Juan Camilo Mouriño

The Mexican Government has totally ruled out the possibility of Mouriño’s plane crashing because of a bomb attack.

They are not yet certain it wasn’t an attack; they just said they did not find any trace of explosives on board. The aircraft’s black boxed have been sent to Tucson, Arizona for further investigation.In a press conference held in Ciudad de Mexico, the Minister of Transports and Communications, Luis Tellez, has announced that there is no indication of a technical error either, since the engines were working at the same intensity.

Juan Camilo Mouriño, close friend of the Mexican President, died on the 4th of November in a plane crash, together with José Luis Vasconcelos, the President’s Security adviser.

The accident also caused the death of five civilians who just happened to be on that street in downtown Ciudad de Mexico when the plane crashed.

Gilberto López Meyer, the Director of ASA (Airports and Auxiliary Services), has announced that the remains of the airplane will be taken from the crash site in maximum 48 hours.

The human remains of Juan Camilo Mouriño (1971-2008) have been taken to the memorial house of a cathedral situated in Campeche, Southern Mexico, where he had spent his childhood.

Arrest

The Mexican police have apprehended a regional leader of the Gulf Mexican drug cartel and a great amount of arsenal.

The Federal Police have captured Jaime González Durán, one of the leaders of the drug cartels in the Gulf of Mexico area, also known as the “Hummer”.

During the same operation, they have confiscated 5,000 cartridges, approximately 500 weapons of different calibers, and more than 86,000 dollars in cash.

The arrest took place in a neighbourhood of the town of Reynosa, in the Northern state of Tamaulipas.
Hummer is considered to be one of the main partners of Heriberto Lazcano and of Miguel Treviño Morales, leaders of the drug trafficking group “Los Zetas”.

The chief of Federal Police told the press that Jaime González joined the Mexican Army in 1991, but quit in February, 1999 in order to join Lazcano and Morales in the Gulf Drug Cartel.

Gonzalez was wanted in the United States and in Mexico for conspiracy, and production and distribution of cocaine.

Mexico, Map of Main Drug Cartels

The violent confrontations between police forces and Mexican drug dealers cause several injured and even deaths every day, in Tijuana, Northern Mexico.

The situation in Tijuana seems to be more uncontrollable as days pass by. Drug dealers are fighting for the supremacy over one of Mexico’s largest drug cartel, and they also fight with police forces.Only in the past month there have been about 180 people reported dead in shootings, personal vendettas, drugs gangs’ encounters.

Death has become such a common event in Tijuana that nobody seems to be surprised at seeing dead bodies on the street or in public places. Two days ago the police have found two bodies wrapped in blankets on a Tijuana beach, a gas station worker killed after she had attended a drug dealer and a used car dealer. Also, two other bodies were found on the street. With these six murders, the number of victims over the past week rises to more than 30.

On Sunday, even a police station and a highway patrol car have been assaulted in the Southern State of Guerrero. Seven police officers have suffered injuries after being shot at by several heavily armed gang members.

There seems to be nothing that can stop this phenomenon….will Mexico become a no-law land? It is certainly headed that way.

Eduardo Arellano Felix

The city of Tijuana, situated at the border with the U.S., witnessed yet another drug related shooting, yesterday. This time, the parties involved were the Mexican federal police and a group of drug dealers lead by Eduardo Arellano Félix, also known as ‘The Doctor’.

Arellano Felix, one of the most powerful traffickers of the Tijuana drug cartel, has been taken into custody by the police forces. He is believed to be one of the most violent dealers in the region and responsible of the deaths of dozens of people.

The drug dealer resisted arrest and shot at the police forces with an AK-47 for several minutes; when he ran out of ammunition, he was apprehended and declared his name was Samuel Bracamontes. The authorities identified him after the burn marks on his chest and both arms.

Eduardo Arellano Felix is accused of various charges related to drug trafficking, and organized crime. A warrant for his arrest had been issued by a Federal Court in California, and the Interpol had been searching for him in over 180 countries ever since 2004.

Consequently to Eduardo’s arrest, the drug band is now under the command of his sister and nephew Enedina Arellano Félix and Fernando Sánchez Arellano.

Tijuana Mexico Border

U.S. State Department issued a safety warning for people who want to travel to Mexico these days; public violent confrontations between Mexican drug dealers have been taking place in Nogales, Ciudad de Juarez and Tijuana.

Mexican narcotics cartels have started fighting over getting full control of the US Arizona border-area, in the Northern part of Mexico; the authorities have sent military forces in the area to try to calm down the situation. The conflicts have got to such an extent, that the shootings now take place in broad daylight, in crowded places such as shopping centers, restaurants, etc. Also, there have been reports of U.S. citizens being harassed while crossing Mexico territory.

The confrontations seem to be turning, on occasion, into battle field re-enactments involving the use of automatic weapons and even grenades.

In an attempt to reassure the potential visitors that Mexico is a safe country, the Tucson Consulate representatives say that warnings like this are very common and that they should not be seen as actual dangers.

U.S. Customs say that the effect of the latest events has not yet been noticed on the numbers of travellers, and that the average number of people entering U.S. territory through Nogales is of 40,000 a day.

Alfonso Portillo

The ex-president of Guatemala, Alfonso Portillo, accused of various charges of corruption between 2000 and 2004, has turned himself in to the local police.

The authorities have declared that the ex-president will be judged in court and will remain in police custody. Portillo had been on the run since January 2004 when he fled to Mexico, after being accused of abuse of authority and embezzlement.

In 2005 he lost the legal battle in which he claimed political asylum, as he has always considered himself a political refugee. He obtained a one year work-visa in Mexico and he lived in one of the more expensive neighborhoods of the capital.

Before his extradition, Portillo tried almost everything to avoid it; he even opened a trial against Guatemala, out of which he was trying to obtain the recognition of his membership at the Central American Parliament, hoping that this way he would regain his political immunity and escape prosecution.