Daily Archives: July 3, 2012

Barrio Azteca Leader Extradited to the US for US Consulate Cd. Juarez Murders

July 3, 2012 By in Consulate General, Countries 'n Regions, Court Cases, U.S. Missions Tags: , , , , , , , , , , 3 Comments

Via USDOJ | Friday, June 29, 2012

Barrio Azteca Leader Extradited from Mexico to United States to Face Charges Related to the U.S. Consulate Murders in Juarez, Mexico

An alleged leader of the Barrio Azteca (BA), a transnational border gang allied with the Juarez Cartel, was extradited from Mexico to the United States to face charges related to the March 2010 U.S. Consulate murders in Juarez, Mexico, Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Robert Pitman for the Western District of Texas, FBI Special Agent in Charge Mark Morgan of the FBI’s El Paso Office and Administrator Michele M. Leonhart of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) announced today.

Arturo Gallegos Castrellon, aka “Benny,” arrived in the United States yesterday and made his initial appearance today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert Castaneda in El Paso, Texas.   Gallegos Castrellon was charged in a 12-count third superseding indictment unsealed in March 2011.

“We allege that Gallegos Castrellon participated in the U.S. Consulate shootings in March 2010,” said Assistant Attorney General Breuer.   “His extradition to the United States is an important step forward in our pursuit of justice for the victims of those tragic murders in Juarez, Mexico.   Innocent men and women on both sides of our border with Mexico should not have to live in fear of Barrio Azteca and other violent criminal gangs.”

[…]

A total of 35 BA members and associates based in the United States and Mexico were charged in the third superseding indictment for allegedly committing various criminal acts, including racketeering, narcotics distribution and importation, retaliation against persons providing information to U.S. law enforcement, extortion, money laundering, obstruction of justice and murder.   Of the 35 defendants, 10 Mexican nationals, including Gallegos Castrellon, were charged with the March 13, 2010, murders in Juarez, Mexico, of U.S. Consulate employee Leslie Ann Enriquez Catton, her husband Arthur Redelfs and Jorge Alberto Salcido Ceniceros, the husband of a U.S. Consulate employee.

Of the 35 defendants charged, 33 have been apprehended, including April Cardoza, who was found in Juarez, Mexico, last week.   Twenty-four of those defendants have pleaded guilty, one defendant committed suicide while imprisoned during his trial and six others are pending extradition from Mexico.   U.S. and Mexican law enforcement are actively seeking to apprehend the two remaining fugitives in this case, Luis Mendez and Eduardo Ravelo, an FBI Top Ten Most Wanted Fugitive.

According to court documents and information presented in court throughout this case, the Barrio Azteca is a violent street and prison gang that began in the late 1980s and expanded into a transnational criminal organization.   In the 2000s, the BA formed an alliance in Mexico with “La Linea,” which is part of the Juarez Drug Cartel (also known as the Vincente Carrillo Fuentes Drug Cartel or “VCF”).   The purpose of the BA-La Linea alliance was to battle the Chapo Guzman Cartel and its allies for control of the drug trafficking routes through Juarez and Chihuahua.   The drug routes through Juarez, known as the Juarez Plaza, are important to drug trafficking organizations because they are a principal illicit drug trafficking conduit into the United States.

The gang has a militaristic command structure and includes captains, lieutenants, sergeants and soldiers – all with the purpose of maintaining power and enriching its members and associates through drug trafficking, money laundering, extortion, intimidation, violence, threats of violence and murder.

According to court documents, Gallegos Castrellon allegedly participated in BA activities, including narcotics trafficking and acts of violence by BA members, both in Mexico and the United States.   Gallegos Castrellon allegedly participated in the March 2010 murders in Juarez, Mexico, of U.S. Consulate employee Leslie Ann Enriquez Catton, her husband Arthur Redelfs and Jorge Alberto Salcido Ceniceros, the husband of a U.S. Consulate employee.

If convicted, Gallegos Castrellon faces a maximum penalty of life in prison.   He is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

Gallegos Castrellon’s extradition is the result of close coordination between U.S. law enforcement and the government of Mexico in the investigation and prosecution of this case.  The cooperation and assistance of the government of Mexico was essential to achieving the successful extradition.

Yesterday, three of Gallegos Castrellon’s co-defendants were sentenced by U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone of the Western District Court of Texas to 20 years, 30 years and life in prison.   The sentencings mark the closure of the case against the U.S.-based defendants charged in the superseding indictment.   Twenty-one of 22 U.S.-based defendants have pleaded guilty and have been sentenced, including another BA Lieutenant Roberto Angel Cardona, who was also sentenced to life by Judge Cardone on Feb. 14, 2012.   The remaining U.S.-based defendant, Ramon Renteria, aka “Spooky,” took his own life while in prison during his trial.   Witnesses testified that Renteria was a BA Captain, the highest rank of the Barrio Azteca, and the only U.S.-based Captain not currently serving a life sentence in prison.

Read in full here.

We still don’t have confirmation on how these three individuals connected to the US Consulate General in Juarez killed in March 2010 got into the cross hairs of this border gang.
Domani Spero
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Photo of the Day: Because a U.S Flag Pin is Just What This Girl Needs?

July 3, 2012 By in AF |Africa, FSOs, Hall of Shame, Photo of the Day, Social Media, U.S. Missions Tags: , , , 8 Comments

Via US Embassy Uganda/Flickr (reader submitted):

US Embassy Uganda: “The DCM places a U.S Flag pin on a Karamajong girl”

Here’s our imagined conversation on this one:

U.S. official in white shirt: I’m going to pin this U.S. Flag on you.

Karamajong girl: Why?

U.S. official in white shirt: Because it’ll look good on you.

Karamajong girl: Okay, if you must. Is this something my sister and I can eat later?

U.S. official in white shirt: Um, no, this is an American flag pin, a decoration for your dress.

Karamajong girl: A decoration for my dress, yipee… but I have no shoes…

We really hate/hate this photo of a tiny barefoot girl carrying a baby on her back, tolerating a U.S. official pinning a U.S. flag on her. Is this supposed to be an example of our people to people diplomacy in Africa? What are we doing pinning American flags on kids?

We have seen tons of photos posted by our embassies on Flickr and FB but this is one of the few that makes us really want to puke.

Domani Spero

Joan Wadelton’s Appeal Makes it to FSGB 2011 Annual Report to Congress

July 3, 2012 By in Court Cases, Foreign Service, FSOs, Functional Bureaus, Grievance, State Department Tags: , , , , , , , ,

In May, we posted about the case of FSO Joan Wadelton from Patricia Kushlis’ troubling blog post (see Joan Wadelton’s Case: That’s One Messy Promotion Scorecard, Next Up – It’s GAO Time!).  Ms. Wadelton’s case made it to the FSGB’s 2011  Annual Report to Congress:

Appeal of Joan Wadelton. On January 7, 2011, Joan Wadelton, a Foreign Service Officer with the Department of State, filed a Complaint in the District Court for the District of Columbia, asking that it review the Board’s decision resolving a 2008 grievance appeal. Ms. Wadelton had filed three grievances prior to the 2008 appeal contesting the results of six selection boards which had not promoted her. As a result of those grievances, all six boards were reconstituted and Ms. Wadelton’s file was again reviewed for promotion. None of the six reconstituted boards promoted her. Ms. Wadelton then challenged the results of the reconstituted boards in the 2008 follow-on grievance. In its decision, the Board found deficiencies and irregularities in the operations of all six reconstituted boards, rebutting the presumption that they were conducted with regularity, and ordered that six new reconstituted selection boards be convened. Ms. Wadelton’s complaint challenges the Board’s decision to order a new round of reconstituted boards, rather than direct a promotion, as she had requested.

So Ms. Wadelton contested the results of the six selection boards, and State reconstituted all six boards.

Then Ms. Wadelton challenged the reconstituted boards, and FSGB ordered State too reconstitute six new selection boards.

The Grievance Board “found deficiencies and irregularities in the operations of all six reconstituted boards” so it ordered State, that is, the same HR Bureau to reconstitute six new selection boards.  Because that makes a lot of sense. It did not say if the deficiencies and irregularities were isolated to these six reconstituted boards or if they are systemic to the bureau and the process.

Hopefully the new boards are better at math so the promotion scorecards won’t be as messy, yes?  Or maybe, since this is now a case in the District Court for the District of Columbia, we’ll hear much more about the perplexing promotion scorecard process and how they get so messy.

Domani Spero

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