BajaNomad

US Citizen Shot in Mexico

CaboRon - 7-9-2009 at 09:14 AM

Anti-crime activist and neighbor killed in Mexico

By OLIVIA TORRES, The Associated Press
9:45 p.m. July 7, 2009
CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico — An anti-crime activist and a neighbor were killed in northern Mexico on Tuesday by gunmen believed linked to a drug cartel, a local legislator said.
Mexican anti-crime activists said the slaying of Benjamin LeBaron, a U.S. citizen, in Chihuahua state was the first time one of their own had been killed for denouncing crime and called it a chilling warning.
LeBaron led street protests in May demanding the release of his 19-year-old brother, Eric, who had been snatched by a kidnapping gang in May. The teenager was later freed.
Such gangs are frequently linked to drug cartels in Mexico, and there were signs that one such cartel may have been involved in Tuesday's killings of LeBaron and neighbor Luis Widmar, who apparently went to LeBaron's house to try to help him.
"A commando of 15 to 20 men came to Benjamin's house at 1:30 in the morning, and because they couldn't get in through the door, they broke out the windows," said state legislator Victor Quintana, basing his account on conversations with LeBaron's family.
"They kidnapped the two of them and they left them dead on a dirt road" just outside the town of Galeana, Quintana added.
He said witnesses reported the attackers were dressed in camouflage, "like uniforms." Mexican drug gangs frequently use fake police or army-style uniforms.
An official at the Chihuahua state prosecutor's office confirmed the deaths but offered no further details.
The men killed were from a community founded by excommunicated Mormons.
A woman who identified herself as Widmar's mother-in-law told a local radio station she believed the killing was retribution for LeBaron's activism.
That seemed to be the import of a message left at the slaying scene: "For the LeBarons, who didn't believe, and who now believe. For the 25 men detained in Nicolas Bravo."
In June, police and soldiers detained 25 suspected hit men for the Sinaloa drug cartel in the town of Nicolas Bravo, which is near where Tuesday's killings occurred. The hit men had allegedly terrorized the town, and an anonymous tip reportedly led authorities to arrest them.
Anti-crime activists said this was the first time one of their colleagues has been slain.
"There have been threats, yes, but never killings," said Maria Elena Morera, the former head of Mexico United Against Crime. She had long brushed off threats to her organization, but noted that "organized crime has escalated in every way" in recent years.
Another activist called LeBaron's killing was a warning against denouncing crime.
"The message is, 'If you continue to speak out, we are going to come after you,'" said Maria Isabel Miranda, whose private investigative work led to the capture of several suspects in her son's 2005 kidnapping. Her own vehicle was shot at last year.
–––
Associated Press writer Mark Stevenson in Mexico City contributed to this report.

shari - 7-9-2009 at 09:19 AM

Saw this on the news last night and one of the anti crime activists commented...if one of us gets gunned down...2 more will stand up and take his place....if those 2 get shot down...3 more will stand to take their place...etc....scary stuff...it will be interesting to see what happens to the fellow on tv.

JESSE - 7-9-2009 at 11:00 AM

And this has to do with Baja??

Expected Consequences

MrBillM - 7-9-2009 at 11:55 AM

This seems to be just a natural consequence of becoming an irritation in Mexico.

The reason that you see so many protests ABOUT activities in Foreign Countries happening in the USA. A safe place to protest. You can feel good about yourself and still go home at night to watch TV.

Ground Zero is another matter.

Hopefully, the protesters will keep their promise. It will make for good entertainment as the Body Count rises.

I have just been informed...

Dave - 7-9-2009 at 12:22 PM

That a Nomad has a close connection to this story. It was his nephew murdered.

He has my sympathies and I would ask that the moderator remove my (above) postings on this thread.



[Edited on 7-9-2009 by Dave]

CaboRon - 7-9-2009 at 01:39 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Dave
That a Nomad has a close connection to this story. It was his nephew murdered.

He has my sympathies and I would ask that the moderator remove my (above) postings on this thread.



[Edited on 7-9-2009 by Dave]


You can delete your own posts, in the edit mode just check "delete this post" and all will be removed.

Thank you

Dave - 7-9-2009 at 01:43 PM

arrowhead - 7-9-2009 at 02:48 PM

If you want some background on the subject matter of this thread, read this:

http://hismin.tripod.com/lebaron.html

You may never look at a Mormon the same way again.

ELINVESTIG8R - 7-9-2009 at 03:34 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by arrowhead
If you want some background on the subject matter of this thread, read this:

http://hismin.tripod.com/lebaron.html

You may never look at a Mormon the same way again.


Just so you know they are not Mormons. They are polygamists. Some of the founders of that colony, Colonia LeBaron just south of Galeana Chihuahua Mexico are former Mormons.

The murder of Benjamin LeBaron and Luis Stubbs who hold dual citizenship happened in Colonia LeBaron. I do not believe the murder was linked to religion. It was due to Benjamin's activism after his 15 year old cousin was kidnapped then released and after some of the kidnappers were apprehended. This was a revenge killing.

This is the same colony where I was taken by my parents when I was five years old then ran away from when I was 12 years old.

What Arrowhead linked to regarding Heber LeBaron is true. He is my half brother. He was involved in the murdered of my brother Eddie and many other people. He is now serving life in a Texas prison.

This has a quasi connection to Baja California. Some of the people from the polygamist colony just south west of Colonia Vicente Guerrero and Colonia LeBaron are related. I think Alma LeBaron either runs or ran the colony southwest of Colonia Vicente Guerrero.


[Edited on 7-9-2009 by ELINVESTI8]

bacquito - 7-9-2009 at 04:07 PM

Wow!!, my sister adopted the Morman religion. Thanks for the report.

Mormons

MrBillM - 7-9-2009 at 04:49 PM

Just a different strain of Mormon.

Another reason I'm one of the Black Sheep and Strayed a Long, Long Ways from my Mormon roots. A great disappointment to many in the family.

I decided I loved a Cold Beer (and, at one time, a Good Cigar) more than I worried about Salvation. Besides, I've got one sister who is so immersed in the Church that, even though she hasn't spoken to me in years, will save my soul should it turn out they're correct.

Plan B.

Update From The Associated Press

CaboRon - 7-11-2009 at 12:29 PM

Mexican feds probe killing of crime activist

By MARK STEVENSON, The Associated Press
8:46 p.m. July 9, 2009
MEXICO CITY — Mexico's Attorney General's Office said Thursday it is launching a federal investigation into the killing of a Mormon anti-crime activist, calling it a high-impact crime that appears related to the arrest of a gang of gunmen.
The U.S. Embassy said the FBI has offered to assist Mexican authorities in the investigation. Both victims – anti-kidnapping leader Benjamin LeBaron and his neighbor Luis Widmar – held U.S. and Mexican citizenship.
The killers have been identified as members of "La Linea," a gang that works for the Juarez drug cartel based in nearby city of Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, said a state prosecutor involved in the investigation.
Chihuahua Attorney General Patricia Gonzalez called Tuesday's killing of LeBaron and Widmar "a terrorist act ... aimed at inhibiting citizens and Chihuahua residents who are willing to collaborate with the authorities."
Earlier reports based on a message left at the crime scene suggested a lieutenant of the Sinaloa cartel as the possible mastermind of the killings. While they were once allies, the Juarez and Sinaloa cartels are now rivals.
LeBaron, 32, and Widmar, 29, were buried in their home community of Colonia LeBaron on Thursday in simple wooden coffins at a ceremony attended by Chihuahua Gov. Jose Reyes Baeza. The two men left behind 10 orphaned children.
Such killings are usually investigated by state authorities in Mexico, but the Attorney General's office said it was taking over the case because it believes the killing was linked to the kidnapping of LeBaron's brother and to the arrest of 25 men dressed in paramilitary gear in a nearby town.
The office said it had put together "a special team of prosecutors, federal agents and forensics experts to investigate the case," and the army said it had sent 100 soldiers to the area to ensure the safety of the hamlet of Colonia LeBaron, Chihuahua.
More than a dozen Mexican anti-crime, community and union groups issued a statement Thursday calling for justice in the killing.
"The Chihuahua case is emblematic, because this is a community whose members have not only suffered attacks by criminal gangs, but have also been the victims of reprisals when they decided to speak out," according to the statement.
The crime – described as the first retaliation killing of an anti-crime activist in Mexico – made a huge impact in Mexico, despite the fact that LeBaron was a dual-national U.S. citizen and belonged to a tiny and little-known group of Mormons who immigrated from the United States to settle in Mexico more than a half-century ago.
On Wednesday, Mexico's Congress called for a minute of silence in honor of the two men's memory.
The two were abducted from LeBaron's house by a gang of armed men in military-style camouflage gear tossed into a truck and then shot in the head on a nearby road.
LeBaron helped lead the town's approximately 2,000 inhabitants in protests against the May 2 kidnapping of LeBaron's 19-year-old brother, Eric LeBaron. The residents refused to pay the $1 million ransom kidnappers requested and demonstrated in the Chihuahua state capital to demand justice.
Even after Eric was released unharmed a week later, the LeBaron people continued to lead marches demanding more law enforcement in the rural, isolated corner of Chihuahua state. They also set up a committee to report any suspicious activities in town to police, quickly becoming an example for other Chihuahua communities.
Both the army and police increased their presence in the town following Eric's kidnapping, perhaps contributing to the arrest of 25 suspected hit men who had terrorized the nearby town of Nicolas Bravo.
LeBaron's killers left a banner saying his slaying was revenge for those arrests.

Paulina - 7-11-2009 at 12:57 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by ELINVESTI8

...This is the same colony where I was taken by my parents when I was five years old then ran away from when I was 12 years old.

What Arrowhead linked to regarding Heber LeBaron is true. He is my half brother. He was involved in the murdered of my brother Eddie and many other people. He is now serving life in a Texas prison.

[Edited on 7-9-2009 by ELINVESTI8]


I bet you're glad you got out of there!

Update

Dave - 7-11-2009 at 03:09 PM

Read where the government is planning on training and arming the citizen protesters.

Amazing!

ELINVESTIG8R - 7-11-2009 at 08:12 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Paulina

I bet you're glad you got out of there!


Yes Paulina, very glad! I hear that the Mexican Government will be arming some of the colony people who have an aptitude for weapons. I hope they give them something comparable to what the cartel guys are carrying and not the single shot weapons they issue to some who police their own communities.

Something like this:

I actually dated a Mormon

Ken Cooke - 7-11-2009 at 08:47 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by MrBillM
Just a different strain of Mormon.

Another reason I'm one of the Black Sheep and Strayed a Long, Long Ways from my Mormon roots. A great disappointment to many in the family.

I decided I loved a Cold Beer (and, at one time, a Good Cigar) more than I worried about Salvation. Besides, I've got one sister who is so immersed in the Church that, even though she hasn't spoken to me in years, will save my soul should it turn out they're correct.

Plan B.


One of the wild stories I can share of my travels to Colombia!:light:

DENNIS - 7-12-2009 at 08:01 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Dave
Read where the government is planning on training and arming the citizen protesters.
Amazing!


http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gvQo4ayASQ...

Fear and Death in a Mormon Town in Mexico

BajaNews - 7-26-2009 at 01:26 PM

http://www.ocala.com/article/20090726/ZNYT03/907263008/0/VID...

ELISABETH MALKIN
July 26, 2009

COLONIA LEBARÓN, Mexico — When a 16-year-old boy was kidnapped from this fundamentalist Mormon community in early May, ransom was set at $1 million. The town chose not to pay.

Instead, led by the boy’s older brother, members of the community traveled to the state capital, Chihuahua, to demand that the government catch the kidnappers. Nobody knows exactly why, but seven days later, the boy was freed.

Soon, from other towns scattered in the valleys that stretch under the purple-rimmed mountains of the Sierra Madre, farmers facing extortion and intimidation began pleading with the crusading brother, Benjamín LeBarón — a great-grandson of the Mormon community’s founder — for help.

He tried, forming a group to help towns put pressure on the authorities. And then he was dead.

On July 7 at 1 a.m., four S.U.V.’s rumbled to the home he shared with his wife and five children. Armed men pried open the front door. Luis Widmar, his brother-in-law who lived nearby, burst in to try to help. But the gunmen took both men away. Their bodies were found later that day with a note accusing them of providing information leading to the arrests of gang members in a nearby town.

Two and a half years after the Mexican government started its war against drug cartels, the crackdown has, in some places, only made life more dangerous. Here in the northern state of Chihuahua, the threats, kidnappings and violence did not begin until last year, about the same time the government sent troops to Ciudad Juárez, which is a four-hour drive from Colonia LeBarón.

“The extortion began about a year ago,” said one Colonia LeBarón resident who left Mexico after Mr. LeBarón and Mr. Widmar were killed, and asked not to be identified out of fear for his life. “We think the narcos’ money is drying up and they are resorting to whatever they have to do.” People here say they believe that the military presence on the border has pushed gangs into the countryside.

The local police chief was killed in November. Armed men followed the mayor’s children and his wife as they went to school.

The town treasurer of another small Chihuahua town, Namiquipa, was killed last year. The police chief and a top commander have been missing since October. The mayor, who had been receiving death threats since last year, was killed July 14.

The drug war remains intense in Ciudad Juárez, where there have been more than 1,000 killings this year. Drug cartels are continuing their brazen displays of violence against Mexican authorities. A few days after Mr. LeBarón and Mr. Widmar’s funeral, 12 off-duty federal police officers in the western state of Michoacán were kidnapped, tortured and killed, their bodies dumped in a pile on a highway.

The government piled more troops into Michoacán, and on Thursday, the federal police announced the arrests of four men in the case. Ten municipal police officers were detained after the killings as authorities investigated whether they protected the killers.

Looking back, the signs of how great the risk Benjamín LeBarón and his group, SOS Chihuahua, were running seem obvious.

“People began to call us,” said the man who left the country. “They figured we could pressure the government on their behalf. We started to handle kidnapping and extortion cases.

“Then we felt we were going to begin to get into a dangerous situation. We were afraid that the family would be killed. But Benji said, ‘I feel their pain. I can’t let them down.’ ”

SOS Chihuahua had a manifesto that urged citizens to overcome fears of organized crime and to give tips to the authorities.

“Everybody is scared to give information to the government,” said one resident who worked with Mr. LeBarón. The call to start cooperating must have hit a nerve with the criminals, he said, and the group was “a threat to their impunity.”

The family asked for protection, and about a dozen state police officers in mid-May began training a community police force. Soldiers and state police made rounds through LeBarón and the nearby town of Galeana, where Mr. LeBarón lived. But there were few illusions.

“Any criminologist will tell you that when they want to get somebody, there is nothing that can be done,” said a state police investigator who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak publicly. “You cannot put a police officer in front of every house.” Still, Colonia LeBarón had its own special history, and its people thought they had the wherewithal to stand up to fear.

The town was settled in the 1940s by Alma Dayer LeBarón, who had come to Chihuahua with other Mormon settlers but was excommunicated after he took a second wife. Polygamy is fading now, but many adults have dozens of siblings, and much of the town is related by marriage. Benjamín LeBarón was one of his father’s 51 children.

The people here favor English over Spanish and worship in a sand-colored, wooden church decorated with framed quotes from George Washington and Benjamin Franklin.

They have dual citizenship, and many work for years in the United States to earn money to buy land and build houses here. The village is surrounded by chile fields and pecan orchards.

But there is also a dark side. Benjamín LeBarón’s grandfather Joel, the son of Alma Dayer LeBarón and revered by many in the community as a prophet, was killed in 1972 by followers of his brother, Ervil, at a settlement the brothers had set up in Baja California. Ervil LeBarón’s cult continued its killing spree in the United States for more than 15 years.

Those who worked to help set up SOS Chihuahua do not know how they will carry it on. The town is terrified. There are no children playing on the lawns or riding their bikes along the gravel streets. The crunch of a coming truck provokes an anxious glance, but it’s just a neighbor.

“They had a cause, they stood up for it, they were killed for it,” a relative said. “And he’s a martyr, as far as I’m concerned.”

ELINVESTIG8R - 7-26-2009 at 02:03 PM

Real tough men these cowardly killers.