Young girls jailed after attempting to flee forced weddings in Guerrero

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August 5, 2022

The teenagers tried to flee, but were locked up with their families' permission (pictured: Mixtec adolescents in the neighboring Montaña region). — The teenagers tried to flee, but were locked up with their families' permission (pictured: Mixtec youth in the neighboring Montaña region).

Two 14-year-old girls were imprisoned for over 24 hours earlier this week after they attempted to flee their hometown in Guerrero to avoid impending forced marriages.

The indigenous Mixtec teenagers tried to leave El Capulín, a community in the Costa Chica region, last Sunday but were detained before they could escape. With the consent of their families, they were locked up in cells at the El Capulín police station.

The girls’ parents had arranged marriages for their daughters, a common practice in some indigenous towns in Guerrero. Young girls are sold into marriage for 40,000 to 200,000 pesos (about US $2,000 to $10,000), according to a 2021 report by the newspaper Reforma, which described the sale of child brides as a form of 21st-century slavery.

The Guerrero State Human Rights Commission (CDHEG) intervened in the case of the El Capulín girls and acting in conjunction with Tlacoachistlahuaca municipal authorities, managed to secure their release on Monday. They were returned to their families the same day.

Authorities told the families that the girls’ imprisonment and forcing them into marriage was a violation of their human rights. The CDHEG and Tlacoachistlahuaca will monitor their situation to avoid any further violations.

The girls’ night behind bars came eight months after another Mixtec teenager was jailed in the Montaña region of Guerrero after she too fled her home to avoid an arranged marriage. The family of Anayeli, aged 14 or 15 according to differing media reports, had arranged for her to marry a slightly older boy. The girl’s mother had agreed to a payment of 200,000 pesos from the boy’s family.

People below the age of 18 were banned from marrying across Mexico in 2019, but enforcing the law has been difficult in some indigenous communities.

During a trip to the Montaña region late last year, President López Obrador rejected claims that the practice of forced marriages was widespread, asserting that a media campaign had made the sale of girls for marriage or prostitution appear to be a bigger problem than it really is.

“I’m not here to look at that because it’s not the rule,” he said. “There are a lot of moral, cultural and spiritual values in the communities. It might be the exception, but it’s not the rule.”

The Network for Children’s Rights in Mexico promptly condemned the federal government for downplaying the seriousness of Mexico’s child trafficking problem, including the sale of young girls, saying it is a crime that the Mexican state must investigate and eradicate.

With reports from El Sol de Acapulco

Human trafficking victims grow in number as government strategy falters

By

Parker Asmann

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August 5, 2022

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Reported cases of human trafficking are up 22% this year. shutterstock

On July 30, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Mexico launched the Corazón Azul 2022 campaign, which aims to increase visibility and raise awareness of the many contexts in which human trafficking can occur in order to improve preventative measures and timely reporting.

“Our commitment as a country should not be reduced to certain types of trafficking victims; it must turn to prevention, not only of the crime, but of its structural causes,” said Félix Santana, the technical secretary of the Intersecretarial Commission against Human Trafficking within Mexico’s Interior Ministry (SEGOB).

The announcement came on the heels of newly released data from the Executive Secretariat for Public Security (SESNSP) showing Mexican authorities identified at least 494 victims of human trafficking across the country between January and June of this year.

This represented a 22% uptick from the 406 victims recorded during the first half of 2021. If the current trend holds, officials will see nearly 1,000 victims of human trafficking by the end of the year, the most since 2015, according to an InSight Crime analysis of SESNSP data.

However, the true number of victims far exceeds those reported. Civil society groups like Consejo Ciudadano estimate that just one of every 100 human trafficking cases in Mexico is reported. Victims may not speak out for a number of reasons, including a lack of available resources, to avoid being stigmatized, or because they have been manipulated not to see themselves as victims.

The U.S. State Department’s 2022 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report found that, for the eighth year in a row, the Mexican government “does not fully meet the minimum standards” to combat and eliminate human trafficking but is “making significant efforts” to do so.

Those with the highest risk of being trafficked in Mexico, according to the State Department, included unaccompanied children, indigenous persons, asylum seekers and migrants, members of the LGBTQ community, and informal sector workers, among other vulnerable populations.

Reports of human trafficking incidents by state.

Rather than at the hands of Mexican organized crime groups, “the majority of trafficking cases occur among family, intimate partners, acquaintances on social media, or through employment-related traps,” the report stated.

InSight Crime analysis

Human trafficking crimes take place all across Mexico and can transcend borders, but a number of states along the U.S.-Mexico border have long served as human trafficking hotspots.

Through the first six months of 2022, the states of Baja California, Chihuahua, and Nuevo León accounted for one quarter (122) of all human trafficking victims identified and a little less than 25% (95) of the 411 investigations opened by authorities.

Over the last year and a half, these three states were also among the top 10 states where Consejo Ciudadano’s National Human Trafficking Hotline received the most calls to report human trafficking.

This data helps paint part of the picture. In Baja California and Chihuahua, the border cities of Tijuana and Ciudad Juárez are known hubs for sexual and labor exploitation, while the manufacturing center of Monterrey in Nuevo León is a long-time operational base for human traffickers.

Given the economic makeup and transitory nature of these cities on migratory routes traversing Mexico, internal and foreign migrants are frequently lured there and victimized. Victims are entrapped by their exploiters in a number of ways, but since the onset of COVID-19, deceptive recruitment tactics have increasingly turned to social media platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp.

Those targeted are presented with attractive job offers that pay well but lack specific details on what the job entails. Stated promises of personal and professional development act as “a mask for exploitative conditions,” according to Consejo Ciudadano. Victims may be pushed into working longer hours for less pay or forced into prostitution after accepting a job offer as a waitresses or as part of a fake modeling contract.

The most reported form of exploitation is sexual, but trafficking experts told InSight Crime that doesn’t make it the most prevalent type of trafficking. Labor exploitation in the agricultural, construction, and manufacturing industries in Mexico is also widespread, but much less reported. With a growing number of people living in poverty and other precarious conditions, there are many desperate workers vulnerable to exploitation.

Whereas predatory groups like the Zetas once operated their own prostitution rings, today human trafficking does not represent a central revenue source for Mexico’s major organized crime groups. The industry is largely dominated by independent family clans that carefully select those they prey on.

Reprinted from InSight Crime. Parker Asmann is a writer with InSight Crime, a foundation dedicated to the study of organized crime.

Specialists sound alarm over decline in child vaccination rate

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MND Staff

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August 5, 2022

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baby vaccine — The shots recommended for infants protect against tuberculosis, hepatitis B, tetanus, whooping cough, polio, influenza, measles, chickenpox and more.

Less than one-third of infants have had all their recommended vaccines, a situation that health experts warn could lead to outbreaks of diseases such as polio, measles and whooping cough.

The 2021 National Health and Nutrition Survey found that just 27.5% of one-year-olds and 31.1% of two-year-olds have had all six crucial vaccines. The recommended shots provide protection against a range of diseases including tuberculosis, hepatitis B, diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, polio, influenza, pneumococcal infections, rotavirus, measles, chickenpox and mumps.

Jaime Sepúlveda, a former deputy health minister who is now executive director of the Institute for Global Health Sciences at the University of California in San Francisco, attributed the low immunization rates among infants to a lack of vaccine supply.

The federal government has failed to guarantee supply because it hasn’t bought enough vaccines on the international market, he told the newspaper Reforma. There hasn’t been a shortage of childhood vaccines on that market, Sepúlveda said, attributing the problem to government incompetence.

Jaime Sepúlveda, a former deputy health minister-turned-academic. University of California

“It’s very concerning because we’re seeing a resurgence of polio in African countries in addition to endemic disease in Afghanistan and Pakistan,” he said. “It’s even extended to New York now,” Sépulveda said, referring to a polio case detected in Rockland County last month — the first reported in the United States in almost a decade.

“When I had the [childhood] vaccination program under my care we had coverage above 94%,” he said, referring to the period he was deputy health minister in the 1988-94 government led by former president Carlos Salinas de Gortari.

“We had the fortune of eradicating polio from the national territory during the administration of [former health minister] Dr. Jesús Kumate,” Sépulveda added.

Miguel Betancourt, former president of the Mexican Society of Public Health, shares the view that the low vaccination rates are worrying because it means unvaccinated children — and adults — are susceptible to contagious diseases.

Low levels of vaccination coverage create fertile ground for the reemergence of diseases that authorities have worked hard to control, he said. Betancourt said that a measles outbreak in Mexico City two years ago was the result of low vaccination rates against that disease.

He said that vaccination rates among young children began to decline 15 years ago and the situation worsened during the coronavirus pandemic.

Citing information from the Mexican Vaccination Observatory, Betancourt said the low rates among infants are mainly due to a lack of vaccines at health care centers. The government didn’t buy enough vaccines or didn’t distribute them in a timely manner, he said.

With reports from Reforma

Armed forces seize 1.6 tonnes of cocaine after boat chase off Michoacán

By

Rose Egelhoff

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August 5, 2022

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Marines stand guard over Wednesday's cocaine seizure.

Mexican marines have seized more than a tonne of cocaine and hundreds of liters of fuel from a boat discovered off the coast of Michoacán, the navy announced on Wednesday.

After a high-speed chase at sea, the marines forced the alleged traffickers back toward land near the beach-side community of Barras de Nexpa, 60 kilometers west of Lázaro Cárdenas. The navy seized 1.6 tonnes of cocaine and 432 liters of fuel and arrested three people, it said in a press release.

After navy intelligence identified that a drug shipment was likely to pass through the area, a maritime patrol plane spotted a suspicious speedboat with three outboard motors. Two marine units were then dispatched to intercept the shipment, navy officials said.

“The crew of the suspicious vessel, caught unawares, increased their speed and upon arriving at the beach they fled …”

SEMAR asegura más de una tonelada de cocaína y diversos efectos en Costas de Michoacán

Watch this video on YouTube

Navy personnel seized the vessel’s cargo and later the same day captured another vessel.

A similarly sized shipment of cocaine was seized in Mexico City in late July, the largest bust in the city’s history. The 1.68-tonne shipment had an estimated worth of 400 million pesos (US $19.6 million) but could have been sold for double that price if it had reached the United States.

With reports from Reforma

Tonnes of avocado waste will be converted into clean energy in Michoacán

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MND Staff

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August 5, 2022

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The biodigestor breaks down organic waste like avocado seeds and skin to create fertilizer and fuel. ContraLuz

A company in Michoacán is putting avocado waste to good use, transforming it into biogas and organic fertilizer.

Using some 100 tonnes of waste such as seeds and skin, Energías Verdes de Michoacán (Green Energy of Michoacán) is currently producing 10,000 cubic meters of natural gas every 24 hours as well as 40,000 liters of organic fertilizer.

The transformation takes place at a plant in Peribán, a municipality some 200 kilometers northwest of Morelia on the border with Jalisco. Michoacán is Mexico’s largest avocado-growing state with annual production of some 1.8 million tonnes.

The origin of Energías Verdes de Michoacán (Enavem) can be traced back to a chance meeting between Rogelio Sosa López, a businessman and owner of a company that makes biogas out of nopal, and a young avocado oil producer identified only as Víctor in a report by the news website Mi Morelia.

After Víctor told him that his business was struggling to cope with the vast quantities of avocado waste generated by the oil-making process, Sosa suggested that a biodigester — a system that digests organic waste in order to convert it to biogas and fertilizer — could be a solution.

The two men decided to explore the idea and subsequently formed Enavem, a company whose work today wouldn’t be possible without the expertise and skills of a team of engineers, agronomists, biologists and other experts.

The company began operations six months ago and consequently solved Víctor’s gargantuan waste problem. Instead of the avocado refuse accumulating, rotting and emitting methane into the atmosphere, it is now fed into two biodigesters that transform the organic matter into gas and fertilizer without the need for any chemical additives.

The natural gas can be transformed into “any kind of energy,” Sosa said. “We currently use it just for the boilers at the [avocado] oil factory and for vehicles but this is the first renewable clean energy with the potential to substitute gasoline and any other kind of energy obtained from fossil waste,” he claimed.

An aerial view of the biodigestor facility. ContraLuz

Methane-rich biogas produced from a wide range of raw materials is in fact already used as fuel for vehicles, including in Michoacán where some cars with modified fuel tanks run on Sosa’s nopal gas.

According to the International Renewable Energy Agency, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States were the largest producers of biogas as vehicle fuel in 2016 and China, France, the U.K. and Scandinavian countries are among the nations that have strongly supported the transition to biogas use in the transport sector. The agency said that switching to biogas as vehicle fuel can reduce greenhouse gas emissions between 60% and 80% compared to fossil-based fuels like gasoline and diesel.

Sosa asserted that the avocado biogas produced in Peribán “doesn’t contaminate, although there is still combustion.”

The lower levels of contamination generated by the use of the biogas is compensated by the carbon capture capacity of avocado trees as they grow, he explained.

Enavem is planning to start using a third biodigester soon and intends to continue increasing its capacity to produce biogas and fertilizer from avocado waste. Greater production could open the door to broader use of the environmentally-friendly products outside the avocado industry. For now, however, Enavem’s ingenuity mainly benefits the sector on which it depends.

“For the extraction of [avocado] oil high temperatures are needed and they’re now generated with the natural gas. The fertilizer … is reintegrated in the same orchards … [from which the avocados came] in order to stop using chemicals. In this way we’re closing a complete cycle in agricultural production, we’re returning the nutrients to the land,” Sosa said.

“We’re proposing alternatives in order to have clean water, soil and air and to stop indiscriminately and criminally contaminating our natural resources,” he added. “It’s true that the change of land use for the cultivation of avocados generates other [negative] impacts but that’s within the purview of the state. We’re not going to get involved in that issue, what we’re doing is a … solution to one part of the problem.”

With reports from Mi Morelia

Government plans to create commission to reinforce efforts to combat homicides

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MND Staff

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August 5, 2022

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crime scene — Reducing violence was one of López Obrador campaign promises, and the goal of his "hugs not bullets" strategy.

The federal government is planning to create a temporary commission to assist efforts to combat homicides, which numbered more than 15,000 in the first six months of the year.

The Security Ministry (SSPC) outlined the proposed function and composition of the Internal Commission for Attention to the Crime of Intentional Homicide in a document submitted to the National Commission for Regulatory Improvement.

The ministry said the commission will be responsible for coordinating the anti-homicide efforts of the federal government’s security and law enforcement agencies. “Through coordination mechanisms,” the commission will also collaborate with state and municipal security authorities within the framework of the federal anti-homicide strategy, the SSPC said.

The commission — whose overarching aim is to support “the effective prevention, investigation, prosecution and punishment of the crime of intentional homicide — will be “the base for the subsequent formalization of the National Anti-Homicide Coordination,” the ministry said.

Security Minister Rosa Icela Rodríguez has emphasized that intentional homicides are trending down, but AMLO's term remains on track to be the most violent of recent administrations. — Security Minister Rosa Icela Rodríguez has emphasized that intentional homicides are trending down.

The head of the SSPC’s General Unit of Legal Affairs and Transparency will lead the commission, with other Security Ministry officials and representatives of the National Guard completing its composition.

“The assigned personnel will carry out the tasks entrusted to it,” the SSPC document said. “… To achieve its purpose the commission will have working groups that will meet periodically according to the needs of the service or at least once a month.”

The commission will manage a criminal information system containing homicide data, formulate bimonthly reports detailing actions carried out to combat the crime and provide advice on security policy and strategy to federal, state and municipal authorities, among other responsibilities.

Its establishment will occur after the government publishes a document to that end in its official gazette. The commission will be absorbed into the National Anti-Homicide Coordination once that institution has been established.

President López Obrador campaigned on a promise to reduce violence in Mexico, but his first full year in office — 2019 — was the worst on record for homicides with over 34,000 victims, and over 30,000 people were murdered in each of 2020 and 2021.

All told, over 120,000 people have been murdered since the president was sworn in December 1, 2018. Homicides declined 9.1% in the first six months of 2022, Security Minister Rosa Icela Rodríguez reported in late July, but AMLO’s six-year term nevertheless remains on track to be the most violent in recent decades.

With reports from Animal Político and El Universal

Oxtankah archaeological site holds clues about ancient Maya seafarers

By

Thilini Wijesinhe

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August 4, 2022

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Tomb at Oxtankah site, Chetumal — This tomb at the center of Oxtankah's Bees Plaza has a replica skeleton, but it's been otherwise preserved the way it was found, right up to the position of the skeleton.

The ancient Mayas are widely known for their achievements in architecture and astronomy but are perhaps less known for their commercial and seafaring skills. But the archaeological site Oxtankah’s history reveals how its inhabitants used marine resources for economic purposes.

The Maya of Oxtankah were skilled sailors. The National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) says they used canoes to access the Caribbean Sea for trading. They supplied products to interior Maya communities.

While this Quintana Roo archaeological zone may not be as popular as the coastal Maya site of Tulum, its lush surroundings and interesting history make for a beautiful visit. And since it gets few visitors, you may even have it to yourself, as we did when we toured there. Many structures at Oxtankah are yet to be excavated.

Situated just 16 kilometers from Chetumal, you can combine a visit to the site with a trip to Bacalar and its famous Lagoon of Seven Colors. History fans can also spend a few days in the region exploring other sites, including Chacchoben, Dzibanché and Kohunlich.

Plate from Oxtankah archaeological site — This plate found at Oxtankah featuring a vibrant fish design pays testament to the city’s role in the ancient Maya world. INAH

According to INAH, researcher Alberto Escalona Ramos gave the site its modern name in 1937. Oxtankah can have three meanings: “place surrounded by Ramón trees,” “in the middle of three towns” or “three neighborhoods.” The site’s original name is unknown.

Oxtankah was occupied from about 600 B.C. to A.D. 1100, peaking around A.D. 200–600. At that point, the city had over 100 buildings and included even the Tamalcab island off the coast. The Maya inhabitants built a water system here with chultunes – ancient water cisterns – to store rainwater.

Its economy was diverse: in addition to making use of marine resources, it produced salt and engaged in agriculture and beekeeping.

Expect to spend a couple of hours at the site and remember to enjoy its beautiful surroundings. Similar to other archaeological sites in the region, you can spot many iguanas here.

Near the entrance is an interesting stela – a carved stone slab – and a round stone that was perhaps an altar. After entering the site, you can walk up to the Bees Plaza.

West of this plaza is a building called Structure IV, a multilevel platform with the remains of four rooms. A red stucco design adorns the step on the entrance toward the rooms.

Archaeologists have identified different signs in this stucco decoration, including features of a jaguar, which the Maya considered a sacred animal. A thatched roof covers this section of the building, so you can’t miss it.

East of the plaza is Structure I, a pyramid topped by a temple, thought to have had a funerary purpose. Two tombs of important persons were discovered here – in line with Oxtankah’s tradition of burying rulers in tombs built inside buildings.

Oxtankah archaeological site — Structure VI in the Columns Plaza, where tombs were found.

South of the plaza is a palace built on a long platform, which served as a residence for key city personnel as well as having administrative and other purposes. Its facade is believed to once have had colorful stucco decorations, but no signs of them exist anymore. You can see the remains of a few rooms here.

A must-see in the Bees Plaza is the altar in its center, also covered with a thatched roof. Building altars in the center of notable plazas is considered a Mesoamerican tradition.

Here you can see a tomb of an important person. Although the skeleton is a replica, it’s placed in the same position as the original burial, with its head pointing north, which was the direction associated with the dead.

After exploring the Bees Plaza, visit the Columns Plaza, where archaeologists discovered many tombs.

And then east of the Columns Plaza is the Structure VI pyramid, where several tombs of important persons with rich offerings were discovered. Look out for the replica skeleton placed in one of its tombs.

West of this plaza is a palace. A few rooms here are identified as possible royal residences. Another room was a kitchen. This building also once had colorful stucco decorations.

There are other buildings worth seeing, including the elite residence to the north of the Columns Plaza. But perhaps another must-see is the 16th-century chapel built by the Spanish. It will remind you of the chapel in Dzibilchaltún, if you have been there.

This chapel has two rooms on either side, one of which is in fairly good condition.

Finally, there is a building on a round platform toward the site’s north section that is speculated to have had an astronomical function. You can also see a chultun in this area.

And before you leave, remember to visit the small onsite museum for a glimpse into the life of the ancient Mayas.

Keen to learn even more about the Maya culture? Visit the Museum of Mayan Culture in nearby Chetumal.

Thilini Wijesinhe, a financial professional turned writer and entrepreneur, moved to Mexico in 2019 from Australia. She writes from Mérida, Yucatán. Her website can be found at https://momentsing.com/

In this Puebla community, migration to the US is longstanding tradition

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MND Staff

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August 4, 2022

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A man sits in the central plaza of Xoyatla, Puebla. — A man sits in the central plaza of Xoyatla, Puebla, a source of US migrants.

Reina Nolasco’s father and four of her brothers migrated to the United States to work and send money home to family members who remained in her small town in Puebla. But she is far from the only Xoyatla resident with relatives in the States: heading north to work is a long-established tradition in the community located about 60 kilometers southwest of Puebla city.

Nolasco, a teacher in Xoyatla — a town of some 2,000 people where Náhuatl is still spoken — told the newspaper El Sol de Puebla that her father left for the U.S. in 1980 and worked there for over two decades to support his family at home.

“He made a commitment to his family to give us [children] the best [life he could],” she said. “Since then we understood that giving your all for your children is the greatest [source of] pride. ”

Nolasco, one of nine siblings, said that four of her brothers followed in their father’s footsteps and migrated to the U.S. to work. The money they sent home put her and her sisters through university, she said.

[wpgmza id=”367″]

Nolasco’s father returned to Xoyatla in 2006 but her brothers remain in the U.S. and send remittances home to their parents, returning the favor to their hard-working dad. Together they send between US $200 and $300 home per month, or more if there is a religious festival or other special event coming up, Nolasco said.

“That’s the way it is in our town,” she said, referring to the longstanding practice of emigrating to the U.S. to work.

“It’s hard because we don’t see our brothers, uncles and fathers for maybe 20 or even 30 years, but that’s the tradition and we have to respect it,” Nolasco said.

With so many erstwhile Xoyatla residents in the United States, it’s no surprise that remittances are the main source of income in the town, where working-age inhabitants mainly work on farms, make mezcal or weave baskets and other craftwork with palm leaves.

With dollars flowing into the town — including cash — local businesses began accepting payments in greenbacks in 2000, El Sol de Puebla said, adding that purchases are still occasionally made with the United States currency. The newspaper reported that migrants return to Xoyatla when they reach a certain age, with some marrying once they’re back in their home town.

Families commonly build homes with money earned in the United States, where poblanos — as natives of Puebla state are known — are well represented among the Mexican migrant community, especially in states such as New York and California.

With reports from El Sol de Puebla

Jalisco cartel now has presence in 28 states: US Congress

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MND Staff

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August 4, 2022

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CJNG sicarios posed with their faces uncovered in a series of 2021 photos. cuartoscuro

The Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) operates in Mexico City and 27 states, and is the dominant criminal organization in six states, according to a report by the United States Congressional Research Service (CRS).

A map published in the report shows that Sonora, Sinaloa, Durango and Tlaxcala are the only states where the CJNG doesn’t have a presence. It also shows that the CJNG is the dominant criminal force in its home state of Jalisco as well as Nayarit, Colima, Guerrero, México state and Veracruz.

Entitled “Mexico: Organized Crime and Drug Trafficking Organizations,” the report said the CJNG is an “extremely powerful cartel” with a “reputation for extreme and intimidating violence.”

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) “considers the CJNG a top U.S. threat and Mexico’s best-armed criminal group,” the CRS said, noting that U.S. authorities have offered a US $10 million reward for information leading to the arrest of cartel leader Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes, “who is believed to be hiding in the mountains of Jalisco, Michoacán, and Colima.”

A map of cartel-controlled areas and zones of conflict in Mexico, compiled by the U.S. Congressional Research Service. U.S. CRS

Informed by media reports, the CRS report acknowledged that, according to some analysts, the CJNG has drug trafficking operations throughout the Americas, Asia, and Europe.

“The CJNG built its dominance internationally first through extending its presence through a rapid expansion inside Mexico,” it said.

“In 2016, many analysts maintained the CJNG controlled a territory equivalent to almost half of Mexico. The group has battled Los Zetas and Gulf Cartel factions in Tabasco, Veracruz, and Guanajuato, as well as the Sinaloa … [Cartel] in the Baja Peninsula and Chihuahua. The CJNG’s ambitious expansion campaign was characterized by high levels of violence, particularly in Ciudad Juárez and Tijuana.”

The CRS also said that the CJNG has consolidated “important components of the global narcotics supply chain” through its battle to dominate key ports on both the Pacific and Gulf coasts.

“In particular, the CJNG maintains reported control over the ports of Veracruz, Manzanillo, and Lázaro Cárdenas, which has given the group access to precursor chemicals that flow into Mexico from China and other parts of Latin America,” the report said.

“As a result, according to some analysts, the CJNG has pursued an aggressive growth strategy underwritten by U.S. demand for Mexican methamphetamine, heroin, and fentanyl. … Despite leadership losses, the CJNG has extended its geographic reach and maintained its own cohesion while exploiting the infighting among factions of the Sinaloa organization.”

The CRS described the cartel as “intensely expansionist” and acknowledged its “willingness” to attack government officials, such as Mexico City Police Chief Omar García Harfuch.

The report also profiled eight other major Mexican criminal groups, including the Sinaloa Cartel, the Gulf Cartel and La Familia Michoacana.

A roadblock manned by armed civilians surprised a group of reporters as they followed the president through northern Sinaloa in May. Video screenshot

Once headed by imprisoned drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, the Sinaloa Cartel is the “the Mexican crime organization with the largest international footprint,” CRS said. Its report cited a DEA estimate that the cartel was active in 15 of 32 Mexican entities in 2020 and noted that its leaders have successfully corrupted public officials from the local to the national level.

The report also said that many lawmakers in the current U.S. Congress are concerned about cartel-related violence in Mexico and its impact on border security.

“Some members have been evaluating the amounts and effectiveness of U.S. counternarcotics and security assistance to Mexico and assessing the overall U.S.-Mexico security relationship. Additional concerns focus on how … [cartel]-related violence has imperiled some licit economic sectors, negatively affected U.S.-Mexico trade, and contributed to the internal displacement and outmigration of Mexican citizens,” it said.

“Congress has engaged regularly with these issues, holding hearings, appropriating funds to support Mexico’s anti-crime efforts, and issuing directives and reporting requirements to U.S. agencies.”

Mexico News Daily

10 trapped in flooded Coahuila mine

By

MND Staff

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August 4, 2022

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Military in Coahuila for miners rescue — The military arrived on the scene Wednesday, deploying a rescue plan for the 10 trapped miners. NG/Twitter

Ten miners remained trapped Thursday afternoon following an accident Wednesday at a coal mine in the northern state of Coahuila.

The tense situation began Wednesday afternoon when workers reportedly were excavating one shaft and ran into an adjoining shaft that was full of water, which caused a flood and trapped the miners.

According to an update early Thursday, five miners were able to get out shortly after the accident and were taken for medical care; three remain hospitalized.

Later, during the morning press conference of President López Obrador, an official reported that a group of 30 military personnel with specialized equipment left for the scene late Wednesday night, as did divers from the National Guard. A coordination post has been set up onsite, added Agustín Radilla Suástegui, the deputy minister of national defense, and there was an early-morning meeting among agencies to coordinate rescue efforts.

trapped miners in Coahuila — Families of the trapped miners said that their loved ones had been prohibited from entering the mine earlier this week due to flooding concerns but had re-entered when finances became an issue. Internet

The mine is located near the small town of Agujitas, which is about 110 kilometers from the Texas border in the municipality of Sabinas, Coahuila.

Radilla said the miners were trapped between two pits flooded with approximately 34 meters of water. The mine is made up of three 60-meter-deep shafts.

López Obrador said he had instructed the heads of the military (Sedena), CFE, Pemex and Conagua to streamline support. “What I wish with all my soul is that we rescue the miners,” he added.

According to an account from Sedena, the accident occurred while the miners worked with hand tools in a 50-meter-deep pit. When they tapped into the adjoining area full of water, a tunnel collapsed, causing the flood that trapped the men.

Governor Miguel Ángel Riquelme Solís, center, conferring with the rescue team at the mine. Twitter

The newspaper El Sol de México reported that relatives of the miners said it had been known since Monday that working there was risky because a farm in the Agujita area had a pocito (well) with excess water. For that reason, “the workers were not allowed to enter [the mine] on Monday and Tuesday,” the newspaper wrote.

El Sol de México added that on “Wednesday it was decided that they should go down to work, since they are paid for each tonne of coal extracted, and a stoppage would” result in financial setbacks.

The goal of the rescuers is to get pumping equipment into place to drain the coal pit, sources reported, so search-and-rescue teams can enter. According to media reports, the rescue force in the mine area numbers 269 people, including nearly 100 soldiers and seven agencies of the federal government, as well as state and municipal organizations and four military canine pairs.

“It is complicated, but … the important thing is to place the pumps strategically to extract the greatest amount of water and have immediate access to the mines,” said national Civil Protection coordinator Laura Velázquez.

Napoleon Gomez Urrutia — Senator Napoleon Gómez, seen here in an old photo from when he was the head of a national mine workers’ syndicate, said the accident made a case for reforming the Mining Law. The miners were not unionized.

The mine began operations in January 2022 and hadn’t had any incidents before this week, the Ministry of Labor and Social Security (STPS) reported, according to El Sol de México, which also reported that, like most mine workers in Mexico, the trapped miners are not unionized.

“For that and other fundamental reasons, we need a comprehensive reform of the Mining Law,” Morena Senator Napoleón Gómez Urrutia said.

Gómez’s father was a mining union leader for 40 years and he, too, has been involved in union leadership.

On Twitter, Gómez, the president and general secretary of the National Mining Union wrote that authorities do not comply with their obligation to inspect or supervise coal-mining operations, and “that is why these tragedies occur very often,” El Sol de México reported.

The accident recalls a previous disaster in February 2006 at the Pasta de Conchos mine, also in Coahuila, where 65 workers died. Only two bodies were recovered. Since then, there have been more than 100 deaths of miners in the area, the Excélsior newspaper reported.

The most recent accident was in June 2021, in the municipality of Múzquiz, Coahuila, when a flood caused the roof and walls of a mine to rupture, killing all seven miners who were trapped inside.

With reports from El Sol de México, Infobae and Milenio