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

Mireles’ Message From Prison: Yes It Was Worth It

Translated by Valor for Borderland Beat

(Message dated October 14, 2015; Received on December 2, 2015, Hermosillo, Sonora)

“On the other hand, one of the people who sent me a letter strongly questioned me whether our struggle was worth it, because some of us are imprisoned while others are being assassinated along with their entire families. This is why I want to send a short message.

The national front of autodefensas was made official on May 5, 2014 and on May 28, 2014, it became known worldwide with 12 states of the republic, in the Polyforum Cultural Siqueiros.

By 6pm that day, there had already been 19 states that had registered. A day before my arrest, a 20^thstate registered. YES IT WAS WORTH IT.

To all of the autodefensas of Michoacán and of the Mexican Republic, I tell them to continue to organize, to take care of their life, their house, their towns, and their productivity, if we fight; we won’t die when the criminals want us to die.

If we fight, we will only die when God wills it. I tell you this from experience. After seven ambushes, and a plane crash, I kept fighting organized crime in Michoacán and my worthwhile witnesses have been the reporters of Denise Maerker. As well as those from the newspaper El Paísand the Washington Post and others who were with us in some of our battles.

This is why I tell you to organize and to take care of your communities, by neighborhood and by the entrances and exits of the towns.

While to the brave legitimate autodefensas of Michoacán I ask them—without neglecting a minute of their lives, of their families, their property, and their productivity— to stay in the background without letting your guard down, while the new government installs the rule of law, with the constitutional respect that you deserve, such as the Chamber of Deputies or the true representatives of the people.

For all these reasons I say that YES OUR STRUGGLE WAS WORTH IT, since our towns, thanks to our brave autodefensas, now with their Rural Police uniforms or some without uniforms, continue to patrol and take care of our towns and communities, procuring peace and dignity that they need for a happy and productive life. YES IT WAS WORTH IT.

Even though I’m imprisoned and 400 comrades are too, YES IT WAS WORTH IT because in Tepalcatepec, they gave us 24 hours to live and after those 24 hours, “not even the chickens” would be alive.

This threat was made on February 24, 2013, THE SICARIOS OF THE REGION and all of our autodefensa advice have survived to date, October 14, 2015. YES IT WAS WORTH IT, even though I’m imprisoned and others are in a cementary, IT WAS WORTH IT. That’s all.

Fraternally

'Constitution and Justice'

Dr. Manuel Mireles

National Front of Autodefensas

P.S.: I repeat my greetings and respects to all the HH:. and to the people who sent me messages of support.”

Sinaloa: 2 bodies discovered in torched van may be missing Australian surfers

Lucio R. Borderland Beat

Click on this or any image to enlarge

Lucas and Cox

On November 21, there was a report in local media that at around 10:30am In the vicinity of Juan Aldama (El Tigre) Navolato, around 10:30 am, a van was discovered torched to complete destruction and inside were two deceased persons.

At the time other than the vehicle being a Chevrolet step up van without license plates, officials said it was unknown how the event occurred or the identification of the victims.

Inside the van was found a grill and canned food, speculation and rumor replaced solid facts and information. It wasn’t until five days later that Mexican authorities pooled facts together and concluded the victims found in the van were most likely Australian natives, Canadian residents Dean Lucas and Adam Coleman, both 33, travelling in Mexico on a surfing trip and to visit friends.

Last heard from the day before the discovery

On the day prior two Edmonton Canada residents who went on a road trip to Mexico to surf and visit friends were last heard from and now are feared missing or worse after family lost contact with them for over a week now.

Dean Lucas and Adam Coleman, both Australian nationals who have lived in Edmonton during the summer construction season for the past several years, left for Mexico in a 1992 Chevrolet van on Sept. 28 from Alberta.

“They’re incredibly keen surfers, very talented surfers. They love finding waves all around the world … I know they’ll be trying to find random waves. But I don’t think that’s what they were doing,” said Lucas’s girlfriend Josie Cox, from Edmonton, on Saturday. “I think they were trying to make their way to Guadalajara, like they planned.” Cox was meeting Lucas in Guadalajara.

Coleman and Gomez

Both men are experienced travelers who have been to Mexico multiple times and speak Spanish.

The men remained in contact with their friends in Edmonton via text, email, and Facebook as they travelled through the United States and into Mexico. But Cox says the last day she heard from Lucas was Nov. 20, the day of their three-year-anniversary, and the day before the Chevi Van was found with the two bodies in Sinaloa.

The men were boarded a ferry from La Paz to Topolobampo, then were scheduled to drive to Guadalajara, arriving on Nov. 21. Lucas assured his girlfriend he would have an Internet connection once he reached the big city. Mr Coleman’s girlfriend Andrea Gomez, of Guadalajara, was expecting her boyfriend on the 21^st.

“They’re such good guys and such good people and they’re really respectful of us and their family …. I definitely don’t doubt that something has happened, something that we should be worried about, which is exactly why I’m here,” said Cox, about her public campaign to find the men.

Cox has been trying to spread the word through Facebook, Twitter, and other media to glean more information. She flew to Guadalajara on Sunday.

“If (anyone) has any information, I would really encourage them, if they want to be anonymous, to contact the (Australian) embassy (in Mexico) or myself. I’m on Facebook (link to her FB page here) and any lead that we get, we’re following up, even if we don’t think it’s completely relevant,” she said. “I’m happy to sit there all night, 24 hours a day on my laptop, answering queries, and following things up, and calling people, if that’s what it needs.”

At the Edmonton airport Sunday, waiting to board the Mexico bound aircraft, Ms. Cox posted this face book message:

Friends of Lucas and Coleman have most recently been hit with the report from a Mexican news agency that a burnt-out van with two bodies had been found in Sinaloa state. The story said that authorities are investigating and that it appears the van had been used as a camper.

But Cox stressed there is no confirmed connection between the Australians and the news story. The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade could not be reached on Saturday to confirm their involvement in the search for Lucas and Coleman.

The men grew up together in Australia and have both been travelling the world for years. Coleman started working the construction season in Edmonton four years ago, but would travel to warmer spots in the off-season. Two years ago, his friend Lucas joined him for the Edmonton construction season.

Cox, who is British, has known Lucas since 2012, when they met in India. They stayed in touch that year, and eventually met up again — in Mexico.

“Dean is shy, he takes a step back… he’s a listener. He’s really calm, very sensible in situations like this. He likes to have a good time but he has a good head on his shoulders and a really good upbringing,” Cox said of her boyfriend, who is 33.

His friend, Coleman, is “the complete opposite, in a good way,” Cox said. “He’s the life of the party, he makes everyone laugh. His stories are unbelievable — literally unbelievable sometimes… They really are a good match, this is why they’re good friends.”

Coleman's mother seems to have given up all hope as she posted this message on Facebook

The friends set out in a van they had refurbished for the cross-continent trip. They put on new tires, outfitted the van with a kitchen, and had it insured with Alberta license plates. It had a distinctive red replacement door that friends teased them would make the van impossible to sell again.

It was the first time Coleman, 33, had owned a vehicle.

“He’s always been a traveler and surfer and skateboarder,” said friend Chris Coutu, on Saturday.

Adam and his mother Zena 1 yr ago

The last text that Lucas sent to his friend Taylor Holbrook was to ask a favor, to buy flowers and chocolate for his girlfriend in Edmonton. Canadian news outlets report Lucas had intended to propose to Cox when together next.

“We are in La Paz in Baja about to get the ferry over to the mainland,” Lucas wrote. “Mate, can you do me a huge favor if you are seeing Josie tomorrow… if by any chance you are seeing her and are passing a store, I would be incredibly grateful if you could pick her up choc. and flowers?… Wish ya were here with the boys in the van — grubby desert living with fun as waves!!”

Ms Gomez said her partner was planning to move to Mexico and she had been looking forward to reuniting with him after three months apart. She said she had been left heartbroken and her “soul was shattered”.

“My soul is shattered,” she says while hanging on to hope, “this event will completely change my life,” she said.

Mexican authorities are conducting DNA studies for a positive identification of the bodies. Ms. Gomez gave a lock of Coleman’s dreadlock styled hair to Mexican authorities, for DNA studies.

Material used to write this post is from: BB's "Canadiana", and "Choco", National Post, Sydney Herald, El Debate, Perth Now