Hundreds of students and teachers have smashed windows and started fires inside a state capital building in southern Mexico, as fury erupted over the disappearance of 43 young people believed to have been abducted by local police linked to a drug cartel.
The protesters called for the safe return of the students from a rural teachers’ college in Guerrero state, who have been missing since 26 September. But fears are growing that their bodies may be in 10 newly discovered mass graves.
Associated Press photographs showed smoke billowing from the government building in Guerrero’s capital, Chilpancingo, and flames licking from office windows. Firefighters battled the blaze.
A spokesman for the Guerrero government said the protesters from a teachers’ union initially tried to get into the state congress in Chilpancingo but were repelled by anti-riot police. They then headed to the state government palace.
The bodies of 28 people found in a set of mass graves are not those of students who went missing last month, Mexican authorities have said.
The graves were unearthed outside the town of Iguala in the southern state of Guerrero.
At a news conference, Mexico's Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam said: "I can tell you that in the first mass graves we found, for the very first ones we already have results, and I can confirm that there are no matches to the DNA that the families of the missing people gave us."
Experts are still testing remains recovered from other mass burial sites found near the city but no further information has been revealed.
The 43 student teachers disappeared after a confrontation with police, who are suspected of being involved in their disappearance.
Mexico’s Guerrero state Congress on Friday approved the impeachment of the mayor of Iguala, José Luis Abarca — accused of ties to organized crime and involvement in last month’s disappearance of 43 students — as protesters occupied five of the state’s town halls calling for justice.
“The evidence provided shows that the mayor, Jose Luis Abarca Velezquez … in charge of public safety and maintaining peace and order did not do so on Sept. 26 and 27 in Iguala,” Omar Jalil Flores, Guerrero’s ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) deputy told Mexican news website El Universal.
On Thursday, protesters in Guerrero state occupied five town halls and demanded the resignation of state governor Ángel Aguirre Rivero and the safe return of the missing students. The activists vowed to take all 81 municipal buildings unless the students were returned. Thousands have marched in mass protests in Mexico City in the weeks following their disappearance, calling for their safe homecoming.
Protesters — who have held the municipal headquarters of Chilpancingo, Guerrero’s capital since Wednesday — also took control of several toll booths in Guerrero for hours on Thursday, asking for donations for their movement and informing the public of their aims.
Demonstrators and family members of the missing students said they were taken alive, and they want them returned alive. Guerrero’s CETEG teachers union and student activists said they plan to march to the resort city of Acapulco on Friday as part of the protest.
Security officials say federal police have taken control of 13 municipalities in southern Mexico where local police are suspected of possible links to organized crime and the case of 43 missing students.
National Security Commissioner Monte Alejandro Rubido says that during the investigation into the disappearance of the students three weeks ago authorities found "irregularities" and "presumed links to organized crime" in the municipal police forces.
The locales all are within a 125-mile (200-kilometer) radius of Iguala, where the students from a rural teachers' college disappeared after a confrontation with police. Both the mayor and police chief of Iguala are fugitives and accused of links to the local drug cartel, Guerrero Unidos, believed to have worked with police in disappearing the students.
Mexican authorities have captured the suspected leader of the Guerreros Unidos gang, which was allegedly involved with corrupt police in the disappearance of 43 students, officials announced.
Attorney general Jesus Murillo Karam said on Friday that the arrest of Sidronio Casarrubias would open a "new line of investigation" to find the college students who have been missing for three weeks.
Tomas Zeron, director of investigations in the prosecutor's office, said Casarrubias was the "top leader" of the gang based in the southern state of Guerrero and was arrested alongside "one of his closest operators”.
HOUSTON (AP) — U.S. authorities announced Tuesday they have arrested the head of the Gulf Cartel, one of Mexico's most violent drug trafficking rings.
Juan Francisco Saenz-Tamez made his initial court appearance in Beaumont on Tuesday, said U.S. Attorney John M. Bales. A federal grand jury indicted Saenz-Tamez in September 2013 on three drug and money laundering counts.
Saenz-Tamez, 23, from the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, was arrested by federal agents on Oct. 9 while shopping in the South Texas city of Edinburg.
Mexico’s attorney general said Wednesday that a Guerrero state mayor and his wife were the “probable masterminds” of a Sept 26. police crackdown on protesters in the town of Iguala that resulted in the disappearance of dozens of students. He added that arrest warrants had been issued for the couple.
Attorney General Jesús Murillo Karam’s remarks came as tens of thousands of Mexicans marched through Mexico City and other cities in protest of the student disappearances. Activists in Iguala, meanwhile, set fire to the town’s city hall amid escalating national protests calling for the students’ safe return.
“They took them away alive. We want them back alive,” protesters chanted as they marched.
In Mexico City, Murillo said that Sidronio Casarrubias, a leader of the criminal group Guerreros Unidos captured last week, accused Iguala Mayor José Luis Abarca and his wife, María de los Ángeles Pineda Villa, of giving orders to stop the student demonstrations because of a planned political event that Pineda did not want interrupted.
Mexico analysts have blamed government officials and police of strong ties with criminal organizations in Guerrero state.
“We have issued warrants for the arrest of Iguala Mayor José Luis Abarca, his wife, Mrs. Pineda Villa, and police chief Felipe Flores Velázquez, as probable masterminds of the events that occurred in Iguala on Sept. 26,” Murillo said. Both Abarca and Pineda went into hiding soon after the incident.
Just so you know, you aren't just talking to yourself over their stealth I tend to stop by and read the updates without contributing much, and I appreciate the effort of bringing all the articles from multiple locations so I can read it all conveniently here.
On October 24 2014 06:18 StorrZerg wrote: second thanks for the updates.
anyone care to go a little more basic with whats going on in mexico right now? is mexico doing better? or is it degrading?
i live in one of the three main cities (not the capital thou) what do u want to know ?
are we doing better? hell no, gas prices rises every month, the cost of living for the average people is way too high (and keeps going up), hence many young boys take a chance joining drug cartels cuz they prefer that over having a real shitty job with minimum wage pay that wil barely be enough to live if u only buy the most basic food.
the riots that u currently see are for the missing/killed 43 students but those protest wont achive anything cuz its very few people. the mayority of our people are too scared/dumb to actually do something.
for people saying that legalizing drugs would stop this, it wont. We are not netherlands, our culture is still light years behind any country like that. Organized crime here is not doing this for "the love of selling" they are after the rapidly enrichment. I have seen it here in my city. If we take away from them the drugs money theyll just transfer to kidnapping and stealing. I have yet to meet a dealer that says "oh drugs are legal now i will open my store and paid taxes"
I think the argument is mainly that if you legalize or regulate drugs, it will heavily cut into a major part of a cartel's business. Drugs are a huge source of income, probably represents a much larger portion of cartel income than kidnapping and stealing, so if you destroy what they need a huge amount of members for IE: Distributing/selling/growing drugs, then you kind of take their legs out.
I don't know the numbers or anything, so that's mostly speculation.
Mexican authorities searching for 43 missing college students have found human remains in a new area of southern Guerrero state and are testing to see if they belong to the young men who last were seen in police custody a month ago, a government official said Monday.
Authorities came upon the new location based on statements from four people arrested early Monday, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press. The new remains were found in Cocula, a town about 10 miles (17 kilometers) from where the students last were seen.
Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam confirmed the four arrests in a press conference but made no mention of more remains or mass graves. He said some of those arrested could be members of the Guerreros Unidos cartel responsible for the actual disappearance of the students after an attack by local police. Two of the detainees said they received a large group of people around Sept. 26, the date the students went missing, Murillo Karam said.
Investigators were trying to confirm their statements. Mexico now has a total of 56 people in custody in the case.
On October 25 2014 04:47 RebirthOfLeGenD wrote: I think the argument is mainly that if you legalize or regulate drugs, it will heavily cut into a major part of a cartel's business. Drugs are a huge source of income, probably represents a much larger portion of cartel income than kidnapping and stealing, so if you destroy what they need a huge amount of members for IE: Distributing/selling/growing drugs, then you kind of take their legs out.
I don't know the numbers or anything, so that's mostly speculation.
Drugs are not as big for the cartel as it was 15 years ago. The carters and organize crime in general has advanced into 2014 and are into everything, stealing Oil, cyber crimes are making the Mexican cartel bank with out all the risk of selling drugs.
At this point taking away drug profit won't be a big deal if it was legalized. At this point the Cartels own Mexico and control it's government.
Cartels are even teaming up with the Middle east and using their techniques of terror to control entire regions, selling weapons/oil on the black market instead of drugs.
Mexican authorities searching for 43 missing college students have found human remains in an area of southern Guerrero state and were being tested to see whether they belong to the young men last seen in police custody a month ago, a government official has said.
Authorities made the discovery following information from four people arrested early on Monday, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The remains were found in Cocula, a town about 10 miles (16km) from where the students were last seen.
Mexico’s attorney general, Jesús Murillo Karam, confirmed the four arrests in a press conference but did not mention more remains or mass graves. He said some of those arrested could be members of the Guerreros Unidos cartel responsible for the disappearance of the students after an attack by local police. Two of the detainees said they received a large group of people around 26 September, the date the students went missing, Murillo Karam said.
Investigators were trying to confirm the statements of those arrested. Mexico now has a total of 56 people in custody in the case.
On October 24 2014 06:18 StorrZerg wrote: second thanks for the updates.
anyone care to go a little more basic with whats going on in mexico right now? is mexico doing better? or is it degrading?
i live in one of the three main cities (not the capital thou) what do u want to know ?
are we doing better? hell no, gas prices rises every month, the cost of living for the average people is way too high (and keeps going up), hence many young boys take a chance joining drug cartels cuz they prefer that over having a real shitty job with minimum wage pay that wil barely be enough to live if u only buy the most basic food.
the riots that u currently see are for the missing/killed 43 students but those protest wont achive anything cuz its very few people. the mayority of our people are too scared/dumb to actually do something.
for people saying that legalizing drugs would stop this, it wont. We are not netherlands, our culture is still light years behind any country like that. Organized crime here is not doing this for "the love of selling" they are after the rapidly enrichment. I have seen it here in my city. If we take away from them the drugs money theyll just transfer to kidnapping and stealing. I have yet to meet a dealer that says "oh drugs are legal now i will open my store and paid taxes"
damn :/
what do you think it will take for a turnaround? Seems like if one cartel is put down, another one just takes its place. Would outside involvement help (nato /usa) help?
Would legalizing drugs be a step in the right direction. I know you say it will won't stop them, but could it go in the right direction in helping to slow them down.
Since you live in a major city, are there multiple cartels working in your city? Are parts of the city "sectioned off" as to which cartel controls them. Or is the city a semi "neutral zone"? Are the cartels pretty aggressive about recruiting in the major cities?
Legalization but also privatizing would seems to be able to at least stem the hide of the Cartels. The latter seems to be Peña Nieto's strategy. Along with legalizing marijuana in the states gaining more and more support, it has also cost the cartels in Colorado and Washing large amounts of money. People in Mexico of course are becoming more and more angry by the seemingly apathetic nature of the Government regarding Corruption, and Cries of Cartel. give credit to Calderon who at least met with victims families, and protesters. Nieto has done none of that.
The search for 43 student teachers who went missing in Mexico a month ago is now focusing on a gully on the edge of a municipal rubbish dump.
Photographs of the site in the southern Mexican state of Guerrero were released on Tuesday after a small group of journalists were taken behind a heavily policed cordon. They show people in white jump suits working at the bottom of the gully reportedly about 10m deep and reachable only with the help of ropes. They appear to be working on the surface and there are no signs of bodies.
Milenio newspaper said the area was now peppered with little red flags.
The dump lies just outside the small town of Cocula, about 10 miles from the city of Iguala where municipal police and unidentified gunmen attacked the students from a famously radical teacher training college on 26 September. Six people died and dozens of students went missing, many of them after being driven away by police. They were allegedly handed over to Guerreros Unidos, a local drug gang.
Jesús Murillo, the attorney general, last week said the order to pursue the students came directly from the mayor of Iguala who feared the students were planning to disrupt a speech by his wife who has been identified as a key operator for the drug gang. The mayor and his wife are now on the run.
To me, I think legalization will not fix the problem, as miky_ardiente has pointed out. You would have to fix the underlying problems such as corruptions, economy, and living standard.
When people are poor, they are often resulted to crimes. It doesn't matter what type of crime they are committing, all legalization will do is removing a way for them to make money, it will not change the fact that they're still poor, they will simply resort to another way to make money, such as more thievery, kidnapping, ect.
However maybe legalization can help bring revenue for government to provide better service, and more jobs to people, but given how corrupted they are, this is unlikely.
Alongside Privatizing the Oil Industry etc, (One of Peña Nieto's reforms) which are deeply unpopular but could force the Cartels hand, as businesses, especially American firms are very notorious when ti comes to protecting their assets, alongside tax reforms which the Cartels use notoriously for graft etc.
On October 25 2014 04:47 RebirthOfLeGenD wrote: I think the argument is mainly that if you legalize or regulate drugs, it will heavily cut into a major part of a cartel's business. Drugs are a huge source of income, probably represents a much larger portion of cartel income than kidnapping and stealing, so if you destroy what they need a huge amount of members for IE: Distributing/selling/growing drugs, then you kind of take their legs out.
I don't know the numbers or anything, so that's mostly speculation.
At this point the Cartels own Mexico and control it's government.
Exactly this, and its not just the cartels, its a whole group of politicians, "business mens", and cartel leaders that have our country kidnapped.
there is a book called "los señores del narco" i think in english was adapted with the name "narcoland". Basically this journalist digs deep and discovers all the arrengement between the mexican politicians and the cartel leaders (including formers presidents)
At this point we cant tell the difference between politicians and organize crime.
On October 24 2014 06:18 StorrZerg wrote: second thanks for the updates.
anyone care to go a little more basic with whats going on in mexico right now? is mexico doing better? or is it degrading?
i live in one of the three main cities (not the capital thou) what do u want to know ?
are we doing better? hell no, gas prices rises every month, the cost of living for the average people is way too high (and keeps going up), hence many young boys take a chance joining drug cartels cuz they prefer that over having a real shitty job with minimum wage pay that wil barely be enough to live if u only buy the most basic food.
the riots that u currently see are for the missing/killed 43 students but those protest wont achive anything cuz its very few people. the mayority of our people are too scared/dumb to actually do something.
for people saying that legalizing drugs would stop this, it wont. We are not netherlands, our culture is still light years behind any country like that. Organized crime here is not doing this for "the love of selling" they are after the rapidly enrichment. I have seen it here in my city. If we take away from them the drugs money theyll just transfer to kidnapping and stealing. I have yet to meet a dealer that says "oh drugs are legal now i will open my store and paid taxes"
damn :/
what do you think it will take for a turnaround? Seems like if one cartel is put down, another one just takes its place. Would outside involvement help (nato /usa) help?
Would legalizing drugs be a step in the right direction. I know you say it will won't stop them, but could it go in the right direction in helping to slow them down.
Since you live in a major city, are there multiple cartels working in your city? Are parts of the city "sectioned off" as to which cartel controls them. Or is the city a semi "neutral zone"? Are the cartels pretty aggressive about recruiting in the major cities?
thx again
There is a group (small, if u compare it to the whole population, but its growing everyday) of people that are currently organazing a national strike, this is our only real chance cuz there is just no way we could defeat the army in a revolution (sadly the army is with them due to all soldiers being ignorants). Hopefully one day we will be enough for the strike to have an impact and we can force "the president" and all the rats in "congress" to resign and finally change our political system as its our right.
We know outsiders wont help at all, usa, united nations etc wont do anything else than just "condemn" the abuse of the goverment on the people and the corruption. they wont move a finger, we are not expeccting any help from outside, actually we have a saying here that goes: only the people can save the people.
yeah at this point im all in favor of legalizing them, i mean, there are few options left, straight off fighting the cartels didnt work at all just made things worse
yes here at first it was just the gulf cartel, but then they split and the zetas were formed, so they battled it out for the region, i remember those years, it was horrible, u couldnt be outside at night at all, lot of people here died at cross fire.
right now things have "calmed down" on my city, but we all suspect is cuz the arrengements are back. Due to army intervention they moved from recruiting in the citiies to the outsides and the roads. oh and their recruiting methods is just one: kidnapping u and force u to fight on their side, if u refuse they kill u. A former college friend of mine died this way.
sorry for the long post ty all for ur interest on this, one day we'll grow a pair u´ll see
Our local news coverage sucks! Thanks, Stealth. Yeah, the situation here didn't get any better, they just hushed the media. Recent reports show that body counts have actually increased.
EPT
I tend to stop by and read the updates without contributing much, and I appreciate the effort of bringing all the articles from multiple locations so I can read it all conveniently here.
