Sicarios Ignore Feds:  Three Fatal Shootings Last Night

How Effective were Previous Federal Law Enforcement Efforts in Juárez?

In spite of the presence in Juárez since Wednesday of 1000 newly arrived armed soldiers and police, part of a national program (Operativo de las 17 Regiones) to reduce crime in 17 high priority areas of Mexico, two men were executed last night at about 6:30 pm in Col Azteca, a high crime area.  Both had multiple arrest records for drug-related offenses.  A third was injured.  Then, early this morning two men were shot by gunmen, one fatally, in Col Del Real. (click here and here for Diario stories)

In today's Diario prize-winning Hérika Martinez Prado writes a brief history of previous federal efforts to prevent crime in Juárez.  (click here).  Her findings:

Programa Integral de Seguridad Para Cd. Juárez (PISCJ):  In 2003-2005, under the command of the Federal Preventive Police, and in the face of increasing pressure to stop a wave of feminicides in Juárez, President Vicente Fox sent 300 federal police agents to patrol 35 dangerous neighborhoods.  Two years later, on August 11 2005, the federal government admitted (hard to believe just 14 years ago some governments actually told the truth!) murders and violence against women had actually increased.

Operativo Conjunto Chihuahua (OCCH), (Joint Operation Chihuahua) 2008-2010, under the command of the Mexican Department of Defense/  After a spike in homicides in early March 2008, two thousand troops and 425 federal police were deployed to Chihuahua.  That year, 488 complaints against troops were filed, for illegal searches in homes, as well as cruel or degrading treatment.  In March 2009 another 5000 troops joined the fray.  While Joint Operation Chihuahua was in effect, the homicide rate in Juárez went up from 291 in 2007 (Monarrez data) to 1622 in 2008 to 2667 in 2009 to well over 3000 in 2010.  (Note:  there are conflicting data on the exact number of homicides each year but differences between sources are relatively minor)  Martinez does not note this in her piece today, but extortion rates and kidnappings skyrocketed during OCCH)

On January 16 2010 President Calderon ended OCCH.  placing public security under state control in an effort called Operacion Coordinada Chihuahua. Army troops left town, replaced by 5000 federal police.  Under a lot of political pressure, in October 2011 security for the city reverted back to the municipality of Juárez, and most federal security agents left the city.  Mayor Héctor Murguia named a Lt. Col, Julián Leyzaola, as his security chief.  Complaints against abuse of power rose dramatically under his command, especially in the downtown area, even though homicides continued to decline, from 1977 in 2011 to 803 in 2012 to 524 in 2013 to 450 in 2014 and  354 in 2015.  Since then homicides have gone up to 564 in 2016, 767 in 2017 and 1247 in 2018.

Bottom Line:  What Martinez shows in her piece this morning is that previous experience with federal intervention in Cd.Juárez suggests there is not much relationship between the presence of federal policing agents and the homicide rate.  But the stronger the federal presence, the greater the abuse of the public from the hands of troops or federal police.

Will Operativo de las 17 Regiones be different?

Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Narco-Corrido Singers

Alejandro Villa, La Sangre Nueva del Corrido, Shot Dead in Tlaquepaque, Jalisco

Chalino Sanchez was the first, a narco-corrido writer who couldn't carry a tune, but had the authentic grit and sound of a young man born on a rancho in Culiacán, working for the cartel.  Los Tigres del Norte would have had a very different career path had Chalino not showed them the possibilities of portraying ordinary men caught in the bitter-sweet life-style of drug trafficking in Mexico.  Popular mainly in Southern California, Chalino's fame and record sales skyrocketed after he was murdered in Culiacan, Sinaloa in 1992.

Alejandro Villa, 25, a narco-corrido singer known as the "new blood" of the corrido, born in Badiraguato, Sinaloa, birthplace of Chapo Guzman, was shot and killed Tuesday night in Tlaquepaque.  Unlike Chalino, he came from a world of singers, his grandfather Federico Villa having popularized one of the most famous ranchera songs in Mexico, Caminos de Michoacán.  There is a picture that circulated today, of his grandfather standing proudly with Caro Quintero, the drug capo who ordered DEA agent Kiki Camarena killed in Mexico, served 27 years in the pen and is now back in business, on the lam.  Alejandro captured what it might be like to be a young buck in the cartel business, and many of his promotion photos show him packing iron.  Two examples of his work:

From:  La Despedida de Manuel (Nuevos Corridos 2019):(click here to listen on YouTube) 

le soltaron un pedazo y empezo a vender
gramos de caspa del diablo rapido fue a aprender 
Allí cambiaron las cosas esta vida es curiosa
Siempre fiel a San Juditas
La Humildad siempre cerquita
y se hizo miembro del cartel 
En Tlaquepaque logro ese sueño

 (my translation):

They offered him a brick and he started to sell
grams of coke (the devil's dandruff) and he learned fast
Then, how things changed, how strange life is
Always faithful to St. Jude
Always humble he joined the cartel 
In Tlaquepaque his dream came true.

From Soy Nueva Generacion (2017) (click here for YouTube

Quiero que les quede claro
que el cartel jalisco, aquí sigue rifando
soy de acción, nueva generación
con astucia y con talento transitando
el territorio, en san juan patrullando

Man Killed by Gunshot This Morning at 6 a.m. As He Leaves Home for Work

In Anapra, On Salmón Street, Which Intersects With the Border Just South of Sunland Park New Mexico

Foto:  Diario de Juàrez Staff

This is What They Look Like

Patrol Cars and 400 Troops Join 200 Federal Police, 100 State, and 300 Municipal Police

 

 

Foto:  Gabriel Cardona, Diario de Juárez

 

Why Are Crystal Meth Pushers Being Killed?

According to the official story, one of the street gangs in Juárez is trying to wipe out retail sales personnel who traffic in crystal meth. (Which one?  Why?)  For example, out of the 8 persons executed on Monday of this week, at least three were found with messages suggesting the motive of assassination was that the victim was a seller of crystal meth.  Jorge Nava, the prosecutor of the North Zone of Chihuahua (that is, greater Juárez) indicated to Diario (click here) that this has been going on for several months between the two gangs, and that at least part of the uptick in homicides in recent months is due to the increased execution of retail crystal meth pushers.

Brace yourself, Juaritos, the New Plan Against Violence is Unveiled

The AMLO Plan Comes to Town

Here's what it looks like: 

Cells:  eight "cells" have been created to patrol the most dangerous areas of the city:  the Southern part of the city, the South Valley, and the downtown area.  There will also be "filters," (apparently the new word for "checkpoints") in other areas of the city, including inspection of cars.  In addition, an intelligence unit has been put together by the National Defense Department and the Federal Police, to "prioritize objectives."

Patrols:  200 federal police and 400 military troops will begin patrolling today, with the assistance of local and state police, according to a statement by Mayor Cabada.  These patrols have as their main objective to deter the commission of crimes.  We shall see.

Didn't We Go Through This Before?  The last time the military was sent in to solve the problem of violence in Juarez was ten years ago (covered in this blog, see Archives), in 2008-9, when7500 troops and 2500 federal police replaced local top municipal police commanders, presumably because they were likely to be either incompetent or corrupt. 

At first crime went down, but then several things happened:  first, the bad guys began to realize the military patrols were predictable, designed to reassure the public rather than to really deter crime. There was no intelligence analysis behind them.  Criminals simply timed their activities to take place in between patrol movements.  The result was an explosion of extortion and kidnapping as ordinary criminals began to realize law enforcement anarchy reigned in Juarez.  Even the taco stands on wheels were being hit up by extortioners demanding $100 per week for "protection," on the credible pain of death.  I remember one case of a man escaping his kidnappers by jumping out of a two-story building, injuring his leg.  His wife had received his severed thumb in an envelope, along with a price to be paid for his release.

Second, when the military began shooting teenagers for working in chop shops that put false containers in automobiles, the parents began to raise hell.  Third, when it turned out the feds could be corrupted, people concluded the intent of the exercise was not to stop drug trafficking, or even crime.  Fourth, rogue units of the armed forces began to extort civilians--just like the bad guys--human rights abuse from soldiers was widespread, including harassment of women,  and the calls for the feds to withdraw grew loud indeed.  In any event, the stats speak for themselves:  homicides in Juárez went up in Juarez from 320 in 2007 to 1623 in 2008, to 2657 in 2009 and 3115 in 2010.  So much for the efficacy of military patrols.

Where Are We?  From today on, AMLO owns the situation of law enforcement in Juárez.  A significant amount of his reputation as President will depend on how well he handles the current spike in the homicide and  crime rate in what was in 2009 and 2010 the most violent city in the world.

In Case You Thought There Was Any Doubt:

Chapo Was Found Guilty today in a New York Court, of All Counts

To my knowledge not one in Mexico has yet called for Felipe Calderon and Enrique Peña Nieto to be tried for corruption for taking suitcases full of cash in bribes to protect Chapo's empire in the past 12 years--$100 million dollars in the case of Peña Nieto

La Polaka Praises Trump Speech (?!)

You live and learn:  I would have thought there would be no audience in Juárez for a blogger who thought Trump was great last night.  Yet here we are:  click here and you will see I speak not with forked (or should I say, Trump) tongue.  One quote (my translation from Spanish):

"In this, his most brilliant speech of the past two years, Trump captivated the drowsy El Paso electorate, ripped apart the extreme leftism of the Democratic Party that obstructs its government, and he began an irresistible march toward the White House."

For those who doubt my Spanish, here is the original language.

En este que ha sido su mas brillante discurso en dos años de gobierno, Trump cautivó al adormilado electorado paseño, despedazó el izquierdismo extremo del Partido Demócrata que obstruye su gobierno y comenzó un arrollador destino con rumbo a la Casa Blanca.

In the comment section one reader wrote:  "It looks like the person who wrote this is a journalist seeking refuge in El Paso, who has applied for political asylum and is hoping to get his paperwork approved."

Another commentator wrote:  "La Polaka is brown-nosing Trump...they idolize him like a kitten idolizes king lion..."

Juarez:  Seven Executions Last Night

As Trump's crowd across the river at the Coliseum was warming up in anticipation of his visit, sicarios in Juárez were just beginning a busy night, which ended with a seventh victim at 1:30 this morning.

From various reports of Diario:  (click here and here)

**A man was shot to death shortly after 5 pm in the afternoon in Col Independencia near the Eje Juan Gabriel and the Juárez Industrial Park.  Witnesses said he was an Uber driver.

**a man said to be an employee at a restaurant was killed by gunfire at 6:20 pm on Yepómera near Lucero in Col. de las Torres

**Before Trump ended his speech, about two miles directly South of the Coliseum where he spoke, two men were killed in the patio of a residence in Anáhuac, near the Chaveña municipal cemetery.

**A man was killed on the sidewalk in front of a residence in Col. Hidalgo, near the San Felipe de Jesus parish church just East of downtown.  Hidalgo is a neighborhood adjacent to the Chamizal, now a park, a 450 acre piece of territory President Lyndon Johnson returned to Mexico in 1964, in accordance with international law.  The Park is located about a half mile from where Trump was speaking.

**A man was shot to death around 9:00 pm as he was walking down a dirt street in Col. Tierra Nueva near a Super Servicentro.  His body was found lying face up 

**Shortly after midnight an encobijado was found at Km 33 of the Casas Grandes Highway.  A message written on carboard, suggesting the man was a drug pusher, was found at the scene.  He was wrapped in a black blanket tied with a black ribbon and a white rope.  He was wearing white tennis shoes and had a screwdriver in his pocket.

Juárez: Drug Gangs Expanding Business Model to Include Huachicoleo Markets

Capitalizing on strong competitive advantages, flourishing distribution systems throughout the city, and healthy cash flows, drug gangs in Cd. Juárez appear to be expanding into the lucrative huachicoleo (stolen gasoline) market.

State prosecutor César Augusto Peniche told Diario (click here), "(we) believe (drug-related) criminal organizations have extended their reach into this illegal practice (huachicoleo), and they are competing with each other for the distribution (of gasoline stolen from Pemex) through their networks in the city."

With an estimated 6000 picaderos (retail outlets for drugs) in the Greater Juárez area, split between several rival gangs, it would seem relatively inexpensive and easy for distributors to accommodate the sale of a couple of gallons of gasoline along with a dose or two of dope for the existing and rapidly expanding client base.

According to Peniche, thus far the perforations into existing gasoline pipelines is concentrated in the area between Km. 20 and the edge of the urban  beltway, especially in Col Granjas Polo Gamboa, South of the Airport on the El Porvenir highway, close to the Storage and Distribution facilities of Pemex.

In his remarks Peniche did not specify whether he believed the drug organizations would integrate the actual clandestine perforation of existing pipelines into a single integrated process from perforation and extraction of gasoline to distribution throughout the city using existing networks that are currently distributing heroin, crystal meth, cocaine, and other substances.

Sicario Saturday in Juárez:

Seven Down by Sunset; 28 and Counting for the Month

Encobijados Are the Rule this Saturday

From Diario de Juárez (click here and here and here)

**A man was beaten to death and then tossed down a ravine in an empty property near Lomas Del Valle, close to the Juárez-Porvenir highway.  He was discovered early in the morning by a passerby.

**Encobijado with Message:  A man was beaten to death, wrapped in a blue sheet, and dropped off under a bridge in Barrio Chaveña.  Several other bodies have been left at this same location in recent months.  One of the sheets covering the man said, "this is to all those que venden (who sell) esta chingadera."  Several doses of crystal meth were also found next to the body.

**Two more encobijados were found in an informal garbage dump between two properties, apparently beaten to death, encobijados, and covered by a black tarp, in Col. Carlos Castillo, in the Southern part of town.

**An encobijado was found in the cemetary of el Sauzal, a neighborhood in the Southern part of the city, between Socorro and San Elizario.

**A man was executed  in Urbi Villa del Cedro Etapa 2, this afternoon.  Another man was wounded by a gunshot to the mouth in Bellavista this afternoon.

Breakdown of Law and Order in Mexico

The Huachicolero Toll Last Year

La Polaka Reports 6000 gallons of stolen gas found on buses used to transport workers to maquila plants

 

From Diario:  (click here for story)  

 

 The theft of gasoline by huachicoleros in the Juárez-Chihuahua and the Chihuahua-Gomez (Durango) pipelines last year amounted to about $20 million (US) dollars per month, according to a newly released inter-agency official report.  This amounts to about 140,000 barrels of oil per month or about 6 million gallons for the year.  Authorities were unable to calculate how much was stolen from the El Paso-Juarez pipeline, although they know there have been thefts in that pipeline. 

 

While the clandestine perforation of pipelines has been going on for at least six years, 2018 produced a dramatic increase, creating gasoline shortages at many gas stations in many areas of the country.   In 2013 41 illegal perforations were detected by Pemex in these pipelines.  In 2017 85 illegal perforations were detected, and in the first ten months of 2018 112 "tomas" were detected.

La Polaka (click here for story) reports authorities raided a lot used to park buses and other transportation vehicles used to carry maquila workers to and from work, finding 25,000 liters (about 6000 gallons) of stolen gas, enough to service nearly 100 vehicles.

 

Juárez:  At least 23 Homicides in First Week of February

**A man was executed while repairing his car in front of his home in Col. Revolucion Mexicana by man, on foot, who fled the scene after the shooting.  The nephew of the executed man immediately got into an automobile, pursued the gunman, and ran over him, killing him.
**A woman died in the hospital yesterday afternoon after being shot in Col. Granjas de Chapultepec
**Two kidnappers were arrested in Juárez yesterday after they had kidnapped a man, tortured him, and left him at his home.  The kidnappers, a man and a woman, are thought to be members of La Linea.  They apparently kinapped a man who owed a debt related to a purchase of retail drugs.

AMLO Government Outlines New Security Plan for 17 Regions in Mexico

Juárez is Among the Seventeen

The new Cabinet Secretary for Citizen Protection and Security (SSPC), Alfonso Durazo Montaño, released plans yesterday to add 600 security officers to each of seventeen high-crime regions in Mexico, including Juárez.  The goals are to improve crime prevention, reduce violence and crime--especially homicides.  The force of 600 will include personnel from the Department of Defense, the Navy, and a contingent of officers from the Federal Police, who will act as first responders.  State human rights commissions, the private sector, and academia will be asked to provide assistance within the overall framework of the new national program to Strengthen Security, FORTASEG.

Aside from Cd. Juárez, other regions included in the plan are the border towns of Tijuana, Reynosa, and Nuevo Laredo.  Acapulco, Benito Juárez, Guadalajara, areas of Guanajuato, Culiacan, Manzanillo, Colima, EDOMEX, Chilpancingo, parts of Morelos, and Monterrey, are also included..

The Breakdown of Law and Order in Juárez and Chihuahua:

La Polaka Reports (click here) Thieves Broke Into 10 Cars Parked in the Municipal Parking Lot

Municipal headquarters in Juárez is located next to the Santa Fe Bridge crossing into El Paso.  Shoppers heading for El Paso often park their cars in the municipal parking lot and then walk across the bridge into downtown El Paso.  Parking fees are charged, presumably in part to pay for security attendants who can prevent break-ins by thieves.  In spite of all of this, La Polaka reports that thieves broke into at least ten cars yesterday (Tuesday).  They bashed in windows and stole batteries, sound systems, and valuables left in the cars.  When shoppers returned from El Paso some owners were forced to buy batteries to be able to get their cars moving again.  Attendants at the parking lot, whose job it is to prevent such robberies, professed they had seen and heard nothing.  La Polaka, perhaps not-so-jokingly, entitled their story "The Parking Lot Cartel."

My Advice to Governor Northam

 

Statement to be made by the Governor:  I will resign as Governor for putting black shoe polish on my face as a student 35 years ago--the very same day President Donald Trump resigns as President for separating Latino children from their parents at the border last year; for racist comments he has made repeatedly as a candidate and as President, for his defense of white supremacists in Charlottesville, and for his comments on the bus about what he likes to do with beautiful women because he is famous.  Any by the way, all of you politicians in the Democratic Party who have been calling sanctimoniously for my resignation?  Prove you don't have a double standard by asking Trump to resign in the same statement you make asking me to resign. Frankly, I don't think you have the guts to do this.

Diario de Juárez Shows 7 Persons Killed Last Year Shortly After Leaving the State Prosecutor's Office

The gunfight in front of the state prosecutor's office on Sunday night, which apparently foiled an attempted assassination of an Azteca member as he was released from the facility, prompted Diario to undertake some research.  The results?  At least seven men assassinated in the past year were killed shortly after leaving the Fiscalía Estatal in Juárez. (click here)

On March 17 2018 two police officials, Arturo Ledezma Porras and Saul Flores Lares, were killed at the stoplight at Oscar Flores and Lopez Mateos, five minutes after leaving the Fiscalía.  Police believe the intended victim was Ulises Pacheco Rodriguez, Coordinator of Public Ministries, who had reserved the vehicle Ledezma and Flores were in.

On July 19 Armando Sahagun Gonzalez and his mother, Guillermina González, were killed by gunfire at the same intersection of Oscar Flores and Lopez Mateos, in a Jeep Compass, minutes after Sahagun was released from the Fiscalia.  Sahagun was a member of the Los Aztecas, but had recently switched to La Linea.  He had been held at the Fiscalia for 48 hours after being witness to a homicide.  His mother drove to the Fiscalía to pick him up.

On July 10 a man was assassinated in Barrio Alto after being released from the Fiscalía

On August 4 a father and son, both bus drivers, were released after being accused of beating a passenger in a bus they were driving.  Both were killed within an hour after being released from a holding cell at the Fiscalía.

On August 6 a man was shot to death a few yards away from the Fiscalía, five minutes after being released from the Fiscalía, where he had been detained on suspicion of shooting at a business establishment.

Juárez:  Gunfight After Execution at Las Misiones Shopping Center

From Diario de Juárez and La Polaka:  (click here and here)

**Did he fail to pay his parking fee?  A man was executed on Friday night in the Las Misiones Shopping Center, at the entrance to the Sanborns restaurant.  According to La Polaka (click here) the victim was identified as Adrian Ruiz, 21, shot dead in front of dozens of clients in the restaurant.  Misiones is the shopping center near the US Consulate that is now charging a controversial parking fee (see entry here on January 28).

The Scene in Front of Sanborns at Las Misiones Sunday Night:  Foto La Polaka

**Gunfight in front of Prosecutor's office.  On Sunday night a gunfight erupted at the state prosecutor's office on Eje Juan Gabriel and Aserraderos.  It is believed that gunmen from La Linea (Juárez Cartel) were waiting for a man--Asrael M.M, brother of "El Fredy," a top officer of the Azteca organization--to leave the prosecutor's office, so that they could kill him.  Instead, it appears that gunmen from both La Linea and Los Aztecas confronted each other and exchanged gunfire.  Police later arrested a man, Edgar Omar, thought to be a member of La Linea, believed to have participated in the gunfight.  Click here for Diario Story.

Police offices have been the targets of various armed attacks in recent weeks, and initially there was concern that this might be another attack.  State police authorities denied that this gunfight constituted a deliberate attack against the prosecutor's office.

**Juárez:  His Wife Came Home and He was Dead in the Bathroom, "atado," With His Hands Tied Behind His Back.  There were many things of value in the house but they weren't taken.

**The bodies of four men were found in a clandestine grave near the Casas Grande highway in the Southern part of Juárez.

The Moral Atrocity of Blackface (!?)

and the President and Policies You Are Not Allowed to Mention

The last straw for me was Terry McAuliffe.  Here is a man who got his start in Democratic circles by raising millions of dollars from highly self-interested corporate interests around the country for the Clintons and for Democrats in general.  In gratitude to the donors he touted neoliberal policies that, under Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush, and Obama, clause by clause, line by line, bill by bill, shoveled money to the One Percent--so much so there is no money left for health care, for infrastructure, for wind power, public transportation, or for the Other 99 percent.  And he got his political reward:  Governor of Virginia.  Now he is running for President and he wants to secure the Black vote the Clintons seemed always to have locked up.  No brainer:  kick your own Lt. Governor under the bus.  Join the mantra:  Governor Northam must resign!  the moral outrage!

But do you get the feeling there is something missing from this picture?

One thing missing is the 800 lb. gorilla sliced out of television's portrait of Northam.  Trump, of course, is an active racist, performing racist acts as President.  His sin wasn't putting on blackface 35 years ago.  It was the dog whistle of lying about Obama's birthplace, his response to Nazi violence, calling Mexicans "rapists," the atrocity by a sitting US President of separating children from their parents, some, apparently forever, and then deliberately sitting on his hands.  Male chauvinist?   What was it he said on the bus about women and famous men?  But the current rules of television don't permit anyone to point this out.  Yesterday on MSNBC the Rev. Al Sharpton (who lately seems to have has lost the silent "g" and "u" and "e" at the end of his surname that made me want to listen to him long ago) spent an hour bashing Northam without once mentioning the racist at the top.

When was the last time you heard Terry McAuliffe or Al Sharpton, or any other prominent Democrat currently calling for Northam to resign, insist, as a matter of moral principle, that Trump should resign?

The underlying question here is why it is a strict rule on television that a commentator cannot contrast the blackface of Northam or the alleged sexual misconduct of Al Franken, against the much more brazen and truly harmful racist actions of our President?  And why do guests go along with the prohibition?  If a picture of Northam in blackface in a yearbook 35 years ago is so morally outrageous that you must openly call for his resignation, what might your moral obligations be to act in responding to Trump's racism and the children who will never see their parents?  Why won't Jake Tapper or George Stephanopoulos ask this obvious question?

The other thing that is missing is an awareness of the difference between symbolism and real-life action.  This, perhaps, is even more troubling than the missing contextual contrast between Northam and Trump.  The Democratic Party has in the past 30 years gotten very adept at feeling black pain, or the pain of any mass injustice, while doing nothing about it.  This feels like one of those moments.

If Democratic Party leadership seems to be saying, "spend your energy ousting someone who 35 years ago had a picture taken that seems insensitive today," isn't the corollary that you need not spend your time forcing raises in minimum wages and reversing the growing tide of restrictive voting laws and police shootings that truly hurt Black lives?  Democrats have gotten away with this for a long time.  Time to put the sins of Al Franken and Ralph Northam firmly in the context of the very real, not symbolic, atrocities in American politics today.  Don't tell me who should resign.  Tell me what are you, Mr. or Ms. Democrat, going to do about the racially biased ills and non-racially biased ills that afflict this country?

Juarez:  January Closes with 109 Homicides

2019 began with a slightly higher pace of murder than 2018.  At this rate the year will close with 1308 homicides, slightly higher than the 1247 registered last year.  By contrast, Chicago, with a population one million persons larger than Juárez, had 530 homicides in 2018.  

César Duarte, former Governor of Chihuahua, Formally Expelled from the PRI

Will Peña Nieto be Expelled for taking a $100 million bribe from Chapo?

The National Political Council of the PRI, the party that took Peña Niete to power, has formally expelled former Governor César Duarte from the Party.  He has been living in El Paso since he left the governorship in 2016, on the lam wanted in Mexico for stealing large quantities of money, with some estimates as high as $300 million.  The PRI Commission on Party Justice recommended the expulsion earlier this year.  Enrique Peña Nieto, President of Mexico from 2012-2018, was accused by a key Colombian witness, in the trial of Chapo Guzman in New York, of taking a $100 million bribe from Chapo, as well as allowing the PRI to embezzle millions of pesos in public funds for use in political campaigns.