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FEDERAL COURT
‘La Barbie’ to plead guilty Drug cartel leader Edgar Valdez Villareal charged in cocaine case By CINDY GEORGE AND DANA SCHILLER HOUSTON CHRONICLE
The U.S. Attorney in Atlanta confirms that Valdez will plead guilty today. The Texas-born gangster who is nicknamed "La Barbie" and became one of the first Americans
to climb the ranks of Mexico’s most powerful drug cartels is set to plead guilty to trafficking charges on Wednesday afternoon in an Atlanta court, a Georgia federal prosecutor confirmed. Mexican authorities captured Edgar Valdez Villareal in 2010 as the
United States was offering and an up-to-$2 million reward for information leading to his arrest. He was considered one of the Mexican underworld’s most dangerous leaders. VALDEZ A 2009 nine-count indictment accuses Valdez Two
CUBAN MIGRANT CRISIS
five co-defendants of running a cocaine distribution operation in the Atlanta area from May 2004 to January 2006. Several of those charges carry potential life sentences upon conviction. of the men already
have been ordered by U.S. District Judge William S. Duffey Jr. to spend more than two decades each in prison. Valdez, a former Laredo resident, was returned to the states via west Texas in late September and made his first federal court appearance in Geor-
gia in October. He faces drug trafficking charges in several jurisdictions including Atlanta, which was been a southeastern U.S. hub for cartel cocaine distribution. His prosecution is one of the "notable cases"
See GUILTY PAGE 10A
WASHINGTON
OBAMA ACTS ALONE
Courtesy photo | U.S. Congressman Henry Cuellar’s Office
Cuellar traveled last week to the Costa Rican border with Nicaragua to see how Central America is dealing with migrant surge.
Cuellar visits Costa Rica Congressman meets with migrants, listens to their experiences SPECIAL TO THE TIMES
A U.S. delegation, including Congressman Henry Cuellar, traveled last week to the Costa Rican border with Nicaragua to see firsthand how Central America is dealing with a recent surge of Cuban migrants who are trying to make it to the United States by land, mostly through Texas. The majority of the migrants cross through the Laredo area. During their visit, Cuellar, Congresswoman Kay Granger and U.S. Ambassador to Costa Rica S. Fitzgerald Haney visited migrant shelters in Peñas Blancas and La Cruz, Costa Rica, at the border with Nicaragua, where as many as 8,000 Cuban migrants have been stranded without money or resources since Nov. 15, when Nicaragua, Belize and Guatemala shut their borders to Cuban migrants looking to travel through their territory en route to the United States. Cuban migration to the United States has surged for the past two years, among ongoing
talks between the United States and Cuba to restore diplomatic relations. Due to the possibility of normalizing relations between the two countries, many Cubans fear the end of a special immigration policy given to Cuban citizens under the 1966 Cuban Adjustment Act. Under the Cuban Adjustment Act and subsequent policy directives those who reach the United States by land can apply for residency, while those who are interdicted at sea are sent back to their country, this is more commonly known as the “Wet Foot/Dry Foot” policy. Thousands of Cubans in the past year have flown from their country to Ecuador and traveled by land through Central America before being stranded in Costa Rica since Nov. 15. An agreement for a pilot program was made by Central American countries last week allows for these migrants to fly from Costa Rica to El Salvador, where they will continue their journey to the U.S.
See CUELLAR PAGE 10A
Photo by Carolyn Kaster | AP
President Barack Obama wipes away tears from his eyes as he speaks in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, about steps his administration is taking to reduce gun violence.
President issues order on gun control By JOSH LEDERMAN ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — Tears streaking his cheeks, President Barack Obama launched a final-year push Tuesday to tighten sales of firearms in the U.S., using
his presidential powers in the absence of tougher gun restrictions that Congress has refused to pass. The president struck a combative tone as he came out with plans for expanded background checks and other modest measures that
have drawn consternation from gun rights groups, which Obama accused of making Congress their hostage. Palpable, too, was Obama’s extreme frustration at having made such little progress on gun control since the slaughter of 20 first-
graders in Connecticut confronted the nation more than three years ago. “First-graders,” Obama said woefully, resting his chin on his hand and wiping away tears as he re-
See OBAMA PAGE 10A
MEXICO CITY
Mayor’s killing a warning By MARK STEVENSON ASSOCIATED PRESS
MEXICO CITY — A drug gang killed a newly installed mayor over the weekend as a warning to other officials to reject state police control of local cops and let cartels co-opt low-paid local officers, the governor of Morelos state said Monday. Gov. Graco Ramirez sent a post on his Twitter account blaming the slaying of Temixco Mayor Gisela Mota on the Rojos gang, which has been fighting a bloody turf battle with the Guerreros Unidos gang across the neighboring state of Guerrero in southern Mexico.
Photo by Tony Rivera | AP
A man plays the accordion during the wake of the slain mayor of Temixco, Gisela Mota, at her home in Temixco, Mexico, Sunday. Their rivalry may have played a role in the worst mass disappearance in recent memory, that of 43 stu-
dents in Guerrero in 2014. Some suspects told investigators that Guerreros Unidos mistook the students
for members of the Rojos and used local police under their control to capture them. Without going into details, Ramirez had said at a news conference Sunday that Mota’s killing was tied to his efforts to unify state control of police forces in Morelos as a way to combat corruption in local police forces. Mota had accepted state police control, though she had demanded traffic cops remain under local authority. “This is a message and clear threat to the mayors who have recently taken office not to accept the coor-
See MAYOR PAGE 10A