THE BORDER REPORT

"Pssst. Attention, citizens. If you see men in Mexican military uniforms violating your bodies, homes, or rights, it wasn't us; okay? It was the narcos."

That's the message the military is putting out to the citizens of Ciudad Juárez this morning.

So much for Pres. Felipe Calderón's military tactics against the narcos. The lines have blurred and in this new war, everyone's at fault. Meanwhile, the military is trying to wage a media campaign against the narcos themselves, threatening the citizens of Ciudad Juárez, who, they say, are about to be murdered and raped by the warring traffickers.

Read the full post

THE BORDER REPORT

A judge has sentenced the former police chief of a small Sinaloan town to 11 years in prison for the murder of a newspaper photographer gunned down three years ago. The sentence is the first time the legal system has prosecuted the murder of a journalist in Mexico.

Gregorio Rodriguez, a photographer for El Debate newspaper was killed outside a torta stand in Escuinapa, a small town on the Sinaloan Pacific Coast. The motive for Rodrigurez' s murder was never made clear. It is said that Rodriguez, who was moonlighting as a freelance event photographer, was shooting photos at a party where the police chief, Abel Enriquez, was present.

Read the full post

THE BORDER REPORT

Pres. Felipe Calderón's plans to use the military to quash the narcos appears to be weakening severely. A shootout this morning between state police in Nuevo León and Mexican military left six men dead. The cops are saying the guys were not low-lifes dressed as military but, rather, actual soldiers from the Army who attempted to kidnap an unknown civilian. If the cop's version of events holds true, it'll be one of the first recent open battles between federal and state powers.

Read the full post

 THE BORDER REPORT

Someone was asking the other day about whether narcos use MySpace. Apparently, and thank you alert readers who sent this over, they do.

Meet accused narco-armadór, Victor Varela, arrested last night at his Tucson home. According to his MySpace account, Varela is going to be a father in September. And he likes money a lot. And that's really all he has to say for himself.

The Feds, particularly ATF, have a little more to say. It seems Varela was buying guns in Arizona and selling them to Vicente Carrillo Fuentes' cartel in Ciudad Juárez.

Read the full post

-- Michel Marizco