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Narco breaks record of deaths
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FORMER BORDER PATROL OFFICERS
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Foreign News Report



The National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers (NAFBPO) extracts and condenses the material that follows from Mexican and Central and South American on-line media sources on a daily basis. You are free to disseminate this information, but we request that you credit NAFBPO as being the provider.



El Universal (Mexico City) 5/21/08

1) Yesterday (Tues.) Mexico had 34 execution deaths, the most violent episode caused by narcotraffic in 2008. The states of Chihuahua and Sinaloa accounted for 14 executions, while Tamaulipas and Guerrero had two. The nine homicides in Chihuahua brought that state to just five short of 400, all caused by organized crime. Of the nine, six took place in Ciudad Juarez, on the border with the United States.
The violent events combined with a shootout in Durango (our report of yesterday) which left at least 16 dead, making a total of 1,356 executions in 141 days.
The states of Chihuahua, Sinaloa and Durango have become the operations center in a battle for territorial control. Those three states, plus Baja California, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, Zacatecas and San Luis Potosi account for 980 of this year's 1,356 victims. The governor of Sinaloa has now restructured the police command in the state's three largest cities and has placed career military personnel in charge. In Ciudad Juarez, a military officer assumed command of the city police; his predecessor was murdered nine days ago.

2) Rosarito Beach, Baja Calif., (not far south of Tijuana) is the locale where criminal gangs are now trafficking in drugs and people. At night the area is a reception zone for drugs but also a departure point for boats taking undocumented persons to the United States, "easier than through the mountains, desert or the border gate."
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Diario de Yucatan (Merida, Yucatan) 5/21/08

A semi-trailer hauling nopal (prickly pear) northbound towards Tijuana also had 334 kilos of cocaine in 180 packages. The find was again at the Benjamin Hill, Sonora, checkpoint and is the third sizeable one one within a week.
In Rosarito Beach, Baja Calif., eleven persons were arrested when found to be unloading a boat with 2,542.6 kilos of marihuana onto different vehicles. Two of the arrested were minors.
And in Orozco, Sonora, a tractor trailer stopped short of a checkpoint and the driver fled. Inside, 300 packages with 329.4 kilos of cocaine.
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El Debate (Culiacan, Sinaloa) 5/21/08

In the ocean off Los Mochis, Sinaloa, a couple of local fishermen spotted a floating object and then saw that a pair of feet were sticking out on one end. The unidentified execution victim had been "wrapped."
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El Imparcial (Hermosillo, Sonora) 5/21/08

Near Masiaca, Sonora, Mex. military personnel yesterday (Tues.) morning found 150 sticks of dynamite "25 cms. long by 5 cms. in diameter" (8 1/4" X 2") some 600 meters off the highway. The explosives were destroyed. (Masiaca is halfway between Los Mochis and Ciudad Obregon.)
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El Informador (Guadalajara, Jalisco), Excelsior (Mexico City) 5/21/08

Federal highway police checked an abandoned car on the Mexico City - Cuernavaca highway. The four-way flashers were operating and the trunk lid was ajar. Inside: the tied, blindfolded and tortured bodies of two men who had been shot with high power firearms while inside the trunk. A large tag board sign on the bodies read: "This is the way all will end up who are against El Chapo and El Rey Zambada" referring to the head of the Sinaloa Cartel Joaquin El Chapo Guzman and to Ismael El Mayo Zambada. The two victims were later identified as the Director of the State of Morelos Ministerial Police and of another officer of the same agency.
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Noroeste (Culiacan Sinaloa) 5/21/08

In Culiacan, a 23 and a 20 year old were arrested by federal agents at a safe house in which they also found firearms including a .50 cal. Barret rifle, loaders, grenades, tactical vests and 16 vehicles.
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Norte (Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua) 5/21/08

Mex. Senator Ramon Galindo Noriega said that the federal support for Ciudad Juarez has been evident but nevertheless there will be no Federal Police or Army that will be sufficient to combat crime if the city and state police are infiltrated by narcotraffic.
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El Universo (Guayaquil, Ecuador) 5/21/08

A second arsenal was found by Ecuadorean military in the jungle less than one kilometer away from the Colombian border. The find included sixteen 40 mm grenade launchers, a 60 mm "assault mortar", 4 machine guns, a number of assault rifles and carbines, five 0.50 barrels for anti-aircraft guns, ammo, complete solar energy equipment and an extensive list of communications and tactical gear.
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