Moment of the capture of Leo ‘N’ on Tuesday, May 31. Photo: Courtesy.
Sofía Medeles (Ajijic).- The Government of Chapala insists that an alleged stalker, identified as Leo ‘N’, was released from custody after he complied with an administrative sanction and because there were no complaints against him.
But witnesses have contradicted the statement the City Council gave on Thursday, June 2 when the man was freed, saying that there were at least six complaints filed in the Public Ministry (MP).
Complainants have shared with Laguna their testimonies against the accused.
Two complainants, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals, showed to Laguna a complaint folder page. In addition, they said that they maintained contact with at least four other people who denounced the alleged stalker between the day of his arrest on Tuesday, May 31, and the following day.
The complainants did not cite a specific cause or crime in their report, but they said the testimonies of all the complainants were similar and they believed the crime could be stalking, or taking pictures of minors without their consent.
Municipal police officers and other authorities had urged concerned residents to file a complaint, but the denial that any complaints had been received by the Public Ministry, together with the release of the accused, left them demoralized.
They said they saw no point in continuing with the procedures now that the subject was free, and reportedly far from Ajijic.
But they said that in the process of making their complaints to the Ministry, the agency’s staff was curt, lacked empathy, and failed to properly explain the paperwork.
A law student, who asked not to be named, suggested several reasons why the authorities released the individual: his possible mental condition, or that the crime of harassment is not so severe as to warrant jail while further investigations are made. In such cases, it was likely that a precautionary measure would be granted, such as reporting each month to MP offices.
The complainants, meanwhile, demanded state authorities tell them what has to happen before they intercede in cases like this one.
Someone could be kidnapped or abused, said one complainant. When nothing is done, people may «take justice into their own hands.»
Translated by Alan Ferguson
Staff.– Two men and a woman charged with stealing auto parts in the Ajijic area were captured in Chapala.
According to investigators, Eduardo Adrián ‘N’, Bryan Amador ‘N’’ and Silvia Elena ‘N’, allegedly removed and took a catalytic converter from a Toyota Hilux double-cab truck on June 1, using an electric saw.
The agent of the Public Ministry carried out the inquiries and obtained arrest warrants against the three suspects for the commission of the crime of qualified robbery.
Members of the Investigative Police captured the suspects in the Gastronomia neighborhood in Chapala, who were remanded to the control of the Supervisory Judge.
Translated by Alan Ferguson
Ajijic Health Center located at Ocampo 102, Ajijic. Credit: Sofía Medeles
Sofía Medeles (Ajijic).- The Ajijic Health Center (Centro de Salud Ajijic) recommends that women from Ajijic come in as soon as possible for a pap smear screening.
Dr. Sandra Gonzalez, director of the health center, said about 3 out of every 10 women recently tested have irregular, or positive test results, «Testing is available all year round, and due to the many cases we have seen in Ajijic, we ask women to come and get it done. «This test is free, appointments are available Monday through Friday, from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm. The only requirement is to bring a copy of your CURP with you.Pap smears test for signs of HPV (Human Papillomavirus), and cervical cancer by detecting abnormal cells in the cervix. In addition to pap smears, the Ajijic Health Center also provides many other valuable services for citizens and residents. Information and updates about the health center are available on their Facebook page, «CS Ajijic.”
Dr. González says that they have not seen a high incidence of seasonal diseases such as dengue, or Covid-19, nor have they seen any incidents of monkeypox.
Covid-19 vaccinations are announced as they are available, and currently they have a vaccination campaign for rubella and measles.
Translated by Amy Esperanto.
One of the suspects arrested, the driver of the car reported stolen in Chapala.
Editor.- Authorities in Chapala captured and arrested three suspects, and recovered a car that had been reported stolen just days before. The arrest was made in the Chapala boardwalk area on June 6th.
While on a surveillance tour, municipal police spotted a car that matched the description of a car that had been reported stolen just days before, a late model Volkswagen Jetta. They stopped the vehicle on Ramón Corona, near the boardwalk.
The suspects are two men and a woman. When arrested, they were also in possession of drugs, and tools commonly used to steal cars.
Translated by Amy Esperanto
The alleged perpetrator was identified as Jaime «N,» an 82-year-old man Credit: Courtesy.
Staff (Tizapán el Alto).- On June 3, an 82 year-old man shot at a group of children playing on Lauro Caloca in the San Gabriel neighborhood of Tizapán el Alto, on the south side of Chapala. The man said he was bothered by the noise they were making. One 3 year-old child was killed by the shooter.
When neighbors saw him shooting they tried to stop him, but he waved his gun to intimidate them. The neighbors alerted the authorities. When police and prosecutors arrived, they found that the shooter had barricaded himself in his home.The wounded were taken to the hospital in Tizapán el Alto, but one child died while receiving medical attention.
Jaime «N», accused of killing the 3 year-old girl, and injuring her father could receive house arrest due to his advanced age.
Translated by Amy Esperanto
The case was exposed in the municipality’s social networks, allegedly showing municipal workers with the accused blurred out.
Editorial staff.- A man who was caught dumping in a lot on the side of the Jocotepec highway avoided a fine of up to 30,000 pesos after agreeing to remove his own trash and more, which had been dumped in the location weeks earlier.
The accused appeared in a video on the Government of Jocotepec’s social networks. According to the municipal trustee, Carlos Alberto Zúñiga Chacón, it shows what appears to be a worker of the municipality and the accused, whose face in the video was blurred to protect his identity.
The trustee said that the person was caught, but that he was not going to be sanctioned because he agreed to remove his own trash and more. It is not known who authorized the agreement instead of applying a fine as required by law, nor whether this criterion is applied to the entire population and, if so, under what circumstances.
The area where the trash was seen, almost at the Guadalajara-Morelia highway, has remained full of trash, giving those driving by a negative image of the municipality. Before a visit by the Governor of Jalisco, Enrique Alfaro Ramírez, in May, an improvised clean-up took place using backhoe machines to hide the dumping spot as much as possible, so that the governor would not notice the waste.
The municipality has previously made appeals to the population not to litter, especially in the section of the Guadalajara-Morelia highway leading to El Molino, where the trash began to accumulate.
Translated by Mags Petela
Alejandro de Jesús Aguirre Curiel, mayor of Chapala. Photo: Archive. Jazmín Stengel.
Jazmín Stengel.- The drainage project for Riberas del Pilar, presented by the Chapala municipal government on April 5 of this year, is undergoing modifications, said Mayor Alejandro de Jesús Aguirre Curiel in an interview.
Although the project was presented to residents as an already analyzed proposal to be carried out in a single six-month stage, the plan has changed. Aguirre Curiel said that the work will be carried out in stages, without specifying how many. The project began on May 4 in the main area and will continue in the commercial area of Riberas del Pilar, but still without a date.
During the April 5 presentation, the President said «first the treatment plant has to be budgeted» for which negotiations are already underway with a private company; a cost of 68 million pesos was announced for the entire project. This included drainage lines, a modular treatment plant, and a connector between the two.
The neighbors were asked to raise 34 million pesos, half of the 68 million pesos that the work will cost. Despite having set a maximum deadline of one and a half months, this was not achieved because many of the residents continued to ignore the invitation.
In order to begin the work, the government must collect 25 percent of the total cost from the neighbors, 17 million pesos. Chapala government representatives said during the presentation that they had the other 34 million pesos, including funds for the biological treatment plant, the land where it will be installed and for the labor to carry out the project.
The contributions of the residents are being collected at SIMAPA’s offices and the amount to be paid by each homeowner is evaluated according to the size of each property. Each homeowner must contribute 70 pesos per square meter of land and 100 pesos for businesses.
The executive plan of the project is available to the general public at the facilities of the Municipal Potable Water and Sewer System (SIMAPA),at Juárez 573, Colonia Centro, in Chapala .
Translated by Patrick O’Heffernan
Fenced and walled property; this is located inside the lake, in Riberas del Pilar. Photo: Courtesy.
Editor.- Both neighbors of the area, as well as activist groups in favor of the protection of the federal land, have denounced the lack of attention of the authorities to one of the lake invasions in the town of Riberas del Pilar.
This property is located on Paseo del Lago Street, between San Pablo and San Mateo and, according to witnesses, there are plans to build a house. The invaded space measures 75 meters in front, and 20 to 25 meters long facing the lake.
In this particular case, not only is it located on federal land, but the supposed owner is filling it with material now that the level of the lake has dropped, in order to be able to build, which indicates this property is within the territory of Lake Chapala, so that when the level rises, the space will be covered by water.
Some witnesses interviewed, who prefer to remain anonymous, stated that there have already been complaints filed with both the National Water Commission (Conagua) and the Federal Attorney General’s Office for Environmental Protection (PROFEPA), but neither agency has acted.
According to the witnesses, the Chapala government has closed the site on at least two occasions; however, the seals have been removed and services such as potable water and electricity have been provided.
The owner is known among the complainants as «El Torero», and they say that he is a very aggressive person who cares little about invasion issues. There is currently a stable on the land. One of the activists went to talk to the woman who takes care of the stables, who confirmed that he is planning to build a farm there, and so far, he has built the front wall.
The Indigenous Community of San Antonio Tlayacapan has become involved in the case, acting to reduce the land that was being appropriated, fencing off at least a third of it and placing signs warning that it belongs to the community.
Currently, the land containing the landfill is without any type of closure. The municipal president, Alejandro Aguirre Curiel, commented that he recently met with the secretary general of the Government of Jalisco, Enrique Ibarra Pedroza, to ask for support to be able to intervene and act in federal zones, since, being a federal matter, «it does not depend on them».
«There have been several meetings with the director of the Conagua, who sent a proposal, but it is very far from what we need; then we seek to rethink it […] they offered approach, advice and willingness to come, but we are looking for authority and power to intervene and act», assured the mayor.
Translated by Patrick O’Heffernan
Sergio Casas with his guitar.
Patrick O’Heffernan (Ajijic).- Sergio “Checo” Casas needs his throat operated on to continue his career but, like most musicians, has no medical insurance or any other way to pay the $50,000 pesos the operation will cost. He has started a fund at O’Rourke Fondos de Inversion to receive contributions.
Casas is the go-to bass player for many bands throughout Lakeside and was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame as part of Blue Jay Slim’s band. His bass playing, acoustic guitar and vocals have graced local Expat and Mexican cover bands, rock and roll and blues bands such as the Bryan James Band, House-A-Fire and Dana & Mudbugs.
Music lovers, or anyone, who wishes to donate can do so at O’Rourke and Associates Carretera-Tlayacan, #206 just below the Foliatti Casino at the intersection of the Carretera and the Libramiento. Ask for Susanne Warwick Tello who can deposit your donation to account # 5057575.
By: Patrick O’Heffernan
Semanario Laguna has been covering the attempts by the Chapala government to deal with the stray and abandoned dogs in the municipality through two administrations. Our reporters and editors have sat in meetings with government officials and the various parties that were both on and off the record; we have obtained and analyzed a copy of the lawsuit currently driving the process; we have toured the SOS facility in West Ajijic and carefully studied the video of the new facility in East Chapala; and we have interviewed everyone involved, including people volunteering at the SOS shelter (see story below), to make sure we understand the Gordian knot that humans have tied around stray dogs in Chapala.
We are still digging for facts. The new shelter now under construction by the Aguirre administration in East Chapala has a number of questions around it: does the municipality have the budget and staff to handle a large number of dogs, what is the waste removal system on the new site, what happens when the lease is up and the next administration takes over, and who will manage it?
As of now the answers to these questions have not been forthcoming (Note: at press time, our reporter Sophia Medeles obtained a quote from Chapala President Aguirre that he is talking to a group of Expats about managing the new shelter. No details yet, but it is a start).
It is possible that the answer to all of them is “we don’t yet, but we are working on it”. Given the Aguirre Administration’s penchant for solving problems, that would be an acceptable answer – no government always knows all the answers before it starts a project. As a reporter, former government staff and political scientist I have learned to look at the trajectory of an administration’s intentions and actions more closely than I do at their statements. “We don’t know yet but we are working on it” is an acceptable answer in many cases if it is accompanied by information about what is going on. It is certainly much better than “no answer”, which invites misinformation and rumors.
So here we are. Locally, we have a new shelter under construction by the current administration which appears to really want to solve the problem handed to them by the last administration and build and operate a dog shelter that is good for the dogs. We have a well – managed SOS dog shelter in West Ajijic that won’t move until it feels the conditions for the dogs are right. We have a homeowners alliance that has run out of patience over the 24/7 noise of the dogs in that shelter and filed a lawsuit, but understands and supports the need for the dogs to be well cared for no matter what happens.
Our reporters and editors have requested information and documents from the government to answer the questions surrounding this situation. We are pushing for those interviews and documents from the municipality to continue our effort to piece together a full and accurate picture of a situation. And to counter the misinformation and rumors.
But as one of the reporters who has followed this story for 2 years and interviewed many of the parties involved, I want to assure my readers that, while not everything we have been told checks out, all the parties involved seem genuinely to have the health and welfare of the dogs top on their list. That seems to be the one thing everyone agrees on – take care of the dogs, which is where I stand. Let’s go from there.
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