Eight ex-cops linked to Jalisco cartel get jail terms of up to 52 years

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October 15, 2018

The jailed officers worked with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.

Eight former municipal police officers have received prison sentences of up to 52 years after they were found guilty of working for the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) and involvement in the disappearance of two federal agents.

A federal judge also convicted the ex-cops from Vista Hermosa, Michoacán, on charges of drug trafficking, possession of weapons restricted to the military and vehicle theft.

According to investigations completed by the federal Attorney General’s office (PGR), the former officers supplied information to the CJNG about the movements of state police, federal investigators and the army in the states of Michoacán and Jalisco.

In November 2013, the police kidnapped federal criminal investigators René Rojas Márquez and Gabriel Quijados Santiago in Vista Hermosa and handed them over to CJNG members who are believed to have killed them.

Statements made by the eight men led investigators to 35 clandestine graves in La Barca, Jalisco, where the remains of 67 people including two soldiers were found between November 2013 and February 2014.

However, the bodies of Rojas and Quijados have never been located.

The judge imposed sentences of 52 years and six months on five ex-officers and fined them more than 406,000 pesos (US $21,600) each.

The other former cops received jail terms of either 15 or 33 years as well as fines between 23,000 and 49,000 pesos (US$1,200 to $2,600).

Collusion between municipal police and organized crime is common in Mexico and has led to federal and state authorities disarming local forces and taking over policing duties in several states, most recently in Acapulco, Guerrero, and Zamora, Michoacán.

With poor pay and often limited training, municipal police can be easy targets for criminal groups, who offer financial incentives in exchange for cooperating with them and sometimes threaten to kill them if they don’t.

Source: Milenio (sp)

Tara to deliver tropical storm conditions in western states

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Tony Richards

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October 15, 2018

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Tara's forecast track. us National Hurricane Center

Tropical Storm Tara has formed off the coast of Colima and Michoacán and is forecast to produce strong winds and heavy rain in Jalisco, Colima, Michoacán and Guanajuato, the National Meteorological Service said.

A tropical storm watch is in effect from Punta San Telmo in Michoacán to Cabo Corrientes, Jalisco.

The storm was situated 155 kilometers south of Manzanillo, Colima, at 10:00am CDT, according to the United States National Hurricane Center (NHC), and was moving west-northwest at two kilometers per hour.

Some strengthening is forecast but the expected track of the storm will keep it near or just offshore during the next two days and moving westward after the middle of the week.

Maximum sustained winds were close to 75 kilometers per hour.

Waves two to three meters high are predicted for the coasts of Jalisco, Colima, Guerrero and Michoacán.

Mexico News Daily

Citizens pitch in to remove sargassum from beaches in Quintana Roo

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MND Staff

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October 15, 2018

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Beaches in two Quintana Roo municipalities are free of sargassum, local authorities have declared.

Massive clean-up operations in Puerto Morelos, located between the resort cities of Cancún and Playa del Carmen, and Isla Mujeres have cleared the beaches of the smelly, brown seaweed that has arrived en masse on the state’s coastline this year.

“Sargassum is a nightmare for the whole state but in Puerto Morelos we fought it with the support of all municipal employees. Everybody . . . from general managers to secretaries, police and firefighters joined the efforts to pick up the seaweed. We’ve also had the support of the hotel sector . . .” Puerto Morelos Mayor Laura Fernández Piña said.

“We allocated more than 80,000 man-hours to cleaning up our beaches,” she explained, adding that up to 200 tonnes of sargassum were removed on some days.

Students, taxi drivers and fishermen also contributed to the efforts.

Fernández said that Puerto Morelos authorities in conjunction with the business sector and environmental experts have established protocols to respond to future sargassum invasions to ensure that beaches — and the tourism industry — are protected.

Kerem Pinto Aguilar, an Isla Mujeres official, said that Hurricane Michael caused more sargassum to wash up on local beaches last week but it was quickly removed.

She told a press conference that government authorities, the private sector and citizens all did their bit to ensure that the visitors could enjoy the white sands and clear waters that Isla Mujeres is famous for.

“Throughout the week we didn’t drop our guard in cleaning up Playa Centro and Playa Norte and today they look beautiful,” Pinto said.

Hundreds of thousands of cubic meters of sargassum have arrived on Quintana Roo beaches over the past five months, causing a significant drop in tourism and triggering warnings of a serious environmental disaster.

State authorities said last week that the quantity of the seaweed washing up on beaches is on the decline but it won’t disappear completely until the end of the year.

Source: El Universal (sp)

US couple wanted for 19 years arrested in Baja California Sur

By

Tony Richards

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October 13, 2018

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San Pedrito Beach, where the wanted couple operated a vacation rental business.

A couple on the run from United States authorities were arrested last week in San Pedrito, Baja California Sur.

The U.S. Marshals Service released a statement yesterday saying that Robert Edward Freer II, 61, and his wife Wendy Dehaven Freer, 52, were arrested on October 4.

Both had been indicted in North Carolina in 1999 for conspiracy to distribute marijuana and money laundering but fled when they learned of the charges.

The Marshals Service said it has worked for 19 years to locate the couple.

In July the service learned that the Freers were living on the Baja peninsula under different names.

Marshals worked with local officials to confirm the information, learning that the couple were operating a vacation rental resort on San Pedrito Beach.

They were deported to the U.S. following their arrest.

Mexico News Daily

AMLO promises health care system like those in Canada, Europe

By

César Hernández

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October 13, 2018

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Yucatán Governor Mauricio Vila, left, with López Obrador yesterday.

A free health care system such as those in Canada and Europe will be a reality in Mexico by the end of Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s term as president.

The president-elect promised free and universal health care by 2024 while speaking at a rally in Mérida, Yucatán, yesterday.

“We want the right to health to be guaranteed in Mexico. By the end of [my term in office] it will have a health system like that of Canada, England, the Nordic countries; we are going to have quality free health service for all the people of Mexico,” he said.

López Obrador explained that eliminating corruption in the health care system will make the goal achievable.

He said federal and state governments spend 100 billion pesos (US $5.3 billion) every year on medicine. “If that money was managed with honesty, it would be enough to deliver free medicine to everyone.”

“What happens instead? They steal the money for medicine, that’s why there are no medicines in the health centers, that’s why there are shortages. The politicians, it turns out, sell the medicines but that is going to end.”

Source: Milenio (sp)

NGOs terminate agreement with National Security Commission

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MND Staff

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October 13, 2018

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NGOs quit accord over information sharing regarding Federal Police.

Five non-governmental organizations have terminated a transparency agreement with the National Security Commission (CNS) due to its “visible disinterest” in making information about public security agencies available to them.

Causa en Común (Common Cause), México Unido Contra la Delincuencia (Mexico United Against Crime), México Evalúa, Observatorio Nacional Ciudadano (National Citizens’ Observatory) and the National Network of Public Security Professionals claim that the Citizens’ Transparency Mechanism, agreed to in 2016, has not led to greater transparency on the part of the CNS as intended.

In a statement issued yesterday, the five organizations said they repeatedly faced bureaucratic hurdles when attempting to gain access to information about internal processes at the Federal Police, which under the transparency agreement they believed they had a right to.

A meeting with National Security Commissioner Renato Sales in November 2017 resulted in a commitment on his part that the CNS would comply with its transparency mechanism obligations but according to the NGOs, nothing changed.

“Given the lack of substantive progress and the visible disinterest of the CNS for the mechanism to operate . . . the participating organizations . . . have decided to terminate the collaboration,” the statement said.

However, the organizations said they are interested in resuming collaboration once the new federal government takes office and implementing a mechanism that “really is effective,” allowing the goals of transparency and accountability to be achieved.

Later yesterday, the CNS rejected the organizations’ opacity claims in its own statement, saying that it provided information when requested about the Federal Police’s budget, recruitment practices, certification processes, protocols and assessment measures.

It added that it has a legal obligation to protect sensitive information whose dissemination could place CNS personnel or processes at risk.

“In no way can it be assumed that the [transparency] mechanism should work to deliver confidential and classified information even when it is for academic or research purposes. The mechanism is governed by privacy policies, the General Law on Transparency and Access to Public Information . . . and other applicable regulations . . .”

Source: Milenio (sp)

Monterrey refuses permits for ‘blasphemous’ Swedish rock band

By

Tony Richards

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October 13, 2018

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Municipal authorities in Monterrey, Nuevo León, have bowed to public pressure and refused permits for a concert by a “black metal” band from Sweden.

A religious group called Familias Cristianas created a petition at change.org calling on local authorities to prohibit concerts by the group, which it described as the world’s most blasphemous rock band.

The three-week-old petition, entitled “We don’t want Marduk in Monterrey and Mexico City,” has earned 65,000 signatures as of today.

“This message is for all Catholic and Christian Mexicans who believe that the battle against Satan is won with prayer,” the petition reads. “But prayer needs reinforcement with action, for which we ask that you sign the petition so that together we can stop this heavy metal rock group called Marduk from coming to blaspheme and insult God in our own home (Mexico).”

The municipal government has decided it will not issue the necessary permits for a concert scheduled for tonight at Café Iguana.

The move brought accusations of censorship from the venue and the promoter, but fans were told they would be reimbursed their ticket money.

Another concert by the band is scheduled for tomorrow in Mexico City but there has been no indication that it might be canceled as well.

Marduk has faced a similar reaction elsewhere in Latin America. Concerts have been canceled in Colombia, Ecuador and Guatemala.

A change.org petition in Colombia picked up 167,000 supporters. In Guatemala, a congressional decree banned the band and anyone involved with it from entering the country, canceling a concert scheduled for October 11.

Marduk, named after the patron god of Babylon, was formed in 1990 to create “the most brutal and blasphemous metal act ever,” according to information on the band’s website.

Themes of its song lyrics include Satanism, anti-Christianity, blasphemy, death, Nazi German history and World War II.

Mexico News Daily

Delay in extradition of ex-governor of Chihuahua labeled ‘act of corruption’

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MND Staff

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October 13, 2018

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Nieto, right, speaks at a forum yesterday in Chihuahua.

The delay in extraditing former Chihuahua governor César Duarte to face criminal charges is an act of corruption, Mexico’s former top electoral crimes prosecutor charges.

Santiago Nieto, who was fired from his position as chief of the office of the Special Prosecutor for Electoral Crimes (Fepade) in October 2017, made the remark during a panel discussion on political corruption in Chihuahua yesterday.

“More than a year after Fepade obtained an arrest warrant and requested the extradition of the former governor César Duarte, the federal Attorney General’s office (PGR) hasn’t completed the process. I believe that this, in good Spanish, is called corruption,” he said.

Duarte, who was in office between 2010 and 2016, fled to the United States in March 2017 and is believed to be living in El Paso, Texas. He is accused of corruption and illicit enrichment.

In August the Chihuahua Auditor’s Office filed criminal charges against Duarte and 42 officials who served during his administration for the embezzlement of 6 billion pesos (US $317 million).

Chihuahua authorities have also seized ranches and properties that allegedly belong to the fugitive ex-governor.

Nieto said that apart from the PGR, the only other government department that can formally request his extradition is the Secretariat of Foreign Affairs (SRE). He accused both departments of acting corruptly by not exercising that power.

He also said that it was regrettable that the current federal government has failed to appoint an anti-corruption prosecutor.

President-elect López Obrador has pledged that he will fill the position by the time he is sworn in on December 1.

Nieto has been chosen to head the Finance Secretariat’s Financial Intelligence Unit in the new administration and has vowed to reopen the corruption investigation involving Brazilian construction company Odebrecht.

Source: Milenio (sp)

Four northern states feel the effects of Tropical Storm Sergio

By

MND Staff

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October 13, 2018

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Tropical Storm Sergio brought heavy rains to northern Mexico yesterday, forcing hundreds of people to evacuate their homes and closing schools in four states.

The system, which dissipated into a remnant low after crossing the Baja California peninsula, affected Baja California Sur, Sonora, Sinaloa and Chihuahua.

In Sonora, rain caused flooding in the municipalities of Hermosillo and Guaymas, where almost 400 people had to leave their homes and use temporary shelters.

Winds of up to 70 kilometers per hour uprooted more than 40 trees and brought down at least 45 utility poles in the port city of Guaymas.

Some houses and businesses were also damaged as was the retaining wall on the city’s waterfront promenade.

However, no fatalities or injuries were reported across Sonora.

Classes were canceled in all schools in the state and for three hours the public transportation system in the state capital Hermosillo was shut down. Crops in some agricultural regions of the state were severely damaged.

More than 1,000 schools were closed in Chihuahua and authorities suspended classes in eight of 18 municipalities in Sinaloa.

Baja California Sur Governor Carlos Mendoza Davis said via Twitter that wind and rain damaged some roads in the state as well as schools in Loreto.

However, no one was injured and almost 600 people in shelters returned home after the storm passed, he said.

Schools in the north of Baja California Sur will reopen Monday.

The National Meteorological Service (SMN) said that remnants of the system will cause more storms today in Sonora and Chihuahua and wind gusts of up to 50 kilometers per hour in the northwest of the country.

Sergio was a hurricane last week and heading away from the coast before it made a U-turn, making landfall in Baja California early Friday.

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

Sinaloa goes digital: new strategy to fight corruption, improve service

By

MND Staff

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October 12, 2018

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The governor meets with personnel and the public to announce new digital services.

Bureaucratic paperwork is supposed to become a relic of the past in Sinaloa for dealings with the state government.

Governor Quirino Ordaz Coppel announced yesterday that all the government’s administrative services are going digital as part of a strategy to combat corruption and save people time.

“We’re going to digitize the whole government and thereby avoid acts of corruption,” he said.

The governor made surprise visits to state administrative offices in Los Mochis, Guasave, Guamúchil and Mazatlán, where the digital transformation will first roll out.

Ordaz spoke to both government employees and citizens about how state services can be improved.

Cash payments will be eliminated under the new system, as all monetary transactions will be conducted online.

For procedures that require documents to be submitted, citizens will only have to provide originals that will be scanned and stored in digital format rather than copies as has previously been the case.

The move is expected to reduce corruption as copies of original documents have commonly been altered, especially in paperwork relating to vehicle registrations.

Ordaz said that he was confident that the public would benefit from the digitization initiative, adding that citizens can also expect better treatment from public servants as a new customer service model has been implemented.

It is based on qualities including respect, honesty, transparency, efficiency and empathy.

Source: El Universal (sp)