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.

Reynosa: hub of Tamaulipas crime

Milenio (Mexico City) 6/14/08

The cities of Reynosa, Matamoros and Nuevo Laredo account for 83 % of the homicides that have taken place this year in the nine border cities of the state of Tamaulipas. Forty three of these were in Reynosa and most are linked to drug traffic.
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El Diario de Yucatan (Merida, Yucatan) 6/14/08

Cuba's ambassador to Mexico, Manuel Aguilera, said that "the Miami mafia" which dedicates itself to people smuggling is behind the armed event during which 33 undocumented Cubans were taken away from Mexican officials as they were being transported to a migratory facility in Chiapas. He added there was little chance the Cubans were in any danger other than being taken to the United States border after a previous payment of up to $15,000 dollars for each one of them by relatives who reside in Miami.
The "PGR" (Mex. Dep't. of Justice) is aware of a possible link and arrangement between "polleros" (people smugglers) and the "Zetas" to carry out executions. An investigation surrounding "INM" personnel (Mex. Immigr.) and also city police officers who protect these criminal groups is under way and the seven "INM" officials who were on the bus from which the 33 Cubans were taken are having to give formal statements.
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La Jornada (Mexico City) 6/14/08

- Elvira Arellano, Mexican migrant deported by the U.S. government (note: this is the woman who made news after taking "refuge" in a Chicago church for many months) lamented that the petition President Calderon made to the American government about immigration reform has disappeared into oblivion. The reform was to "allow the guarantee of the basic rights of fellow citizens and a decent life in that country."
"PRI" (political party which ruled Mexico for many decades) deputy (congresswoman) Guillermina Lopez called for President Calderon to demand from the U.S. government that it bring a halt to judicial persecution, harassment and systematic outrages which our fellow countrymen suffer in that country.
In an interview at the Senate during a work session between legislators and Mex. "migrant leaders", Arellano said that Calderon offered her only support and a scholarship for her son. She has had no further contact with Calderon since then. "I think it's all been forgotten", she reflected, after adding that she had also asked the president for an honorary diplomatic post so that she could promote the defense of the basic rights of Mex. migrants from within the United States. Nevertheless, she obtained no answer.

- The police officers detained in Caborca, Sonora (our report of yesterday relates) turned out to be five. They had an amount "superior to" 200 kgs. of marihuana.
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Ensenada (Ensenada, Baja Calif.) 6/14/08

A joint operation by Mex. military and federal agents was carried out at a produce farm facility in the rural area of Maneadero, south of Ensenada, Baja Calif.; the result was the seizure of 381 packages of weed weighing an estimated two tons. Also seized: two dozen truck trailers, two safes and $4,000 found in one of the trucks. Sixty-five persons were detained for questioning. (The article gave no date for this event)
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La Hora (Guatemala City, Guatemala) 6/13/08

(The following is from an op/column by Raul Molina Mejia headed "Undocumented Guatemalans rejected in the United States by the government of Colom" (the Guatemalan president) )

The series of problems that undocumented Guatemalans face in the United States are well known: capture and deportation under conditions which assault their dignity; lack of opportunities for a normal life; attacks by xenophobia and racism; permanent fear of roundups and officials; and, in general, the absence of rights in a "democratic country." In view of this inhumane and discriminatory situation, our people express their rejection and condemn these anti-immigrant attitudes and trusts that the State of Guatemala will provide support and act firmly in defense of our fellow citizens.
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