Nicaraguan Gangland

[Junior]

Police: Foreign Gangs Use Nicaragua as Hideout
Written by Christopher Looft, InSight.com
Thursday, April 12, 2012

Authorities in Nicaragua have reported "isolated cases" of foreign gang members in the country, illustrating the growing prominence of street gangs throughout Central America.

Nicaragua's national police spokesperson, Fernando Borge (pictured), told news service ACAN-EFE that police had detected foreign gang members along its northern border with Honduras, and that authorities had either deported them or begun to deport them. The spokesperson said Nicaragua is prepared to detect any further incursion of foreign gang members.

Borge said the spread of foreign gang members across the region was "a threat," but added that "the important thing is to always maintain collaboration between all the police institutions."

Security analyst Roberto Orozco told ACAN-EFE that the foreign gang members cross into Nicaragua through its northern border with Honduras, and that they use the country as a temporary hideout rather than a base of operations.

InSight Crime Analysis

So far, Nicaragua has been spared much of the violence that has shaken the region. In 2010, the country had a murder rate of 14 per 100,000 people, compared with at least 40 for each of the Northern Triangle countries. Neighboring Honduras had a rate of 86 per 100,000, making it the most violent country in the world.

A variety of factors may explain this disparity. Nicaragua's socialist legacy means police have closer ties to their communities. In the past, Nicaraguan emigrants moved to Costa Rica and Miami over Los Angeles, with its pervasive gang culture. This meant fewer criminals were deported back home to start their own local cells, as happened with the MS-13 and Barrio 18 gangs in El Salvador.

However, the Northern Triangle's relative insecurity may also be due to the influence of the Mexican Zetas, who have steadily moved south through the region, consolidating their presence through partnerships with local youth gangs. Nicaragua may be the next step. Aminta Granera, Nicaragua's head of police, has already warned that gangs from the Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador may move south into Nicaragua. The incursion of foreign gangs to use Nicaragua as a hideout could be a sign that this process has begun.

[Junior]

Nicaragua Police Seize Precursor Chemicals for Meth Production
Written by Elyssa Pachico, InSight, Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Police announced the arrest of seven people and the seizure of 80 barrels of precursor chemicals, reportedly aimed at setting up a methamphetamine lab in Nicaragua, one sign that the industry could be spreading outside of Mexico.

The 4,400 gallons of chemicals in the barrels included acetone, a key ingredient for meth production, reports El Nuevo Diario.

Police are reportedly investigating 13 people linked to the primitive lab, including two Mexicans.

Police spokesperson Glenda Zavela said that trafficking organizations have been trying to introduce meth to Nicaragua since 2011.

InSight Crime Analysis

Mexico is still the region’s primary producer of meth, the supplier of up to 80 percent of the meth consumed in the US. But as a 2011 United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) report observed, seizures of precursor chemicals in other Central American countries are rising, and meth labs are appearing in some countries where there was previously no history of meth production. Nicaragua discovered its first methaphetamine lab in 2009.

Even though the US State Department has identified Nicaragua as a “producer and supplier of methaphetamine,” so far the problem appears to be relatively limited. Nicaragua has taken several steps to try and combat the issue, passing a law in April 2011 that restricts the importation, production, and distribution of phenyl acetic acid, a key precursor chemical for meth.

[Junior]

Nicaragua Charges Man Linked to Facundo Cabral Killing with Drug Trafficking
Written by Elyssa Pachico, InSight.com, Friday, June 22, 2012

A judge in Nicaragua ruled that the man who allegedly plotted the attack which killed Argentine singer Facundo Cabral will be charged in Nicaragua for drug trafficking and money laundering.

Costa Rican Alejandro Jimenez Gonzalez, alias "Palidejo," is currently being tried in Guatemala, where Cabral was killed last year.

Besides Palidejo, the criminal court in Managua said it would prosecute another 20 people accused of running a drug trafficking network that stretched from Costa Rica to Mexico, reports EFE.

On May 27, Nicaraguan police announced they had arrested 11 of Palidejo’s associates, including a former judge who once served on Nicaragua’s electoral council.

Palidejo is accused of hiring gunmen to kill a nighclub owner who stole a cocaine shipment from him. But the hitmen killed Cabral during the attack, as Cabral was traveling in a car with the nightclub owner at the time.

InSight Crime Analysis

Palidejo is now enmeshed in legal cases in at several countries, including Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, where he is wanted for money laundering. It is also not clear whether his name was among those that were blacked out in a US indictment issued by a New York court in 2006. This would mean Palidejo is also wanted for drug trafficking charges in the US.

Palidejo’s case points to the existence of a complex transnational network that moved cocaine from Colombia through Central America to the US. The Costa Rican was reportedly under the protection of Colombian group the Rastrojos, who likely served as one of his primary suppliers of product. He has also been linked to a Mexican drug trafficking organization with ties to the Familia Michoacana.

[Junior]

'Nicaraguan Govt Actively Pursuing Bluefields Crime Boss'
Written by Geoffrey Ramsey, InSight.com
Tuesday, July 24, 2012

The head of Nicaragua’s military stated that authorities have been unable to capture suspected drug trafficker Donly Mendoza due to a lack of information on his whereabouts, an admission that overlooks the possibility of Mendoza's power playing a role in avoiding arrest.

In a July 24 press conference, General Julio Cesar Aviles Castillo announced that the government is actively pursuing Donly Mendoza, believed to be the leader of a drug trafficking organization based in eastern Nicaragua.

Aviles dismissed reports that Mendoza is living more or less openly in the city of Puerto Cabezas, where he is rumored to travel with a group of 20 to 30 bodyguards, stating, "Look, if he were going around with 30 armed men at all times, rest assured that we would have already neutralized and captured him. He is hiding out.”

In January, police attempted to arrest Mendoza in the eastern city of Sandy Bay. While officials took seven individuals into custody and seized several firearms, Mendoza avoided capture.

InSight Crime Analysis

General Aviles’ remarks seem to be the latest sign that the government is beginning to crack down on drug trafficking along the Caribbean coast. Earlier in July the Ortega administration announced that it would create a commission tasked with investigating the issue.

However, the general’s dismissal of Mendoza’s relatively high profile is worrisome, and suggests this effort may not be in earnest. Accounts of Mendoza’s heavy security detail are more than just rumors. In its visit to the area last year, police sources confirmed to InSight Crime that Mendoza travels with a group of 40 bodyguards.

Mendoza also reportedly enjoys considerable power in the area, owing to his status as a major player in the regional drug trade. Local officials said that Mendoza has connections to organized crime in other countries as well, maintaining links to both Honduran and Mexican groups. As such, the Nicaraguan government’s failure to capture him could be due to his money and influence than to law enforcement’s inability to locate him.

[Junior]

Nicaragua: Folksinger killers laundered $1 billion
By the Associated Press, Pbpulse
Tuesday, July 31, 2012

MANAGUA, Nicaragua — Nicaraguan prosecutors say a gang accused in the killing of Argentine folk singer Facundo Cabral laundered $1 billion in drug money in Nicaragua in recent years.

The main suspect in the drug-trafficking and organized-crime trial is businessman Henry Farinas, who was driving with Cabral in Guatemala last year.

Prosecutors say Farinas was an associate in the gang with Costa Rican Alejandro Jimenez Gonzalez, who allegedly ordered the attack on Farinas in retaliation for a purported betrayal. The killers' bullets hit Cabral instead. Jimenez is jailed in Guatemala, and is being tried in absentia.

Prosecutors said in trial proceedings against a total of 24 defendants on Monday that the gang laundered more than $1 billion through Nicaraguan financial institutions.