Soldier Accused of Being Hit Man for Drug Cartel

CNN--A U.S. soldier arrested in connection with the killing of a Mexican drug cartel member in El Paso, Texas, allegedly worked as a paid hit man, court records say.

Pfc. Michael Jackson Apodaca, 18, was one of three men arrested Monday in connection with the shooting death of the mid-level drug cartel member who also worked as an informant for the United States, according to a complaint affidavit.

Police identified the other suspects as Ruben Rodriguez Dorado, 30, and Christopher Andrew Duran, 17.

The three men each face one count of capital murder, El Paso police said.
The victim, Jose Daniel Gonzalez Galeana, was shot multiple times in front of his home on May 15.
Duran and Rodriguez told police that Jackson was paid to be the shooter, the affidavit states. Cell phone records, witness statements and El Paso Police detectives corroborated this, according to the document.
Orders to kill Gonzalez came from the same cartel he worked for, the affidavit said. Gonzalez had become a target because the cartel believed he was leaking information to authorities, the document said.
The victim and one of the suspects, Rodriguez, were in the Juarez cartel, based across the border from El Paso, police spokesman Chris Mears told CNN.

Police say Apodaca and Duran were not cartel members, he said.
The three arrested men's phone records showed their approximate locations on the night of the killing, according to court documents. The pattern showed that the suspects were tracking Gonzalez and followed him to the scene of the crime, the affidavit states.
During an interrogation, Rodriguez told investigators that he ordered Gonzalez's execution and that he paid the participants for their role in the killing, the affidavit states.
Apodaca joined the Army in September 2008, according to a statement from Fort Bliss in El Paso. He is a member of the 11th Air Defense Artillery Brigade at Fort Bliss and performs the duties of a Patriot launcher crew member, the statement said.
El Paso County District Court records show that Apodaca was arrested 10 days after Gonzalez's killing and charged with attempted theft of property, a second-degree felony. He posted a $10,000 bond a few days later

Mexico Turns To Humor To Endure Flu Epidemic

Televisa is cutting all "nonessential" kisses from its soap operas. A song called the "Influenza Cumbia" is climbing the charts. Cringe-worthy swine flu jokes are spreading faster than the illness ever could.
As Mexicans lock themselves inside in fear of the virus, they can't help but have a little fun with it as well.
The surgical masks that Mexicans have donned by the millions have become canvases for creativity, with some adorning their protective coverings with painted-on monkey mouths, outsized mustaches or "kissy lips."
Newspapers offer smiley cutouts for people to paste to their masks, and some drivers have fashioned masks for their cars.
Dog lovers walk the streets of Mexico City with matching masks for their pooches, though doctors have yet to confirm that chihuahua-to-chihuahua transmission is a major public health threat.

FULL STORY HERE

Bird Flu Q & A

Mexico is contending with an outbreak of swine flu, suspected in the deaths of dozens of people and sickening perhaps 1,000. In the United States, at least eight cases have been confirmed with the infection, all of them in California and Texas; only one person was hospitalized. Here are some questions and answers about the illness:
Q. What is swine flu?
A. Swine flu is a respiratory illness in pigs caused by a virus. The swine flu virus routinely causes outbreaks in pigs but doesn't usually kill many of them.
Q. Can people get swine flu?
A. Swine flu viruses don't usually infect humans. There have been occasional cases, usually among people who've had direct contact with infected pigs, such as farm workers. "We've seen swine influenza in humans over the past several years, and in most cases, it's come from direct pig contact. This seems to be different," said Dr. Arnold Monto, a flu expert with the University of Michigan.
Q. Can it spread among humans?
A. There have been cases of the virus spreading from human to human, probably in the same way as seasonal flu, through coughing and sneezing by infected people.
Q. What are the symptoms of swine flu?
A. The symptoms are similar to those of regular flu — fever, cough, fatigue, lack of appetite.
Q. Is the same swine flu virus making people sick in Mexico and the U.S.?
A. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the Mexican virus samples match the U.S. virus. The virus is a mix of human virus, bird virus from North America and pig viruses from North America, Europe and Asia.
Q. Are there drugs to treat swine flu in humans?
A. There are four different drugs approved in the U.S. to treat the flu, but the new virus has shown resistance to the two oldest. The CDC recommends the use of the flu drugs Tamiflu and Relenza.
Q. Does a regular flu shot protect against swine flu?
A. The seasonal flu vaccine used in the U.S. this year won't likely provide protection against the latest swine flu virus. There is a swine flu vaccine for pigs but not for humans.
Q. Should residents of California or Texas do anything special?
A. The CDC recommends routine precautions to prevent the spread of infectious diseases: wash your hands often, cover your nose and mouth when you cough or sneeze, avoid close contact with sick people. If you are sick, stay at home and limit contact with others.
Q. What about traveling to Mexico?
A. The CDC has not warned Americans against traveling to Mexico but advises that they be aware of the illnesses there and take precautions to protect against infections, like washing their hands.

Obama To Name Border Czar

By Alicia Cruz
Senior writer
theblackurbantimes.com
It's official, President Obama is set to name a former official of the Department of Justice to be the Southwest border czar. During the President's visit to Mexico this week, he will meet with Mexican President Felipe Calderon to discuss the problem of violence along the border and illegal immigration. In 2006, President Calderon initiated a national crackdown on organized crime and violence amongst the drug cartels. The crackdown led to nearly 9,000 deaths and an increase in other violent crimes that have spilled over into the United States.

Video: Drug Cartels are getting guns from the United States

Mayor of Phoenix,Arizona wants build up on border w/Mexico

Phoenix mayor welcomes border buildup
By JACQUES BILLEAUD, Associated Press Writer Jacques Billeaud, Associated Press Writer Wed Mar 25, 7:27 pm ET

PHOENIX – Posing as police officers, gunmen in bulletproof vests pulled over a motorist, took him to a Phoenix house, bound him with zip ties and held him for a $30,000 ransom in an abduction that may have been carried out by Mexican drug smugglers.

The abduction earlier this month was one of nearly 1,000 kidnappings reported in Phoenix over the past three years in a surge of lawlessness so terrifying that the mayor welcomed the news this week that Washington is sending more manpower and equipment to the Mexican border, 180 miles to the south.

"It's a good first step, but we'll need to do more," said Mayor Phil Gordon, who had pleaded with Congress for help.

The Obama administration announced Tuesday that it will dispatch nearly 500 more federal agents to the border, along with X-ray machines and drug-sniffing dogs, to stop the spillover of violence into the U.S. from Mexican drug- and immigrant-smugglers.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said that the move is just a first step and that National Guardsmen might also be sent, something Texas Gov. Rick Perry has requested.

On Wednesday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton paid her first visit to Mexico and pledged that the U.S. will help Mexico fight its murderous drug cartels, a battle that has cost more than 7,000 lives south of the border.
click here for the full story

U.S. is serious about dealing with the Mexican Drug Problem

U.S. preparing integrated plan on Mexico drug war
By David Morgan David Morgan Tue Mar 17, 6:39 pm ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. government is working on an integrated plan to address Mexico's escalating war with drug traffickers and could complete work on the initiative as early as this week, a top U.S. military official said on Tuesday.

Air Force Gen. Gene Renuart, who oversees U.S. military interests on both sides of the U.S.-Mexican border as the head of Northern Command, told the Senate that the plan would likely involve all agencies of government including law enforcement and the military.

Among the priorities are likely to be measures to deal with violence that spills over the U.S. border, the flow of small arms from the United States to Mexico, support for the Mexican military, tightening border security and the spreading presence of Mexican cartels in U.S. cities.

The military is already employing border security techniques mastered in the war zones of Iraq and Afghanistan, including unmanned aerial vehicles and technology capable of locating underground tunnels.

But an interagency government team, meeting this week at the Department of Homeland Security, is expected to produce a broad new initiative to confront a drug war that has killed thousands in Mexico and spilled over into U.S. cities such as Phoenix in a surge of kidnappings and other gang-related violence.
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'El Chapo' Makes Forbes' Billionaire Club List

Joaquin Guzman Loera, head of the Sinaloa Cartel Got Forbes' Attention


Net Worth:$1.0 bil
Fortune:self made
Source:Drug Trafficking (Traficante Droga)
Age:54
Country Of Citizenship:Mexico
Residence:Sinaloa State
Industry:Shipping
Education:NA
Marital Status:NA

MEXICO CITY, Mexico (CNN) -- What do software mogul Bill Gates and banking investor Warren Buffett have in common with wanted Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" (in english: Shorty) Guzman Loera? They are all featured in Forbes magazine's world's billionaires report as "self-made" billionaires.
Guzman Loera, whose nickname means Shorty, escaped from a Mexican prison in 2001. He heads the powerful Sinaloa cartel, investigators say. Authorities on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border blame the Sinaloa and other cartels for a surge in violence in the region.
He ranked 701th on Forbes' yearly report, with an estimated fortune of $1 billion.
Mexican Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora expressed outrage at the publication and described Forbes' calculations on Guzman Loera's fortune as mere "speculation."
"I will never accept that a criminal could be recognized as someone distinguished, even if it is by a magazine like Forbes," Medina Mora said to local media during a drug traffic summit Thursday in Vienna, Austria.
Forbes is "comparing the deplorable activity of a criminal wanted in Mexico and abroad with that of honest businessmen," he said. Mexican President Felipe Calderon -- speaking at a business summit Thursday in Mexico City -- alluded to the report, saying, "It is very sad the intensification of a campaign, which seems to me, has been launched against Mexico."
Calderon added, "Public opinion and now even magazines not only attack and lie about the situation in Mexico but now also praise criminals. In Mexico, it is considered a crime to praise criminals."
Guzman Loera has a three-decade history of drug trade spanning North, Central and South America. The Forbes profile of Guzman Loera reported that "the U.S. government is offering a $5 million reward" for the billionaire's capture.
Forbes magazine was not available for comment, but its article offers a clue as to why Guzman Loera made the list.
"So is there anywhere one can still make a fortune these days? The 38 newcomers offer a few clues. Among the more notable new billionaires are Mexican Joaquin Guzman Loera, one of the biggest suppliers of cocaine to the U.S."

Midwife births raise questions about citizenship

If you were delivered by a midwife...and you're Latino, you may not be considered American?

ALAMO, Texas - The citizenship of hundreds, possibly thousands, of people who insist they are Americans is being called into question because they were delivered by midwives near the U.S.-Mexico border.

The federal government's doubts have arisen as many people in the border region try to meet a June 1 deadline to obtain U.S. passports so they can freely cross from one country to the other.

The people delivered by midwives have documents such as birth certificates and medical records.

But the agency that grants passports is challenging the credibility of those papers, citing a history of some midwives fraudulently registering Mexican-born babies as American.

Looking over to our Mexican neighbors while driving on Eastbound

Interstate 8 in Imperial County, CA. The border is just at the electric power lines.

The passport applications being questioned include those of children of Mexican women who crossed the border to give birth in the United States, and even employees of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency who were born on the border and now work to protect it.

The government has "effectively reduced to second-class citizenship status an entire swath of passport applicants based solely on their being of Mexican or Latino descent and having been delivered by midwives in nonhospital settings in Southwestern border states," according to a federal lawsuit against the State Department filed last year in the border town of McAllen, about 120 miles south of Corpus Christi.

Full Story Here

Hombres verdaderos comer chicharrón!

Real men DO eat Chicharrón...and they love it!

Super bowl of chili at Rosa Mexicano's Real Men Cook Mexican series

By Erasmo Guerra

We know real men don’t eat quiche — but what about pork rinds {chicharrón}?
Joe Quintana, executive chef at Rosa Mexicano at Lincoln Center, is determined to teach men how to get their game on in the kitchen.
Kicking off the restaurant’s yearlong "Flavors of Mexico" series, the Brooklyn-raised, 38-year-old Puerto Rican led a class last weekend in Union Square on putting together a Super Bowl party.
"Real men like a kick," Quintana said, as he sauteed onion, garlic and chili powder.
Quintana’s recipes included bacon-wrapped shrimp and seasoned chicharrón pork rind that made you forget the 5-foot hero sandwiches and buckets of barbecue chicken wings that pass for game day food.

Full story here