August 19, 2008
M3 Report
El Universal (Mexico City) 8/19/08
[Several lead stories addressed the government's preoccupation with the war on crime.]
Mexicos Secretary of Government (No US equivalent), Juan Camilo Mouriño, replied to criticisms of President Calderóns strategies and performance in the war against crime by requesting that the other political parties not seek political profit on the theme of security, but rather to put public interest first.
One of the administrations staunchest political enemies, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (PRD), who lost the close presidential election to Calderón, was criticized by his own partys leader, Guadalupe Acosta Naranjo, as irresponsible for trying to take advantage of public concern over insecurity for political gain. AMLO (as he is referred to in the press) had declared that the political mafia was worse than organized crime and questioned the policy of the strong hand to combat crime.
El Debate (Sinaloa)
- A group of 28 undocumented Central Americans were kidnapped in central Veracruz state by Los Zetas, the armed branch of the Gulf Cartel. They demanded pay to allow them to pass en route to the US. After being held three days in a safe house, the Mexican Army rescued them and turned them over to the immigration (INM). During their captivity, the group was denied food and water and were beaten to pressure them for 250 to 500 dollars each in order to be released. No mention was made of arrests.
- A rancher in Los Mochis, Sinaloa was executed by a group of at least seven men in front of his home last night. Two men with him were forcibly abducted.
El Imparcial (Hermosillo, Sonora) 8/19/08
Mexico is the most dangerous country for journalists in Latin America, ahead of Colombia and Brazil, according to a report by 12 news associations. In the past three years, 24 Mexican news reporters have been murdered and 12 have disappeared. There is a great lack of will on the part of Mexican authorities to resolve the problem, noted one of the news associations.
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Norte (Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua) 8/19/08
Eleven more people were killed yesterday in separate events in Cd. Juárez. Three of the murders took place when an armed group entered a home and carried out the executions in front of their family members.
La Crónica de Baja California (Baja California) 8/19/08
Regarding the seizure of arms and the 150 parcels of dollars in Culiacán, Sinaloa [our report yesterday] the final count of the money came to $981,800 US.
El Comercio (Lima, Peru) 8/19/08
Eight Chinese males 18 to 37 years old were found at highway checkpoints on the northern coast of Peru after having entered illegally from Ecuador. Officials are investigating a smuggling operation.
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FORMER BORDER PATROL OFFICERS
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Foreign News Report
The National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers (NAFBPO) extracts and condenses the material that follows from Mexican and Central and South American on-line media sources on a daily basis.
