noticias

From left to right: Diego Zamora «Dj Azteca», Jorge Ramón Rochin «Dj George» and Cristian Axel Rochin «Dj Kid». Photo: Sofía Medeles.

Sofía Medeles (Ajijic).- Ajijic has a reputation for being a center of artists, not only in painting, but also in music. Currently, the rap music genre has influenced it’s new generations,  demonstrated by  Diego Zamora, 11 years old, Cristian Axel Rochin, 12, and Jorge Ramón Rochin, 9, three children who decided to start their career as rappers. Their artistic names are: Dj Kid, Dj Azteca and Dj George and they acquired a taste for rap and an intention to perform it from an early age.

It was not until recently that they put it into practice, attending the Cochera Cultural art center in Ajijic where different workshops are taught for children in the San Sebastian neighborhood, north of the town of Ajijic. «We are the only ones who rap in the garage. (Cochera Cultural).  Our favorites are Santa Fe Klan and Gera MX –  they inspire us», they told Laguna.

Their first performance in front of an audience was last Friday, April 22, as part of the Earth Day commemoration program, in the main square of Ajijic. The three children had a space to share their rhymes, which were applauded by the audience.

Dj Azteca during the presentation last Friday, April 22.

«We were nervous, but once we finished we felt calm. Our teacher told us to put all our energy into the presentation. We don’t know when we will perform again with an audience like this, but this last time made us feel more encouraged,» shared Dj Kid.

The three kids, who say they are in the process of recording an album at the Cochera Cultural, said they would also like to publish their songs on video platforms such as YouTube. They also advised their contemporaries to continue with their goals, and to get support from teachers to increase their skills.

The artist from Ajijic and teacher of some of the workshops for children at the Cochera Cultural,  Artistic Director Antonio López Vega, commented that the project is aimed at children from the San Sebastián neighborhood and its surroundings, with workshops on children’s painting, papier-mâché, ceramics, among others, as well as the music workshop taught by Eleazar Soto and the dance workshop with teacher Emilia Gálvez.

These workshops are held on Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon and are free of charge. Antonio Lopez said  that the program is happy to accept donations in kind for the children, for example, paper for painting, brushes of different sizes, etcetera.

Translated by Patrick O’Heffernan

During the ceremony, 95 Single Police Certificates were handed over by municipal authorities from regions 4 and 12 of Jalisco, as well as the Deputy for electoral district 17 and representatives of the state of Jalisco. 

Editor.- Ten officers of the Chapala Police Station graduated and were certified in the 11th Initial Training Course for Municipal Preventive Police Equivalent Modality, in front of the Chapala monumental letters at the entrance of the statue of Jesus Pescador.

With this, 54 of the 103 officers of Chapala  have been certified and are responsible for protecting its 55 thousand inhabitants.

During the ceremony in which 95 Unique Police Certificates were delivered to officers of the region 4 Lakeside and region 12 of the Center of the state, the mayor of Chapala, Alejandro de Jesús Aguirre Curiel, set as a goal that all officers  of the municipality are certified. 

«In Chapala we always recognize the work done by the  officers  to have safe spaces, free of violence,» said the host mayor of the ceremony, while recognizing the work of the graduates to whom he reminded that the first duty of police forces is to serve and improve the safety of citizens.

The mayor of El Salto, Ricardo Said Santillan Cortes, representing the other municipalities, said that with the disappearance of federal resources for security, the municipalities were in serious trouble and that, first and foremost the people demand security, highlighting the support of the Government of Jalisco to train and equip the municipal police.

During the ceremony, 64 certificates for the Initial Training Course for Municipal Preventive Police Equivalent Modality were also delivered to the officers of the two zones of Jalisco. 

The Strategic Coordinator of Security of the State of Jalisco, Ricardo Sánchez Beruben, shared that, as of a few years ago, being a police officer has been a reference for the following generations recognizing that behind every uniform there are stories and sacrifice that make Jalisco a safer place.

Since 2016, the Single Police Certificate has been mandatory, so since the beginning of the administration of Governor Enrique Alfaro Ramirez, the Regional Security Councils were created  to understand  the needs and shortcomings of the municipalities.

Thus, the Itinerant Training Strategy was implemented to obtain the Police Certificate, which has reached its ninth generation and has five regional and a central headquarters, graduating 2,461 police officers from 116 municipalities over a period of two years.

Police officers arrive at the scene in Tuxcueca

Staff.- The body and at least 5 vehicles with bullet holes were retained by Jalisco state police officers.  

The confrontation took place around 2:30 am on Saturday, April 23, at the corner of Azucena street and Madero in the municipality of Tuxcueca, on the south shore of Lake Chapala. The man´s body was found with his hands tied and bullet wounds, inside a house with an open garage. 

One of the seized vehicles

Several vehicles were recovered from the house along with shell casings of assorted calibers.  The vehicles included a gray Kia Sportage van with Jalisco license plates, a low displacement motorcycle, a RAV 4 pickup truck without license plates that had been reported stolen in 2019, a gray Vitara pickup truck with Oaxaca license plates, and a white Chevy Van with Mexico state license plates, all of them with bullet holes.

Translated by Paul Weeks

The cleaning under the bridges will be done with pickaxes and shovels. Photo: Ajijic 2021-2024 Delegation.

Sofía Medeles.- The clearing of bridges and streams in Ajijic has begun, after months of being requested by the inhabitants of La Cristina, La Canacinta and Alceseca because they were still obstructed by debris from the mudslides that occurred in October of last year.

Acting Ajijic delegate Maximiano Macias Arceo said  that the work began by opening the natural channel of the streams with an earth moving machine. However, under the bridges, they will have to do it with a pickaxe and shovel. They began on April 28 from the western limits of the municipality, in the stream of La Cristina.

Macías Arceo stated that their route will be from west to east, up to the area known as «the three bridges.» In total, eight bridges will be cleaned.

The bridges have been almost totally obstructed since October 2021. La Canacinta bridge with several stones and debris in the riverbed. Photo: Sofia Medeles.

The clearing of the riverbeds and bridges is a concern to the residents of these neighborhoods. Several interviewees stated that they feared that, in case of heavy rains, the large amount of dirt, mud and large stones that were still on them would cause problems. 

«Let’s hope that they restore them to ground level, as they were before the mudslides, because many things could come loose if a strong current comes down, such as the boulders that were left there. I don’t doubt that there are logs or dead animals that have been there all these months. At least they didn’t wait until the rainy season,” commented a neighbor who lives in Alceseca.

Translated by Sandy Britton

The transformer has been leaking for almost a month.Credit: Sofía Medeles.

Sofía Medeles (Ajijic).– Despite multiple complaints from citizens, the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) has not repaired the transformer located in the Six Corners neighborhood of Ajijic at the intersection of Ocampo and Hidalgo. At the beginning of the month, the transformer burned; it has been leaking liquid since April 2. 

Although the condition of the device has caused additional power outages, neighbors agree that the smell is unpleasant. It also poses a danger, as it is highly flammable. «It smells very bad, it is staining the ground, contaminating the soil and with any spark, it can cause a serious fire. CFE just stopped by one day and never came back. We don’t understand why they ignore it, because if it gets more damaged, they will have to invest more to repair it,» said a resident of the neighborhood. 

Acting delegate Maximiano Macias Arceo confirmed that there are many complaints about this incident, and that he does not know what is stopping CFE personnel from doing this work. He also said that the Chapala Department of Ecology could apply pressure, since the leaking liquid is harmful to the environment.

Translated by Amy Esperanto

Los hechos se registraron en la colonia Colinas de Chapala.  Foto: Twitter. 

Redacción.- Elementos de la Fiscalía del Estado de Jalisco (FE) quienes realizaban una investigación en el municipio de Chapala durante la tarde de este martes, lograron la detención de tres personas quienes presuntamente forman parte de un grupo de la delincuencia organizada que opera en la entidad.

De acuerdo con el reporte, al estar realizando actos relacionados con una carpeta de investigación por la desaparición de la adolescente Julissa Esmeralda Oliveros, en la colonia Colinas de Chapala, personal de la Fiscalía Especial en Personas Desaparecidas (FEPD) avistaron la presencia de varios sujetos los cuales portaban armas de fuego.

Al notar la presencia de los elementos, los sujetos intentaron evadirlos; sin embargo fueron detenidos por el personal de la FEPD.

Además de los detenidos, el personal de la Fiscalía de Jalisco aseguró armas de fuego, chalecos balísticos los cuales portaban siglas de un grupo de la delincuencia organizada, una bolsa con estupefacientes, así como un vehículo automotor.

La FE informó que tanto los detenidos como lo asegurado serán puestos a disposición del agente del Ministerio Público de la Fiscalía General de la República quienes definirán su situación jurídica en el término constitucional.

The eight-meter-long crack crossed the width of Vicente Guerrero Street at its intersection with Pedro Moreno.

Editor.- A crack suddenly appeared in the pavement on Vicente Guerrero Street during the afternoon of Tuesday, April 26th. The event was captured by a security camera. 

The recording showed the exact moment that the crack appeared, crossing the width of the road at its intersection with Pedro Moreno Street. A cloud of dust rose after the concrete fracture. 

A security camera in the area captured the exact moment when the linear crack broke through the surface. Photo: Screen capture.

The linear crack was approximately eight meters long, crossing the street from side to side and causing slight damage to the property on the corner. A crew from the Civil Protection and Firefighters was there to remove the debris as soon as possible.  

The cause of the crack has not been reported. Some social network conversations indicated that it was a fracture in the concrete due to the heat. Others attributed it to the geological faultline that crosses the municipal capital that has previously caused damage to hundreds of homes, as well as the historically important building, the temple of Señor del Monte, and the former Paulino Navarro school. 

Translated by Nita Rudy

Abandoned wooden modules in the Municipal Market of Jocotepec each costing $7,500 pesos, Photo: Héctor Ruiz.

Héctor Ruiz Mejía (Jocotepec).- They threw in  the towel. The street merchants who were relocated to the upper floor of the Municipal Market of Jocotepec decided to abandon their stalls  after months of low  sales. 

Vendors interviewed by Laguna said  that after a little more than three months of «going through an odyssey» to receive some solution or support from the City Hall to cushion the difficult economic situation they suffered after being relocated, they have opted to move to other places to sell their merchandise.

«I actually had to look for a job. This  is over. We tried and fought, but we were left with no response and no support. So  I too, like everyone else, am  leaving,» commented one of the last vendors.

Semanario Laguna toured  the second floor of the building last Tuesday, April 26th , at noon and found that, despite the more than ten million pesos invested in a rehabilitation project that would «give life» to the commercial space, it was empty. 

Products such as cooked nopales, cambray onions, chopped and bagged vegetables, avocados and radishes, to mention a few, which not only  energized the streets and sidewalks of the town,  but were the livelihood of more than 30 families selling on Morelos Street on the outskirts of the market, are no longer for sale.

In addition to looking for another livelihood, some of the affected vendors opted to move to other parts of the town, and even decided to «try their luck» in the neighboring towns of Ajijic and Chapala to continue doing the only thing they know: selling products on the sidewalk, an activity they were no longer allowed to do in Jocotepec. 

«It is a shame that they are leaving, I always used to buy my nopalitos and vegetables here with the lady, but when they moved her, it was difficult for my mother and me to go up there; and now we will have to look for someone else,» commented one of the consumers.

Of the ten wooden vendor stands installed on the upper floor of the market to relocate the street merchants, costing approximately $7,500 pesos each, only two are now being used.

City Hall has remained tight-lipped about the situation.  After several meetings, negotiations and even a demonstration,  officials are aware of the monetary difficulties faced by the affected merchants from the beginning of the relocation, but has not issued any statement on the matter.

Translated by Patrick O’Heffernan

Feminist groups in the region and the Facebook social network have also spread alleged kidnapping attempts

Jazmín Stengel (Chapala).- The  Facebook post of an alleged attempted kidnapping of a student of a language academy and the report of the disappearance of a teenage girl in Chapala, has motivated a group of local women to ask the authorities  to guarantee their safety. 

The women have organized themselves to collect signatures and ask the authorities for the signage of safe spaces in stores, public and private transport, free courses for self-defense and advertising on the lakeshore  to make society aware of the violence to which they are exposed in their daily lives. Several measures are already active in Chapala,sbut the women say they need more. 

The women also ask for counseling and protection for victims, free psychological care, a hotline for emergencies and the activation of the purple patrol of female offices. 

 However  some of the  measures they ask for have been active in Chapala since the beginning of this administration.  For example, there is a purple patrol with six trained female  officers that respond to public safety emergency numbers 24 hours a day. The Women’s Institute, located at 69 Niños Héroes Street in the municipality, provides free counseling and follow-up to victims. 

The cases that have been reported include the April 22 Facebook post of the private language school People Bilingual Training that one of its students was grabbed  by men handing out flyers at the Chapala bus station, who tried to pull her into a parked car in front of the station. The student was helped by a woman selling vegetables and managed to escape.

According to the publications and victims consulted by Laguna, many  young women have been chased or stalked by men in cars. 

 Although one of the threats have been reported to Chapala Public Security or formal complaints filed in the Public Prosecutor’s Office about kidnapping attempts or pursuits of women, Chapala Public Security Commissioner Sergio Conzuelo Ramirez has already ordered stepped-up security strategies and  increased citizen  information  to work on the prevention of crime against women. 

Jalisco Strategic Coordinator of Public Security Ricardo Sanchez Beruben said he was not aware of any alleged attempt to  kidnap women, since none of the alleged victims have formally filed a complaint.

Sanchez Beruben said  that the audio messages that circulated a few days ago warning of the kidnapping of women by criminal groups have circulated in different states of Mexico since 2019. 

Translated by Patrick O’Heffernan

Diversos operativos de búsqueda de la Fiscalía resultaron en la localización de 44 personas en Jalisco.  Foto: Notisistema. 

Redacción.- La Fiscalía Especial para Personas Desaparecidas (FEPD) de la Fiscalía de Jalisco (FE) reportó la localización de 44 personas desaparecidas durante la semana del 25 de abril al 1 de mayo pasado, tras diversos operativos de búsqueda. 

La FEPD informó que del periodo del 23 al 29 de abril, fueron judicializadas 6 personas contra las que existen datos de prueba suficientes que hacen presumir su probable responsabilidad en la comisión de delitos en la materia, por lo que se espera que en breve sean vinculadas a proceso y las pesquisas continúen.

De las acciones implementadas, la Fiscalía Especial destacó la labor de Alerta Amber Jalisco, toda vez que mediante indagatorias con perspectiva de género, fueron localizadas 15 niñas, niños y adolescentes que contaban con reporte y ya se encuentran sanos y salvos con su familia. 

La FEPD refirió que  durante la semana del 23 al 29 de abril, tuvo acercamiento con 595 ciudadanas y ciudadanos que acudieron a solicitar información, por lo que les presentó avances con respecto a sus indagatorias, además de que se les brindó la atención jurídica necesaria, entre otros aspectos.