Tag: mexico

US Gun Makers Notch Win Against Mexico In Unanimous SCOTUS Ruling Authored By Liberal Justice

The Supreme Court unanimously rejected on Thursday the Mexican government’s lawsuit against American gun manufacturers.

The court held that Mexico’s 2021 lawsuit against seven U.S. gun manufacturers is barred under the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA).

“As required by a federal statute, Mexico seeks to show (among other things) that the defendant companies participated in the unlawful sale or marketing of firearms,” Justice Elena Kagan wrote in the court’s opinion. “More specifically, Mexico alleges that the companies aided and abetted unlawful sales routing guns to Mexican drug cartels. The question presented is whether Mexico’s complaint plausibly pleads that conduct. We conclude it does not.”

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TERRIFYING: Dangerous Parasite That Eats Animals and Humans Alive Rapidly Marches Toward America With Help from the Mexican Drug Cartels

A dangerous flesh-eating parasite is rapidly marching toward the United States despite several desperate efforts to halt its advance. And one can thank the Mexican drug cartels for this.

As The Atlantic notes, the United States has been fighting an aerial war against the New World screwworm for 70 years. This parasite eats animals alive, including cows, pigs, deer, dogs, and even humans.

The larvae of the parasitic fly harboring the worm rip through flesh and transform small pricks into huge, revolting wounds. Worse, they produce foul-smelling odors resembling sewer gas.

It’s no wonder the worm’s scientific name, C. hominivorax, translates to “man-eater.”

In the 1950s, the U.S. Department of Agriculture launched an all-out assault to eradicate the screwworm.

Here is how they did it, according to The Atlantic.

Workers raised screwworms in factories, blasted them with radiation until they were sterile, and dropped the sterile adult screwworms by the millions—even hundreds of millions—weekly over the U.S., then farther south in Mexico, and eventually in the rest of North America.

The worm was eradicated from North America and Central America in the 20th century, but things have turned dark.

The outbreak began in Panama, skyrocketing from dozens a year to 1,000, despite ongoing drops of sterile flies. According to the Atlantic, the parasite then began moving northward, at first slowly and then rapidly, by 2024.

As of this month, the parasite has advanced 1,600 miles through eight countries to reach the Mexican States of Oaxaca and Veracruz, just 700 miles away from the Texas border.

According to Mark Eisele, a Cheyenne-based rancher and former president of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, the advance of screwworms is partly due to the Mexican drug cartels.

“All we needed to do was keep a flow of those planes. But the cartels were extorting money for every flight of flies that came out of Panama. They were extorting $35,000 a plane,” he said. “So, for all practical purposes, this is really kind of a political closing to make a point that they have got to get their act together.”

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has responded by indefinitely shutting down animal imports from or transferring through Mexico.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins released a statement on the invasion last week.

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Mexico’s first judicial elections include ex-convicts and cartel lawyers

Mexico is preparing to hold its first-ever judicial elections, and concerns are growing over the criminal histories and affiliations of candidates on the ballot.

Among those seeking positions are individuals previously investigated for crimes ranging from organized crime to sexual abuse, and even an ex-convict who served time in a US prison for drug smuggling, says the New York Times.

The judicial elections, scheduled for Sunday, will decide 2,681 positions, including some on Mexico’s Supreme Court.

The reform was introduced last year by former President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and is supported by current President Claudia Sheinbaum. They argue that the shift from appointments to public elections will reduce corruption and make the system more accountable to voters.

However, critics, including legal experts, have warned that opening up the judiciary to electoral politics could compromise judicial independence and allow unqualified or compromised individuals to gain power. Some also worry the process may increase the influence of organized crime in Mexico’s already-broken justice system.

At least four candidates have previously faced criminal investigations, according to letters obtained by The Times. These letters, sent in early May by the leaders of both congressional chambers—controlled by the ruling Morena party—asked electoral officials to disqualify 18 candidates accused of failing to meet the constitutional requirement of a “good reputation.”

Among those on the ballot is Fernando Escamilla, a 32-year-old candidate for a state criminal judgeship in Nuevo Leon. He previously provided legal services to Miguel Angel Treviño and Eleazar Medina-Rojas, two senior figures in the Zetas cartel.

Escamilla has defended his work, stating he merely advised on extradition law and believes it would be “unfair” to disqualify him from practicing law.

“It’s like a doctor,” Escamilla said. “When patients arrive at the emergency room, the doctor doesn’t ask what they do for a living before deciding whether to treat them, they just do.”

Other candidates have more serious criminal pasts. Leopoldo Javier Chávez Vargas was arrested in 2015 in Texas for attempting to smuggle meth into the US. He served nearly six years in prison and is now seeking a federal judgeship in Durango.

“I don’t deny my past,” he said. “I have fully accepted the consequences.”

Another candidate, Jesus Humberto Padilla Briones, was arrested in 2023 with meth and an illegal firearm.

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Cartel Gunmen Abduct, Murder Musical Group in Mexican Border City

A group of cartel gunmen abducted, murdered, and incinerated a group of musicians in the border city of Reynosa, Tamaulipas. Desperate relatives held protests, vigils, and even blocked access to international ports of entry in an attempt to get government officials to act and not ignore the case, like the thousands of missing persons cases that have been taking place throughout the state of Tamaulipas in recent years.

The abduction took place early Sunday morning after the five members of a local regional musical group called Fugitivo went to perform at a private party. When they arrived at the venue, they found it closed. They never returned.

Relatives and loved ones quickly sounded the alarm and filed missing persons reports with authorities. They then began holding protests and spreading the information on social media as a way to pressure authorities into action.

Authorities revealed to Breitbart Texas that 24 hours after the disappearance, they were able to locate the group’s SUV, but the trailer where they kept their musical instruments was missing.

In the following days, Tamaulipas State authorities went to a local bar called La Chinit, where witnesses claim the musicians went after finding their original venue closed. There, they found traces of blood and began conducting DNA tests to determine if the blood matched that of the missing individuals.

As part of their efforts to get attention to the case, friends and loved ones held protests, blocking traffic at international ports of entry. These protests forced Mexican authorities to take steps to secure the ports of entry.

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Sinaloa Cartel leader with $1M bounty, who was previously aligned with El Chapo’s son, killed in gunfight with Mexican authorities

A Sinaloa Cartel gang member aligned with El Chapo’s son in a gangland civil war was killed in a gunfight with Mexican authorities attempting to take him into custody, according to a government officials.

Jorge Humberto “El Perris” Figueroa, a member of “El Chapitos” faction which is aligned with the ex-Mexican kingpin’s incarcerated son Ovidio Guzman, opened fire on Mexican military members Friday as they attempted to arrest him, according to the Mexican government.

The United States had placed a $1 million reward for any information that would lead to the arrest of “El Perris” on charges of conspiracy to import and distribute fentanyl to the United States.

“As part of the strategy to build peace in Sinaloa, an operation was carried out to arrest Jorge Humberto, alias “El Perris,” Mexico’s secretary of state Omar Garcia Harfuch wrote on X.

“This person is identified as one of the main orchestrators of the attacks on authorities in 2019 in Culiacan, in addition to being related to homicides and kidnappings that affected the peace and tranquility of Sinaloa society,” Harfuch concluded.

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Top aides to Mexico City mayor gunned down in broad daylight executions

Two senior staffers in the office of Mexico City Mayor Clara Brugada were shot and killed early Tuesday morning in a broad daylight ambush that investigators believe was a targeted execution.

The victims, Ximena Guzman, Brugada’s personal secretary, and José Muñoz, a longtime adviser, were attacked around 7 am on a main road in the Moderna neighborhood, close to the Xola metro station. Surveillance video from the area shows a man in a white shirt and motorcycle helmet loitering near Guzman’s car before suddenly pulling out a firearm and shooting both victims. He fled the scene on a motorcycle driven by an accomplice.

“It was a direct attack,” said Mayor Brugada at a press conference later that day, according to The Guardian. Dressed in black and visibly shaken, she added, “[Guzman] was a wonderful, tireless, good woman. I’ve known [Muñoz] almost since … He’s one of the most intelligent people I’ve ever met, and extremely responsible.” Brugada said she was “shocked” by the killings and vowed that her administration would “continue its relentless fight against insecurity.”

President Claudia Sheinbaum also addressed the attack during her morning press conference. She expressed her condolences and said federal authorities would support the investigation. She stated that “there would not be impunity” and noted that neither Guzman nor Muñoz had security protection at the time. She also said she had no knowledge of prior threats made against them.

Initial reports say Muñoz had been standing on the sidewalk waiting for Guzman to pick him up when the gunman opened fire. Local residents said the violence appeared sudden and unexpected. “I was right here working when they shot them and I didn’t even realise,” said one nearby shoeshiner. “I’m a little deaf.” His friend, Jose Antonio, who owns a street stall nearby, added, “I actually didn’t hear the shots either. I think it must have been with a silencer.” He added that the shooters “didn’t try to hide it, they did it at rush hour.”

The killings are among the most serious attacks on public officials in Mexico City since an attempted assassination on former police chief Omar García Harfuch in 2020. García Harfuch, who now serves as Mexico’s federal security minister, wrote on X: “We won’t let this cowardly act go unpunished,” and confirmed federal assistance had been offered.

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CARTEL HUNTING SEASON: Two Top Mexican Federal Officials Murdered in the Capital, President Claudia Sheinbaum Confirms

While President Claudia Sheinbaum continues to refuse permission for US forces to go after the Cartels in their territory, and does not act against them, the criminal organizations have opened a veritable hunting season of politicians.

2024 saw a record 661 attacks on people and facilities related to politics, and this year also maintains the horrific pace.

A mayoral candidate in the southern state of Guerrero; the mayor of Cotija in Michoacán state; the mayor of Guerrero’s capital, Chilpancingo, was decapitated; a high-ranking the governing party, was shot and killed in Veracruz; a female mayoral candidate and her daughter gunned down in a livestream – the list goes on.

Now, the hitlist is getting closer and close to the president: a visibly shaken Sheinbaum confirmed today that Ximena Guzmán and José Muñoz, her secretary and advisor, were murdered in Mexico City.

“It is very relevant, that is why we were communicating with the secretary. We had information, but it has already been confirmed. The head of government, Clara Brugada, just issued an informational card.

The government of Mexico City reports that unfortunately, the personal secretary of the head of government, Jimena Guzmán, and José Muñoz, an advisor to the head of government, lost their lives during a direct attack on Calzada de Tlalpan and Napoleon Street in the Moderna neighborhood of the Benito Juárez borough.

Personnel from the Citizen Security Secretariat and the Attorney General’s Office, both of Mexico City, with the support of the government of Mexico.

From the very beginning, Omar gave instructions to ensure they have all the support from the National Intelligence Center, from the Subsecretariat of Intelligence of the Secretariat, and of course from the Secretariat of Defense and Navy, all the support that the head of government needs for the investigation to get to the bottom of this situation, that there is no impunity.

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Refusal To Help Stop Flesh-Eating Screwworms Is More Evidence Mexico Is No Friend To America

The United States recently suspended imports of cattle, horses, and bison from Mexico in response to a growing threat: the return of a silent, flesh-eating invader called the New World Screwworm. The screwworm is more than just a bug. It’s a flesh-eating parasite that poses a severe risk to livestock and wildlife and is crawling its way north from Mexico.

If left unchecked, the screwworm could decimate American cattle, horses, and wildlife. And once it’s here, eradicating it could take decades and cost billions. The last time it happened, our livestock industry took 30 years to bounce back.

While Mexico cries foul, it’s time we stop pretending we’re dealing with a friendly, cooperative neighbor. We’re not.

Thankfully, the U.S. is not taking any chances and has responded swiftly and decisively. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins deserves enormous credit for jumping into action. The USDA quickly mobilized, ramping up strategies to stop the outbreak at its source and suspending live animal imports through ports of entry along the southern border on May 11. 

The methods being used are the same ones that successfully eradicated screwworm from the U.S. in 1966: releasing massive numbers of sterile male screwworm flies. A female screwworm fly lives only 30 days, maximum. Since she gets just one chance to mate in this short window, mating with a sterile male means her line ends there. No offspring means no spread. Since each female can lay up to 3,000 flesh-eating larvae, breaking that reproductive cycle is the key to stopping the outbreak.

But for that to work, flights to disperse sterile male flies need to be constant and daily. Mexico knows this but still imposed restrictions, limiting USDA sterile fly dispersal flights and imposing customs duties on the tools needed for the job, such as plane parts, fly shipments, and dispersal equipment, delaying every aspect of the operation. Let that sink in: As a deadly parasite inches toward our border, the Mexican government is nickel-and-diming the planes and tools we’re using to stop it. That’s not cooperation. That’s sabotage.

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U.S. Coast Guard REJECTS Chuck Schumer’s Idiotic Suggestion That Trump Admin. to Blame for Mexican Ship Accident in NYC

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer actually tried to blame the Trump administration for the Mexican Navy accident over the weekend, where a tall training ship crashed into the Brooklyn Bridge.

This is definitive proof that Schumer’s criticisms of Trump have just become a reflex that is cartoonishly stupid.

He tried to imply that DOGE related cuts at the U.S. Coast Guard were somehow to blame.

The Coast Guard has responded, and they have completely rejected this idiocy.

FOX News reports:

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer suggested that the Department of Government Efficiency may be at least partly responsible for a Mexican navy tall ship crashing into the Brooklyn Bridge on Saturday night.

Schumer made the claim in a press release on Sunday, saying he had been briefed on the details of the deadly crash, which left two people dead and over a dozen more injured. Schumer argued that a U.S. Coast Guard system may have been operating at partial capacity due to a DOGE hiring freeze at the Department of Homeland Security, but the Coast Guard itself says the system was “fully functional during the incident.”…

The Coast Guard rejected Schumer’s claim in a statement of its own. Furthermore, there were no other ships involved in Saturday’s crash that would have involved the VTS.

The Coast Guard told Fox News Digital that VTS was “fully functional during the incident and operating in accordance with established procedures to manage commercial traffic and facilitate safe navigation.”

Schumer even posted this stupidity on Twitter/X and still hasn’t taken it down.

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Guess Who Is To Blame For The Mexican Pirate Ship Smashing Into Brooklyn Bridge…

As we highlighted yesterday, a bizarre accident caused a Mexican Naval vessel to hit the underside of the Brooklyn Bridge while crowds looked on from a pier and traffic drove overhead on the bridge.

Scores of Mexican naval cadets were standing on the masts and rigging of the Cuauhtémoc training ship, as part of a ceremonial tradition during the ship’s departure from New York Harbor.

On tall ships like the Cuauhtémoc, it is customary for sailors, especially cadets, to climb the masts and stand on the yardarms (horizontal beams) when entering or leaving a port. This practice, known as “manning the yards,” serves both ceremonial and training purposes.

It showcases naval discipline, honors the host port, and allows cadets to demonstrate their skills in managing sails and rigging, which are integral to their training on such vessels.

The ship was in New York as part of a global goodwill tour, and the cadets were positioned aloft to perform this traditional display for spectators.

The ship reportedly lost power, causing it to drift under the bridge which was too low for it, resulting in the masts holding the sails snapping and sending cadets, and debris flying.

Many were caught up in the ropes and their own harnesses, left dangling with serious injuries, with two of them tragically dying.

The NTSB announced an immediate investigation to find out what went wrong.

Chuck Schumer, however, wasted no time in attempting to politicize the tragic accident.

Taking to X, the Senate Minority Leader insinuated that the Trump Administration is to blame.

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