Sunday, 13 January 2008
78 Executions in Mexico the First Twelve Days of 2008!
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FORMER BORDER PATROL OFFICERS

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.

Diario Xalapa (Xalapa, Veracruz; part of O.E.M., a large newspaper network) 1/13/08

headline: "Bloody start of 2008: going on 78 executed"
In Mexico there have been 78 executions in the 12 days of this year, a daily average of 6.3 cases related to organized crime. Among them: four federal agents and four women. Heading the list of "narcoexecutions" are the states of Guerrero with 15; Michoacan, 14; Sinaloa, 12; Tamaulipas, 8 and Chihuahua, 7. (Others followed with smaller numbers.)
Entorno a Tamaulipas (Matamoros, Tamaulipas) 1/13/08

(note: a front page article publishes "recommendations" by the "Preventive Police" to area residents in the Tamaulipas border area - just across the Rio Grande from the southern tip of Texas - as to what to do because of dangerous local conditions. By coincidence or not, the other two local area papers, El Bravo and Tamaulipas en linea, have suddenly become unavailable.)

Headline: "What to do in case you come to a police checkpoint or if there is a shootout" (note: the paper uses the term "confrontation")

"If you are near a firefight: throw yourself on the ground and cover your head with both hands. If you are in a vehicle, throw yourself onto the floor of the car and protect any children with you. Do not come out running, you can be mistaken for a criminal escaping from the scene of a crime."
"Avoid putting yourself at risk and going out at night if at all possible, although these days it is common for firefights (note: the paper uses the term "confrontations") to take place in the daytime."
"It is hoped this situation will be resolved soon but while it lasts stay informed and alert at all times, do not put yourself or others at risk. Please share this information with the persons who have no access to the internet."
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El Informador (Guadalajara, Jalisco) , Por Esto (Merida, Yucatan) - and others - 1/13/08

Yesterday at mid-day rivalry between the Sinaloa and the Gulf Cartel drug groups for control of the Cancun area erupted into an armed conflict which in turn brought military and civilian law enforcement forces into the affray in downtown Cancun. The result was two thugs dead and four others wounded. One of the dead had to be handled carefully when found because one of his fingers was still in the pull ring of the pin of a grenade. Also seized at the scene: 11 fragmentation grenades, 4 AK47s, 4 AR15s, 2 pistols, 23 clips for weapons of "high caliber", 3 "AFI" (Agencia Federal de Investigaciones) identifications of dubious authenticity, plus two vehicles, one of which was armored.
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Frontera (Tijuana, Baja Calif.) 1/13/08

(note: Two thirds of the front page of the print edition of this paper was devoted to the "aggression" by the Border Patrol. The large print headline: "They ignore the call; they attack again." The article deals with the use of "tear gas" and rubber bullets against residents of Colonia Libertad, Tijuana; it avoids mention of any initial provocation by persons in Mexico other than the statement by the Border Patrol spokesperson. It also features a photo of a teenager who they say suffered a two centimeter wound to his right cheek when he stepped out of his house at 5 a.m. and was hit by a rubber bullet.
http://www.borderfirereport.net/foreign ... ys-of.html