Related Links"After Long Fight, Groups Pry Memo on Migrant Killings From Mexican Government" "San Fernando-Ayotzinapa: las similitudes" "Unearthing the Truth: Mexican State Violence Beyond Ayotzinapa" "New Document Throws More Light on Mexico’s San Fernando Killings" "PGR entrega datos sobre participación de policías de San Fernando en masacre de migrantes" "A la luz, los secretos de las matanzas de Tamaulipas" "Mexico's San Fernando Massacres: A Declassified History" "On International Right to Know Day, a Call to Declassify Migrant Massacres in Mexico" "Mexican Prosecutor’s Office Ordered to Release Records on San Fernando Massacre" "Four Years Later, Mexican Migration Agency Makes First Disclosure on 2010 San Fernando Massacre" "Mexican Court Orders Release of Documents on Massacre Investigations" "Three Years Later, Still No Justice for 2011 San Fernando Killings" "Mexican court orders a new review of the San Fernando massacre" "Migrant Massacre Focus of Legal Effort against Mexico’s Human Rights Commission" "Near total impunity" for Mexican Cartels “in the face of compromised local security forces,” U.S. Cable "Secrets of the Tamaulipas Massacres Come to Light in Proceso Magazine" "IFAI denies access to information on the case of the San Fernando Massacre" "Mexican Officials Downplayed 'State’s Responsibility' for Migrant Massacres" "Article 19 launches Right to Truth campaign for access to official records on the San Fernando Massacre"
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Washington, DC, December 22, 2014 – With the Mexican government facing widespread public outrage over the alleged role of police and other officials in the September forced disappearance of 43 students, and the killings of at least six others, from Ayotzinapa Normal School, the country’s federal prosecutor (PGR) has for the first time declassified a document on the suspected participation of police in the kidnapping and massacre of hundreds of migrants in San Fernando massacres of 2010-11. The new revelations, along with key U.S. documents on how violent drug cartels gained control of local police forces in parts of Mexico during the last decade, are the subject of “San Fernando-Ayotzinapa: las similitudes” (“San Fernando-Ayotzinapa: the similarities”), an article published online today in Mexico’s Proceso magazine in collaboration with Michael Evans and Jesse Franzblau of the National Security Archive. According to declarations from members of the Los Zetas drug cartel named in the newly-declassified “Tarjeta Informativa” (“informative note” or “information memo”), the police acted as “lookouts” [“halconeo”] for the group, helped with “the interception of persons,” and otherwise turned a blind eye to the Zetas’ illegal activities. Those crimes included the summary execution of 72 migrants pulled from intercity buses in San Fernando in August 2010 and an untold number of similar killings that culminated in the discovery, in April 2011, of hundreds more bodies in mass graves in the same part of the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. The victims were mainly Central American migrants making their way to Texas, which borders Tamaulipas to the north. The state’s highways are at once primary avenues for migrants and highly-contested narcotrafficking corridors. One of the police detainees cited in the memo, Álvaro Alba Terrazas, told investigators that San Fernando police and transit officials were paid to deliver prisoners to the Zetas: I know that police and transit officials in San Fernando help the Zetas organization, because rather than take detainees to the Pentágano, which is to say the municipal jail, they would deliver them to the Zetas. The truest one [“mero bueno”] is an elderly police officer and another named Óscar Jaramillo, who receive money from the organization to collaborate. If the facts surrounding the San Fernando case seem eerily familiar, it is beacuse they follow a pattern seen over and over again in recent years. Like the Ayotzinapa case, the San Fernando massacres are symptomatic of the dirty war of corruption and narcopolitics that has consumed parts of Mexico over the last decade. Killings like these are disturbingly common, and the forces behind the mayhem—usually drug cartels counting on the collaboration of, at a minimum, local police—are remarkably consistent. This relatively limited release of new information from the PGR also leaves many questions unanswered. What happened to the police officials detained in connection to the San Fernando massacres? Where are they now? Why didn’t the prosecutor’s office locate and release any more responsive documents? And how to explain the fact that two of the people listed as among the 17 detained police officials, Álvaro Alba Terrazas and Oscar Jaramillo Sosa, were subsequently listed in media reports as members of the Zetas? Human Rights vs. Investigative Files Nevertheless, the release of even one document from the San Fernando case file marks a huge step forward for transparency on human rights violations in Mexico, and on this massacre case in particular. The prosecutor has long refused to release any information from the file, claiming protection under an exemption in Mexico’s transparency law that permits agencies to withhold information pertaining to an ongoing investigation. But these protections are overridden by another provision in the law requiring the release of information on grave violations of human rights and humanitarian law and barring agencies from invoking any of the exemptions to deny information in such cases. This is the central issue in a pair of access to information cases that will soon come before Mexico’s Supreme Court. The Foundation for Justice, which represents some of the victims in the case, and the Mexico City office of Article 19, which defends freedom of expression, are asking the prosecutor to produce a “releasable copy” of the investigative files relating to the San Fernando cases, arguing that the events at issue—by virtue of their scale and the likely involvement of state officials—clearly constitute human rights crimes. The problem is that, until recently, no Mexican federal agency had declared the massacres to be violations of human rights. But earlier this year, and in response to an information request from the National Security Archive, the National Migration Institute (INM) made its first declassification on the case. Now, in releasing this document to the Archive, the prosecutor seems to have accepted the argument—now also ratified by Mexico’s panel of federal information commissioners (IFAI)—that it is obliged to release human rights information, even when those records form part of an ongoing investigation. Still, the declassification by PGR in this case leaves much to be desired. The agency even withheld the case file number ("A.P. [Redacted]") despite the fact that the information commissioners ordered INM to release the case number from the 2010 San Fernando massacre earlier this year. “Zeta Territory” Declassified U.S. documents, including a number of cables from the U.S. Consulate in Monterrey (along with a few diplomatic cables published by Wikileaks), provide an intriguing look at how the Zetas established control over the police and other officials in the state of Nuevo Leon (which borders Tamaulipas to the east) and how corrupt police officers were often the main targets of the rival cartels. Indeed, the available documentation leaves little doubt that municipal police in Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon, Ciudad Juárez and elsewhere were in many cases little more than cartel enforcers, caught up in—and often the main casualties of—the inter-cartel violence that plagues northern Mexico. Some of these documents were published in "Mexico's San Fernando Massacres: A Declassified History," the source files behind a previous Archive collaboration with Proceso and journalist Marcela Turati. Highlights from the documents listed below include:
THE DOCUMENTS DOCUMENT 01 An FBI official in Little Rock, Arkansas, requests that the bureau open a “control file” to “administratively capture information about the Los Zetas organization.” The memo notes that, “The original Zetas are former members-turned-deserters of Mexico’s elite Airmobile Special Forces Group (GAFE), trained in the U.S. at the School of the Americas at Fort Benning, GA. The Zetas’ organizational structure includes counterintelligence, intelligence and tactical enforcement units.” The memo cites allegations “that members of Los Zetas are responsible for numerous murders along the Nuevo Leon-Tamaulipas/U.S. border over the last two years” and “numerous other crimes the Zetas are likely involved in, to include money laundering, racketeering and public corruption.” DOCUMENT 02 As far back as 2005, the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had reliable information indicating that the Los Zetas group was “undermining Mexican law enforcement officers in Nuevo Laredo,” which the FBI said was “the primary location of recent drug-related violence.” In the face of extensive corruption among local officials, the FBI intelligence assessment, dated July 15, 2005, expressed doubt that the Mexican government would be able to restore order: In June 2005, the Government of Mexico sent federal forces to Nuevo Laredo to restore order to the city. As Los Zetas has corrupted many Mexican public officials in the Nuevo Laredo area, the government will likely achieve limited success at controlling their activities. “Los Zetas has established control over Nuevo Laredo,” according to the FBI, and “effectively controlled the city’s police force.” The FBI also explores the origins of Los Zetas in 2002 as part of an effort by the Gulf Cartel to establish control over the state of Tamaulipas: “The Gulf Cartel’s leader… hired a small group of Mexican military deserters as assassins and security specialists. Known as Los Zetas, they quickly developed into well-trained, brutal cartel enforcers.” Los Zetas emerged from the Grupo Aeromovil de Fuerzas Especiales (GAFE), a Mexican army unit created in the mid 1990s to combat drug trafficking organizations along the US/Mexico border. The GAFE received special training in tactics and weapons. The US military provided some of this instruction at Fort Benning, Georgia. These elite counter-drug troops learned to use sophisticated intelligence-gathering equipment, advanced weaponry, and specialized tactics to combat drug traffickers. They fought to limit the escalating warfare among traffickers in Tamaulipas after the 1996 arrest of Juan Garcia Abrego, the Gulf Cartel’s leader at the time. An unknown number of GAFE soldiers under the command of Arturo Guzman Decena deserted and joined the Gulf Cartel in early 2002. Reports differ on exact figures but range from 31 to 67 deserters. They dubbed themselves Los Zetas after Decena’s GAFE radio call signal, “Zeta 1.” Subsequently in a March 2002 shootout, group members helped a [excised] elude capture by Mexican authorities. In May 2002, Los Zetas delivered control of Nuevo Laredo, Mexico to [deleted] by murdering his primary rivals Dionicio Roman Garcia Sanchez and Juvenal Torres Sanchez. DOCUMENT 03 A U.S. military intelligence report says evidence the Zetas criminal organization is using former member of the Guatemalan special forces (Kaibiles) to train recruits “suggests the Zeta leadership no longer has the internal capability to train its new recruits or is trying to expand its operational capability.” As of June 2005, the Zetas were continuing efforts to recruit new members with military or law enforcement experience and especially sought to attract former or current Mexican special forces troops. The Mexican military’s anticorruption efforts apparently have stymied these efforts. However, Guatemalan military downsizing from 1996 through 2004 created a pool of special forces-trained candidates for the Zetas to draw on to train new Zeta members or offset personnel shortfalls. DOCUMENT 04 An Embassy message apparently based on Drug Enforcement Administration sources reports that a “former member of the Mexican military special forces (GAFE) and original Zeta operative” whose name was redacted from the document had been arrested by the Subprocuraduría Especializada en Investigación de Delincuencia Organizada (SIEDO or SEIDO) in Mexico City on January 7. DOCUMENT 05 Another Embassy message based on DEA information reports the arrest of another former GAFE member said to be “in control of” Zetas drug trafficking operations in Cancún. The unnamed individual was taken down in a “joint operation by the Mexican military and the Federal Agency of Investigation (AFI). DOCUMENT 06 The U.S. Consulate reports that, “The militarization of the drug war in northern Mexico has not resulted in a significant increase in alleged human rights violations against the Mexican military in Nuevo Leon.” “Numerous human rights violations do occur,” according to the Consulate, “but the alleged culprits usually are state and local police forces.” The low number of complaints reported by the CEDH of Mexican military abuses is consistent with conversations that [U.S. Embassy political officiers] have had with public official [sic] and various NGO’s. In the two years the Mexican military has had a presence its favorable ratings have remained consistently high. Even though state and local officials often talk of cleaning up their police forces, corruption and police abuses remain and the military is still the most effective means of combating crime. DOCUMENT 07 The “organized crime related death toll” in Mexico is climbing at alarming rates, according to this cable from the U.S. Embassy. “Despite the on-going strong military presence in Ciudad Juarez (CJ), Chihuahua continued to register the largest number of homicides (1093 [so far in 2009]). [U.S. Embassy] law enforcement agencies believe the spike in violence may be partially explained by a series of blows the military and police delivered to the cartels, capturing a considerable number of local bosses in key positions, as well as identifying and arresting officials who had been colluding with drug traffickers. “Law enforcement contacts” say the rise in violence may be the result of “score-settling” among rival gangs. Another theory says that, “as cartel members go ‘down-market’ and engage in relatively more petty criminal activities, they are increasingly butting up against rival drug trafficking organizations, as well as other criminal groups.” The cable lists a number of government officials recently connected to criminal groups, including military and police officers in Jalisco, top officials in Quintana Roo, “two former top security officials in the state of Morelos,” and several current and former top police officials in Tapachula. Separately, the cable highlights the recent arrests of three officers from the Attorney General’s Organized Crime Investigations Unit (SIEDO) and ten members of the Mexican military for links to organized crime. The Embassy says the arrests “suggest that there [sic] cartel infiltration of federal security forces remains an ongoing problem.” DOCUMENT 08 Based on internal discussions and intelligence briefings, the assessment highlights important details about the composition of, and growing threat posed by, the Zetas, and provides details on the group’s links to the Guatemalan Kaibiles, elite special operations forces tied to massacres carried out during Guatemala's civil war. According to the assessment, in 2005 an arrested Zeta member said his organization had recruited "former Guatemalan Kaibiles to work with the Zetas, and that the Kaibiles were procuring firearms and grenades from Guatemala on behalf of the Gulf Cartel." The document warns, "The Zetas are no longer solely operating as the enforcement arm of the Gulf Cartel. The strength of the Zeta force is their ability to corrupt, kill, and intimidate and these factors have given the Zetas the power to conduct activities throughout Mexico, and they have established a methodology to move into new territory and assert control over that geography. Zeta activities have evolved from drug trafficking to traditional organized crime as well…While still closely allied with the Gulf Cartel, the Zetas have evolved into a separate drug trafficking organization that is independently transporting cocaine from Colombia to Mexico." DOCUMENT 09 In a message transmitted through the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City, in-country DEA officer reports the arrests of 13 current and former law enforcement officials in the state of Nuevo León, then considered a Zetas safe-haven. Among those arrested on allegations of “providing protection and assistance to the [deleted] drug trafficking organization” are the former police chiefs of Monterrey, Guadalupe and Montemorelos. DOCUMENT 10
DOCUMENT 11 The DEA's Houston Field Division provides a fact sheet on the Zetas, again highlighting their growth and independence as a "highly sophisticated organized crime syndicate." The fact sheet notes that "They include Mexican military deserters, former police officers and family members of Zetas as well as Kaibiles (former Guatemalan Army Special Forces Soldiers)." Once the Zetas become entrenched in an area, they engage in organized crime that includes "…extortion, kidnapping, murder-for-hire, money laundering, human-smuggling" among other criminal activities. DOCUMENT 12 Zeta influence here is longstanding and widespread throughout local and state government. Gang members hung the recently discovered narcobanners in a least one area, near the Palacio del Gobierno, under state police observation. RSO [U.S. State Department Regional Security Officer] sources indicated that state police officers’ calls for backup went unheeded. Post has long connected former Nuevo Leon Director General of State Investigation Hector Santos (now serving in the same post in Coahuila) with the Zetas, and many other local and state police and government officials have ties to organized crime. DOCUMENT 13 A series of grenade attacks by the Gulf Cartel against municipal police forces in Monterrey are interpreted by U.S. Consulate personnel as a message to police to cease supporting the rival Zetas criminal organization and “switch sides.”
The Consulate’s Emergency Action Committee (EAC) also “discussed the probabilities of further Gulf Cartel retributions against Zeta controlled police departments in the Monterrey area.” The attacks and the recent uptick in violence generally has the local population worried, with many canceling trips to the border. The Consulate notes that “several bus companies are cancelling runs to outlying cities in the state.” Indeed, if high-value targets fleeing Tamaulipas take up residence in Monterrey and nearby Saltillo, Coahuila, violence here between the cartels and between the cartels and the military (both army and navy) will increase. During the previous week reliable witness reported carloads of gunmen, with automatic weapons hanging out the window, retreating to Monterrey along the highways linking the city to Reynosa. Indeed, DEA confirms a rolling confrontation between the military and retreating Zetas on February 27 in the Nuevo Leon municipalities of Zuazua and Pesqueria, both to the north and east of Monterrey. DOCUMENT 14 With violence spinning out of control, the U.S. Consulate paints a grim picture of the security situation in and around Monterrey, describing a number of violent crimes committed in the recent days by cartels and state officials. In Santa Catarina, a routine arrest resulted in a mob attack on the police chief. One suspect in the attack who was detained and delivered to the military "was found dead (and bearing signs of torture) shortly thereafter" according to the consulate. State officials also "admitted misidentifying as gangsters two students who were killed" during the gunfight at Monterrey Tec. The governor of Nuevo Leon suspended 81 police officials after admitting "that the Zeta drug trafficking organization (DTO) had co-opted some state and police officials" in setting up roadblocks around the city. The Mexican marines have been "aggressively targeting cartel figures, leading to shootouts during military attempts to arrest high-ranking cartel members and during chance encounters with cartel motorcades." Violence has now reached "beyond Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon" to include Ciudad Valles in the state of San Luis Potosi. The consulate adds that, "The struggle between the Gulf Cartel and the Zetas has clearly shifted from the border to the outlying towns in Nuevo Leon state." DOCUMENT 15 Based on information provided by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), this U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) document reports on the worsening security situation in Mexico's northern states, where fighting between the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas has led to escalating violence in the region. The document cites "corroborated and reliable information" on the widespread use of roadblocks along highways in the region. The document goes on to describe fierce gun battles between the rival gangs, which in one case left the bodies of "approximately 20 to 25 Gulf Cartel members…scattered in Jiménez [Tamaulipas]." "The Gulf Cartel has been attacking small plazas in Tamaulipas," according to the CBP report, adding that "[t]he attacks occur simply because the area belongs to the Zetas." The DHS ominously predicts that "a retaliatory strike by Los Zetas is likely inevitable." One section of the document emphasizes the intensity of the violence, relating a gripping tale of a 21-year-old U.S. citizen who arrived at the Paso Del Norte border crossing "shot twice in the chest" with "his left leg amputated as a result of a grenade explosion." CBP officials on the case received conflicting reports about the cause of his injuries, with one version indicating the grenade was tossed into his vehicle, while another claimed it had accidentally exploded as he "was attempting to toss a grenade into another vehicle." This report comes amid Operation Knock Down, in which U.S. authorities at the federal, state and local levels targeted Barrio Azteca gang members in El Paso, Texas. DOCUMENT 16 The U.S. Embassy's Narcotics Affairs Section provides a monthly summary of internal developments in Mexico, reporting that "March ended as one of the bloodiest months on record, with an estimated 900 killings nationwide." The cable highlights that Mexican government officials did not anticipate the sharp increase in violence in the northeast that occurred as the Zetas took control the lucrative plazas in the region. U.S. officials report the violence has "cut a swath across north-east Mexico, including key towns in Tamaulipas, Coahuila, and Nuevo Leon, and even in neighboring Durango." The document highlights the failure of the Mexican authorities to manage the growing threat, highlighting how "DTO's [Drug Trafficking Organizations] have operated fairly openly and with freedom of movement and operations…In many cases they operated with near total impunity in the face of compromised local security forces." The focus on violence in Ciudad Juárez, especially in the wake of the killing of a U.S. Consulate employee and her husband, has also produced changes in U.S. deportation policies. While ICE reports that some 6,000 convicts were deported to Juárez in 2009, in the future such deportations will take place at point further east, including Del Río, Laredo and Eagle Pass. As part of U.S. support provided through the M érida Initiative, the document also reports on U.S. efforts to implement an initiative to train regional police under the Culture of Lawfulness education initiative, involving officials from the now-defunct Secretariat of Public Security (SSP) in Baja California, Chihuahua, Nuevo Leon, Coahuila, and Tamaulipas. DOCUMENT 17 This cable notes an alarming increase of narcotics-related killings in Nuevo Le ón, reporting that drug trafficking groups “have targeted military, state, and municipal police by killing corrupt officers affiliated with the opposing cartel, or as retaliation for military operations against them.” The Consulate describes “[f]ierce gun battles…on the highway to Reynosa” as well as “roadblocks in the city” set up by the drug cartels, who travel “relatively unimpeded” in and around Monterrey. “Beset by corruption and a paucity of resources, the state government is unable to deal with the situation and is relying on the military to stabilize the situation,” according to the cable. DOCUMENT 18 Listed among a long inventory of recent violence in Monterrey —attributed mainly to conflict between the warring Gulf Cartel and the Zetas criminal group—is the following warning about c Roads North Continue to Be Dangerous Of particular concern is the high levels of official corruption being reported in Monterrey, where “165 out of approximately 1,000 state police have been dismissed in recent months due to ties to [drug trafficking organizations].” The problems facing Monterrey are “typical of those faced by…neighboring municipalities,” according to the Consulate, which cites other instances where police officials from Monterrey and other towns participated or assisted in kidnappings and killings perpetrated by organized crime. “Both industry and the public, aware that the public security apparatus has been compromised, are reaching for…solutions,” according to the Consulate report. DOCUMENT 19 This heavily-redacted DEA cable reports on significant criminal activities taking place in Mexico, including arrests, seized vehicles, and seized weapons. It includes details on an incident that took place just three months before the 2010 San Fernando massacre involving the arrest of four members of the Zetas in Tamaulipas and the subsequent seizure of eight assault rifles and two vehicles on May 19, 2010. A shootout between security forces led to the deaths of four Zetas and capture of four others. While the names of the Zetas are withheld from the document, it notes that "it was determined that some of them were members of the Zetas and the subjects from Guatemala were members of the Fuerzas Especiales de Guatemala (Kaibiles)." DOCUMENT 20 This report catalogs “significant events of violence” in and around Ciudad Juárez from November 2009 through July 2010.
DOCUMENT 21 The State Department's intelligence arm considers President Calder ón's anti-crime strategy, noting his decision to deploy military and federal police forces "to states where weak and often corrupt state and local police units were unable or unwilling to combat powerful cartels." Calderón's "crackdown" has put pressure on the cartels but has also "resulted in some unintended consequences… For example, the removal of DTO leadership has allowed less experienced and undisciplined personnel to fill the leadership vacuum, contributing to the spike of drug-related murders." DOCUMENT 22 The U.S. Consulate in Matamoros sent this report four days after the San Fernando massacre of August 22, 2010, providing the first in the series of declassified cables on the incident. The Embassy describes how on August 22 approximately 75 migrants "were stopped by an unknown number of organized crime figures and transported under guard to San Fernando." According to a U.S. consulate source, the hijack point was north of a fixed military highway checkpoint, which the migrants avoided by using small rural roads. An Ecuadorian male who survived the massacre described how before the killings some of the victims were offered an opportunity to work for the Zetas as assassins ( "sicarios"). After all but one member of the group turned down the offer to work for the Zetas, the survivor stated that 54 men and 15 women were subsequently executed. Mexican Navy officials found the bodies two days after the massacre in an abandoned barn/warehouse. Two days later, on August 26, Mexican authorities reported that the director of the municipal police in San Fernando was found dead with other unidentified bodies, one of which was believed to be the state prosecutor. The document concludes with the assessment of the consular official, noting that, "If the survivor's account of the murders is accurate, then this represents a new level of violence form the Zetas. It remains unclear how these deaths benefit the Zetas…One theory proposed by [name redacted] is that as the profits from the migrants proposed illegal entry in to the U.S. were destined for the Gulf Cartel, their murders were a way for the Zetas to financially hurt the Gulf Cartel's interests." DOCUMENT 23 The U.S. Consulate in Matamoros provides further details of the timeline of events beginning with the San Fernando killings through to August 27. The events include a shootout between Mexican military officials and cartel members on August 24, grenade attacks the same day, car bombs on August 27, and discovery of decapitated bodies believed to be the state prosecutor and director of municipal police in San Fernando, both of whom disappeared on August 25. DOCUMENT 24 U.S. Consulate officials provide a roundup on continuing violence in Matamoros in the wake of the San Fernando massacre. The incidents include a grenade attack against a Mexican Naval hospital where one of the survivors of San Fernando was recovering. Additionally, on September 2, a second survivor of the massacre located federal authorities in Matamoros, was taken in, and reportedly moved to Mexico City for debriefing. The same day officials from Mexico's Attorney General's Office (PGR) and open sources reported on military clashes with Zetas in Tamaulipas, near Nuevo Leon. Thirty-two cartel members were reported killed along with two military officials. DOCUMENT 25 Open sources report that the head of public safety in Tamaulipas resigned because of escalating violence in the state and after confirmation that bodies recently discovered were that of San Fernando's director of the municipal police and state prosecutor. U.S. contacts in the Attorney General's office also tell consulate officials that nine cartel members in the San Fernando area were arrested but would not confirm if the individuals were connected with the August 22 killing of 72 migrants. DOCUMENT 26 FBI authorities in Mexico report information connecting police officials in Saltillo, Coahuila, to the Zetas and to “drug trafficking and homicides.” A list of officers who “provided support and information to Los Zetas” is redacted from the document. DOCUMENT 27 Nearly every word has been redacted from this seven-page report on abuses perpetrated by Los Zetas against migrants along train routes in Mexico. DOCUMENT 28 The cable highlights the ineffectiveness of Mexico's National Migration Agency (INM) in allowing migrants to bypass checkpoints, due to “a combination of understaffing, inability, and corruption.” It also brings attention to how the situation for migrants has worsened "due to pervasive TCO [transnational criminal organizations] control of routes and crossings," where "TCO's act alternatively as paid facilitators, extortionists, kidnappers and traffickers." Moreover, according to the cable, "anecdotal evidence suggests that migrant authorities and local police often turn a blind eye or collude in these activities." The Embassy comment stresses that a permanent solution to addressing the treatment of migrants transiting through Mexico will require strengthening in the rule of law and increased professionalization of law enforcement agencies. The document notes that these types of programs are underway and are partially financed by the U.S. under the M érida Initiative. DOCUMENT 29 The U.S. Consulate in Matamoros reports on the most violent day in the district since the San Fernando massacre of August 2010. Twenty-six people were killed in the cities of Nuevo Padilla, San Fernando, and Ciudad Victoria in attacks linked to translational criminal organizations (TCO). Bodies were discovered in San Fernando, and assailants killed a police officer in Ciudad Victoria. U.S. officials comment that Mexican military forces are heavily involved in fighting the Zetas in the town of San Fernando. DOCUMENT 30 The U.S. Consulate in Matamoros continues to report on the discovery of bodies in the area. On April 2 and again on April 6, mass graves containing 48 bodies, two reportedly wearing police uniforms, were discovered in the community of La Joya near San Fernando. SEDENA, the Mexican defense ministry, is in charge of recovering the bodies, and the Attorney General's office is investigating the matter. The U.S. Consulate comments that the bodies were likely either members of transnational criminal organizations, victims of kidnappings by criminal organizations, or victims of highway violence. DOCUMENT 31 The Consulate reports that the Secretary of Public Security for Ciudad Ju árez, retired Lt. Col. Julian Leyzaola Pérez, is “facing a controversy involving human rights” in the disappearance of four men, who were allegedly abducted by Leyzaola’s police body guards. Leyzaoloa, the Consulate says, has “a reputation for condoning torture while he was police chief in Tiuana.” While there is “little evidence of his direct involvement,” the situation is “complicated by the commonly acknowledged corruption within the municipal police forces and the many interests that may not wish to see Leyzaola succeed in either cleaning up the police department or in taking on organized crime.” DOCUMENT 32 Kidnappings continue in the state of Tamaulipas on a large-scale, with clashes occurring between Mexican military officials and criminal organizations, and new discoveries of mass graves of victims. More mass graves have been discovered in San Fernando, bringing the body count to 81, across 17 different burial sites. "Federal officials believe that the majority of the bodies belong to people kidnapped from public buses in the San Fernando area by Transnational Criminal Organization (TCO) members in recent weeks." The victims were kidnapped on buses heading north to the border from San Luis Potosi, destined for Reynosa, as well as buses coming from Michoacán, and Guanajuato. SEDENA has deployed its Special Operations Investigation unit in San Fernando to investigate. SEDENA has also reportedly deployed forces, rescued kidnapped victims, discovered grave sites in the region, and detained presumed TCO members. The document notes that "According to federal officials, the vast majority of the remains appear to have been beaten to death. A small number had bullet wounds. Officials sources say they believe that many individuals taken from buses have not been reported and authorities are continuing to search the area for their remains." As for the 14 presumed TCO members, they were reportedly brought to Mexico City, and placed in custody of the Office of Special Investigations of Organized Crime (SIEDO) of the Attorney General. The U.S. Consulate official comments that federal officials believe the Zetas are responsible for the killings, and that the majority of the kidnapping victims discovered were migrants heading to the U.S. "who were intercepted en route and unable to pay what was demanded of them." DOCUMENT 33 Summing up information taken from official sources, the U.S. Consulate reports that a total of 36 grave site containing 145 bodies were discovered in the San Fernando area during a SEDENA operation that took place April 1-14, 2011. Seventeen Zetas and 16 members of the San Fernando police have been arrested in connection with the deaths. The police officials are being charged with "protecting the Los Zetas TCO members responsible for the kidnapping and murder of bus passengers in the San Fernando area." Off the record, Mexican officials tell Consulate officials that "the bodies are being split up to make the total number less obvious and thus less alarming." Consulate officers also comment that, "Tamaulipas officials appear to be trying to downplay both the San Fernando discoveries and the state responsibility for them, even though a recent trip to Ciudad Victoria revealed state officials fully cognizant of the hazards of highway travel in this area." DOCUMENT 34 The U.S. Consulate reports that Mexican government authorities are covering up information to hide the total number of bodies that have been discovered in mass graves Tamaulipas. "Though not publicized by authorities," the cable reads, "the number of bodies found in mass graves in the San Fernando area since April 1 has reached 196 and is expected to rise as Mexican Army (SEDENA) and Marine (SEMAR) forces continue to search the area." Official sources indicate that SEDENA and SEMAR continue to search for new bodies, and the military continues to respond to ongoing gun battles between rival cartels. Despite providing private statements about the insecurity of the region, Mexican government officials have been downplaying the violence, particularly in the lead up to Holy Week, so as to not deter tourism in the area. The cable reads, "Despite stating privately in January that security in general, and highway violence in particular, is their top concern…government officials have avoided publicly drawing attention to the level of violence in Tamaulipas."
DOCUMENT 35 U.S. Consulate officials report that SEDENA has disarmed municipal and transit police in all but one of the 43 Tamaulipas municipalities. The government has not made public comments on the seizure, but initial reports indicate the measure was carried out to determine if the weapons were used in crimes. The seizure comes in the wake of the arrest of 17 San Fernando police officers in connection with the discovery of 196 bodies in mass graves in that city. Sources tell the Consulate officials that the SEDENA forces seized a total of 460 weapons in Matamoros, leaving Matamoros' 700 police officers without weapons. DOCUMENT 36 The Embassy reports on internal developments in Mexico, including the discovery of 183 bodies in mass graves in the area of San Fernando, Tamaulipas, and the arrest of 17 of the 25 municipality police officers, including the municipality police chief, in connection with the discovery of the mass grave. DOCUMENT 37 Among other things reported in this document is the firing of seven top INM officials "amid allegations that some agents had been involved in the kidnapping of migrants." It adds that "Immigrants from Central America (namely from El Salvador and Guatemala) accused the immigration agents of pulling them off buses and handing them over to drug gangs in the state of Tamaulipas." DOCUMENT 38 This DIA intelligence report includes information based on a human source with "both direct and indirect access" to the information "during the course of official duties." It reports that, "At least four Mexican police officers may have been accepting payment from drug trafficking organizations (DTOs). Although law enforcement officers being involved with DTOs [drug trafficking organizations] and alien smuggling organizations (ASOs) was not new information it was important to note so that it continued to be passed as current practice (sic)." The document goes on to discuss the harsh treatment of migrants and widespread abuses carried out by human smugglers on migrant populations. DOCUMENT 39 In a message transmitted through the U.S. Consulate in Monterrey, the DEA reports the arrest of a “Zeta plaza boss” who was formerly a police officer in two different municipalities of Nuevo León. DOCUMENT 40 The U.S. Embassy highlights the problem of corruption at the highest levels of the Tamaulipas state government, reporting that the Attorney General's office (PGR) has been investigating three former Tamaulipas governors since early 2009 in connection to the arrest of Zeta founding member Miguel Angel Soto Parra. The governors include Manuel Cavazos Lerma (1993-1999), Tomás Yarrington (1999-2004) and Eugenio Hernández Flores (2005-2010). All three were pursuing Senate seats at the time of the investigations and, according to the assessment, "pundits speculate that PRI presidential candidate Enrique Pena Nieto will only give the nod to Cavazos." It also comments that "PRI leaders say the investigation reflects a 'dirty war' against them, and that GOM [government of Mexico] is exploiting PGR for political purpose," and notes how "Pena Nieto visited Tamaulipas on February 2 to launch his campaign in the state." The cable also reports on the trial of General Jesús Moreno Aviña, charged with human rights violation and corruption stemming from his actions as former head of thermy garrison in Ojinaga, Chihuahua. The charges include accepting bribes from narcotics traffickers, and authorizing extrajudicial killings, among others. DOCUMENT 41 Shortly before the May 13 discovery of 49 dismembered torsos along the Monterrey-Reynosa highway in Nuevo León, the CBP report chronicles two months of horrific massacres in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, as rival drug cartels engage in an increasingly brutal series of killings—including beheadings, dismemberments, and other unspeakable acts of violence. DOCUMENT 42 Following the discovery on May 13, of 49 dismembered torsos along a highway in Nuevo León, the Consulate’s “law enforcement contacts” report that “the Zetas attacked a bus traveling from Reynosa to Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas, on May 12 and killed all aboard” and that “the 49 victims may be the murdered passengers.”
DOCUMENT 43 The document discusses the continued clashes between the Zetas and the Sinaloa and Gulf cartels over Tamaulipas Plaza in Nuevo Laredo, "a highly contentious and lucrative corridor known for narcotic and alien trafficking." It goes on to discuss a number of incidents involving the Zetas, and reports on the discovery in May 2012 of 49 mutilated bodies highlighting the "abhorrent brutality transpiring over the control of the coveted Tamaulipas Plaza." |
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Mexico: Los Zetas Drug Cartel Linked San Fernando Police to Migrant Massacres
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