Thursday, July 30, 2015
Walker’s Philadelphia cheesesteak mockery
Several Philly tourists not amused with Scott Walker crashing their lunch. Overheard: “Stand in line with the rest of us.” “Who is that?” — Jenna Johnson (@wpjenna) July 28, 2015 This is silly but sometimes you just gotta stop, smell the roses, and indulge in some mockery of Scott Walker’s cheesesteak choices. It’s the standard more »
Walker’s Philadelphia cheesesteak mockery
Several Philly tourists not amused with Scott Walker crashing their lunch. Overheard: “Stand in line with the rest of us.” “Who is that?” — Jenna Johnson (@wpjenna) July 28, 2015 This is silly but sometimes you just gotta stop, smell the roses, and indulge in some mockery of Scott Walker’s cheesesteak choices. It’s the standard more »
Tuesday, July 28, 2015
WI Supreme Court “went well beyond what any court has ever held in opening the floodgates to secret money in politics”
Brendan Fischer of PRWatch was recently interviewed by Janine Jackson of Fair.org. A couple of exerpts: JJ: Well, it sounds as though the charge was that Walker actively sought to skirt finance laws and that the ruling is: Yes, he did, but it’s OK? I mean, help us to understand exactly what happened here. BF: That’s about right. more »
Monday, July 27, 2015
Republican presidential candidates cluster accounts at bank with only 1 branch in McLean, Virginia
Hmmmmm. From Bloomberg: “According to the most recent Federal Election Commission filings, Chain Bridge is the sole bank serving Jeb Bush’s presidential campaign, which reported raising $11.4 million as of June 30, and his allied super-PAC, Right to Rise, which says it’s raised $103 million so far. Donald Trump’s campaign banks at Chain Bridge, and it’s more »
The engineers of El Chapo
Translated by Otis B Fly-Wheel for Borderland Beat from a Zetatijuana article
[ Subject Matter: Engineers, El Chapo Guzman, tunnel building, Sinaloa Cartel
Recommendation: No prior subject matter knowledge required]
Far from the Mexican frontier from California to Arizona, in the storm drains of Culiacan, Sinaloa, and below "Altiplano" Cefereso no.1 in Alomoloya de Juarez, Mexico State, Joaquin Guzman Loera extended a network of underground passages both to distribute drugs and to escape from the authorities. The worlds most want Kingpin, discovered in Engineering, his best weapon and tool.
Reporter: Ines Garcia Ramos
In a cell of less than 8 square metres with a bed and a concrete floor, shower and toilet included, was the space where Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman waited for 1 year and 139 days, while under "Altiplano" a tunnel was excavated to facilitate his escape.
The leader of the Sinaloa Cartel who occupied cell number 20, in the supermax area of "Altiplano". The prison constructed to house 724 inmates, but since August 2014 has a inmate population of 1140, according to the statistics of the Federal Government.
Of the 260,000 square metres that make up the maximum security prison, 27,900 of those square metres are the prison buildings. The 232,100 remaining square metres are used as the security perimeter, waiting rooms and parking lots.
The prison has three "ring fenced" security areas. The first is 100 m out from Chapo's cell (Otis: this is the "super max" area of Altiplano, 66% of Altiplano is maximum security only), the second area is out another 100 metres, and a third security area goes out another 170 metres past the second.
From the outside, these ring fenced areas, seem to isolate the prison, in the Santa Juana Colonia, in the Municipality of Almoloya de Juarez in the state of Mexico. The walls are only surpassed in height by the watchtowers, whose tips look out from the prison courtyards.
To live close to the Altiplano prison, is mostly a tranquil life for the villagers of Santa Juana, except for the two filter roads.
One used by the Army and the other used by the Federal Police, the Calle Rancho La Palma, the road to the prison is often confused with another that leads to the Ejidal Colonia. Because of the location of the prison, these roads are not used frequently, and mostly used by workers at the prison, a small taxi company operates opposite the entrance, with a few other small shops.
Only on visiting days does the number of people increase in the Santa Juana Colonia. Outside of that, pastures with horses and cows, surround the maximum security prison.
A few metres from the entrance of CEFERESO no.1, is a tank and a humvee of the Mexican Army, they are the only units to be found close to the prison.
The engineers in the service of "El Chapo"
A group of architects, engineers and consultants for ZETA, agree that the construction of the tunnel through which Chapo escaped, required a minimum investment of a 1,500,000 pesos, as well as input from specialist engineers and topographical experts.
The tunnel was constructed 1500 metres from the prison, in the car park of a farm and a house with three rooms, a bath, a kitchen together with amenities, some parts of which were still under construction.
Up until February 27th of 2014, there was no construction according to satellite images. A year later, on July 15th 2015, there were buildings constructed with 170.4 and 85.88 square metres.
According to information from the Government of the State of Mexico, the land where the tunnel construction began, belongs to Calixto Estrada Castle since 1989.
Measurements carried out weekly, indicate that the venue exceeds 2500 square meters. From the prison, the tunnel starts in the floor of the cell where El Chapo was imprisoned, in a rectangular form 50 cm wide by 1.5 metres tall.
This small passage connect to a vertical shaft of 10 metres with stairs leading down to the tunnel which extends in a direct line 1500 metres until it ends with another vertical duct junction with the exit in the house under construction.
The tunnel has a ventilation system made from PVC tubes with a system for oxygen injection and extraction of carbon dioxide, electric pumps, earth work supports made from wood and rails on which an adapted motorcycle removed earth which had been excavated, and as a means of transport for drilling machinery.
Tanks of oxygen, fuel, piping and wooden containers were also found in place.
These characteristics are not foreign to the narco tunnels of the Sinaloa cartel and found along the frontier of Mexico, from California to Arizona.
According to calculations made by architects and engineers, around 2400 metres cubed of earth had to be removed to excavate the sub terrainian passage.
To have been transported in trucks with a capacity of 10 metres cubed, would have required 240 trips.
However, in this case the Secretary of the Government indicated that the earth had been spread out south east of the prison.
The resulting pile was 1 metre high and 2500 square metres in area. In its entirety the excavated earth could have totally filled and olympic stadium, mean while the tunnel length was equivalent to 15 football pitches.
The specialist consultants estimate that the tunnel took between 450 and 316 days, a little more than 45 weeks.
For example, considering four shifts of 6 hours had extracted four cubic metres of earth, depending on the hardness of the earth, they could have excavated up to 7.5 metres cubed per worked day.
Referring to the number of workers, the specialists conclude that an average of six people, a restriction on the number placed due to the narrowness of the tunnel.
While not dug with heavy machinery, the motorcycle found there served to accelerate the transfer of earth and materials.
In theory, the major part of the work was carried out with pick and shovel, and other assistance from tools like rotary drills for earth perforation.
El Chapo and the National Commission for Water excavating almost shoulder to shoulder
The Altiplano prison is bordered by line 2 of the Cutzamala system, a complex of aqueducts and pumping plants, which is amongst the largest in the world. It supplies water to both delegations of the Federal District and the Municipalities of the State of Mexico.
The National Commission for Water (CONAGUA), are in charge of operating and maintaining the aqueduct. Before and after the arrival of the narco trafficker, carrying out excavations to reinforce the tubular aqueduct.
For example on the 12th of April of 2015, Conagua reported a water leak at kilometre 35 and 190 of line 2 of the aqueduct, in the town of Almoloya de Juarez, the prison is found at the start of Kilometer 40 and 242 of the same line that required two days of repairs.
In the works, were participating: 89 persons, that removed between 89 and 120 tons of earth, two excavators, and two retro-excavators, seven pumping teams, and 49 support vehicles like tractor trailers and trucks.
Weeks after, on Friday 1st of May, the mounds of earth produced by the excavation remained on the West side of the Prison. Reinforcing tubes weighing more than 25 tons, were resting on the side in the excavated tunnels.
Maximum security prison with minimum security foundations
After studying the engineering design ordered by "El Chapo", the prison authorities made a mistake putting "El Chapo" on the ground floor of the prison.
The narco trafficker not only counted on direct access to the floor of the prison, he was located in the basement of penitentiaries centre.
The depth of the concrete in the area in question, is about 12 centimetres, which was easily penetrated to create the opening in the floor through which "El Chapo" escaped.
The tunnel and its design follows the logic of other tunnels found in Sinaloa and Baja California constructed by the Sinaloa Cartel, digging under a bath or shower area.
When "El Chapo" was apprehended on 22nd of February of 2014, was on the fourth floor of a residential complex in Mazatlan. Days before, an operation failed to capture him, as he escaped through storm drains interconnected to houses and the drainage system in the city of Culiacan.
The entrance to the tunnels in his houses were under the bath tubs. ( Otis: see link to Chivis article on these tunnels).
The mark of "El Chapo" in the frontier narco-tunnels
Since the decade of the 1990's, more than 165 narco-tunnels have been discovered on the frontier between Mexico and the United States. Of these, 80 were detected between 2006 and 2015. According to the Department of National Security, the activity of narco-tunneling has increased 80% since 2008 and California is the region where the most sophisticated tunnels have been located.
Information from the Attorney General of California, indicates that the Sinaloa Cartel is the principal criminal organization in charge of constructing these tunnels. "The majority have been discovered in California and Arizona, territories controlled by the Sinaloa Cartel", explains the report.
More than 76 tons of marijuana and cocaine, the majority of which has been destroyed, whose value is estimated at 200 million dollars.
Precisely in the frontiers of San Ysidro and Mesa de Otay, close to Tijuana and Calexico - Mexicali, has increased the activity in construction of these passages indicate sources of intelligence.
On average, the narco tunnels found had a length of 600 metres, even though some have reached over 3 kilometres. Almost all have ventilation systems, lights and rails, like the construction that penetrated Altiplano.
The more elaborate, were constructed with steel doors with hydraulic actuators, elevators and reinforced walls.
And in the drains of Sinaloa
In the drainage systems of Sinaloa, "El Chapo" had a network of tunnels of escape and for transit of drugs. Between the 13th and 17th of February 2014, days before the capture of the capo
personnel of the PGR and the Marines, discovered the interconnections of seven houses that had escape tunnels into the storm drains of Culiacan, Sinaloa.
The entrances to the tunnels were under bath tubs in the houses, the openings had a width of 40 cm, and the connections a length of 1 kilometre to connect with other properties of Guzman Loera.
In this manner, he had been escaping from the Federal Authorities trying to capture him. For example, in a house located in the Guadelupe de Culiacan Colonia, "El Chapo" managed to escape from the Marines, through a tunnel who entrance was found protected with a reinforced steel door under a bath.
The ducts were lined with wooden panels and were equipped with lighting and ventilation systems.
Three members of the Sinaloa Cartel, escaped from Culiacan Prison, through a tunnel, on May 26th 2014: Adelmo Niebla Gonzalez, Rmaon Ruiz Ojeda and Adrian Campos Hernandez, fled through the passage of 160 metres in length with an exit, as in the case of "El Chapo", a building.
The escape alerts
The DEA informed the Mexican Government for 16 months, of the plans of Guzman Loera to escape the Federal penitentiary. According to the Wall St Journal, American functionaries alerted their Mexican counterparts about the risk of escape of the Sinaloan Capo.
Original article in Spanish at Zetatijuana
[ Subject Matter: Engineers, El Chapo Guzman, tunnel building, Sinaloa Cartel
Recommendation: No prior subject matter knowledge required]
Far from the Mexican frontier from California to Arizona, in the storm drains of Culiacan, Sinaloa, and below "Altiplano" Cefereso no.1 in Alomoloya de Juarez, Mexico State, Joaquin Guzman Loera extended a network of underground passages both to distribute drugs and to escape from the authorities. The worlds most want Kingpin, discovered in Engineering, his best weapon and tool.
Reporter: Ines Garcia Ramos
In a cell of less than 8 square metres with a bed and a concrete floor, shower and toilet included, was the space where Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman waited for 1 year and 139 days, while under "Altiplano" a tunnel was excavated to facilitate his escape.
The leader of the Sinaloa Cartel who occupied cell number 20, in the supermax area of "Altiplano". The prison constructed to house 724 inmates, but since August 2014 has a inmate population of 1140, according to the statistics of the Federal Government.
The prison has three "ring fenced" security areas. The first is 100 m out from Chapo's cell (Otis: this is the "super max" area of Altiplano, 66% of Altiplano is maximum security only), the second area is out another 100 metres, and a third security area goes out another 170 metres past the second.
From the outside, these ring fenced areas, seem to isolate the prison, in the Santa Juana Colonia, in the Municipality of Almoloya de Juarez in the state of Mexico. The walls are only surpassed in height by the watchtowers, whose tips look out from the prison courtyards.
One used by the Army and the other used by the Federal Police, the Calle Rancho La Palma, the road to the prison is often confused with another that leads to the Ejidal Colonia. Because of the location of the prison, these roads are not used frequently, and mostly used by workers at the prison, a small taxi company operates opposite the entrance, with a few other small shops.
Only on visiting days does the number of people increase in the Santa Juana Colonia. Outside of that, pastures with horses and cows, surround the maximum security prison.
A few metres from the entrance of CEFERESO no.1, is a tank and a humvee of the Mexican Army, they are the only units to be found close to the prison.
The engineers in the service of "El Chapo"
A group of architects, engineers and consultants for ZETA, agree that the construction of the tunnel through which Chapo escaped, required a minimum investment of a 1,500,000 pesos, as well as input from specialist engineers and topographical experts.
The tunnel was constructed 1500 metres from the prison, in the car park of a farm and a house with three rooms, a bath, a kitchen together with amenities, some parts of which were still under construction.
According to information from the Government of the State of Mexico, the land where the tunnel construction began, belongs to Calixto Estrada Castle since 1989.
Measurements carried out weekly, indicate that the venue exceeds 2500 square meters. From the prison, the tunnel starts in the floor of the cell where El Chapo was imprisoned, in a rectangular form 50 cm wide by 1.5 metres tall.
This small passage connect to a vertical shaft of 10 metres with stairs leading down to the tunnel which extends in a direct line 1500 metres until it ends with another vertical duct junction with the exit in the house under construction.
The tunnel has a ventilation system made from PVC tubes with a system for oxygen injection and extraction of carbon dioxide, electric pumps, earth work supports made from wood and rails on which an adapted motorcycle removed earth which had been excavated, and as a means of transport for drilling machinery.
Tanks of oxygen, fuel, piping and wooden containers were also found in place.
These characteristics are not foreign to the narco tunnels of the Sinaloa cartel and found along the frontier of Mexico, from California to Arizona.
To have been transported in trucks with a capacity of 10 metres cubed, would have required 240 trips.
However, in this case the Secretary of the Government indicated that the earth had been spread out south east of the prison.
The resulting pile was 1 metre high and 2500 square metres in area. In its entirety the excavated earth could have totally filled and olympic stadium, mean while the tunnel length was equivalent to 15 football pitches.
The specialist consultants estimate that the tunnel took between 450 and 316 days, a little more than 45 weeks.
For example, considering four shifts of 6 hours had extracted four cubic metres of earth, depending on the hardness of the earth, they could have excavated up to 7.5 metres cubed per worked day.
Referring to the number of workers, the specialists conclude that an average of six people, a restriction on the number placed due to the narrowness of the tunnel.
While not dug with heavy machinery, the motorcycle found there served to accelerate the transfer of earth and materials.
In theory, the major part of the work was carried out with pick and shovel, and other assistance from tools like rotary drills for earth perforation.
El Chapo and the National Commission for Water excavating almost shoulder to shoulder
The Altiplano prison is bordered by line 2 of the Cutzamala system, a complex of aqueducts and pumping plants, which is amongst the largest in the world. It supplies water to both delegations of the Federal District and the Municipalities of the State of Mexico.
For example on the 12th of April of 2015, Conagua reported a water leak at kilometre 35 and 190 of line 2 of the aqueduct, in the town of Almoloya de Juarez, the prison is found at the start of Kilometer 40 and 242 of the same line that required two days of repairs.
In the works, were participating: 89 persons, that removed between 89 and 120 tons of earth, two excavators, and two retro-excavators, seven pumping teams, and 49 support vehicles like tractor trailers and trucks.
Weeks after, on Friday 1st of May, the mounds of earth produced by the excavation remained on the West side of the Prison. Reinforcing tubes weighing more than 25 tons, were resting on the side in the excavated tunnels.
Maximum security prison with minimum security foundations
After studying the engineering design ordered by "El Chapo", the prison authorities made a mistake putting "El Chapo" on the ground floor of the prison.
The narco trafficker not only counted on direct access to the floor of the prison, he was located in the basement of penitentiaries centre.
The depth of the concrete in the area in question, is about 12 centimetres, which was easily penetrated to create the opening in the floor through which "El Chapo" escaped.
The tunnel and its design follows the logic of other tunnels found in Sinaloa and Baja California constructed by the Sinaloa Cartel, digging under a bath or shower area.
When "El Chapo" was apprehended on 22nd of February of 2014, was on the fourth floor of a residential complex in Mazatlan. Days before, an operation failed to capture him, as he escaped through storm drains interconnected to houses and the drainage system in the city of Culiacan.
The entrance to the tunnels in his houses were under the bath tubs. ( Otis: see link to Chivis article on these tunnels).
The mark of "El Chapo" in the frontier narco-tunnels
Since the decade of the 1990's, more than 165 narco-tunnels have been discovered on the frontier between Mexico and the United States. Of these, 80 were detected between 2006 and 2015. According to the Department of National Security, the activity of narco-tunneling has increased 80% since 2008 and California is the region where the most sophisticated tunnels have been located.
Information from the Attorney General of California, indicates that the Sinaloa Cartel is the principal criminal organization in charge of constructing these tunnels. "The majority have been discovered in California and Arizona, territories controlled by the Sinaloa Cartel", explains the report.
Precisely in the frontiers of San Ysidro and Mesa de Otay, close to Tijuana and Calexico - Mexicali, has increased the activity in construction of these passages indicate sources of intelligence.
On average, the narco tunnels found had a length of 600 metres, even though some have reached over 3 kilometres. Almost all have ventilation systems, lights and rails, like the construction that penetrated Altiplano.
The more elaborate, were constructed with steel doors with hydraulic actuators, elevators and reinforced walls.
And in the drains of Sinaloa
In the drainage systems of Sinaloa, "El Chapo" had a network of tunnels of escape and for transit of drugs. Between the 13th and 17th of February 2014, days before the capture of the capo
personnel of the PGR and the Marines, discovered the interconnections of seven houses that had escape tunnels into the storm drains of Culiacan, Sinaloa.
The entrances to the tunnels were under bath tubs in the houses, the openings had a width of 40 cm, and the connections a length of 1 kilometre to connect with other properties of Guzman Loera.
In this manner, he had been escaping from the Federal Authorities trying to capture him. For example, in a house located in the Guadelupe de Culiacan Colonia, "El Chapo" managed to escape from the Marines, through a tunnel who entrance was found protected with a reinforced steel door under a bath.
The ducts were lined with wooden panels and were equipped with lighting and ventilation systems.
Three members of the Sinaloa Cartel, escaped from Culiacan Prison, through a tunnel, on May 26th 2014: Adelmo Niebla Gonzalez, Rmaon Ruiz Ojeda and Adrian Campos Hernandez, fled through the passage of 160 metres in length with an exit, as in the case of "El Chapo", a building.
The escape alerts
The DEA informed the Mexican Government for 16 months, of the plans of Guzman Loera to escape the Federal penitentiary. According to the Wall St Journal, American functionaries alerted their Mexican counterparts about the risk of escape of the Sinaloan Capo.
Original article in Spanish at Zetatijuana
Sunday, July 26, 2015
Trump nails Walker on crumbling roads, deficit, underfunded education, Common Core flip-flops
Times are strange when you’re pleased to hear from Donald Trump, eh? What’s really wild is not only do I enjoy hearing Trump slam Walker, I have to admit that Trump is essentially telling the truth about the state of affairs in Wisconsin and about Walker’s flip-flops on Common Core. Donald Trump says he wasn’t more »
Wisconsinite dissents in chalk: “WEASEL WHORE HOUSE”
The dissent: The chalker, who prefers to remain anonymous, gave me permission to upload this photo here. If you have questions about the use of the word “whore” in Wisconsin see this. You just finished reading Wisconsinite dissents in chalk: "WEASEL WHORE HOUSE"! Consider leaving a comment!Visit bluecheddar.net for more news and opinion. You can more »
Saturday, July 25, 2015
“Scott Walker is not Joe McCarthy, but his technique is similar”
This is a bit from an opinion piece by Dana Milbank in the Washington Post: “Scott Walker is not Joe McCarthy, but his technique is similar: He suggests that the nation’s ills can be cured by fighting labor unions (foremost among the “big government special interests” hurting America), even though unions represent just 11 percent more »
Wednesday, July 22, 2015
One of the shady recipients of Walker’s WEDC welfare faces criminal investigation (finally)
As blogger lufthase puts it, “If WEDC had done a simple search on Green Box chairman Ronald Van Den Heuvel before making this loan, they’d have found at least 8 six-figure judgements from 2008 to 2011 against him or the many, many companies he has registered at the same address as Green Box.” Basically, Scott more »
Tuesday, July 21, 2015
Round-up of Wisco news: Walker puzzled by gayness, Walker v. G.A.B., 20 wk. abortion ban, MORE
These seem like the key WI political stories from the last 3 or 4 days. If I missed something, please do leave it in a comment. WALKER AND GAYNESS This is how conservative blog NewsMax frames it: Gay marriage opponent and Republican presidential candidate Scott Walker said in a CNN interview broadcast on Sunday he more »
Monday, July 20, 2015
Government Deceit:No conflict in the Aquila arrest of Semei? 4 children gunned downed
By Lucio R. Borderland Beat
Read Valor’s post by linking here for back story
Although the government was quick to pronounce there were no shots fired and no conflict in the arrest of Semei Verdia, testimony and photos taken by citizens tell a different story.
The sheer number of soldiers, including the Marina, Federal Police. and Army, hundreds of elements, was a tip off they were there to take Semei Verdia, no matter the amount of collateral damage.
Reports coming from Aquila; The unarmed community formed a roadblock when they realized Semei had been arrested. They initiated dialog with the Marina, demanding the soldiers allow their leader to go free. the response was for soldiers to open fire, killing at least two, including a child, and injuring at least 4 other children (reported ages 4, 6, 9, 12, 15).
It appears another extrajudicial event has occurred.
Soldiers opened fire everywhere, people reported bullets entering their homes, all of the killed and injured were reported as being in their homes when shot. Two other adults injured, one seriously another, a woman visiting the home was injured when a bullet grazed her head.
. |
| Edilberto Reyes 12 years old, died from his injuries |
Semei Verdia has been one of Dr. Mireles’ greatest proponents, and has come under attack twice in the past year, attacks that resulted in deaths of members of his autodefensa group, known as the “coastal autodefensas”, and regarded as “genuine” autodefensas. Semei is a humble man whose sole interest is that of ensuring safety and peace for his indigenous community.
He is not a murderer, drug trafficker, he is not Chapo Guzman, but hundreds of soldiers were needed for his “capture”.
In what is reminiscent of the arrest of Dr. Mireles, Semei appears to have been set up. He was called to review the delivery of armored vehicles by the government, the Fuerza Rurales were to also attend the meeting. He was arrested on the spot.
No Rurales were in sight.
“Governor Walker, why are you trying to break my family apart?” – Leslie Flores
Because a new poll shows that Donald Trump polls nationally at 24% among Republican registered voters while Walker polls 13% I have to admit that I have no idea whether Walker’s comments to this family have an impact positive or negative within the Republican Party base. This guy’s tweet sums up their bigoted wingnuttery: "Obama's more »
Sunday, July 19, 2015
Iowa is smelling the BS around Walker’s Kohls speech
Iowans are learning that Scott Walker doled out over $68 million to Kohls. It’s undermining his “brown bag government” schtick. Excellent! If they keep pulling at loose threads on his stories they’re going to turn up tales of unaccountable millions in corporate welfare he gave out through WEDC. Des Moines Register has the story: Some more »
Telesur: Chapo back in in Jesus Maria, Sinaloa partying with wife and kids.
To Here
To Here
 |
| They thought the Titanic was unsinkable too |
It has been a week now since Chapo Guzmans escape from Mexico's "super-max" prison. The following story was published by teleSur a couple of days after his escape.
I did not publish it then because I knew there would be a myriad of theories, speculations (some wild, some plausible) and reports about what happened, how he escaped, and where he went after he bid the Altiplano prison "Adios".
I did not expect that he would be captured very rapidly, but I thought maybe there was an off chance of some hard verifiable facts might surface. That hasn't happened so I am posting this account which is in part based on an interview with a purported insider in the Sinaloa Cartel, who identifies himself as "Julio ‘El Tio’ Martinez, an 'administrator' who works with an emerging operator of El Chapo," (whatever that means).
"El Tio Martinez" related in the interview that President Pena Nieto sanctioned the "escape" and that “El Chapo is already in Jesus Maria (in the mountainous region of the Sierras which has long been believed where Chapo and Mayo have hidden for years) with his wives and children. El Mayo and Aquiles are also there. El Mayo also has family in Jesus Maria. They are partying. I heard (Rafael) Caro Quintero was also going to be there.”
Who knows? Maybe El Tio is telling the truth.
Regardless of the truthfulness of El Tio's tale, the story has some interesting new facts and raises some new questions that have not been raised in other media stories.
Borderland Beat is not presenting this story as confirmed facts as much of it is impossible to verify at this time.. Above the Title and the byline, telSur even classifies it as "opinion>article".
“El Chapo is already in Jesus Maria with his wives and children. El Mayo and Aquiles are also there. El Mayo also has family in Jesus Maria. They are partying. I heard (Rafael) Caro Quintero was also going to be there.”
This content was originally published by teleSUR at the following address:
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/opinion/Source-Tells-TeleSUR-Escaped-Drug-Lord-Is-Already-in-Sinaloa-20150713-0003.html. If you intend to use it, please cite the source and provide a link to the original article. www.teleSURtv.net/english
This content was originally published by teleSUR at the following address:
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/opinion/Source-Tells-TeleSUR-Escaped-Drug-Lord-Is-Already-in-Sinaloa-20150713-0003.html. If you intend to use it, please cite the source and provide a link to the original article. www.teleSURtv.net/english
Julio ‘El Tio’ Martinez told teleSUR, “El Chapo is already in Jesus Maria with his wives and children. El Mayo and Aquiles are also there. El Mayo also has family in Jesus Maria. They are partying. I heard (Rafael) Caro Quintero was also going to be there.”
This content was originally published by teleSUR at the following address:
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/opinion/Source-Tells-TeleSUR-Escaped-Drug-Lord-Is-Already-in-Sinaloa-20150713-0003.html. If you intend to use it, please cite the source and provide a link to the original article. www.teleSURtv.net/english
This content was originally published by teleSUR at the following address:
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/opinion/Source-Tells-TeleSUR-Escaped-Drug-Lord-Is-Already-in-Sinaloa-20150713-0003.html. If you intend to use it, please cite the source and provide a link to the original article. www.teleSURtv.net/english
By: Olivier Acuña
President Peña Nieto Sanctioned Chapo Guzman's Escape
UPDATED: It’s all a farce. “El Chapo is already in Jesus Maria with his wives and children,” an associate of the cartel boss told teleSUR.
It should be of no surprise that Mexican drug lord and leader of the world’s most powerful Sinaloa narcotrafficking cartel, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, has escaped jail under dubious circumstances for the second time, and there is strong reason to believe that President Enrique Peña Nieto and his government allowed him to leave jail as part of a negotiation that apparently included the release in 2013 of Rafael Caro Quintero, another powerful Sinaloan drug trafficker.
The DEA knew El Chapo would escape and many experts on drug cartels agree that what is surprising is how quickly he has been allowed to flee.
Since his arrest in February 2014 and after then Attorney General Jesus Murillo's statement that El Chapo would not be extradited to the United States for at least 300 years, it was obvious to many that the government was planning something. There was no doubt in the minds of many that El Chapo would soon leave jail.
It should be of no surprise that Mexican drug lord and leader of the world’s most powerful Sinaloa narcotrafficking cartel, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, has escaped jail under dubious circumstances for the second time, and there is strong reason to believe that President Enrique Peña Nieto and his government allowed him to leave jail as part of a negotiation that apparently included the release in 2013 of Rafael Caro Quintero, another powerful Sinaloan drug trafficker.
The DEA knew El Chapo would escape and many experts on drug cartels agree that what is surprising is how quickly he has been allowed to flee.
Since his arrest in February 2014 and after then Attorney General Jesus Murillo's statement that El Chapo would not be extradited to the United States for at least 300 years, it was obvious to many that the government was planning something. There was no doubt in the minds of many that El Chapo would soon leave jail.
And there is no reason not to believe that President Enrique Peña Nieto himself is involved in some way with his “release” or escape as Mexican authorities are calling it.
Former President Vicente Fox has been said to have been complicit with the drug trafficker's “escape” in 2001.
Last year, Phil Jordan, former head of the DEA in Texas, told Univision and other news outlets, that the U.S. government had conclusive evidence that El Chapo had financed President Enrique Peña Nieto’s presidential campaign. He also said there were documents that proved Guzman had paid former President Vicente Fox and his National Action Party hundreds of millions of dollars for protection and later for his release from jail in 2001, which then was also said to be an escape.
Former President Vicente Fox has been said to have been complicit with the drug trafficker's “escape” in 2001.
Last year, Phil Jordan, former head of the DEA in Texas, told Univision and other news outlets, that the U.S. government had conclusive evidence that El Chapo had financed President Enrique Peña Nieto’s presidential campaign. He also said there were documents that proved Guzman had paid former President Vicente Fox and his National Action Party hundreds of millions of dollars for protection and later for his release from jail in 2001, which then was also said to be an escape.
Jordan added that Guzman continued paying now ruling PRI party millions of dollars for protection and said that El Chapo’s arrest in February 2014, more than likely was the result of a negotiation, which clearly suggests that Peña Nieto, the PRI and federal authorities are in on the drug lord’s second escape.
To begin with, it is too much of a coincidence that Peña Nieto is out of the country when Chapo Guzman leaves the Almoloya de Juarez jail in Toluca, some 30 miles north of Mexico City, which is considered to be one of the most secure prisons in all of Mexico. About 159 military personnel traveled with Peña Nieto to France.
Another factor to ponder is that “maximum security” jails in Mexico have at least one underground 10-meter-high wall all around the prison that is more than 20 inches thick and reinforced with a massive net of steel bars. If anybody attempts to break through this wall, prison officials are immediately alerted. (DD. I have read other reports that this wall goes 10 meters underground also)
Why has nobody mentioned this fact? Yet another important detail is that prisoners in these jails never leave their cells without at least a two-guard escort. Another detail no news media outlet has mentioned.
To begin with, it is too much of a coincidence that Peña Nieto is out of the country when Chapo Guzman leaves the Almoloya de Juarez jail in Toluca, some 30 miles north of Mexico City, which is considered to be one of the most secure prisons in all of Mexico. About 159 military personnel traveled with Peña Nieto to France.
Another factor to ponder is that “maximum security” jails in Mexico have at least one underground 10-meter-high wall all around the prison that is more than 20 inches thick and reinforced with a massive net of steel bars. If anybody attempts to break through this wall, prison officials are immediately alerted. (DD. I have read other reports that this wall goes 10 meters underground also)
Why has nobody mentioned this fact? Yet another important detail is that prisoners in these jails never leave their cells without at least a two-guard escort. Another detail no news media outlet has mentioned.
It's still unclear whether he escaped from his cell or the shower area, but there is no doubt that President Peña Nieto sanctioned the order for Chapo's “escape”. It’s so obvious and so absurd, that nobody is going to believe he is that “stupid.”
“But of course the president knows about it, but nobody is going to dare say anything. They’re all in on it. They must believe that nobody is going to blame the president and his staff directly. They simply would find it hard to believe they are that stupid,” Julio ‘El Tio’ Martinez, an “administrator” who works with an emerging operator of El Chapo, told teleSUR in an interview early Sunday. He asked to be named only as Julio ‘El Tio’ Martinez.
“Let me give you a prime example of the impunity and the protection we enjoy. Everybody, newspapers, authorities, the opposition … everybody!, absolutely everybody knows (Ismael) ‘El Mayo’ (Zambada) owns the largest milk producer in the north of Mexico which is the Santa Monica.
It’s been operating for decades and has grown incredibly, but do they (the government) do anything to stop them, to seize the company … hell no! They wouldn’t dare,” Martinez said.
“And again, what is El Mayo’s son (Vicente) saying in the U.S.? That he smuggled drugs into the U.S. with the permission of the DEA and he hasn’t said who he and his father pay off in Mexico … not yet at least.”
Vicente Zambada, 40, was arrested in 2009 and quickly extradited to Chicago in the U.S., where early last year his lawyers announced Zambada could not be prosecuted by the United States, because he had been secretly working as an informant for the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Zambada even smuggled thousands of tons of cocaine across the border. The DEA had guaranteed Zambada immunity in exchange for intelligence about the drug trade in Mexico.
Chapo’s Arrest Last Year
Those who live in Sinaloa know exactly where Chapo Guzman hangs out and how he rolls. Him and his buddy Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, another of Mexico's most powerful drug lords, do openly drive around the capital of Sinaloa, Culiacan, but they usually “hide out” in a vast mountainous region that begins in Jesus Maria, about 50 minutes north of Culiacan, and all the way up to Badiraguato and Santiago de los Caballeros.
They control that area and cultivate hundreds if not thousands of hectares of marijuana there. They also have strips for landing, loading and sending of Cessna's packed with weed and cocaine toward the border with the U.S.
There, they enjoy federal protection. The Mexican army patrols the area for them and, of course, they pay them well. And only in cases where more land is being used for marihuana cultivation than reported to authorities, will the military use helicopters to fumigate the unreported plantations.
Very rarely will someone dare to talk about these arrangements, but in Sinaloa and especially up in the mountains everybody knows.
Chapo Is Home Partying With Family and Friends Julio ‘El Tio’ Martinez told teleSUR, “El Chapo is already in Jesus Maria with his wives and children. El Mayo and Aquiles are also there. El Mayo also has family in Jesus Maria. They are partying. I heard (Rafael) Caro Quintero was also going to be there.”
The obvious question was, “An Italian journalist and writer named Roberto Saviano – famous for his book Gomorra, in which he exposes the Italian mob, has said in New York that El Mayo and El Chapo were at loggerheads"...
Martinez didn't even allow for the question to be completed: “Bullshit. That's is not true. They are very tight. They are compadres and that is by no means true.”
Saviano also said Caro Quintero was not operating anymore. This man was detained about 30 years ago in connection with the abduction, torture and homicide of DEA agent Enrique Camarena Salazar and was allowed to walk out of jail in August 2013 in a measure highly criticized by the United States, whose authorities were calling for his extradition.
The official Mexican explanation was that a technical-legal mistake had paved the way for his release. But after a barrage of criticism and condemnation, Mexican authorities released a new order for his arrest.
“That is also bullshit. Caro Quintero has never stopped operating. His family, brothers, nephews, cousins, uncles, close friends, took on many responsibilities, but the Quintero's are very powerful people and have a wide net of family members across the country and in the United States that work for him.
So, yes, Saviano is full of shit,” Martinez said.
Many spoke of El Chapo not being in control of the Sinaloa cartel, “But it doesn't matter if they jail them, they have brothers, sons and others that have been taking care of business for years anyways. I mean it's stupid for anybody to think that it's all over just because they have detained a leader. They are so powerful, they have paid off so many politicians and public servants, even governors and presidents, that their enterprises continue on even if they are killed.
There is Chapo's brother, for instance, Arturo, who hardly nobody talks about and he is in charge of large parts of the business,” Martinez added.
This information holds even in the case of the Tijuana cartel of the Arellano Felix brothers, who are related to Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo, who is still in jail, but is still a very powerful drug trafficker in Mexico.
“So, as you know, the Arellano Felix brothers are either in jail or dead, but their dynasty lives on and it is controlled by Erendira, their sister and this will continue on for generations,” he said.
Something else to think about is the fact that one of his many sons, Ivan Guzman tweeted in May that his father would soon leave jail. Would he dare do that unless he was 100 percent sure it was going to happen? Wouldn’t it be also be prudent to believe that Guzman would have to have permission to leave jail from the highest levels of the Peña Nieto administration?
The King of the Tunnels
Amado Carrillo Fuentes exploited air travel winning over most Colombian cartels. He would transport hundreds of tons of cocaine by air. At one time he had a 747 flying back and forth from Colombia to Mexico with up to a thousand tons at a time. He became the “Lord of the Skies.”
Well, El Chapo should be called the “King of Tunnels” as he made the Sinaloa cartel powerful by hiring top level architects and engineers to build tunnels across the U.S. border from Mexico throughout many cities on the line dividing both countries. You cannot even begin to imagine the huge amounts of cocaine, meth, marijuana and even people being smuggled on a daily basis through these tunnels.
“El Chapo came up with this idea after talking to engineers and architects and this is how he and his people have become so rich. And of course all level of government and the DEA are in on it.
Don't doubt this for a second,” Martinez said. “I've been present in negotiations with DEA agents, Mexican politicians, federal police and high-level military persons. There all in on it. They all profit, but when it comes to putting someone in jail it is always the person they call 'drug trafficker' who goes to jail. But they are all drug traffickers, even the president, because they all profit from the business.
However, El Chapo and El Mayo know this and that is the agreement. They're o.k. with it, because they are rich and powerful and their families are set for generations.”
Negotiated Arrest
El Chapo never goes anywhere without at least 80 to 120 heavily armed men guarding him. Federal police and even the Mexican army deploy peripheral protection wherever he is. They set up roadblocks to check everyone entering the area where the person they are protecting is to make sure that nobody nor any armed group enters that zone.
“Whenever you see federal police and military roadblocks, at least in Sinaloa, you know there is a drug lord nearby they are protecting,” El Tio assured.
Taking this into consideration, it would be naive to believe he was arrested without some kind of negotiation with the highest level of government. One good explanation is that due to Caro Quintero's release, Peña Nieto's government was under extreme pressure from Washington so they needed to do something to relieve that crisis.
Therefore they talked to El Chapo and asked him if he would let himself be detained temporarily. Saviano talked about a negotiation as well, but he then said he thought El Mayo had turned him in.
But in the end, El Chapo's arrest served to deviate the world's attention from the Caro Quintero issue. And despite assurances that El Chapo would never again escape from prison, he is now, according to authorities, nowhere to be found.
Perhaps, though, authorities didn't lie because more than likely he did not actually escape. Rather, he was permitted to build a tunnel so it would seem he did escape instead of them letting him walk out the main door as he did in 2001.
“But of course the president knows about it, but nobody is going to dare say anything. They’re all in on it. They must believe that nobody is going to blame the president and his staff directly. They simply would find it hard to believe they are that stupid,” Julio ‘El Tio’ Martinez, an “administrator” who works with an emerging operator of El Chapo, told teleSUR in an interview early Sunday. He asked to be named only as Julio ‘El Tio’ Martinez.
“Let me give you a prime example of the impunity and the protection we enjoy. Everybody, newspapers, authorities, the opposition … everybody!, absolutely everybody knows (Ismael) ‘El Mayo’ (Zambada) owns the largest milk producer in the north of Mexico which is the Santa Monica.
It’s been operating for decades and has grown incredibly, but do they (the government) do anything to stop them, to seize the company … hell no! They wouldn’t dare,” Martinez said.
“And again, what is El Mayo’s son (Vicente) saying in the U.S.? That he smuggled drugs into the U.S. with the permission of the DEA and he hasn’t said who he and his father pay off in Mexico … not yet at least.”
Vicente Zambada, 40, was arrested in 2009 and quickly extradited to Chicago in the U.S., where early last year his lawyers announced Zambada could not be prosecuted by the United States, because he had been secretly working as an informant for the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Zambada even smuggled thousands of tons of cocaine across the border. The DEA had guaranteed Zambada immunity in exchange for intelligence about the drug trade in Mexico.
Chapo’s Arrest Last Year
Those who live in Sinaloa know exactly where Chapo Guzman hangs out and how he rolls. Him and his buddy Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, another of Mexico's most powerful drug lords, do openly drive around the capital of Sinaloa, Culiacan, but they usually “hide out” in a vast mountainous region that begins in Jesus Maria, about 50 minutes north of Culiacan, and all the way up to Badiraguato and Santiago de los Caballeros.
They control that area and cultivate hundreds if not thousands of hectares of marijuana there. They also have strips for landing, loading and sending of Cessna's packed with weed and cocaine toward the border with the U.S.
There, they enjoy federal protection. The Mexican army patrols the area for them and, of course, they pay them well. And only in cases where more land is being used for marihuana cultivation than reported to authorities, will the military use helicopters to fumigate the unreported plantations.
Chapo Is Home Partying With Family and Friends Julio ‘El Tio’ Martinez told teleSUR, “El Chapo is already in Jesus Maria with his wives and children. El Mayo and Aquiles are also there. El Mayo also has family in Jesus Maria. They are partying. I heard (Rafael) Caro Quintero was also going to be there.”
The obvious question was, “An Italian journalist and writer named Roberto Saviano – famous for his book Gomorra, in which he exposes the Italian mob, has said in New York that El Mayo and El Chapo were at loggerheads"...
Martinez didn't even allow for the question to be completed: “Bullshit. That's is not true. They are very tight. They are compadres and that is by no means true.”
Saviano also said Caro Quintero was not operating anymore. This man was detained about 30 years ago in connection with the abduction, torture and homicide of DEA agent Enrique Camarena Salazar and was allowed to walk out of jail in August 2013 in a measure highly criticized by the United States, whose authorities were calling for his extradition.
The official Mexican explanation was that a technical-legal mistake had paved the way for his release. But after a barrage of criticism and condemnation, Mexican authorities released a new order for his arrest.
“That is also bullshit. Caro Quintero has never stopped operating. His family, brothers, nephews, cousins, uncles, close friends, took on many responsibilities, but the Quintero's are very powerful people and have a wide net of family members across the country and in the United States that work for him.
So, yes, Saviano is full of shit,” Martinez said.
Many spoke of El Chapo not being in control of the Sinaloa cartel, “But it doesn't matter if they jail them, they have brothers, sons and others that have been taking care of business for years anyways. I mean it's stupid for anybody to think that it's all over just because they have detained a leader. They are so powerful, they have paid off so many politicians and public servants, even governors and presidents, that their enterprises continue on even if they are killed.
There is Chapo's brother, for instance, Arturo, who hardly nobody talks about and he is in charge of large parts of the business,” Martinez added.
This information holds even in the case of the Tijuana cartel of the Arellano Felix brothers, who are related to Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo, who is still in jail, but is still a very powerful drug trafficker in Mexico.
“So, as you know, the Arellano Felix brothers are either in jail or dead, but their dynasty lives on and it is controlled by Erendira, their sister and this will continue on for generations,” he said.
The King of the Tunnels
Amado Carrillo Fuentes exploited air travel winning over most Colombian cartels. He would transport hundreds of tons of cocaine by air. At one time he had a 747 flying back and forth from Colombia to Mexico with up to a thousand tons at a time. He became the “Lord of the Skies.”
Well, El Chapo should be called the “King of Tunnels” as he made the Sinaloa cartel powerful by hiring top level architects and engineers to build tunnels across the U.S. border from Mexico throughout many cities on the line dividing both countries. You cannot even begin to imagine the huge amounts of cocaine, meth, marijuana and even people being smuggled on a daily basis through these tunnels.
 |
| Even though he is short, his motorcycle in the tunnel didn't have training wheels. It was on rails. |
“El Chapo came up with this idea after talking to engineers and architects and this is how he and his people have become so rich. And of course all level of government and the DEA are in on it.
Don't doubt this for a second,” Martinez said. “I've been present in negotiations with DEA agents, Mexican politicians, federal police and high-level military persons. There all in on it. They all profit, but when it comes to putting someone in jail it is always the person they call 'drug trafficker' who goes to jail. But they are all drug traffickers, even the president, because they all profit from the business.
However, El Chapo and El Mayo know this and that is the agreement. They're o.k. with it, because they are rich and powerful and their families are set for generations.”
Negotiated Arrest
El Chapo never goes anywhere without at least 80 to 120 heavily armed men guarding him. Federal police and even the Mexican army deploy peripheral protection wherever he is. They set up roadblocks to check everyone entering the area where the person they are protecting is to make sure that nobody nor any armed group enters that zone.
“Whenever you see federal police and military roadblocks, at least in Sinaloa, you know there is a drug lord nearby they are protecting,” El Tio assured.
Taking this into consideration, it would be naive to believe he was arrested without some kind of negotiation with the highest level of government. One good explanation is that due to Caro Quintero's release, Peña Nieto's government was under extreme pressure from Washington so they needed to do something to relieve that crisis.
Therefore they talked to El Chapo and asked him if he would let himself be detained temporarily. Saviano talked about a negotiation as well, but he then said he thought El Mayo had turned him in.
But in the end, El Chapo's arrest served to deviate the world's attention from the Caro Quintero issue. And despite assurances that El Chapo would never again escape from prison, he is now, according to authorities, nowhere to be found.
Perhaps, though, authorities didn't lie because more than likely he did not actually escape. Rather, he was permitted to build a tunnel so it would seem he did escape instead of them letting him walk out the main door as he did in 2001.
UPDATED: It’s all a farce. “El Chapo is already in Jesus Maria with his wives and children,” an associate of the cartel boss told teleSUR. It should be of no surprise that Mexican drug lord and leader of the world’s most powerful Sinaloa narcotrafficking cartel, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, has escaped jail under dubious circumstances for the second time, and there is strong reason to believe that President Enrique Peña Nieto and his government allowed him to leave jail as part of a negotiation that apparently included the release in 2013 of Rafael Caro Quintero, another powerful Sinaloan drug trafficker. The DEA new El Chapo would escape and many experts on drug cartels agree that what is surprising is how quickly he has been allowed to flee. Since his arrest in February 2014 and after then Attorney General Jesus Murillo's statement that El Chapo would not be extradited to the United States for at least 300 years, it was obvious to many that the government was planning something. There was no doubt in the minds of many that El Chapo would soon leave jail.
This content was originally published by teleSUR at the following address:
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/opinion/Source-Tells-TeleSUR-Escaped-Drug-Lord-Is-Already-in-Sinaloa-20150713-0003.html. If you intend to use it, please cite the source and provide a link to the original article. www.teleSURtv.net/english
This content was originally published by teleSUR at the following address:
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/opinion/Source-Tells-TeleSUR-Escaped-Drug-Lord-Is-Already-in-Sinaloa-20150713-0003.html. If you intend to use it, please cite the source and provide a link to the original article. www.teleSURtv.net/english
President Peña Nieto Sanctioned Chapo Guzman's Escape
This content was originally published by teleSUR at the following address:
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/opinion/Source-Tells-TeleSUR-Escaped-Drug-Lord-Is-Already-in-Sinaloa-20150713-0003.html. If you intend to use it, please cite the source and provide a link to the original article. www.teleSURtv.net/english
This content was originally published by teleSUR at the following address:
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/opinion/Source-Tells-TeleSUR-Escaped-Drug-Lord-Is-Already-in-Sinaloa-20150713-0003.html. If you intend to use it, please cite the source and provide a link to the original article. www.teleSURtv.net/english
By: Olivier Acuña
This content was originally published by teleSUR at the following address:
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/opinion/Source-Tells-TeleSUR-Escaped-Drug-Lord-Is-Already-in-Sinaloa-20150713-0003.html. If you intend to use it, please cite the source and provide a link to the original article. www.teleSURtv.net/english
This content was originally published by teleSUR at the following address:
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/opinion/Source-Tells-TeleSUR-Escaped-Drug-Lord-Is-Already-in-Sinaloa-20150713-0003.html. If you intend to use it, please cite the source and provide a link to the original article. www.teleSURtv.net/english
Saturday, July 18, 2015
United States submitted an extradition petition for "El Chapo", two weeks before his escape
Translated by Otis B Fly-Wheel for Borderland Beat from a Milenio article
[ Subject Matter: El Chapo, extradition
Recommendation: no prior subject matter knowledge required]
The secretary of exterior relations, received on the 25th of June a petition for the formal extradition of Guzman Loera to be processed for the crime of criminal association in a Federal Court of California
Reporter: Milenio Digital
The Attorney General of the Republic, Arely Gomez, said that the Government of the United States solicited a petition for the formal extradition of Joaquin Guzman Loera on the 25th of June, 17 days before "El Chapo" escaped from Altiplano prison.
During a hearing before the twin house Commission for Security, the Attorney Arely Gomez said that the Secretary of external relations had received a diplomatic notice in which they solicit for the extradition of "El Chapo" to be charged with criminal association in order to import cocaine, in a Federal Court of California.
Arely Gomez said that he gave instructions to the areas of the PGR to analyse the petition, to attach the requisite legal requirements of the international treaty between both countries, and submit it before the Federal Judiciary.
Four day after initiating the proceedings, the PGR said that there have been significant advances, among them forensic evidence, of which there were 186, 143 of those were found in the tunnel and the rest in cell number 20.
Original article in Spanish at Milenio
[ Subject Matter: El Chapo, extradition
Recommendation: no prior subject matter knowledge required]
The secretary of exterior relations, received on the 25th of June a petition for the formal extradition of Guzman Loera to be processed for the crime of criminal association in a Federal Court of California
 |
| El Chapos preferred form of tunnel transport: motorcycles on rails |
Reporter: Milenio Digital
The Attorney General of the Republic, Arely Gomez, said that the Government of the United States solicited a petition for the formal extradition of Joaquin Guzman Loera on the 25th of June, 17 days before "El Chapo" escaped from Altiplano prison.
During a hearing before the twin house Commission for Security, the Attorney Arely Gomez said that the Secretary of external relations had received a diplomatic notice in which they solicit for the extradition of "El Chapo" to be charged with criminal association in order to import cocaine, in a Federal Court of California.
Arely Gomez said that he gave instructions to the areas of the PGR to analyse the petition, to attach the requisite legal requirements of the international treaty between both countries, and submit it before the Federal Judiciary.
Four day after initiating the proceedings, the PGR said that there have been significant advances, among them forensic evidence, of which there were 186, 143 of those were found in the tunnel and the rest in cell number 20.
Original article in Spanish at Milenio
Friday, July 17, 2015
Looks like my governor is cruisin’ through Iowa in a big gay RV
I sent this to George Takei Dear George: This is a photo of Scott Walker’s new RV. I must say, all I can see is an equal sign with those two red bars on the right. And when I see a red equal sign I am reminded of the red equal sign which you encouraged more »
Thursday, July 16, 2015
Appeal of John Doe decision to SCOTUS unlikely according to Hasen
This is from Hasen’s “Analysis of Wisconsin John Doe Ruling: Bad News for Campaign Finance Laws” U.S. Supreme Court review? The dissent notes that under the U.S. Supreme Court’s Caperton decision, the failure to recuse in this case could be a due process violation. At least theoretically, that’s an issue which could go to the more »
Monday, July 13, 2015
Chapo Guzman escapes from prison AGAIN.
Borderland Beat
(Tijuano´s note: This story has just been published, reports can be read on several news outlets including ZETA, El Universal and others, as soon as more info is available I´m sure you´ll read it here)
Joaquin Guzman Loera aka "Chapo Guzman" escaped Federal "Maximum Security" prison No. 1 Altiplano, The National Security Council confirmed his escape.
According to the Council, "At 20:52 of today (Saturday 11th), Joaquin Guzman Loera was seen in the Permanent Video Recording System of the Federal Prison Altiplano 1, where he was seen entering the showers area in the 20th room of aisle 2, where they usually, besides taking showers, clean their belongings".
"When it was noticed he had been too long out of sight, they entered the cell, which was empty, immediately prompting the alerts regarding his possible escape".
The corresponding protocol was initiated confirming the escape of Guzman Loera.
It was informed "In response to this situation a search operation has been launched in the nearby area and roads in the nearest states. Operation in the Toluca Airport have been suspended".
Joaquin Guzman escaped before from "Maximum Security" Puente Grande Prison on January 18th, 2001.
SOURCE: El Universal
(Tijuano´s note: This story has just been published, reports can be read on several news outlets including ZETA, El Universal and others, as soon as more info is available I´m sure you´ll read it here)
Joaquin Guzman Loera aka "Chapo Guzman" escaped Federal "Maximum Security" prison No. 1 Altiplano, The National Security Council confirmed his escape.
According to the Council, "At 20:52 of today (Saturday 11th), Joaquin Guzman Loera was seen in the Permanent Video Recording System of the Federal Prison Altiplano 1, where he was seen entering the showers area in the 20th room of aisle 2, where they usually, besides taking showers, clean their belongings".
"When it was noticed he had been too long out of sight, they entered the cell, which was empty, immediately prompting the alerts regarding his possible escape".
The corresponding protocol was initiated confirming the escape of Guzman Loera.
It was informed "In response to this situation a search operation has been launched in the nearby area and roads in the nearest states. Operation in the Toluca Airport have been suspended".
Joaquin Guzman escaped before from "Maximum Security" Puente Grande Prison on January 18th, 2001.
SOURCE: El Universal
Another Iguala Type Cover-up? Where Are Mexico’s ‘Dead’ Doctors?
Borderland Beat posted by DD Republished from the Daily Beast.
By Jeremy Krypt
 |
| photo from Revolutiontrespuntocerol |
Charges of another tainted investigation in a high-profile kidnapping case threaten the government’s credibility—in the state where 43 missing student teachers rocked Mexico.
“It wasn’t him,” Hernandez told The Daily Beast during a recent demonstration outside the state capitol building to protest the government’s handling of the case. “I raised him from a baby, so I ought to know. The body presented [by the government] didn’t look anything like my boy.”
The Hernandez family joined about 50 doctors and nurses at the July 2 demonstration, braving the desert heat. The protesters chanted and waved signs outside the locked gates of city hall, demanding “Due process!” and “Security for health-care workers!”
“Our family said we couldn’t accept a body that wasn’t ours,” Hernandez explained. “But the DA declared my son dead anyway.”
His son Marvin vanished June 19 while traveling with three other medical professionals along a remote stretch of highway in Mexico’s southwest Guerrero state. The local prosecutor’s office has since come under intense criticism for allegedly mismanaging the investigation, especially for its insistence on claiming the victims are deceased without presenting credible evidence.
“They told our families we couldn’t talk to the press. That we shouldn’t tell anybody about what happened at the morgue. But we can’t be silent any longer,” Hernandez said.
Guerrero is home to Mexico’s highest murder rate—and it’s also where 43 student teachers disappeared last fall, near the small town of Iguala. In the Iguala case, the mayor and local police chief were eventually accused of colluding with organized crime to do away with the students—a scandal that shook the nation to its core.
Now, in the wake of the Hernandez party’s apparent abduction—and fresh charges of skulduggery in the case—another high-profile kidnapping once again threatens the government’s credibility.
Two other medical workers and a lawyer from Petatlán Community Hospital who were in the car with Marvin Hernandez were reported missing the same day. The four were en route to Acapulco on hospital business at the time of their disappearance. None have been seen since.
Police found their vehicle the next afternoon near the resort town of Xolapa—riddled with bullets from an AR-15 assault rifle, the tires shot out, and the car seats covered with blood. Xolapa was also the site of a deadly shootout between rival factions of a civil defense militia on June 6, which left 17 dead and at least 10 wounded. Since then, the village of less than 1,000 inhabitants has been heavily patrolled by state police officers, including official checkpoints along the same stretch of road where Marvin Hernandez and the others vanished.
“I look at deceased people in the morgue all the time,” Omar said, “and the corpses [the DA] showed us had clearly been dead for weeks. But Marvin and the others were only missing for a few days.”
“Marvin had no criminal record of any kind, and he hadn’t received any threats,” said his father. “He’d just graduated from medical school a few months ago. All we want is to get him back alive,” said Hernandez, 53, as outraged doctors, nurses, and relatives at the protest continued to cry out for “Justicia!”
On June 24, authorities reported the discovery of several badly decomposed corpses in the chaparral-covered mountains, some 80 miles north of Xolapa. The deceased were found in the bed of an abandoned blue-gray Ford Ranger, and covered with a tarp. The first reports mentioned five bodies in the pickup truck. But by the time the bodies reached the morgue in Chilpancingo, there were only four—the same number, conveniently, that had gone missing the week before.
And the missing corpse was just the beginning of the mystery: In the back seat of a taxi cab, parked close to the Ranger, investigators also found a state police shirt, undershirt, and a police utility belt.
Despite the strange circumstances, and without conducting a formal inquest, Guerrero District Attorney Miguel Angel Godínez summoned relatives of the missing medicos to inspect the remaining cadavers found in the truck. More than a dozen people from the respective families filed into the morgue with Dr. Hernandez’s father—and they all rejected the state’s proffered corpses as belonging to their loved ones.
In the absence of forensic evidence, or a positive ID—and ignoring the police accoutrements found at the crime scene—DA Godínez declared the probe complete.
The families aren’t buying the prosecutor’s story.
“The version presented by the DA’s office is not the truth,” said Hernandez, a compact, wiry man with a sun-creased face. “We don’t want to create a controversy [for the government]—we just want our loved ones back alive.”
Like his father, Dr. Marvin Hernandez is on the short side, about 5 feet 7 inches. The body the state presented to Hernandez was about 6 feet tall—and much more robust than the slender physician. The remains presented to the other families as belonging to their loved ones also bore no resemblance to the missing. One was covered with tattoos, another had dentures, the third a beard and long hair.
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| photo from infoque Informativo |
But the most telling difference was the advanced state of decay witnesses reported—and that the corpses produced by the state had been exhumed from another site.
“We’re not a bunch of dumb hillbillies,” said Omar Hernandez, Marvin’s cousin, who accompanied his grieving uncle to the protest in the state capital. A defense lawyer in Acapulco, Omar was also the first family member notified of the newly discovered bodies on June 24.
“I look at deceased people in the morgue all the time,” Omar said, “and the corpses [the DA] showed us had clearly been dead for weeks. But Marvin and the others were only missing for a few days.
“None of the evidence we’ve seen would hold up under a thorough, honest investigation.”
“Those doctors have already been found,” said Godínez, when The Daily Beast met with him in his book-lined, air-conditioned office. “DNA samples were taken and tested positive. The families don’t want to accept the results—but there’s no question that it’s [the missing doctors].”
Godínez was wearing a satiny shirt with the top three buttons open across his bare chest; his hair was heavily gelled into place. He said he has no idea who might have killed the doctors, or why. “I’m working with a very limited budget here,” he complained. “We’ve had over a thousand murders so far this year [in Guerrero]. I just don’t have the resources to solve them all.”
Godínez declined to provide The Daily Beast with the official autopsy reports in the Hernandez case. Families of the four victims also say they were never given the results of the DNA analysis, or copies of the forensic results. Withholding of such evidence constitutes a breach of legal protocol in Mexico—but the prosecutor’s office declined a request for comment on the lack of shared documentation.
Meanwhile, Godínez’s decision to halt the search for the missing men has sparked a wave of marches and demonstrations by doctors, nurses, and lab technicians across Guerrero—as the medical community protests the lack of safety for their personnel.
Overall, violence against medical workers has spiked recently across Mexico. In just the last three weeks, at least six health-care professionals were killed, wounded, or abducted—including a prominent surgeon who was gunned down outside his home last week in the neighboring state of Morelos.
A new study by Mexico’s National Security Council reveals that some 75 percent of public-service physicians across nine states report being subjected to armed assault, extortion, vehicle theft, and other forms of violence. For the health-care workers of Guerrero, the missing Hernandez party is just the latest example of the risks posed by organized crime in this lawless region.
“Unfortunately, there’s a precedent for this kind of thing in Mexico,” attorney Omar Hernandez told The Daily Beast after a press conference with the doctors’ families in the blocked-off street outside the municipal palace.
“Our concern is that the [Guerrero] attorney general’s office is manipulating the case,” he said. “We don’t know if it’s a political maneuver, an error, or if they’re trying to cover something up. All we know is that they’re telling lies.”
It’s not just the victims’ relations who are concerned. Both the governor’s office and the state congress have expressed their doubts about Godínez’s conclusions—and ordered the search for the disappeared doctors to be renewed.
Congressional leader Bernardo Ortega even went so far as to dress down the embattled DA on the floor of the state legislature last week, ordering him to use all tools necessary to “search for the missing alive… rather than seek out what appears to be unlikely and unbelievable evidence for their deaths.”
Because of the signs possibly linking the state police to the crime scene—and because they feel the prosecutor has already “washed his hands” of the case—the victims’ families aren’t putting their faith in the local authorities. They’ve already petitioned the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team (EAAF) to take up the case.
This won’t be the first time the EAAF has been called in to study a mysterious mass abduction in Mexico. The South American super-sleuths were also tapped by the families of the 43 students who disappeared in Iguala.
Marvin Hernandez’s cousin Omar said he sees a disturbing likeness in the two cases:
“The abuse of power committed by the authorities is very similar to what happened [in Iguala]. Once again, there’s every indication of official corruption,” the lawyer said. “And, once again, human rights are being trampled by the state.”
Standing outside the capitol, he pulls up a photo of Marvin on his cellphone. It’s a closeup shot of better days, the promising young doctor grinning into the camera—and Omar’s voice turns shaky as he views it.
“How can we put our trust in government officials,” he said, “if they won’t be honest with us?”
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