Homeland Security News and More

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Baby killed in ambush in Mexico

OAXACA, Mexico – Gunmen opened fire on a pick-up truck carrying several passengers outside Sola de Vega, a city in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, killing four people, including a baby, and wounding two others over the weekend, state officials told EFE.

The ambush occurred on Sunday in the La Pihua section of Paso Ancho, a community near Sola de Vega and San Vicente Coatlan, in the Sierra Sur region, the Oaxaca Public Safety Secretariat said.

The Nissan double-cab pick-up truck was heading to Sola de Vega after making stops in several cities, the secretariat said in a statement.

Unidentified gunmen hidden in the underbrush and armed with large-caliber weapons opened fire on the vehicle at some distance, hitting it as the driver was completing his trip.

The driver, two adult women and a 7-month-old baby girl were among those killed in the attack, the secretariat said.

Another woman, identified as 38-year-old Cristina Rios Jarquin, and her 3-year-old daughter were wounded in the attack.

The two wounded passengers were transported to the regional hospital in Sola de Vega.

State officials have not provided additional details or a motive for the attack.

Sola de Vega is located about 90 minutes from Oaxaca city, the state capital.

Powerful Drug Trafficker among 4 People Killed in Western Mexico

MORELIA, Mexico – Carlos Rosales Mendoza, who founded the Familia Michoacana drug cartel and was a close associate of former Gulf cartel leader Osiel Cardenas Guillen, was killed in western Mexico, officials said.

Rosales Mendoza’s body was found on Monday and he appears to have been tortured, prosecutors in the western state of Michoacan said.

The powerful drug trafficker’s body was discovered along with those of three other men, the Michoacan Attorney General’s Office said.

Mexican officials considered Rosales Mendoza a dangerous drug trafficker who had the ability to organize drug gangs and enjoyed the Gulf cartel’s support.

The bodies of Rosales Mendoza and the other three men were found on the Siglo XXI highway, which links Morelia, the capital of Michoacan, and the Pacific coast.

The bodies, which had gunshot wounds and showed signs of torture, were dumped in the parking lot of the toll plaza in Santa Casilda, a town outside the city of Gabriel Zamora.

Rosales Mendoza was arrested in October 2004 at his residence south of Morelia after the government said he organized an attack by more than 40 gunmen on Jan. 5 of that year on the prison in the city of Apatzingan, where 25 inmates, including five extremely dangerous hitmen, escaped.

The drug trafficker left prison in May 2014 and was arrested on gun charges in August, but he managed to post bail.