TIJUANA - A Mexican Supreme Court ruling permitting marijuana use for recreational purposes has sparked a sensitive debate in Mexico about the country's drug laws, involving health advocates, scholars, law enforcement officials, and business and political leaders. Wednesday's 4-1 decision applies only to four members of an advocacy group seeking to decriminalize marijuana, granting them the right to consume and produce for their own personal use. Still, the issue has touched a nerve for many in Mexico, opening a wide-ranging discussion about the country's drug policies. [continues 940 words]
Cross-Border Operation Nets 12 Tons of Marijuana, 22 Suspects The latest drug tunnel discovered between Tijuana and San Diego featured ventilation, lighting and a rail system capable of moving loads of wrapped marijuana across the border. Within hours of launching operations on Wednesday, the passageway was shut down, 22 suspects were under arrest and 12 tons of marijuana had been seized by U.S. and Mexican authorities. "We believe with a pretty good degree of certainty that the marijuana loads that began moving yesterday morning were the first drugs that moved through this tunnel," U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy said Thursday. [continues 808 words]
Two tunnels dug beneath the California-Mexico border have been discovered in a two-day period. The first was found Monday near Calexico across from Mexicali, and the second was an incomplete passageway found Tuesday in the Tijuana River Valley across from Tijuana's Avenida Internacional. The Mexicali-Calexico tunnel measured 230 feet long, was about four feet high and four feet wide, and had lighting and ventilation, according to the U.S. Border Patrol. That passageway led from a residence in Mexicali. It was discovered by members of the patrol's Border Search Trauma and Rescue unit. The unit had been searching an area near the All-American Canal after agents on Sunday intercepted four men trying to cross the canal with 25 vacuum-sealed packages containing 69 pounds of methamphetamine worth $694,000. [continues 202 words]
EL PASO, Texas -- It's been called the U.S. war on drugs -- a tough-minded government policy that for decades has targeted traffickers and addicts with prosecution and punishment. But that policy came into question last week during a conference that brought together an unusually broad grouping of policymakers, academics and community activists from Mexico and the United States. Instead of discussing how to capture more drug lords, seize bigger caches of weapons and further beef up border security, they proposed alternatives such as creating social programs to raise the quality of life for impoverished Mexicans vulnerable to joining the drug trade. They also advocated for comprehensive programs to prevent and treat drug addiction on both sides of the border, expand needle-exchange programs and decriminalize the use of marijuana so it can be better regulated. [continues 862 words]
6 Bodies Found Inside With Suspects TIJUANA - Automatic weapons rattled, neighbors huddled low in their locked homes and uniformed preschoolers were hustled to safety as heavily armed law enforcement agents stormed a house yesterday in a middle-class neighborhood here and found the bodies of six people believed to be victims of the Arellano Felix drug cartel. Mexican authorities announced last night at a news conference that four people were in custody, including a Tijuana police officer and a man who identified himself as a member of the Baja California ministerial police. [continues 571 words]
TIJUANA - A former governor's proposal that drugs be legalized in Mexico has set off a sharp debate in this region plagued by drug-related violence. In the days since Ernesto Ruffo Appel brought up the subject at a business forum in Mexicali, it has drawn the attention of political, civic and religious leaders across the state. "If someone wants to prick their veins, let them do so," Ruffo, a member of the National Action Party, or PAN, said on Friday. "But they should no longer be allowed to drag down governments." [continues 382 words]
Mexican Women Recruited As Narcotics Couriers Often End Up in Prison, Where They Become Forgotten Soldiers in Drug Fight TIJUANA - There was something odd about the young woman who flew in alone from Guanajuato state. Her face was thin, but her body was not. When she went to claim her luggage at A.L. Rodriguez International Airport, Mexican federal agents pulled her aside and discovered her secret. Beneath a loosefitting red outfit, the slender 31-year-old had concealed more than 10 pounds of heroin, a quantity that would be worth at least $400,000 on the U.S. retail market. [continues 2388 words]
TIJUANA - A load of marijuana that was abandoned in San Diego County led to the death of a Tecate man and the attempted killing of another, Baja California law enforcement officials said yesterday. Half-buried and left for dead, the surviving victim sought help and reported the crime, leading to the arrest of eight suspects early yesterday and the discovery of the corpse. Investigators said it all began last Friday when two Tecate residents were hired to pick up a load of marijuana from an empty lot off Interstate 8 near Alpine. Officials would not specify the shipment's final destination, saying only that it was in the United States. [continues 316 words]
Congressman cites "pattern" of selling vehicles with drugs Prompted by the case of a Chula Vista man imprisoned in Mexico, U.S. Rep. Bob Filner yesterday called on the federal government to conduct more thorough inspections of seized vehicles before selling them to the public. "This is completely unacceptable," Filner, D-San Diego, said from Washington, D.C. "Customs and Border Protection must be held accountable for their actions." Mexican authorities arrested Adrian Rodriguez, 25, a U.S. citizen, July 15 after a mechanic in Tijuana found 33 pounds of marijuana inside his car. [continues 586 words]
A suspected leading member of the Arellano Felix drug cartel was extradited to San Diego from Mexico City yesterday, the first action taken under a precedent-setting Mexican Supreme Court decision that cleared the way for Mexicans to be sent to the United States to stand trial. Arturo "Kitty" Paez Martinez, a Tijuana man in his mid-30s, is charged with smuggling more than 2,200 pounds of cocaine into the United States for Tijuana's Arellano Felix cartel. The extradition signals an important step toward closer cooperation between the United States and Mexico on drug trafficking. [continues 782 words]
As Mexico-based drug traffickers grow stronger and better organized, U.S. law enforcement agencies must step up their efforts to stem the flow of illegal drugs across the border, a congressional subcommittee was told yesterday. Top officials from federal, state and local agencies argued that increased resources are crucial, and that any attempts to cut funding would cripple their programs. "We have not put enough resources into the policing of this issue in California," said Steve Staveley, director of the Division of Law Enforcement for the state's Department of Justice. [continues 412 words]
TIJUANA -- For millions of moviegoers worldwide, "Traffic" may just be the latest Hollywood blockbuster, one to watch closely at tonight's Academy Awards ceremony. But the movie's tale of drugs and corruption on the U.S.-Mexico border has hit close to home. "The topic was good, it was something real," said Rene Valdes, a 33-year-old civil engineer, emerging from the movie one night last week in the city's Rio Zone. Since "Traffic's" March 16 release in Mexico, interest has been high, drawing more than 300,000 viewers to 250 screens nationwide in its first six days, according to its Mexican distributor. Residents of Tijuana have special reason to watch: The movie features actor Benicio del Toro as a state police officer from their city. [continues 968 words]
TIJUANA -- Keystone Kops, corrupt cops -- or simply a case of poor communication? Less than a month after President Vicente Fox urged Mexicans to work together to foil drug traffickers, a very public battle has broken out between the Mexicali municipal police and the Baja California State Attorney General's Office. It all started at 5 p.m. Monday, during a high-speed chase through the streets of the Baja California state capital. The pursuers, five members of the military in an unmarked Volkswagen Jetta, were chasing a suspected major drug trafficker, Gilberto Higuera Guerrero, alias "El Gilillo," who allegedly was fleeing in a late-model Dodge Ram. [continues 488 words]
Mexican Leader Asks Citizens To Enlist In War On Drugs, Corruption TIJUANA -- Bringing his anti-crime crusade to one of Mexico's most violent cities, President Vicente Fox yesterday urged citizens to become watchdogs who turn in criminals and denounce corruption. As he pleaded for help from the public, Fox said his government will offer unprecedented access to government files, allowing ordinary Mexicans to scrutinize police and prosecutors as never before. "We need to build a new relationship between authorities and society," the president said in an address to hundreds of business and civic leaders at the city's Hotel Camino Real. "The idea is to involve everyone." [continues 643 words]
Was 'Well-planned Execution,' Official Says; No Arrests Made MEXICO CITY -- An attorney defending the accused financial mastermind of the Tijuana-based Arellano Felix drug cartel has been slain in the second such incident in less than four months. The brazen daytime killing of Eugenio Zafra Garca, 65, sent a chill through Mexico's legal community. Zafra's clients included the cartel's alleged financial adviser, Jesus "Chuy" Labra Aviles, a Tijuana businessman arrested in March while watching his son play football. The body of another Labra attorney, Gustavo Galvez Reyes, 32, was found wrapped in a blanket and dumped on a Mexico City street three days after Labra's arrest. [continues 689 words]
Several Charges Filed Against Two Baja Figures In Custody In a significant legal move against the Arellano Felix drug cartel, Mexican prosecutors have filed new charges of drug trafficking and organized crime against two alleged cartel leaders. The charges resulted in the transfer of Jesus 'El Chuy' Labra, a Tijuana businessman alleged to be the cartel's financial mastermind, from house arrest in an upscale Mexico City neighborhood to the maximum security Almoloya de Juarez prison outside the capital. Labra joined Ismael Higuera Guerrero, described as the cartel's chief lieutenant, who is already being held at the prison on a series of drug-related charges. [continues 683 words]
Drug Fighters Slain Before Vehicle Crash TIJUANA -- Three Mexican anti-drug agents whose bodies were found late Tuesday off a treacherous mountain road were slain before their car rolled into a ravine, the Mexican Attorney General's Office said yesterday. The findings rule out the possibility that the deaths were accidental, as some authorities suggested after the bodies were found yards from their crashed Chevrolet Lumina. The victims worked for the Feads, an elite anti-drug unit of the Mexican Attorney General's Office, and were investigating the Arellano Félix drug cartel. They had been cooperating closely with U.S. officials, and their deaths shocked law enforcement officials on both sides of the border. [continues 409 words]
Tijuana Businessman Is Linked To Arellanos March 12, 2000, TIJUANA - In what may be the strongest blow yet against the powerful Arellano Felix drug cartel, soldiers and federal agents yesterday detained Jesus "Chuy" Labra, a Tijuana businessman reputed to be a family member and close adviser to the cartel. The Tijuana-based cartel, run by four brothers, is considered one of the most violent and aggressive trafficking groups in Mexico. Authorities say it controls the region's lucrative drug trade to the United States. [continues 882 words]
Reports Link Police Official To Assassination Of Chief TIJUANA - As fresh details emerged yesterday about the men accused of killing Tijuana's police chief and 14 others, residents of this crime-weary city reacted with skepticism as well as hope that justice might prevail. At least seven suspects are now in custody, charged with a series of killings including the slaying of police Chief Alfredo de la Torre Marquez, who was shot 57 times as he drove to work Feb. 27. Two of the suspects once worked for the city, one as a police officer, the other as a city inspector, Mayor Francisco Vega de Lamadrid said. [continues 653 words]
TIJUANA -- Before roughly 35,000 fans, Los Tucanes de Tijuana stood shimmering in silver-spangled suits and black hats on a recent Saturday night, belting out one of their best-known numbers. It told of a piqata for adults, filled not with candy, but little bags of "something more expensive": in other words, drugs. As drug smugging proliferates on the U.S.-Mexico border, Los Tucanes de Tijuana join a growing number of norteqo groups using the traditional Mexican ballads, or corridos, to tell the stories of today's drug traffickers. [continues 1164 words]
