News (Noticias) Tagged ‘gangs’

Gov. Rick Perry typified the dilemma by devoting 10 paragraphs of his Thursday address to securing the border, battling Mexican gangs and promoting a new voter ID badge that many Latinos believe is aimed at them. I don’t doubt Mr. Perry believes in all those things, but he also knows the party’s conservative base loves that tough talk.It’s also the kind of language that sends many Latinos scurrying from the GOP. Samuel Rodriguez, who heads the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, predicts Republicans will attract about 20 percent of the Latino vote in November, far less than the 40 percent President Bush won on his way back to the White House in 2004.”*

Authorities say they have arrested more than 100 gang members and associates across Georgia, including seven on charges of illegally re-entering the country after deportation.”*

Taking aim at a flood of weapons smuggled from the United States into Mexico and into the hands of warring drug-cartel gangsters, officials from both countries vowed Monday to do more to take on traffickers.

Weapons smuggling is not new, but the flow has increased dramatically in recent years, Julie Myers, an assistant secretary for Homeland Security, said Monday.

“What was once a drip or even a steady but manageable flow has swelled to become an all out tidal wave,” said Myers, who was in town for a three-day closed door conference on border security.”*

When he came to office in December 2006, President Felipe Calderón implemented a strategy against organized crime. But the plan is failing because it has focused solely on the seizure of drugs, weapons and traffickers without attacking the larger financial or political structure.

National security and organized crime experts came to this conclusion to explain the escalation of violence, including beheadings, torture, kidnappings and mass killings that have been unleashed during the current administration.

“This is the experience of 107 countries: If you only go after gangsters without attacking the financial structure or political protection, what happens is a paradox: you add more troops, prosecutors and police, and the criminal groups put more money into corruption,” says Edgardo Buscaglia, advisor to the UN and academic at Mexico’s Autonomous Technological Institute (ITAM). “*

Back in 2005, Mayor Bloomberg told swanky Fifth Avenue apartment buildings not to board up their doors and windows during the parade because it was insulting. And last year, there were over 200 arrests at the parade, though there were questions over whether the arrests were warranted (some accused the police of sweeping up people, the police said many were involved with gangs).”*

Now, law enforcement experts wonder if there are lessons that can be applied to the escalating crisis in Mexico, where close to 500 police officers and soldiers have died at the hands of warring drug gangs since 2006. Is there something in the way the Americans and Italians worked together that could be applied to a partnership with the Mexicans? Certainly it is in the interest of the United States to seek such an alliance to stop the flow of drugs, guns and crime across the border, just as the Italian alliance helped stop that flow across the Atlantic. Indeed, President Bush has been pushing Congress to approve the first $500 million installment of a crime-fighting aid package to Mexico. Last week, American border governors met in Mexico with President Felipe Calderón to rally support for the effort and praise him for focusing on the drug lords.

And for its part, Mexico, struggling with a problem that seems to get bloodier and more intractable with each passing week, might well benefit from the expertise and experience of American law enforcement.”*

To those new to street art, there are aspects of Abel Izaguirre’s empire that might surprise and alarm. Many of the 37-year-old Chino Hills artist’s designs are callous celebrations of guns and dice, turf and cognac — of the gangster life that defines and afflicts so much of the metropolitan area. They appear on everything from shoes to skateboards to, by special request, caskets.

On one of Izaguirre’s T-shirts, Ben Franklin — Founding Father, inventor of the bifocal, et cetera — points a Beretta pistol into the viewer’s eyes. On another, a skeleton’s hands are clasped in prayer in front of an ominous vision of the L.A. skyline. “Perdoname por mi vida loca,” that one says. “Forgive me for my crazy life.”"*

– Organized crime gangs have exported the kidnapping industry to the San Diego, California area, where they have kidnapped at least 15 people who were then taken to safe houses in Tijuana.

The kidnapping gangs are crossing the Mexican border, and they have begun to make incursions in the neighboring country where at the least 1,000 Mexican families are refugees, having fled the crime in Mexico.

The legal adviser of the Asociación Esperanza Contra Desapariciones Forzadas y la Impunidad (Hope against Forced Disappearances and Impunity Association), Miguel Angel Garcia Leyva, maintained that at least nine of these kidnappings were committed in recent months.”*

The 2008 Cannes film festival will go down in film history as the year with the Latin touch as Spanish-language movies, Latin themes and A-list celebs make waves at cinema’s largest showcase.

Eagerly-awaited Thursday by the 4,000-odd film critics attending the fest is star director Steven Soderbergh’s more than four-hour look at the world’s best-loved revolutionary, Ernesto “Che” Guevara.

Filmed in Spanish and starring Benicio Del Toro, the movie being presented in two two-hour parts marks a new departure for the director best known for his blockbuster gangster “Ocean’s” movies.”*

Growing up in the tough Humboldt Park neighborhood of Chicago was no picnic for Riverside Police Officer Edwin Ruiz. As a youngster he even had a few minor run-ins with the police. Gangs were everywhere and it was hard to avoid them.

But he was more afraid of his mother, Maria, than the gang bangers who roamed his neighborhood, and she kept him on the straight and narrow path.

“I always wanted to become a police officer,” said Ruiz who was named the Riverside Police Department officer of the year at a ceremony Saturday at Guthrie Park as his mother looked on proudly.”*

Thousands of Mexicans dressed in white marched silently Sunday through the streets of Juarez, Mexico, just across the border from El Paso, Texas to protest drug-related violence. that killed more than 100 people, including about 20 police officers, during the past week in Mexico. VOA’s Greg Flakus has been following the situation from our Houston bureau.

Ordinary citizens in Mexico are reacting with alarm as the war between rival drug smuggling groups erupts in city centers and residential neighborhoods. Law enforcement experts say drug gangs are reacting violently to efforts by police and the army to break up their operations.”*

Spanish Broadcasting System, Inc. (NASDAQ: SBSA) (”The Company” or “SBS”) announced today the ratings results for its Spanish-language radio outlets in the nation’s largest media markets, as reported in the Winter 2008 Ratings Report issued by the Arbitron Ratings Company.

The Company continued to sustain its leadership position as the nation’s premier Hispanic radio broadcaster with 4 our of the top 8 ranked

Spanish-language stations in the nation, including the #1 most listened to radio station in the country.

In the nation’s largest market, New York, SBS flagship station WSKQ-FM (”Mega 97.9″) continues its reign atop all Spanish-language radio, attracting more listeners than any other Spanish radio station in the U.S. WSKQ-FM’s powerhouse morning-drive “El Vacilon De La Mañana” show was again ranked #1 in the 12+, 18-34 and 25-54 year-old demos amongst all Spanish stations.

Our Adult Contemporary outlet, WPAT-FM (”93.1 Amor”) continues to deliver impressive ratings attracting over 1 million listeners per week!

In Los Angeles, the nation’s largest Hispanic market, KLAX-FM (”97.9 La Raza”) continues to rank amongst the top Mexican Regional formatted radio stations in the country. Our popular on-air personalities “El Cucuy De La Mañana” and “El Mandril” are now joined by Bay Area sensation, “La Bronca,” in a 6am to 7pm all-star lineup.

KXOL-FM (”Latino 96.3 FM”) now ranks as the #1 most listened to radio station amongst younger Hispanics (12-24) in L.A. with its popular mix of reggaeton and Latino hip hop.

In Miami, WCMQ-FM (”Clasica 92″) Is now the #2 (12+) in the entire market. “Clasica” continues to deliver in the key 25-54 demo and now features the popular “Los Fonomemecos” show in the morning.

WXDJ (”El Zol 95″) now features local sensation “Los Pichy Boys” and “Nio Encendio” in the morning on the new “El Vacilon De Miami” which debuted with an impressive 4.7 share in the target 18-34 demo up from a 2.5 in the previous survey.

In Chicago, WLEY-FM (”La Ley 107.9″) ranked #1 amongst all Spanish stations in the target 18-34 demographic. “La Ley” increased its share from a 5.5 in the fall to a 7.3 in winter fueled by our new morning drive show, “El Chulo De La Mañana”.

In Puerto Rico, the WMEG-FM/WEGM-FM (Mega 106.9) new morning show “El Circo” featuring Puerto Rico superstars, “El Gangster” and “Funky Joe,” skyrocketed the morning drive from 15th (2.4) to 2nd (7.9) in the market in the 25-54 demographic.

Sister station WODA-FM / WNOD-FM (Reggaeton 94) “El Despelote” earned the #1 spot in morning drive with persons 18-34.”*

A U.S. crackdown on domestic methamphetamine labs has created opportunities for Mexican drug cartels and their ‘’superlabs” to fill the void.

Law enforcement agencies now consider ”meth” produced in Mexico to be the greatest drug menace in the Western United States and a growing concern across the southeast and mid-Atlantic states, according to a Department of Justice report released this year.

Mexican drug gangs now produce 80 percent of the methamphetamine consumed in the United States, and Mexican officials say the Mexican manufacturers have become adept at meeting the shifting demands of U.S. addicts.”*

Dear Mexican: Consider the similarities between my people, the Celtic Scots, and yours, the Hispanic Mexicans. Both of our people trace their roots back to Spain. We sailed north to the British Isles and mixed with the aboriginals to become the Scots; you sailed west to mix with the aboriginal Americans. My people were organized into large gangs called clans, distinguished by our colors (plaids), like the Mexican gangs today. We would cross over the border into Anglo-Saxon England to commit various crimes—cattle rustling, theft, rape, murder—and then run back across the border to get away scot-free, just like you Mexicans. “*

Hundreds of illegal immigrants awaiting deportation rioted at a county-run detention center and had to be subdued with tear gas, authorities said Wednesday.

The riot Tuesday started as a fight between detainees from rival gangs and spread to the detention center’s outdoor yard, said Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.”*

Here is exactly what Baca told the African-American audience in Compton: “I don’t say it’s all but there is a percent of these Latino kids killing blacks because of a race-related motivation. That is my opinion.”

Pretty explosive stuff. And then Baca went a step further, claiming his deputies had overheard jailed Latino gang bosses (so-called “shot-callers”) telling their followers on the outside that, in a feud with a black gang, it was okay to kill any blacks to make their point. “We’ve heard when the person out there can’t find African-American gang member to shoot, the shot-caller says: ‘Then shoot any African-American you see.’” (Jamiel Shaw’s father was in the audience that day and Baca looked him straight in the eye when he made these remarks; but the sheriff did NOT specifically say if he believed Shaw’s murder was racially-motivated).”*

*From: http://community.myfoxla.com
Traducido: usando Google o Altavista/Babel Fish

Although a recent spate of violent crime has focused much of the city’s attention on gangs, there is another source of fearful social upheaval rippling through Los Angeles: immigration raids. Although they certainly do not threaten residents’ welfare and security with deadly gunfire, the continual rounding up of illegal immigrants at their places of employment is having serious consequences within and without the Latino community.

Because illegal immigrants are entrenched in many sectors of local business, such as the food, garment and furniture industries — and because employers do not have a foolproof way to determine workers’ legal status — the arrestsof employees who are suspected of no crime other than being in the country illegally is shaking the region’s already fragile economy. “*

*From: http://www.latimes.com
Traducido: usando Google o Altavista/Babel Fish

The family of a Los Angeles high school football star allegedly killed by a gang member in the country illegally is getting behind a proposed city ordinance intended to crack down on illegal immigrant gangs in the city.

The proposal, dubbed “Jamiel’s Law” after shooting victim Jamiel Shaw Jr., was drafted by Walter Moore, a political opponent of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.”*

*From: http://www.foxnews.com
Traducido: usando Google o Altavista/Babel Fish