Police chief missing, several killed around Mexico

The police chief of the Pueblo Nuevo district in the north-central state of Durango was reported missing on 16 September - and may have been kidnapped - El Universal reported on 19 September, citing statements by the Durango judiciary. David Barrera González was a policeman for 15 years and the district's police chief for three months. His predecessor was shot dead in late May in the ciy of El Salto in Durango, as reported in newspapers. Around Mexico: a body was found on 17 or 18 September, wrapped in a cloth with a message from cartels in the central city of Zacatecas, the Zacatecas state prosecutor Arturo Nahle García stated. Four bodies were found at unspecified dates in four districts of the state of Morelos south of Mexico City, while four individuals were killed in Acapulco on Mexico's Pacific coast, and one in the northern city of Juárez, El Universal reported on 19 September.

Over 130 prisoners escape Mexican jail

One hundred and thirty two "federal" and local convicts broke out of the Piedras Negras prison in Castaños in the northern Mexican state of Coahuila on 17 September, though state authorities insisted none was "highly dangerous," the daily La Crónica de Hoy reported on 18 September. The prisoners reportedly drilled a hole into the prison's carpentry workshop. Guards were being investigated as the breakout occurred in the morning and the list of prisoners was read out as complete in the afternoon. The interior ministry announced it would send troops to help the state of Coahuila find the convicts, Notimex reported on 17 September. Four people were reported killed that evening in the town of Castaños as police heading toward the prison were fired on; the incident was thought related to the breakout though it was not clear who died in the shootout. Police reportedly arrested one of the convicts in Castaños that night.

Argentine "middle class" protest Kirchner policies

Thousands of Argentines protested in Buenos Aires and other cities on 13 September, banging metal pots and pans in the Latin American tradition, against crime rates and the leftist policies of President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, media reported. Her officials dismissed the protests as confined to a wealthy minority and "addicts" of the country's right-wing dictatorship of the 1970s. Tens of thousands were thought to have protested at the invitation of Internet pages such as Twitter or Facebook, venting frustration with issues including foreign-exchange controls, insecurity and rumoured plans for constitutional reforms to allow Kirchner to serve a third presidential term from 2015, Reuters reported. There is a two-term limit set by the law, and Reuters observed the government had not so far declared any plan to reform the constitution. The reactions of the president's allies were almost contemptuous: Senator Aníbal Fernández of the Justicialist Party - the political home of several past presidents - said the protests were "put together by professionals" and "fake identities" on the Internet had convened protesters, the daily Clarín reported on 17 September. The head of the rights group Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo (Asociación Madres de la Plaza de Mayo) Hebe de Bonafini issued a communiqué published on 16 September in Tiempo Argentino denouncing the protesters as people who had "cheered" the military dictatorship and were "happy" to see it "kidnap and kill" its opponents;" they "are disgusting," her statement read. Bonafini told a radio station on 17 September that "the people are something else. The pots they were banging were not like the ones we have at home, made of aluminium, dented and charred," La Nación reported. The government's Cabinet Chief Juan Manuel Abal Medina said on 14 September that the government was not bothered by the protests. He told a television programme on 16 September that protesters were "sectors that do not tolerate egalitarian policies" or the government's "inclusive project" meant to benefit "40 million Argentines," La Nación reported. He said Argentina did not have "like elsewhere in the world a strong right-wing party to channel certain demands," for which reason its partisans formerly turned to "the barracks" - the army - and now use "the mass media."

Child killer lynched in Guatemalan town

An angry mob beat and burned to death a man who apparently killed two schoolchildren with a machete on 12 September, in the north-central Guatemalan town of Tactic, the Honduran daily La Prensa reported on 15 September. Witnesses said 35 or 40-year-old Julio Saquil entered a school and slit the troats of an eight-year-old girl and 13-year-old boy, before furious staff and locals seized and lynched him inside the school. Officials identified him as having a criminal record, Reuters reported on 13 September. Hours later, a mob publicly beat and almost lynched four individuals suspected of being thieves or accomplices of Saquil, though these were finally handed over to police, Guatemala's Siglo 21 reported on 14 September. The United Nations System in Guatemala deplored the killings on 14 September and urged the Guatemalan state to act against criminal violence, the Cuban website Prensa Latina reported. The website cited a local rights body Grupo de Apoyo Mutuo (GAM) as counting 4,899 homicides in Guatemala in the period January-31 August 2012, apparently six per cent less than the same period in 2011. GAM observed that the government of Otto Pérez Molina, elected in 2011, was faltering in its promised bid to significantly reduce crime. The government reportedly envisaged a 20 per cent reduction in crime in 2012 compared to 2011. Meanwhile 180 or more suspected criminals were lynched around Guatemala in 2011, Reuters reported. The education ministry closed the school in Tactic indefinitely, while staff and pupils were to receive counselling, Siglo 21 reported.

Policemen attacked in southern Colombia

A grenade attack on a police patrol injured three policemen and "totally destroyed" their car in southern Colombia, El Espectador reported on 16 September, citing police statements. The ambush in the district of La Hormiga in the department of Putumayo was perpetrated at an unspecified date by "heavily armed" individuals police suspected were of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. Separately, authorities confiscated 12 tonnes of cocaine and marijuana around Colombia in raids and operations over three days, EFE reported on 16 September. Operations undertaken by the anti-narcotics police (DIRAN) also yielded 42 tonnes of "controlled chemical substances," presumably used as or to produce narcotics.

Mexico's future president to visit American states

Enrique Peña Nieto was to begin a tour of Latin American states on 17 September and scheduled to meet with Guatemala's President Otto Pérez Molina on his first stop, El Universal reported. Collaboration in fighting organized crime was to be a leading theme in his conversations, the daily stated. Peña Nieto was to travel to Colombia on 18 September, Brasil 19-20 September, Chile 20-21, Argentina 21-22 and conclude his trip in Peru on 24 September.

"Rapist" kidnapped, tortured and "crucified" in Mexico

A suspected rapist was forcibly taken from police custody and apparently tortured, castrated and murdered before being "crucified" on a roadside pole in the district of Contepec in Michoacán, western Mexico, the Notimex news agency reported on 7 September, citing the Prosecutor-General's office. A note nailed to his chest - apparently with a pick-axe - stated that "this happened to me for being a rapist" and warned the same would happen to "chatterers," presumably anyone informing on the incident, the review Proceso was cited as reporting. The 24-year-old victim had been charged with an armed rape attack on 3 September; he was reportedly kidnapped by armed men when police took him for a medical checkup and found dead on 7 September.

Sixteen bodies found in northern Mexico

Mexican soldiers found on 14 September nine bodies hanging from a bridge in Nuevo Laredo, a city bordering the United States, EFE reported that day. Some belonged to individuals earlier reported to have been kidnapped in a bar here. The same day troops found seven bodies by a road in the district of San Fernando in the north-eastern state of Tamaulipas, CNN reported. The bodies were of middle-aged men, with hands tied and gunshot wounds, the Tamaulipas prosecutor's office stated. Spain's El Pais reported on 16 September that authorities were increasingly attributing a recent splurge in violence in parts of Mexico - especially in August - to a rift within The Zetas, Mexico's most violent drug cartel. A suspected conflict had emerged between the established Zeta leader Heriberto Lazcano Lazcano and his former deputy Miguel Angel Treviño Morales - El Z-40 - cited in reports in late August as seeking Lazcano's overthrow.

Bribery charges stain Venezuelan campaign

A day after Venezuelan presidential candidate Henrique Capriles protested that supporters of President Hugo Chávez were trying to undermine the opposition with bribes ahead of October's elections, state television broadcast purported footage of an opposition politician taking bribes. A member of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) Julio Chávez accused the opposition on 13 September of breaking election laws and engaging in criminal conduct, and urged a parliamentary investigation of the incident, Europa Press reported. Pictures had shown Juan Carlos Caldera of the Mesa de la Unidad Democrática coalition led by Capriles accepting money for an unspecified "task" and apparently arranging a meeting between Capriles and an unidentified foreign financial backer. Capriles immediately expelled Caldera from his team, saying he had "marginalised" himself from the opposition's "project," Europa Press reported on 14 September. Caldera was also expelled from his party Primero de Justicia. Capriles told a press conference on 13 September that he would not give in to "blackmail" or "pressures from anyone," and promised honest government if elected. "I have been and will always be an open book. I am not here to defend the interests of any group," he said, adding that state "resources will be administered with complete transparency and efficiency" if he becomes president. Caldera separately admitted he had received money but said this was a trap tendered by Wilmer Ruperti, an oil magnate linked to President Chávez.

Colombian guerrillas name peace negotiators

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) named on 13 September their five main negotiators in peace talks with the Colombian state scheduled for October and intended to end decades of civil conflict in Colombia, the Associated Press reported, citing comments made in Habana by an unnamed FARC spokesman. The FARC's "plenipotentiary" negotiators were by their noms de guerre: Iván Márquez, Ricardo Téllez, Andrés París, Marco León Calarcá and Simón Trinidad. Five other envoys would attend talks without negotiating powers. Trinidad - or Ricardo Palmera - is serving a 60-year jail prison term in the United States for the kidnapping of three US citizens. Márquez or Luciano Marín Arango, took part in previous talks with the state and is a member of the FARC's six-member secretariat or politburo.

Colombian army kills guerrilla chieftain

Troops shot dead at an unspecified date in southern Colombia the deputy-head of Front Three of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), sought for his role in several deadly attacks on troops and police, Europa Press reported on 11 September, citing a defence ministry communiqué. Ramiro Guerrero Vargas, or Samuel, the Front's finance chief, was killed in a raid in the district of La Montañita in the Caquetá department. Troops also arrested a guerrilla dubbed Vladimir and freed a teenager or child who was handed over to child welfare officials. The ministry said 60 FARC guerrillas had been "neutralised" - killed or arrested - thus far in September.

Mexican political leader abandons leftist coalition

Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Mexico's combative leftist politician and runner-up in July's bitterly contested general elections announced on 9 September that he would "amicably" leave the left-wing coalition he led in July and turn the National Regeneration Movement he formed in 2006 into a formal political party, El Universal reported on 10 September. López Obrador told supporters gathered in the capital's historic square the Zócalo that this was no split and he was leaving "in peace." He thanked members of his former party the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD) for their work and the trust given him, and observed he had given the PRD "his best" for 23 years. But he said it was "his task in this new stage in my life" to devote "all my imagination and work to the cause of Mexico's transformation." He insisted he would not recognize the court ruling confirming Enrique Peña Nieto of the Institutional Revolutionary Party as winner of the elections and Mexico's next president. The Progressive Coalition or Movement that backed López Obrador's presidential candidacy consisted of the PRD, the Labour Party (Partido del Trabajo, PT) and the Citizens Movement (Movimiento Ciudadano, MC). López Obrador formed the Movimiento de Regeneración Nacional (Morena) after the 2006 elections, which he narrowly lost to the conservative Felipe Calderón. He said it would be henceforth the base of his political activities. Attending the gathering were allied politicians including heads of the PT and MC, Alberto Anaya Gutiérrez and Luis Walton Aburto, but not Mexico City's PRD mayor Marcelo Ebrard. The new formation was to hold a national congress on 19-20 November.

Murders spoil "farse" ceasefire of Salvadorean gangs

The discovery outside San Salvador of the bodies of five students likely murdered by gangsters last June has belied the ceasefire declared last March by El Salvador's two main gangs the Maras, though many insist it reduced murders in 2012, the Associated Press reported on 9 September. The students were reported missing on 21 June and found dead in July in Santa Tecla, a district west of the capital; authorities attributed the massacre to the Mara Salvatrucha and believe the teenagers were murdered for refusing to join them. Officials and observers were now divided over whether or not the ceasefire had effectively reduced crime in El Salvador. AP cited the justice ministry as declaring that murders dropped 34 per cent in January-August 2012 compared to the same period in 2011, from 2,874 to 1,894. The state coroner (Instituto de Medicina Legal) reportedly registered a 31-per-cent drop in murders in this period - from 2,839 to 1,949. But the figures were apparently not flawless: The ministry declared its figures to be based on "cases investigated" while the coroner used reported disappearances. The latter cautioned however that it was not authorised to investigate such reports while Justice Minister David Munguía Payés observed to AP that people often failed to retract complaints when disappeared individuals returned. Certain experts expressed skepticism: Carlos Ponce, a criminologist working with the prosecutor-general's office, told AP he thought the gangs were continuing their activities and "continuing to kill" - perhaps with greater discretion - and said he suspected "manipulation" of Munguía's figures. Another observer, Max Manwaring of the US War University in Pennsylvania, qualified the ceasefire as a "farse" and said it was difficult to count murders when officials could not investigate crimes in parts of El Salvador controlled by the gangs. The former guerrilla fighter and current ceasefire mediator Rául Mijango attributed the killings to unidentified vigilantes who he said were trying to ruin the ceasefire between the Maras by killing Maras. AP's field inquiries and conversations with members of the public suggested that the intimidating authority of the Maras over localities had not diminished. The agency gave the first names of the students believed murdered by the Maras last June, as authorised by police: 15-year-old Kevin Alexis, 16-year-old Jonathan Alexander, 16-year-old José Roberto, and Fernando Alexander and Jonathan B. both aged 18.

Colombia and guerrillas confirm peace talks

The Colombian state and the communist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) confirmed on 4 September that a "road map" - a General Agreement for the Termination of the Conflict - had been signed for future talks, which many hope would end decades of guerrilla conflict in Colombia. President Juan Manuel Santos said in Bogotá on 4 September that the state would negotiate without repeating the "mistakes" of the past, meaning there would be no demilitarized zones in Colombia as the FARC demanded in previous talks in 2002 and talks would be "without interruptions or intermediaries," CNN reported on 4 September. He said these would broadly be in three phases: an exploratory phase, direct talks, and the implementation of agreements reached, but could not go on indefinitely. The parties were expected to discuss issues including rural development, the disarmament and social reintegration of former guerrillas, an end to drug trafficking by the FARC and compensation for victims of violence, CNN reported. Santos received the immediate support of the last president who sought to negotiate peace, Andrés Pastrana Arango. Pastrana told Colombia's Caracol radio he hoped the FARC would "do as they say," CNN reported. But Colombia's last president, the conservative Álvaro Uribe Vélez deplored that talks could happen before "the criminial activities of terrorism" had ended, Europa Press reported on 5 September. Uribe told Caracol television on 4 September that any legislation to allow FARC members to one day run for parliamentary office was a "slap in the face of democracy." He said the FARC whom he qualified as a drug cartel, would "murder Colombians as they keep talking."

Former Colombian "drug queen," guerrilla reported killed

Griselda Blanco, a former "Queen of Cocaine" and considered a pioneer of drug trafficking in the 1970s was shot dead on 3 September in Medellín, north-western Colombia, EFE agency reported. Blanco - a chubby 69-year-old also dubbed "Potato" or the "Godmother" - was shot several times in the head by an assassin riding a motorbike, as she left a butcher's shop. Biographical sources cited by EFE credited her with the "idea of exporting cocaine" to the United States. In 1985 she was convicted of drug trafficking in the United States and jailed to 2004 when she was deported to Colombia. Reputedly very rich, she led a clandestine life in recent years. Separately a Colombian NGO claimed that the communist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) may have executed in January 2012 one of their commanders and brother of the FARC military chief killed in an army raid in 2010, EFE reported on 3 September. Noé Suárez Rojas, brother of Víctor Julio Suárez Rojas - El Mono Jojoy - was apparently killed for several reasons including his incompetence in battle that provoked a FARC defeat at the hands of leftist ELN guerrillas in 2006 in the eastern Arauca region, according to the NGO Arcoiris, which reports on Colombian politics. Suárez also failed to obey several orders from the FARC's top command in the 2006-12 period. He was sought by the United States for his suspected role in crimes including drug trafficking and the kidnapping and murder of three US citizens in 1999. Suárez's execution was not confirmed by military sources. Mono Jojoy, commander of the FARC's Eastern Bloc and member of its secretariat, was killed by the army in 2010.

Court ratifies Mexico's general elections

Mexico's supreme electoral court the TEPJF formally ratified on 31 August the results of the 1 July general elections and declared Enrique Peña Nieto to be the next president, due to take office on 1 December, the Associated Press and media reported. The court's seven members were unanimous; a day before they had rejected leftist politicians' demands that the court cancel the polls for alleged fraud. The court declared that Peña Nieto of the centrist Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) won 19,158,592 or 38.2 per cent of all votes cast, Andrés Manuel López Obrador of the leftist Progress Coalition 15,848,827 or 31.6 per cent of votes and the conservative candidate Josefina Vázquez Mota of the National Action Party (PAN), 12,731,630 votes. The PRI president Pedro Joaquín Coldwell said that day that the decision "fully accredited" the PRI's victory, which has been challenged by López Obrador's Democratic Revolutionary Party, the PAN and certain civil groups. Joaquín Colwell urged López Obrador to respect the decision and Mexico's "institutions." Enrique Peña Nieto declared at the TEPJF's offices in Mexico City that the decision opened a new period of "work with shared responsibility." He said he was aware of "national needs and urgencies" and would lead a "modern and responsible" government "open to criticism," EFE reported on 31 August. He promised to honour campaign promises and meet Mexicans' expectations with "deeds, works and actions."

Court rejects Left's challenge to Mexican elections

Mexico's supreme electoral court the TEPJF (Tribunal Electoral del Poder Judicial de la Federación) rejected on 30 August the Left's demands that it cancel the 1 July presidential elections for alleged irregularities by the winning party, stating that evidence sent to the court had been insufficient or inappropriate, Mexico's media reported. The leftist coalition led by Andrés Manuel López Obrador as well as civic groups vehemently challenged the polls, ostensibly won by the centrist Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and its presidential candidate Enrique Peña Nieto, alleging fraud in various forms including the purchase of votes. The court's president Alejandro Luna Ramos said that after detailed investigation of evidence presented by López Obrador's party the court found its "grievances" were "unfounded." The court he said acted here "with all the rigour the Constitution demands;" its seven members voted to approve a motion to nullify the complaint. The PRI was reportedly delighted and party members welcomed the declaration in comments on the website Twitter. López Obrador however declared on 31 August that he would rather be termed a "crazy fool" than accept the decision. The elections he said "were neither clean, nor free nor authentic. Consequently I shall not recognize an illegitimate power that has emerged from vote buying and other, serious violations of the Constitution and laws," CNN reported. In a communiqué read out in the capital, he urged his followers to gather in Mexico's historic central square the Zócalo on 9 September and decide on a course of action. He said "civil disobedience is an honourable duty" when directed at the "robbers" of Mexicans' "hopes."

Mexican court members confirm election count

Members of Mexico's supreme electoral court the TEPJF stated on 17 August that votes had been correctly counted in the 1 July general elections, apparently rejecting the validity of complaints by civic groups and two political parties about alleged malpractice throughout the electoral process. Alejandro Luna Ramos, the magistrate presiding the Tribunal Electoral del Poder Judicial de la Federacion, said that any flaws found in recounts were for "human errors" and did not impact the elections' outcome, El Universal reported. Another court member, Flavio Galvan, said Mexican citizens had supervised the election process and counted votes. The winning party was declared to be the Institutional Revolutionary Party; if the TEPJF confirms the election definitively, its candidate Enrique Pena Nieto would become president in December 2012.

Mexico City women warned over taxi kidnappings

The Mexico City chief prosecutor's office revealed on 26 July that authorities were monitoring three gangs considered responsible for most "express" kidnappings that have occurred in three sectors of the city in recent months, the website Animal Político reported, citing statements made at a press conference. Prosecutor Óscar Montes de Oca Rosales said that seven of every 10 registered express kidnappings were against women, and these happened mostly when they took taxis to work between 06:00 and 09:00 hours. Victims of such crimes - usually lasting hours or a day perhaps - are forced to hand over cash and withdraw cash from dispensers. Montes de Oca said authorities were observing the methods used by these gangs, which he said operated in the generally middle-class sectors of Coyoacán, Cuauhtémoc and Benito Juárez. A classic method was reported to be the taxi stopping for a technical problem, allowing accomplices to arrive. Separately, one of the capital's Green Party politicians said on 25 July that authorities had but a "partial" map of crimes in the capital, since citizens did not even report 80 per cent of crimes for distrusting the police and lawcourts, often perceived as corrupt, Notimex reported. The Green Ecological Party of Mexico (PVEM) sided with the winning Institutional Revolutionary Party in the 1 July general elections, though it was unclear how much policy-making power it would yield in any future administration. The PVEM leader in the capital Samuel Rodríguez Torres said this public distrust was fuelling insecurity in the capital. He said the "preventive police" were neither acting against the 13,000 points of sale for drugs thought to exist in the capital nor using information supplied by the police intelligence centre C4i4 or images from the city's 12,000 security cameras.

FARC bomb Colombian pipeline, oil pours into river

Suspected members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) bombed a pipeline in the department of Boyacá in northern Colombia on 21 July, provoking crude oil to pour into a nearby river and threatening waterways in Colombia and Venezuela, Europa Press reported on 23 July, citing local media reports and official declarations. The pipeline was blown up near La Blanquita in the municipality of Cubará, provoking a crude spill into the Róyota river, a tributary of the Arauca, which flows into Venezuela. Several aqueducts were said to be threatened, though troops were working to contain the oil with sandbags, Colombia's Mines Minister Mauricio Cárdenas Santamaría declared. He said the nation rejected such "acts of terrorism."