#Joaquin El Chapo Guzman

[rayhaber]

Meksika'da Sinaloa Karteli İçindeki İktidar Mücadelesi

Meksika’nın Sinaloa Eyaletindeki Kartel Çatışmaları Meksika’nın kuzeybatısında yer alan Sinaloa eyaletinde, Sinaloa Karteli’nin içindeki iki önemli grup olan “La Mayiza” ve “Los Chapitos” arasında büyük bir iç hesaplaşma yaşanıyor. Eyalet genelinde, küçük bir uçakla “La Mayiza” imzalı el broşürleri havadan atıldı. Görgü tanıklarına göre, bu uçak, Sinaloa’nın çeşitli belediyeleri üzerinde “Los…

[newstfionline]

Thursday, October 24, 2024

America’s flooding problem (NYT) America has a flooding problem. When Hurricane Milton hit Florida, the images of inundation seemed shocking—but also weirdly normal: For what felt like the umpteenth time this year, entire communities were underwater. Since the 1990s, the cost of flood damage has roughly doubled each decade, according to one estimate. The federal government issued two disaster declarations for floods in 2000. So far this year, it has issued 66. The reasons are no mystery. Global warming is making storms more severe because warmer air holds more water. At the same time, more Americans are moving to the coast and other flood-prone areas.

In battleground Georgia, poor people see no reason to vote (AP) Sabrina Friday scanned the room at Mother’s Nest, an organization in Macon that provides baby supplies, training, food and housing to mothers in need, and she asked how many planned to vote. Of the 30, mostly women, six raised their hands. Friday, the group’s executive director, said she tries to stress civic duty, an often difficult proposition given the circumstances of her clients. “When a mom is in a hotel room and there’s six or seven people in two beds and her kids are hungry and she just lost the car, she doesn’t want to hear too much about elections,” Friday said. “She wants to hear how you can help.” Linda Solomon, 58, said she and her daughter aren’t voting “because nothing changes” no matter who sits in the White House. “Why you gonna vote and ain’t nobody doing nothing?”

Mexican schools have 6 months to ban junk food sales or face heavy fines (AP) Schools in Mexico have six months to implement a government-sponsored ban on junk food or face heavy fines, officials said Monday, as authorities confront what they call the worst childhood obesity problem in the world. The rules target products that have become staples for two or three generations of Mexican school kids: sugary fruit drinks, chips, artificial pork rinds and soy-encased, salty peanuts with chili. School administrators who violate the order will face fines equivalent to between $545 and $5,450, which could double for a second offense. That could amount to nearly a year’s wages for some. Mexico’s children have the highest consumption of junk food in Latin America and many get 40% of their total caloric intake from it, according to the U.N. children’s agency, which has called child obesity there an emergency.

19 suspected members of Sinaloa cartel killed in shootout with troops in Mexico (CBS News) Mexican troops shot dead 19 suspected members of the Sinaloa cartel after they came under attack in the northwestern state, the ministry of defense said Tuesday. Military personnel were attacked on Monday by more than 30 people near the state capital Culiacan, and the ensuing firefight left 19 cartel members dead. Sinaloa has seen a surge in violence since the July arrest of the cartel’s co-founder Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada in the United States. Zambada’s arrest triggered a war between his relatives and the sons of drug trafficker Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, who co-founded the cartel. The ministry of defense said the cartel members killed on Monday were presumed to be linked to Zambada’s faction.

Ukraine’s population has shrunk by millions since Russia first invaded (CBS News) Ukraine’s population has declined by around eight million since Russia invaded in February 2022, sparking an exodus and sending birth rates plunging, the United Nations said Tuesday. “Overall, Ukraine’s population has declined by an estimated 10 million since 2014 and by an estimated eight million since the beginning of the full-scale invasion in 2022,” UNFPA’s regional director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia Florence Bauer said in comments sent to journalists. Ukraine’s population stood at around 45 million in 2014, when Russia first invaded, occupying and annexing Crimea, the agency said, citing data from the national statistics office. By February 2022, when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the population had dwindled to 43 million, and it has plummeted to just 35 million today, it said, citing a combination of government and UNFPA data. Bauer said the dramatic decline was due to “a combination of factors.” Already before the war, Ukraine had one of the lowest birth rates in Europe, and like many countries in Eastern Europe, it had seen many young people leave in search of more opportunities abroad. But in the two and a half years since the full-scale invasion, some 6.7 million people have fled the country as refugees while the birth rate has fallen to just around one child per woman, she said.

Four Years in Jail Without Trial: The Price of Dissent in Modi’s India (NYT) The family gathers around the laptop in New Delhi once a week. Sometimes, relatives dial in from north India, or even the United States. They wait for Umar Khalid, 37, an Indian political activist, to appear on the screen from jail. In early 2020, Mr. Khalid became one of the most prominent figures of India’s biggest and most energized protests in a generation, a three-month outpouring of opposition to government proposals widely seen as anti-Muslim. He was arrested later that year, and he has now languished in jail for four years without a trial, making him a symbol of the wide-ranging suppression of dissent under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It continues unabated even with Mr. Modi’s reduced mandate after elections in the spring. To silence opponents like Mr. Khalid, Mr. Modi’s government has increasingly turned to a draconian state security law that in the past was used only to quell violent insurgencies. Activists and other dissenters targeted under the law can be held in pretrial detention almost indefinitely. Some have died while awaiting bail. Even if they do move toward trial, defendants are often bogged down in years of legal battles.

South Korea warns it can send arms to Ukraine after reports of North’s troops in Russia (AP) South Korea warned Tuesday it could consider supplying weapons to Ukraine in response to North Korea allegedly dispatching troops to Russia, as both North Korea and Russia denied the movements. NATO’s secretary general said that would mark a “significant escalation.” South Korea’s statement was apparently meant to pressure Russia against bringing in North Korean troops for its war against Ukraine. South Korean officials worry that Russia may reward North Korea by giving it sophisticated weapons technologies that can boost the North’s nuclear and missile programs that target South Korea.

Floods in Philippines kill at least 9 and trap others on roofs as storm approaches (AP) Torrential rain set off by an approaching tropical storm swamped the eastern Philippines with widespread flooding that killed at least nine people, trapped others on their roofs and sparked frantic appeals for help, officials said Wednesday. The government shut down public schools and government offices—except those urgently needed for disaster response—on the entire main island of Luzon to protect millions of people as Tropical Storm Trami blew closer from the Pacific. At least nine people died in five northeastern provinces and in the hard-hit city of Naga before the storm’s expected landfall on the northeastern Philippine coast. Most of the deaths were caused by drowning and landslides, police and local officials said, adding that about seven were missing.

Israeli strikes pound Lebanese coastal city after residents evacuate (AP) Israeli jets struck multiple buildings in Lebanon’s southern coastal city of Tyre on Wednesday, sending up large clouds of black smoke, while Hezbollah confirmed that a top official widely expected to be the militant group’s next leader had been killed in an Israeli strike. Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported that an Israeli strike on the nearby town of Maarakeh killed three people. There were no reports of casualties in Tyre, where the Israeli military had issued evacuation warnings prior to the strikes. Hezbollah meanwhile fired more rockets into Israel, including two that set off air raid sirens in Tel Aviv before being intercepted. A cloud of smoke could be seen in the sky from the hotel where U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was staying on his latest visit to the region to try to renew cease-fire talks.

Hamas’s Guerrilla Tactics in North Gaza Make It Hard to Defeat (NYT) The top commanders of Hamas are mostly dead. The group’s rank and file has been decimated. Many of its hide-outs and stockpiles have been captured and destroyed. But Hamas’s killing of an Israeli colonel in northern Gaza on Sunday underscored how the group’s military wing, though unable to operate as a conventional army, is still a potent guerrilla force with enough fighters and munitions to enmesh the Israeli military in a slow, grinding and unwinnable war. Hamas’s fighters are hiding from view in ruined buildings and the group’s vast underground tunnel network, much of which remains intact despite Israel’s efforts to destroy it, according to military analysts and Israeli soldiers. The fighters emerge briefly in small units to booby trap buildings, set roadside bombs, attach mines to Israeli armored vehicles or fire rocket-propelled grenades at Israeli forces before attempting to return underground. While Hamas cannot defeat Israel in a frontal battle, its small-scale, hit-and-run approach has allowed it to continue to inflict harm on Israel and avoid defeat, even if, according to Israel’s unverified count, Hamas has lost more than 17,000 fighters since the start of the war.

It could take 350 years for Gaza to rebuild if it remains under a blockade, UN report says (AP) United Nations agencies have long warned that it could take decades to rebuild Gaza after Israel’s offensive against Hamas, one of the deadliest and most destructive military campaigns since World War II. Now, more than a year into the war, a new report speaks in terms of centuries. The U.N. Conference on Trade and Development said in a report released Monday that if the war ends tomorrow and Gaza returns to the status quo before Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, it could take 350 years for its battered economy to return to its precarious prewar level. The current war has caused staggering destruction across the territory, with entire neighborhoods obliterated and roads and critical infrastructure in ruins. Mountains of rubble laced with decomposing bodies and unexploded ordnance would have to be cleared before rebuilding could begin.

Top CNN reporter: I was captured by gun-toting militia in Darfur (Politico) One of CNN’s most prominent foreign correspondents on Wednesday recounted how she and her camera crew were detained by a Sudanese warlord for 48 hours during her reporting in the war-torn Darfur region earlier this month. Clarissa Ward, the network’s chief international correspondent, said that her crew was headed to the town of Tawila, a northern Darfur settlement under the control of members of the Sudan Liberation Movement, where they hoped to report on the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the region. But when they arrived at an agreed-upon meeting spot in a neighboring town, Ward and her crew were confronted by members of a rival militia who fired rounds in the air, took their driver to the local jail and interrogated the journalist and the others in her party. They would be held for nearly two days by the militia in an open area before the group let them go, convinced they weren’t spies. They left Sudan shortly thereafter. “We had come to Darfur to report on the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, never intending to become part of the story,” the British-American journalist wrote.

Cameroon’s separatist conflict forces hundreds of thousands of students out of education (AP) Ndamei’s dream of becoming a medical doctor almost cost her life five years ago. The 20-year-old student from Cameroon’s restive southwestern region was taking her Grade 12 exam when she suddenly heard gunshots. Shortly after, armed men rushed into the school, forcing Ndamei and her peers to flee the examination hall. “It was the sound of death and I really thought I wouldn’t make it. I prayed silently for a miracle,” she recalled. Ndamei, 15 at the time, was one among 2.8 million children in West and Central Africa whose education was put on hold by violent conflict in recent years, according to the United Nations. More than 14,000 schools were closed due to violence and insecurity across 24 countries in West and Central Africa as of June.

[head-post]

Mexican drug lord El Mayo and son of El Chapo arrested in Texas

The US arrested Mexican drug kingpin Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada and the son of his former partner, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, in El Paso, Texas, Reuters reported.

Zambada is one of the most powerful drug traffickers in Mexican history and co-founder of the Sinaloa Cartel with El Chapo. The latter was extradited to the US in 2017 and is serving a life sentence in a maximum-security prison.

Both Zambada and Joaquin Guzman Lopez are facing multiple charges in the United States for smuggling huge shipments of drugs onto US streets, including fentanyl, the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18 to 45.

Zambada, about 70, and Guzman Lopez, about 30, were detained after landing on a private plane in the El Paso area, two US officials reported.

Guzman Lopez is one of four sons of El Chapo. They are known as Los Chapitos, or Little Chapos, and have inherited their father’s faction in the Sinaloa Cartel. His brother, Ovidio Guzman, was arrested last year and extradited to the United States. In recent years, the cartel has become a prime target for US authorities, who have accused the crime syndicate of being the largest supplier of fentanyl in the US.

US authorities have put a $15 million bounty on Zambada’s capture and a $5 million for Guzman Lopez’s head.

Sinaloa Сartel

According to US authorities, the Sinaloa Сartel smuggles drugs to more than 50 countries and is one of the two most powerful organised crime groups in Mexico.

Previous arrests of important cartel leaders triggered violence as a power vacuum emerged, resulting in serious infighting within the organisations, as well as between them and their rivals. Over the past year, US authorities have brought new charges against the sons of Zambada and Guzman for smuggling fentanyl, as well as for supplying precursor chemicals to illegal laboratories operated by their crime syndicate.

Over decades, the cartel has built sophisticated supply chains to move drugs around the world and supply highly regulated chemicals to its base in Sinaloa. US Attorney General Merrick Garland stated:

Fentanyl is the deadliest drug threat our country has ever faced, and the Justice Department will not rest until every single cartel leader, member, and associate responsible for poisoning our communities is held accountable.

Read more HERE

[allthegeopolitics]

Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, a historic leader of Mexico's Sinaloa cartel, and Joaquin Guzman Lopez, a son of another infamous cartel leader, were arrested by U.S. authorities in Texas on Thursday, the U.S. Justice Department said. A leader of the powerful Sinaloa cartel for decades alongside Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, Zambada was known for running the cartel's smuggling operations while keeping a lower profile. The U.S. government had offered a reward of up to $15 million for information leading to his capture.

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[beardedmrbean]

Two top leaders of the Mexican Sinaloa drug cartel have been taken into custody by United States authorities to face charges for their role in leading the group's vast drug trafficking enterprise, the Department of Justice announced Thursday.

Sinaloa cartel co-founder Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada and Joaquin Guzman Lopez, the son of "El Chapo" Guzman, were placed under arrest in El Paso, Texas, on Thursday, according to Attorney General Merrick Garland.

"Both men are facing multiple charges in the United States for leading the Cartel's criminal operations, including its deadly fentanyl manufacturing and trafficking networks," Garland said in a statement.MORE: El Chapo conviction upheld

"El Mayo and Guzman Lopez join a growing list of Sinaloa Cartel leaders and associates who the Justice Department is holding accountable in the United States," Garland said.

Zambada faces multiple federal indictments for his alleged role in the cartel and has been on the run from U.S. and Mexican law enforcement for years. His fellow co-founder of the Sinaloa cartel, Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzman, was extradited to the U.S. in 2017 and convicted in 2019 and sentenced to life in prison.

"Today, the FBI and DEA arrested two alleged cartel leaders who have eluded law enforcement for decades. Ismael Mario 'El Mayo' Zambada García and Joaquin Guzman Lopez, son of El Chapo, will now face justice in the United States," Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Christopher Wray said in a statement.

"Garcia and Guzman have allegedly overseen the trafficking of tens of thousands of pounds of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and fentanyl into the U.S. along with related violence. These arrests are an example of the FBI's and our partners commitment to dismantling violent transnational criminal organizations like the Sinaloa Cartel," Wray said.

The circumstances behind Zambada and Guzman Lopez being taken into custody were not immediately clear as of Thursday evening, however, the men were arrested in an operation that ended on U.S. soil.

"El Mayo" thought he was headed to inspect a clandestine Mexican airfield, of which the Sinaloa cartel has many in the country. Instead, according to a Homeland Security Investigations official, a senior ranking member of the cartel tricked him and flew him to El Paso instead.MORE: El Chapo's sons purportedly ban fentanyl in Mexico's Sinaloa state

Upon landing on the tarmac, agents from HSI, along with the FBI arrested "El Mayo" and Guzman.

The HSI official tells ABC News the operation had been planned "for months."

They were placed in handcuffs by FBI agents during an operation culminating at an airstrip not far from El Paso.

"The arrest of Ismael Zambada García, better known as 'El Mayo,' one of the alleged founders and leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel, strikes at the heart of the cartel that is responsible for the majority of drugs, including fentanyl and methamphetamine, killing Americans from coast to coast. El Mayo is one of DEA's most wanted fugitives and he is in custody tonight and will soon face justice in a U.S. court of law," said Drug Enforcement Administration Administrator Anne Milgram.

"Joaquin Guzman Lopez, another alleged leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, and the son of 'El Chapo,' was also arrested today -- his arrest is another enormous blow to the Sinaloa Cartel. In 2017, he and his brothers, the Chapitos, allegedly took control of the Sinaloa Cartel after El Chapo was extradited to the United States. DEA will continue to seek justice for any American life that is lost and will work tirelessly to prevent more needless deaths and pursue those that are responsible," Milgram said.

The U.S. government had offered a $15 million reward for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Zambada.

"Too many of our citizens have lost their lives to the scourge of fentanyl," President Joe Biden said in a statement Friday morning. "Too many families have been broken and are suffering because of this destructive drug. My Administration will continue doing everything we can to hold deadly drug traffickers to account and to save American lives."

Guzman Lopez's brother, Ovidio Guzman Lopez, was charged last year with two dozen others as part of a crackdown targeting a global drug trafficking network run through Mexico's Sinaloa cartel. According to the charges, the cartel used precursor chemicals shipped from China to fuel the fentanyl crisis plaguing the U.S.

Ovidio Guzman Lopez had been wanted by U.S. authorities since 2019 and was captured by Mexican armed forces in January 2023 in a small town just outside the city of Culiacán, the capital of the Mexican state of Sinaloa.

He was captured in an overnight raid that had been in the works for more than six months, officials said at the time. The arrest followed an infamous incident in 2019, in which authorities briefly detained Guzman Lopez at a home in Culiacán, before word spread and heavily armed gunmen flooded the city. Massive shootouts occurred between cartel members and Mexican armed forces around the city. Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador ordered Guzman Lopez released in order to avoid more bloodshed.

Their father is serving a life sentence in the U.S. after being convicted in 2019 of conducting a continuing criminal enterprise, including large-scale narcotics violations and a murder conspiracy, drug trafficking conspiracies, unlawful use of a firearm and a money laundering conspiracy.

[blueiscoool]

Drug War 

Mexican forces firing from a helicopter against Sinaloa sicarios following the arrest of El Chapo’s son Ovidio Guzman this morning.

Ovidio Guzman, son of El Chapo and alleged major fentanyl trafficker, arrested in Mexico

Ovidio Guzmán, a top leader of the Sinaloa Cartel and the son of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzmán, the notorious drug lord currently serving a life sentence in a U.S. prison, has been arrested by authorities in Mexico, the country's secretary of defense, Luis Cresencio Sandoval, announced Thursday afternoon.

Guzmán was captured by Mexican armed forces in an overnight raid in a small town just outside the city of Culiacán, the capital of the Mexican state of Sinaloa.

He was transported by military aircraft from Culiacán back to Mexico City late morning on Thursday. Officials said the operation had been in the works for more than six months.

[qudachuk]

Merrick Garland, the attorney general, confirmed the extradition, calling it an effort to attack ‘every aspect’ of the cartel’s operationsOvidio Guzman, son of incarcerated Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, has been extradited to the US, where he...

[scienza-magia]

Miliardi in cocaina dal Sud America all'Europa

Cocaina, produzione record dalla Colombia: così narcos e broker si coprono d’oro. La produzione complessiva nel triangolo sudamericano ha superato 2.800 tonnellate. Consumi e guadagni alle stelle. Gli arresti non fermano il business. Un momento d’oro per i narcotrafficanti di cocaina, un’agonia mortale per il resto del mondo. Nonostante gli arresti dei broker e dei signori della droga si succedano rapidamente – gli ultimi a cadere tra le fila degli italiani sono stati due personaggi legati alla camorra che vivevano nel lusso in Colombia, per non parlare di Ismael Zambada García, detto “el Mayo”, arrestato il 25 luglio 2024 in un aeroporto privato a El Paso nel Texas con Joaquin Guzman Lopez, figlio del “Chapo” – tutto prosegue come se nulla fosse. Qui Colombia Basta dare un’occhiata all’ultimo report appena dato alle stampe dall’Agenzia antidroga (Unodc) dell’Organizzazione delle nazioni unite (Onu), partendo proprio dalla Colombia, terra di narcos e broker della ‘ndrangheta e maggiore produttore di cocaina al mondo (circa il 65% del totale). Il 18 ottobre l’Agenzia scrive che la coltivazione di coca è aumentata del 10% nel 2023, raggiungendo i 253mila ettari, mentre la potenziale produzione di cocaina ha raggiunto le 2.664 tonnellate. Quest’ultimo dato equivale a un potenziale aumento del 53% della produzione di cocaina rispetto al 2022 e segna il decimo anno consecutivo (dal 2013) in cui le stime della potenziale produzione sono aumentate. Gruppi armati La maggior parte della coca è prodotta in territori ad accessibilità limitata tuttavia l’indagine ha rilevato che il numero di ettari piantati entro 12 km da un centro popolato è cresciuto da circa 189mila ettari nel 2022 a circa 209mila ettari nel 2023. «La maggiore vicinanza – scrivono gli analisti dell’Unodc – potrebbe far sì che le economie legali diventino sempre più dipendenti dalle risorse generate da attività illegali. Allo stesso tempo, la capacità dei gruppi criminali di accedere a più beni e servizi può generare potenti incentivi a sostenere o espandere le attività illegali in queste aree». I gruppi armati in Colombia rimangono pesantemente coinvolti nel mercato della cocaina, intensificando i conflitti violenti nelle aree colpite dal traffico di droga, dall’estrazione mineraria illegale e dalla tratta di esseri umani. «L’aumento della coltivazione – conclude il documento sulla Colombia – coincide anche con un aumento della violenza contro i leader sociali, un deterioramento delle condizioni di sicurezza e un’ulteriore pressione contro i gruppi indigeni e afro-colombiani». Qui Perù Devida – la Commissione nazionale peruviana antidroga – il 27 giugno 2024 ha presentato il rapporto per l’anno 2023 “Coca crop monitoring”, nel quale è stata enfatizzata la riduzione di 2.224 ettari rispetto all’anno precedente (complessivamente 92.784 ettari di area coltivata con cespugli di foglie di coca in produzione rispetto ai 95.008 dell’anno precedente). «Stiamo parlando di una rottura di tendenza dopo otto anni di crescita. Questo è il risultato delle azioni congiunte degli enti statali legati al modello di lotta al traffico di droga”, ha sottolineato Carlos Figueroa Henostroza, presidente esecutivo di Devida. Per lo Stato andino, dunque, è un grande risultato ma per l’Agenzia dell’Onu si tratta solo di una modesta riduzione che poco toglie al secondo produttore di cocaina al mondo (posizione che si contende con la Bolivia), causando perdite di biodiversità e colpendo le comunità. Qui Bolivia Dal 2009, la Bolivia ha smesso di conoscere i dati sul potenziale di produzione di cocaina contenuti nei rapporti dell’Ufficio delle Nazioni Unite contro la droga e il crimine (ma la stessa cosa, attenzione, accade anche in Perù), ma soccorre lo studio condotto dal Centro nazionale per lo sviluppo agricolo (Cedla) “L’economia della droga tratta: deistituzionalizzazione e politiche in Bolivia”. Citando rapporti dello stesso Unodc e del Dipartimento di Stato degli Stati Uniti, lo studio indica che il potenziale di produzione di cocaina in Bolivia è aumentato negli ultimi anni, anche se i dati finali differiscono da un rapporto all’altro. Secondo l’Agenzia Onu la capacità di produzione di cocaina della Bolivia nel 2020 era di 140 tonnellate, mentre, secondo gli Stati Uniti era di 312 tonnellate. «Se sottraiamo il volume della produzione potenziale dalla quantità di cocaina sequestrata dalle autorità antidroga, possiamo supporre che il resto sia il volume di cocaina che avrebbe potuto essere commercializzata», indica lo studio preparato dal ricercatore Carlos Arze. Questo significa che la maggior parte della cocaina prodotta viene commercializzata, poiché i sequestri sono a livelli molto più bassi. Secondo i dati ufficiali del Governo, nel 2019 sono state sequestrate 19,56 tonnellate di cocaina, 15,65 nel 2020; 19,72 nel 2021; 20,33 nel 2022 e 32,93 nel 2023. Soldi a palate Di soldi, broker e narcos ne fanno a palate, al netto degli arresti dei boss e dei sequestri. Il 15 ottobre, ad esempio, proprio la Bolivia ha distrutto 21,6 tonnellate di cocaina. Il ministro dell’Interno Eduardo Del Castillo, sulla sua pagina Facebook, ha esultato: «Si tratta del più grande sequestro nella storia della Bolivia e uno dei più grandi sequestri di droga nella regione negli ultimi anni in un’unica operazione». La droga era destinata al mercato tedesco. Sulla base dei dati del 2021, si stima che il mercato della droga nell’Unione europea abbia un valore minimo al dettaglio di almeno 30 miliardi di euro (fonte: Consiglio dell’Unione europea, dato aggiornato al 4 settembre 2024), anche se altre fonti lo stimano tra i 23,7 e i 33,6 miliardi di dollari. Gran parte dei quali proviene dalla cocaina che, a livello mondiale, vale 250 miliardi, circa la metà (calcolato ormai per difetto) del valore globale del traffico di ogni tipo di droga possibile e immaginabile. Read the full article

[andronetalks]

El Chapo sons confirm worst kept cartel secret: there's a plea deal in the works

ABC7 – Eyewitness News – Chicago ByBarb Markoff, Christine Tressel and Tom Jones and Chuck Goudie Monday, October 21, 2024 7:36PM CHICAGO — The jailed sons of the world’s nastiest drug lord, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, are in talks with the US justice system that has had their family cartel in the crosshairs for decades. Read more…  

[news365timesindia]

[ad_1] The lack of security underscores one of the greatest challenges facing President Claudia Sheinbaum. | Representational3 min read Last Updated : Oct 12 2024 | 9:45 AM IST By Alex VasquezA battle between warring factions of the Sinaloa Cartel has led to a surge in violence in the Mexican state over the last month, with over 200 people dead and 234 people missing, according to a local investigative outlet. An analysis of hundreds of statements from the state prosecutor’s office, the Interior Ministry and local press by Revista Espejo show the deadly tally of the clashes between two criminal groups. The violence began in early September, after the capture of Sinaloa Cartel co-founder Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada. Click here to connect with us on WhatsApp The lack of security underscores one of the greatest challenges facing President Claudia Sheinbaum, who took office Oct. 1. The president and her Security Minister Omar Garcia Harfuch announced the government’s security plan on Tuesday, which looks to create an intelligence unit to address high-crime states and reduce the nearly 200,000 homicides that occurred during the prior administration.   The proposal also seeks to address the root causes of crime, consolidating the role of Mexico’s National Guard in public security and improving coordination between states and the national government. Sheinbaum cautioned Oct. 8 that homicides in Sinaloa are “not going to be solved in one day.”  Sinaloa clashes Drug traffickers loyal to Zambada are feuding with followers of the so-called Chapitos, the name given to the four sons of imprisoned kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, according to local media.  Almost half of those gone missing were found, some dead, Revista Espejo reported. Victims have been found in at least nine municipalities, including those with signs of burns, mutilation and torture, according to the local report.  Garcia Harfuch, Sheinbaum’s Defense Minister Ricardo Trevilla and dozens of military personnel and army vehicles and helicopters traveled to Culiacan, the state capital, on Tuesday to try to control the crisis. Of the total of deaths so far, 128 were reported in Culiacan, according to Revista Espejo’s investigation. Since the clashes began in Sinaloa, several trailer trucks and buses have been seized by criminal groups and burnt in various parts of Culiacan and surrounding highways. Earlier Friday, five other people were killed in Culiacan, while robberies of businesses and acts of vandalism against buildings such as banks were reported in different parts of the city, according to local newspaper Reforma.(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) First Published: Oct 12 2024 | 9:45 AM IST [ad_2] Source link

[news365times]

[ad_1] The lack of security underscores one of the greatest challenges facing President Claudia Sheinbaum. | Representational3 min read Last Updated : Oct 12 2024 | 9:45 AM IST By Alex VasquezA battle between warring factions of the Sinaloa Cartel has led to a surge in violence in the Mexican state over the last month, with over 200 people dead and 234 people missing, according to a local investigative outlet. An analysis of hundreds of statements from the state prosecutor’s office, the Interior Ministry and local press by Revista Espejo show the deadly tally of the clashes between two criminal groups. The violence began in early September, after the capture of Sinaloa Cartel co-founder Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada. Click here to connect with us on WhatsApp The lack of security underscores one of the greatest challenges facing President Claudia Sheinbaum, who took office Oct. 1. The president and her Security Minister Omar Garcia Harfuch announced the government’s security plan on Tuesday, which looks to create an intelligence unit to address high-crime states and reduce the nearly 200,000 homicides that occurred during the prior administration.   The proposal also seeks to address the root causes of crime, consolidating the role of Mexico’s National Guard in public security and improving coordination between states and the national government. Sheinbaum cautioned Oct. 8 that homicides in Sinaloa are “not going to be solved in one day.”  Sinaloa clashes Drug traffickers loyal to Zambada are feuding with followers of the so-called Chapitos, the name given to the four sons of imprisoned kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, according to local media.  Almost half of those gone missing were found, some dead, Revista Espejo reported. Victims have been found in at least nine municipalities, including those with signs of burns, mutilation and torture, according to the local report.  Garcia Harfuch, Sheinbaum’s Defense Minister Ricardo Trevilla and dozens of military personnel and army vehicles and helicopters traveled to Culiacan, the state capital, on Tuesday to try to control the crisis. Of the total of deaths so far, 128 were reported in Culiacan, according to Revista Espejo’s investigation. Since the clashes began in Sinaloa, several trailer trucks and buses have been seized by criminal groups and burnt in various parts of Culiacan and surrounding highways. Earlier Friday, five other people were killed in Culiacan, while robberies of businesses and acts of vandalism against buildings such as banks were reported in different parts of the city, according to local newspaper Reforma.(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) First Published: Oct 12 2024 | 9:45 AM IST [ad_2] Source link

[newstfionline]

Tuesday, September 17, 2024

Justin Trudeau’s Party Has a Popularity Problem: Justin Trudeau (NYT) Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party should be a shoo-in for a parliamentary seat at the southern point of the island of Montreal. The district has been a stronghold for his party for more than half a century. It was home to another Liberal prime minister a generation ago. The base for a former Liberal justice minister. An easy drive to Mr. Trudeau’s own redoubt in the city. And yet, days before a special election on Monday to choose the district’s member of Canada’s Parliament, polls show a tight three-way contest. For many lifelong Liberals, the problem is clear: It is Mr. Trudeau himself. “I am a Liberal supporter, but it’s almost like enough is enough,” Michael Altimas, 79, a retired city bus driver, said during a walk on a sunny day along the district’s long pedestrian commercial street. “For the most part, he’s been a good prime minister. “But he’s had nine years,” Mr. Altimas added, “and people are hearing often enough that he messed up, and they don’t want to support him anymore.” His own Liberal Party members are increasingly calling for him to step aside, worried that the party risks a drubbing in the next general election under the deeply unpopular leader.

Political violence becomes America's new norm—but is still shocking (BBC) After decades without political violence directed at a presidential candidate from one of the major parties, the US has now experienced this twice in the space of two months—with former president Donald Trump the target on both occasions. Americans have had to adjust to “new normals” in politics—large and small—on a seemingly regular basis in the past few years. The national discourse has coarsened, partisan divisions have sharpened and become more entrenched, and the standards for candidate behaviour have eroded. Given the national epidemic of gun violence, these kind of attacks are perhaps another, inevitable new normal. But for now, it is still shocking.

Over 30 killed in Mexico after cartel leaders arrested in U.S. (CBS News) Eleven more people have been killed in a wave of violence in a Mexican cartel heartland shaken by gang infighting, authorities said Sunday. More than 30 people have been reported dead in a week of bloodshed in Sinaloa. The clashes follow the dramatic arrest on U.S. soil on July 25 of Sinaloa Cartel co-founder Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, who claimed he had been kidnapped in Mexico and delivered into US custody against his will. Zambada, 76, was detained along with Joaquin Guzman Lopez, a son of El Chapo. The violence is believed to pit gang members loyal to El Chapo and his sons against others aligned with Zambada. Schools were closed Thursday and Friday due to the violence and the governor said Sunday's Independence Day festivities had been canceled. The United States on Thursday issued a security alert because of "reports of car thefts, gunfire, security forces operations, roadblocks, burning vehicles and closed roadways" in the vicinity of Culiacan.

Argentina’s President Milei presents 2025 budget, vowing austerity and setting up a showdown (AP) President Javier Milei of Argentina presented the 2025 budget to Congress late Sunday, outlining policy priorities that reflected his key pledge to kill the country’s chronic fiscal deficit and signaled a new phase of confrontation with lawmakers. In an unprecedented move, Milei personally pitched the budget to Congress instead of his economy minister, lambasting Argentina’s history of macroeconomic mismanagement and promising to veto anything that compromised his tough slog of tight fiscal policy. The president’s budget proposal followed a week of political clashes in the legislature—where Milei controls less than 15% of the seats—over spending increases that the administration warns would derail its IMF-backed “zero deficit” budget. Opposition parties have sought to pass laws to raise salaries and pensions with inflation to help hard-hit Argentines cope with brutal austerity. It will fall to the opposition-dominated Congress, which controls the government’s purse strings, to approve the final budget. Milei’s political isolation makes matters fraught, setting up weeks of negotiations with political rivals who insist on concessions.

Italian army will guard a hospital after attacks on medical workers (AP) Italy’s army will guard medical staff at a hospital in the southern Calabria region starting Monday, after a string of violent attacks on doctors and nurses by enraged patients and relatives across Italy, local media reported. Recent attacks on health care workers have been particularly frequent in southern Italy, prompting the doctors’ national guild to request that the army be deployed to ensure medical staff safety. The turning point was an assault at the Policlinico hospital in the southern city of Foggia in early September. A group of about 50 relatives and friends of a 23-year-old woman—who died during emergency surgery—turned their grief and rage into violence, attacking the hospital staff. Video footage, widely circulated on social media, showed doctors and nurses barricading in a room to escape the attack. With over 16,000 reported cases of physical and verbal assaults nationwide in 2023 alone, Italian doctors and nurses have called for drastic measures.

‘A Catastrophe of Epic Proportions’ (Foreign Policy) In Central and Eastern Europe, heavy rainfall from Storm Boris has forced hundreds of thousands of people to evacuate their homes in what Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala has called a “once-in-a-century flood.” The storm made landfall last Thursday; extensive flooding has cut electricity across the region, destroyed key infrastructure, and killed at least 16 people, with more still unaccounted for. “This is a catastrophe of epic proportions,” said Emil Dragomir, the mayor of Romania’s Slobozia Conachi village. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk convened an emergency cabinet meeting on Monday to announce a 30-day state of natural disaster across several affected areas. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban canceled all international engagements to focus on the storm. And Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said 2,400 soldiers were ready to offer relief support, including 1,000 troops for Lower Austria province, which has been declared a disaster area. Authorities expected the rain to ease on Monday, but several European cities are preparing for more flooding as water levels in local rivers continue to rise.

Germany begins conducting checks at all its land borders (AP) Germany on Monday began random checks at its borders with five Western European nations as it seeks to crack down on irregular migration, expanding a system of controls that are already in place at four other borders. The police controls began at the borders with France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and Denmark on Monday morning and are due to continue for six months. Germany has already been carrying out the checks at its borders with Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria and Switzerland since last year. Germany, a European Union member, announced last week that it was expanding border checks to all nine of its land borders this week as part of an effort to crack down on irregular migration and crime following recent extremist attacks.

Typhoon floods roads with water and broken tree branches in Shanghai (AP) The strongest typhoon to hit Shanghai since at least 1949 flooded roads with water and broken tree branches, knocked out power to some homes and injured at least one person as it swept over the financial hub Monday. More than 414,000 people had been evacuated ahead of the powerful winds and torrential rain. Schools were closed and people were advised to stay indoors. Typhoon Bebinca made landfall around 7:30 a.m. in the sprawling Pudong business district with winds of 151 kph (94 mph) near its center. Torrential rains flooded roads in the district, according to images broadcast by state media. Elsewhere in Shanghai, uprooted trees and fallen branches blanketed some roads and sidewalks. As the typhoon eased, responders cleared branches and other objects blown around by the storm.

An American pastor held in a Chinese jail for nearly two decades is finally home (CNN) A pastor who the United States says was wrongfully detained in a Chinese prison for nearly two decades has been released, according to the State Department, ending a case that the Biden administration said was a top priority in efforts to stabilize relations with Beijing. David Lin, 68, was detained in China in 2006 after helping to construct an unapproved church building. He was later sentenced to life in prison for contract fraud, a charge he denied. Lin was one of three Americans deemed by the US State Department to have been wrongfully detained in China. Businessmen Kai Li and Mark Swidan are still held behind bars, on espionage and drug-related charges respectively. Lin visited China frequently in the 1990s and started to preach the Gospel there in 1999, according to ChinaAid, a US-based non-profit Christian human rights organization. He was detained in 2006 for helping an underground “house church” build a place of worship and barred from leaving the country, according to ChinaAid. Lin regarded his incarceration as an opportunity to share his faith with fellow prisoners and established a prayer meeting group, according to ChinaAid. In 2009, Lin was jailed for life for contract fraud, a crime frequently used against house church leaders who raise funds to support their work, according to the Dui Hua Foundation, a San Francisco-based human-rights group which advocates on behalf of detainees in China.

Hunger still stalks Gaza (Washington Post) The humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip remains catastrophic. Hunger and disease stalk the embattled territory, which has been devastated over 11 months of war. Israel continues to carry out strikes on alleged militant Hamas targets in supposed safe zones, invariably killing civilians caught in the crossfire. And relief organizations trying to help alleviate a desperate situation are still lamenting impediments to aid distribution, and security risks to their workers posed by Israeli troops and a morass of gangs that have emerged out of Gaza’s ruin. Last week, a report by Refugees International, a humanitarian advocacy organization, corroborated evidence of “a severe hunger crisis” in the territory and linked it to the actions of Israeli authorities. It found that the “ebbs and flows in hunger conditions are closely linked to Israeli government restrictions and concessions on aid access, and to the conduct of the Israeli military,” the report’s executive summary noted.

‘Water Is Coming.’ Floods Devastate West and Central Africa (NYT) Aishatu Bunu, an elementary schoolteacher in Maiduguri, a city in Nigeria’s northeast, woke up at 5 a.m. to the sound of her neighbors shouting. When she opened her front door, she was greeted by the sight of rising waters outside. “We saw—water is coming,” Ms. Bunu said. In a panic, she and her three young children grabbed some clothes and her educational certificates and fled their home into waters that quickly became chest high, eventually finding temporary shelter at a gas station. Flooding caused by the rain has devastated cities and towns across west and central Africa in recent days, leaving more than 1,000 people dead and hundreds of thousands of homes destroyed. Up to four million people have been affected by the floods and nearly one million forced to flee their homes, according to humanitarian agencies.

Amazon Wants Your Palm and TSA Wants Your Face (WSJ) I don’t need to bring my wallet or phone when I shop at Whole Foods anymore. I can pay with my palm instead. All I had to do was sign into the Amazon One app, give Amazon permission to use my body’s unique data—aka biometrics—and take a photo of each of my palms. Amazon used those photos to generate a number-based representation called a “palm signature” in its cloud, then deleted the images, the company says. After I chose a credit card to link to my palm, I visited my nearby Whole Foods. I hovered my hand over a palm sensor at checkout and walked out with a box of chocolate-chip protein bars. More companies and government agencies out in the wild want to read our body parts. The Transportation Security Administration, for example, started scanning passengers’ faces instead of checking IDs. These groups say the biometric processes are meant to eliminate friction, save time and reduce lines. The convenience and efficiency of biometric systems mean that you will likely see this sort of thing in more places.

[newsssc]

At least 10 murders in Mexico appear to be linked to arrests of cartel leaders in the United States

The killings of at least 10 people in the northern Mexican state of Sinaloa appear to be linked to infighting within the dominant drug cartel there, confirming fears of repercussions from the July 25 arrest of two top cartel leaders. Last month, Joaquin Guzman Lopeza boss of a faction of the Sinaloa cartel, the Chapitos or “Little Chapos,” the sons of the imprisoned cartel leader Joaquín “El…

[beardedmrbean]

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The U.S. government thanked Mexico for arresting a hyper violent alleged Sinaloa cartel security chief, but according to details released Friday, the detention may have been highly personal for the Mexican army.

Defense Secretary Luis Cresencio Sandoval said Nestor Isidro Pérez Salas, who was arrested Wednesday, had ordered a 2019 attack on an unguarded apartment complex where soldiers’ families lived.

“He was the one who ordered the attack ... against our dependents, our families,” Sandoval said.

The Oct. 17, 2019 attack was a result of a humiliating failed effort to capture Sinaloa cartel leader Ovidio Guzman, one of the sons of imprisoned drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. Pérez Salas served as head of security for Guzman and his brothers, who are collectively known as the “Chapitos.”

Soldiers caught Guzman but later were ordered to release him to avoid bloodshed.

In order to pressure the army to release Guzman, cartel gunmen had surrounded the army families' housing complex in Culiacan, the capital of Sinaloa, and sprayed it with gunfire. They took one soldier hostage, burst into four apartments looking for more potential hostages, and tossed in two hand grenades that failed to explode.

The army had apparently relied on an unwritten rule that soldiers' wives and children were not to be targeted. “It was an area that was not even guarded,” Sandoval said.

In January, when soldiers finally managed to detain Ovidio Guzman, Pérez Salas also allegedly participated in setting off violence that left 30 people dead, including 10 military personnel.

The army was forced to use Black Hawk helicopter gunships against the cartel’s truck-mounted .50-caliber machine guns. Cartel gunmen hit two military aircraft, forcing them to land, and sent gunmen to the city’s airport, where military and civilian aircraft were hit by gunfire.

Sandoval revealed Friday that there had been a special operation that day to get Pérez Salas, but it failed.

The army continued to follow his movements, and later tried to detain him a second time, but “he was able to escape,” Sandoval said.

The third time was a charm; video posted on social media showed that Pérez Salas was surrounded but managed to climb onto the roof of a house before he was caught Wednesday.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration had posted a $3 million reward for the capture of Pérez Salas, though it was unclear if that will be distributed to the army and National Guard forces that caught him this week.

President Joe Biden issued a statement Thursday praising the arrest. U.S. prosecutors have asked that Pérez Salas be extradited — as his boss Ovidio Guzman was in September — to face U.S. drug charges.

“These arrests are testament to the commitment between the United States and Mexico to secure our communities against violence, counter the cartels, and end the scourge of illicit fentanyl that is hurting so many families,” Biden wrote.

But it appears Pérez Salas's arrest was personal for the Mexican army.

“He was also responsible for a series of attacks against military personnel that caused a significant number of casualties,” Sandoval said.

Pérez Salas is wanted on U.S. charges of conspiracy to import and distribute fentanyl in the United States. But he also allegedly left a trail of killings and torture of police and civilians.

An indictment in the Southern District of New York says Pérez Salas allegedly participated in the torture of a Mexican federal agent in 2017. It said he and others tortured the man for two hours, inserting a corkscrew into his muscles, ripping it out and placing hot chiles in the wounds.

According to the indictment, the Ninis — the gang of gunmen led by Pérez Salas and Jorge Figueroa Benitez — carried out other gruesome acts of violence as well.

The Ninis would take captured rivals to ranches owned by the Chapitos for execution, it said.

“While many of these victims were shot, others were fed, dead or alive, to tigers” belonging to the Chapitos, “who raised and kept tigers as pets,” according to the indictment.

And while the Sinaloa cartel does some lab testing on its products, the Ninis conducted more grisly human testing on kidnapped rivals or addicts who are injected until they overdosed.

[mixi31051976]

FBI negoció la entrega del Mayo Zambada con Joaquín Guzmán López, según Ioan Grillo https://www.infobae.com/mexico/2024/08/14/fbi-negocio-la-entrega-del-mayo-zambada-con-joaquin-guzman-lopez-segun-ioan-grillo/

[realtybizblog]

The US Government Puts El Mayo’ & El Chapo’s Son In Custody

Despite Zambada’s arrest, former DEA official Mike Vigil doubts its impact on the drug trade, as someone within the cartel will likely replace him. Vigil believes the arrest is a win for law enforcement but not a big setback for the cartel.