Syria:
~ Absolute best information, hands down:
Informed Comment
by, Juan Cole
~ And the train kept a rollin':
~ From CNN:
Syria Updates
Latest videos of Turkish war crimes from CNN:
Syria Crisis
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Impeachment Updates:
~ From CNN:
10/23 @ 3:00pm: (update)
Impeachment Updates
10/22:
Latest Impeachment Updates
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~ Culiacan Updates Which Will Lead Us In To Local Events Of The Drug War:
~ Riodoce
Riodoce is the third source (that I've seen) who published the following report on the ranking of the States in Mexico in regards to the drug war violence. Zeta published a similar report several weeks back, Animal Politico published another similar report about a week back. So far, the Riodoce report covers the entire nation. Keep in mind the rankings were based on fatalities from January this year to the end of August this year:
Estos Son Las Estados Mas Violentas En Mexico
Por, Alejandro Monjardin
:While the Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection Alfonso Durazo Montaño stressed that the trend in malicious homicides had reached a turning point, in Michoacán 13 state agents were massacred.
The next day, 14 alleged hitmen and a military man died in a confrontation in Guerrero and Nuevo Laredo, four alleged criminals in a shooting with soldiers; on Wednesday a confrontation left four suspected criminals and a policeman dead in Michoacán; and on Thursday a wave of shootings, blockades and vehicle fires broke out in Culiacán due to the arrest of Ovidio Guzmán.
During the morning conference of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador on Monday, the security cabinet gave a security report.
Between January and August of this year, 23,724 wrongful killings have been committed, of which 41 percent are concentrated in five states.
In Guanajuato, 9.2 percent of the murders were committed, in Baja California on 9.1, in the State of Mexico on 8.3, in Jalisco on 7.2, and on Chihuahua on 7.2.
Considering the population of each state, Colima is the state with the highest rate with 56 homicides per 100 thousand inhabitants, Baja California with 48, Guanajuato with 29, Guerrero with 29 and Chihuahua with 37.
Sinaloa records a rate of 17 murders per 100,000 inhabitants with 606 homicides during this year.
The violent Tijuana
In Baja California since 2016 there was a resurgence of violence.
In the state, violence is concentrated in Tijuana, where more than 70 percent of homicides are committed.
In that the border city the cartels of Sinaloa and Jalisco Nueva Generación fight the distribution of drugs; and also an internal fight is being waged in the CJNG.
The state kept the homicide rate below 600 murders a year, but in 2016 they shot up to 1,80 thousand, in 2017 they doubled and there were 2 thousand 95, 2018 closed with 2 thousand 824 and until September of this year they go 1, 991 thousand.
Tijuana, considered the most violent city in the country, went from having 872 homicides in 2016 to 2,253 in 2018; and in nine months of 2019 they add 1,559.
Headquarters of the most violent cartel
In Jalisco the Jalisco Nueva Generación, Nueva Plaza and Sinaloa cartels fight a fight that this year has left 1,444 murders.
The entity accounts for 7.2 percent of the murders committed in the country.
The entity is the headquarters of the CJNG considered by US authorities as one of the most violent in the world.
In March, 19 bodies were located in a canal in the municipality of Ixtahuacán de los Membrillos and two months later, in June, three clashes between criminal groups and agents were recorded, leaving two alleged criminals and two dead agents.
In that state on May 10, they located 35 clandestine graves in three farms; the largest was in Zapopan where there were 27 bodies.
Edomex invaded by cartels
In the State of Mexico, the local Prosecutor's Office recognizes that La Familia Michoacana, Los Rojos, Guerreros Unidos, Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel, Cartel Nuevo Imperio, Unión Tepito, Cartel del Tláhuac and the Los Mazos band operate.
The groups are distributed throughout the territory dedicated to the transfer and sale of drugs, theft of fuel and extortion.
In that state, 822 murders were committed, representing 8 percent of those registered throughout the country between January and August.
The early morning of May 25 in Coacalco, students were surprised at a party by three armed and hooded men who opened fire; The balance was five dead young people.
Guanajuato doubles homicides
In Guanajuato, violence escalated with the lawsuit between the Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel and the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel.
In three years the homicides doubled from 961 in 2016 to 1 804 so far in 2019.
Guanajuato with is the fourth state with the highest murder rate with 29 homicides per 100 thousand inhabitants.
On April 5 the state lived one of the most violent days with 24 murders the same day, of which eight were in a clash between civilians in Apaseo el Alto.
In March an armed group broke into a bar and opened fire on the assistants, leaving a balance of 15 dead men and three injured women.
The sea entrance
Colima is one of the places of greatest interest of the cartels for having the main seaport of the country.
Manzanillo enters the drug brought from Central and South America, chemical precursors to make synthetic drugs and recently Fentanyl from Asia.
The dispute between the Jalisco Nueva Generación and Sinaloa cartels made Colima the state with the highest homicide rate in the country, with 56 murders per 100,000 inhabitants.
Between January and August in that state 435 murders were committed.
Always violent warrior
The state of Guerrero is among the most violent in the country with 1,993 murders.
For every 100 thousand inhabitants in the entity 29 murders are committed.
The Jalisco Nueva Generación, Sinaloa, Guerreros Unidos, Los Granados, Los Rojos, Acapulco Independent Cartel cartels operate in the entity.
Just last Tuesday a confrontation between military and suspected criminals left a balance of 14 civilians and a dead soldier in the community of Tepochica.
One of the massacres that occurred this year was the afternoon of May 26, when eight bodies that presented traces of beatings and torture, two women and six men, were abandoned inside a van with a report of theft in Chilpancingo.
Old Violence
The state of Chihuahua has been submerged in a wave of violence for decades.
7.2 percent of the murders that have been committed this year were in that entity.
In eight months, they count 1,479 crimes, making Chihuahua the third most violent in the country with 37 murders per 100 thousand inhabitants.
Among those victims are three 4, 13, and 4-year-old sisters and a 23-year-old man, killed when they were at a ranch and a command entered and fired more than 100 times in Ciudad Juarez.
Article published on October 20, 2019 in the 873 edition of the weekly Riod."
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And yet this current month of October seems to be showing a slow down of the executions in Tijuana. Everyone around here is wondering if this is an indication of a potential cease fire on the one hand; on the other hand, people are wondering if we will see a flurry in activity and killings the remaining days of October.
~ From Zeta :
Homicidios a La Baja; Robos En Incremento; Jorge Ayon - 10/21/19
Por, Manuel Ayala
" The Secretary of Security and Municipal Citizen Protection (SSPCM), Jorge Alberto Ayón Monsalve, stressed that since the entry of the new municipal administration, in Tijuana homicides have been reduced by 24%, however the crime of robberies has increased by 7% , for which they are already implementing action measures to inhibit them.
He stressed that during this weekend there were only six malicious killings, due to the greater police presence on the streets, the increase in patrols; as well as better coordination between the three areas of government. In October, 90 homicides have been registered.
Ayón said that among the most relevant cases of theft, he highlighted the one presented this weekend at a casino in Playas de Tijuana, where a group of hooded people extracted money directly from the box, without knowing, so far the amount they took.
He stressed that during the robbery there were no victims of theft, nor injured.
The secretary also highlighted a robbery that was given to the facilities of the consulate of the Czech Republic, where it is being monitored; In addition, this Tuesday they will hold a meeting with diplomatic personnel in order to have greater coordination.
He also pondered that some areas will be restructured in personnel matters to solve those that address the theft issue, with the objective of being able to reduce crime."
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Then this morning a slight uptick in the stats with an October tally and a YTD number for the homicides en TIJ:
~ From Zeta:
"Just over two months after the end of the year, until the morning of Tuesday, October 22, the Office of the Attorney General in the State, records 1,806 murders in Tijuana during 2019.
First at 07:05 hours, the emergency center was informed that inside the house located on Ruiz Cortines street lot # 15 of the La Cuesta neighborhood, there were the lifeless bodies of a man and a woman. Upon arrival of police elements, the bodies of the couple were visible with visible injuries from gunshots.
The victims were identified as Esmeralda Marisela Cortez García, 47 years old, and Arturo Fernández Montaño, 53. Expert officers located four .30 caliber shells at the scene of the crime.
At 1:42 p.m., a group of activists in search of missing persons, located in a neighborhood road to the La Presa vessel in the Valle Bonito neighborhood, skeletal remains belonging to a human body, which had deteriorated clothing. Two .40 caliber caps were packed on the scene
On the Arroyo Verde street in the Las Delicias subdivision, a human skull was found, which could not determine sex and age. The head was found a few meters from an on wheels.
So far this October, 107 wrongful killings have been recorded."
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Ensenada....Just passing this report along, so many more covering events in Ensenada from Zeta, will be back at some point (??) with those. Meanwhile...problemas en Cantu:
 |
| courtesy Zeta |
~ From Zeta:
Por, Lorena Lamas y Marco A. Flores
"The preliminary report indicates that it was a confrontation between elements of the 67 Battalion and armed civilians aboard a vessel, allegedly in possession of drugs.
According to the report received in the emergency number 911, around 01:04 hours on Tuesday, Mexican Army personnel had a confrontation with subjects "who were aboard a vessel apparently in possession of drugs", in El Varadero in the area known as Rincon de Ballenas, Ejido Esteban Cantú, towards La Bufadora.
The C-4 report states that at 1:27 p.m. Red Cross paramedics arrived to treat the injured civilian, a man, between 40 and 50 years of age, who presented blows to the face and active bleeding, as well as two chest shots The injured was consciously transferred to the General Hospital for medical attention.
The first data of the State Attorney General's Office (PGJE) indicates that for this fact an
investigation folder has not been opened because the Ministry of National Defense failed to report to the Ministerial Police. However, SEDENA has not issued information in this regard."
So we will have to wait and see if more information is forthcoming.
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Update/edit 1/23 : Well I don't think a heck of a lot of people are surprised, but this happened at La Joya...you know, "paradise".
- From Zeta :
Asegurardon Una Tonelada de Marihuana Tras Enfrentamiento en Ensenada
Por, Mario A Flores
"Soldiers and armed civilians were engaged in a gun battle on Tuesday morning, in the area of La Joya, where the Army secured a drug boat and injured one of the alleged criminals'
After the confrontation with bullets early Tuesday between soldiers and armed civilians, the Army announced the assurance of a ton of marijuana in a boat.
In a statement, the 67th Infantry Battalion explained that, within the framework of the La Joya operation, in the La Bufadora area, soldiers found a boat stranded at the edge of the fishing field, as well as four men moving packages from the panga to a parked vehicle.
When approaching to verify the legality of the landing they realized that the civilians were armed, so they were ordered to surrender, however, the military personnel were attacked and initiated the exchange of shots, according to the official version.
Three of the attackers managed to escape between the houses, while the fourth was hit by the soldiers' shots; According to the 67th Infantry Battalion, the man received a bullet rocket in the jaw, a version different from that of C-4 that reported the man with two thorax bullets.
The injured person was transferred to the General Hospital, where the military personnel safeguards their safety and once the provision is completed, they will be handed over to the corresponding judicial authority.
As part of the operation, the soldiers found within the boat 27 packages tied with glass rubber and black nylon, subject with rope; inside each package were smaller packages, all with marijuana, giving an approximate weight of 1,880 kilograms total..
A white boat, 20 feet in length, was also secured with two 200 horsepower outboard motors; a vehicle, cab-and-a-half pick-up type, gray, Ford F-150 brand, model 2000, without license plates, with theft report; a .9 mm caliber Beretta pistol with a magazine and eight useful cartridges."
*** Note: at around 3:30pm Wednesday 10/23/19 I am simply not seeing this story reported on El Mexicano Policiaca de Ensenada or El Vigia de Ensenada. Hmmmm....someone loves Ensenada.
end edit.
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Denise Dresser...
These are long, but a must listen to...if you don't have time, download them from Youtube !
~ From : The Center For Latin American Studies, University of California, Berkeley
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Denise Dresser: Central American Migrations and The U.S. Border A Moral and Political Issue of Our Time - 09/23/2019
Have a nice week.