Frontera NorteSur December 2002-January 2003

On November 19, for the third time in less than a week, the Mexican Army and the Unidad Especializada contra la Delincuencia Organizada (Specialized Unit Against Organized Crime, UEDO) raided two homes. 

While staff from the Nuevo Laredo newspaper El Mañana believed that they saw the confiscation of a jeep and long arms during the raids, there have been no arrests and no press conferences about the Army-UEDO operations. 

Sources within the Mexican Federal Attorney General's Office that asked to remain anonymous told El Mañana that the raids have been planned from Mexico City and involve the work of undercover UEDO agents and testimony from people in the federal witness protection program. 

No one from the Agencia Federal de Investigaciones (Federal Investigation Agency, AFI) or local law enforcement has been involved in the operations, according to El Mañana. 

The same sources in the Attorney General's Office said that there are orders to not include the AFI or city police in the investigations. Orders were also given to remain quiet about the operations.

In the past, there have been cases in which some members of the AFI have been linked to corruption. This may explain why the agency has been excluded from the operations.  

Also according to the Attorney General's Office, El Mañana learned that the search warrants used in the case were issued by judges in Mexico City. 

Source: El Mañana (Nuevo Laredo), November 20, 2002. Article by Ricardo Flores Alvarez.

Matamoros Police to be Evaluated

Matamoros is currently in the process of examining its five hundred city police officers to make sure that they are physically and mentally fit to serve their community. 

Rubén González Barrer, the city's secretary of public security, told the Matamoros newspaper El Bravo that all Matamoros police agents will be evaluated according to the guidelines put forth in the Programa Nacional de Evaluación (National Evaluation Progam). 

IQ exams and tests of police-specific knowledge will be given to Matamoros police officers by the Centro Nacional de Evaluación (National Evaluation Center). Medical and drug testing will be performed by a local hospital. Staff from the Secretary of National Defense will perform physical tests. 

González also stated that the first class of Police Academy graduates have joined the Matamoros police force. 

The aim of the police testing, according to González, is to continue professionalizing Matamoros police agents. González said that police professionalization has been a goal of Matamoros Mayor Mario Zolezzi García.

Source: El Bravo (Matamoros), October 28, 2002. Article by Nannette Sedas. 

Military Conscript Lottery Turns into Riot in Méxicali

For a second time, 3,800 Méxicali eighteen-year olds assembled to find out if they would be drafted into the Mexican military, and for a second time the event was rescheduled. 

Tired of turning out for the lottery and tired of not knowing their future, some of the youth in attendance destroyed tables, lottery equipment and other material items at a city facility. Unable to quiet the crowd, punches were thrown between the teens and military personnel at the event.

One mother complained that she and her son arrived at 4 a.m. for the lottery which was supposed to have begun at 8 a.m. The mother complained to the official in charge, Ricardo Alanís Quintero, head of military recruiting for the city, that the lottery was becoming a waste of time and money for her family. 

Alanís said that the violence was due to the large number of youth that were in attendance. He also recognized that the teens got upset when it was announced that the lottery was being postponed. 

Last year, on the other end of the border, in Matamoros, 4,000 young men began throwing stones at homes, attacking neighborhood residents and burning cars in the early hours of January 24 while they awaited a military-service lottery. In 2000, there was also a similar disturbance in Matamoros. For more on this story go to http://www.nmsu.edu/~frontera/dec00/Matamorosnews.html

Source: La Crónica, November 25, 2002. Article by Rodrigo Pedrin Caballero. 

Baja Food for Gun Campaign Nets 1,140 Firearms in 13 Days

A program that seeks to remove firearms from Baja California homes has brought in 1,140 weapons in its first thirteen days. In just Méxicali 447 guns have been turned in, according to Marco Antonio Carrillo, the director of crime prevention for the state. 

The gun turn-in program runs until December 15 and is sponsored by the federal Secretariat of Public Security and the Secretariat of National Defense. For each weapon that is surrendered, a certificate worth 1,000 pesos (approximately US$100) in food is awarded. 

This is the second year in a row that the state has participated in the Donación de Armas (Weapons Donation) program. In a description of the program's benefits, Carrillo stated that "A reduction in violence has been achieved, we are sure that there are 5,000 less weapons in the state and this is also part of an integrated strategy to reduce violence." 

In San Felipe, a city on the Gulf of California, 30 weapons have been surrendered. Of these guns, six were pistols and the rest were long arms. Among the weapons surrendered in Tijuana was a cannon. However, the size of the artillery piece was not given. 

At a press conference in which many surrendered weapons were displayed, Carrillo invited citizens to get rid of any guns they have in their homes because the weapons expose their families to intolerable risk. 

Source: La Crónica (Méxicali), November 19, 2002. Article by Samuel Murillo.

Prohibited Cell Phone Use by Fiscal Police Continues Near Méxicali Border with US

Agents belonging to the Policía Fiscal Federal (Federal Fiscal Police, PFF) continue to use personal cell phones at Méxicali border check points, according to an article in the Méxicali newspaper La Crónica. The prohibition on cell phone use was put in place last year by President Fox in attempt to help end corruption in the PFF. The PFF is primarily responsible for stopping shipments of contraband in Mexico.

An investigation into cell phone use by the newspaper Reforma found that PFF agents were being called on by people that did not want to declare what they were transporting. The agents would then help the people avoid inspection or seizure of their goods. In turn, PFF agents were paid for their services. 

PFF agents claim that they are forced to use cell phones because they lack sufficient radio equipment.

Prior to President Fox's move to reform the PFF, a study of corruption in Mexico found that customs-related law enforcement drew the greatest number of corruption complaints. 

Source: La Crónica (Méxicali), November 4, 2002. Article by Samuel Murillo. 

Juárez Groups and Victims' Families Protest Serial Killings in Mexico City

Dressed in black, the families of Ciudad Juárez serial-killing victims led a crowd of 6,000 through the streets of Mexico City and into the city's main plaza, the Zocalo, on November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. 

Speakers throughout the day criticized the investigation of the approximately 90 rape murders that have occurred in Cd. Juárez since 1993. Among the people that addressed the crowds were Mexican writer Elena Poniatowska and Laura Bonaparte, one of the Madres de la Plaza de Mayo from Argentina. 

The Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos (National Commission for Human Rights, CNDH) announced that on the 25th of every month it would fly its flag at half mast. This will be in remembrance of the young women that have been murdered in Cd. Juárez and to advocate for the resolution of the crimes and the prosecution of the murderers.  

At the same time that the Cd. Juárez serial-killings were gaining more attention in Mexico City, Amnesty International announced that it would be in Chihuahua City talking to state officials about the femicides. Yanette Bautista, of AI's Americas Office in Costa Rica, will also be speaking with the families of the serial-killing victims.

In Cd. Juárez, various non-governmental organizations collaborated to leave 282 crosses at the Cd. Juarez Chihuahua Attorney General's Office. Each cross bore the name of a woman that had been murdered in the city since 1993. The Chihuahua Attorney General is responsible for resolving the crimes. 

Source: El Diario, November 26, 2002.