January 1, 2009
M3Report
(see related links end of report)
El Universal (Mexico City) 1/1/09
During 2008, the narco-war left an historic record of 5,630 execution murders in Mexico, according to El Universal's count. In the past four years, 12,061 people have died at the hands of organized crime, 46.5% of them in this past year. Multi-executions characterized 2008. In August, a dozen decapitated bodies with signs of torture were discovered stacked in a pile in the state of Yucatan. In September, 24 bodies were discovered in a nature park near Mexico City, all with coup de grace shots to the head.
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La Familia, the cartel trying to be government. The criminal group "La Familia" has suffered recent major blows through arrests of it leaders. The organization began in 2006, supported by the Gulf drug cartel, with the deceptive purpose of "defending citizens, merchants, businesses and farmers" in place of the legitimate role of the existing government. With confirmed operations established in 77 cities in the state of Michoacan and in the states of Mexico and Guerrero, including the Federal District, La Familia resorts to the pretense of offering protection, at elevated rates, and threatens with death those who do not accept their terms. As part of what they call "social work," they have consented to decapitations and executions. In areas where they have absolute control, they claim to be dedicated to fighting all crime, thus supplanting the legitimate government. Besides narco-trafficking, they have extended their criminal activities into other areas, mainly money laundering. In addition to crime, the group also controls established businesses, auto sales, nightclubs and restaurants.
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News correspondent Carlos Cano writes from Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua: "Cd. Juarez is wounded. Its streets bleed and its voice is hardly perceptible in commercial and recreational centers. Silence and indignation prevail in its atmosphere." He points out that, "this year, as never in the history of this border city, organized crime has taken it hostage and left in the wake 1,633 crimes." This figure surpasses by far those of 2007 in the city and is even larger than the total for the entire state of Sinaloa for 2008.
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El Porvenir (Monterrey, Nuevo Leon) 1/1/09
Yesterday, the Mexican government extradited ten alleged members of organized crime to the US, among them suspected members of the Gulf and Arellano Felix drug cartels. The men have cases pending in Texas, California, Georgia and Florida. This final extradition of 2008 brings the year's total of those turned over by Mexico to US authorities to 184.
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Related Mexican Drug Cartel Activity and News from 2008
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FORMER BORDER PATROL OFFICERS
Visit our website: http://www.nafbpo.org
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.
