The Mexican army has ordered three junior officers and 10 soldiers to stand trial on drug trafficking and organized crime charges after they were allegedly caught with more than a tonne of methamphetamines and 30kg of cocaine.
The soldiers were arrested last week with drugs at a military checkpoint south of Tijuana, across the border from San Diego.
They are being charged within the military justice system.
The Mexican Defense Department said in a statement it would “in no way tolerate” such acts.
CORRUPTION
Corruption is widespread among Mexican police, and some experts worry it could spread to the tens of thousands of soldiers assigned to fight drug traffickers across the country.
In the Pacific coast resort of Acapulco, police on Friday found the dismembered body of a man near the city’s main coastal boulevard.
A police statement said a car was set afire beside the body, and two handwritten signs were also found nearby.
“Here is your garbage,” read one.
Such signs are frequently left by drug gangs to threaten rivals and authorities.
MUTILATED REMAINS
Outside Acapulco, on the toll road to Mexico City, a man’s bound, mutilated body was found near a burned-out car. The unknown victim had been shot in the face and head, and his ear was severed, according to police in Guerrero state, where Acapulco is located.
Another body that had been cut in pieces was found in three plastic bags dumped on a street in a residential area of Acapulco, police said.
ATTACKS
Near the city’s colonial San Diego Fort, meanwhile, unidentified assailants attacked three homes with gasoline bombs, gunshots and a grenade that failed to explode.
No injuries were reported in those attacks.
In the northern state of Coahuila, across from Texas, a state trooper, a female passer-by and five gunmen were killed during a series of shootouts between police and presumed cartel henchmen, authorities said.
Gunmen in three sport utility vehicles attacked police in state capital Saltillo on Friday morning, leading to a chase and gunfight that killed two attackers and injured four officers, the Coahuila state prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
Minutes later, gunmen riding in SUVs ambushed and killed a state police officer in nearby Ramos Arizpe.
CAUGHT IN CROSSFIRE
An hour later in Saltillo, three gunmen and a woman who was caught in the crossfire died in another shootout between police and suspected traffickers.
Prosecutors didn’t say whether the three incidents were related.
Saltillo, a city of about 750,000 people near the industrial hub of Monterrey, and the surrounding area had so far largely avoided the worst of a wave of violence in northeastern Mexico arising from a turf fight between the Gulf drug cartel and its former hit men, the Zetas.
OPTIMISTIC: A Philippine Air Force spokeswoman said the military believed the crew were safe and were hopeful that they and the jet would be recovered A Philippine Air Force FA-50 jet and its two-person crew are missing after flying in support of ground forces fighting communist rebels in the southern Mindanao region, a military official said yesterday. Philippine Air Force spokeswoman Colonel Consuelo Castillo said the jet was flying “over land” on the way to its target area when it went missing during a “tactical night operation in support of our ground troops.” While she declined to provide mission specifics, Philippine Army spokesman Colonel Louie Dema-ala confirmed that the missing FA-50 was part of a squadron sent “to provide air support” to troops fighting communist rebels in
PROBE: Last week, Romanian prosecutors launched a criminal investigation against presidential candidate Calin Georgescu accusing him of supporting fascist groups Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Romania’s capital on Saturday in the latest anti-government demonstration by far-right groups after a top court canceled a presidential election in the EU country last year. Protesters converged in front of the government building in Bucharest, waving Romania’s tricolor flags and chanting slogans such as “down with the government” and “thieves.” Many expressed support for Calin Georgescu, who emerged as the frontrunner in December’s canceled election, and demanded they be resumed from the second round. George Simion, the leader of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), which organized the protest,
ECONOMIC DISTORTION? The US commerce secretary’s remarks echoed Elon Musk’s arguments that spending by the government does not create value for the economy US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Sunday said that government spending could be separated from GDP reports, in response to questions about whether the spending cuts pushed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency could possibly cause an economic downturn. “You know that governments historically have messed with GDP,” Lutnick said on Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures. “They count government spending as part of GDP. So I’m going to separate those two and make it transparent.” Doing so could potentially complicate or distort a fundamental measure of the US economy’s health. Government spending is traditionally included in the GDP because
Hundreds of people in rainbow colors gathered on Saturday in South Africa’s tourist magnet Cape Town to honor the world’s first openly gay imam, who was killed last month. Muhsin Hendricks, who ran a mosque for marginalized Muslims, was shot dead last month near the southern city of Gqeberha. “I was heartbroken. I think it’s sad especially how far we’ve come, considering how progressive South Africa has been,” attendee Keisha Jensen said. Led by motorcycle riders, the mostly young crowd walked through the streets of the coastal city, some waving placards emblazoned with Hendricks’s image and reading: “#JUSTICEFORMUHSIN.” No arrest
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