Most Censored: National Guardsmen, cops smuggling cocaine at US/Mexico border

Photo: National Guard troops arrived at the border, after President Bush’s said it would help bolster homeland security and border patrol activities along the 1,950-mile border. PHOTO DOD

Smuggling drugs -- Members of Immigration and Naturalization Service, Arizona Army National Guard, U.S. Bureau of Prisons, Army, Arizona Department of Corrections, Airforce Security Squadron and Nogales Police Department -- sentencing in federal court.
By Brenda Norrell
htp://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/
TUCSON -- While television news reporters want the public to believe that the Arizona Army National Guardsmen, Airforce and border agents were the saviors, protecting the US border, court cases are now revealing US soldiers and agents anxious to run keys of cocaine in uniform from the Mexican border.

The FBI shut down the sting operation, "Operation Lively Green," because so many US soldiers wanted to smuggle drugs in uniform using official vehicles, from the border at Nogales, Ariz., north to Tucson and Phoenix, between 2002 and 2004.

There are now 99 cases -- including a National Guard Sargent who recruited soldiers under his command in Tucson, an Army recruiter in Tucson, police in Nogales, prison guards, Airforce security personnel and other public officials -- all caught in the act of drug smuggling. Court cases are now underway Tucson.

The arrests reveal a more accurate view of the border, far from the hype of television news.

The Arizona FBI sting was related to an Oklahoma FBI sting, "Operation Tarnished Star." National Guardsmen were running cocaine from Texas to Oklahoma.

The Arizona sting also resulted in the arrest of Davis Monthan Airforce men in the Security Squadron in Tucson smuggling drugs.

Tohono O'odham and other border residents have opposed the militarization of the border. They want the National Guard and other military out of the region.

Living in the militarized zone and surrounded by border agents on the ground, residents are spied on from the air and have lost their right to privacy. Border residents are the focus of harassment and increased dangers from speeding border agents and corrupt and drug running soldiers and border agents.

As one Tohono O'odham put it: "With all these helicopters, Border Patrol and supposed-trackers, why can't they find even one of our O'odham who goes missing in the desert?"

Derechos Humanos Coalicion says the increased militarization has only led to more deaths, by pushing migrants into more desolate areas of the desert, where deaths from dehydration and heat have increased this summer.

Breaking news, sentencing in Tucson ...http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&q=%22Lively+Green%22
Michael Marizco: Border Reporterhttp://www.borderreporter.com/
Arizona Daily Star: National Guardsmen running cocaine: 'Just following orders'http://www.azstarnet.com/dailystar/192903
Army soldiers sentenced in drug sting
http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/crime/193268
Davis Monthan Airforce, Security Forces Squadron, soldiers caught smuggling drugs in sting:http://www.azcentral.com/specials/special21/articles/0520corruption20.html
Army and Marine recruiters ran cocaine operations in Tucson
http://www.quakerhouse.org/Recruiter-Abuses-02.htm

Tohono O'odham ran over by Border Patrol

By Brenda NorrellAngelita Ramon believes that her son, 18-year-old Bennett Patricio, Jr., was intentionally ran over and killed by Border Patrol agents on Tohono O'odham tribal land near the border.

Based on the evidence, Ramon believes that her son -- while walking home at 3 a.m. through the desert -- walked upon a drug transfer underway by Border Patrol agents on April 9, 2002.

The family filed a civil suit against the US Border Patrol, but the US District Court in Tucson ruled in favor of the Border Patrol. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco recently failed to rule in the family's favor.

However, Ramon's next option, if she can find an attorney, is to file murder charges against the Border Patrol agents at the scene. Read more of the story ...
http://bsnorrell.tripod.com/id63.html

“The Border Patrol is a death squad. They are operating like they do in Central and South America, because no one can hold them accountable,” said Jimbo Simmons, member of the International Indian Treaty Council, during the Summit Aug. 29 – Oct. 1, 2006.

Photo: Angelita Ramon, Tohono O'odham, at Indigenous Border Summit of the Americas on San Xavier tribal land, Oct. 2006/Photo Brenda Norrell


US agents drug smuggling raises new questions about the truth of the deaths of two border agents, and an ICE agent, in southern Arizona in 2004:

Border agents were believed a murder-suicide, while ICE agent Tom DeRouchey, Cheyenne River Sioux, was said to be suicide in 2004

Murder-suicide likely in border agent deathsBy Michael Marizco and Scott Simonson
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona Published: 06.12.2004

TUCSON -- Two U.S. Border Patrol agents died in an apparent murder-suicide south of Tucson early Friday, officials said.
The two agents, a 45-year-oldman and a 31-year-old woman, were from the El Paso Sector in Texas, said El Paso Sector spokesman Doug Mosier.
The male agent, Arturo Betancourt, was a supervisory agent who had been on the job for 15 years.
The woman, Elizabeth Granillo, had been an agent for two years.
Mosier said he didn't know whether Betancourt was Granillo's supervisor. He also wouldn't say whether they'd been in a relationship.
The bodies were found in a vehicle about 10 miles southwest of Tucson on the San Xavier Reservation, said Chief Richard Saunders of the Tohono O'odham Police Department.
He said the woman had been shot three times and the man once. They were not in uniform, but were identified by agency credentials found on their bodies. No suicide note was found at the scene, about a mile southeast of Mission San Xavier del Bac, he said. One handgun was found.
Police found the bodies about 2:30 a.m. Friday when they responded to a report of an abandoned vehicle on a dirt road near Interstate 19.
The FBI, which has jurisdiction in certain felonies on Indian reservations, did a preliminary investigation, then turned the case over to tribal police, said FBI spokeswoman Susan Herskovits.
Meanwhile, agents in El Paso will have counseling services made available to them through the agency, Mosier said.
The last off-duty Border Patrol agent to die in the region was Jorge Luis Salomon, 23.
Salomon had traveled to Cananea, Sonora, in February 2003 after befriending a man who was a drug-smuggler. They joined others in Cananea and when they learned Salomon was a Border Patrol agent, they beat him to death.
Four people are in custody in Sonora pending an investigation. A fifth remains at large.
The last known suicide of a federal agent in Southern Arizona was U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement interim director Tom V. DeRouchey.
He shot himself in March while driving on Interstate 10 in Marana on his way to a press conference in Tucson.

Mount Graham Sacred Run, July 26 -- 27

Thursday, July 26, Whiteriver to San Carlos

Friday, July 27, San Carlos to Mount Graham

Sacred Run Campout on Mount Graham, at Treasure Park, Fri-Sun.

RESIST: Alogonquins say 'No' to being guinea pigs for weapons testing

CANADA AND FRONTENAC VENTURES “NUKE” ALONGQUINS:
MILLION DOLLAR LAWSUIT FILED AT SHARBOT LAKE

Mohawk Nation News
July 24, 2007.

The colonizers are using a new weapon for Indigenous destruction. Law suits. Doesn’t “No mean no”? Canada and Frontenac Ventures have devised new tricks and donned new masks. They figure if they can sue then they can take away our lands.

On July 23rd 2007 they punched us in the face by handing the Algonquins a million dollar lawsuit. Canadian colonial institutions are being used as a tool to assault us.
Remember, the Algonquins never consented to the trespassing that’s happening on their land.

Sharbot and Ardoch Lakes are 42 miles north of Kingston Ontario Canada . The Algonquins rejected Frontenac’s financial offer last week of $10,000 to dig up uranium to contaminate and desecrate the land, air, water, animals and people. They were told that soon an injunction will
remove us from our own land.

The 55 acres at the gate is supposedly private land owned by Peter Jorgenson who leased an office to Frontenac Ventures. Frontenac merely has permits from Ontario to stake mining claims on unsurrendered Algonquin land, as
well as private land.

The Algonquins are supposedly represented by lawyers, Blaine McMurtry, of Toronto . What are they doing? We are not told anything! The Canadian crown claims jurisdiction over the area. Shouldn’t Affairs be protecting the area according to Canadian legislation and Supreme Court of Canada jurisprudence. We know that’s a joke! Indian Affairs has a long history of helping to destroy and steal Indigenous land, resources and rights. Indian Affairs is right in there now punching us without a velvet glove.

The Algonquins refused to come under the Indian Act. They remain free and independent, to be dealt with on a nation-to-colony basis. The land is unsurrendered and remains unceded. The Algonquins are not Canadian citizens. This is all verified by international law. The
Canadian government represents the corporate interests, against us.

All it takes is for a greedy corporation to persuade one department to give them a license to exploit Indigenous land that doesn’t belong to Canada . All the other departments will fight tooth and nail to defend this theft. We can’t think of a single time when the Department of
Justice took our part against a corporate predator.

Another dirty player on Algonquin land is MREL [Mining Resources Engineering Limited], a manufacturer and tester of weapons. It has a unique “secret” facility in a “remote location” on Algonquin land. We know all about it!

Has anyone noticed that there’s been a sudden burst of spending on the military even though war is illegal in international law? Canada is under no war threat. No attempts are being made to solve disputes by peaceful means. The UN has been turned into a “war machine”.
Canada is an eager little “go for” for these totalitarian schemes. The military siphons money away from education, health care and much needed repair of infrastructure for public health and safety.

Canada has opened up our land to any country or anybody who wants to do military testing. We are set up to be used as “guinea pigs” for these tests! The public says nothing because they are too scared and too shocked.

Canada is trying to seduce a new generation into their lethal games. Tey’re suckering the children of the poor into sacrificing their lives to lower the population of “useless eater”, as Henry Kissinger called us. They’re trying to convince us it’s glorious to “self-destruct”.

The Department of National Defense Canada and the DRDC [Defense Research and Development Canada ] are doing studies on the effects of weapons on people, animals, land, water and air. CRTI is the umbrella organization [“Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear
Explosives Research and Technology Initiatives”] that includes 21 agencies and departments, including Atomic Energy, Health Canada , CSIS and Natural Resources.

MREL makes and tests radon equipment and weapons of mass destruction on Algonquin land, like RDDs and IEDs, which are “dirty bombs” made from uranium tailings or medical grade radio active materials. Who’s the “Chemical Ali” of Canada ? Gordon O’Connor, the Member of Parliament of the area and the Minister of Defense? Are they nuking settlers who don’t vote for them?

These losers don’t know how to make a living without killing, molesting or preying on their fellow human beings. Go to the DRDC website for all the connections with the worldwide
military industry at http://www.ottawa.drdc-rddc.gc.ca/.

MREL is a very private company that does contracts for the U.S. Department of Defense Navy, Army and Air Force and who knows who else. Bill Bauer, the Vice President “front
man”, doesn’t answer any questions.

MREL is busy showing off their explosive and weapons technology at the “Force Protection Equipment Demonstration” in Stafford Virginia U.S. Also there are exhibitors like “SAIC”, “Raytheon” and “RedX Defense”
[http.//www.redxdefense.com/RedX_site/RedX_homepage02.htm].
[We want to reassure our readers that this has nothing to do with our Sage “Red-X”, though they may have been reading MNN and want to stop our peace mongering against their bombs!] Look for an article on MREL at http://www.cbrneworld.com/, a trade magazine on
weaponry development for terrorism worldwide.

These companies are all up to their necks in Algonquin land without any permission or authority. Their presence is based entirely on colonial bluff.

We aren’t sure if MREL is banned from going around on our land. The OPP told Frontenac’s George White and Pete Jorgensn to stay away. Uranium companies exploring in the Athabaskan basin oil sands in Alberta are using helicopters to fly in their heavy exploration
and drilling equipment, which is a technical possibly that could be done here on our land.

MREL boasts of having a “remote location” to do its experimentation, development and testing. They’re hoping that the Indigenous protests will disappear because they’re farther from major universities, military and population centers. These guys are playing hard ball. They are starting to manufacture “red neck” opposition to our attempts to defend the peace and
sanity of the land.

It's just a matter of time before the OPP have to "uphold their rule of law" and enforce the injunction. The OPP work with DRDC by keeping a consistent presence at the Robertsville Mine. They know how isolated this territory is and how many people are there.

Port Hope near Toronto is where the uranium waste is being stored. This was closed a few days ago due to “seepage”. The Algonquins of Sharbot Lake are feeling the pressure.

Janie Jamieson asked, “Please send in whatever you can as soon as possible: water, gas, food, disposable cameras, socks, bug spray, candles, eating utensils and any type of camping supplies. Help is urgently needed for our well being and protection”.

The Algonquins, our supporters and the local residents are demanding “No uranium mining whatsoever” on our land. “The testing of the IEDs and RDDs and nuclear weaponry has to stop”. We’re not allowed to burn a tire and look what they’re blowing up practically in our faces. We face birth defects, permanent DNA damage, leukemia and cancer to present and future generations living in the area. For the sake of the earth and the future generations, we have to mobilize now to stop this insane nonsense.

The 20th century tactic was to claim our lands were needed for military defense. The 21st century tactic is to use their courts to sue us with their colonial laws that are made up as they go along, in the name of democracy, but in violation of democratic principles.

Contact Chief Paula Sherman 613-279-1970 http://us.f520.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=paulasherman@trentu.ca;
Bob Lovelace at 613-268-2746, Cell 613-532-2166; Harold Perry
613-479-5534; Lynn Daniluk 613-268-2746, Cell 613-267-0539; Ormond
Lee of the settler committee 613-267-7584.

Send your opposition and concerns to Natural Resources Canada
http://us.f520.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=inspector@nrcan.gc.ca Phone 613-948-5200, MREL Bill Bauer
13-545-0466 (111) Cell 613-530-0777 http://us.f520.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=bbauer@mrel.com; Prime
Minister Stephen Harper http://us.f520.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=harper.s@parl.gc.ca and the Governor
General info@gg.gc.ca [she’s responsible, knows it’s happening
and turns her back on us and our children constantly].

Kahentinetha Horn
MNN Mohawk Nation News

See: “ Canada ”
http://www.mohawknationnews.com/news/news4.php?en=en&layout=mnn&category=27&srcurl=%2Fnews%2Fnews3.php%3Flang%3Den%26layout%3Dmnn%26sortorder%3D0

Guatemalan mother found dead on Tohono O'odham tribal land

Migrant Walk for Life 2007/Brenda Norrell

CENSORED: Indigenous continue to die from heat and dehydration on Tohono O'odham tribal land in Arizona. Many of those walking north to survive are Indigenous Peoples, but the tribe has created a law which makes it a crime to transport migrants. Further, the tribe has failed to support the humanitarian efforts of Tohono Oodham Mike Wilson. Wilson, in conjunction with Humane Borders, puts out water in several areas on tribal land for migrants.

Guatemalan mother is second mother found dead on Tohono O'odham land with son nearby

By Brenda Norrell
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/

SELLS, Ariz. -- A Guatemalan mother, walking on Tohono O'odham tribal land, with her 10-year-old son was found dead Thursday. It was the second consecutive day that a mother was found dead with her son nearby.
The ten-year-old Guatemalan boy was found walking about a half mile mile north of the border south of Tecolote Ranch on tribal land. The boy told Border agents that his mother had died, the Arizona Daily Star reported.
On Wednesday on Tohono O'odham tribal land, one mile west of Big Field near Federal Route 24, the body of Maria Resendiz Perez, 33, of the central Mexican state of Queretaro, was found with four survivors, including her 10-year-old son.
"The boy is in custody of the Mexican Consulate in Tucson, which is arranging for the boy to return to Mexico this weekend to be with his grandfather, said spokesman Alejandro Ramos Cardoso. They believe the mother died of dehydration," the Star reported.
The heat has taken many lives this summer. Thursday was the 37th straight day of 100-degree temperatures in the Tucson area.

Coalicion de Derechos Humanos: More migrants die because of increased enforcement

Coalición de Derechos Humanos, a Tucson-based human rights group, announced that the total number of recovered bodies on the Arizona border reached 147 by the end of June, 2007, up from 133 at the same time last year. Thirty-three bodies were recovered in the month of June alone, twelve of them not as yet identified and nearly a third of them female.

These numbers do not reflect any of the 24 bodies recovered in first twelve days of the month of July, with reports coming out almost daily about remains found in the desert by residents, humanitarian groups and law enforcement officials alike.

Adding to this increasing tragedy are the families who are desperately searching for news of loved ones who attempted to cross the border and have yet to be heard from. Men, women and children are regularly reported missing to consulate officials and human rights groups, who attempt to search for them in detention centers, hospitals, migrant centers, and medical examiner offices.“Rarely talked about are the desaparecidos, the people who have gone missing with no clue as to their whereabouts,” says Isabel Garcia of Derechos Humanos.

“The desert is an ultimately unforgiving force, and can completely devour remains within a matter of weeks or even days, given the brutal conditions. This leaves mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers and children lost to their families forever, with no hope of ever finding out what became of them.”Every month has yielded more skeletal remains on the Arizona border, indicating that death could have taken place weeks, months, or even years prior to discovery.

This—coupled with the fact that migrants do not always carry identification on their person, and their clothing can be torn away by animals or by themselves as they hallucinate and suffocate in the desert heat—makes identifying them even more difficult. Despite the recovery of an estimated 5,000 bodies on the U.S.-México border during the last 12 years, a direct result of the funnel-effect of border and militarization policies, the U.S. government has failed to acknowledge the deadly result of these strategies, and has, to the contrary, continued to increase efforts to militarize the border.

“To die because you sought a better future for yourself and your family is a human rights violation,” continued Garcia. “and to die without your family ever knowing what became of you, as they suffer the anguish of not being able to bury your body and mourn your death is a tragedy that we must demand be made right. Human life is the most precious thing on earth, and we all must work to change any government policy that threatens it.”

The complete list of recovered bodies is available on the Coalición de Derechos Humanos website: http://www.derechoshumanosaz.net/.
This information is available to anyone who requests it from us and is used by our organization to further raise awareness of the human rights crisis we are facing on our borders.

Photo 2: "No More Deaths" campaign at protest outside Gov. Janet Napolitano's office in Tucson in July/Photo Brenda Norrell

Photo 3: Isabel Garcia of Derechos Humanos speaks out at the protest outside Gov. Napolitano's office in July in Tucson, criticizing failed immigration policies that force migrants into isolated desert regions and death./Photo Brenda Norrell