Doctor who ran for mayor to end violence in critical condition after attack

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September 8, 2018

Godínez and a Morena party worker during the campaign for mayor.

A Chihuahua doctor who was motivated to run for mayor by ongoing criminal violence is in critical condition today after he was shot last night by a lone attacker.

Blas Godínez was working in his clinic in Gómez Farías at 9:30pm when a gunman entered and shot him in the head at close range, his brother said.

He was transferred to a hospital in Cuauhtémoc and later to the city of Chihuahua for surgery.

Godínez won the election for mayor of Gómez Farías, one of the state’s most violent municipalities, on July 1 and was to be sworn in today.

He said in July that the violence and the disappearance of his father, also a doctor, provided strong motivation to contest the mayor’s seat.

Blas Godínez Loya was kidnapped November 8, presumably by a criminal gang, and has not been seen since. Officials suspect he was taken to treat gang members wounded in the gun battles that are part of a bloody turf war between rival gangs.

“What happened to my father marked my life in many ways and one of them was politics,” Godínez Jr. said during the election campaign. It convinced him to “take the radical decision to start working with the people, with my municipality . . . to make Gómez Farías a better place to live,” he said.

Source: El Heraldo (sp), El Pueblo (sp)

Aeroméxico dismisses pilots of flight that crashed in Durango

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MND Staff

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September 7, 2018

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Aeroméxico plane burns after crashing in Durango July 31.

Three pilots on board an Aeroméxico flight that crashed shortly after take-off from Guadalupe Victoria airport in Durango on July 31 have been dismissed.

The Mexico City-bound Embraer 190 aircraft with 99 passengers and four crew on board smashed into scrubland near the runway during bad weather that included heavy rain, hail and strong winds.

The plane was severely damaged and burst into flames but all 103 people on board survived, although most were injured.

The plane’s captain and a two-year-old girl were hospitalized for a longer period, the former to undergo back surgery, the latter to be treated for burns.

Investigators said Wednesday that a sudden downdraft known as a microburst appeared to be responsible for bringing the plane down.

“No human or mechanical failures were detected,” said the investigative team overseen by the civil aviation division of the Secretariat of Communications and Transportation (SCT).

It also said “there was no information that would have made the crew consider delaying takeoff.”

However, civil aviation director Luis Gerardo Fonseca confirmed a rumor that there were three pilots in the cockpit and that a trainee pilot “without authorization to operate” an aircraft was improperly seated in the co-pilot’s seat when the plane took off.

The plane’s captain had taken over controls from the trainee just before it crashed, he said.

In a letter to colleagues, Aeroméxico general director Andrés Conesa said that while evidence showed that poor weather was most likely to blame for the crash, the pilots had broken protocol and for that reason, they were dismissed.

“Irrespective of the evidence . . . pointing to weather-related factors, the conduct of the three pilots in the cockpit was not carried out in accordance with established protocols, deliberately violating the policies, manuals and procedures of our company,” he wrote.

“This kind of behavior is unacceptable and we are not going to allow, for any reason, the conduct of these people to put at risk the trust that more than 20 million customers around the world place in us . . .”

In the aftermath of the crash the plane’s captain, Carlos Galván Mayrán, was praised as a hero by many who said that his handling of the plane had saved the lives of the passengers and crew on board.

Now, just over a month later, Galván, first officer Daniel Dardon and the trainee pilot all find themselves out of a job.

But Fonseca, who said “today more than ever our number-one priority is and will continue to be the culture of safety, transparency and discipline,” was unrepentant.

“Nobody is above safety or our values, which are our guide so that conduct like this never happens again.”

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

Marines detained and tortured 17 people, rights commission charges

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MND Staff

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September 7, 2018

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Human Rights Commission headquarters in Mexico City.

The National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) alleges that navy marines arbitrarily detained and tortured 17 people in a dozen cases over a five-year period.

The commission issued recommendations yesterday to two federal authorities in relation to the cases.

It said in a statement that between 2013 and 2017 it received complaints from victims and family members relating to 12 cases in which 32 members of the navy perpetrated the illegal acts on 13 men and four women.

“. . . 11 of these people also suffered sexual violence, while the violating acts consisted of the tying of hands and/or feet, beatings, blindfolding, psychological aggression, electric shocks, blows with a board . . . and attempted suffocation,” the statement said.

The detentions and torture allegedly occurred in the states of Coahuila, Nuevo León, Sinaloa, Veracruz and Zacatecas.

The victims were subsequently handed over to the federal Attorney General’s office (PGR), the CNDH said.

The commission recommended that the Secretariat of the Navy (Semar) and the PGR both conduct investigations into the allegations.

“. . . the recommendation is directed, first of all, at Semar because the incidents are related to a constant practice in which elements of the navy detain persons alleging supposed crimes or anonymous reports that result in acts that violate human rights,” the statement said.

Victims have been denied access to justice by 17 PGR officials who “delayed or failed to initiate a serious, impartial and effective investigation into the probable crime of torture;” the CNDH said.

Preliminary investigations into five of the 12 cases have been initiated but it wasn’t until one to three years later that they began.

The CNDH also recommended that Semar pay compensation to the 17 victims and add them to the National Registry of Victims as well as fully cooperate with investigations.

In addition, all marines should be equipped with image and sound recording devices in all operations and the secretariat should implement policies that reduce the risks of human rights violations occurring during the carrying out of public security tasks, the statement said.

The CNDH recommended that the PGR continue with the five preliminary investigations and investigate the officials who delayed or failed to open files into the incidents.

It’s not the first time this year that the navy has been accused of illegal conduct.

Relatives of missing persons allege that the navy was involved in the disappearance of as many as 36 people in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, between February and May.

Last month, a naval base in the northern border city opened its doors to federal authorities and families of missing persons but relatives of the missing called the event a mockery.

In July, the PGR said that it had turned the focus of its investigation on to the Zetas drug cartel.

Source: El Universal (sp)

Guerrero ‘morning of terror’ closes schools, medical and other services

By

César Hernández

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September 7, 2018

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State police on patrol after morning of terror. — State police on patrol after attacks by armed civilians.

Life was put on hold in several towns in the mountains of Guerrero this week after residents went through what they described as “a morning of terror.”

Early Wednesday morning a group of armed civilians believed to be from the town of Tlacotepec entered the towns of Los Morros, Campo de Aviación and Filo de Caballos and violently clashed with the local rural police forces.

One police officer was killed in the skirmishes, in which six vehicles were set on fire. No arrests were reported.

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Teachers, students, physicians, nurses and public transportation drivers all reached a tacit agreement to not leave their homes that morning and suspend their usual activities, fearing another shootout.

“What we want is for [authorities] to go to Tlacotepec and disarm an armed group that poses as a community [police force]. Evil is there, people here are afraid,” the townspeople told the newspaper Milenio.

They also denounced the kidnapping of at least seven people who were taken by the attackers on the road between the towns of Xochipala and Filo de Caballos, including a teacher for whom a 1-million-peso ransom has been demanded.

Guerrero Governor Héctor Astudillo Flores saidsecurity operations in the area had been reinforced in order to prevent more violence.

Source: Milenio (sp)

Parents attempt to lynch teacher accused of sexual abuse

By

César Hernández

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September 7, 2018

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Teachers' cars burn after lynching attempt.

A teacher in Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, was nearly lynched by parents who accused him of sexually abusing two of his female students.

Early yesterday afternoon, an upset mother confronted the teacher after her daughter claimed he had molested her last year. The minor had been afraid to say anything but when the teacher attempted to do it again she told her parents.

Other parents overheard the confrontation, triggering second accusation against the fourth-grade teacher.

That sparked an all-out assault: dozens of mothers physically attacked the teacher as others gathered on the school premises.

Police were called and they freed the teacher from the angry parents, locking him in a classroom as a preventative measure.

Representatives of the SNTE teachers’ union mediated an agreement with parents to allow the authorities to transport the teacher to police headquarters.

But when he was escorted outside he was struck by a barrage of bottles, pipes and even firecrackers.

Police fired weapons into the air and sprayed pepper gas to persuade the crowd to disperse, allowing the suspect to be removed from the school.

Two men were injured by gunshots during the fray. One, an elderly man who was an innocent bystander, was struck by a stray bullet in the head. The second victim was the father of one of the allegedly molested children.

The crowd, still angry, began threatening reporters that had gathered and chased them away.

Not done yet, they proceeded to set fire to all the teachers’ cars in the school parking lot.

Four people have died in lynchings in the last 10 days in Puebla and Hidalgo.

Source: e-consulta (sp), La Silla Rota (sp)

Oil auctions to go ahead as new government warms to energy reform

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MND Staff

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September 7, 2018

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oil drilling rigs — Mexico wants to see more of these now.

There are no plans to suspend oil auctions scheduled for February, the president of the National Hydrocarbons Commission (CNH) said yesterday, providing a sign that president-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador is retreating from plans to wind back the 2014 energy reform.

Sergio Pimentel said that rounds 3.2 and 3.3 of oil auctions are set to go ahead on February 14, 2019, stating that “there is no official, formal sign that these processes will be suspended.”

López Obrador has said that that future oil auctions could be cancelled or suspended and that his government will review oil and gas contracts that have been awarded to foreign and private companies in auctions already held.

However, Carlos Urzúa, nominee for finance secretary in the incoming government, said in July that if no irregularities are detected in the contracts they will be honored.

In round 3.2, rights to explore and exploit 37 onshore oil and gas fields will be up for grabs and are expected to generate investment of around US $3.3 billion, according to the Secretariat of Economy.

In round 3.3, nine offshore blocks containing an estimated 53 billion barrels of crude will be auctioned. The blocks, the first ones containing shale gas to be sold, are forecast to attract investment of around US $2.3 billion.

In a more concrete sign that the next government will remain open to foreign and private investment in the energy sector, López Obrador said yesterday that his administration would launch new tenders for drilling oil wells as soon as it is sworn in as part of a plan to increase Mexico’s crude output.

Mexico’s crude production has fallen to 1.8 million barrels per day, the lowest level in decades.

“We are already preparing tenders for the drilling of wells, and we are getting ready because we are going to launch those tenders from the first days of December. We’re going to allocate 75 billion pesos [US $3.9 billion] to this emerging program,” López Obrador told reporters in Mexico City.

The president-elect, who will be sworn in on December 1, said he will meet with employees of state oil company Pemex and other oil sector representatives in Villahermosa, Tabasco, tomorrow to discuss plans to initiate the process.

“We are preparing the rescue plan for the oil industry that will consist of producing more crude oil soon, and we will need companies that have experience, most of them national companies,” López Obrador said.

The president-elect explained that in addition to offering the exploration tenders, his government will also hold a tendering process for the reconfiguration of Pemex’s six existing oil refineries to increase production capacity and the construction of a new one at Dos Bocas, Tabasco.

“With the new refinery, we are seeking to stop buying foreign gasoline in the medium term,” López Obrador said.

“We have to lift petroleum production and in a short time because it stopped, oil exploitation slowed down in recent times and that’s why there is a decline in oil production.”

The president-elect added that the support of all petroleum workers would be required to achieve the goal of lifting production.

The energy reformed implemented by the current federal government opened up the energy sector to foreign and private companies for the first time in 75 years.

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

Sinkholes swallow trucks after heavy rain in Ciudad Juárez

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September 7, 2018

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Four and a half hours of torrential rain in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, early yesterday was too much for two stretches of road. Sinkholes opened up and swallowed two trucks, one of which was almost completely buried.

Neighbors in Complejo Roma rescued the woman who was driving a pickup that almost disappeared in the hole, which quickly filled with water.

In the Salvárcar neighborhood a gas truck met the same fate.

No one was hurt in either incident.

More than 20 families were evacuated in Riberas del Bravo after an irrigation canal overflowed its banks, causing severe damage to nearby homes.

Highest rainfall was 39 millimeters recorded in the eastern part of the city, the Civil Protection agency said.

Source: Milenio (sp)

Highway tolls raised between 1% and 6%

By

César Hernández

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September 7, 2018

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highway toll booths — Motorists are paying more today.

Automobile tolls went up between 1% and 6% today on most of Mexico’s principal highways.

Capufe, the federal highways and bridges operator, said one of the highest increases is on the heavily used highway between Mexico City and Puebla, where tolls went up by 5.7% to 165 pesos.

On the Mexico City-Querétaro highway, also a busy route, the toll went up by 1.2% to 166 pesos.

Although the Mazatlán-Durango highway has proved costly to maintain, motorists will pay only 1.5% more with the new toll of 601 pesos.

Travelers between Monterrey, Nuevo León, and Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, started paying 253 pesos today, up 4.1%.

The fee on the highway connecting the Veracruz cities of Córdoba and Veracruz rose by 3.5%, to 206 pesos, while in Tamaulipas motorists driving between Reynosa and Matamoros will pay 77 pesos, 2.6% more.

The only route where tolls remain unchanged is Mexico City-Acapulco, one of the most heavily used highways. The price is still 530 pesos.

Capufe is a branch of the federal Secretariat of Communications and Transportation and operates a network of 42 highways and 32 bridges, 12 of which are international.

The last time highway tolls went up was in January.

Source: Milenio (sp)

4 officers killed, 6 wounded after police convoy ambushed in Chihuahua

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September 7, 2018

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One of the patrol vehicles attacked last night.

A large group of armed civilians ambushed a state police convoy in the Sierra Tarahumara of Chihuahua last night, killing four officers and wounding six others. At least one officer is missing.

The attack took place about 8:30pm at El Nogal, located between the communities of San Juanito and San Pedro in the municipality of Bocoyna.

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The attackers, believed to belong to the crime gang called La Línea, launched grenades and Molotov cocktails at the convoy before opening fire with assault rifles.

The officers were returning to their operations base after arresting three armed individuals in San Juanito and turning them over to authorities in the city of Cuauhtémoc, the state Attorney General said.

State and federal security forces responded to the attack with a land and air deployment of police to locate the missing officer and search for the attackers.

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

166 skulls and other remains exhumed from hidden graves in Veracruz

By

MND Staff

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September 7, 2018

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Searching for human remains in Veracruz.

Authorities in Veracruz have exhumed at least 166 skulls and other human remains from 32 hidden graves located on a property in the center of the state.

Veracruz Attorney General Jorge Winckler Ortiz told a press conference yesterday that during a 30-day search, investigators also found 200 articles of clothing, 144 ID cards and other personal belongings.

He said that he wouldn’t disclose the exact location of the site for security reasons.

Analysis of the human remains shows that the bodies were buried at least two years ago, Winckler said.

Authorities have requested the assistance of the scientific division of the Federal Police to identify the remains and asked families of missing persons in the state to provide DNA samples or any other information that could aid the identification process.

The clandestine graves were first located on August 8 after state authorities received information from an unidentified person about a location where hundreds of bodies were buried.

The site was inspected using drones, probes and ground-penetrating radar and the human remains were found over an area spanning 300 square meters. Another grave is still to be inspected and Winckler didn’t rule out finding more bodies.

In June, members of a group dedicated to searching for missing persons in Veracruz said that more than 300 bodies have been exhumed from hidden graves in the state over the past two years. The latest discovery increases that figure by more than 50%.

Violence in Veracruz rose sharply during the 2010-2016 administration of former governor Javier Duarte, who is now in jail awaiting trial on corruption charges and links to organized crime.

Four former high-ranking security officials and 15 police officers are accused of using death squad tactics to forcibly disappear at least 15 people during Duarte’s governorship.

The discovery of the 166 skulls is one of the largest mass grave finds in Mexico.

It’s not the first time that an anonymous tip has revealed the location of clandestine graves containing hundreds of bodies.

In 2016 and 2017, Veracruz investigators found 253 skulls and bodies in burial pits near the state capital of Xalapa, and 195 bodies were exhumed from a mass grave in San Fernando, Tamaulipas in 2011.

Source: Milenio (sp)