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(CNSNews.com) – Texas Sheriff Tomas Herrera said he does not agree with Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano’s assessment of security at the U.S.-Mexico border as being “better than it has ever been.” Herrera, in a telephone interview with CNSNews.com, said that not “a mile” of the 85-mile stretch of border in Maverick County, Texas, which is separated from Mexico by the Rio Grande River, is secure and that the violence of Mexican drug cartels is spilling over into the United States as cartels come into Texas and kidnap teenagers for their smuggling operations. “They come in and kidnap some...

The Mexican government announced the arrest of another individual in connection with the February shooting that killed ICE Special Agent Jaime Zapata and injured his partner, Victor Avila. Jose Manuel “El Safado” Garcia Soto, 30, and five other alleged members of the Zetas were arrested Saturday in the city of San Luis Potosi, S.L.P., according to a news release from Mexico’s Office of the President. Zapata was gunned down by a group of Zetas on Feb. 15 while driving along a Mexican highway in San Luis Potosi state. The arrest took place when Mexican federal police raided a stash house...

Americans should feel betrayed by the contents of the Council of Europe's report on organized crime in mostly Albanian-populated Kosovo, a country that owes its existence to the United States. The report, authored by Swiss prosecutor Dick Marty, includes allegations that Kosovo leaders have committed heinous crimes and allegations that American and European diplomats and U.N. officials in Kosovo overlooked wrongdoing to preserve "political stability." Kosovo's leaders have waged an ugly media campaign to discredit Marty and his findings and have threatened to launch a witch hunt against Albanians who aided the inquiry. Washington's voice is needed now to stop...

MEXICO CITY - The leader of Mexico's Death Saint cult has been detained on suspicion of participating in a kidnapping ring. The "Santa Muerte" cult has become popular among drug traffickers in Mexico, in part because followers believe the skeletal figure of the female "saint" may protect them from death or arrest. David Romo, the self-styled archbishop of the church, was one of nine suspects placed under a form of house arrest for 30 days pending investigation. Romo claims he is the victim of political persecution and claimed he was tortured. He also charged that he had been "severely tortured"...

MONTERREY, Mexico – The U.S. Consulate is warning Americans who travel to Monterrey they face a greater risk of being kidnapped. The warning was issued after the possible kidnapping attempt of a college student. Last Friday, a firefight broke out outside the American School Foundation of Monterrey, located in the upscale suburb of Santa Catarina. Early reports say the kidnapping attempt triggered the gunbattle. Now officials believe it was a case of mistaken identity. The incident is raising new concerns about the danger of being kidnapped and held for ransom in Mexico. Organized criminal groups like the Zetas are trying...

SAN JUAN —Police reunited a teenage woman with her family Monday afternoon, nearly 19 hours after she was abducted, blindfolded and dumped in a Reynosa field. The 18-year-old woman, whose name was not disclosed by police, was walking to a friend’s house about 6:30 p.m. Sunday. A black van pulled up alongside her and three men hopped out, San Juan Police Chief Juan Gonzalez said. They snatched the girl, blindfolded her and took her to Reynosa. The kidnappers began calling the woman’s family demanding ransom money. “The kidnappers somehow missed it that she had a cell phone,” Gonzalez said. “We...

MONTERREY Mexico (Reuters) - Mexican security forces found the body of a slain mayor near Mexico's affluent city of Monterrey on Wednesday, days after he was abducted by drug hitmen, officials and local media said. Mexican President Felipe Calderon, in a posting on his Twitter account, said he was sorry about the "cowardly assassination" of Mayor Edelmiro Cavazos, the mayor of a popular tourist town on the outskirts of Monterrey, a major industrial center with close U.S. business links. "The murder of Edelmiro is an outrage and forces us to redouble our efforts to fight these cowardly criminals," Calderon wrote....

Thursday night the body of a woman was found inside the Colinas cemetery. The woman is said to be in her 30's and was discovered near a grave. A man and a woman were attacked while driving around in south Juarez. Gunmen shot them both. The male driver was killed and the female passenger was injured A body was found wrapped in a blanket with several gunshot wounds. The person's identity has not been released. Finally, the body of a man was found in the Rio Grande. According to Juarez police the man was kidnapped two days ago and his...

McALLEN — One name emerged over and over again as authorities tracked a brutal Zeta kidnapping ring across Hidalgo County in 2008: “Chino” Throughout the investigation, witnesses ascribed that nickname to a Pharr police officer who allegedly helped the cartel operatives carry out their attacks. The nephew of a top Zeta lieutenant, the man had also purportedly shielded drug stash houses and guarded cocaine shipments through his city, all while on duty and in uniform, said Alfredo Barrera, an investigator with the Texas Department of Public Safety. “We kept hearing about ‘Chino,’ ‘Chino’,” he testified in a federal courtroom Wednesday....

Reporting from Tecate, Mexico — The bedraggled immigrants were picking their way through the boulders and scrub when a group of heavily armed men descended on them just short of the California- Mexico border. They corralled them in a cave and pointed their guns on the 10 men and one woman. These lawless badlands in the hills east of Tijuana have long teemed with bandits and rapists, but these criminals demanded only phone numbers. They started calling the immigrants' loved ones in Pomona, San Diego and Bakersfield: Send us money or we'll shoot, they said. The days-long kidnapping ordeal in...

Killing and kidnapping at Mexico weddingPublished: May 9, 2010 at 4:47 PM JUAREZ, Mexico, May 9 (UPI) -- Gunmen killed one person at a wedding and kidnapped the groom and three others Friday at a Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, church before escaping, officials say. Chihuahua State Attorney General's Office spokesman Carlos Gonzalez said "It's unclear if this was gang or drug related," CNN reported. The shooting victim, described in his 20s, was shot in the back in the church's parking lot while running from the scene, Gonzalez said. The groom, his brother, uncle and best man were kidnapped, CNN said. In...

McALLEN — Kidnapping cases in Hidalgo and Starr counties nearly quadrupled in 2009 from the year before, FBI officials said Friday. In all, 42 people were abducted from the area during the fiscal year that ended September — 31 more than in 2008 and 15 more than the FBI investigated in Laredo during the height of a 2005 war between two sparring drug cartels. Much of that increase can be attributed to drug-related activity and a late 2008 kidnapping campaign organized to expand the Zeta’s influence in the Rio Grande Valley, said Jorge Cisneros, spokesman for the bureau’s McAllen office....

McALLEN — A man federal prosecutors describe as an “active leader” in a Zeta kidnapping ring was sentenced to life in prison for his role in the 2008 abduction of a Weslaco drug dealer. Luis Alberto “Comandante Cua Cua” Avila Hernandez apologized to 29-year-old Daniel Ramirez Jr.’s family during a sentencing hearing Tuesday while never admitting culpability in his disappearance. “I am not a bad person,” he said in Spanish. “I apologize profusely.” VIOLENT EXPANSION A federal jury convicted Avila, 27, in January of one count each of conspiracy and kidnapping. From August to October 2008, he and at least...

Authorities: Zeta plot to abduct a U.S. elected official nothing but rumors Legislators have been warned to take extra precautions and avoid travel south of the border in light of threats that a Mexican drug trafficking organization could be planning to abduct a U.S. elected official. The Texas Department of Public Safety has briefed several members of the Valley’s state legislative delegation on intelligence reports suggesting the Zetas could be plotting such an attack in an effort to establish their dominance and express frustration over recent U.S. efforts in Mexico’s ongoing war against its drug cartels, according to state officials....

Authorities foil an attempted kidnapping and murder, with the Zapata County Sheriff's Department arresting five men believed to be drug cartel members. The Zapata County Sheriff's Department received information on Friday that five men were planning a kidnapping in Zapata. The sheriff along with Texas Rangers and Border Patrol set surveillance for two days at a mobile home, on Saturday deputies saw a vehicle they believed to be connected delivering food to the home. Deputies conducted a traffic stop and arrested 30-year-old Arturo Cisneros of Zapata, for no driver's license. Also 33 year old Ariel Perez Mendoza from Toluca, Mexico,...

McALLEN, TX—Gilberto Ivan Gonzalez-Pena, 26, Jose Alfredo Gonzalez, 37, and Uvaldo Quintero, 27, have been sentenced to federal prison for taking a local businessman hostage, United States Attorney José Angel Moreno announced today. All three men pleaded guilty to hostage taking in 2009: Gonzalez-Pena, of Rio Bravo, Tamaulipas, Mexico, on May 29; Gonzalez, of San Antonio, Texas, on May 8; and Quintero, of Weslaco, Texas, on March 31. At a hearing this afternoon, U.S. District Judge Randy Crane sentenced Gonzalez-Pena, Gonzalez and Quintero to 13, 14, and six years, respectively. The court also ordered the defendants be placed on a...

A kidnapping ring is accused of taking its Rio Grande Valley victims to Mexico where they were tortured, held for ransom and in one case -- killed. The trial for alleged kidnapping ring member Luis Alberto Avila-Hernandez started before U.S. District Court Judge Randy Crane in McAllen on Tuesday. Several witnesses have testified against Avila-Hernandez, including the relatives of victims and his co-defendant Gerardo Zamora-Espinoza. The Associated Press reported that Zamora-Espinoza testified that the kidnappings where committed on the behalf of the Mexican Gulf cartel's enforcers. Zamora-Espinoza told jurors that the body of kidnapping victim Daniel Ramirez, Jr. was "cooked"...

Mauritania government has increased security for tourists in the country following the abductions last week of two Italian tourists near the border with Mali. Sergio Cicala and his wife Philomene Kabouree were kidnapped in an area of Mauritania where armed groups with links to Al-Qaeda are known to operate, diplomats said. There are suspicions the couple may have been smuggled into neighbouring Mali. "After these new kidnappings, it has been decided to adopt all necessary measures to ensure the personal security of foreigners in our country," the government said, quoted on Monday by pan-Arab daily al-Quds al-Arabi. It was the...

REYNOSA, Mexico - A Reynosa teen kidnapped on her way to school is back at home. Officials say the 15-year-old was walking to school when two men forced her into their car. We're told the men used the girl's cell phone to contact her parents and ask for about $20,000. The family managed to get nearly $4,000 and contacted the kidnappers, as well as police. They all agreed to meet at a local supermarket. Authorities say they tried to arrest the kidnappers trying to collect the money. But the men drove off. A short while later, the suspects crashed into...

McALLEN — U.S. federal authorities continue to question a man who was kidnapped from a local coffee shop and held for ransom in Mexico for nearly a week. Raul Alvarado’s abductors allegedly demanded a ransom of $30,000 and two luxury vehicles. But it remains unclear whether any payments were made before Mexican police discovered him bound and beaten in a Reynosa stash house Friday. Alvarado, 36, of McAllen, told Mexican officials that he had intended to meet a business contact from Reynosa at the Starbucks Coffee near the intersection of Expressway 83 and South 10th Street on Nov. 23, when...