Thread: 3,725 Killed In Mexico Drug Wars This Year

3,725 Killed In Mexico Drug Wars This Year

At least 17 dead in Mexico jail riot near U.S. border

Mon Oct 20, 2008 12:37pm EDT

12:37pm EDT

MONTERREY, Mexico (Reuters) - At least 17 prisoners died in a jail riot in Mexico near the U.S. border on Monday, some in a fire after a gun battle between rival gangs.

The riot started in the early hours of Monday in Reynosa across from the Texan border, a manufacturing city where the powerful Gulf drug cartel is active, the local state attorney general's office said.

"There was a shootout and then a fire. There are charred bodies among the dead," said the attorney general's office spokesman. It was not clear how the riot or the fire started.

Heavily-armed police quelled the fight and surrounded the prison, but some family members pushed their way in, desperate to find out if their relatives were among the dead, Mexican media said.

Mexico has seen a surge in prison riots this month. A drug war between rival gangs has spilled over into badly crowded jails packed with traffickers as President Felipe Calderon increases arrests and tries to quash violence.

Despite the deployment of 36,000 troops across Mexico, drug violence over smuggling routes is spiraling, with more than 3,725 people killed this year.

(Reporting by Robin Emmott, Editing by Sandra Maler)

http://www.reuters.com/article/domestic ... 7K20081020

Two men found executed in Tijuana field

By Omar Millán González
UNION-TRIBUNE

October 20, 2008

TIJUANA – The bodies of two men were found in a field in Valle Bonito at the entrance to Boulevard 2000 in the eastern part of Tijuana.
From today's Union-Tribune:
Four police officers, city official latest victims in drug war

The Baja California State Attorney General's Office announced Monday morning that the victims, who appear to be between 25 and 35 years old, were discovered about 10 p.m. Sunday.

The men had their hands tied behind their backs and their eyes covered with adhesive tape. They had multiple contusions and had been shot in the face.

Twenty-eight AK-47 casings were found near the bodies, according to the agency's initial report.

The Ensenada Municipal Police Department reported that a federal agent was shot to death early Monday by armed men who attacked him as he left his house in Colonia Aviacion. The agent's identity has not been made public yet.

Over the weekend, 12 people were murdered in Tijuana, bringing the total to 140 since Sept. 26, when the surge in violence began. Authorities have interpreted the incidents as a war among drug cartels that are fighting over the narcotics trade in Tijuana, an important staging area for smuggling drugs into the United States.
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Omar Millan Gonzalez is a contributor to The Union-Tribune's Spanish-language newspaper, Enlace.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexi ... jdead.html

If thats a true statistic, that makes Mexico one of the most violent places on earth, almost equaling Iraq, Afghanistan, that alone should be just cause for intense border enforcement ala South Korea DMZ style.

AND....coming to a city near you.

Way to go Bush, Congress and Homeland security, arent you proud!

Oct 20, 9:43 PM EDT
Officials: 21 dead in Mexico prison riot

MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Twenty-one prisoners died Monday in a fight between inmates at a Mexican prison across the border from McAllen, Texas, officials said.

http://www.reuters.com/article/domestic ... 7K20081020

And in the small Mexican town of Tecate along the Ca. border a Fire Dept. rescue vehicle was fired apon simply because the ID markers on the bumber were oppossing gang colors.
Keep in mind that guns are outlawed in Mexico.

Tourism hurting in Baja

Continuing violence, struggling U.S. economy take toll

By Sandra Dibble
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

October 21, 2008

TIJUANA – Avenida Revolucion in Tijuana was mostly deserted on what would normally be a busy afternoon. Violence, a troubled U.S. economy and clogged border crossings have dealt a triple blow to hotels, shops and restaurants near the border that are dependent on American tourists.
But these days, few are dropping by the Emporium, a small shop filled with pieces signed by craftsmen from across Mexico.

From Avenida Revolucion to Rosarito Beach's Bulevar Benito Juarez, merchants report that business has never been worse. Increased violence, a troubled U.S. economy and clogged border crossings have dealt a triple blow to hotels, shops and restaurants near the border that are dependent on American tourists.

Government officials and business leaders are hard-pressed to measure just how much the recent reports of violence have contributed to the decline in visitors, and they point out that tourists are not being targeted. More than 140 people have been killed in Tijuana since Sept. 26 as drug gangs battle each other and government forces; the great majority of victims have links to organized crime, state investigators say.

Still, “clients that we've had for years and years aren't coming because they're afraid,â€

Mexican army troops arrive in Baja to bolster local forces

By Omar Millan Gonzalez
SPECIAL TO THE UNION-TRIBUNE

October 21, 2008

ROSARITO BEACH – Mexican army troops arrived here Tuesday morning to reinforce local security forces after five people were killed in a three-day period, including two municipal police officers.
During the presentation of an honor guard next to City Hall for slain officers Salvador Rivera and Froilan Olivares, who were gunned down Saturday, Rosarito Beach officials said they had asked for more assistance.

The army has not revealed how many troops have been deployed and what their mission will be, but at least 50 soldiers had arrived by noon Tuesday.

Baja California Attorney General Rommel Moreno said nearly all the investigations into the recent killings were being taken over by the federal Attorney General's Office because of possible links to organized-crime groups.

Moreno's office reported a new homicide in Tijuana, raising the number of killings in the city to at least 140 since Sept. 26.

The shooting occurred about 10:30 p.m. Monday at a pizza restaurant on Ruta Independencia, in colonia Las Aguilas on the east side, the agency said. Jose Alfredo Salazar, 17, an employee, was killed, and a 21-year-old man was wounded.
According to a preliminary report from the state attorney general's office, the two were shot by three men armed with assault rifles.
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Omar Millan Gonzalez is a contributor to The Union-Tribune's Spanish-language newspaper, Enlace.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexi ... arito.html

Son of Baja politician gunned down despite arrival of troops

By Omar Millan Gonzalez
SPECIAL TO THE UNION-TRIBUNE

3:59 p.m. October 22, 2008

ROSARITO BEACH – Despite the arrival of various army and navy units to reinforce state authorities, the son of a prominent politician was shot to death outside his house Tuesday night.

Meanwhile, state Attorney General Rommel Moreno announced Wednesday that police agents had raided a home in southeastern Tijuana and freed a young woman who was kidnapped Friday.

In Rosarito Beach around 9 p.m. Tuesday, gunmen attacked Jorge Alberto Salceda Mendoza, 31, outside his house on Benito Juarez Boulevard, the city's main thoroughfare, the state agency announced.

Salceda was the son of a former national leader of a farmworkers' union associated with the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI.

He is the second son of a politician to be killed this week. On Monday in Mexicali, gunmen shot to death Sixto Sosa Acevedo Jr., whose father is prominent within the state's PRI.

Meanwhile, state Attorney General Rommel Moreno announced that the state's anti-kidnapping unit had raided a house and rescued a young woman who had been taken outside a private college Friday on Tijuana's west side.
He said the operation was carried out about 7 p.m. Tuesday.

Three suspected kidnappers were apprehended and three guns and one vehicle were recovered, he added, and two safe houses were secured.

He identified the suspects as Jose Manuel Revilla Calderon, 23, from the state of Mexico; Julio Curiel Garcia, 19, from Tijuana; and Amador Gonzalez Soto, 20, from Veracruz.

Moreno said that Mario Sandoval Pineda, a suspected kidnapper, was killed during the raid.
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Omar Millan Gonzalez is a contributor to The Union-Tribune's Spanish-language newspaper, Enlace.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexi ... arito.html

Maybe we should send this to congressmen/woman to make them realize if they continue to let this spread into the United States, they are putting their families in jeapordy....looks like they go after the people in politics and their families.

could encourge them to close the border.