Latest news with #Colima
Washington Post
23-05-2025
- Climate
- Washington Post
The first storm of the eastern Pacific hurricane season may form next week
Hurricane season in the eastern Pacific Ocean started on May 15. There is a 60 percent chance that first storm of the season may form offshore west of Mexico in the middle of next week, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. If a system forms, it will probably be far enough offshore for Mexico to avoid major impacts, but residents in the region should keep a close eye on forecasts, particularly those in the states of Michoacan, Colima and Jalisco, in case they change.
Daily Mail
21-05-2025
- Daily Mail
Horrifying new cartel 'death camp' where victims were 'tortured, murdered and incinerated' with remains 'sowed in to the soil' is uncovered on 40-hectare Mexican ranch
A horrifying new cartel 'death camp' where victims are believed to have been tortured, murdered and then set alight has been discovered on a massive 40-hectare Mexican ranch. Activists in the state of Colima, western Mexico, unearthed charred bone fragments on a ranch described as a 'death camp' belonging to the notorious Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG). Horrific photos shared by local activists show entire bones half buried in the soil around the property. Several pieces of dirty torn clothing were found at the site, alongside several pieces of ID that appeared to identify the cartel's victims. There were at least two burnt out cars on the site. Authorities who visited the site reportedly found corpses still burning on the 40-hectare farm, with evidence that some may have been torched using chemicals. Around 40% of the remains were found in a burned state, while other parts were simply buried One security official told the FT: 'That area is infested with guys from the Jalisco cartel in armoured cars. 'They would bring people up' to the ranch 'to torture them and then bury them — to sow them in the soil'. Just three of the 42 people's remains have so far been identified. Most of them are believed to have belonged to men between the ages of 25 and 39. Federal authorities are believed to have known about the ranch since at least 2018, when they arrested a high-profile alleged trafficker there. He was accused of trafficking drugs from Mexico to the US, and of killing a former Colima governor. The man linked to the property was reportedly murdered in prison days after his arrest, but criminal groups continued using the site. For the last two decades, narco groups have regularly been kidnapping and killing civilians in response to the Mexican government's announcement of an all-out war on cartels. It is believed that 120,000 people have disappeared over the past two decades thanks to cartels. Years of toil against the cartels has left authorities weary and afraid of stepping up efforts to fight them, leaving the families of people who disappear largely to fight for justice on their own. Carmen Sepúlveda, who lost her son Carlos Donaldo Campos in 2018, told the FT: 'It's been a constant battle with the authorities. Everyone used to say there were no disappeared people in Colima, but we haven't stopped finding [bodies].' And now it is feared that CJNG and the 'Los Chapitos' faction of the Sinaloa Cartel have put aside their differences and joined forces to create a massive syndicate that many worry will make them deadlier than the sum of their individual parts. New video footage that has been shared across social media apparently shows dozens of heavily armed members of both cartels kneeling together in the dead of night. The person holding the camera says as it pans, referring to a nickname for members of the Los Chapitos cartel: 'This is just about to get started. The rumours are true, the alliance between the New Generation Cartel and La Chapiza is confirmed.' The cameraman also refers to the head of the CJNG Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, also known as as El Mencho, and to one of Joaquín Guzmán Loera's sons who have been identified as leaders of the notorious gangs. As the video ends, the group of men fired their weapons into the air in celebration. The apparent merger, if confirmed, would be a massive shift in cartel politics. Los Chapitos is an offshoot of the Sinaloa Cartel that has long been fighting with other factions in the massive crime syndicate. It has long considered CJNG a mortal enemy. In 2016, Jesús and Iván Salazar, two sons of the infamous Sinaloa leader Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán Loera, were kidnapped by CJNG operatives from a restaurant in an upscale part of Puerto Vallarta, which lies in CJNG territory. They were later released without harm. But it appears that Los Chapitos has put aside its hatred for CJNG. While the exact date of origin of the video is not currently known, it began circulating across the internet just weeks after the American Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) revealed it was worried that CJNG and Los Chapitos were joining forces. It said in the memo, released earlier this month, that the move may have come about in response to inter-factional warfare within the Sinaloa Cartel. The report reads: 'CJNG could capitalize on the conflict between the Los Mayos and Los Chapitos factions of the Sinaloa Cartel, essentially by choosing sides in favour of their former rivals, Los Chapitos, against Los Mayos.' The DEA said that the consequences of this merger would be catastrophic: 'A strategic alliance between CJNG and Los Chapitos has the potential to expand these groups' territories, resources, firepower, and access to corrupt officials, which could result in a significant disruption to the existing balance of criminal power in Mexico and could serve to increase northbound drug flow and southbound weapons trafficking at the US-Mexico border.' The reports said in its introduction: 'The Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation Cartels (CJNG), together with their procurement, distribution, and financial support networks stretching across Latin America, China, and other key global nodes, remain the dominant threats for the trafficking of these and other drugs into the United States.' In his introduction to the 2025 DEA report, Acting Administrator Robert Murphy wrote that these groups are 'the primary groups oroducing the illicit synthetic drugs driving US drug poisoning deaths and trafficking these drugs into the United States.' He wrote: 'The cartels are not only fuelling the drug poisoning deaths in the United States, but also committing egregious acts of violence, threatening the security and stability of our partners across the Western Hemisphere.'
New York Times
17-05-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
At Mexico's 2 Legal Gun Shops, a Conflicted View of Firearms Is on Display
For ammunition, some customers came from two hours away. For handguns, a group of police officers rented a van and made an eight-hour trek. For a precision rifle, an insurance worker drove nine hours overnight. There are only two legal gun stores in all of Mexico — making them destinations for customers from every corner of the country and an embodiment of Mexico's conflicted relationship with firearms. The Constitution enshrines the right to own them, and there are millions of weapons in civilian hands, with a black market flooded by American-made guns. But the two legal stores, military-run and tightly regulated, are emblematic of government efforts to better control Mexico's guns. Private security guards, sport shooters and others make strenuous trips to the stores, which look like a cross between a D.M.V. office and a small museum. Applicants need to present nearly a dozen documents at the stores — once they've waited a few months for approval to buy a gun. Cristian Ulices Ocaranza Marquez, 32, a municipal police officer, rented a van with six other officers and drove eight hours from his home to Mexico City for guns. His state, Colima, has one of the highest homicide rates in the country, and he is barred from bringing his work gun home, so he applied for a handgun, waited three months for approval and paid $518. (The average monthly salary in Mexico is roughly $320.) 'Because of this job, my family is also in danger,' said Mr. Ocaranza Marquez, a father of two young children. Although he wished that it would be easier for government employees to buy personal firearms, Mr. Ocaranza Marquez said it was 'good that not just anyone could' — and that he had personally seen what illegal guns could do in his state. Mexico's tight restrictions are in part a reaction to a painful history of violence, from the conflicts of the 20th century to the high homicide rate today, which is largely driven by cartel crime in a handful of states. But they also reflect the country's tangled relationship with the United States, whose own constitutional right to firearms have contributed to a steady flow of guns south. The Mexican government has estimated that between 200,000 and 500,000 guns are illegally trafficked into Mexico from the United States each year. Many end up in the hands of organized crime, according to officials on both sides. The problem has frustrated the Mexican government for years, and in 2021, it sued gun makers and suppliers in the United States, a case that is now before the U.S. Supreme Court. Now gun trafficking has also become a key point in Mexico's negotiations with President Trump, who has threatened harsh tariffs as he pushes Mexico to act against migrants and drugs. President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico has repeatedly linked the problem of drugs in the United States with guns in Mexico, and demanded U.S. action to stop the flow. Mexican leaders have long raised that point, though it has become a priority under Ms. Sheinbaum. David Pérez-Esparza, a former government security official, said that while Mexican customs is 'clearly not' doing enough to stop guns heading into the country from the United States, their American counterparts — with better inspection technology at the border — aren't either. Much like the Second Amendment in the U.S. Constitution, Article 10 of Mexico's 1857 Constitution says that 'every man has the right to bear arms for his security and legitimate defense.' But after a bloody revolution in the early 1900s, a new Constitution set down rules that said some weapons could only be used by the armed forces and that people had to comply with police regulations to carry guns in 'inhabited areas.' After violent uprisings in the 1960s, the restrictions got tighter, specifying which types of guns could be owned by whom and where. For Mexicans today, that means a trip to a highly secured compound, either in Mexico City or Monterrey. From the outside, the Mexico City location looks like the many surrounding austere military buildings. It is open to the public for several hours on weekdays — as long as visitors follow the many security measures. IDs must be checked and logged. Visitors pass through a metal detector and have their photo taken on the way in and out. Cellphones are left at lockers. Documents are checked at the door. Roughly 125 customers visit every day, while a quarter of that number visit the newer Monterrey store, officials said. The documents include a gun acquisition form, proof of no federal criminal record, medical and psychological evaluations, a drug test, proof of your residence and employment, copies of your identification, birth certificate, tax number and, if applicable, your membership in a shooting club. There is also a $25 fee. 'If every supplier had a store in every state, who would have control?' said Col. Jesús Alfonso Nava Bustamante, who until recently oversaw approvals for buying a gun. 'We maintain it here.' The process has many requirements on purpose, he said, because, if not, 'anyone would be armed.' Most Mexicans are legally permitted one handgun (up to .380 caliber) for self-defense per registered address, and up to nine longer firearms (rifles up to .22 and shotguns up to 12 gauge) if enrolled in a shooting or hunting club that is registered with the military. Higher calibers are reserved only for official government use. In part as a result of these laws, there are far fewer firearms here than in the United States, with about 20 million civilian guns in Mexico, mostly unregistered, compared with 400 million privately owned guns in the United States, according to the Small Arms Survey, a research group. While gun ownership in Mexico is not unusual for people in rural or dangerous areas, according to Mr. Pérez-Esparza, the former government security official, he said it was generally frowned upon for most people to have a gun. 'It's good that it doesn't look good,' he added. The sentiment is not universal. Eduardo Ignacio García Zavala, 32, who works in insurance but is a sport shooter on the side, had gone to the Mexico City shop to add a new precision rifle to his collection — and said he wished Mexico had the variety of weapons and calibers that were available in the United States. Still, Mr. García Zavala said he would rather buy from the military than on the black market. And one reason is cost: He said the rifle he bought would have cost four times more on the black market, a calculation that can help counter the lure of the unregistered route. 'Acquiring a gun legally is very satisfying because I know I'm doing things right,' he said. 'But there's also a fear that you go out there, on the street, and anyone could be armed.' The miliary shop in Mexico City is a simple arrangement. In one corner are benches for people waiting to be called to one of the many service windows. Rows of wood and glass displays line the rest of the store, each maintained by different firearm brands, including the American Colt, Austrian Glock, Italian Beretta and Mexican Mendoza. All the guns sold through the military have a serial number and must be registered with the military. Unlike the United States, Mexico maintains a national registry that requires the buyer to provide a name, address and fingerprints. In all, 145 brands of weapons and ammunition are available, said Col. Juan Rafael Martínez Benítez, who oversees sales. Last year, he said, the stores sold almost 20 million cartridges and 16,000 guns, a slight increase from 2023. He said the shop is 'completely nonprofit' and the military is simply the intermediary for sales for one simple reason: 'So we have control.'
