NewsTaco

By Dustin Mendus

A truck carrying twenty “Illegal aliens” was intercepted Sunday, April 8th, by “individuals in camouflage uniforms brandishing rifles” in Pima, Arizona. Two people in the truck were gunned down by these men, according to the survivors of the shooting. No names have been  released by Pima County sheriffs pending notification of the next of kin. The survivors are being kept in custody by the Border Patrol following the police questioning about the incident.

This comes at the same time that the state of Arizona is toying with the idea of creating a taxpayer funded “armed militia” to patrol the borders. Criticism of the bill from Congressman Raul Grijalva and others seems to be falling on deaf ears, as the bill was approved in the Arizona Senate appropriations committee.

The deaths of these two people marks the first time in recent history that immigrants have been shot and killed from within American borders during their crossing from Mexico to America, and seems to indicate that the anti-immigration rhetoric has taken a very dangerous toll on Americans and how they deal with the “waves” of undocumented immigrants. We’ve gone past the ignorance of SB1070 to undocumented people being murdered on American soil. Meanwhile, some Americans decry the arrival of these people, saying that they will bring violence to the border. This absurd, fearful notion that undocumented immigrants are somehow going to bring massive violence to America (or worse, smuggle terrorists) – as well as the age-old favorite that they’re “taking our jobs” – has lead us to where we stand today.

Two people have now been gunned down in the Arizona desert thanks to men who sought them out. The area where the truck was stopped was known by police for being used to “smuggle humans”, and apparently now for killing them as well. The survivors of the attack described the assailants as wearing camouflage. It was probably no “accident”, no gang shooting, and it certainly wasn’t Jack the Ripper. The immigrants were probably gunned down in cold blood by men pumped with rhetoric about how “illegals” are ruining America. We’re left with two dead bodies in the Arizona desert. This is what rhetoric has done.

[Photo by ThreadedThoughts]

In legal terms, “kidnapping” means “a person taken or detained against their will.” Kidnapping cannot only be considered an act by strangers, but rather it can also be committed by acquaintances, romantic partners, and including acts by parents involved in custody disputes.

• A child is lost every 40 seconds in the U.S. More than 2,100 per day and 800,000 children every year.
• 58,200 were kidnapped by a stranger.
• 203,900 minors were kidnapped by someone they knew.
• 90% are minors between the ages of 4 and 11. It is estimated that there could be some 500,000 kidnapping cases that go unreported.
• Unfortunately, 53% of all kidnapping cases end tragically.
• It is estimated that 44% of cases end in tragedy during the first hour.
• By the third hour, that percentage rises to 74% and it rises to 91% after 24 hours.
• To make matters worse, reports by parents take between   2 and 4 hours and time is working against them.
• It has been found that in 22% of cases the children are alive when they are reported missing, but it is more alarming that in 42% of cases the children are already dead when they are reported missing.

Sources: National Center For Missing And Exploited Children (NCMEC), UNICEF, FBI.

[Photo By chefranden]

To this day, I cannot repress, suppress or otherwise erase the image of the first man I ever saw die. Even now my mind performs an odd ritual of vivisection. I can still see the pool of blood. I still remember his hand coming up in a hopeless manner. The life that was still in his eyes was bleeding out in a rapid fashion. There was nothing anyone could have done for him.

There I was in my Sunday best, my shirt was pressed and my pants creased to perfection. I remember my family was on our way to church. We used to live about four blocks away from the church, and we would walk because my father always hated that post-church traffic. The irony is lost on most people, but it was hell getting out of God’s house. Besides my father always had this irrational fear about having his car battery stolen; it happened to a friend of his once, and he always carried on with a fear that he would be next.

We used to cut across the park in order to skip a very lazy traffic light. It was always my mother, my father, and my sister attempting to make the noon services at Dolores Mission. At first we made nothing of it. There were always arguments at the park – especially when it came to sporting exhibitions. Whenever you have two or more men with a ball between them, you will have trouble. There was a group of six or seven men by the basketball courts, pushing and shoving each other over the outcome of a play. That was nothing new. In fact, all my father did was put his body between us and the action – and what followed made an impression on me.

One of the men grabbed his basketball and decided to go home. The other group began to belittle him and question his manhood. This led to more pushing and shoving, and eventually people started throwing punches. A young wiry man that kind of looked like Billy Crudup in “Almost Famous,” took off his shirt and balled it up around his fist. He then reached around and blindsided one of the participants with a punch. The punch landed and left the other man stutter-stepping.

It was then when one of his friends reached into his back pocket, retrieved something and plunged it into the chest of the Billy Crudup-looking guy. Then I remember everyone running in different directions. The man on the floor twisted up into severed pretzel shapes as he let out savage animal moans. My father yelled at some folks hanging out at their porch to call an ambulance. It took them a while to react, but they finally did. My mother grabbed my hand and told me not to look back — even though I did. The look on his face, the arching of his back, and the sliding around in his own blood and the futility of his actions were burned into my memory.

We slinked away to the church. I remember hearing the sirens as they interrupted the priest’s sermon about something pious that would have served as a life lesson. By the time the second collection rolled around, the gossiping whisper wave had made its way to the middle: the young man did not make it. By the time the ambulance made it, all they could really do was place a long, white sheet over his body.

After church was over, we decided to wait out the lazy light. The dried out puddle of blood was there the following week. That’s all it took for me to realize that things would never be the same. I would see puddles of dried blood like that in the street after an argument went south or in a driveway in the aftermath of doing what cannot be undone – but nothing ever prepares you for the first puddle.

[Photo By Joelk75]

Gabriel Zavala Diaz was test engineer for NASA. His lifeless body was found on February 26, 2005. His family feels time pass, but their cry for justice becomes ever stronger and loud. There are no clues or suspects and their names are added to the long list of unsolved murders committed in the Bay Area of San Francisco, California.

Gabriel was 29 and his death left two children fatherless and a whole family plunged into the anguish and frustration. The police report states that received a clear shot in the head. Still no arrests, no witnesses or responsible for the murder these years later, so the authorities maintain a $ 100,000 reward for anyone who provides information concerning the case.

“Time passes and we know nothing. All we want is justice,” said Teresa, Gabriel’s mother. “We are frustrated, desperate. During the early days of the crime happened detectives spoke with us, as co-workers, but now it seems that all is forgotten. There is so much indifference. ”

To Explore Space

From an early age, Gabriel dreamed of becoming an engineer. His efforts and dedication led him joining in 2001 various projects of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), becoming one of the privileged few Latinos who worked on the Discovery space shuttle — which he lost the opportunity to see take off after his life was taken from him.

Gabriel worked at the NASA Ames Research Center in the Silicon Valley, in northern California, with a team of scientists and engineers who conduct research and technological development. This center supports NASA missions. Gabriel’s enthusiasm and abilities led him to join the team of X-37 test, the Mars Science Laboratory. Gabriel participated in four projects, including the development of the shuttle and a probe entered the atmosphere of Titan, Saturn’s largest moon.

Gabriel was honored in a ceremony that paid him all the honors in the facilities of the NASA Ames. There the family was given a plaque of appreciation for their cooperation and work. Later he received a plaque with the signatures of more scientists and colleagues who worked with him on the Discovery project.

Memories of Gabriel

His mother Teresa remembers the night of Friday, February 25, 2005 when Gabriel called her to ask him a recipe to make a special dinner for his girlfriend and mother of his two sons, whom he would marry in a few days. He then went to visit his grandmother and, after making some calls on his cell phone, said he would be returning home. His girlfriend waited for him to come all night.

His body was found Saturday morning inside his car near the house of his grandmother. “I do not know many details because I did not identify the body and because I have not wanted to ask a lot. I’m not ready, I feel guilty for not being there to defend him and take care of him. I should have been there that night at that time,” insists Teresa, falling into uncontrollable weeping.

Following the Clues

Police in San Francisco have offered a reward of $ 100,000, while Gabriel’s family makes a desperate call to the community to get justice by alerting the authorities of those responsible for the crime. The available clues are strictly kept authorities. “It’s a very difficult case, we should be very careful, because if we have no clear forensic evidence to blame a someone, then we have nothing,” said Detective Antonio Rojo of San Francisco Police Department Homicide.

“We can not reveal anything about our investigation. We understand the pain of the family, but still can not share anything with them. We do not have suspects or witnesses. In fact, the only witness so far is just the same suspect who does not know anything. ” Detective Fields says one this is for sure, the person who killed Gabriel was not someone just passing by and chose him at random. Inside the car there were no signs of a fight. “It was probably someone who had planned it, or acquaintance of the victim. But we are still investigating and we should be very cautious. ”

“There was a suspect in that Gabriel was making deals on buying a car. Following that, it seems that this man had threatened to kill him, because he had talked to a friend. He was the only suspect, but there is no evidence against him and he is now free,” said Gabriel’s cousin, Daniel Correa.

“I really wanted to know if the police are really investigating. If they have any questions that we could help answer. If there are clues, if there is hope. Maybe I know something that can help them. But no one called, no one says anything,” Daniel insists.”I know that here in San Francisco there are many similar cases and certainly that of my cousin is not so important to them,” he said.

“We are all trying to get down the road, but the path of life is done step by step until you reach your goal.” This phrase was Gabriel himself wrote one of his two sisters, who decided to share this thought in memory of this young man whose death expect not be forgotten.

If you have information that could lead to the capture of the murderer of Gabriel Zavala Díaz contact the Police Department San Francisco or you may do so anonymously by contactingExpendiente Rojo.

In a way it is unethical to talk about the “lineage” of the mafia referred to here. But not only the way it was formed, rather due to its influence on other ethnic groups and the extension of its tentacles in the past forty years—inside and outside of prisons—made the Mexican Mafia both one of the most structured and most feared criminal organizations in the United States.

Researchers that study this have pinpointed 1957 as the year the group was started. One peculiarity of its appearance within the panorama of U.S. crime is that the Mexican Mafia was created within the California prison system. It followed a need for survival within the incarcerated Mexican community, which in those years reported instances of abuse and racism by the white community, especially from those in the Blue Bird gang.

There are two names credited with founding the Mexican Mafia: Rodolfo Cadena and Joe Morgan, who at the end of 1950s were serving sentences in the Deuel Vocational Institution, located in Tracy, Calif. Under their leadership, the then-fledgling Mexican Mafia quickly became the most powerful criminal organization within the California penal system, not only for the defense of those in its shadow, but rather because it managed to control practically 100% of all illicit activities behind bars.

Almost a decade after its formation—a time during which it was considered untouchable—the appearance of another gang comprised of members of Mexican origin came in some way to overshadow the influence of the Mexican Mafia. It was in the troubled year of 1968 when Nuestra Familia started to be known as an “alternative” gang.

The curious thing about this species of Mexican criminal detachment—paradoxically located within prisons—is that it also served as a model for other ethnic groups to follow. So almost immediately, others formed the Black Guerilla Family, from the African-American community, and the Aryan Brotherhood.

And as in all mafia structures, they did not wait to form alliances. While it is a political principle that power should not be shared, nothing bad happened to the Mexican Mafia for its support of the Aryan Brotherhood, a group of motorcycle gangs, meanwhile Nuestra Familia found support almost automatically from the Black Guerrilla Family, a gang with Maoist leanings. Maybe because of these alliances or because the majority of the criminal world is outside of prisons, the Mexican Mafia constructed “bridges” with new generations of Mexican-Americans, who saw the group as an easy way to get money and power, two characteristics inherent to almost any mafia.

Thus, there was the growth of gang members called “Southerners”, for the geographic region of Southern California, but at the same time to fight other criminal groups from the northern parts of the state. They then began to create tattoos, symbols and codes on par with committing murders, drug deals, extortion, assaults and illegal gambling. Although, truth be told, these activities had already been cultivated since the beginning, but not as organized.

And perhaps one can’t say an exact number of members, since both the invasion like the exit (if you can even call it that) of the Mexican Mafia is generational. But what can identify its members present or past is the indelible mark on some part of the body: the symbols XIII, X3, 13 or three points that correspond to the position M is in the alphabet. Other symbols include a black hand, the legend La Eme or also MM.

In any case, the gloomiest thing that comes with these marks is a not-so-subtle skull with which all members of the Mexican Mafia will be marked with forever.

Expediente Rojo Project (Code Red), is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing the Latino community with information about crime in their communities. Visit Expediente Rojo’s website, follow them on Facebook or on Twitter @Expediente_Rojo.

[Photo By James Cridland]

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By Wuicho Vargas

McAllen, Texas — It has been more than three years, and the violence in Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas has not come to an end.  It has gotten worse.  Recently, three guys were killed at El Barrio Antiguo, specifically at el Café Iguanas, a place in downtown Monterrey. My friend Pablote was murdered there, it was one of the last places for creative recreation that we had. Music, concerts and some of the best pizzas you could ever ask for at three in the morning were all there.

That night was frivolous and glorious, just like any other night.  They celebrated that they were alive and together at the same café.  A friend told me that when the shooting happened, a couple of guys walked up to Pablote, the front door man, and shot him along with two other guys that where there. Five other people got hurt and that night, the night when Monterrey’s last cultural spot gave in to violence.

Today its doors are closed and also our collective freedom.

My friends, thankfully, had arrived after everything had happened. They weren’t hurt, but a friend of ours saw two of the corrupted cops that ran away when the guys with the guns arrived. She said that everything turned into a slow motion scene. She was scared, looking at them from behind a car. Who wouldn’t be scared — they are cops!  They are your enemies and their title does not symbolize anything these days. This is more proof that Monterrey is getting eaten alive by the corrupt and hungry for money, power and territory individuals.  This does not mean that the mobilization of music, art and expression will be held captive and murder. It will continue forever.

A friend from Iran once told me that they weren’t allowed to “party” and that is the reason they kept everything a secret inside their homes.  They had secret private parties.  This is now happening to Nuevo Leon.  The parties and reunions are now being planned ahead of time and in different places.  A human collective for peace is gradually awakening and an underground system of communication is being re-developed for other purposes.

Facebook, Twitter, and many other social networks are being used for the spreading of news, parties, reunions and warnings of dangerous spots.

This atrocity has branded us for life; we will carry this forever.  It has also helped reaffirm our brotherhood bond with each other and to create other ways of communication. It does not matter how many walls, border, barriers, obstacles they create and violently impose. My people — mi familia, mi gente de Nuevo Leon — will always find the way to stay strong, to stay together.

Wuicho Vargas is a writer who lives in McAllen, Texas.

Two of the people who killed nine year-old Brisenia Flores in her home have been tried, convicted and sentenced. Shawna Forde was sentenced to death plus 65 years and Jason Bush was also sentenced to death. A third suspect, Albert Gaxiola, is now on trial in Arizona, accused of first-degree murder for helping Forde and Bush in their home raid because he felt her father, Raúl Flores, was a threat to his drug business.

Strangely, it turns out that Gaxiola is an old family friend or distantly related to Brisenia’s mother, Gina Gonzalez, who was shot but survived the assault. Gaxiola’s defense contends he was not involved and nowhere near the scene of the crime when Brisenia and her father were killed.

The Arizona Daily Star reported:

And while it’s true Gaxiola’s DNA was found on an AK-47 left inside the Flores home the morning of the slayings, that can be explained, Lansdale said…

Johnson told jurors they will learn that at 1:32 a.m., Gaxiola sent Forde a text message saying, “Cops on scene. Lay low,” and Forde responded: “No worries. Just relax. Competition gone.”

Here’s a video report from KGUN9, which said the trial may go on for a few weeks.

Follow Sara Inés Calderón on Twitter @SaraChicaD

[Video By KGUN9; Image Courtesy Presente.org]

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