28-02-2010, 08:04 PM
New Cartel War Erupts
A long-simmering conflict between drug cartels exploded into violence in
the Mexican state of Tamaulipas bordering Texas last week. Shoot-outs,
explosions, kidnappings and reports of large convoys with armed men freely
roaming streets rattled a broad swath of the state, especially in the area
stretching from Reynosa south to Matamoros known as the “Little Border.”
By Friday, February 26, more than 16 people were dead and 11 injured,
according to Mexican and US officials. However, based on residents’
accounts of scores of victims, it’s likely the official figures are low.
Amid an atmosphere of local media blackout, isolation and fear, false
stories spread about high officials kidnapped and killed.
On Wednesday, February 24, the US Consulate in Matamoros issued a travel
advisory for US citizens in and around Reynosa. Further, the US government
announced the temporary closure of the Reynosa Consular Agency until
additional notice. To the south, Brownsville Police Chief Carlos Garcia
cautioned US residents who did not have urgent business about crossing
into neighboring Matamoros. “It’s best not to go,” Garcia said.
Last week’s violence hampered commerce, border crossings, school
attendance and other routine activities in Reynosa, Valle Hermosa, Miguel
Aleman, San Fernando, Matamoros, and other cities. By week’s end, the
state education department acknowledged that school attendance had dropped
by 60 percent in several cities.
Panic spread to the state capital of Ciudad Victoria, where schools were
emptied by worried parents and businesses shuttered by frightened owners
fearing armed encounters. Jaime Rodriguez Inurrigarro, Tamaulipas state
attorney general, later denied that gun fights had broken out in the
capital city.
Tamaulipas Governor Eugenio Hernandez Flores appealed on the population to
ignore Internet-spread rumors he insisted had caused “a lot of damage in
Tamaulipas” in recent days.
A primary gubernatorial candidate for the National Action Party, Mexican
Senator Jose Julian Sacramento, had a different take on the situation.
“Tamaulipas is at war, and if there is no coordination between state and
local governments, then the federal government will have a hard time
waging a frontal attack on organized crime,” Sacramento said.
Although clashes were reported between Mexican soldiers and suspected
cartel gunmen, a good deal of the violence was linked to a conflict
between the long-dominant Gulf Cartel and its former armed wing, Los
Zetas.
Similar in some ways to an internal corporate power struggle- in this
instance over the control of a vast enterprise known as “The
Company”-tensions between the two groups have been escalating for more
than one year. Besides illegal drug dealing, human trafficking, product
piracy, oil diversions and other lucrative activities are up for grabs.
Currently, US authorities are seeking the arrests and extraditions of
individuals associated with the leadership of “The Company.”
In the lead-up to this week’s widespread fighting, preliminary skirmishes
in which civilian vehicles were commandeered to use as street barricades,
broke out February 8 and 19 in Reynosa and Nuevo Laredo, respectively.
The violence could mean a new round of bad times for Nuevo Laredo, which
has been relatively quiet in the past few years since an underworld pact
largely halted a war that earlier devastated the city. In an unusual move,
Nuevo Laredo Mayor Ramon Garza Barrios asked Roman Catholic Bishop Gustavo
Rodriguez Vega for assistance in calming the nerves of the local
population.
Last week’s violent showdown was practically announced, when the Gulf
Cartel, La Familia and other smaller cartels unveiled narco-banners in
several Mexican states earlier this month announcing an alliance against
Los Zetas. Presumably authored by Los Zetas, narco-banners posted in
Tamapaulipas and four other states this week sarcastically challenged the
purported alliance.
Other actors may be part of the latest fray, too. In other presumed Zetas’
banners posted in 26 cities across Mexico last February 11, the authors
blamed alleged Sinaloa Cartel leader “Chapo” Guzman for recent atrocities
in Ciudad Juarez and Torreon. The messages also accused Mexico’s federal
government of protecting Guzman.
As last week’s fighting unfolded, reports surfaced that members of
Michoacan’s La Familia drug cartel were sent to Tamaulipas to reinforce
their allies in the Gulf Cartel.
In Tamaulipas, the consequences of years of press intimidation by
organized crime and government officials, the murders of reporters,
official inaction in prosecuting attacks against journalists and media
self-censorship were evident this week as local residents had little solid
information from local news sources about what was happening on the
street. Conversely, Mexican national and US border news outlets provided
better information about the local situation.
But the big news development came from civil society. For better or worse,
Tamaulipas residents turned to social networks like Twitter and Facebook.
A writer on Twitter complained the circumstances in his hometown were
almost like Somalia.
The websites of national media organizations quickly became forums for
writers claiming to be from Tamaulipas. Many messages harshly criticized
government officials for downplaying conditions on the ground, and some
even provided details of the emerging situation.
Posting on the La Jornada website, Manuel Garcia credited social media for
keeping the population of Reynosa informed.
Garcia wrote: “Hasn’t (Reynosa’s mayor) ever seen the vehicles that drive
in broad daylight with CDG (Gulf Cartel) or XX initials? The checkpoints
that these men install at the entrances and exits to the city? The
pickups with armed men, sometimes escorted by the municipal police?”
On El Universal’s site, a woman identifying herself as Martha from
Tamaulipas wrote that the shooting had spread to the coastal area of
Tampico-Madero.
The latest outbreak of violence coincided with the February 25 sentencing
of former Gulf Cartel kingpin Osiel Cardenas Guillen on drug trafficking
charges in a Texas federal court. Observers were surprised by Cardenas’s
25-year sentence, which was considered relatively light in view of the
charges against the defendant. Important Texas media outlets blasted the
decision of Judge Hilda Tagle to bar the public from the proceedings and
permanently seal the trial records.
Like violence-torn Chihuahua to the north, the narco-war in Tamaulipas
occurs in a state election year for governor and other officials. Another
important parallel could be drawn between the situation in Tamaulipas and
the one in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua. In both instances, major incidents of
“spill-over” violence have yet to materialize on the US side. Several
Texas law enforcement agencies reportedly mobilized their forces this week
to monitor any potential threats to US territory.
In response to the Tamaulipas trouble, the Mexican navy dispatched marines
to hot spots like Reynosa. As in the states of Guerrero and Morelos far to
the south, the marines are increasingly used to carry out tasks formerly
the domain of the army.
The growing tend of employing navy personnel as the favored front-line
fighters in the drug war was reinforced this week with the appointment of
Captain Hector Garcia Aguirre as the new head of the federal attorney
general’s office (PGR) in Ciudad Juarez. A lawyer by training and a
veteran of previous civilian law enforcement functions, Garcia was sworn
in at a February 26 ceremony attended by former senator and current PGR
official Francisco Javier Molina Ruiz in Ciudad Juarez.
Coming at a time when the Calderon administration has pledged to invest
major resources in restoring order to Ciudad Juarez, the Tamaulipas
violence represents a serious challenge to the Mexican state. Indeed,
given the potential of the fighting to rapidly expand and engulf other
states, the Calderon administration once again faces the prospect of
managing simultaneous damage control from a shifting, multi-front war
-----------------------------------------------------------------Hallan arsenal en depósito subterráneo en Sinaloa
Distrito Federal— El Ejército halló un arsenal subterráneo en el estado de Sinaloa después de un enfrentamiento con sicarios, y decomisó armamento y numerosos vehículos en Zacatecas, informó hoy la Secretaría de la Defensa Nacional (Sedena).
La fuente indicó en un comunicado que el pasado viernes soldados que realizaban tareas de reconocimiento en el poblado de Agua Caliente, Sinaloa, fueron agredidos por dos individuos con armas de fuego, quienes lograron huir con rumbo desconocido.
Después de estos hechos, los militares realizaron una inspección minuciosa en el área, donde detectaron un camino que los condujo hasta un predio donde localizaron un depósito subterráneo de armas.
En este depósito estaban ocultas 76 armas largas, 34 armas cortas, 723 cargadores, 16 mil 120 cartuchos de diferentes calibres, 20 silenciadores para armas, tres 3 granadas de gas, nueve chalecos antibala y 34 uniformes tipo militar camuflados de fabricación estadounidense.
Sinaloa es cuna de los principales capos del narcotráfico mexicano y territorio que controla Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, del cártel de Sinaloa, aunque también hay presencia de otras bandas rivales que se disputan las rutas de trasiego hacia Estados Unidos de cocaína, heroína y metanfetaminas.
En tanto, en Zacatecas, también zona de enfrentamientos entre grupos de narcotraficantes, la Sedena informó en otro comunicado que detuvo a dos civiles a quienes les incautó 28 armas largas, 43 armas cortas, 7 mil 203 cartuchos de diferentes calibres y material explosivo, del que no da detalles.
También les decomisaron diez uniformes antimotines con la leyenda "Policía", así como 35 camiones pesados, 47 cajas de tráiler cerradas, diez remolques para camiones, 16 camionetas de diferentes marcas, entre ellas tres blindadas, además de un auto BMW.
Además, uniformes camuflados tipo militar de fabricación estadounidense, una chaqueta con el logotipo de la Policía de Fresnillo (Zacatecas), 13 mil 600 pesos mexicanos (unos mil dólares) y 2.6 kilos de marihuana.
Estos hechos tuvieron lugar en el municipio de Fresnillo, después de que los militares recibieron denuncias sobre presuntas actividades ilícitas en la zona.
A long-simmering conflict between drug cartels exploded into violence in
the Mexican state of Tamaulipas bordering Texas last week. Shoot-outs,
explosions, kidnappings and reports of large convoys with armed men freely
roaming streets rattled a broad swath of the state, especially in the area
stretching from Reynosa south to Matamoros known as the “Little Border.”
By Friday, February 26, more than 16 people were dead and 11 injured,
according to Mexican and US officials. However, based on residents’
accounts of scores of victims, it’s likely the official figures are low.
Amid an atmosphere of local media blackout, isolation and fear, false
stories spread about high officials kidnapped and killed.
On Wednesday, February 24, the US Consulate in Matamoros issued a travel
advisory for US citizens in and around Reynosa. Further, the US government
announced the temporary closure of the Reynosa Consular Agency until
additional notice. To the south, Brownsville Police Chief Carlos Garcia
cautioned US residents who did not have urgent business about crossing
into neighboring Matamoros. “It’s best not to go,” Garcia said.
Last week’s violence hampered commerce, border crossings, school
attendance and other routine activities in Reynosa, Valle Hermosa, Miguel
Aleman, San Fernando, Matamoros, and other cities. By week’s end, the
state education department acknowledged that school attendance had dropped
by 60 percent in several cities.
Panic spread to the state capital of Ciudad Victoria, where schools were
emptied by worried parents and businesses shuttered by frightened owners
fearing armed encounters. Jaime Rodriguez Inurrigarro, Tamaulipas state
attorney general, later denied that gun fights had broken out in the
capital city.
Tamaulipas Governor Eugenio Hernandez Flores appealed on the population to
ignore Internet-spread rumors he insisted had caused “a lot of damage in
Tamaulipas” in recent days.
A primary gubernatorial candidate for the National Action Party, Mexican
Senator Jose Julian Sacramento, had a different take on the situation.
“Tamaulipas is at war, and if there is no coordination between state and
local governments, then the federal government will have a hard time
waging a frontal attack on organized crime,” Sacramento said.
Although clashes were reported between Mexican soldiers and suspected
cartel gunmen, a good deal of the violence was linked to a conflict
between the long-dominant Gulf Cartel and its former armed wing, Los
Zetas.
Similar in some ways to an internal corporate power struggle- in this
instance over the control of a vast enterprise known as “The
Company”-tensions between the two groups have been escalating for more
than one year. Besides illegal drug dealing, human trafficking, product
piracy, oil diversions and other lucrative activities are up for grabs.
Currently, US authorities are seeking the arrests and extraditions of
individuals associated with the leadership of “The Company.”
In the lead-up to this week’s widespread fighting, preliminary skirmishes
in which civilian vehicles were commandeered to use as street barricades,
broke out February 8 and 19 in Reynosa and Nuevo Laredo, respectively.
The violence could mean a new round of bad times for Nuevo Laredo, which
has been relatively quiet in the past few years since an underworld pact
largely halted a war that earlier devastated the city. In an unusual move,
Nuevo Laredo Mayor Ramon Garza Barrios asked Roman Catholic Bishop Gustavo
Rodriguez Vega for assistance in calming the nerves of the local
population.
Last week’s violent showdown was practically announced, when the Gulf
Cartel, La Familia and other smaller cartels unveiled narco-banners in
several Mexican states earlier this month announcing an alliance against
Los Zetas. Presumably authored by Los Zetas, narco-banners posted in
Tamapaulipas and four other states this week sarcastically challenged the
purported alliance.
Other actors may be part of the latest fray, too. In other presumed Zetas’
banners posted in 26 cities across Mexico last February 11, the authors
blamed alleged Sinaloa Cartel leader “Chapo” Guzman for recent atrocities
in Ciudad Juarez and Torreon. The messages also accused Mexico’s federal
government of protecting Guzman.
As last week’s fighting unfolded, reports surfaced that members of
Michoacan’s La Familia drug cartel were sent to Tamaulipas to reinforce
their allies in the Gulf Cartel.
In Tamaulipas, the consequences of years of press intimidation by
organized crime and government officials, the murders of reporters,
official inaction in prosecuting attacks against journalists and media
self-censorship were evident this week as local residents had little solid
information from local news sources about what was happening on the
street. Conversely, Mexican national and US border news outlets provided
better information about the local situation.
But the big news development came from civil society. For better or worse,
Tamaulipas residents turned to social networks like Twitter and Facebook.
A writer on Twitter complained the circumstances in his hometown were
almost like Somalia.
The websites of national media organizations quickly became forums for
writers claiming to be from Tamaulipas. Many messages harshly criticized
government officials for downplaying conditions on the ground, and some
even provided details of the emerging situation.
Posting on the La Jornada website, Manuel Garcia credited social media for
keeping the population of Reynosa informed.
Garcia wrote: “Hasn’t (Reynosa’s mayor) ever seen the vehicles that drive
in broad daylight with CDG (Gulf Cartel) or XX initials? The checkpoints
that these men install at the entrances and exits to the city? The
pickups with armed men, sometimes escorted by the municipal police?”
On El Universal’s site, a woman identifying herself as Martha from
Tamaulipas wrote that the shooting had spread to the coastal area of
Tampico-Madero.
The latest outbreak of violence coincided with the February 25 sentencing
of former Gulf Cartel kingpin Osiel Cardenas Guillen on drug trafficking
charges in a Texas federal court. Observers were surprised by Cardenas’s
25-year sentence, which was considered relatively light in view of the
charges against the defendant. Important Texas media outlets blasted the
decision of Judge Hilda Tagle to bar the public from the proceedings and
permanently seal the trial records.
Like violence-torn Chihuahua to the north, the narco-war in Tamaulipas
occurs in a state election year for governor and other officials. Another
important parallel could be drawn between the situation in Tamaulipas and
the one in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua. In both instances, major incidents of
“spill-over” violence have yet to materialize on the US side. Several
Texas law enforcement agencies reportedly mobilized their forces this week
to monitor any potential threats to US territory.
In response to the Tamaulipas trouble, the Mexican navy dispatched marines
to hot spots like Reynosa. As in the states of Guerrero and Morelos far to
the south, the marines are increasingly used to carry out tasks formerly
the domain of the army.
The growing tend of employing navy personnel as the favored front-line
fighters in the drug war was reinforced this week with the appointment of
Captain Hector Garcia Aguirre as the new head of the federal attorney
general’s office (PGR) in Ciudad Juarez. A lawyer by training and a
veteran of previous civilian law enforcement functions, Garcia was sworn
in at a February 26 ceremony attended by former senator and current PGR
official Francisco Javier Molina Ruiz in Ciudad Juarez.
Coming at a time when the Calderon administration has pledged to invest
major resources in restoring order to Ciudad Juarez, the Tamaulipas
violence represents a serious challenge to the Mexican state. Indeed,
given the potential of the fighting to rapidly expand and engulf other
states, the Calderon administration once again faces the prospect of
managing simultaneous damage control from a shifting, multi-front war
-----------------------------------------------------------------Hallan arsenal en depósito subterráneo en Sinaloa
Distrito Federal— El Ejército halló un arsenal subterráneo en el estado de Sinaloa después de un enfrentamiento con sicarios, y decomisó armamento y numerosos vehículos en Zacatecas, informó hoy la Secretaría de la Defensa Nacional (Sedena).
La fuente indicó en un comunicado que el pasado viernes soldados que realizaban tareas de reconocimiento en el poblado de Agua Caliente, Sinaloa, fueron agredidos por dos individuos con armas de fuego, quienes lograron huir con rumbo desconocido.
Después de estos hechos, los militares realizaron una inspección minuciosa en el área, donde detectaron un camino que los condujo hasta un predio donde localizaron un depósito subterráneo de armas.
En este depósito estaban ocultas 76 armas largas, 34 armas cortas, 723 cargadores, 16 mil 120 cartuchos de diferentes calibres, 20 silenciadores para armas, tres 3 granadas de gas, nueve chalecos antibala y 34 uniformes tipo militar camuflados de fabricación estadounidense.
Sinaloa es cuna de los principales capos del narcotráfico mexicano y territorio que controla Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, del cártel de Sinaloa, aunque también hay presencia de otras bandas rivales que se disputan las rutas de trasiego hacia Estados Unidos de cocaína, heroína y metanfetaminas.
En tanto, en Zacatecas, también zona de enfrentamientos entre grupos de narcotraficantes, la Sedena informó en otro comunicado que detuvo a dos civiles a quienes les incautó 28 armas largas, 43 armas cortas, 7 mil 203 cartuchos de diferentes calibres y material explosivo, del que no da detalles.
También les decomisaron diez uniformes antimotines con la leyenda "Policía", así como 35 camiones pesados, 47 cajas de tráiler cerradas, diez remolques para camiones, 16 camionetas de diferentes marcas, entre ellas tres blindadas, además de un auto BMW.
Además, uniformes camuflados tipo militar de fabricación estadounidense, una chaqueta con el logotipo de la Policía de Fresnillo (Zacatecas), 13 mil 600 pesos mexicanos (unos mil dólares) y 2.6 kilos de marihuana.
Estos hechos tuvieron lugar en el municipio de Fresnillo, después de que los militares recibieron denuncias sobre presuntas actividades ilícitas en la zona.