2009 09 12: Líder del Senado se reunirá con Calderón

Source: El Universal

Iniciará operaciones en diciembre, según la embajada estadounidense

El primer encuentro público entre Carlos Navarrete (PRD), el líder del Senado, y el presidente Felipe Calderón, ocurrirá mañana 13 de septiembre en la ceremonia del CLXII aniversario de la gesta heroica de los Niños Héroes, aunque su relación con miembros del gabinete presidencial ha sido constante y frecuente en los últimos tres años.

“No, no he hablado con el presidente Calderón aún, pero muy pronto ocurrirá”, dijo el líder de la bancada de PRD en el Senado al ser interrogado al respecto en conferencia de prensa.

El legislador informó que recibió la invitación del secretario de la Defensa Nacional, Guillermo Galván Galván, el 7 de septiembre y que ratificó con ajustes en la agenda el 10 del mes en curso. Navarrete convocó ya a conferencia de prensa este domingo “una vez que yo termine mi presencia en el acto al que he sido invitado por el general secretario de la Defensa Nacional y por el Ejército mexicano para acudir al Monumento de los Niños Héroes en Chapultepec, a las 10 de la mañana”.

Navarrete dijo que “es una buena fecha, un buen escenario y un buen momento, para aceptar la invitación del Ejército para estar presente como presidente del Senado para recordar algo que no se nos debe olvidar nunca a los mexicanos y menos a quienes gobiernan. Posteriormente de que termine el evento me trasladaré aquí (al Senado) para poder darles algunas impresiones sobre lo que ahí ocurra”, anticipó el presidente de la Cámara Alta.

El perredista ha mantenido buena relación con el Poder Ejecutivo, principalmente con sus secretarios de Gobernación, como reveló en marzo de 2008 EL UNIVERSAL, de las comidas entre el perredista y el entonces titular de esa cartera, Francisco Ramírez Acuña, actual presidente de la Cámara de Diputados, lo cual negó quien ahora preside el Senado de la República.

Jorge Ramos
El Universal
Sábado 12 de septiembre de 2009
jorge.ramos@eluniversal.com.mx

2009 08 21: Bernanke Says Global Economy Emerging From Recession

Source: Bloomberg

Aug. 21 (Bloomberg) — Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said the global economy is “beginning to emerge” from a recession after “aggressive” action by central banks and governments.

“After contracting sharply over the past year, economic activity appears to be leveling out, both in the United States and abroad, and the prospects for a return to growth in the near term appear good,” Bernanke said today in a speech at the Kansas City Fed’s annual symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Economists forecast the U.S. will emerge from the worst recession since the 1930s, with the economy in the third quarter expanding at a 2.2 percent annual rate, according to the median estimate in an August survey by Bloomberg News. The International Monetary Fund last month predicted the world economy will expand 2.5 percent in 2010 after contracting 1.4 percent this year.

Signs are emerging that growth is resuming in other countries, with Japan, Germany and France all expanding in the second quarter. The Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said Aug. 19 that the economy of its 30 members was flat in the second quarter after contracting 2.1 percent in the previous three months.

Feldstein Sees Danger

The U.S. economy “is still weak and it’s not at all clear that the upturn that we’ve seen recently is the beginning of a sustainable rise,” Harvard University economist Martin Feldstein said in a Bloomberg Television interview in Jackson Hole. “There’s a serious danger that come the end of this year and the beginning of next year we will see it slipping back down again.”

Bernanke said the world economy still confronts “critical” challenges.

“Strains persist in many financial markets across the globe, financial institutions face additional significant losses and many businesses and households continue to experience considerable difficulty gaining access to credit,” Bernanke said. Recovery “is likely to be relatively slow at first, with unemployment declining only gradually from high levels.”

U.S. stocks gained for a fourth day, and Treasury securities fell in reaction to Bernanke’s speech and a rise in existing home sales. The Standard and Poor’s 500 Index was up 1.5 percent at 10:51 a.m. in New York. Benchmark 10-year notes yielded 3.54 percent, up 11 basis points from yesterday.

Home Sales Climb

Sales of existing U.S. homes climbed 7.2 percent to a 5.24 million annual rate, the most since August 2007, the National Association of Realtors said.

European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet and Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa are scheduled tomorrow to address the conference. Brian Madigan, Bernanke’s top official for monetary policy, is scheduled to speak today as part of a panel discussion. The topic of the central bank’s mountainside conference this year is financial stability and macroeconomic policy.

The IMF may raise its forecast for the global economic rebound, John Lipsky, the fund’s first deputy managing director, said in an interview yesterday in Jackson Hole.

A “strong and unprecedented international policy response” averted “the imminent collapse of the global financial system,” Bernanke said. The Fed has “consistently maintained” that the failure of a large, interconnected financial institution would have dire consequences for markets and the economy.

‘Spared No Effort’

“We have therefore spared no effort, within our legal authorities and in appropriate cooperation with other agencies, to avert such a failure,” he said. “The case of the investment bank Lehman Brothers proved exceptionally difficult, however.”

The Fed chairman reiterated that Lehman had inadequate collateral to merit a Fed loan “of sufficient size to meet its funding needs.” The government also lacked the authority to inject capital and sustain the firm, he said. Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. filed for bankruptcy in September.

“Although concerted policy actions avoided much worse outcomes, the financial shocks of September and October nevertheless severely damaged the global economy — starkly illustrating the potential effects of financial stress on real economic activity,” Bernanke said.

Last week, Fed policy makers extended by a month, through October, a $300 billion program to buy long-term U.S. Treasuries, aiming to ensure a “smooth transition in markets.” They also affirmed a pledge to keep interest rates near a record low for an “extended period” even as they determined the economy is “leveling out.”

Fed’s Debt Purchases

Since the collapse of Lehman, the Fed has bought as much as $350 billion of short-term debt issued by companies including General Electric Co. and expanded currency swaps with other central banks to aid financial firms outside the U.S.

Bernanke has also led policy makers in a reduction of the benchmark interest rate almost to zero and in the purchase of as much as $1.75 trillion of Treasuries and housing debt.

“As severe as the economic impact has been, however, the outcome could have been decidedly worse,” Bernanke said. “Unlike in the 1930s, when policy was largely passive and political divisions made international economic and financial cooperation difficult, during the past year monetary, fiscal and financial policies around the world have been aggressive and complementary.”

Policy makers must now rewrite regulations to reflect lessons from the crisis, and that will prevent “a recurrence of the events of the past two years,” he said.

Term Expiring

President Barack Obama has yet to indicate whether he will nominate Bernanke for a second term as Fed chief after his current term ends Jan. 31.

Feldstein endorsed Bernanke for a second term. “He certainly deserves it. He has done a remarkably creative job of dealing with these problems,” Feldstein said.

Investors and traders see reappointment as increasingly likely. Yesterday, futures contracts on the Web site Intrade showed a 79 percent chance Bernanke will be tapped for a second term.

To contact the reporter on this story: Craig Torres in Washington at ctorres3@bloomberg.net; Scott Lanman in Washington at slanman@bloomberg.net.

2009 08 20: Department of Justice Press Release

Fuente: Department of Justice

Ten Alleged Mexican Drug Cartel Leaders Among 43 Defendants Indicted in Brooklyn and Chicago as Part of Coordinated Strike Against Mexican Drug Trafficking Organizations

Forty-three defendants in the United States and Mexico, including 10 alleged Mexican drug cartel leaders, have been charged in 12 indictments unsealed yesterday and today in U.S. federal courts in Brooklyn and Chicago, the Department of Justice, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced. The alleged leaders and other high-ranking members of several of Mexico’s most powerful drug cartels are charged with operating continuing criminal enterprises or participating in international drug trafficking conspiracies.

“Breaking up these dangerous cartels and stemming the flow of drugs, weapons and cash across the Southwest border is a top priority for this Justice Department,” said Attorney General Eric Holder. “The cartels whose alleged leaders are charged today constitute multi-billion dollar networks that funnel drugs onto our streets and what invariably follows is more crime and violence in our communities. Today’s indictments demonstrate our unwavering commitment to root out the leaders of these criminal enterprises wherever they may be found. We will continue to stand with our partners in Mexico to dismantle the cartels’ insidious operations.”

“Realizing that neither of our two countries can win over drug traffickers on its own, we have built up the bilateral cooperation between the United States and Mexico to allow us to combine our investigative and legal resources to dismantle these transnational drug organizations and bring the leaders to justice,” said Mexican Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora. “We can only protect the right of our societies to live in peace and harmony through our governments’ mutual trust and shared responsibility.”

Three of the suspected leaders were charged in both Brooklyn and Chicago. Joaquin “el Chapo” Guzman-Loera, Ismael “el Mayo” Zambada-Garcia and Arturo Beltran-Leyva, who are allegedly among the most powerful drug traffickers in Mexico, are alleged to be present and former heads of an organized crime syndicate known as the “Sinaloa Cartel” and “the Federation.” Each of these three is designated as a Consolidated Priority Organization Target or CPOT by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF).

Also charged in the Brooklyn indictments were seven other cartel leaders, including CPOT Ignacio “Nacho” Coronel Villarreal, Hector Beltran-Leyva (Arturo’s brother) and Jesus Zambada-Garcia (Ismael’s brother), each alleged leaders within the Federation; CPOT Vicente Carrillo Fuentes, the alleged head of the Juarez Cartel; CPOT Luis and Esteban Rodriguez-Olivera, alleged leaders of Los Gueros; and CPOT Tirso Martinez-Sanchez, the alleged head of his own international drug trafficking organization.

Together, the four Brooklyn and eight Chicago indictments charge that between 1990 and December 2008, Guzman-Loera, Ismael Zambada-Garcia, Arturo Beltran-Leyva and others were responsible for importing into the United States and distributing nearly 200 metric tons of cocaine, additional large quantities of heroin, and the bulk smuggling from the United States to Mexico of more than $5.8 billion in cash proceeds from narcotics sales throughout the United States and Canada.

The indictments unsealed today collectively seek forfeiture of more than $5.8 billion in drug proceeds. Also, more than 32,500 kilograms of cocaine have been seized, including approximately 3,000 kilograms seized during the Chicago investigation, approximately 7,500 kilograms seized during the New York investigation and 22,500 kilograms seized previously that were later linked to the activities of the Federation. The indictments also detail seizures of 64 kilograms of heroin and more than $22.6 million in cash during the course of the investigation.

As part of the coordinated actions, eight defendants have been arrested in the Chicago and Atlanta areas in the last week.  Earlier this year, 10 additional defendants, all customers of or couriers for the organizations, were charged separately in Chicago. Five defendants, all New York-based wholesale distributors or logistics coordinators for the cartels, were charged separately in Brooklyn. In all, 58 individuals have been charged in the investigation coordinated between the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices in Brooklyn and Chicago. All but one of the defendants face a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted of the charges against them.

“The indictments announced today are the result of a sweeping national and international effort to stem the flow of drugs across the U.S./Mexico border and into our communities,” said Benton J. Campbell, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. “We will apply all available resources to win this battle.” Mr. Campbell extended his grateful appreciation to ICE and the DEA Task Force in New York, the agencies responsible for leading the Eastern District’s investigation, and to the assistance provided by ICE and DEA in Miami, Houston, Mexico and Colombia.

“These indictments are among the most significant drug conspiracy charges ever returned in Chicago,” said Patrick J. Fitzgerald, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. “They charge two major international supply organizations with importing many tons of cocaine and large quantities of heroin into the United States, often to wholesale distribution customers in Chicago, as well as to customers in other major cities. The defendants allegedly used practically every means of transportation imaginable to move these large amounts of drugs and to funnel massive amounts of money back to Mexico. I applaud the efforts of the DEA investigators who worked hard to put these cases together.” Mr. Fitzgerald also thanked the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division agents in Chicago and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Wisconsin in Milwaukee for their assistance.

“Today’s indictments are yet another strike against the leadership of the Mexican drug cartels,” said DEA Acting Administrator Michele M. Leonhart. “Our relentless investigations penetrated deep into these pervasive criminal organizations, connecting street operations in U.S. communities like Chicago and New York to the top drug kingpins calling the shots in Mexico.  Make no mistake; along with our courageous partners in Mexico, we will break these cartels and pursue their leaders.”

“Law enforcement agencies in the Americas are working closer than ever before and setting up a united, borderless offense against drug cartels,” said Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for ICE John Morton.  “This is a significant step in breaking down the infrastructure of these criminal organizations.”

According to one of the Brooklyn indictments, between 1990 and 2005, Guzman-Loera, Ismael Zambada-Garcia and Arturo Beltran-Leyva, together with Hector Beltran-Leyva, Jesus Zambada-Garcia and Villareal as leaders of the Federation, conspired to import more than 120 metric tons (264,000 pounds) of cocaine into the United States through the cooperative arrangements and coordination that the Federation provided. Members of the Federation shared drug transportation routes and obtained their drugs from various Colombian drug organizations, in particular, the Colombian Norte Valle Cartel. For example, in 2004, two shipments totaling 22,500 kilograms of cocaine were seized by the U.S. Coast Guard off the coast of Mexico. The indictment alleges that the defendants employed “sicarios,” or hitmen, who carried out hundreds of acts of violence in Mexico, including murders, kidnappings, tortures and violent collections of drug debts, at their direction.

The indictments in Chicago allege that in approximately early 2008 Arturo Beltran-Leyva split his alliance with Guzman-Loera, Ismael Zambada-Garcia and the Federation due to various issues, including control of lucrative narcotics trafficking routes into the United States and the loyalty of wholesale narcotics customers, including the alleged leaders of a Chicago distribution cell. The indictments charge that Guzman-Loera and Ismael Zambada-Garcia, together with seven other high-ranking associates, including two of their sons, Alfredo Guzman-Salazar (Guzman-Loera’s son) and Jesus Vicente Zambada-Niebla (Ismael Zamada-Garcia’s son, who is in custody in Mexico), coordinated their narcotics trafficking activities to import multi-ton quantities of cocaine from Central and South American countries, through Mexico, and into the United States using various means of transportation, including Boeing 747 cargo aircraft; submarines and other submersible and semi-submersible vessels; container ships; go-fast boats; fishing vessels; buses; rail cars; tractor trailers; and automobiles

Guzman-Loera and Ismael Zambada-Garcia allegedly coordinated their cocaine and heroin smuggling activities to wholesale distributors throughout the United States, including a large distribution cell in Chicago of which 16 individuals were charged in an indictment unsealed today. On average, the Chicago cell allegedly received 1,500 to 2,000 kilograms of cocaine per month, at times obtaining all or a large portion of that quantity from Guzman-Loera and Ismael Zambada-Garcia and the factions of the Sinaloa Cartel they controlled, while also obtaining a substantial portion of that quantity from the Arturo Beltran-Leyva Cartel. From Chicago, the indictments allege that large quantities of cocaine and heroin were further distributed to customers in Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio; Detroit; Milwaukee; New York; Philadelphia; Washington, D.C.; Vancouver, British Columbia; and elsewhere.

Guzman-Loera, Ismael Zambada-Garcia and the factions of the Sinaloa Cartel they controlled allegedly used various means to evade law enforcement and protect their narcotics distribution activities, including obtaining guns and other weapons; bribes; engaging in violence and threats of violence; and intimidating with threats of violence members of law enforcement, rival narcotics traffickers and members of their own drug trafficking organizations. According to the indictment, Guzman-Loera, Ismael Zambada-Garcia and his son, Jesus Vicente Zambada-Niebla, discussed obtaining weapons from the United States and using violence against American and/or Mexican government buildings in retaliation for each country’s enforcement of its narcotics laws and to perpetuate their narcotics trafficking activities.

In one of the indictments unsealed today in Brooklyn, Vicente Carrillo Fuentes is alleged to be the leader of the Juarez Cartel, which operates in the Juarez-El Paso corridor, one of the primary drug smuggling routes along the border between the United States and Mexico running from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, to El Paso, Texas. The DEA estimates that approximately 90 percent of the cocaine that enters the United States comes through Mexico. The Juarez Cartel allegedly received multi-ton cocaine shipments in Mexico from the Colombian Norte Valle Cartel and from the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC), a Colombian paramilitary organization and a major drug trafficking organization. According to the indictment, the Juarez Cartel maintained its power through the payment of bribes and through numerous acts of violence, including murder.

In another Brooklyn indictment, brothers Luis and Esteban Rodriguez-Olivera are charged with leading Los Gueros, a drug trafficking organization that rose to prominence within the Federation. According to court documents, Los Gueros operated a narcotics supply route that originated in Mexico, stretched into Texas and then branched off to various points, including the New York metropolitan area. Between 1996 and 2008, Los Gueros allegedly imported more than 100,000 kilograms of cocaine into the United States. The DEA estimates that between 2004 and 2006, the organization was responsible for shipping more than 2,000 kilograms of cocaine to New York City alone. In January 2006, Mexican authorities seized approximately 5,200 kilograms of the organization’s cocaine destined for the United States.

Tirso Martinez-Sanchez is alleged in one of the Brooklyn indictments to be an organizer and leader of an extensive international narcotics importation, distribution and transportation organization that is responsible for the distribution of multiple tons of cocaine in the United States. Martinez-Sanchez’s organization allegedly imported cocaine into the United States from Mexico through California and Texas, and then transported the cocaine overland to large distribution centers, including Los Angeles, New York and Chicago. In addition to coordinating the distribution of his own organization’s cocaine, Martinez-Sanchez also allegedly transported and distributed narcotics for members of the Juarez Cartel and the Federation.

The cases in the Eastern District of New York are being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Andrea Goldbarg, Claire Kedeshian, Bonnie Klapper, Stephen Meyer, Walter Norkin, Patricia Notopoulos and Carolyn Pokorny.

The cases in the Northern District of Illinois are being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Thomas Shakeshaft, Michael Ferrara, Greg Deis, Lindsay Jenkins, Renai Rodney, Angel Krull and Halley Guren.

The cases were investigated by the DEA, ICE and Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, in cooperation with Mexican and Colombian law enforcement authorities. Additional assistance was provided by U.S. Attorney’s Offices in Milwaukee, Miami and Houston. The Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs provided assistance in these cases. The investigative efforts were coordinated with the Special Operations Division, comprised of agents, analysts and attorneys from the Criminal Division’s Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section (NDDS); DEA; FBI; ICE; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; U.S. Marshals Service; and Internal Revenue Service. Certain individuals named in indictments unsealed today have also been charged by other U.S. Attorneys’ Offices around the country and by NDDS.

An indictment is a formal charging document notifying the defendant of the charges. All persons charged in an indictment are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Copies of indictments can be found at: http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/opa_documents.htm

2008 08 17: Mexico Replaces All Customs Agents, Doubles Their Ranks

Source: Washington Post/ AP

Associated Press
Monday, August 17, 2009

The shake-up — part of an effort to root out corruption and improve vigilance at Mexican ports with new technology — doubled the size of Mexico’s customs inspection force.

The inspectors at Mexico’s 49 customs points were replaced with 1,400 better-educated agents who have undergone background checks and months of training, Tax Administration Service spokesman Pedro Canabal said Sunday.

He said the inspectors were not fired. Instead, the government did not rehire them when their contracts expired.

The overhaul’s main focus is to combat tax evasion, although Mexico also hopes to seize more guns smuggled in from the United States and elsewhere before they end up in the hands of drug traffickers. Mexican cartels smuggle most of the cocaine that passes from South America to the United States.

Canabal said the government hopes to improve its tax collection with the new system, noting that more than 40 percent of Mexico’s value-added tax is collected at customs. However, he said the main benefit will be stopping the flood of pirated and cheap goods that he said undermine Mexican industries.

Customs inspectors turned over their weapons to soldiers before leaving their posts at airports and border crossings Saturday night. Enrique Torres, a spokesman for the military and federal police in the northern city of Ciudad Juarez, said soldiers were at the crossing with El Paso to help avoid violence during the transition.

The new agents, more than 70 percent of whom are university-educated, rose out of a “strict selection process that included psychological and toxicological checks, as well as the necessary investigations to ensure they have no criminal record,” according to a Tax Administration Service statement.

Canabal said that the 700 who were replaced would not be banned from reapplying for their jobs but that they would have to meet the stricter requirements. He said fewer than 10 percent of the ousted employees have university degrees.

The new agents were trained in the legal aspects of foreign trade and were taught to use equipment installed at border crossings, including X-ray and gamma-ray machines to scan for contraband. More dogs trained to sniff out drugs and other illegal goods are also being added.

“We need more than just a body with a weapon,” Canabal said.

Mexico has been checking only 10 percent of the 230,000 vehicles that cross the border each day, according to the federal attorney general’s office.

Now, with new technology, agents will weigh and photograph every car and truck that crosses into the country and run license plate numbers through a database of suspicious vehicles as a way of finding more contraband.

2009 08 17: Duplican a policías aduanales en el país

Fuente: El Universal

Renuevan la vigilacia en fronteras para combatir el contrabando

EL UNIVERSAL
LUNES 17 DE AGOSTO DE 2009
Policía aduanal y duplicó su presencia en puntos fronterizos, aeropuertos y puertos del país, como parte de los esfuerzos por combatir el contrabando de mercancías como armas y drogas.Lo anterior lo dio a conocer el Servicio de Administración Tributaria (SAT), y amplió que unos mil 470 nuevos agentes aduanales asumieron funciones en sustitución de al menos 700 personas que laboraban antes y cuyos contratos expiraron y no fueron renovados.

“Es parte de un cambio que responde a las nuevas necesidades pa ra combatir al contrabando”, aseguró ayer Pedro Canabal, portavoz del SAT, oficina federal dependiente de la Secretaría de Hacienda y Crédito Público (SHCP).

La medida es parte del plan del presidente Felipe Calderón para modernizar al sistema aduanero mexicano y reforzar el combate al contrabando y al crimen organizado, insistió el funcionario.

Pedro Canabal detalló que dichos inspectores no fueron despedidos. En lugar de ello, la institución decidió no recontratarlos después de que sus contratos expiraron el fin de semana que pasó.

Supervisión militar

México es un punto importante para el tránsito de armas y drogas, principalmente hacia Estados Unidos, que normalmente se hace con la complicidad de autoridades, una situación que varios mandatarios mexicanos han tratado de combatir.

En 2007, el presidente Felipe Calderón puso en marcha el llamado Plan de Modernización de Aduanas de México, con el que se está renovando también los equipos de revisión de mercancías que entran y salen del país.

“Con la implementación de la nueva tecnología y los sistemas de inteligencia, el personal del SAT y en concreto de las aduanas, está siendo mejor entrenado y capacitado constantemente”, dijo Canabal.

Elementos del Ejército mexicano supervisaron el cambio de personal, pero Canabal dijo que no se buscaba “militarizar” las operaciones de combate al contrabando.

El gobierno federal envió a militares a los aeropuertos y cruces fronterizos en todo el país para que decomisaran las armas que habían sido entregadas a los inspectores.