I was going to add to the title - "Quick get me some Holy H20 or a red Kaballah bracelet blessed at Rachel's tomb !" But none of this is funny, and as far as I can see so far none of the following reports have been covered by the USMSM.
Nine days ago, Padre Solalinde gave a presentation at the Colegio de la Frontera Norte, the think tank up the road from us entitled, "The Vulnerability of Migrants in Mexico" to an audience of hundreds of people. From there he and Rafael Romo Munoz the Archbishop of Tijuana briefly met with civil authorities on the migrante issues and then with another civil group who assist the migrantes at the main Cathedral in Tijuana.
As reporter Ines Garcia Ramos of Zeta magazine points out, Padre Solalinde's work never ends. In 2007 he founded the "Hermanos en el Camino" hostel in Ixtepec Oaxaca dedicated to serving the migrantes crossing through Mexico and defending thousands of them. This year he received support from the United Nations to open a second hostel also based in Oaxaca to receive more families, young people and unaccompanied minors. This special place of respite for the young people is called "Menores en El Camino" because Padre Solalinde says the younger people, "...they need their own space." He has acknowledged that the hostels are a palliative but believes his role is needed especially in what he describes as a country dictated by a PRI government which is unresponsive to the migrante problem and human rights in general.
The bombshell Padre Solalinde dropped at the Colegio de la Frontera Norte conference was that there are clinics in Tijuana which perform organ transplants on migrantes illegally and the government is aware of this situation yet they do nothing. Of course, later the government denied any knowledge of these clinics. Padre Solalinde said it was the FBI who provided this information to the Mexican government regarding the organ trafficking in Tijuana - so it is not as if they aren't aware. In fact according to the Padre, the authorities are complicit to the criminal groups which use migrante groups as merchandise, whether it be for drug trafficking on their journey, or to become themselves victims of trafficking or smuggling their organs.
Noted in the Zeta interview, since 2007 there was news emerging of the trafficking of organs of the migrantes in Veracruz, then in Michoacan and Oaxaca and now more recently in Tijuana, Baja California.
To briefly summarize the interview, the Padre describes this trafficking as an act of barbarism and perhaps the last thing anyone can do against a human being in order to transform them into merchandise. The act reduces the person, selling them in parts, killing them, separating them from their family, cutting the wings of their aspirations, preventing their destiny. It is the total annihilation of the person. The Padre notes this is being done especially here in Tijuana and the northern border area and it is an example of the overall societal dehumanization in which we live - an example of the overvaluation of money and the contempt or lack of regard for the victim, ignorance of their dignity, oblivious to their human rights. It is a representation of a perverse system which corrupts more and more and which has corrupted the political class.
These organ traffickers according to the Padre include Doctors, and for the most part the MO is this: The traffickers deceive the migrantes, particularly families with offers of support getting into the United States with the real intent of filling an organ order. At some point, the women and the children are separated, to end up on the operation table. Organ trafficking represents large profits, the Padre says profits are even greater than human trafficking, drug trafficking or arms sales. The organs go for more than 100K dollars; corneas, skin, internal organs, everything is sold. After the extraction(s) the victim or what is left of the person ends up in a crematorium, nothing not even ash is left.
Padre Solalinde wonders out loud why there have been no Mexican investigations and moreover no Mexican investigations into cases in Tijuana? When asked who or which groups were involved in this organ trafficking - drug cartels or some other organizations, Padre Solalinde answered that these are cartels with a political arm and it is impossible to speak only of cartels. Both are inseparable he states, we live in a narco state.
The Padre goes on to describe the Pena Nieto regime as discursive, full of lies and above all, cynical. But the United States is also culpable he says as far as selling weapons to Mexico and guilty because the government of the United States sustains a puppet regime who have no regard for human rights.
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| Trump as a pile of poop in Manhattan by Lansky |
This is the part of the interview I had a problem with - Padre Solalinde is not worried that Donald Trump might actually become President of the United States. He feels the threat to the US (being paranoid of the influx of migrantes) is not the migrantes, but the financial powers and armed civilians. The problem is, Trump is a financial power who represents the neo-con financial powers and the NRA. And millions of Americans adore him, so yes this is a serious problem and worrisome as the United States reverts even further into the dark ages. But even scarier is if this whole Trump thing is a charade - and at the last moment people (perhaps because of Trump's ignorance of foreign affairs) vote in Jeb Bush, who really is worse and more of a charlatan than Trump coming well trained from the Bush Crime Family. Meanwhile, Trump apparently likes to hang out with assholes, fascists and human rights abusers. So, I'm begging the Padre to reconsider; this is worrisome, Trump is dangerous, what he represents is scary and the alternatives are a disappointment.
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- More Migrante problems in our region:
- Frontera writes that in July attorney Melissa Virnete of "Casa del Migrante" reported thirty (30) migrantes reported to their office they had been kidnapped and extorted on their journey to cross the border into the US. However many more cases go unreported out of fear. According to this article, the PGR has only investigated four cases and the local Ministry of Public Security has reported only eight kidnappings in Mexicali and Tijuana.
How it works is that when migrantes arrive by bus and land in Tijuana they are generally approached by criminal polleros who assure them entry into the Promised Land. From this point they are taken hostage by the polleros, tied up, beaten and tortured until the polleros receive the money demanded from the migrantes relatives.
Activists have monitored areas where the migrantes are abducted and held, including houses near to the Tijuana-Tecate area known as Nido de las Aguiles - but so far have not noticed any preventative actions taken by the authorities. According to activist Esmeralda Siu of the Coalicion Pro Migrante group the authorities have told them that an investigation is not warranted without a complaint - and the migrantes are too frightened to complain. Siu believes society in general is apathetic towards the migrantes and that the state government whose duty is to care for them is basically lax in attending their needs.
An example is a migrante called "Francisco" a deportee who attempted to re-cross in to the US with others and instead was abducted and taken to a house in Otay where he was beaten and tortured, guns pointed at the group demanding money. Eventually Francisco was able to come up with 5K dollars from his family and was released.
But his advise to other migrantes: "To those who want to try (to cross) take care and do not trust anyone. Right now the polleros are not crossing anyone, they are primarily kidnapping and beating people in order to get money."
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Padre Solalinde's Reaction to the PGR Ayotzinapa Report:
The Padre believes Ayotzinapa was a state crime where justice was obstructed, evidence deleted and conclusions falsely drawn. He doubts that Pena Nieto will be removed from office due to the case itself and the PGR Report, but he said, "...it is a state crime which will mark him all of his life and for all eternity."
He believes that Murillo Karam along with Pena Nieto hid information relevant to the case. As far as the fifth Red Star bus which carried the precursor chemical for heroin (worth millions of $$$) not reported by the PGR, Solalinde sees this as an example of Mexico, "...facing a narco state."
The Padre implicates SEDENA, the Federal Police, Cisen, the Ministerial Police, State Police and Municipal Agents as all complicit on one level or another. He reminds us that the students were attacked with gunfire by both the State and Federal Police.
His opinion of the final outcome will be an attempted white wash which will target scapegoats instead of the authorities who really were involved because the government will save those they have to save - otherwise the political damage will be too severe. So this means that most likely the politically important ones, the Army and the Federal Police will come out unscathed, smelling like a rose. He notes that the Federal Police simply cannot be discredited under this regime. He also reminds us to watch the "chain of command" - those are the ones who he says will be sacrificed.
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Here is the link for all current updates regarding Ayotzinapa and the PGR Report.
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We have had a series of narco-mantas in Tijuana - I'll be back with that info.