MEXICO NARCOTICS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP98-01394R000200030019-5
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 25, 2013
• Sequence Number: 19
• Publication Date: February 1, 1984
• Content Type: REPORT

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BRIEFS
SENATOR SEEKS PROBE--Mexico City, D.F., 18 November (EXCELSIOR)--The senator
representing Chihuahua, Jose Socoro Salcido Gomez, has requested of the Office
of the Attorney General of the Republic and President De la Madrid an exhaus-
tive investigation of the drug trafficking cases detected in that state, so as
to determine possible liability on the part of federal or state officials.
"It is very odd that it took sa long to find the enormous marijuana plantation
on the Bufalo farm, even though it was located in an area with easy access, -
and sufficient communications facilities," added the legislator, in commenting"
on the widely publicized case of the 5,000 farmers involved in growing drugs
In that locality. He emphasized: "It is also strange that the drug traffickers,
harvesters and all those participating in the shipping and operations with
drugs in that area worked with complete freedom and for a long time"; noting
that, "All this leads us to assume that there was negligence on the part of
certain authorities or else their complete participation in the business,
because this is the only explanation for the fact that the officials concealed
or pretended not to notice the situation." He said: "It is difficult to deter-
mines the names of those possibly implicated in the case"; but stressed that
it is essential to make an in-depth investigation extending to the final conse-
quences, to determine for sure whether there are any federal or state officials
responsible for the problem.. He remarked that he had personally sent telegrams
to President De la Madrid and to Attorney General Sergio Garcia Ramirez in
which he formally requested an investigation of the case. Senator Salcido Gomez
added that his concern was shared by his congressional colleague, Diamantina
Reyes Esparza, who is also interested in having the case of the marijuana
plantations on the Bufalo farm clarified. He said: "We are all agreed that it
is essential to combat the drug traffic severely, as well as producers and
distributors of drugs, because this is a detrimental practice for the country
and the law will have to be applied to those guilty in the specific case of
the Bufalo farm without consideration." He concluded by commenting: "The Senate
of the Republic will be very attentive to this matter which is of concern to
everyone." [Text] [Nuevo Laredo EL MANANA in Spanish 19 Nov 84 Sec A pp 1, 8]
2909
MARIJUANA PLANTATION RAZED--A marijuana plantation measuring 2/,000 square meters
and 3,345 kilograms of the same grass were destroyed by the Federal Judicial
Police and the National Army on a site located south of the El Cuervo farm in
the municipality of Rosario Tesopaco. The foregoing was announced by Sergio
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Lagarda Burgos, regional coordinator of the permanent campaign against drug
trafficking run by the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic.
Lagarda Burgos remarked that the plants were found with a density of four
per square meters and 1.15 meters tall, in addition to 3 tons being stored
in primitive, temporary warehouses, 45 kilograms packed in eight carcrJoard
boxes and 300 kilograms in the drying process, among the brambles in the area.
The coordinator said that, during the operations to find and destroy the
plantation, none of those responsible were arrested, but that the investiga-
tions conducted by the Public Ministry and PJF will continue, in an attempt to
capture them and take the pertinent penal action. [Text] [Hermosillo EL IMPARCIAL
in Spanish 29 Nov 84 Sec A p 6] 2909
SONORA TRAFFICKERS REMANDED--A total of 24 persons were remanded. to the first
district court by the Federal Public Ministry agency for crimes against health
in .,:he degrees of planting, cultivating, harvesting and picking or preparing
marijuana, and carrying arms for the exclusive use of the national defense
forces. This action was taken in connection with the seizure of 39 tons of the
drug by the National Army on the El Wicle communal farm in Huachineras, Sonora,
and was reported by Jose Gaston Galindo Lopez, the federal social representative.
Of those remanded, eight were incarcerated in the State Social Rehabilitation
Center in this town, while a warrant for the arrest of the other 16 was sought,
according to Galindo Lopez, who said that, based on data contained in the
preliminary probe, they have their domiciles in the state of Chihuahua. Jose
Cabanillas Montes, Elias Lucero Parra, Lucio Usbaldo Torresdey Estrada, Adan
Jacquez Ceballos, Porfirio Flores Ordonez, Heriberto Molina Urrea, Basilio
Marquez Cabrera and Jesus Antonio Fuentes Marquez are the ones whom the troops
from the Fourth Military Zone found on the communal farm, engaging in tending
the marijuana, as the federal prosecutor noted. The social representative
remarked that on the site of the grass seizure the military found in the
possession of those now in custody four heavy caliber weapons, including a 9-
millimeter submachine gun, an AR-15 light machine gun, a sawed-off 12 shotgun
and a 38 super squad gun. The soldiers also seized seven vehicles: two 1970
Fords without plates; a 1984 Ford with (Chihuahua) plates DK-6584; a 1969 Ford
with (Chihuahua border) plates 9232-CD; a 1976 Ford without plates; and a 1976
Chevrolet with (Chihuahua) plates DC-4837, all of the pickup type; and a 1979
Ford Bronco without plates. He said that all of the foregoing were turned
over to the same court, as well as the weapons. [Text] [Hermosillo EL IMPARCIAL
in Spanish 24 Nov 84 p 2] 2909
PENALTIES DEMANDED FOR GROWERS--Mexico City, D.F., 23 November (OEM)--The
National Peasant Confederation [CNC] has demanded an amendment to the Federal
Agrarian Reform Law to penalize small landholders who grow drugs, calling for
the immediate turnover to petitioning farmers of the 2,000 hectares planted
with marijuana in the municipalities of Bufalo and Aldama in the state of
Chihuahua. The CNC Executive Committee, headed by Mario Hernandez Posadas,
is of the opinion that the fifth section of Article 85 of the aforementioned
law stipulating the loss of entitlement to land for small farmers on divided
estates and communal farmers when they have been convicted of growing or allow-
ing the growing of drugs should include small landholders. CNC expressed its
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indignation at the fact that the best quality land will be used to grow drugs
while the country needs staple grains to meet the population's food require-
ments. It requested that, once the investigation by the Secretariat of Agrarian
Reform to determine liability of the owners of properties planted with marijuana
has ended, the land be turned over to farmers with safe rights. It asked the
agrarian authorities to be inflexible with those who divert the use of land
and to release small farmers on divided estates and communal farmers forced
to work in the fields in Chihuahua, under a system which, in 1984, recalls the
feudal system of exploitation. Finally, it claimed that it was a crime to use
plots of land for different purposes, when the country needs increased produc-
tion in order to reduce its dependence on foreign nations. [Excerpt] [Culiacan
EL SOL DE SINALOA in Spanish 24 Nov 84 pp 1, 9] 2909
MARIJUANA SEIZED IN COLIMA--Mexico City, D.F., 25 November (LEMDS)--Over 3.5
billion pesos' worth of marijuana was seized today by agents from the permanent
campaign against drug trafficking run by the Office of the Attorney General of
the Republic, who captured 17 drug traffickers in the municipality of Cuahuayana
in Colima. The Federal Judicial Police, in cooperation with Mexican Army
forces, started the operation after three marijuana plantations with an area
of 5 hectares had been spotted from the air in the aforementioned municipality.
When the federal agents arrived on that site, backed by 19 aircraft, they held
two armed confrontations with the drug traffickers, without any casulaties.
After the agents took control of the situation, they found six large sheds in
which 62 tons of marijuana were drying, and 158 boxes of the same drug, already
packed, were concealed. They also discovered an additional 3 tons of marijuana
seed and large amounts of food, clothing and medicine located in one of the
sheds. The plantations which were detected were destroyed manually, while
all the stored marijuana was incinerated on the same site. Also destroyed was
a hose 3 kilometers long which had been used to irrigate the plantations.
[Text] [Hermosillo EL IMPARCIAL in Spanish 27 Nov 84 p 10] 2909
OPIUM, POPPIES SEIZED--Mexico City, D.F., 24 Nov (INFORMEX)--Opium gum which
serves as a base for making heroin and morphine, and several grams of poppy
seed, all worth over 300 million pesos, were seized by Federal Judicial Police
agents in Chilpancingo, Guerrero. The drugs were located in a clandestine
laboratory in which a subject named Delfino 011arzabal Gonzalez was captured.
The clandestine laboratory was situated at No 16 Francisco Villa Street in the
Progreso de Chilpancingo housing development. The accused also admitted to
having concealed an additional 500 grams of opium gum in a settlement called
Santa Rosa, in the municipality of Coyuca de Benitez, Guerrero. The federal
agents subsequently found the drugs. 011arzabal Gonzalez was placed at the
disposal of the pertinent Public Ministry, which was given the evidence of
the crime and a 22-caliber pistol which the presumed drug trafficker had in
his possession. [Text] [Mexicali LA VOZ DE LA FRONTERA in Spanish 25 Nov 84
Sec A p 12] 2909
MARIJUANA TRAFFICKER SENTENCED--The drug trafficker Catarino Hernandez Hernan-
dez was sentenced to 7 years and 6 months in prison and fined 15,000 pesos.by
the third district judge, who found him criminally liable for crimes against
health. The offenses are marijuana possession, transportation and trafficking,
as well as the collection of weapons for the exclusive use of the Army and
Navy. Hernandez Hernandez was involved in proceedings 17/984-1, after the
Federal Judicial Police arrested him on 20 January of this year at his domicile
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located at 2909 Antonio Medina, in the Mirador housing complex., and found 900
kilograms of pure marijuana in his possession. The federal agents were waiting
for him to leave his residence when, with his son, Miguel Hernandez Rodriguez,
he attempted to board a pickup truck in order to drive to the downtown area.
During the investigation and questioning to which the drug trafficker was
subjected, he admitted to have been engaged in.drug trafficking for 3 years.
He explained that he had begun with Marcos Salazar, known in the underworld as
"El Caterpillar," and with another individual identified as Jose Macias. He
said that he would take the marijuana to Minatitlan, Veracruz, that he traveled
constantly and thatthe largest shipment that he had carried consisted of three
flat-bed type trucks each with a 4-ton capacity. After having earned a certain
amount of money, he managed to become independent, starting his activities on
his own; and his first trip was from Minatitlan to Nuevo Laredo, with 50 kilo-
grams. [Text] [Nuevo Laredo EL MANANA in Spanish 30 Nov 84 Sec A p 6] 2909 .
CLANDESTINE AIRSTRIPS DESTROYED--Leon, Guanajuato, 2 December (EXCELSIOR)--
The Federal Judicial Police destroyed seven clandestine airstrips which had
been used to bring drugs and merchandise of various kinds into the area illegal-
ly. In addition, the customs vigilance was reinforced at this town's airport,
on the state's main highways and in Irapuato, Celaya and Salamanca, where the
clandestine airstrips were located. The Judicial Police chief, Alejandro Arenas
Sanchez, announced that, during the year, foreign goods worth over 300 million
pesos had been confiscated. Nevertheless, he admitted that the state has been
used merely as a passageway for taking the contraband drugs and goods to other
states, noting that only minimal amounts of smuggled goods are left there.
[Text] [Nuevo Laredo EL MANANA in Spanish 3 Dec 84 Sec B p 3] 2909
ANTIDRUG ACTION IN SINALOA?Mazatlan, Sinaloa, 10 December (OEM)--The social
coordinating agency of the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic,
headed by Dr Manuel Mondragon, has intensified a campaign aimed at parents,
teachers and professionals, to report on and prevent any illegal action that
would foster drug trafficking and addiction among the youth. This campaign is
being conducted concurrently with "Operation Pacifico II," which has been under
way in Sinaloa since 30 November. It was remarked that the battle against the
"poisoners of the public" would be permanent, as is the "Canador [marijuana-
poppy] Plan" being carried out by the Mexican Army, through the Eighth Infantry
Battalion in this region. The source of the information noted that, on 8
December, in an unannounced operation, federal agents and Army members destroyed
45 poppy and 34 marijuana plantations in several rural and mountain areas of
this state at an early hour. In some instances the marijuana shrubs were up
to 3 meters tall. There were over 20 hectares of plantations on which 15 shrubs
per square meter had been planted, waiting to be harvested. If the combined
volume had been used by the drug traffickers, it would have totaled some 200
tons of grass, a drug which would have commanded a price of as much as 5 billion
pesos on the black market. Participating in the work to destroy the drugs were
federal agents, a large number of military and 20 helicopters which detected and
later fumigated part of the poppy and marijuana plantations. This new action
brings the number of plantations discovered thus far this year in the entire
state to over 300, many of them having been found in the municipalities of
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Concordia, Cosala, Mazatlan and San Ignacio. [Text] [Culiacan EL SOL DE
SINALOA in Spanish 11 Dec 84 p 2] 2909
MARIJUANA DESTROYED--Mazatlan, Sinaloa, 9 December (OFM)--The Federal Judicial
Police commander in Mazatlan, Hugo Rivera Melgarejo, announced that four mari-
juana plantations found planted in El Quelite were destroyed as part of the
activities being carried out in the "Pacifico II" campaign against the drug
traffic. Nevertheless, the police chief could not provide the area of the
plantations nor the price of the drugs harvested, arguing that the complete
report on the matter was not yet available. "We just finished destroying the
drugs a few minutes ago," commented the Federal Judicial Police chief in Mazat-
lan, during the interview that he granted to EL SOL DEL PACIFICO. He also
remarked that, with this action, a heavy "blow" had been dealt to the drug
traffic in Mazatlan, estimating the value of the drugs destroyed at several
million pesos; although it was impossible to arrest anyone connected with the
case. In discussing the "Pacifico II" campaign against drug trafficking,
Rivera Melgarejo said that there were 60 helicopters from the Attorney General's
Office participating, disseminated over the length and breadth of the state, as
well as a large number of special agents in complete coordination with the
Mexican Army. Dr J. Antonio Sam Lopez, director of that antidrug operation,
is heading the latter, obeying direct orders from the attorney general of the
republic and the chief of the Federal Judicial Police. The campaign against
drugs will bring good results, because the state is being properly "combed:"
[Text] [Culiacan EL SOL DE SINALOA in Spanish 10 Dec 84 p 6] 2909
PILLS SEIZED IN ZACATECAS--Mexico City, D.F., 28 Nov (EXCELSIOR)--This after-
noon, starting a head-on battle against the sale and consumption of narcotics
in the state of Zacatecas, Federal Judicial Police agents in the town of Fres-
nillo confiscated over 5,000 psychotropic pills worth 2 million pesos, which
were to have been distributed in schools and recreational centers in that
municipality. At least 20 sellers of those drugs have been located. Thus
far, according to the federal agents in charge of the case, Eduardo Illingworth
de Avila has been arrested, with nearly 4,000 Pasadrin pills and over 1,000 of
the type called Tafedan in his possession; which were intended for sale mainly
among students, at a price of 200 pesos per unit. They disclosed that, in
the private residence of the individual presumed responsible, located at No
106 Libertad in Fresnillo, 101 boxes of Captagon and 43 of Ionamin were found
at first, and later 21 boxes of Tafedan, were learned of which, unfortunately,
had already been distributed among the population. The Attorney General's
Office noted that, following the proliferation of narcotics sales in several
towns in the state of Zacatecas, an extensive operation was also started to
guard and ensure the security of those attending schools and public recreational
sites. It was declared that the vigilance would be permanent and, furthermore,
that an identification had also been made of those who, currently being indicted,
had been supplying narcotics, so that the latter might in turn be sold, primarily
to young students. [Text] [Nuevo Laredo EL MANANA in Spanish 29 Nov 83 Sec B
p 5] 2909
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OPIUM, HEROIN SEIZED--Tijuana--Yesterday, the Federal Judicial Police under
orders from the first commander of INTERPOL, Miguel Aldana Ibarra, dealt .a
severe blow to the drug traffic on this border by seizing .a kilogram of raw
opium gum and 170 grams of heroin with an estimated value-4 over-150 million
Mexican pesos on the black market for drugs, arrepting,th*el:men.and a.woman.
Those in custody are Enrique Ascencio Lizarraga aged,32,;*.ahatiVe of Tijuana
and former owner of the Mi Adelita Hotel, located in the northern section, and
of the El Camichi night-club, with his girlfriend4. Alicia Chavez Bastidas,
aged 34, a native of San Ignacio, Sinaloa, both 'residing at 129 Volcan Street,
in the Jardines 'section of the Playas de Tijuana housing complex. Also arrest-
ed were Emeterio Garcia Valdez; aged'44, a native of.La.Rosa Morada, Durango,
and Herman Obeso Bedolla, aged 28, a native of Gusave, Sinaloa. The latter
were the ones responsible for processing the gum in order t6 sell it later in
the United States. From the investigations conducted by the Federal Judicial
Police and based on statements by Comdr Miguel Aldana Ibarra, it is thought
that those being held belong to a well organized drug trafficking ring operat-
ing in the country; because. the purchase of the drugs made by Enrique Ascencio
Lizarraga through his girlfriend, Alici.aChaVes Bastidas, had been made from
Herman Obeso Bedolla, with an advance payment of 2 million pesos, and the
other 2 million was to be paid within a 2-week period. When the deadline for
the payment c Tired, the latter two arrested persons decided to to to the town
of Tijana 1-.1 looked for the two lovers, finding them and demanding the missing
payment fro.. them.- For this reason, Lizarraga and Alicia Chavez asked for a
3-day extension, because they had been unable to sell the product in the United
States. In view of this situation, the Federal Judicial Police became involved.
in the investigation, first arresting Enrique and Alicia at their residence in
Playas de Tijuana, and later arresting the drug processers in a residence
located at No 24 Rampa Coronel, in the Herrera housing developMent. Further-
more, yesterday those in custody were turned over to the Federal Public Minis-
try so that the legal procedure for the crime of drug trafficking might be
continued. [Text] [Mexican LA VOZ DE LA FRONTERA in Spanish 28 Nov 84 Sec B.
p 14] 2909
MARIJUANA, POPPIES DESTROYED--Sergio Lagarda Burgos, in charge of the anti-
drug activities,,announced that, last weekend, forces from the regional coordi-
nating agency of the permanent campaign against drug trafficking, the Federal
Judicial Police and the F6urth Military Zone, discovered and confiscated seven
marijuana plantations, one poppy plantation and. 1,500 kilograms of the first-
named drug. First, Lagarda Burgos noted, in the Huijaray creek in the munici-
pality of Rosario Tesopaco, the federal agents found two plantations, one mari-
juana and the other poppy, covering an area of 6,000 square meters in the case.
of the former and 1,000 square meters for the latter,.the_crops of which were
destroyed manually. Lagarda Burgos said that, a day later, on a site located
16 kilometers southeast of the same municipal capital, six marijuana plantations
on a total area of 2,000 square meters were discovered-and destroyed, by spray-
ing with a herbicide the name of which he did not provide. [Excerpt] [Hermosillo
EL IMPARCIAL in. Spanish5 Dec 84 Sec A p 2] 2909
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MARIJUANA DESTROYED NEAR COLIMA?Colima, 27 November (NOTIMEX)--Comdr Enrique
Chavez Carrilloo announced today that the Federal Judicial Police had discover?
ed and destroyed 40 marijuana plantations in the municipality of Minatitlan and
in sections of Michoacan near the Colima border. The police chief noted that,
during the operation (which lasted 4 days) over 100 tons of drugs planted on
nearly 200 hectares, where there were at least four camps "like the .ones found
recently in Chihuahua," were-incinerated. Arrested in the operation were 45
individuals, most of them farmers who had apparently been tricked into working
on the marijuana harvesting, acaording to Chavez Carrillo. During the action,
which was part of ."Operation Pacifico," the Federal Judicial Police had the
assistance of 500 Army forces, 25 backup personnel from the Office of the
Attorney General of the Republic and local security corps, as well as the use
of 12 ground transport helicopters. [Text] [Nuevo Laredo EL MANANA in Spanish
28 Nov 84 Sec B p 5] 2909
SINALOA MARIJUANA FIELDS DESTROYED?Guasave, Sinaloa, 25 Oct?Judicial police
agents have destroyed 68 hectares of marijuana planted in the La Brecha and
El Naranjo Ejidos. The police destroyed 18 hectares in La Brecha and 50
in El Naranjo. [Summary] [Mexico City UNOMASUNO in Spanish 26 Oct 84 p 23
PA]
CSO: 5300/2010
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