Mexico warns church on drug-tainted money
A spokesman for President Vicente Fox on Tuesday warned that no one may accept illegal funds, responding to a Roman Catholic bishop’s statement that the church has no obligation to investigate whether donations come from drug trafficking.
The exchange between church and state officials came the week after Pope Benedict XVI lamented that Mexican society was troubled by corruption, drug trafficking and organized crime, during a meeting with bishops from northern and central Mexico at the Vatican.
“At no time, under no condition, may anyone receive illegal money,” said Fox spokesman Ruben Aguilar. “No one may in this way aid in the laundering of money, and nobody can be in favor of organized crime acting with impunity.”
Aguilar was responding to comments made Monday by Roman Catholic Bishop Ramon Godinez, of the central state of Aguascalientes, who said that donations linked to drug trafficking are not out of the ordinary – and that it’s not the church’s responsibility to investigate their origin.
More: edition.cnn.com
Past examples of Mexico's Catholic Churc
A Mexican bishop's acknowledgment that drug traffickers often make church donations is only the most recent example of Catholic Church links to organized crime. Among others:
_ 1997: A priest at Mexico City's Basilica of Guadalupe, a shrine to Mexico's patron saint, the Virgin of Guadalupe, is criticized for speaking admiringly of charitable donations made by two known drug traffickers. His comments spark suspicions over possible drug-tainted donations to the church, which church leaders deny.
_ 2002: A former Mexican attorney general publishes book accusing churchmen of acting as intermediaries between the government and a major narcotics
Mexico charges seven cops with kidnapping
Mexican prosecutors announced Thursday they have filed kidnapping and organize crime charges against seven police officers accused of protecting hit men working for the feared Tijuana-based Arellano Felix drug cartel.
The men served in the police department in Ensenada, a tourist town 75 kilometers (45 miles) south of the California border, and they allegedly kidnapped people involved in the drug trade and held them for ransom, the Attorney General's Office said in a press statement.
They also protected members of the "Black Commando," a group of hit men working for the Arellano Felix cartel, authorities said.
They are
Mexico warns of long drug fight, more deaths ahead
Mexico warned on Tuesday of a long fight against drug traffickers and more deaths among security forces after two police chiefs were shot dead near Texas.
A spokesman for President Vicente Fox said the fatal shootings on Monday would not deter the government in its "frontal attack against organized crime."
More than 1,000 people died last year as gangs battled for control of lucrative smuggling routes to Texas from northeast Mexico, many in Nuevo Laredo across from Laredo, Texas.
"The Mexican state will emerge victorious, but there will still be a long period of conflict
Collaborator of Mexico Drug Lord Sentenced
An alleged cohort of imprisoned drug lord Osiel Cardenas was sentenced Thursday to 44 years in prison on drug-related charges, authorities said.
Adan Javier Medrano was convicted of smuggling drug money from the United States into Mexico and distributing cocaine north of the border, the federal Attorney Generals Office said in a news release.
Medrano served as a gunman for Cardenas Gulf Cartel, which moved tons of cocaine and marijuana into the U.S., and was in charge of drug-related activites in Chiapas state and Guatemala, the release said.
More:
Mexico to Let Police Pursue Drug Smugglers
Mexico changed its constitution on Monday to allow state and local police to pursue drug traffickers, removing a major stumbling block in anti-drug efforts that had long been the exclusive realm of federal officers.
The measure is part of a package of bills that includes the possibility of using millions of dollars in seized drug money to fund rewards for the capture of traffickers; the blocking of cell phone calls from inside prisons and the registration of bulletproof cars frequently used by drug traffickers.
``We are multiplying our power in an extraordinary way,'' Eduardo
US Ambassador in Mexico Warns of Increasing Crime
The U.S. ambassador to Mexico is warning U.S. citizens traveling in Mexico to use caution because of increasing violence and criminal activity, especially along the 3000-kilometer border. The warning comes at a time when people in one border town are observing an especially painful anniversary related to cross-border crime.
In a statement, Ambassador Tony Garza says violence in the border region threatens both Mexicans and Americans and their way of life. He says violence related to narcotics smuggling has claimed 1,500 Mexican lives this year.
He says that, just last week, six young
Mexico warns tourists in Cancun of threat from Hurricane Emily
Mexican officials issued a hurricane warning Saturday for much of the eastern Yucatan peninsula, including the resort of Cancun, as Hurricane Emily barreled across the Caribbean south of Jamaica.
Authorities already were recommending tourists leave much of Mexico's Caribbean coast as a precaution.
While evacuation had not yet been ordered, the Cancun city government met with local bus companies to arrange transportation for tourists away from the low-lying spit of land that houses much of Cancun's hotel sector, which lies almost directly in the catagory 4 hurricane's path.
Mexico issued a hurricane
You can visit Tonantzintla and Acatepec from Cholula main square with a pesero and you might get to see the (real) lion sitting outside the black and white castle-type building en route. Or you can take a combi from Cholula to Acatepec or to Tonantzintla (marked Chilipo or Chipanco, ask which combi goes to the church you want) for US$0.55 from junction of Avenue 5 and Avenue Miguel Aleman. You can walk the 1 km to the other church, and then take a bus or combi back to Cholula or Puebla. Acatepec from CAPU in Puebla, US$0.45, 30 minutes, bus
Mexico sells drug loot online
A crackdown on criminals can translate into cash for the Mexican government when items that qualify are auctioned off.
Mexico is the first government to use eBay technology to take bids on some of property seized from bad guys, tax cheats, drug traffickers and money launderers.
Cars are the most plentiful and popular items, and there's a wide range of models available.
"The most expensive has to be a 911 Porche, I guess," said Francisco Farfan, a spokesman for SAE, Mexico's federal agency charged with disposing the seized property. "We sold a couple of X-Type Jaguars;
Prosecution failures mount in Mexico
Many, many Mexicans thought they saw Rene Bejarano getting caught red-handed taking bribes. Now they have learned they didn't.
The former top aide to Mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador walked out of jail last week after a judge dismissed money-laundering charges against him, despite a secretly recorded video that showed him taking tens of thousands of dollars from a city contractor and stuffing it into suitcases and his jacket pockets.
The video, first broadcast on a morning TV news show hosted by a clown, ignited a corruption scandal last year that tainted the popular mayor's presidential ambitions. But
