Chris Simcox
Unidentified Military Unit Caught Crossing US Border
Fri Jan 30 19:59:41 2004
64.140.158.68

Source:
The Tombstone Tumbleweed
http://www.tombstonetumbleweed.com/

Unidentified Military Unit Caught Crossing US Border
http://www.tombstonetumbleweed.com/TumbleJan2904/Border%20Politics.htm#Border

By Chris Simcox
1-30-4

[Photo]

http://www.tombstonetumbleweed.com/TumbleJan2904/image/MilitarywalkingawayM16visablescan1299.jpg
Four members of a 22 man squad of “soldiers” walk away after encounter with journalists on the U.S. Mexico border in Cochise County Arizona.

Well before dawn broke on a chilly Saturday morning volunteers of Civil Homeland Defense were in position atop ridges along the San Pedro River scouting for groups of people entering the country illegally. Through binoculars this reporter spotted two military type vehicles parked at an abandoned ranch just across the "Line", the U.S. - Mexico border.

With me that morning was an independent photo journalist from Texas; we'll call him Mike. Also along with our patrol was an independent video journalist, Caesar from Texas. The two had been with us on many patrols and have documented hours of our operations and numerous encounters with illegal invaders. That morning they finally had the opportunity to see what we had told them about, they got their "money shot", what they had been waiting for: drug dealers, illegals and a run-in with the legendary rogue para-military groups that "patrol" the Mexican side of the border.

I asked the two if they wanted to move in closer; they were of course eager to get as close as possible. I'm sure they were not exactly prepared for what happened next.

We loaded into my truck and drove to within a couple hundred yards of the line; I parked the truck behind some trees and thick brush wanting to move in as quietly as possible.

I took the two journalists through the brush, parallel to the border fence and came up through a wash in a low area that was hidden by a dirt berm. We kneeled behind the berm and peered over the top for a perfect view of the ranch. We were as close as we could get - right on the fence.

Just as I peered over the top of the berm, I heard rustling in the wash to my right. Suddenly three armed men appeared from the brush. They moved quickly to the fence. One slung his rifle over his shoulder and leaned over to put a leg through the fence. We were no more than 25 feet away. As the young man leaned over he turned his head and looked right along the fence and right into my eyes.

It was one of those moments - the pregnant pause - all three seemed as surprised to see us as we were to see them.

With haste the three men moved away from the fence and back into the thicket of mesquite and tall grass, shouting to others as they noisily retreated back towards the ranch. My attention was then drawn to an area only a few feet away directly in front of me. It was apparent there was another squad of three men; they also immediately retreated back up the hill. Six men emerged from the back sight line of the thicket and all ran the 300 yards back to the vehicles.

We could see the men run to what was apparently the leader of the squad where they conversed for a few seconds. A moment later 10 of the men jumped into one of the troop transport vehicles and drove down the hill in our direction. They stopped directly in front of us on the dirt road that parallels the border fence on the Mexican side.

Four men with rifles, M-16's and FAL's, jumped from the truck and approached us on the fence. The cameras were rolling - on both sides. As the men approached, one of them was taking photographs of us.

The leader approached, I said, "Hola, como estas; buenos dias." He asked immediately if we were immigration. I told him no. He then told us in Spanish it was prohibited for us to film them. We told him we were media and we had the right to film. He became a bit agitated at that point and asked for more specifics about who we were and why we were here. I asked him the same question. He told us they were out here protecting the border - just doing their job. We asked if they were military, they did not respond. The leader seemed perplexed about who we were and again asked what business we had in the area. We again replied we were journalists covering the illegal immigration story. The leader again said we should not be in this area.

None of the uniforms the men were wearing had patches, names or insignias of any kind that would identify them as official Federales or Mexican military personnel.

Two of the men standing next to the leader kept their weapons in the ready position; the other had his rifle slung over his shoulder. The leader again firmly asked us to stop filming. Caesar and I continued to film with video cameras; Mike obeyed and lowered his 35 millimeter with zoom lens. The leader told us we were "annoying and bothering his group." He said we should leave the area. We did not reply. He said "Gracias," and told us to have a good day and returned to the vehicle and drove back up the hill to the ranch.

Moments later a pickup truck with the back cargo area covered came down the road from Naco towards the ranch on the Mexico side. The vehicle first slowed when the driver spotted us, then sped away towards the ranch. As the driver passed the soldiers he waved and continued past the ranch and drove behind it.

Both troop vehicles immediately loaded up and followed the truck on the road behind the ranch and out of view of our cameras.

The leader told us they were patrolling the border, yet just a few buildings away about half-a-dozen plain clothed civilians were milling around a small adobe house tucked in the middle of the multi-building compound. The house has been in use for years as the drop off, staging area for groups of people who enter the United States illegally using the San Pedro River Valley as their guide north.

Starting three hours after the face- to- face encounter with the armed squad of men, CHD volunteers assisted Border Patrol with locating a group of nine illegal entrants a half mile north of the Mexican ranch. Two hours later another group of 10 illegals was rounded up by Border Patrol after being tracked by CHD volunteers.

As of noon on Wednesday over 500 people have been documented coming through the same area. Most used the ranch as their staging point.

The men dressed in olive drab uniforms are still there too.

Click below to view more pictures
http://www.tombstonetumbleweed.com/TumbleJan2904/Border%20Politics.htm#Border

====================

Mexican Police Held in Killings
Work for Drug Traffickers Suspected

By Mary Jordan and Kevin Sullivan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, January 30, 2004; Page A11

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico, Jan. 29 -- Thirteen Mexican state police officers are being questioned and four more are being sought in connection with the killings of 11 people found buried at a house used by drug traffickers in this border city, federal officials said Thursday.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61716-2004Jan29.html

The officers, including a state police commander, are suspected of conspiring with drug traffickers in what the federal government's top organized-crime prosecutor called an "extreme breakdown" of law enforcement in Chihuahua state.

"Instead of protecting and guaranteeing the safety of the population, they are openly working with organized crime," Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos, the deputy attorney general, said of the police. "This is serious, and we are not going to tolerate it."

Human rights advocates and citizens groups have complained for years that violent drug cartels operate with virtual impunity here because of their illicit ties to police. But high-ranking officials have rarely acknowledged the problem so bluntly.

Attorney General Rafael Macedo de La Concha said Thursday that everyone questioned so far had implicated police officers in the killings. He promised a "full investigation" and said, "We will get to where we need to get to."

Three people were arrested Tuesday and charged with helping in the killing of the 11 men, who were found suffocated or shot in what police described as violence either within a drug gang or between rival gangs.

Alejandro Garcia Cardenas, whose wife reportedly rented the house where the bodies were found, was arrested with his wife and son as they tried to flee over the border into El Paso. Vasconcelos said Garcia Cardenas confessed that he had helped with numerous killings since January 2003, acting on orders from drug trafficker Humberto Santillan Tabares and a state police commander who was working with him.

Santillan was arrested earlier this month in El Paso on drug charges, Mexican officials said.

Vasconcelos said Garcia Cardenas told investigators there were more undiscovered bodies, prompting authorities to search at least six other houses here. Vasconcelos said Garcia Cardenas was cooperating with investigators "because he preferred going to jail than to the grave," indicating that he knew the drug gang was "looking to kill him."

The corruption allegations against the police are "not a surprise at all," said Lorenza Benavides, co-director of the Association of Relatives and Friends of Disappeared People, a Juarez group that represents the families of nearly 200 men said to have disappeared since 1993. Benavides said most of the men were last seen with police, who she suspects abducted and possibly killed them. She said the motives were unclear.

"We almost feel that it should not just be called corruption, it's actually protection of the criminals," she said. "We see local, state and federal police protecting these people. And we have never, ever seen anything done to stop it."

Police corruption has been a key factor in the violence and lawlessness increasingly apparent in this city of 1.2 million people. In addition to being home to an infamous drug cartel bearing its name, Juarez has gained international notoriety because of the violent deaths of more than 300 women in the past decade, about 100 of whom died in rape-homicides that analysts say fit the pattern of a serial killer.

Rights groups from around the world, along with the families of the victims, have repeatedly charged that corrupt and inept police have botched investigations, destroyed evidence and tried to pin the crimes on innocent scapegoats.

State officials, led by Chihuahua's governor, Patricio Martinez, have vigorously defended their performance, triggering further complaints and marches. Members of the U.S. Congress have visited Juarez to protest, and Mexican news media reported this week that actresses Jane Fonda, Sally Field and Christine Lahti plan a visit next month to add their voices.

Rights groups have demanded that President Vicente Fox order federal officials to take over the investigations. Although the case has been a major embarrassment for Fox, he has resisted taking it over, noting that murder is a state crime under Mexican law. The federal government, looking for ways to prosecute, has now taken jurisdiction in 25 cases that include violations of federal law.

Since Fox took office in 2000, federal officials have fired numerous federal customs agents, police officers and other law enforcement agents suspected of corruption. Many federal agencies are now using new background checks and polygraph screenings. Elite anti-organized crime units have been created in the attorney general's office, the police and the military.

But corruption continues to surface. Los Zetas, a military unit formed to combat drug traffickers, switched its allegiance and now provides guards and assassins for drug cartels, according to prosecutors. Police are routinely found to be collaborating with organized criminals.

Mauro Conde, spokesman for the Chihuahua state attorney general's office, said about 300 Chihuahua state police officers have been fired in the past two years for offenses ranging from general misconduct to kidnapping.

"In order to professionalize, we have to eliminate the elements that cause doubts about the police force and its work," Conde said. He said many officers are "blinded" by the huge amounts of money they are offered to cooperate with drug traffickers. He said others are simply intimidated by drug dealers who offer them a choice: Cooperate or be killed.

Sullivan reported from Mexico City.