Posted on 01/14/2010 8:02:41 AM PST by AuntB
M3 Report
Wednesday, 1/13/10
La Razon (La Paz, Bolivia) 1/12/10
Phony document time
Cloned passports and U.S. visas are being sold for between 7 and 10 thousand dollars in the Bolivian cities of Santa Cruz and Cochabamba. Some deals also include counterfeit departure stamps from the U.S. The Bolivian Consul in Miami, Milton Paniagua, revealed that some 140 Bolivians with this type of phony documentation have been detected and detained since the month of November.
———————————–
El Heraldo (Tegucigalpa, Honduras) 1/12/10
Eight of the ten deadliest cities of the world are in Latin America
A Mexican organization called the “Consejo [Council] Ciudadano para la Seguridad Publica y la Justicia Penal” has ranked the ten most violent cities of the world. For the second consecutive year, Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, heads the list with 2,658 homicides, a rate of 191 per 100,000 residents. Following Ciudad Juarez is San Pedro Sula, Honduras, with a rate of 119 per 100,000; then San Salvador, El Salvador, at a 95 rate; Caracas, Venezuela, at 94; Cali, Colombia, at 73; New Orleans, LA, and Tegucigalpa, Honduras, tie at 69; Medellin, Colombia, at 62. Cape Town, South Africa closes the top ten at 60.
————————————
El Espectador (Bogota, Colombia) 1/12/10
Another cocaine find in Colombia
Colombian army personnel seized 399 kilos (877.8 lbs.) of cocaine in the countryside near Mutata, in the northwest corner of the country, (near Panama.) The drug, worth some 10 million dollars in the black market, “was ready to be sent abroad.” No arrests were made.
————————————
La Prensa Grafica (San Salvador, El Salvador) 1/12/10
El Salvador pushing for U.S. immigration reform
El Salvador’s Vice-Minister for Salvadorans Abroad visited Los Angeles this weekend to let the Central American community know about the migratory reform that the region’s governments are preparing. On Saturday, Vice-Minister Juan Jose Garcia said, via telephone, that he had met with the “Service Union and with the American Federation,” composed of state employees. He added that they are two of the most important labor unions in the United States who are working on the issue of integral migratory reform. Garcia stated, “For the first time, labor unions with a very large amount of resources and social mobilization are decidedly supporting the issue.” Furthermore, he gave information regarding the document produced by the governments of El Salvador, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic. The official emphasized the regional character of the proposal, and that “never before had the region come to an accord about such an important strategic issue” as migratory reform. Likewise, he had a work meeting planned for Saturday with the Guatemalan Chancellor, Haroldo Rodas. A meeting with Salvadoran community leaders in Los Angeles is also foreseen. He added that they are open to suggestions from the community.
http://www.laprensagrafica.com/departamento-15/noticias/85023-promueven-proyecto-reforma-migratoria.html
——————————-
Prensa Libre (Guatemala City, Guatemala) 1/12/10
Hunger strike aims to halt deportations from the U.S.
Three Guatemalans from Huehuetenango reached the twelfth day of a hunger strike to demand that the U.S. Government halt round-ups and deportations of undocumented persons. The protest is being carried out in Homestead, 45 minutes from Miami, Florida.
Augusto Francisco, Sebastian Sebastian and Simon Mateo, who come from Santa Eulalia and Barillas, Huehuetenango, started a hunger strike on January 1st, along with Jenny Aguilar, Honduran, the Puerto Rican Wilfredo Mendoza, and the American Jonathan Fried, executive director of the pro-immigrant organization We Count, who called for this activity.
The purpose of the measure is to demand Janet Napolitano, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, to stop the round-ups and the deportations against the undocumented.
In a tent house, in the atrium of a Catholic Church of that locality, the six demonstrators placed air mattresses, chairs and other furnishings to ease discomforts while they await a response from Napolitano. Sebastian, who dedicates himself to the arts, in Miami, said via phone, “I hope the deportations stop; the disintegration of families cannot go on. Above all, God, we strive for something to take place in favor of the migrants. My heart breaks to see so many abandoned children when they capture the parents.” He asserted that he will go on a fast until attaining the stoppage of the persecution of undocumented ones.
Fried, grandchild of Jewish migrants, expressed his disillusionment about the actions of U.S. officials. He stated, “We are going to continue here until the situation of the undocumented improves, and the migratory reform is approved.”
—————————-
El Informador (Guadalajara, Jalisco) 1/12/10
Another noted Mexican criminal arrested
Teodoro Garcia, “El Teo”, one of the most wanted Mexican drug traffickers and extortionists, was arrested today (Tues.) in La Paz, Baja California Sur. Garcia had links with the Sinaloa Cartel as well as with “La Familia Michoacána.” He is said to be responsible for the death of at least 300 persons, including by chemical disintegration. [This news item was reported in every Mexican newspaper seen today, as well as some from Central America.]
——————————-
- end of report -
Ten years ago, when I was on vacation in Vietnam, the hotels wanted to hold your passport while you stayed there. When they returned my passport at one hotel in the boondocks, I noticed it was ripped, but at the time I thought that might be a result of heavy usage (carrying it in my pocket and sitting down over a period of years). I'm still not sure if it wore out or was tampered with. A few weeks later, when I applied for a new passport, I had to write a letter to the govt. explaining what happened to the old passport.
Old movies show hotels in France holding your passport, but I have never stayed in a French hotel. I don't think hotels I stayed at in Germany, Greece, and Scotland wanted to hold my passport. I used to stay at hotels all over Mexico (some very cheap ones, like $2 a night) and don't think those hotels wanted my passport either.
I wonder how many places in the world still have this requirement, and how much forgery is involved. I'll bet expert forgers can make a tampered passport look more normal than the way mine looked.
Stay outta those places!!
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.