From CSI on Facebook

(The following is from an e-mail forwarded to mi esposa)

CSI Chapala
May 13, 2012
Dear Community Members,
To our knowledge, this is truly the most devastating and difficult time our beautiful Village has ever experienced. We are all in shock and frankly, terrified at the prospects of what my lie ahead. Every day there is more bad news, more terroristic acts.
This email is to let you know, your CSI Chapala Team has not stopped working in your behalf; for the Nationals and Foreigners alike.
Here is what we have been doing in addition to keeping the Anonymous Hotline active. As a sidebar to that, now would be the perfect time to use this number 01-800-839-1416.
Remember, when this number is dialed, it goes straight to operators in Canada and they have no way of identifying who is calling. You receive a number only, NO names. The number you are given is so you can call and check on the progress of your lead.
Your report is typed up in English and Spanish and immediately sent directly to the cell phone of our Police Captain. You can help your Mexican neighbor or gardener or maid or pool man make that call. You can dial the number and you can help them deliver the information if they are fearful. Someone must know something that will assist our police department. Please ask and encourage your Mexican friends to participate in the invaluable program.
Next week, CSI in conjunction with our police department, will be implementing a new ‘emergency cell phone system’. This system is in addition to the 800 Anonymous Hotline number listed above. This additional safety measure will work this way: A ‘receive calls only’ cell phone number will be imprinted on refrigerator magnets and stickers for the back of your home or cell phone. Each household will be receiving, delivered by the police department personnel, several circular badges (as described above), along with the neighborhood watch window stickers.
CSI Chapala will be purchasing for our police department, nine ‘receive only cell phones’ which will be carried by the officers-on-duty who will be patrolling the Ajijic and Chapala areas. Each patrol will have their own ‘receive calls only cell phone’. It is that sticker, with that particular phone number that you will be receiving. In other words, Ajijic Central will have a different cell phone number on their sticker than someone in Rivera Alta who will have a different cell phone number than someone in Central Chapala area or Vista del Lago, etc., so if you should have an emergency, the police officers on duty in your area can get to your home immediately.
Remember, it is your responsibility to write next to your phone and maybe even attach it to the magnet, what to say, in Spanish.
Ayudame, Ayudame. Mi nombre es ______________, mi dirección es __________ en Ajijic or Villa Nova or wherever; mi teléfono es ______________. Por favor ayuda me ahorita mismo. (Help me, help me. My name is _________. My address is ________en (this area). My phone number is ___________. Please help me right now.)
Also we are now working hand-in-hand with our police department and the Guardian Angels to add more ‘boots on the ground’ in our neighborhoods. We are looking for volunteers. The course is 16 weeks of training. You can join at any time by emailing CSIChapala@hotmail.com
Additionally, we have asked for Army presence immediately, as well as the State and Federal Police to assist our local police. We have also asked for a curfew. These, as many of you may recall, were part of our six solutions at our Dec 7th 2011meeting. We have never stopped asking for them, but now we are seeing them being put into action. Please follow the new rules being implemented. After dark, please stay home.
We are also asking all restaurants to participate in ‘early bird specials’ until this very troubled time is over, so that they may stay in business and you may still have a social life. If restaurants were to start their ‘early bird dinner menus at 3pm with their music (if they have music) playing from 4-8pm and then the restaurant closes, so you and their staff can safely be home before 9pm, we could all have some normalcy back in our lives.
Just minutes ago CSI Chapala received a call from Capitan Contreras who is trying to organize a PEACE MARCH TODAY (Sunday, May 13th). He asks that we all meet in front of the Pemex station by the Bullring, at the entrance of Chapala (by the Monday Open Air Market) at 7pm. We will walk in white, with candles, in silence to the Fisherman’ Fountain by the church and a mass will take place at 8pm in the church. If you feel comfortable being out after dark, please attend. If you prefer not to attend tonight, there will be another Peace March tomorrow (Monday the 14th) starting at the La Floresta Auditorium at 9am. Also at the time, our public officials may speak about the current crimes and arrests.
We are all in this together and as your volunteer team, your CSI Chapala is doing all we can. As you know, we are not the police, not a reporting or recording entity; we are simply a liaison between you and the police to assist with safety issues by offering ideas and programs.
Thank you and please try to be at the PEACE MARCH this evening at 7pm starting in Chapala by the Bullring, or tomorrow starting at 9am at the La Floresta Auditorium.
CSI Chapala

Great idea. Let's bring in the army, set up some road blocks...and turn this place into another Ciudad Juarez. Oh yeah, and the next time I need the cops I'll be sure to call Canada.

Smartalex wrote:Great idea. Let's bring in the army, set up some road blocks...and turn this place into another Ciudad Juarez. Oh yeah, and the next time I need the cops I'll be sure to call Canada.

I have no problem with army roadblocks,been through tons of them with no problems,the homicide rate in Ciudad Juarez dropped dramatically when the army was sent in,I think you don't know what your'e talking about.

The army turned Juarez into a war zone, which is what armies do. Thousands of people died there, many of them innocents caught in the crossfire. Half the population has since fled the city of 1.5 million. But don't take my word for anything. Here's an article from June 13, 2009 Houston Chronicle.

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico — Three months into a military surge aimed at restoring peace to this gangster-choked border city, soldiers are being blamed for the deaths of as many as four men, the disappearances of eight others and the torture of still scores more.

“The guarantee of public security has been totally broken,” said Gustavo de la Rosa, an outspoken official with the Chihuahua state human rights commission. “Juarez was better off without the soldiers.”

Defense and national police officials deny that their forces have been involved in the deaths, disappearances or torture of innocent civilians. And President Felipe Calderon has given his strong backing to the military campaign in Juarez, which borders El Paso.

“We will defeat organized crime in Ciudad Juarez because our armed forces will never back off nor desist,” Calderon said in a visit last month to troops here. “Our people trust in the army.”

But the accounts of those who say they have been abused by soldiers are convincingly similar: Many say they are picked up by patrolling troops, blindfolded and driven to remote locations where they say they were beaten with fists, rifles and boards.

“They are all men who are not on any arrest list,” said lawyer Javier Gonzalez, 55, whose small municipal office fields abuse complaints against the federal forces, which total more than 500 since March. “The economically fragile zones are those that have been the most affected. The operations are more intense there.”

In those neighborhoods, army patrols target addicts, suspected gang members and other men in the street and torture them to extract information about local drug dealers, human rights groups and residents say. Homes have been ransacked and possessions stolen, they charge.

Chihuahua state prosecutors and human rights groups are investigating some of the cases, but Mexico’s defense ministry denies that soldiers have been involved in the four known killings and the disappearances of at least eight others.

Army and other government officials vow to investigate every accusation but say gangsters may be disguising themselves as soldiers to carry out the kidnappings and beatings, said Enrique Torres, a spokesman for the joint operation meant to stabilize Juarez. Torres said 85 percent of the complaints against the federal police have been resolved.

45,000 troops mobilized
Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and other advocacy groups say that requirements that accused soldiers be tried only in military courts have meant immunity for most crimes. The army Thursday announced a 15-day detention of soldiers who roughed up Juarez journalists on June 4 and pledged its commitment to “monitor the security to create a climate of peace, confidence and well-being.”

With Mexico’s police outgunned and deeply corrupted by the criminals, Calderon deployed the army and military-like national police in launching his crackdown upon taking office in December 2006. More than 45,000 federal troops have been patrolling the country’s most gang-addled cities and towns in the 30 months since.

With Mexico’s police outgunned and deeply corrupted by the criminals, Calderon deployed the army and military-like national police in launching his crackdown upon taking office in December 2006. More than 45,000 federal troops have been patrolling the country’s most gang-addled cities and towns in the 30 months since.

Sending in the army to stop the violence “was necessary because there was no one else who can do it,” conceded Oscar Enriquez, a Roman Catholic priest and human rights activist in a poor neighborhood near Juarez’s southern outskirts. “But it’s not an adequate solution. The army is committing a lot of abuses.”

And some say those alleged abuses have had deadly outcomes.

Check the homicide rates for 2009,2010and 2011,they went from over 3000 to under 2000,and while you're at it ask any law abiding citizen in C.Juarez what they think about the army's presence,without the army who are far from perect there would be zero law enforcement in Juarez, welcome to the forum.

First of all, that's an unfair comparison since the army moved in during 2009. What was the total in 2008, before they moved in?

Also, you're confusing murder totals with murder rates. They are different. If your figures are correct, then the total has decreased by 1/3. However, the population decreased by 1/2 during that same period. This means the murder rate actually increased.

And, although the people of Juarez initially welcomed the army, they quickly had a change of heart. There were massive public demonstrations, asking the army to leave. Instead, the army stayed and the people moved out of town. In fact, the mayor lives in El Paso and commutes across the border every day.

But like I said, don't take my word for anything. What happened in Juarez has become an international scandal and embarrassment for the government of Mexico...whether you wish to admit it or not.

Juarez was an international scandal long before the army arrived:over a thousand murdered women and not a single conviction,repeat not a single conviction,local police totally corrupt,inept and disinterested and I don't get my information from the Houston Chronicle,I get it from my "concuño"who's a businessman in Juarez and from other sources.Where did you get the numbers on the population decrease they seem very exaggerated.

I got the population figure from a BBC news report on human rights violations by the military authorities in Juarez. There are a number of on-going investigations by international human rights organizations. I believe there is also a World Court case pending. It's no secret that half the population has left Juarez since the army arrived. Half the homes in town are vacant.

In addition, there are hundreds (maybe thousands) more who have simply disappeared. These people are not included in the murder count. How the government counts the dead is part of the investigation.

Smartalex wrote:In addition, there are hundreds (maybe thousands) more who have simply disappeared. These people are not included in the murder count. How the government counts the dead is part of the investigation.

I read somewhere recently that funeral directors in Juarez were complaining about the downturn in business compared to a few years ago,I'm not making this up you can google it.

Smartalex:

I have a real problem with your quoting a Houston newspaper for accurate info on what has been going on in Juarez over the last couple of years. We are a great deal closer and even the Las Cruces, Albuquerque and El Paso papers cannot get it right! Starting in 2005 and continuing through 2010, Hwy 45 was our route to/from Mexico. Heading south there were two permanent military checkpoints and five of them when returning north. About 30 to 35 miles south of Juarez, there is a huge combined military and Federale checkpoint and while they mean business, we never saw any abusive activities.

Not one time were we ever treated with anything but outstanding courtesy and respect! The same goes for the random Federale checkpoints which we started seeing all over Central and Northern Mexico starting in 2009.

viajero wrote:

Smartalex wrote:In addition, there are hundreds (maybe thousands) more who have simply disappeared. These people are not included in the murder count. How the government counts the dead is part of the investigation.

I read somewhere recently that funeral directors in Juarez were complaining about the downturn in business compared to a few years ago,I'm not making this up you can google it.

Yup if you can't find the bodies....the funeral parlors are just out of luck.

CheenaGringo wrote:Smartalex:

I have a real problem with your quoting a Houston newspaper for accurate info on what has been going on in Juarez over the last couple of years. We are a great deal closer and even the Las Cruces, Albuquerque and El Paso papers cannot get it right! Starting in 2005 and continuing through 2010, Hwy 45 was our route to/from Mexico. Heading south there were two permanent military checkpoints and five of them when returning north. About 30 to 35 miles south of Juarez, there is a huge combined military and Federale checkpoint and while they mean business, we never saw any abusive activities.

Not one time were we ever treated with anything but outstanding courtesy and respect! The same goes for the random Federale checkpoints which we started seeing all over Central and Northern Mexico starting in 2009.

Took your advice. Went to the El Paso Times website and punched "mexican army abuse" into the search window. Found page after page after page after page of articles on the subject. They were all local articles dealing with Juarez. I suggest you do the same and then get back to me here.

Please read my post again as I didn't say that there wasn't info on military abuses but did say that they cannot get it right.

CheenaGringo wrote:Please read my post again as I didn't say that there wasn't info on military abuses but did say that they cannot get it right.

I'm not following the logic of your argument. You seem to be telling me that literally thousands of news articles, as well as numerous international human rights investigations, have gotten it wrong...while you're right.

Smartalex seeing as how these thugs are picking up innocent people and murdering them in unimaginable ways just to send a message I welcome a temporary military presence till things calm down,the fact is that the local cops simply aren't up to the task.If your spanish is up to it I recommend the movie"El Violin"a fine movie that was suppressed for years by the mexican military and government.

viajero wrote:Smartalex seeing as how these thugs are picking up innocent people and murdering them in unimaginable ways just to send a message I welcome a temporary military presence till things calm down,the fact is that the local cops simply aren't up to the task.If your spanish is up to it I recommend the movie"El Violin"a fine movie that was suppressed for years by the mexican military and government.

Found it on Youtube. Looks interesting. Thanks for the tip.

You're welcome,bienvenido al foro.