing unverified intelligence he said he received from high-ranking Mexican police sources, Vigil said that Guzmán Salazar, like his half-brother, was released after Sinaloa Cartel gunmen overpowered security forces.

The gunmen carried out a wave of attacks across Culiacán that terrorized residents of the northern city.

The New York Times, citing sources who asked not to be identified, originally reported that the 36-year-old Guzmán Salazar was arrested and released.

“There are so many factors that point to the fact that he was there and they also released him,” Vigil said. “But they’ll never admit to it because they’ve been lying from the get go.”

Bloomberg said the former DEA official declined to reveal the sources behind his assertions, which it couldn’t independently verify.

Vigil also claimed that authorities have misled the public by playing down the amount of planning that went into the targeted operation in Culiacán.

President López Obrador said on Wednesday that he had no information about whether Guzmán Salazar was arrested and released.

The president’s press office strongly denied Vigil’s claims that the government has misled the public about the failed operation.

Information chief Jesús Cantú said that there has been “an unusual amount of transparency, not only for Mexico but by international standards.”

The Guzmán brothers: Jesús Alfredo, Iván Archivaldo and Ovidio.

He claimed that the security cabinet, which took the decision to release Guzmán López, was explaining “every detail” about last week’s events, adding that the president himself said he would testify before authorities if they considered he’d done something illegal.

The government came under fire last week for not providing details about the events in Culiacán until several hours after the violence started. It was also criticized for being deliberately ambiguous about what happened and for changing its story.

Security Secretary Alfonso Durazo said on Thursday night that Guzmán López was arrested by the army and National Guard during a routine patrol in the Tres Ríos neighborhood of Culiacán.

After armed criminals surrounded the house in which the suspected narco was arrested, Durazo said the security cabinet “agreed to suspend the actions” to protect the safety of Culiacán residents. But he didn’t clarify whether Guzmán López remained in custody.

Later the same night, he told the news agency Reuters that the suspect had been released.

Security officials revealed on Friday that the arrest was in fact part of a targeted operation, triggering accusations that Durazo had lied.

More recently, officials indicated that the arrest was approved by low-level law enforcement officials and that federal cabinet secretaries may have not known about it.

López Obrador, who has repeatedly defended the decision to release the suspected Sinaloa Cartel leader, revealed on Tuesday that he wasn’t told about the operation to capture him.

He also raised doubts about whether National Defense Secretary Luis Cresencio Sandoval was aware of the plan.

“I think the defense ministry had knowledge of it. The minister? I don’t know. I think so,” López Obrador said.

He confirmed that there was an extradition order for the alleged drug trafficker and presidential spokesman Jesús Ramírez told Bloomberg that the operation to arrest Guzmán López was carried out upon request by the DEA. United States authorities didn’t respond to Bloomberg’s request for comment.

However, Vigil questioned why the United States would target Guzmán López for extradition when El Chapo’s other sons are more active in the Sinaloa Cartel.

“Jesús Alfredo and Iván Archivaldo are much more important than Ovidio,” he said. “Mexico from the very beginning began distorting the truth in order to buy time so they could come up with a plausible deniability story.”

Source: Bloomberg (en)

Hundreds of clowns get together to have a few laughs in Mexico City

By

Cody Copeland

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October 24, 2019

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Clowns in Mexico City on Wednesday. More than 400 are attending an international laughter conference.

Hundreds of clowns gathered at Mexico City’s Monument to the Revolution on Wednesday to celebrate the 24th annual International Conference of Laughter.

The nearly 450 professional jesters hailing from Mexico, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Peru, the United States and other countries used the conference to speak out against violence, as well as to exchange ideas to use in their acts back home.

Organized by the Brotherhood of Latin Clowns, the four-day event hosts seminars and workshops in which professional clowns can hone their craft and stay up to date on the latest costumes, makeup, oversized shoes, wigs and magic tricks.

As they danced and cracked jokes for curious spectators, the clowns hoped their actions here and at home would compel people to smile and laugh more, rather than resort to anger and violence.

Mexico has a rich clown culture and the profession is popular among street performers. The Latin American Clown Association reports that there are around 10,000 registered professional clowns in the country.

As further testament to the popularity of clowning around in Mexico, the U.S.-based organization Clowns Without Borders (CWB), which works to bring laughter to people in areas of crisis, has more projects in Mexico than any other country in the world.

In March 2019, CWB held a five-day event in Tijuana, hosting workshops and performing for migrants stranded there. The organization primarily works with indigenous communities in Chiapas.

Sources: Telediario (sp), News First (sp)

Guerrero clash kills 9 suspected members of Los Rojos crime gang

By

Simon Schatzberg

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October 24, 2019

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Zitlala, Guerrero, where a clash occurred between crime gangs Wednesday.

The bodies of nine men who died in a confrontation between criminal groups were found in Guerrero on Wednesday.

Police responded to a 911 call on Wednesday night in the municipality of Zitlala.

The confrontation took place on a road between the municipal seat of Zitlala and the community of Pochahuizco.

Along with the bodies, police found around 50 shell casings corresponding to AK-47 and AR-15 rifles.

State police said the victims were members of a branch of the Rojos crime gang that operates out of nearby Chilapa and is led by Zenen “El Chaparro” Nava Sánchez, who was arrested on August 22.

The Rojos gang has been fighting with the rival crime gang Los Ardillos to control the municipality of Zitlala for more than six years. The city of Chilapa, only 20 minutes away, has been the center of the conflict between the two groups.

The war has claimed the lives of over 1,000 people in the area, and led to over 300 disappearances.

The clash comes a week after another incident in Guerrero where soldiers exchanged fire with armed civilians outside Iguala, leaving one soldier and 14 suspected criminals dead.

Source: El Universal (sp), Proceso (sp)

120 police officers investigated for collusion with Mexico City drug cartel

By

Cody Copeland

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October 24, 2019

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The gang leader's altar where demons were invoked to provide him with protection.

Mexico City gang leader Óscar “El Lunares” N., the target of a police raid on Tuesday, paid for parties for Mexico City police officers, according to the Secretariat of Public Security (SSC).

A photo of the leader of La Unión de Tepito partying with uniformed officers was found during the raid by police and marines on the organization’s bunker. The raid also turned up an altar believed to have been used by the gang leader to call on spirits and demons for his protection against police and other enemies.

According to investigators, El Lunares organized parties for officers of the city’s Morelos neighborhood, the gang’s base of operations, as well as those assigned to security details elsewhere in the boroughs of Cuauhtémoc and Venustiano Carranza.

The newspaper El Universal reported that 40 officers of the Mexico City Investigative Police and at least 80 SSC officers are currently under investigation for collusion with the gang.

Police Chief Omar García Harfuch said he will initiate a process to rid the force of corrupt elements and admitted that local security forces are still infiltrated by organized crime.

He said that capturing the organization’s leader was the primary purpose of Tuesday’s operation, but El Lunares had been notified of the raid and was able to escape before he could be detained.

“The SSC was aware of the collusion of this criminal group with Mexico City authorities, who probably gave protection to the organization,” said García. “That’s why we chose to act as quickly as possible, since one of this administration’s priorities is to combat corruption.”

Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum confirmed the collusion of SSC and police officers with narco-trafficking gangs.

“There were people in the SSC and the Investigative Police linked to organized crime,” she told a press conference. “We’re doing important work with internal intelligence to clean up those institutions.”

A search of the gang’s bunker after Tuesday’s raid revealed an altar that contained human skulls, demonic masks, crucifixes, statuettes and dozens of wooden sticks. The newspaper Milenio reported that experts consulted about the altar suggested that it was connected with an African religion called Palo Mayombe, and would have been used to sacrifice animals in a ritual to seek protection.

Source: El Universal (sp)