Over the weekend: Gun battles abound; political candidate and his family assassinated

Fugitive Apprehended with 3 Illegal Aliens Hidden in SUV Thursday, 03 September 2009 07:44 CBP

San Ysidro, CA. - U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers apprehended a 44-year-old fugitive and rescued three illegal aliens hidden in the vehicle he was driving at the San Ysidro port of entry early this morning. Two of the illegal aliens, including a 15-year-old male, suffered burns and were hospitalized [snip]

The University of Texas branch in the border city of Brownsville was evacuated and closed this afternoon after a gunfight on the Mexican side came close enough to cause panic among students and teachers. The report of a gun battle on the other side of the river and several stray gunshots hitting buildings and an automobile were enough reason to abandon the area. [The city of Matamoros, Tamaulipas, is just across the Rio Grande River from Brownsville, Texas.] —– Gun battle in Durango

Mexican federal police in Gomez Palacio, Durango, spotted four armed men in a Ford Lobo and before the agents could approach to question them, the four opened fire, engaging them in a gun battle. Two of the gunmen were killed and the other two were wounded. Six of the federal police received non-life threatening injuries The feds also seized four AR-15 rifles, three “short rifles,” two fragmentation grenades and the vehicle. —– Colombian cocaine seized

Colombian Navy personnel unearthed and seized a load of cocaine weighing some 1,900 kilos valued at $60 million US. The stash of 86 sacks of 23 kilos each was buried near an inlet on the Gulf of Morrasquillo on the Caribbean coast. —– Protests against Chavez begin

Referring to Hugo Chavez, President of Venezuela, the promoter of ”No more Chavez” protests, Alejandro Gutierrez, said that marches have started in about 100 cities around the world, 30 of them in Colombia. He said that in several European cities, protests have developed “with success,” especially in Madrid, Paris and Berlin. ”We think many people from all points will come out to demonstrate against Chavez,” the organizer said. ”The world is tired of his meddling and it is time to make that known.”

Th Chief of Police of Ahoma, Sinaloa, was assassinated this morning in front of his home in Los Mochis. The fatal attack was carried out by at least two men. Two weeks ago, the chief had participated in the arrest of three presumed hit men after a gun fight in Los Mochis.

The mayor of Mugica, [Nueva Italia] Michoacan, was arrested by agents of the Mexican federal justice department (PGR) on suspicion of links to the drug cartel La Familia Michoacana. The mayor, Armando Medina Torres, is also the president of the association of PRI [political party] mayors. He was arrested this afternoon while in his office and will be transported to a federal prison for detention in the state of Jalisco. This is the latest in arrests of public officials for links to organized crime in the state of Michoacan.

A 24-hour search operation by combined enforcement agencies in Comitan, Chiapas, surprised 11 members of Los Zetas, the armed branch of the Gulf drug cartel, and they were arrested without incident. Authorities also seized several ”luxury vehicles.” The Zetas were transported under heavy security to the state capital, Tuxtla Gutierrez, for processing.

Properties seized from organized crime were auctioned off by the Mexican government for a record 105.3 million pesos [$7.9 million US]. Items indicating the luxurious lifestyle of narcotraffickers, including luxury cars, motorcycles, yachts, jet skis, aircraft, railroad coaches, abundant jewelry and electronics, were disposed of in the treasury department’s auction. In a separate sale, the government also auctioned two sugar refineries for 354.3 million pesos [$26.5 million US]. The photo is one of the aircraft sold. airplane

Mexican Army units in Nuevo Casas Grandes, Chihuahua, arrested one of the leaders of a criminal gang known as “La Linea,” Jose Rodolfo Escajeda, “El Rikin,” as a suspect in the massacre of 17 youths at a drug rehabilitation center in Juarez last Tuesday. The suspect is considered the third in command of “La Linea,” a band linked to the Juarez drug cartel. He is suspected of being one of those “possibly responsible” for ordering the mass murders.

Mexican Army units, responding to a report of armed men in Santiago, Nuevo Leon, were met with gunfire which wounded two soldiers. In the ensuing 40-minute gun battle five members of the criminal gang Los Zetas were killed and one was wounded. A civilian caught in the crossfire was also killed. In the aftermath of the pitched battle in which most of the vehicles received damage, troops seized firearms, marihuana, “instruments of torture” and radio equipment. Troops also rescued a person who had been kidnapped a month ago and was being held for 1 million pesos ransom. [Photo of a part of the arms seizure relates.] PRESA los r 15.JPG

Mexican Army units seized 81 packages of marihuana weighing a total of 438 kilos and arrested four men on a ranch near Tecate, Baja California. In addition to the marihuana, troops also found a 9mm pistol and a Nissan vehicle with California license plates. [No number given.]

A PRI political party candidate for the representative from Villahermosa, the state capital of Tabasco, was gunned down along with his wife and two minor children in his home Saturday morning. The murders of Jose Francisco Fuentes Esperon and his family suspended the party’s campaigns for the October 18 elections and has caused the other two leading political parties, PRD and PAN, to suspend their campaigns as well in a show of solidarity and mourning. Although the state of Tabasco has registered three murders of complete families this year, this is the first involving a political candidate in recent history. No official word has yet been released regarding the investigation.

”The Spanish daily El Pais ran an article on the violence in Mexico and quoted President Calderon as saying that ‘the enormous chaos and insecurity that some outside the country believe, and others insist on proclaiming, does not exist.’ And he adds, ‘To speak poorly of the country is an everyday occupation for many.’ “

The columnist dedicates a number of paragraphs examining the power of words in shaping truth and to other official statements that downplayed reports of violence. She then concludes:

”The question then is very simple: it doesn’t have to do with discourse but rather with reality; the subject is not the words they say, but the reality that we are living and that everyone knows we are living and facing which, because of our values, interests and objectives, we feel anger and demand response from those we have placed in the positions of duty to give it. And, say what they will in the government, this is how it is.”

An armed group of about a dozen gunmen kidnapped an anti-drug official at a nighttime center in downtown Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, in front of some 2,000 witnesses. The gun-wielding group in ski masks and bullet proof vests arrived in three luxury vehicles, fired threatening shots and abducted the official, Jorge Jogar Hobbs Flores. Moments after they left, the military arrived but were unable to trap the kidnappers.

Mr. G just got all bent out of shape because golly gee whiz y’all are making stuff up again because it’s not all over the abccbsnbccnn news. Just showed him the A&M (hee hee) local area news site.

Also, at the UT Brownsville site, there is a police emergency notice stating the closure but what is even more interesting is the picture of the students with backpacks walking across a bridge. The caption states they appreciate the pedestrian friendly campus.

Just last week, there was a drug bust involving illegals hiding the merchandise in backpacks and posing as students at UT El Paso. This is two UT campuses involved in a matter of days. Seems to me, UT better start doing something to make their campuses more secure. Of course, UT is liberal to the max and welcomes illegals. Hey, all in the name of diversity.

http://www.kbtx.com/state/headlines/57565137.html

http://www.utb.edu/Pages/default.aspx

People whose opinions I have respected in the past have come out to advocate for the 'legalization' of drugs in various modes and aspects. They point to the tremendous wealth that traffickers of drugs receive in this trade and the corruption that follows their efforts. In the main, their arguments are that if the drug trade were at least decriminalized or put under state control, we would deny these criminals their money and thus disband these gangs.

I have a suspicion of this argument based on historical precedence. In 1919, the temperance movement capped a 50 year to fight the very real societal problem of alcohol consumption with National Prohibition. By the time Prohibition was repealed, local crime organizations had mushroomed into national and international ones. They controlled many local and state governments and conducted local wars for control of the booze trade.

It is better than 75 years after the end of Prohibition and of course these criminal organizations that ran the booze trade have faded away, right? No government organization or office is held by anyone who had ancestral involvement in that era's illegalities, right? Then obviously we can expect the same success from 'decriminalizing' our current problem child, drugs - right? All of these narco-traffickers will fade away and then all will be sweetness and light, right - of course - in your hope and dreams of change!

Very interesting article just forwarded by NAFBPO!

Sunday, 6 September 2009 http://homelandsecuritynewswire.com/single.php?id=8654
How effective is CBP in keeping U.S. borders safe?

Published 2 September 2009

According to DHS, the vast majority — more than 70 percent — of illegal aliens and contraband attempting to move across our border through official ports of entry will succeed

In fiscal 2008 U.S. Border Patrol officers working at checkpoints that are typically set up along roads and highways 25 to 100 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border stopped three people “who were identified as persons linked to terrorism,” according to information provided by the Border Patrol to the Government Accountability Office. “In addition,” says a GAO report released Monday, “the Border Patrol reported that in fiscal year 2008 checkpoints encountered 530 aliens from special interest countries, which are countries the Department of State has determined to represent a potential terrorist threat to the United States.”

According to DHS, which oversees the Border Patrol, the vast majority of illegal aliens and contraband attempting to move across our border through official ports of entry will succeed. In other words, Terry Jeffrey writes in Townhall.com, U.S. border security fails most of the time — not out in remote desert areas, but at official ports of entry where people and vehicles can be stopped and screened.

“At the ports of entry,” reports GAO, “CBP (Customs and Border Patrol) has both increased training for agents and enhanced technology. However, the DHS Annual Performance Report for fiscal years 2008-2010 sets a goal for detecting and apprehending about 30 percent of major illegal activity at ports of entry in 2009, indicating that 70 percent of criminals and contraband may pass through the ports and continue on interstates and major roads to the interior of the United States.”

DHS’s in-house performance review “paints a disturbing picture of an agency failing in carrying out a vital national security function of the federal government,” Jeffrey writes.

On 15 January, the outgoing Bush administration published the “Department of Homeland Security Annual Performance Report: Fiscal Years 2008-2010.” The report, which quantifies the department’s recent past performance and sets future goals, was updated by the Obama administration on 7 May.

The report says DHS’s No. 1 goal is: “Protect our nation from dangerous people.” One objective for achieving this goal is: “Strengthen screening of travelers and workers.” It defines this as “(r)educing the risk that potential terrorists or others who pose a threat will exploit travel and employment opportunities to harm our Nation.”

On page 36, the report lists inspections at ports of entry as one of the programs designed to achieve this objective and says DHS’s goal for this program is improve “the targeting, screening, and apprehension of high-risk international cargo and travelers to prevent terrorist attacks, while providing processes to facilitate the flow of safe and legitimate trade and travel.”

One “measure” of whether DHS is achieving this goal, the DHS report says, is “land border apprehension rates for major violations.”

In fiscal year 2008, says the DHS report, the department set a goal of apprehending 35 percent of the major violations at border ports of entry. The report estimates that DHS actually apprehended only 28.9 percent. Approximately 71.1 percent of “major violations” got through.

Jeffrey notes that had DHS met its goal, 65 percent of major violations would have gotten through.

In fiscal 2009 DHS’s goal is to apprehend only 28 percent of the major violations at border ports entry. For fiscal 2010, which begins next month, DHS has set a goal of apprehending 29 percent of the major violations.

“That means,” Jeffrey writes, “that next year — if DHS actually achieves its goal — 71 percent of major violators presenting themselves at U.S. border ports will be allowed to enter the United States undetected.”

Jeffrey concludes: ‘Before President Obama closes the Guantanamo Bay prison where we keep the terrorists we do capture, perhaps he should secure the ports of entry at our border where a terrorist has about a 70 percent chance of escaping capture.”

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.