TOP BORDER NEWS STORY OF THE DAY
by the Frontera NorteSur Staff
Fri., Jan. 30: Reward Offered for Shooters, Victim Linked to Drug Trade
The General Directorate of Police offered a 250,000 peso reward Thursday for information leading to the capture of those responsible for the Wednesday killings of a Juárez municipal police officer and an El Paso man, according to Diario de Juárez.
The El Pasoan, Francisco Alberto Alanís Talamantes, had no criminal record in El Paso or Juárez, but U.S. officials were investigating him for possible connections with the Juárez cartel, U.S. federal officials told Diario. Alanís Talamantes was 28, the El Paso Times reported today. Yesterday, Diario listed him as 30.
Although different guns were used to kill the police officer, Jorge Humberto Frías Orozco, and Alanís Talamantes, authorities believed the same killers were responsible in both cases, state judicial police told Diario. Investigators also suspect the killers in this case could be the same as those in the August, 1997, Max fim and Geronimo's killings in Juárez. Both the method and physical descriptions of the shooters led to that conclusion, invetigators told Diario.
Sources: Diario de Juárez, El Paso Times
Thurs., Jan. 29: One Day, Three Shootouts, Two Deaths, One Injured, None Arrested
An El Paso man and a Juárez municipal police officer died after separate, but apparently related, shootouts in Juárez Wednesday, both Diario de Juárez and the El Paso Times reported.
Another, apparently innocent victim, was wounded in one of the shootouts, according to Diario.
Men armed with "goat horns, " as AK-47 assault rifles are known, attacked Francisco Alberto Alanís Talamantes, 30, of El Paso, Texas, from a black Chevrolet Suburban around 12:15 p.m. Juárez time Monday, Diario reported. Alanís Talamantes drove a blue1996 Chevrolet Blazer into a row of wooden pylons when he lost consciousness, according to the Times. He was pronounced dead on the scene with multiple gunshot wounds, police told the Times.
Although the assailants used AK-47 rifles, according to Diario, at least one bullet from a .45-caliber handgun hit Alanís Talamantes, preliminary medical reports referred to by the Times said.
Within minutes of the attack on Alanís Talamantes, a man jumped from a Volkswagen pulled over for speeding and started firing at Juárez municipal police officer Jorge Frías Orozco, 35, and his partner, according to police. The partner managed to escape harm underneath the dashboard of the police cruiser, but Frías Orozco received several .45-caliber handgun bullet wounds and died while receiving care at Centro Médico de Especialidades at 4:10 p.m.
The shootings may be connected, police told the papers. "We believe that these gunmen switched cars after murdering Mr. Alanís Talamantes," Jorge Lopez Molinar, assistant Chihuahua state attorney general in Juárez told the Times. Juárez was "virtually under siege by security forces," while they searched for the suspects, according to Diario. During the search, municipal agents exchanged shots with alleged car thieves, but no one was reported hurt during the incident.
Federal, state and municipal police agencies stood guard at the international bridges, at the junction of the Panamerican and Casas Grandes highways, at bus and railroad stations and at the airport, in an effort to detain the shooters, according to Diario. They also checked hotels and motels in the city, but reported no positive results of their search by Wednesday afternoon, the paper said.
U.S. and Mexican authorities connected Wednesday's shootings with a conflict between car theft rings and the Juárez drug cartel, who had been working together, according to the Times.
Sources: Diario de Juárez, El Paso Times
Wed., Jan. 28: DEA to Open Juárez Office
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration will soon open an office in Juárez, Chihuahua Governor Francisco Barrio Terrazas told Diario de Juárez Tuesday.
Two DEA attachés will work out of an office in the American Consulate in Juárez, with accreditation from the Mexican Secretariat of Foreign Relations, according to gubernatorial spokesman Eloy Morales.
"The real enemy is drug trafficking, and we must work against it," the governonr told Diario during an interview. North Mexico is a troubled area, and the point of passage of drugs to their consumer market, the United States, he also said. That status means constant conflict between different cartels, Barrio Terrazas added.
Along with the DEA, the FBI and El Paso, Texas, authorities will work together with Chihuahua and Juárez officials against crime, according to Barrio Terrazas.
Source: Diario de Juárez
Tuesday., Jan. 27: Nuclear Dump Hearings Begin in El Paso
Legislators from Texas and Chihuahua protested outside information-gathering hearings about a proposed nuclear waste dump in Sierra Blanca, Texas, held in the El Paso County Courthouse Monday.
State administrative law judges held similar hearings last week in Sierra Blanca, a small town about 60 miles east of El Paso and about 26 miles from the Mexican border.
The proposed low-level radioactive waste facility would violate treaties with Mexico and pose a health hazard to border-area residents, protesters said. The proposed facility would not endanger nearby residents, an official with the Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Authority told the El Paso Times.
Look for the February 1 issue of Frontera Norte/Sur for more detailed coverage of the hearings in Sierra Blanca and El Paso.
Sources: El Paso Times, Diario de Juárez
Mon., Jan. 26: Bodies Found in Barrels Near Border Crossing
Passers-by found the bodies of a man and a woman stuffed inside two barrels of lime about 10 miles into Mexico from the Santa Teresa, N.M. border crossing Sunday, police officials told Diario de Juárez.
The man, between 30 and 35 , had sustained blows to the face, and the woman, about 20, was found with packets of cocaine in her bra and purse. Coroners were not yet able to determine the identities or causes of death of the two, one told Diario, but full autopsies were planned for Monday. In an initial examination, investigators found a bloody hole in the chest of the woman and friction marks under one of her arms, as well as bruises on the man's face.
The bodies of three doctors who allegedly performed surgery during which the head of the Juárez drug cartel, Amado Carillo Fuentes, died, were also found in barrels in southern Mexico in 1997. The body of a Juárez nightclub owner turned up in June, 1996, in a barrel filled with chemicals to accelerate its decompostion, according to Diario.
The lime used in the latest case preserved the bodies and in no way accelerated their decomposition, but was used to keep the bodies from giving off bad odors, coroner Silva Pérez told Diario.
Source: Diario de Juárez
Sun., Jan. 25: Nora Yu runs for the Mayorship
Nora Elena Yu Hernández, President of National Commerce Chamber in Juárez, CANACO will request permission to run a political campaign for the Juárez mayorship candidacy. City business people, several city groups, and leaders of the PRD party have shown their support to Nora Yu. The leader of CANACO mentioned she will continue fighting to improve the situation of merchants.
Source: Diario de Juárez
Sat., Jan. 24: Agents Find 54 illegals "Packed" in Truck
Border Patrol agents from El Paso captured 55 illegal immigrants on State Highway 80 near Lordsburg, N.M. Tuesday, according to a spokesman. The immigrants were smuggled in a moving truck which was locked from the outside, Border Patrol spokesman Douglas Mosier said. The people inside travelled for several hours without water, food, and sanitary services, according to Mosier.
The agents discovered 44 men, 8 women and one child "packed like sardines," in the back of the U-Haul truck, according to Norte de Ciudad Juárez. Each of the immigrants paid $ 1,500 dollars to be taken to Phoenix. Agents stopped the truck because the 16-year-old driver was driving erratically and exhibited nervous symptoms in an area with a high incidence of traffic in undocumented aliens, Mosier said. The driver was also allegedly in the country illegally, according to the spokesman.
Undocumented immigrant smuggling in the Deming and Lordsburg border region of New Mexico increased 250 percent in 1997, and 110 percent so far in fiscal year 1998 compared to the same period last year, according to Border Patrol reports.
Sources: Diario de Juárez, Norte de Ciudad Juárez
Fri., Jan 23: Six Robberies Happen in Juárez Everyday
Ciudad Juárez has been averaging about six robberies a day so far in 1998, according to Diario de Juárez. Most of the robberies this year have been happening at night, according to Chihuahua state judicial police (PJE). The same number of robberies ocurred last year but during the day. Most of the robberies occured during the night because of stronger vigilance by operatives in daytime, PJE agent Roberto Zaragoza told Diario.
Source: Diario de Juárez
Thurs., Jan. 22: Senator Pushes for More Border Money While Problems Continue
Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, unveiled a two-year, $275.5 million plan to make crossing the border quicker and smuggling drugs across it harder Wednesday in El Paso, while incidents at border bridges underscored the problems in those areas.
Customs agents stopped a17-year-old El Paso girl from allegedly speeding across the Bridge of the Americas with 200 pounds of marijuana Tuesday, officials told the El Paso Times. Meanwhile, drivers on the Mexican side of the free bridge were getting used to a reduced number of lanes and their potentially dangerous arrangement, according to Norte de Ciudad Juárez. Trucks had a hard time staying out of other lanes because of a partially blind curve in their lanes, Norte reported.
The Mexican side of the bridge is undergoing the final phase of construction, forcing the temporary changes in lanes, according to the paper.
The money from Gramm's plan would help hire 1,705 new customs employees and buy $56 million of equipment all along the U.S. side of the 2,000 mile border with Mexico, Gramm told the Times. El Paso's 600 current port employees would receive 132 new co-workers and about $8.4 million for high-tech anti-drug equipment at border crossings.
Sources: El Paso Times, Norte de Ciudad Juárez
Wed., Jan. 21: Another Federal Agent Murdered in Juárez
Federal Agent Rodolfo Camargo García was murdered Tuesday in Hidalgo de Parral, Chihuahua. Camargo García, 21, received six gunshots in his head and one in his left hand according to Mexican Federal Police. His body was found in a rural route 30 kilometers from the Parral-Chihuahua highway.
The death of Camargo García came only two days after the slaying of Federal Agent subcommander Héctor Mario Varela Mendoza in Juárez. The two murders may have been related, unofficial sources told Diario de Juarez. Varela Mendoza could have been executed by members of the Tijuana drug cartel trying to take the place of the Juárez drug cartel, the Chihuahua state Attorney General's Office told Diario.
Source: Diario de Juárez
Tues., Jan. 20: Governor Says Killers are Known
Special operatives were preparing to arrest those responsible for several of the execution-style murders in Juárez since last August, Chihuahua Governor Francisco Barrio Terrazas told Diario de Juárez Monday.
Barrio Terrazas said he planned "joint operations to proceed with the apprehension of these people," with Mexico's Attorney General, Jorge Madrazo Cuéllar. Chihuahua state Attorney General Arturo Chávez Chávez also attended the meeting.
The purpose of the meeting was to go over the cases and make decisions on the joint operations, as well as look at information obtained by the attorney general's (PGR) intelligence services. Officials had precise, concrete information to search out and detain those allegedly responsible for the crimes, Barrio Terrazas told Diario.
Source: Diario de Juárez
Mon., Jan. 19: Border Bridge Lanes to Close
Some lanes of the Bridge of the Americas crossing from El Paso to Juárez will close starting tommorow for an estimated six weeks, International Boundary Commission officials told Diario de Juárez.
The far right lanes which go into Juárez will be closed to allow work to continue on the bridge.
Officials expect slight delays in bridge traffic, but the adjustments are necessary to finish the work in the shortest time, commission officials said.
Source: Diario de Juárez
Fri., Jan. 16: Multi-Million Dollar Heroin Bust at Border
U.S. Customs agents seized an estimated $12 million worth of black tar heroin Thursday morning at the Santa Fe/ Paso Del Norte Bridge, the biggest El Paso heroin seizure in a decade, officials told the El Paso Times.
"Normally we just get quanties of grams. Half a pound here, a pound there," Manuel Alvarez, chief inspector at the bridge told the Times. Agents took 23.3 pounds or 20.5 kilograms Thursday from a 28-year-old man from Chihuauhua City who was acting "extremely nervous" as he drove a 1978 Ford LTD across the bridge, according to Customs officials. Drug-sniffing dogs helped locate eight bundles of the contraband behind the back seat in the car.
The amount seized was too big to be destined only for El Paso, a local drug abuse clinician told the Times.
Sources: El Paso Times, Diario de Juárez
Thurs., Jan. 15: Shooting Victim Identified, Mexican Consulate Supports Action
Authorites identified Francisco Javier Flores Centeno, 18, of Juárez as the man Border Patrol agents killed Tuesday, according to Diario de Juárez, but the El Paso Times identified the man as Javier Flores Zenteno, 19, of Juárez.
Officials did not release the names of the agents. Investigators will present information to a Grand Jury to determine whether there is enough evidence to prosecute the agents or whether they will be completely exonerated in the matter, Armando Ortiz Rocha, Mexican consul in El Paso, told Diario.
The consul received a report on the incident from William Veal, head of the Border Patrol in El Paso, according to Diario. The Mexican government could not confirm whether the agents had used disproportionate force or whether the victim had pointed his gun at them, Ortiz Rocha said.
"Everything appears to indicate that there was no misuse of force by the Border Patrol agents," however, Erazmo Martinez, Mexico's deputy consul general in El Paso, told the El Paso Times.
Sources: Diario de Juárez, El Paso Times
Wed., Jan. 14: Border Patrol Shoots, Kills Man
Border Patrol agents shot and killed a man who pulled out a gun and shot at them, according to investigators quoted in the El Paso Times and Diario de Juárez.
It was the first fatal shooting by El Paso Border Patrol agents in six years, according to the Times.
Investigators did not reveal the identities of the agents or the dead man, but they did say he was Hispanic and in his 20s. Although they did not disclose his nationality, a representative of the Mexican Consulate in El Paso said they were notified and the victim may have been Mexican, Diario said.
The shooting took place in the Chamizal National Memorial, a park established after the U.S. and Mexico resolved their last dispute over the location of the two countries' border. U.S. Customs officials told the Border Patrol they suspected two men had entered the U.S. illegally at the Bridge of the Americas and headed north into the nearby park, a police spokesman told the Times.
When Border Patrol agents approached the two men, one gave himself up, but the other did not. He reached for a gun in his waistband and fired at the agents, according to the spokesman. The agents returned fire, hitting the man in the chest. Despite his wound, the man ran across the nearby Border Highway before collapsing, according to officials. He was pronounced dead on arrival at a local hospital.
Sources: El Paso Times, Diario de Juárez
Tues., Jan. 13: Some 'Kidnapping' Victims Found - In Custody
The Mexican federal police (PGR) revealed Monday they had located six of the nine people who disappeared in Juárez over the weekend, according to Diario de Juárez.
Among those located were brothers René and Hugo Ambriz. PGR agents detained them and flew them to Mexico City, the paper said. The brothers have been identified as students from El Paso. The federal agents did not notify local authorities of the operation to capture the brothers, according to Diario.
Unofficially, police officials told the paper the brothers were accused of trafficking in firearms and selling them to an armed group in southern Mexico.
Source: Diario de Juárez
Mon., Jan. 12: Eight Kidnapped, One Executed
Armed commandos kidnapped at least eight people from different parts of Juárez Saturday night and Sunday morning, and the bound, gagged and tortured body of another was found Sunday, according to Diario de Juárez.
Two of the "levantados," or kidnapping victims, were students from El Paso, brothers René Ambriz, 24, and Hugo Ambriz, 26, the newspaper said.
Officials could not identify the dead man because he had no documents.
State Judicial Police were investigating the possibility that the kidnappings were linked to the kidnappings and executions of five men last December 28, according to Diario.
Source: Diario de Juárez
Fri., Jan. 9: No Plans for Army to Help Fight Drugs on Border, Officials Say
There are no immediate plans to ask for help from the Army in the fight against drug trafficking in El Paso, including the construction and rehabilitation of roads, Border Patrol officials told Diario de Juárez yesterday.
Nevertheless, the officials did not rule out the possiblility of such help in the future, according to the paper.
The Army will renew its involvement in the border later this month, helping build and repair roads that are inaccesible on the banks of the Rio Bravo/Rio Grande, Maureen Bosch, spokeswoman of Joint Task Force 6, headquartered at Fort Bliss in El Paso, told Diario. The military will work in the Laredo, Carrizo Springs and Marfa districts, but not in the city of El Paso, according to Bosch.
There is no need for military help in an urban area like El Paso, Bosch told the paper.
Task Force Six suspended its operations on May 20, 1997, after Marines helping the Border Patrol in Marfa, Texas, shot to death a Redford, Texas 18-year-old.
Source: Diario de Juárez
Thurs., Jan. 8: Clinton to Arrive in Borderland Today
U.S. President Clinton was scheduled to arrive in the lower Rio Grande Valley city of McAllen, Texas, across the border from Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico, late Thursday. It was the first stop on a trip that was scheduled to include Texas stops in Mission, Brownsville and Houston.
Local officials said they hoped the visit would help the president recognize unique local needs, such as an interstate link and a new international crossing into Mexico.
Educators were also eager for the area to hear Clinton's message, they said. He was supposed to meet with students and give a speech with a national statement on combating high school dropout rates in Mission Friday.
Sources: El Paso Times, Associated Press
Wed., Jan. 7: Customs Officers Plant Drugs to Train Dogs
U.S. Customs Service inspectors are asking drivers and pedestrians to carry drugs over international bridges to test the effectiveness of their drug-sniffing dogs, according to Diario de Juarez.
"Señorita, permit us to hide a little bit of drugs in your vehicle to see if the dogs are sniffing well," one official asked María Terrazas Peña of Juárez this week, she told the paper.
On occasion, inspectors ask some pedestrians waiting in lines to cross into the U.S. if they will carry drugs in their purses or briefcases, according to Customs spokeswoman Lisa Sambrano.
Source: Diario de Juárez