El R-3 and 8 others from Los Rojos detained

Translated by Otis B Fly-Wheel for Borderland Beat from a SDPNoticias article

{ Subject Matter: Hector Crescencio de Leon Fonesca, El R-3
Recommendation: No prior subject matter knowledge required ]

Click on image to enlarge

Fonesca is the second in command of the organization, and functions as the armed wing of the Cartel del Golfo.

Personnel of SEIDO detained nine members of a cell pertinent to the Cartel del Golfo that operate in Tamaulipas. Among the detained are Hector Crescencio de Leon Fonesca nicknamed "El R-3", who is known to be second in command of the group known as "Los Rojos".

According to the PGR, the detentions were the result of investigative work by the head the Unit Specializing in investigation of terrorism, and arms trafficking together with the Investigation division of the Federal Police.




The information published in La Journada indicated that, this group are dedicated to diverse criminal acts including, drug trafficking, arms trafficking, fuel theft, kidnapping, extortion in the towns of Tampico, Ciudad Madero and Altamira.

During the operation they confiscated two armored pickups, two .50 cal Barrett rifles, one assault rifle, one pistol, 1500 rounds of ammunition, weapon magazines, 200 grammes of heroin, 50 kilos of marijuana and Satellite communication equipment.

Original article in Spanish at SDP Noticias.

Rolling Stone:Full 17 minute video of Sean Penn/Chapo interview

DD for Borderland Beat video: Rolling Stone Magazine/Kate Castillo Productions
My thanks to Chivis for her help in acquiring and embedding the video and helping put this together.

It is hard to believe that last Friday, just shy of six months on the lam, Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán Loera was recaptured and now is once again incarcerated in Mexico’s only “super-max” prison, No.1 Altiplano, Centro Federal de Readaptación Social Número 1, in Mexico State. The capo, premier leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, famous for his narco tunnels, escaped from Altiplano in July, 2015, in a Chapo-tunnel, engineered with precision, having been constructed from a farm house a mile from the prison, to Chapo’s cell shower floor.

His days of freedom, relatively short lived, came to an end because of the successful operation, “Black Swan” of the Mexican Navy. He once again was prepared and almost eluded capture using a secret door to a staircase and sewer system. He was successful in using an alike escape plan, February, 2014 plan in Culiacan, Sinaloa.

Few people knew there was another shocker coming, about the man whose life history, is a gift that somehow keeps on giving.

Within 48 hrs news broke that Actor Sean Penn had traveled to Sinaloa, in October 2015, just three months ago, met with Chapo and conducted an interview for Rolling Stone Magazine.

A video teaser of two minutes was included with the interview article, and today the full and complete 17 minute version was released.

It should be noted that Arely Gomez, eluded to the fact that it was Chapo’s communications with “actors and producers”, regarding his making and staring in a biographical movie, that lead the government to Chapo’s hiding network.

Yesterday Mexico said people should be grateful to Penn, for because of his involvement with Chapo, he was able to be captured.

You may want to turn the volume down or off, as the Gallo?Rooster constant crowing is more than annoying.

Dr. Mireles Asks For Forgiveness

Translated by Valor for Borderland Beat

José Manuel Mireles Valverde, former spokesman of the autodefensas of Michoacán, asked for forgiveness from the government and his family “for having disrespected them with his words or actions.”

“I use this message to apologize to the Government of Mexico and its official and unofficial institutions, and its structures spread out throughout the national territory, for having disrespected them with words or actions, for having offended them with my omissions and civil disobedience,” Mireles said in a message posted on social networks.

To mark the start of the year, Dr. Mireles also apologized for having abused “liberal thinking and for having altered the political and social order of Michoacán and Mexico.”

Mireles, who was detained on June 27, 2014 and is being held in a prison in Hermosillo, Sonora, confessed to taking the decision of being “at peace with God, with the government, with my family, and with the autodefensa movement.”

“I humbly pray and from the bottom of my heart, I ask that they forgive me for all the harm I may have caused them or for the reason or reasons that they may have been. I apologize to my children, for having abandoned them trying to solve a problem that is only up to the bodies of government,” is heard in the audio allegedly recorded by family members during a phone call.

In a part of the audio, he talks about his father and dedicates this message:

“To my venerable father, I ask for forgiveness for having left him at the age of 83; forgive me father for having done this during the last part of your existence, for having gone to fight in order for them to let us live in peace and dignity.”

“Forgive me father for having disobeyed you when they came to us asking for our help in order for the village to rise up in arms, you gave your good reasons: I’ve lost my wife, I’ve lost my cattle, I don’t want to lose any of my sons. Sorry for having disobeyed you and now being left alone,” said the former spokesman of the autodefensas.

The audio, which lasted 7:42 minutes, includes a call from the former spokesman of the General Council of the Autodefensas for the release of all civilians detained for having faced against organized crime.

In the recording, Mireles says that it is necessary to build a new Mexico, but without arms and quotes Javier Sicilia, Bishop Raúl Vera and General Gallardo.

José Manuel Mireles Valverde, founder of the autodefensas of Tepalcatepec, Michoacán, was detained on Friday, June 27 2014. The Attorney General of the State (PGJE) reported that the arrest occurred in the municipality of Lázaro Cárdenas for violating the Federal Law on Firearms and Explosives.

Mireles was the only founder of the autodefensas who didn’t join the Fuerza Rural, a group which Estanislao Beltrán “Papa Pitufo” and Hipólito Mora did join. He is accused of carrying firearms for the exclusive use of the Mexican Army, as well as possessing cocaine and marijuana.

Unlike the other 77 people who were with him at the time of his arrest (five of the detainees were minors and later released), Mireles Valverde was sent to the Federal Social Rehabilitation Center #11 in Sonora, on Sunday June 29.

Source:Sin Embargo