Mexico City - Eulogio - 26 +Ten More

[earl]

LE say video does not show kidnapping??


11 people disappear from Mexico City bar; relatives seek answers
By Rey Rodriguez and Rafael Romo, CNN
updated 10:19 AM EDT, Tue June 4, 2013

(CNN) -- Mexico City sees its share of protests, but this one was unusual.
One woman wept. Other protesters shouted at the tops of their lungs, demanding answers. Still others showed pictures of their relatives to puzzled passersby.
The protesters who gathered Thursday are relatives of 11 partygoers who went missing more than a week ago from a bar in a posh Mexico City neighborhood known as "Zona Rosa," or Pink Zone. The area has a vibrant night scene with bars, nightclubs and upscale restaurants on every street.
The protesters say their relatives were kidnapped on May 26 as they were partying at Heaven, an after-hours bar in the neighborhood. All 11 disappeared between 10 a.m. and noon, they say.
The bar is only steps away from Paseo de la Reforma, an iconic avenue in central Mexico City. The emblematic Angel of Independence monument is nearby, as are the U.S. Embassy and the financial district.
Missing Marine kidnapped in Mexico
Guadalupe Dominguez, a relative of one of the missing, said a witness told her the 11 people were kidnapped by armed men who showed up in SUVs, but authorities say there's no evidence of such an incident.
"A young fellow who managed to escape was the one who told us about it, but we don't really know anything else," Dominguez said.
Mexico reports more than 26,000 missing
Most of those hanging out at the after-hours bar were in their 20s, except for Yersi Ortiz, who is 16. Maria Teresa Ramos, Ortiz's grandmother, said relatives are mystified and want answers.
"This supposedly happened on Sunday in broad daylight. This couldn't have happened during the day and only a few steps from Reforma Avenue without anybody noticing. There should be surveillance cameras that can show us exactly what happened," Ramos said.
Maria del Carmen Zamudio, another relative at the protest, said the witness told them the young people were all suddenly told to leave.
"The (bar) owner apparently told them that there was going to be a police operation and turned the lights off. He told them to get out, and armed men in black SUVs were already waiting for them outside," Zamudio said.
Police say there was no such operation. Mexico City Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera said authorities are treating the incident as a missing-person case because so far, there's no evidence the young people were kidnapped.
"For now, we haven't been able to confirm how this happened or the specific location where (these young people) were kidnapped. What we have is a missing persons report and the knowledge that they're missing. We have to do something to find them," Mancera said.
Inside San Pedro Sula, the 'murder capital' of the world
Mexico City District Attorney Rodolfo Rios Garza said security cameras at the bar were not working, but authorities are relying on city cameras in the neighborhood.
So far, he said, an analysis of video from the cameras does not show any violence in or around the bar where the kidnapping supposedly took place.
Authorities searched the bar and found illegal drugs but no signs of forced entry or anything that would indicate the young people had been kidnapped, Rios Garza said.

www.cnn.com/2013/06/03/world/americas/mexico-missing-mystery/index.html

[earl]

Here are the names The Associated Press has confirmed:

1. Eulogio Fonseca Arreola, 26, a street vendor who sells cell-phone accessories with his sister and family. "They went out to have fun. They are not criminals," sister Isabel Fonseca said.

2. Jennifer Robles Gonzalez, 23, a single mother of a 6-year-old boy. Her family said she posted a message on Facebook after 8:30 a.m. Sunday saying she was dancing at the bar less than two hours before the kidnapping allegedly took place.

3. Josue Piedra Moreno, 29, street food vendor who told his mother, Leticia Moreno, he was going out to a club with his brother, Aaron Piedra Moreno.

4. Aaron Piedra Moreno, 20, street food vendor

5. Guadalupe Karen Morales Vargas, 24

6. Alan Omar Athiencia Barranco, 26

7. Said Sanchez Garcia, 19, who helped his mom sell purses and cleaning items in a street market. He was last seen late Saturday when he came home for a sweater before going out to another nightclub and then the bar.

8. Jerzy Ortiz Ponce, 16, went to the party with his friend, Said Sanchez.

9. Gabriela Tellez Zamudio, 34,

10. Rafael Rojas, no age available, married and a merchant in Tepito.

11. Victim unidentified

www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/01/mexico-kidnapping-11-disappeared-from-bar_n_3371814.html?utm_hp_ref=world

[earl]

Disappearances at Mexico City bar linked to gang
By Nick Parker, CNN
updated 3:04 PM EDT, Sun June 9, 2013

Mexico City (CNN) -- A gang was involved in the mass disappearance of people at a bar and investigators are looking into whether a dispute with a rival group was a factor, officials said.

The May 26 incident at the Heaven after-hours bar has jolted the capital city, given it took place in daylight on a Sunday morning.
Video footage shows a gang of about 17 people arriving in eight vehicles at the fashionable Zona Rosa district, according to authorities.
It's unclear exactly how many people were taken from the bar. Initial reports indicated 12.

But Mexico City Attorney General Rodolfo Rios said Friday that video showed eight people being taken to cars. Authorities don't know what became of the other four people.

Contrary to reports by relatives of the missing, the gang was not masked or driving SUVs -- hallmarks of an organized squad. Rios said it was not possible to determine from video footage whether they were armed.

All of the missing people came from Tepito, an area of the capital known for the sale of contraband, including guns and drugs.
Two of the missing people are sons of jailed criminal leaders, officials said. They are not among the people taken from the bar, according to Rios.

Investigators also are looking at a possible link between the disappearances and a killing that occurred the same weekend in the nearby Condesa area. Police are examining the possibility of a dispute between rival gangs operating in Tepito.

Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera dismissed suggestions the capital is witnessing a rise in activity involving organized transnational drug cartels.

"In Mexico City, we don't think there is a base for a cartel, unlike in other regions," he told CNN.
"The presence of video surveillance, the presence of the federal police, the presence of the Army and the Navy. It would be very complicated for them to operate in this territory."

www.cnn.com/2013/06/08/world/americas/mexico-missing-mystery/index.html

[earl]

Sad ending.


Prosecutor: Revenge was motive in kidnapping of 12 Mexican youths
From CNNMexico
Mon August 26, 2013


Maria Teresa Ramos, right, the grandmother of Jerzy Ortiz Ponce, is consoled by a neighbor in Mexico City on May 31.


Mexico City (CNN) -- What happened to 12 youths who were kidnapped in broad daylight from a bar in Mexico?
The mystery, which has jolted the country's capital for months, appeared to be one step closer to resolution Monday:
The victims were killed shortly after the kidnapping, Mexico City Prosecutor Rodolfo Rios Garza told reporters on Monday. And the motive was revenge, he said.

The crime occurred in retaliation for another killing at a bar in the city's upscale Condesa neighborhood, he said.

The prosecutor's revelation comes a day after an attorney representing victims' families said authorities had found that at least 10 of the bodies discovered last week in a shallow grave near Mexico City corresponded to the group kidnapped from the Heaven after-hours club.

The mysterious mass kidnapping in Mexico's capital in May drew international attention after furious family members protested, claiming authorities weren't taking the case seriously.
The allegations have sparked concerns about whether violence has surged into Mexico's capital, where residents largely have been spared from drug war casualties seen in other parts of the country.

Prosecutor: 'We are not talking about any cartel'

Rios said Monday that the group behind the kidnapping was La Union de Insurgentes, which has been tied to drug distribution in the capital. But he dismissed concerns about larger forces at work.
"We are not talking about any cartel," he said.
But even with the new information released by authorities, victims' family members said their outrage over the case hasn't dimmed.

One stood in the doorway of Monday's press conference, wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with all 12 victims' faces.
As officials tried to get her to move, Julieta Gonzalez told them, "I am not moving from here. I am not going to do anything. I only want to hear."
Gonzalez -- whose daughter, Jennifer Robles, was among those taken from the bar -- said she wanted to listen because authorities have consistently given reporters details about the case before telling family members.

Seven suspects arrested

Mexico's Attorney General's Office said Sunday that at least 10 of the remains found correspond to the kidnapped youths, attorney Ricardo Martinez told CNNMexico. Officials have not provided details about three other bodies found in the grave.

Authorities found the grave last week in the town of Tlalmanalco, in the state of Mexico, about 30 miles east of Mexico City, the state-run Notimex news agency reported. Investigators haven't said what led them to the grave.

Authorities have arrested seven suspects in connection with the crime, Rios said Monday.

The owner of the bar, a co-owner and two bar employees are among those who have been arrested in the case.
A suspect detained at a hotel in Mexico City last week told authorities he and others had taken the victims to Tlalmanalco, Rios said.

"We will not stop until we have achieved the detention of the rest of the participants in these events," he said, describing what he said had been an exhaustive investigation.

Families call for independent investigation

But the mother of at least one of the victims said she was far from satisfied with the investigation so far, and wants more proof about what investigators exhumed from the grave last week.
"No one is sure of what is there. We have not seen clothes. They have not shown us bodies. They have not shown us anything," mother Leticia Ponce told CNN en Español Monday.

Victims' family members have said they don't trust Mexican authorities and have called for an independent international investigation of the case.

"I have always distrusted them. ... They have not shown me a hair or a nail from my daughter. I am not taking anything until they prove to me that it is my daughter," Gonzalez said. "They are staging it."

CNNMexico's Veronica Diaz Favela and Arturo Ascencion, CNN's Catherine E. Shoichet, journalist Nick Parker and CNN en Español's Mario Gonzalez contributed to this report.

www.cnn.com/2013/08/26/world/americas/mexico-bodies-found/index.html

[ac]

WOW!!!! Thanks, Meme.

[earl]

You're welcome pawleys. : )

Sent from my SPH-L720 using proboards

[ac]

LOL, I'm sorry Earl. Meme is usually the one putting items here, I didn't even look.

Love your sense of humor!!!