Patterico's Pontifications

3/31/2010

El Paso Jail Guard May Have Been Target in Juarez Deaths

Filed under: International — DRJ @ 1:00 am



[Guest post by DRJ]

The AP has more details on the target of the recent murder in Juarez of two Americans — U.S. Consulate employee Lesley Enriquez and her husband, Arthur H. Redelfs, an El Paso jail guard — and a Mexican citizen married to another Consulate employee. The report indicates Redelfs may have been the target:

“A statement by the joint army, federal and state anti-crime task force in Chihuahua state said suspect Ricardo Valles de la Rosa confessed to acting as a lookout in the shootings. It said he had been imprisoned in the United States and deported in 2007, after which he took up with the Barrio Azteca gang.

According to the statement:

An Azteca gang leader “ordered him by telephone some days before to locate the white sport utility vehicle in which Arthur Hancock Redelfs was traveling, which he did on March 13 at a children’s party.”

Valles de la Rosa told investigators that “when the sport utility vehicle left that spot, he advised other colleagues in the Aztecas, who ordered him to follow it.”

By the time Redelfs’ white SUV reached the scene where the attack occurred, Valles de la Rosa was told to back off, because the Aztecas — as the gang is known in Mexico — had the vehicle located. He said that moments later he heard gunfire, and saw the bullet-ridden vehicle with a dead man and woman inside.

The couple’s 7-month-old daughter was later found wailing in the back of the vehicle.

The statement did not specify whether Redelfs’ job at the jail in El Paso, across the border from Juarez, was the reason he was followed and shot. One theory was that the Aztecas — whose members operate and are incarcerated on both sides of the border — could have sought revenge against Redelfs for events inside the jail.”

The Mexican citizen who was killed — “Jorge Alberto Salcido, the husband of a Mexican employee of the consulate — may have been killed because he left the same party in a white SUV similar to the one in which Redelfs and his wife died.”

This story is consistent with last week’s report of a Department of Homeland Security alert that the Juarez Azteca gang may be trying to target El Paso law enforcement officers.

— DRJ

25 Responses to “El Paso Jail Guard May Have Been Target in Juarez Deaths”

  1. But remember – the real terrorist threat in this country comes from right-wing Christianist militias!

    Subotai (9ce134)

  2. I can’t find the link at the moment, but I see where McCain just ordered the National Guard to patrol the borders of AZ, after a prominent rancher by the border was murdered. But hey, let’s go for that Shamnesty ASAP!

    Dmac (21311c)

  3. Whoops, posted before my page loaded – never mind.

    Dmac (21311c)

  4. thanks to the insanity of trying to control something which is in high demand by making it totally illegal. I think a significant portion of the demand is fueled by the very fact that the drugs in question are illegal.

    quasimodo (4af144)

  5. OT … my spell checker sees LATimes and suggests latrines.

    quasimodo (4af144)

  6. 5.OT … my spell checker sees LATimes and suggests latrines.

    Comment by quasimodo — 3/31/2010

    That’s wonderful. I think Patterico himslef ought to collect the details and make a comment on thst itself.

    MD in Philly (59a3ad)

  7. The jail guard may have been interfering with their ability to run the gang from jail. This will warn the other guards not to be so diligent.

    pour l’encouragement des autres

    Mike K (2cf494)

  8. thanks to the insanity of trying to control something which is in high demand by making it totally illegal.

    Huh?

    You must have read and replied to some different story than the rest of us.

    Subotai (9ce134)

  9. The Mexican drug cartels have become more like armed terrorist organizations than simple criminal gangs. Our traditional criminal justice approach to the drug problem will fail, just as surely as it fails against the problem of Islamic terrorism.

    The drug cartels are at war against us, they aggressively employ automatic weapons and explosives, while we continue to dither over superfluous issues.

    Unless we change our approach, they will continue to win, nearly every time.

    ropelight (5f5c09)

  10. Quasimodo: while i’m largely in favor of drug legalization, I think your comment here is somewhat off-topic.

    Regardless of how they got to be this way, right now the northern Mexican drug cartels are functioning as armed tribes carving out parts of Mexico for exclusive domination; essentially they’re revolutionaries aiming at carving out their own little tyrannies and fighting with each other. If left unchecked they pose an existential threat to the Mexican government, and they pose a serious military threat to the United States.

    We could legalize drugs tomorrow and it wouldn’t solve the problem.

    aphrael (73ebe9)

  11. “… where McCain just ordered the National Guard to patrol the borders of AZ…”

    Last time I checked, Senators are not included in the NG Chain-of-Command.

    Now, McCain and the Governor of AZ announced that they thought that the NG should be re-assigned to the border, but they were calling for Federal action, since if the Governor does it unilaterally, the State has to pick-up the tab, where if DoD calls them up and Federalizes them, DC pays.
    But, if Federalized, the Posse Comitatus Act comes into play, and they are prohibited from inforcing state criminal statutes, and they have severe restrictions under Federal Law on what actions they may take.
    If they are sent to the border by the Gov, PCA does not apply.

    AD - RtR/OS! (6f84de)

  12. I’m not familiar with the chain of command here, so he probably requested the NG be activated along the borders. Regardless, if McCain wants to win re – election, he’s beginning to realize that his prior stances on immigration and border security are untenable now.

    Dmac (21311c)

  13. My comment is almost entirely on topic. The cross border violence is almost entirely drug related. The gang violence is almost entirely drug related. The gang-bangers in American jails are almost entirely there for drug related activities. That is almost entirely what I have to say on the topic.

    quasimodo (4af144)

  14. It would be nice to see the imprisoned members of the Azteca gang indicted as co-conspirators to commit murder and then sent to death row.

    PRM (310ebf)

  15. Quasimodo: please explain to me why legalizing drugs would solve the problem. Do you not think that the government would want to tax those drugs? Why would people pay higher prices for legalized drugs when they can get them cheaper from drug dealers, who by the way, already have a system for smuggling drugs into the country and selling them outside the bounds of the law?

    PRM (310ebf)

  16. “Why would people pay higher prices for legalized drugs when they can get them cheaper from drug dealers”

    Because legitimate corporations could provide the drugs to us much cheaper than gangs trying to dodge taxes could.

    snips (6a0094)

  17. snips, you are evidently unaware that in fact the opposite is often true. Hence, moonshiners and cigarette smuggling.

    SPQR (26be8b)

  18. SPQR: aye, but a very small percentage of alcohol or tobacco purchases are made from illegal sources.

    legalization wouldn’t eliminate illegal sources, any more than it has eliminated illegal sources of other highly taxed goods, but it would mean that the bulk of purchases don’t involve illegal sources. because, at the end of the day, buying from an illegal source is more difficult than buying from 7-11.

    aphrael (e0cdc9)

  19. Please, SPQR, don’t confuse snippy with facts, or anything from American History.

    AD - RtR/OS! (6f84de)

  20. This is exactly why the war on drugs is not working.

    Ryo (e69bbd)

  21. we’ve spent billions of dollars and lost countless lives on both sides of the drug wars ….

    How are we doing at it? Usage fluctuates but essentially stays the same. We are still spending billions and people are still dying.

    I’m not a knee jerk legalize-drugs type. I’m looking for a better idea … cuz what we are doing is the definition of insanity.

    It would be far cheaper to have the government give them away for free than to continue what we are doing. Money motivation leaves the equation entirely. No incentive to get new users started; no style points for being a criminal.

    quasimodo (4af144)

  22. “…buying from an illegal source is more difficult than buying from 7-11.”

    Except when the commodity is highly regulated.
    As an FFL, I am constantly asked why I enforce the 10-day waiting period that the law requires for a firearm purchase, and how the customer can get around it.
    I tell them, straight out, if you want to buy a gun, right now, and not have to deal with all the paperwork, just go down to the local highschool parking lot, ask around, and somebody will show up to sell you a gun within the hour. No paperwork, no background check, no VISA or MC either – CASH ONLY!
    And, the cost is usually less, since you don’t know where that gun has been, or what its’ been used for.

    AD - RtR/OS! (6f84de)

  23. aphrael, often true. I just found snips’ beliefs a touch naive.

    SPQR (26be8b)

  24. Update….
    Mexican violence may spread across the border into Fort Stockton TX….
    http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/03/31/texas-town-high-alert-mexican-town-border-braces-cartel-gun-battle/?loomia_ow=t0:s0:a4:g4:r5:c0.000000:b0:z5

    AD - RtR/OS! (6f84de)

  25. I can only imagine how much tax would go onto a marijuana cigarette. And quality control and FDA compliance would really change things up. No more glass in your cocaine, Barry!

    Really, this is an issue for the states to decide. Let them experiment and those who feel strongly reside where they want. It’s a shame democrats hate that particular freedom.

    Dustin (b54cdc)


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