Manzanillo police chief assassinated

Not good news, but no point in trying to hide it.
A chief of police was assassinated yesterday along with his bodyguard as he slowed his patrol care down for a speed bump on Zamora Avenue in Manzanillo.

Here is the story as reported by the Diario de Manzanillo:

MANZANILLO, Col.- El director operativo de Seguridad Pública Municipal, José Ángel Ceballos Macías, y su escolta fueron asesinados a balazos la mañana de ayer por un comando armado.
Los hechos ocurrieron sobre la avenida Elías Zamora Verduzco, a menos de un kilómetro de las instalaciones del Complejo de Seguridad “Gustavo Alberto Vázquez Montes”.
De acuerdo a testigos, las personas que les dispararon vestían de color negro, tipo uniforme de la Policía Judicial y se trasladaban en dos vehículos, de los cuales se desconocen características.
También comentan que el funcionario municipal salió de su domicilio a bordo de la patrulla 153, perteneciente a la DSP, la cual al momento de pasar por un reductor de velocidad fue atacada a dos fuegos.
Tras el acontecimiento, autoridades policiacas aplicaron el denominado operativo candado, pero no detuvieron a nadie.
Ante estos hechos, elementos de la Dirección de Seguridad Pública se dijeron temerosos, por lo que advirtieron que renunciarían a su trabajo, pues aseguran que han recibido amenazas de muerte.
También existen versiones de que el director general de esta dependencia, Miguel Salazar Abaroa, habría dimitido, pero no hay ninguna versión oficial al respecto.
Por otra parte, extraoficialmente se informó que por la tarde hubo un enfrentamiento entre dos grupos armados, en el municipio de Ixtlahuacán, donde un individuo habría perdido la vida, mientras que los agresores huyeron en un vehículo marca Toyota.
Por la noche en la autopista por el crucero de Turla, Rafael Vielma Flores, de 42 años, que viajaba a bordo de un Tsuru, fue baleado por cuatro individuos que iban en un Grand Marquis negro. Lo hirieron entre la clavícula y el cuello y fue internado en el Hospital Regional, a donde lo llevó una patrulla de la policía.

Howard Platt, Manzanillo
hplattbc@gmail.com

Manzanillo, Col. - The chief operating officer of Municipal Public Security, José Ángel Ceballos Macias, and his bodyguard were shot dead yesterday morning by an armed commando.
The incident occurred on the avenue Elias Zamora Verduzco, less than a mile from the facilities of the Security Complex "Gustavo Alberto Vázquez Montes."
According to witnesses, people who shot them dressed in black, uniform rate of the Judicial Police and were traveling in two vehicles, which are unknown characteristics.
They also comment that the city official left his home on board the patrol 153, belonging to the DSP, which at the moment going through a speed reducer was attacked in the crossfire.
After the event, called the police authorities applied the lock operating, but no arrests.
Given these facts, elements of the Public Security Directorate said afraid, so who warned that give up their work, claiming that they have received death threats.
There are also rumors that the CEO of this dependence, Miguel Salazar Abaroa, have resigned, but there is no official word about it.
Moreover, it was reported unofficially that afternoon there was a confrontation between two armed groups in the municipality of Ixtlahuacán, where an individual would have lost their lives, while the assailants fled in a Toyota vehicle.
At night on the highway on the cruise Turla, Rafael Flores Vielma, 42, traveling aboard a Tsuru, was shot by four men who were in a black Grand Marquis. He was wounded between the clavicle and neck and was admitted to the Regional Hospital, where he led a police patrol.

Manzanillo Public Safety Director laid to rest.

[translate.google.com]

Last month there was the shoot-out at the port between marines and narcos that left 8 dead and now this assassination. Unfortunately, I believe it is just the beginning and it will not be too long before innocent bystanders are killed.

Miguel Salazar, the Director of Public Safety, who is mentioned in the article, was a semi-regular customer of VIVA VINO and a friend. When I spoke to him in April about us being threatened at the CLUB unless we paid protection money he advised us to pay or close the Club. He also warned us that things were going to get bad in Manzanillo - a prediction that looks like is coming true. Anyway ... not wanting to pay protection money like all of the other Clubs, the warning we received about things to come, along with my Moms deteriorating health, it seemed like a good time to close Viva Vino and return to the US.

Tomas



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/22/2010 09:48AM by wineguy.

Nov.., 2007
Twenty-three TONS of cocaine seized at Port of Manzanillo $2.7 billion USD
[www.nytimes.com]
[www.foxnews.com]

June, 2009
Twenty-six TONS of cocaine seized at Port of Manzanillo

Jan. 16, 2010
Mexico Seize Nearly 4 TONS of Ephedrine in a Month at Manzanillo Port
[www.unodc.org]

Feb. 8, 2010
177 kg of cocaine (with a Spanish street value of US$ 15.6 million) from a container at the port of Manzanillo
[www.unodc.org]

May 6, 2010
Large drug seizure phenylacetate component in Manzanillo
[newsessentials.blogspot.com]

May 21, 2010
80 TONS - of chemicals used for manufacturing synthetic drugs have been seized in Mexico’s Manzanillo port,
[calamities.gaeatimes.com]

May 28, 2010
Captain of the port at Mexico's Manzanillo Port jailed on drug-related charges
[seshippingnews.typepad.com]
Manzanillo Port Captain Jailed for Alleged Drug Ties
[www.banderasnews.com]

Yesterday July 21, 2010
Close to 80 TONS of ethyl phenyl-acetate seizedat Port of Manzanillo
[laht.com]

In addition, over the past two or three years, discovery and seizure of US currency in the hundreds of millions of dollars.


Someone is losing a LOT of money and is doing something about it.

.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/22/2010 06:51PM by Mike B..

Unfortunately when the illustrious Silverio was governor people were getting picked off left and right and everytime he and his attorney general Arturo Rivera would brush it off as "fights between drunks". It seems they never took it seriously and the population believed it so much that they voted in Mario Anguiano who during his election campaign was the subject of story in Proceso magazine connecting him to drug cartels. Curiously the day that Proceso hit the newstands it never made to Colima. Mmmm?

More sad news today.
The police commandant of Tecalitlán was gunned down Thursday morning.

[www.correodemanzanillo.com.mx]

Howard Platt, Manzanillo
hplattbc@gmail.com

Apparently there is a little "narco-chess" going on in the Central Pacific Región.

The rumours I hear are that the assassins come up from Michoacan for the jobs.

Howard Platt, Manzanillo
hplattbc@gmail.com

Today's newspaper reports that the vehicles were found quite quickly, just off the road to Minatitlán. One of the assassin accidentally shot himself in the foot while escaping, and is now in custody. The assassins were from Lazaro Cardenas in Michoacan.

Howard Platt, Manzanillo
hplattbc@gmail.com

He shot himself in the foot? Damn! Even though he was from Michoacan he sounds too stupid to be a trained hitman from La Familia cartel. They might be low rung free lancers.

I know it will sound strange, but I go out shopping in the grocery stores everyday and I see absolutely no change in the behaviour of local people. Almost as though this never happened.

Howard Platt, Manzanillo
hplattbc@gmail.com

Mexico justice means catch and release
By JULIE WATSON and ALEXANDRA OLSON
The Associated Press
Tuesday, July 27, 2010; 4:19 PM
[www.washingtonpost.com]

Hi Mike:
When I read statements like "They never charge anybody with homicide" I switch off. I am surprised the Washington Post would publish such sensationalized writing.
. On the other hand, coming from a city with a higher per capita murder rate than Mexico, most of which go unsolved, the story might make Washington residents at least feel they are no worse off than Mexicans.

Howard Platt, Manzanillo
hplattbc@gmail.com



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/27/2010 03:46PM by Howard.

Howard,

The story isn't by the Washington Post. It's an AP wire story that was picked up by MANY outlets.

Check out
[www.google.com]

You are correct Mike. It was an AP story, and it was picked up very many outlet. The story that Mexico's war on drugs is "catch and release" as a daily ritual of picking up people, beating confessions out of them, parading them in front of the TV cameras, then letting them go, is now all graven into history.

The exaggerated language still turns me off, and I am still disappointed the WP ran the story as it did.
These same writers have also covered the capture of major drug lords, extradition to the USA, as well as the discovery and confiscation of tons of drugs and drug precursors. So there are some internal inconsistencies in the stories they write.

I understand that many Mexican police (but not all) are poorly educated, very poor paid, and very vulnerable to bribes and corruption. I also understand that the military are not trained in the evidence collecting techniques required by the courts. So I find it heartening that Mexican judges throw out charges when they cannot be sustained in court, even if that means that possibly guilty people get away with crimes (remember OJ?). OK, that is "catch and release". BUT it makes me more willing to believe that the ones who are caught and not released (I don't count the extradition of over 150 accused major drug dealers to the USA as release) have received due process.

Perhaps what will be most important in the end is the attack on the money. As you pointed out so well in your earlier post the authorities are inflicting very serious financial damage on the drug industry. If the profit can be removed, perhaps it will all be less of a problem.

Howard Platt, Manzanillo
hplattbc@gmail.com

Today's El Universal:

Muere abatido 'Nacho' Coronel
El líder del cártel de Sinaloa murió en medio de un enfrentamiento con elementos del Ejército tras un operativo en un fraccionamiento residencial de Zapopan

LÍDER DE CARTEL Ignacio Coronel Villareal se consolidó como el capo más poderoso del país y controlaba el mercado del tráfico de anfetaminas y metanfetaminas en EU

El narcotraficante Ignacio "Nacho" Coronel, uno de los líderes del cártel de Sinaloa, fue abatido esta tarde luego de un operativo que realizó el Ejército en un fraccionamiento de Zapopan.

Unos 150 elementos castrenses, apoyados por dos helicópteros, realizaron cateos en por lo menos seis fincas del fraccionamiento Colinas de San Javier, al poniente de este municipio.

A leader, dead. Not "catch and release" if you get my point.

Howard Platt, Manzanillo
hplattbc@gmail.com

'Nacho' Coronel shot dead.

The Sinaloa cartel leader was killed in a clash with elements of the Army after an operation in a residential subdivision of Zapopan

CARTEL LEADER Ignacio Coronel Villareal was considered the country's most powerful drug lord and controlled the market for amphetamine and methamphetamine trafficking in the U.S.

Drug trafficker Ignacio "Nacho" Coronel, a leader of the Sinaloa cartel, was killed this afternoon after an operation carried out by a military division of Zapopan.

About 150 military elements, supported by two helicopters, carried out searches in at least six farms Fractionation Colinas de San Javier, west of this town.

I might be straying a bit now, but here is a follow up on the above stories.

Muere sucesor de Nacho Coronel
Asesta Ejército un golpe más al Cártel de Sinaloa, al abatir a Mario Carrasco Coronel, sobrino de Ignacio Coronel Villarreal y que podría haber sido el sucesor del narcotraficante

CIUDAD DE MÉXICO | Viernes 30 de julio de 2010 Silvia Otero | El Universal20:40

El Ejército asestó un golpe más a la estructura del Cártel de Sinaloa. Militares abatieron hoy al hombre que podría haber sido el sucesor del narcotraficante Ignacio "Nacho" Coronel Villareal. Se trata de un sobrino que se resistió a la captura y se enfrentó a los uniformados.

Mario Carrasco Coronel, "El Gallo", fue ubicado este viernes en la colonia Rinconada de Los Novelistas, en Guadalajara, Jalisco, como parte de un operativo de inteligencia militar para desmantelar las células que tenía bajo su mando "El Coronel".

La Secretaría de la Defensa Nacional (Sedena) indicó que Carrasco Coronel fungía como lugarteniente de su tío, por lo que también fue "blanco" de esta operación.

Sin embargo, "El Gallo" trató de impedir su detención y agredió al personal militar con armas de fuego, hiriendo a uno de los efectivos.

Howard Platt, Manzanillo
hplattbc@gmail.com

Nacho Coronel successor dies
Army strikes another blow to the Sinaloa Cartel, to bring down Colonel Mario Carrasco's nephew Ignacio Coronel Villarreal and could have been the successor of drug trafficker

MEXICO CITY | Friday July 30, 2010 Silvia Otero | The Universal20: 40

The Army dealt a blow to the structure of the Sinaloa Cartel. Armed man shot dead today might have been the successor to the drug trafficker Ignacio "Nacho" Coronel Villareal. This is a nephew who resisted capture and was faced with the military.

Colonel Mario Carrasco, 'El Gallo', was located Friday in the colony Rinconada de Los Novelists, in Guadalajara, Jalisco, as part of a military intelligence operation to dismantle the cells under his command 'The Colonel'.

The Ministry of National Defense (SEDENA) said Carrasco served as lieutenant colonel of his uncle, so also was 'white' of this operation.

However, "El Gallo" tried to avoid arrest and assaulted military personnel with guns, wounding one of the them.

With all these narco-power plays life isn´t what it used to be on Costalegre and Colima. I wonder when they will start going after the politicians with cartel ties. That would really put a dent on the cartels.