THE BORDER REPORT

Arturo Beltrán Leyva’s become the new narco non grata and the Mexican government is trying to tie him to the murder of the acting federal police chief last week. But a year-old case involving another murdered high-level official raises some questions about this latest hit.

There is some reason to believe that a high-level murder last year in Mexico City was an inside job. And the murders bear some exploring this week as Congress is set to decide on the first of a $1.5 billion payment to Mexico.

THE BORDER REPORT

From time to time, I’m going to be mounting videos shot in the U.S.-Mexico border region.

Here’s one from mis compas in Tijuana at TijuanaPress.com. Federal police seized these weapons from the Arellano Felix Cartel after last week’s gunfight.

It demonstrates the sheer number of weapons the cartels are armed with. Note the drum magazines at the end of the table and the police badges sitting next to the hand-helds.

THE BORDER REPORT

Photo courtesy – Vanguardia

Culiacán, Sinaloa – Go back to those high-profile assassinations last week in Mexico City; then wander over to Culiacán for a moment and take a look at this guy above, Alfredo Beltrán Leyva. Are we watching assassins? Or political theatre?

My thought is, both.

The Mexican government tells El Universal this morning that the Sinaloans murdered Edgar Millán, the highest ranking officer to be murdered in a year. The assassins, they say, carried a hit-list with the names of five top officials. The note was crafted by the Beltrán Leyva brothers and Shorty Guzmán, federal security officials tell the newspaper.

THE BORDER REPORT

Culiacán, Sinaloa – There’s an old saying that comes out of the banditry of the Sierra Madre, popularized in song, and now, in battlecries on those damned YouTube videos: “¡Pura gente de Sinaloa!”

It’s never been more true than now. The frenzied battles shaping the drug war today are between the people of Badiraguato (Joaquín Shorty Guzmán) and nearby Navolato (Vicente Carrillo Fuentes).

There’s a few … interesting … happenings that have culminated in the latest saga of Sinaloan barbarities.

THE BORDER REPORT

Week’s results: The Mexican government’s saying 102 people were reported dead in the flashpoints of violence, especially Culiacán, Ciudád Juárez. The number ain’t much; there’s what, 100 million-odd people in Mexico? That’d be the equivalent of four people dead a day in Iraq (30 million). Not that a big a deal, except, I’m now starting to think in terms of nations at war when I write about Mexico.