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Frontera
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by Magdalena Fuentes |
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December 15, 2003 The Baja California Attorney General's Office has announced the discovery of a new path south along which vehicles are taken after they are stolen in Mexicali and Tijuana. Working with Sonora authorities, BC's Policía Ministerial (Ministerial Police) have found that some rings of car thieves steal vehicles in BC and then head immediately to Sonora cities such as Sonoita, Caborca and Puerto Peñasco. Proof of these routes are two recent joint operations to recover stolen vehicles. Within the last two week, BC's Ministerial Police have recovered 94 BC vehicles in police impound lots where they were taken for traffic violations or after they were seized for other reasons. Most recently, 42 cars were recovered in Sonoita and Puerto Peñasco and on December 4, 52 vehicles were found in Caborca. The quick transfer of the vehicles out of BC helps thieves get away with their goods. While BC law enforcement is still searching for stolen vehicles around Mexicali or Tijuana, car thieves are already in Sonora or are headed there. BC law enforcement agents found out about the Sonora connection through the declarations of alleged car thieves that they have arrested. This led them to contact Sonora authorities to arrange the above-mentioned recovery activities. In Mexicali alone, 300 vehicles per month are stolen, according to the Mexicali newspaper, La Crónica. La Crónica also reports that teams of car thieves, comprised of four or five people, go to Mexicali and Tijuana to rob specific models of vehicles. They then take the vehicles directly to Sonora. In other cases, La Crónica notes that stolen cars are used to cross drugs and undocumented migrants into the US. Source: La Crónica, December 12, 2003. Article by Gerardo Franco.
December 9, 2003 The Arellano Félix drug cartel (also called the Tijuana Cartel) has lost control of Mexicali, according to an article in the Mexicali newspaper La Crónica. Michael Vigil, the head of the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), says that the Arellanos have been corralled in Tijuana by the organization of Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada and his allies. According to Vigil, Zambada's Sinaloa-based organization is the strongest in Mexico, partly because of the alliances it has formed with the organization of Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán Loera and the remnants of the Valencia/Milenio cartel. While Zambada has yet to gain control of all of Baja California, Vigil predicts that sooner or later Zambada will control all of the Arellano's territory. The Arellano family began losing power in 2002 with the murder of Ramón Arellano Félix and the capture of his brother Benjamín. Currently, there is a reward out for the arrest of two other brothers, Javier and Eduardo. Six Venezuelans Charged for Stealing Credit and Debit Card Info Six Venezuelans have been charged with robbery and criminal association for allegedly cloning credit and debit cards. The men, ranging in age from 21 to 28, are being held in Mexicali and do not have the right to to be released on bail. On November 29, Baja California state police arrested the men at a Banamex bank in Mexicali. They are accused of putting a credit and debit card cloning machine over an ATM. According to state officials, 33 people were victims of this card fraud. The case notes of the Venezuelan men state that the suspects claimed they were were beaten by the state police. However, a medical report reviewed by the judge for the case did not mention any evidence of beatings. Nogales, Sonora police chief arrested on drug charges Also reported in La Crónica is that the chief of police of Nogales, Sonora, José Basilio Obeso Montoya, was arrested on Monday, December 8, 2003 by federal law enforcement officials. Arrested in his office at 8:45 a.m. by members of Mexico's Agencia Federal de Investigaciones (Federal Investigations Agency, AFI), Obeso is charged with various drug crimes including criminal association, abuse of authority and disobedience. The AFI arrived at Obeso's office with 30 agents and 15 vehicles and led him away in handcuffs. Also arrested on Monday was police officer Cipriano Javier Robles Encinas. Robles was arrested at his home and is linked to Obeso. Later in the day, a former police officer, Francisco Ernesto Soto Domínguez, and Roberto Morales Martínez, an active duty policeman, were also arrested. According to La Crónica, on November 7, 2003, city police officers seized 109 kilograms of marijuana and arrested four men allegedly linked to the drugs. Then, according to statements made by José Guillermo Duarte Astorga, a Nogales police commander, Obeso ordered the release of the four arrested men and the return of their marijuana. After disputing with Obeso and Robles, Duarte took his information to Mexico's federal attorney general's office. Source: La Crónica (Mexicali), December 9, 2003.
December 3, 2003 Lara explains that Christmas tree sales are light because "the majority of people in San Luis are middle class and below [and] don't have buying power." Prices begin at 250 pesos (approximately US$22) for a 30 centimeter (12 inch) Aleppo pine that can later be planted. On the upper end of the price range is a three-meter (ten-foot) high Balsam pine for 3,000 pesos (US$265). "The trees that we have are not cut from the tops of pines. They are cultivated and come from the state of Oregon and Canada," says Lara. Besides the Aleppo and Balsam pines, Lara also sells Douglas, Noble and Grand Fir. To keep trees green for up to a month, Lara recommends keeping their base in wet saw dust while they are at the store--something that other vendors don't bother to do. Source: La Crónica (San Luis Río Colorado, Sonora), December 3, 2003. Article by Juan José Razzo.
November 25, 2003 According to Martínez, thousands of people in Laguna Campestre suffer daily because of the smoke and stench that the brick kilns emit. Particularly affected by the pollution are children and the elderly, he says. A reporter from the Mexicali newspaper La Crónica found that every brick factory in the area had a stack of tires nearby, perhaps to burn. Animal manure was also seen on the lots but La Crónica noted that manure is also used in the fabrication of bricks and not just to fire them. Besides Laguna Campestre, other neighborhoods such as Francisco I. Madero, Rivera Campestre, Leandro Valle, Los Naranjos and others are also in reach of the acrid smoke, according to La Crónica. Martínez showed to La Crónica copies of letters that he had written to city, state and federal environmental agencies. Rather than resolve the pollution problem, each agency would only suggest that the kilns were within the jurisdiction of a different agency, said Martínez. In his numerous attempts to improve local air quality, Martínez stated that he contacted the state environmental office, the city environmental office, the federal environmental agencies Profepa and Semarnat and the Comisión Federal de Electricidad and the Comisión Nacional del Agua. According to Martínez there are only two possible solutions to the problem: move the plants or switch them over to natural gas as was done in Guanajuato. Source: La Crónica (Mexicali), November 25, 2003. Article by Nancy Vásquez. |