Migrant kids abandoned by traffickers

Mexican officials said Saturday that in one week they found 370 migrant children who had apparently been abandoned by traffickers paid to take them to the United States.

The children were rescued in 14 Mexican states between March 17 and 24, and the youngest was 9 years old, the National Migration Institute said in a statement, adding that 163 of the children under 18 were found traveling alone.

Most migrants heading through Mexico to the United States come from Central America. They face the threat of accidents, robbery, rape or being forcibly recruited by criminal gangs along the way.

The institute said the children told officials the human traffickers abandoned them after being paid between $3,000 and $5,000. Sometimes migrants make the journey to the United States, then once established pay traffickers to bring their children north.

It said most of the children showed signs of extreme fatigue, dehydration and foot injuries, along with disorientation at being abandoned at unknown, often dangerous, locations.

Father Heyman Vazquez, director of a refuge for migrants in Huixtla, Chiapas, said he is seeing more and more children making the dangerous trek across Mexico in hopes of reaching the United States.

Old Calexico Crossing

Native of Mexicali, a man and a woman were arrested by Customs and Border Protection sub-elements in separate actions when   aboard two vehicles trying to smuggle drugs to the United States, customs found them    methamphetamine and marijuana hidden in the sides of their vehicles.

In a first incident said they were like two in the morning of March 21 when the dog team to search a vehicle entered bonded area, marked him as a suspect so with his driver, 31, was sent a second review in your shopping Ford Focus, model 2007.

That managed to find the cache on the side of the compact which had 19 packages containing a small amount of marijuana crystal,    that in total there were 5 kilos, of which it was said could have produced $ 10,000 traffickers.

In a second incident occurred at six in the morning    next,    nervous elements detected a lady 29 years which reached the port of entry of the old Calexico, aboard a    Ford Fusion, model 2006, which was sent second review.

There also    dogs alerted to the vehicle was something suspicious so to check the agents found 25 packages with nearly 16 kilos of methamphetamine that would have a price of $ 100,000 on the streets.

 

San Felipe Holiday Emergency Crews for Easter Weekend

READY TO HELP IN SAN FELIPE

With a force of approximately 120 people and elements of fire rescue bodies are reported ready to support tens of thousands of visitors who come during this Holy Week 2014 at San Felipe and other tourist spots in the region, reported the director of Fire Mexicali David Perez and Esteban Murillo Romero, deputy operating during interview Air patrol car.

From Wednesday 16 to Sunday 20 April, will implement strategic locations, rescue units equipped and highly trained personnel to handle emergencies of any contingency arise.

They will be in the Mexicali-San Felipe road, in the port of that delegation, Morelos Dam Guadalupe Canyon and Forest City, to mention examples of locations.

They added that firefighters continue meetings with all agencies involved to meet the influx of tourists and the people who choose to enjoy the days off in the city, to have coordination for immediate and efficient reaction.

 

Three in the Box

Border Patrol officials say three adult Mexican immigrants were found inside a wooden box carried under a recreational vehicle stopped at a checkpoint near the California-Mexico border.
Officials said Thursday that agents near Indio apprehended the three Mexican men who were in the country illegally after a Border Patrol dog alerted authorities that something was suspicious about the recreational vehicle Wednesday afternoon.
Authorities found a storage compartment under the bed of the vehicle that had a wooden box with a lid screwed on tight. When agents unscrewed the lid they found three adult males folded over inside the box. The men are ages 17, 19 and 21.
The vehicle's 23-year-old male driver and an 18-year-old female passenger, both U.S. citizens, were arrested on suspicion of migrant smuggling.

Rosarito Beach Shooting Four Dead

An 11-year-old boy collecting tips for a musical group was among four people shot to death Sunday night by an unknown assailant who opened fire at a beach-side gathering in a semi-rural area at the southern end of Rosarito Beach.

Six men and a woman were injured, according to police reports, with four of them released from the hospital Monday.

The incident took place in the community of Primo Tapia in an area known as Los Arenales, known for its tall sand dunes.

A man driving a white SUV drove up shortly before 9 p.m., firing a AK-47 assault rifle in the direction of members of a musical group performing at the event, according to Jesús Antonio Chávez, head of the Baja California Attorney General’s Office in Rosarito.

“There was no previous discussion, no argument, no quarrel,” Chávez said at a news conference. “We don’t know if it was a question of personal vengeance. There is no reason for general alarm for residents and absolutely not for tourists. It’s an isolated incident that unfortunately took place.”

Most of the victims were from Tijuana and Rosarito Beach, authorities said.

The youngest victim, Adrián Gómez Carballo, was at the party collecting donations for the musicians, Chávez said; the boy’s father was among those injured. Also killed was Héctor Gerardo Tapia, 37. A third victim, Tomás Llamas García, died as he was being rushed away by friends for medical help.

The investigation has focused on a fourth victim, who was at the event unaccompanied, and whose identity remained unknown Monday. “It is presumed that the attack was aimed at this victim who died,” Chávez said.

Authorities have seized two vehicles that they believe are linked to the incident: a black Mercedes-Benz and a Ford F-250 pickup, both with California license plates.

 

Mexico Self Defence disagree amoung selves.

Mexico's vigilante "self-defense" groups have been riven by internal disputes after driving the vicious Knights Templar drug cartel out of much of the western state of Michoacan.
Officials and residents said Tuesday the dispute came to a head when hundreds of police and army troops were sent in to separate two armed factions in the town of La Ruana on Monday.
The confrontation revived fears that the government has created a monster by letting the heavily armed group of an estimated 20,000 vigilantes take over basic law enforcement duties in the state without knowing who is really behind the movement. Vigilante leaders say their movement is supported by contributions from farmers, growers and businessmen. But there are concerns that a rival drug cartel, personal interests and local feuds may also play a role.
The vigilantes are now the de-facto authorities in about 15 of the state's townships, and several top drug cartel leaders have been arrested or killed.
The Michoacan state public safety department said authorities "are conducting mediation efforts to defuse the conflict between self-defense groups." The department identified the leaders of the two factions as Hipolito Mora, who founded the movement in February 2013 after he and fellow residents wearied of the drug cartel's demands for protection payments, and Luis Antonio Torres Gonzalez, a vigilante leader known by the nickname "Simon El Americano."
The two represent different wings of the movement, which is composed mainly of farmers, ranchers and farmworkers and seeks to end the Knights Templar's reign of kidnapping, murder and extortion. The grandfatherly Mora has become a public face of the movement, with frequent press interviews, while "El Americano," so-named because he lived in the United States, is viewed as rougher, less communicative and far more involved in armed incursions aimed at kicking cartel gunmen out of the state.
Mora has been accused of abusing his position, holding on to lime orchards and fields that were seized from the Knights Templar and possibly having a role in the deaths of two vigilantes found murdered over the weekend. A recent increase in price for limes - the mainstay of the economy in Michoacan's semi-tropical lowlands - may have brought the dispute to a head because lime orchards have become enormously profitable.
Mora has denied those accusations, saying he returns the land to its rightful owners when they can show proof of ownership. He also denies any role in the deaths of the vigilantes, whose bodies were found Saturday in a burned-out pickup truck. Mora says the rival faction has allowed former Knights Templar cartel gunmen to join the vigilante group, a complaint frequently heard in the area. "They will do anything for money," Mora told local media.
The federal government's envoy for Michoacan, Alfredo Castillo, said Mora had been flown Monday from La Ruana to Mexico City for meetings with authorities, and more meetings were planned Tuesday in an effort to iron out differences.
Neither Mora nor Torres Gonzalez answered phones on Tuesday, but Ramon Contreras, a town official in La Ruana, where the movement to combat drug cartel extortion began a year ago, said Mora's vigilantes had grown arrogant and abused the local population.
"Hipolito is doing well, but only with the media," Contreras said. "People are saying 'we're more afraid of the self-defense forces than the Knights Templar.' "
It was a development that many had feared as largely untrained vigilante forces armed with assault rifles have sprung up so quickly.