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49TH COURT
ZAPATA COUNTY INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT
Trial to begin Mon.
Search yields finalist
Two alleged Zetas men are facing murder charges
In line for superintendent’s job is former science teacher LAREDO MORNING TIMES
A Texas A&M International University graduate and former teacher in Laredo has been named the lone finalist for superintendent at Zapata County Independent School District. Raul Leonidas Nuques, who
NUQUES
teacher at United South High School in Laredo in 2003. Nuques, a native of Ecuador who was raised in New York City, said Wednesday that he was “honored and blessed” to have been named the lone finalist. “My next step and final
step is to plan to settle in Zapata,” he said, adding that he used to fish there when he was a student at TAMIU. “Overall it’s a great district. People are very friendly … (and) the board members are open-minded about
See SUPERINTENDENT
PAGE 11A
IMMIGRATION
‘STASHED’ IN A HOUSE
By PHILIP BALLI THE ZAPATA TIMES
The first day of jury trial for the case involving two men who are charged with murder and who were allegedly operating on behalf of the Zetas drug cartel in Mexico is set to begin Monday in the 49th District Court. The trial’s start date was moved from Friday, following the completion of the jury selection process, to Monday due to motions filed by defense attorney J. Eduardo Peña on evidence and expert witnesses. Instead, a hearing took place Friday before 49th District Court Judge Joe Lopez to determine the state’s expert witness’ qualifications to testify in the trial. Nicolas Reyes-Sanchez and Jose Roberto Obregon are accused of the shooting death of Fidencio Rios-Cardenas, 31, who was gunned down Sept. 14, 2010, outside his trailer home in the 300 block of El Monte Loop in Northwest Laredo. Reyes-Sanchez and Obregon, among others, were arrested in connection with the case. They were indicted on capital murder and engaging in organize crime charges in July. Both had recently pleaded guilty in federal court in Laredo to firearms smuggling. Their sentencing dates are pending. The men are also allegedly involved in the killings of Guillermo Ramos Rodriguez and Ramon Lucero Ramirez. Reports have indicated that the Zetas would contract Reyes-Sanchez, a U.S. citizen, to carry out contract killings in Laredo. However, Peña said the evidence will show that a high-ranking Zeta was the cell leader and not ReyesSanchez as prosecutors have alleged. The trial is anticipated to take up the better part of next week, Peña said. (Philip Balli may be reached at 728-2528 or pballi@lmtonline.com)
has been director of special education at Austin ISD since January, was named the finalist March 6 during a ZCISD Board of Trustees meeting. He started his education career as a science
Photo by Cody Duty/Houston Chronicle | AP
People wait outside a house as authorities hold an investigation Wednesday, in southeast Houston. The suspected stash house was found during a search for a 24-year-old woman and her two children that were reported missing by relatives Tuesday after a man failed to meet them.
Hundreds questioned By MICHAEL GRACZYK ASSOCIATED PRESS
Photo by Cody Duty/Houston Chronicle | AP
Authorities search people Wednesday, in southeast Houston. Five men also were in custody, two of whom were arrested after driving from the home on Wednesday.
HOUSTON — U.S. immigration authorities on Thursday were interviewing more than 100 people presumed to be in the country illegally after they were discovered crammed into a small house in south Houston. Five men also were in custody, two of whom were arrested after driving from the home on Wednesday. Authorities suspect it was a socalled stash house, a place where smugglers bring the people they’ve brought into the U.S. illegally and keep them until they or their family members pay a ransom. Police who found handguns and documents in the car suggesting illegal activity then went inside and
See HOUSE PAGE 11A
MEXICO VIOLENCE
Killings mark Mexico’s drug corridor By FELIPE LARIOS AND MARK STEVENSON ASSOCIATED PRESS
HERMOSILLO, Mexico — The massacre of seven men near the Mexico-Arizona border came in a previously quiet area increasingly used as a drug-trafficking corridor, and a U.S. expert said Friday the attack in the newly valuable territory could be the work of rivals of the once-dominant Sinaloa cartel trying to exploit the arrest of the gang’s leader.
Analysts have expected rival cartels to try to move in on Sinaloa territory in response to the capture of Joaquin Guzman Analysts have expected rival cartels to try to move in on Sinaloa territory in response to the Feb. 22 capture of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman and the apparent death in December of one of his top lieutenants in a shootout with federal police.
The ambush-style attack this week happened in a rural area near Sonoyta, Mexico, close to the U.S. border crossing at Lukeville, Arizona. The crossing is frequently used by U.S. travelers to reach the Gulf of California beach town of Puerto Penasco.
The seven men apparently were attacked by rival drug traffickers as they delivered drugs. Their bodies were found inside or near a pickup truck Wednesday night. Authorities say an eighth man was found wounded on a nearby hill and he told state
police the victims had just dropped off marijuana Tuesday when gunmen opened fire with automatic rifles on their pickup truck. All of the men are believed to have been from the state of Sinaloa, the home of Guzman’s cartel. Anthony Coulson, retired head of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s office in Tucson, Arizona, said the attack
See MEXICO PAGE 11A