Mexican Marines Engage Zetas in Fresnillo, Zacatecas, in day long Battle

A five hour long shootout between members of Los Zetas and Mexican Marines on Friday in the community of San José de Lourdes, Zacatecas left a toll of 15 gunmen dead and 17 arrested. San Jose de Lourdes, a community of 5,000 inhabitants, is located in the municipality of Fresnillo, where Los Zetas have created one of several strongholds in Mexico’s central altiplano, or high plains.

The Naval ministry (Semar) reported that the shooting began when a unit of Marines conducting operations in San José de Lourdes was attacked by a large group of gunmen from a safe house.

The shooting wounded six Marines, who were all reported out of danger.

The fighting began at 6:00am and as of 7:00pm Marines were still conducting house to house searches in search of more suspects in San Jose. Residents of the community reported a large amount of explosions from grenades and heavy weapons during the fighting.

Between 8:00am and 11:00am gunmen hijacked buses, large trucks and passenger vehicles and used them for “narcobloqueos”, or blockades, on the main roadways in and out of Fresnillo to obstruct vehicular traffic and limit the movement of authorities.

Shooting was reported in the afternoon in the important religious center and pilgrimage site of Platero, also in the municipality of Fresnillo, where the church of the Santo Niño de Atocha is located.

Units of Federal Police and Army troops reinforced the Marines, manning checkpoints and searching the central bus station and hotels throughout the municipality.

According to the statement from the Naval Ministry a large number of arms and ammunition and several vehicles were also confiscated during the operation.

Initially the fighting in San Jose de Lourdes was reported as a street to street battle that began when a Marine patrol intercepted a large convoy carrying over 250 Zetas, but this version of events was later denied by Zacatecas’ State Attorney General, Arturo Nahle Garcia.

In his statement Nahle Garcia explained that the number of 250 pertained to the number of armed Zetas believed to reside in the municipality of Fresnillo.

The Attorney General revealed that Los Zetas have a headquarters in Fresnillo and use the city as a center of operations. He stated that the criminal group is also present in other parts of the state.

“Without a doubt, Fresnillo is important to them (Los Zetas), they set up camp here 5 or 6 years ago and it is only recently that we have begun to fight them with the help of federal forces. It seems that previously their presence was tolerated.”

One of the Zetas killed in the battle with state police in La Lobera, Jalisco this past June 14, where the 6 young female Zetas recruits were captured, was a mid level Zeta commander based in Fresnillo.

“Comandante Ardilla”, Heriberto Centeno Madrid, led a cell of approximately 50 sicarios  (assassins)that operated out of Fresnillo and was considered one of the most dangerous men in Zacatecas at the time of his death.

It is not known if intelligence gathered at La Lobera and from the interrogation of the Zetas captured there led to the location of the safehouses attacked by the Marines in San Jose de Lourdes.

The Rest @ Borderland Beat

20 Dead in Zetas - Gulf Shootout in Monterrey

t least 20 killed in Mexico bar, officials say

The attack takes place in the downtown of Monterrey, a prosperous and once-orderly industrial hub hit by over a year of fighting between the Zetas, known as the country's most violent drug gang, and the Gulf cartel.


Forensic workers load a truck with bodies after gunmen stormed into a bar in downtown Monterrey, Mexico, late Friday and killed at least 20 people. (Hans Maximo Musielik, AP / July 10, 2011)


By Ken Ellingwood, Los Angeles Times

Reporting from Mexico City—
Gunmen targeting a rival drug cartel opened fire in a crowded bar in the northern city of Monterrey, killing at least 20 people and wounding several, authorities said Saturday.

The attack occurred late Friday in the Sabino Gordo bar in downtown Monterrey, a prosperous and once-orderly industrial hub that has been buffeted by more than a year of fighting between the Zetas, known as the country's most violent drug gang, and the Gulf cartel.

Authorities said most of the dead — four of them women — were bar employees. Mexican news reports said the toll rose to 21 after a wounded man died in a hospital.

The attack may have stemmed from a dispute over narcotics sales at the bar, officials said.

"The most probable line that we're following is that it was a direct attack against the establishment, rather than against the people who were enjoying themselves there," Jorge Domene, security spokesman for Nuevo Leon state, said in a television interview.

Monterrey, Mexico's richest city, was once known as a peaceful if uninspiring factory town. But the drug violence has turned it into something more like a Wild West outpost, with gun battles in the streets, brazen kidnappings and frequent slayings of police officers in outlying communities.

Some have expressed worry that if Monterrey is lost to violence, so is all of Mexico.

The government of President Felipe Calderon launched an aggressive, military-led campaign against drug traffickers in late 2006, a drive accompanied by furious fighting between drug gangs. About 40,000 people have died.

The latest carnage wasn't limited to Monterrey. In the northern state of Coahuila, next door to Nuevo Leon, the decapitated bodies of seven men and three women were found around the city of Torreon. The killings were attributed to clashes between the Zetas and traffickers based to the west, in the state of Sinaloa.

Also, 11 bodies turned up in the municipality of Valle de Chalco, in the central state of Mexico, outside Mexico City, in an attack believed linked to crime groups.

In the western state of Michoacan, federal police in recent days have battled hit men from a faction of the splintering La Familia gang. On Saturday, the government deployed 1,800 more federal officers to the crime-torn state.

The spate of bloodletting prompted Calderon's public safety spokesman, Alejandro Poire, to call a rare Saturday news conference to defend the government's strategy.

Poire said the violence was caused by "absurd" rivalries between criminal groups and not the crackdown, which faces rising public criticism as the toll climbs.

"The violence is not going to slow down by dropping the fight against criminals," he said.

The Rest @ Intermex

Jalisco and Zacatecas, Mexico War

The Attorney General, Arturo Nahle Garcia, said that the violence was the results of a group of men calling themselves Carteles Unidos (United Cartels), who have recently made a presence in the region, and it appears that this criminal organization is fighting Los Zetas for control of the plaza.

At least six trucks were left abandoned near the edge of a dam which is located near the center of the town, and the state attorney general said that an investigation is in the process to find out what happened and to determine the identification of the dead sicarios.

The Secretary of Public Security, General Jesus Pinto Ortiz, and the director of the State Preventive Police, General Victor Manuel Bosque, were escorted by a significant number of troops from the state Preventive Police and the Mexican military conducted patrols around the streets of the town to reassure the residents that everything was in order.

General Jesus Pinto Ortiz confirmed that the situation was now under control, and it is so now up to the Attorney General to finish their work in order to determine the origins of the suspects that were killed.

He further indicated that there is a joint operation in place with the police in Jalisco to attempt to locate the suspects that fled in the direction of the municipality of Chimaltitán, Jalisco.

After the confrontation between the Zetas and the Carteles Unidos in Florencia de Benito Juarez, Zacatecas, the Mexican Army began operations throughout the state and in Jalisco.

In the municipality of Santa María de los Ángeles, Jalisco they located several vehicles said to have been used in recent battles, including what appears to be a compact version of the 2010 Zeta Monstruo.

The compact steel armored Monster 2010 has a top speed of 80 kph and presented the traditional side hatches as well as a modernized gun turret design. Although the vehicle was found in Jalisco, it is said to have been made in Tamaulipas and transported to Zacatecas were it was donated to a local Zeta cell. Reports indicate that the 2010 compact version of was the prototype for the 2011 design.

The vehicle, which could hold up to ten passengers, has four wheel drive, a tow hitch for transport, armor covered wheels, a stereo system, and satellite communication equipment.

Alta Verapaz, Guatemala a los Zetas Base Camp

Official: Zetas drug gang had base in Guatemala:

GUATEMALA CITY -- Guatemala's top security official says the Zetas drug gang from Mexico had set up an operations center in the border province of Alta Verapaz where the government declared a state of siege Dec. 19.

Interior Minister Carlos Menocal says a two-week-old military offensive against the cartel is making progress. In his words, "This is just the beginning."

Menocal said Monday that authorities have seized planes, vehicles and $40,000 in cash. He said the Zetas "had their base, their hiding place, their operations center in Alta Verapaz."
The Zetas initially began on Mexico's Gulf coast, but have extended their operations to other parts of Mexico and into Central America.

The Rest @ The Washington Post

Alleged Zeta Hitman Armando Garcia in Court

Alleged Zeta hitman in court

By KGNS News

Story Created: Jan 25, 2010

Security was on high alert Monday morning, at the Federal Courthouse in downtown Laredo during jury selection for an alleged Zeta hitman. Federal officers armed with high-powered rifles were stationed around the courthouse. 24-year old Armando Garcia is the suspect in a double murder, dating back to April third, 2006.Court officers told Pro 8 News the indictment against Garcia is sealed.He is charged with racketeering and conspiracy.The victims were 15 year old Mariano Resendez and his uncle, Jesus Maria Resendez who were traveling north on Zapata Highway when a black pickup truck pulled up and a gunman opened fire at them.Police found casings from an AK-47 and a 9 MM. at the scene.

The Rest #@ Pro8 News








Federico Gochoa

Extradition of Minors Cotributes to Gang Activities

The week of 29 June 2009 saw two very interesting developments in Mexico, with the continuation of a third very important economic indicator.First, remittances from the United States to Mexico continue to drop.

In the first six months of 2009, we have seen remittances drop by 19.9%, compared to the first half of 2008. This decline represents some US$1.9 billion dollars.A new vigilante group has emerged.

The “Mata Zetas” is one of the latest of the so-called splinter groups we’ve seen surface. At the end of June, when police discovered three bodies in Cancun, they also discovered a note that read: “We are the new group, Mata Zetas, and we are against kidnapping and extortion and we are going to fight against them in all of the state for a cleaner Mexico."

Just a few days later, police arrested eleven members of a separate splinter group known as “La Contra”. Mexican authorities suspect this group has formed to fill gaps opened by arrested members of the Los Zetas and La Familia.

• Analysis:After petroleum exports, remittances make up the largest source of foreign currency in Mexico. And from January to April, total remittances added up to US$7.3 million. This number continues to drop as a direct function of the economy.

Indirect effects, however, may be seen in Mexico, where individuals who relied on these remittances have little option but to turn to organized crime to pay the bills.Consider three converging realities.

• Last year, 17,772 minors were deported from the United States to Mexico. It is likely that many of them landed in a crime-controlled municipality.
• Between 60 and 65% percent of all Mexican municipalities suffer from organized crime infiltration. This adds up to about 1,500 cities.
• Finally, there are a reported 980 zones of impunity across the country. Also called “criminal enclaves” the political leadership is either directly involved in organized crime, or is somehow compromised. We’re not surprised by the presence of La Contra and Mata Zetas. We expect more such groups to surface before the end of the year.

The Rest @ Samuel Logan and Security in Latin America

Drug Trafficing Organizations Move Operations to the Pacific

June 20, 2009 12:00
The beaches on the Southern Pacifc Coast of Mexiso have become the new transfer point for cartels bringing in drugs from The South.

-Federico Gochoa

SALINA CRUZ, Mexico - If you know what's good for you, fisherman Teodoro Contreras says, you stay away from certain places after the sun sets on the beaches of Mexico's southern coast. From the resort city of Acapulco to the Guatemalan border, this is Mexico's "Cocaine Coast," the main destination for drug-carrying speedboats, airplanes and even submarines that are switching to the Pacific Ocean to avoid increasingly numerous patrols in the Caribbean Sea.

"There are boats out there, trucks, people doing things they shouldn't be doing," Contreras said, waving at the curving shoreline near Salina Cruz. "People coming right up on the beach and catching rides to who-knows-where. You mind your own business at night."


The rise of this Pacific route shows how smugglers continue to evade and adapt, even as the Mexican government pours resources into an unprecedented crackdown on the major cartels. More than 10,000 people have died in drug-related violence since President Felipe Calderón launched the offensive in late 2006.

The trafficking has spilled into some resort cities, leading to shootouts in Acapulco and the appearance of "narco-banners" with threatening messages in Huatulco. The violence has not targeted tourists, however, and no tourists have been hurt.
About 69 percent of cocaine shipments moved through the eastern Pacific in 2007, up from 50 percent in 2005, the U.S. National Drug Intelligence Center said in a report released in December.

The traffic has only increased since then, leading to some spectacular busts of boats in the 300-mile stretch between Acapulco and the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, near Guatemala. Much of that shoreline looks like the edge of a postage stamp: scalloped, with coves that are perfect for smuggling.

Police say they are also catching more members of the rival Gulf Cartel, including its elite enforcers known as the "Zetas," as they shift to the southwestern coast from their traditional turf on the eastern coast.

On Wednesday, federal agents arrested three Zeta suspects and freed a businessman kidnapped in the town of Juchitán.

• "Most of the cocaine is now going through the Pacific side, so that (coast) has become a point of attraction for all kinds of criminal groups," said Carlos Antonio Flores, a crime expert at the Center for Economic, Administrative and Social Research, a Mexico City think tank.
  
• Military checkpoints and navy trucks full of heavily armed troops have become a common sight in the 130-mile-wide Isthmus of Tehuantepec.
  
• On one recent afternoon, cars, trucks and motorcycles drove slowly through a mobile X-ray machine manned by federal police on Highway 190. The machine looked like a crane with a boom that arced over the highway.
  
• A few miles down the road, Mexican immigration agents were searching northbound buses, looking for Central American migrants and drug couriers.
• At another checkpoint farther on, stone-faced soldiers questioned motorists about their destinations and used mirrors with long handles to check under cars.
  
• Last year, the Mexican navy caught a submersible boat as it approached the area carrying 5.8 tons of cocaine.
• A shrimp boat was caught with 3.3 tons of coke, and in January, the navy caught a fishing vessel with a 7 tons on board.
• On June 8, Mexican forces near the resort of Huatulco caught a "go-fast" boat with traces of cocaine on board and four new 250-horsepower engines apparently destined for outfitting other smuggling boats.
• Two other suspected drug boats were seized from a warehouse near Salina Cruz last month.

In Acapulco, 16 drug traffickers and two soldiers died in a shootout on June 7. Investigators suspect the traffickers were a cell directing smuggling operations along the coast for the Sinaloa Cartel.

Part of the change in routes is due to production patterns, Flores said. Coca-leaf cultivation in Colombia, Peru and Bolivia increased 16 percent from 2006 to 2007, but the biggest increase was in the Pacific and central regions of Colombia, the United Nations said in its latest World Drug Report.

Meanwhile, better radar coverage, more patrolling by Caribbean countries and better cooperation with the United States have made it harder to get drugs through the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico, said Scott Stewart, vice president of Stratfor, a global intelligence-consulting firm in Austin.

Smugglers have adapted by bringing the drugs to Central America, then using light airplanes or go-fast boats to race across the Mexican border and drop their bundles into the water, where they are picked up.

"It's smaller shipments making smaller jumps," Stewart said. "They'll take smaller boats to pop around the isthmus. They can take short-range aviation. . . . They're really quite resourceful."

To help fight the traffickers, the Mexican Senate took the dramatic step of allowing Mexico's military to participate in an April 19-May 7 naval exercise with the United States. Mexico has avoided joint exercises with the United States ever since the 1846-48 Mexican-American War.

"It was the first time we have ever allowed that, and it was precisely because of this threat," said Felipe González, chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Safety. "Our navy needs to get more knowledge so they can detect and stop these criminals."

Reach the reporter at chris.hawley@arizonarepublic.com.

The Rest @ News12 (AZ)

Los Zetas en las Guerras Drogas en Zacatecas

Mexican Drug War

Source : Disclose TV

Mexican Drug War Update

ol AgeUpdate bythe Former Border Patr

El Informador (Guadalajara, Jalisco) 2/12/09

The Chief of Customs at Guadalajara’s International Airport was abducted and held for several hours Wednesday night and Thursday morning. Cecilia Antillan Rosas and her driver, an active AFI [equiv. FBI ] agent were intercepted and abducted by armed men in two vehicles with license plates from the state of Colima. They were driven around for about three hours before being released at the Chief’s home. During those hours, she was threatened by at least eight armed men for the purpose of persuading her to “allow cargo” or there would be reprisals against her. In recent days, important seizures of drugs have been made at the airport.

1. News Summary The Former Border Patrol Agents Association

(Monterrey, Nuevo Leon) 2/12/09

The Chief of homicide investigations for the Nuevo Leon State Police was assassinated while on duty in an official vehicle by several gunmen in Monterrey. He was hit by more than 14 impacts from firearms. The detective was in charge of a number of investigations into organized crime.
——————–

Novedades de Quintana Roo (Cancun, QR) 2/12/09

A federal judge ordered the ex-secretary of Public Security of Cancun, Francisco Velasco Delgado, alias “El Vikingo,” to be placed under arrest for his possible participation in the murders of retired Army General Mauro Enrique Tello Quiñones and two of his escorts.

The murders, February 3, were presumably carried out by Los Zetas. ”El Vikingo” is suspected of long association with organized crime in the area and giving protection to Los Zetas.
According to SIEDO [equiv. DEA], Los Zetas have the mission to assassinate any members of the Armed Forces believed to be obstructing the activities of the cartel.
——————–

El Porvenir (Monterrey, Nuevo Leon) 2/12/09

The Chief of homicide investigations for the Nuevo Leon State Police was assassinated while on duty in an official vehicle by several gunmen in Monterrey. He was hit by more than 14 impacts from firearms. The detective was in charge of a number of investigations into organized crime

——————–
Mexican News Update

++ Four the fourth consecutive day dozens of people wearing face masks and armed with sticks and stones and firecrackers took over the Fidel Velázquez avenue in Monterrey, Nuevo León, to demand the Army withdraw from the area.

++ Federal Preventive Police commissioner Rodrigo Esparza accepted that drug trafficking cartels are operating out of municipalities in the State of Mexico near the Federal District

.++ A judge indicted former Federal Preventive Police regional security chief Javier Herrera Valles… He will organized crime and drug trafficking charges for having allegedly offered protection to organized crime in Tamaulipas.

Mas from the Mexico Today Blog

Zetas Connected to Grenade attacks in Multiple Locations

EL PASO, Texas -- Investigators with the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms tell the 11 News Border Bureau they have evidence linking grenades used in the attack on

• the U.S. Consulate,
• a Mexican television station and
• a bar in South Texas.

Officials examine a car related to a grenade attack on the offices of the television company Televisa in Monterrey, Mexico, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2009.

Serial numbers recovered at the crime scene show the grenades came from the same stash.

“It is still under investigation. We don’t know exactly what the link is but yes, there is definitely association with the three attacks,” said Jim Needles, the assistant special agent in charge of the ATF’s office in Phoenix.

According to an unclassified report ATF sent to law enforcement agencies last week, the grenades are “linked to a major recovery of firearms and grenades in a Mexican warehouse with suspected ties to a drug cartel.

We’re told that warehouse is in Monterrey, Mexico where two of the attacks happened.

ATF traced the explosives to a lot manufactured in South Korea. Investigators suspect the weapons cache belonged to the Zetas, enforcers for the Gulf Cartel.

The grenades tossed at the U.S. Consulate last October and at the Monterrey TV station in early January did not injury anyone.

In the TV station attack, masked gunmen opened fire and tossed a grenade at the station as it aired its nightly newscast, leaving behind a message warning the station about its coverage of drug gangs.

The anchors asked viewers to call for help on the air.

The live grenade tossed on a pool table in San Juan, Texas on January 31 did not detonate because the attacker failed to pull a second safety pin.

Investigators tell us three off-duty police officers were among the patrons inside the bar at the time.

“The violence is here. The violence is in the U.S. We hear about the violence in Mexico. It’s not just an issue for the Mexican authorities. It’s an issue for us here in the United States,” Needles said.

Mas @ MX-Cartel News

Gulf & Zetas, Arellano Felix, Folowed by Sinaloa

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FORMER BORDER PATROL OFFICERS
Visit our website: http://www.nafbpo.orgForeign News Report

Milenio (Mexico City) 1/29/09 A report by the “PGR” (Mex. Dep’t. of Justice) about weapons trafficking in Mexico specified that the Gulf Cartel and its hired “los Zetas” killers are the organizations with the largest “criminal and violent activism.” They operate out of the northern state of Tamaulipas and also in at least seven other states.The report added that these organizations have had the largest number of firearms seized including those of special characteristics due to their versatility, firepower, penetration and fire volume. They include fragmentation grenades and also weapons capable of penetrating powerful armor. One of the handguns is known as a “cop killer.”

The war between cartels for dominion of routes toward the United States left more than 5,700 dead last year, including persons beheaded or dissolved in chemical substances inside barrels.

The second place among the cartels is the one by the Arellano Felix brothers, in Tijuana. It has also used rifles and rocket launchers.

The Pacific, or Sinaloa, cartel is third and it has also used rocket launchers and grenades.———

two Low-Level Zetas to be Sentenced

Zeta's Ready for Sentencing in Laredo
They have a big case going against the Zeta's (gulf cartel paramilitary organization) over in Laredo. Some of the first defendant's to plead guilty are about to be sentenced, which is a good opportunity to recap the case:

The first round of sentences in a federal conspiracy case brought against the Zetas in Nuevo Laredo are expected to be handed down this week.

The three defendants who will appear in federal court Thursday represent the wide scope of "Operation Prophecy," an investigation targeting the Zetas that involved almost every lawenforcement agency in the Laredo area and was spearheaded by investigators from the Laredo Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

• Roberto Camacho
• Gustavo Fabian Chapa
• Jorge Rodriguez

considered low-level associates, pleaded guilty last year to drug possession and distribution charges and will be sentenced Thursday by U.S. District Judge Micaela Alvarez.

Camacho and Chapa worked for a Zeta hit man during the organization's war on behalf of the Gulf Cartel against factions of the Sinaloa Cartel for control of Nuevo Laredo's drug-trafficking lanes, a conflict that resulted in murders on this side of the border in 2005 and 2006.

The indictment appears to target the reported former head of the Zetas in Nuevo Laredo, Miguel "El 40" Treviño Morales, and his lieutenants.

However, Treviño is not in custody.Treviño is wanted on five state murder charges in Laredo, and a federal indictment unsealed last year in Washington D.C. charged him with drug conspiracy in a separate case that targets the top ranks of the Gulf Cartel.

So far, no high-ranking Zetas from Nuevo Laredo have been brought to court to face charges, although Treviño and other alleged Zeta leaders are named in court documents.

The Rest @ LAREDO TIMES