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MARCH / APRIL – 2019
Dear Friends in Christ, March / April 2019
Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We thank the Lord for you and deeply appreciate your faithful prayers and financial support for us and the work in Mexico.
Susie and I are doing well and praise the Lord for His many blessings on the ministry. We also celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary in April. We took a long weekend to go to Branson, MO with some friends and had a wonderful time! That was Part A of our celebration. Part B is a cruise which we have never done before. We are doing it after ministry commitments in the churches and graduation at the Bible College.
The churches are doing well, and have had more than 33 souls saved through their evangelistic efforts and the Children’s Day Celebration, and 7 baptized! PTL! A team from Bayshore Bible Church came down to help put a metal roof on the upper story of one of the churches. What a tremendous blessing for us and the church. Raul (from the group) cooked about 200 hotdogs for the community along with chips and sodas! The ladies of the group and church ministered to the community with the food and the Word. There were 4 new converts saved!
The students of the Bible College were busy getting back into the groove after their successful missions trip to the state of Veracruz in February. During their evangelistic efforts these two months, 67 souls trusted Christ as their personal Savior!
Thank you all for your faithful prayers and support.
Yours in Christ,
Rick and Susie
JANUARY / FEBRUARY – 2019
Dear Friends in Christ, January / February 2019
Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We thank the Lord for you and deeply appreciate your faithful prayers and financial support for us and the work in Mexico.
Susie and I are doing well and praise the Lord for His many blessings on the ministry. We have been to the doctor for our checkups, and I have some new glasses which I didn’t need before – bummer.
The churches are doing well, and have had more than 22 souls saved through their evangelistic efforts and 3 baptized! PTL! A team from two of our churches went to Cuernavaca to disciple some new leaders in a work there that is now a mission out of one of our churches in Monterrey. They were able to lead 10 to Christ and baptize 4 new converts!
The students of the Bible College were busy getting back into the groove after Christmas Break. During their evangelistic efforts these two months, separate from the missions trip, 28 souls trusted Christ as their personal Savior! In January they were busy preparing for the annual Missions Trip for February. This year’s destination was Panuco, Veracruz. The group was divided into three teams each with its own captain. They did the visiting, evangelizing, and teaching in three different area villages. They won 28 souls there in helping to establish three missions PTL!
Thank you for the Birthday cards! And thank you all for your faithful prayers and support.
Yours in Christ,
Rick and Susie
NOVEMBER / DECEMBER – 2018
Dear Friends in Christ, November / December 2018
Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We thank the Lord for you and deeply appreciate your faithful prayers and financial support for us and the work in Mexico.
The churches are doing well, and have had more than 26 souls saved The students of the Bible College have been busy preparing for finals and for Christmas vacation. They have won 26 souls these two months! PTL!
through their evangelistic efforts and 5 baptized! PTL!
We were able to do about 660 bags of candy and gifts for the kids of 12 churches for Susie’s Christmas Kids! Offerings to help with candy and gifts came from: Grace B.T. San Antonio, TX; Grace Bi. B.C. Fruitland Park, FL; Beacon B.C. Taylor, MI; Battlefield B.C. Warrenton, VA; Bible B.C. Chickasha, OK. THANKS SO
MUCH FOR YOUR BLESSINGS TO
THE KIDS!
Also, scholarships came in for the married couple Reyes & Ceci and for the single student Plácido. Thanks to Battlefield B.C. and to Grace B.C. Mason, OH!
We also want to thank Sauk Trail B.T. for their offering to purchase two church vehicles and several other items for the Bible College, and thank you to several other churches for the Christmas offerings for Susie and me along with a special offering of $800.00 for the College from a couple dear to us. Thank you all for your faithful prayers and support.
Yours in Christ,
Rick and Susie
SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER – 2018
Dear Friends in Christ, September / October 2018
Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We thank the Lord for you and deeply appreciate your faithful prayers and financial support for us and the work in Mexico.
The churches are doing well and growing. More than 23 souls have been saved in the churches through their evangelistic efforts and special services like Noche Mexicana, independence celebration. PTL!
The Bible College campus is busy once again with the new school year beginning. We have 16 students this year. Through their evangelistic efforts, the students have won 25 souls these two months! PTL!
We have three special needs for you to pray about. 1) Susie’s Christmas Kids’ Offering to help us with candy and gifts for 500-600 kids. 2) Two Scholarships for three students for the school year, one married couple ($466.00), and one single young man ($383.00).
The married couple, Reyes and Ceci, (with 3 kids) are pastoring a mission nearby in a poor village and have very little financial help. Plácedo’s parents will not help him because they want him to go to a secular trade school. 3) We need $4,500.00 to purchase two vehicles for two of the churches. Please consider helping with these special projects. Thank you all, and God bless. Thank you for your faithful prayers and support.
Yours in Christ,
Rick and Susie
JULY – SEPTEMBER 2018
US, Mexico plan to target drug cartels’ $29bn fortune
The US and Mexico have announced a new front in their battle against drug cartels, modelled on the capture of Sinaloa cartel leader Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman.
Senior US and Mexican drug enforcement officers have a new plan to take down Mexico’s infamous drug cartels.
They are targeting the groups’ finances.
Estimates have said that the cartels generate about $29bn dollars in revenue annually and have been blamed for about 150,000 murders since 2006.
From the two countries feuding over immigration, the joint announcement comes as a sign that they have a mutual foe in the increasing levels of violence from the drug syndicates.
Mexico’s new president has a radical plan to end the drug war
Leftist President-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) wants to end Mexico’s militarized drug war.
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But organized crime groups are not the only perpetrators. The Mexican armed forces, as well as federal, state, and local police, have all been implicated in atrocities.
In the case of the Ayotzinapa disappearances, when buses full of college students were reportedly intercepted by the police on their way to a march in Mexico City and handed over to a drug cartel, an independent investigation showed that high-level authorities were aware of (or even participated in) the disappearance of 43 students.
And on top of that, all this bloodshed doesn’t seem to have made a dent in drug trafficking.
According to the US Drug Enforcement Administration’s 2017 report, Mexican cartels are fueling epidemic levels of heroin use and overdose (and, more recently, fentanyl). Mexican methamphetamine production is increasing and is “particularly pure and potent.” Cocaine trafficked through Mexico is on the rebound.
AMLO’s landslide election in July, however, could drastically change the government’s response.
“You can’t fight fire with fire”
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On the campaign trail, the leftist candidate repeated catchy slogans and rhymes to show his opposition to the militarized drug war. These included phrases like “Abrazos no balazos” (hugs, not gunshots), “Becarios sí, sicarios no,” (scholars yes, killers no), and “No puedes apagar el fuego con el fuego” (you can’t fight fire with fire).
He kicked off the strategy in earnest on August 7 with a town hall in the border town of Ciudad Juárez, once considered the world’s most dangerous city. (The week before AMLO arrived, 11 bodies were found bound and strangled in a house.)
“We cannot solve these violence problems with an iron fist and with more prisons,” he told the town hall’s restless crowd in a speech filled with many slogans and few specifics. “I do not believe in ‘eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth.’ We cannot fight evil with more evil.”
Before his inauguration on December 1, AMLO and his future cabinet members will travel around the country to hear citizens’ concerns and ideas on the future of drugs and security. While the plan isn’t yet concrete, they say they are determined to end Mexico’s militarized drug war.
“The strategy up until now has been to use police and military force as the first tool,” says Alfonso Durazo Montaño, AMLO’s pick to head the Department of Public Security, which would oversee the police. “While those will still be a resource, they will be the last resort. Our goal is to attack the deep roots of our security problems: political, economic, social, and cultural problems.”
He summarizes their plan in four points:
- Take the military off the streets and replace them with better-trained, better-paid, more professional police
- Rewrite drug laws to regulate marijuana and, possibly, poppy (which is used to make heroin) while pardoning nonviolent drug offenders
- Offer reparations and support for victims of the drug war
- Ramp up social programs, education, and job alternatives in violent, poor regions
Mexico’s transition away from a militarized drug war begins with better police, Durazo Montaño says. “We believe that within three years, we will have made enough progress to be able to take the military off the streets.”
It’s an ambitious goal, given how weak Mexico’s police forces are. By the government’s own analysis, Mexico has fewer than half the police officers it needs. Only 42 percent meet “basic competency” standards. Only 10 percent have been trained in criminal investigation. The average salary is barely $500 per month.
This is why calling in the military seems like an easy Band-Aid when crime overwhelms police. “The presence of the army created a perverse incentive,” Durazo Montaño says. “It creates indifference of police chiefs and governors because they know that if they fail they can just call the army and keep delaying the improvement of police forces.”
Since state governments must pay part of the salary of soldiers deployed in their jurisdiction, funds get sucked out of their own police forces. But Durazo Montaño says they will be “historic allies” of police officers. “We’ll ensure police can live a dignified middle-class life … with medical care, retirement, a good salary,” he continues.
However, like the US, Mexico has a federal government, and police forces are managed at federal, state, and municipal levels. Which means that this may be a much more complex task than it appears.
“If AMLO really wants to change things, it will be difficult, because states have to do their job too,” says María Elena Morera, director of Causa en Común, a nonprofit focused on public security. “Police and attorneys general of each state largely fail to investigate and prosecute crimes, and if they can’t solve citizens’ daily crime problems like domestic disputes or extortion, everything else won’t work.”
Only 4 percent of reported crimes in Mexico result in official punishment because of a deficit in police, prosecutors, and judges. This is one reason so few Mexicans trust the authorities, and why many feel there’s no reason to even call 911.
Beyond impunity, this means that 94 percent of crimes in Mexico go unreported. Morera says that’s where the administration should focus. “The best thing this administration could hope for would be more reports of crime,” she says. “We want citizens to feel like they can report crimes and that if they do, something will actually happen.”
Marijuana legalization is inevitable. But what about poppy?
July / August 2018
Dear Friends in Christ, July / August 2018
Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We thank the Lord for you and deeply appreciate your faithful prayers and financial support for us and the work in Mexico.
Susie and I are doing well and are enjoying many blessings from the Lord. We were able to do a little traveling for a couple of weeks to visit some churches and our grandkids.
They are doing well, and our four-year-old Grandson Sammy recently trusted Christ as his personal Savior! Our oldest Grandson Joshua is getting married! Our oldest Granddaughter Kaitlynn is driving now! They grow up so fast.
The churches are doing well and growing. Over 18 souls have been saved and 6 baptized in the churches. PTL!
Evangelism and leadership training continue in several of the churches and missions through discipleship classes and workshops. They are learning how to win souls, make visits, and do counseling at the altar or in the pews.
Along with the spiritual aspect of the ministry, is the block and mortar part as remodeling continues on the Garcia B. C. and also at the newest work in Cadereyta, the Emanuel B. C. This work is growing well and filling up the renovated house. We are looking for land in order to build a bigger building in the future. Please pray with us about this vision.
The Bible College campus is quiet right now as everyone is on summer break, but we along with the staff and teachers are preparing for another school year. There are staff and teachers’ meetings, preparing the dorms, bathrooms, and kitchen facilities, painting, repairing plumbing, and organizing all of the books and syllabi for three levels of teaching.
Thank you all, and God bless you. Thank you for your faithful prayers and support.
Staff and Teachers’ Meeting
Yours in Christ,
Rick and Susie
APRIL – JUNE 2018
2018 Drug Violence in Mexico Report
04/11/18- Justice in Mexico, a research and public policy program based at the University of San Diego, released its 2018 special report on Drug Violence in Mexico, co-authored by Laura Calderón, Octavio Rodríguez Ferreira, and David A. Shirk. The report examines trends in violence and organized crime in Mexico through 2017. The study compiles the latest available data and analysis of trends to help separate the signals from the noise to help better understand the facets, implications, and possible remedies to the ongoing crisis of violence, corruption, and human rights violations associated with the war on drugs.
Mexico experienced dramatic increases in crime and violence over the last decade. The number of intentional homicides documented by Mexico’s National Institute of Statistics, Geography, and Information (INEGI) declined significantly under both presidents Ernesto Zedillo (1994-2000) and Vicente Fox (2000-2006), but rose dramatically after 2007, the first year in office for President Felipe Calderón (2006-2012). All told, throughout the Calderón administration, INEGI reported 121,669 homicides, an average of over 20,000 people per year, more than 55 people per day, or just over two people every hour. Over that period, no other country in the Western Hemisphere had seen such a large increase either in its homicide rate or in the absolute number of homicides.
Yet, over 116,000 people have been murdered under Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto (2012-2018), despite his campaign pledge that violence would decline dramatically within the first year of his administration. In fact, there were an average of 23,293 homicides per year during the first five years of Peña Nieto’s term, nearly 4,000 more per year than during Calderón’s first five years in office. As such, the annual average number of homicides under the Peña Nieto administration is now about 20% higher than during the Calderón administration, whose first two years saw much lower levels of homicide.
In 2017, state-level increases in intentional homicide cases were found in all but 6 states. The top five states with the largest number of intentional homicide cases in 2017 were Guerrero (2,318), Baja California (2,092), Mexico State (2,041), Veracruz (1,641), and Chihuahua (1,369). In 2017, the state with the largest annual increase in total homicides was Baja California, with most of that increase concentrated in the city of Tijuana, as discussed below. However, the largest percentage increases in homicide cases were found in Nayarit (554% increase) and Baja California Sur (192% increase). At the state level, the largest numerical and percentage decrease in homicides was found in the state of Campeche, which saw 67 homicide cases in 2017, down 17 cases (20% less) compared to the previous year.
Journalists and mayors are several times more likely to be killed than ordinary citizens. According to a recent Justice in Mexico study by Laura Calderón using data from 2016, Mexican journalists were at least three times more likely to be killed (.7 per 1,000) than the general population (.21 per 1,000), and mayors are at least twelve times more likely (2.46 murders per 1,000). Justice in Mexico’s Memoria dataset includes 152 mayors, candidates, and former mayors killed from 2005 through 2017, with 14 victims in 2015, six in 2016, and 21 in 2017. In total, nine sitting mayors were killed in 2017.
Mexico’s recent violence is largely attributable to drug trafficking and organized crime. Tallies produced over the past decade by government, media, academic, NGO, and consulting organizations suggest that roughly a third to half of all homicides in Mexico bear signs of organized crime-style violence, including the use of high-caliber automatic weapons, torture, dismemberment, and explicit messages involving organized-crime groups. Based on INEGI’s projected tally of 116,468 homicides from 2013 to 2017, at least 29.7% and perhaps as many as 46.9% of these homicides (34,663 according to newspaper Reforma and as many as 54,631 according to Lantia consulting service) appeared to involve organized crime.
In early 2017, the notorious kingpin leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán was extradited to New York to face charges of organized crime, murder, and drug trafficking, among others. The analysis in the Drug Violence in Mexico report suggests that a significant portion of Mexico’s increases in violence from 2015 through 2017 were related to inter- and intra-organizational conflicts among rival drug traffickers in the wake of Guzmán’s re-arrest in 2016. In particular, Guzmán’s downfall has given rise to a new organized crime syndicate called the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación, CJNG). Thus, the surge of violence following Guzmán’s arrest is one of the negative effects of targeted leadership disruption by law enforcement, often known as the “kingpin strategy.”
The country’s recent violence could be a concern in Mexico’s 2018 presidential election. The worsening of security conditions over the past three years has been a major setback for President Enrique Peña Nieto (2012-2018), who pledged to reduce violence dramatically during his administration. Peña Nieto has received record low approval ratings during his first five years in office, in part due to perceptions of his handling of issues of crime, violence, and corruption, particularly after the disappearance and murder of dozens of students from Ayotzinapa, Guerrero in 2014. Mexico will hold elections in July 2018 and the next president will take office in December 2018. Since there is widespread concern about Mexico’s elevated levels of crime and violence, candidates for public office will feel pressure to take a stand on these issues and may even be targeted for violence for violence.
JANUARY – MARCH 2018
The cycle of bloodshed that has gripped Mexico in recent years is again reaching record peaks. On average, someone was killed in Mexico every 15 minutes during the month of May, putting the country on track to surpass last year’s grim milestone of 29,168 killings.
The extent of the violence, and other types of crime, have pushed the issue to the top of the political agenda ahead of national elections on July 1. Political killings have also shot up, with 130 politicians, including 48 candidates for office, murdered since the beginning of the electoral cycle in September, according to political consultancy Etellekt. What is behind the violence?
1. Police are in short supply
Mexico suffers from a chronic police shortage, with 116,000 positions unfilledaround the country. The Government Security Agency says Mexico only has around half of the police it needs right now.
A key reason for that is low pay; local police forces in Mexico earn an average of $460 a month, slightly less than the national average wage. “The police career is not a professional one,” Gerardo Rodríguez, a professor in security at the University of the Americas, tells TIME. “Who would want to be on the front line against the drug cartels if there is no professional career or sufficient payment or support for them and for their families? That’s the reason local governments are relying on the Mexican army to be in the streets right now.”
Troops have been serving as police since December 2006, when then-president Felipe Calderon launched a crackdown on drug cartels. In December 2017 lawmakers passed an “interior security law” giving them an official role in policing. Human rights groups criticised the move, saying the army were not properly trained in dealing with civilians.
2. Gangs have fragmented, and moved into new areas
Since the crackdown on cartels began, many important drug kingpins have been arrested, leaving gangs to fight among themselves and fragment. That has lead to more, smaller gangs who are competing over the existing drug trade infrastructure – such as transit passes and good sites for building laboratories. Faced with that competition, gangs are being driven to diversify their business. The famous Sinaloa cartel, for example, has invested heavily in the production of fentanyl, a new synthetic opioid considered to be 25-50 times stronger than heroin.
“The issue of organized crime in Mexico has really evolved – it’s no longer only drug trafficking groups but also gangs with other origins,” says Rubén Salazar, the director of Etellekt. Many gangs now make money by robbing freight trains and extorting money from civilians, both of which increase the potential for violence, as does another recent criminal trend in Mexico: the illegal extraction of oil, or “huachicoleo”, a phenomenon that has gone up by 790% in the last five years, according to state oil company Pemex. They say a pipeline is illegally tapped somewhere in the country every 90 minutes. People siphon off oil, transport it and resell it, employing and implicating large numbers of people in criminal networks in the process.
3. Corruption means political killings are spiralling
The arrest in June 2017 of twelve mayors from Puebla state on suspicion of involvement in a fuel-stealing ring exposed another worrying facet of Mexico’s security problem – the infiltration of criminal elements in local politics. Salazar says this has lead to a surge in political violence. “The number of attacks against against politicians went up by more than 2400% between 2012 and 2018,” he says. “The vast majority were aimed at local politicians.”
Salazar says the federal government in Mexico has lost control of local governments, leaving local politicians to get involved in criminal activities. “These local powers are trying to transform themselves into practically feudal states,” he says. “What we are seeing at the moment is a deliberate employment of violence as a political tool, as not only organized crime groups but also local political groups try to perpetuate themselves in power, controlling government structures, as well as lands and both legal and illegal activities, through violence.”
On June 25, the entire police force of the town of Ocampo was disarmed and detained by state police, on suspicion of having orchestrated the murder of a mayoral candidate.
“This is very serious because it could throw the quality of Mexico’s democratic governance into question,” warns Salazar. “What could happen is the formation of authoritarian governments on a local scale.”
4. A weak government … and little prospect of change
Voters are overwhelmingly dissatisfied with the state of Mexican security. “Violence is the number one issue for voters, above the economy, above inequality,” says Rodríguez. “The federal system just isn’t functioning right now in Mexico.”
In continuing his predecessor’s military strategy against the cartels, President Enrique Peña Nieto has bypassed local and regional authorities, ploughing money directly into the pursuit of kingpins – “Mission accomplished,” he tweeted when news broke of the capture of notorious Sinaloa cartel leader Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán in 2016. But many say this headline-grabbing, top-down strategy has worsened every aspect of the security problem, diverting resources from local police, fragmenting gangs and making local governments less accountable.
May / June 2018
Dear Friends in Christ, May / June 2018
Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We thank the Lord for you and deeply appreciate your faithful prayers and financial support for the work in Mexico.
Susie and I are doing well and are enjoying many blessings from the Lord. Susie has suffered more pain than usual in her knees due to arthritis and the higher levels of humidity because of early summer rains. I had some skin cancer removed on my left forearm. It was only one spot, and they were able to get it all. No more cancer. PTL for these special blessings!
The churches are doing well and growing. Over 22 souls have been saved and more than 8 have been baptized in the churches. PTL! We had two S.E.N.D. Groups down these two months to help on two of our three church projects. Thanks you Bayshore Bible Church from Corpus Christi, TX for their help at the Los Jardines Ch. in Cadereyta putting on a metal roof and pouring a concrete floor!
Thank you Palmetto Ave. Baptist Ch. in Sanford, FL which built a new Sunday School building for the Soledad Mission! Tremendous blessings from both groups, and 30 souls saved!
The Bible College graduation was a wonderful success with over 500 present under and around the tent! We graduated 11 students, had a great challenge preached by Pastor Pablo Luna and had dinner in the open air, all before the rain started PTL! It was a wonderful time with the students and church brethren. Thank you and God bless. Thank you for your faithful prayers and support.
Yours in Christ,
Rick and Susie
March / April 2018
Dear Friends in Christ, March / April 2018
Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We thank the Lord for you and deeply appreciate your faithful prayers and financial support for the work in Mexico.
Susie and I are doing well and are enjoying many blessings from the Lord in our family and ministry. Our grandson James (with spine a bifid) is running, climbing and chasing his pet pig! He was never supposed to walk or even crawl.
Another grandson Gabe, was recently baptized after trusting Christ as his personal Savior! PTL for these special blessings!
The churches are doing well and growing. We are working with three churches that are in building projects to make room for more growth. We are working with others to help spread the Gospel.
Several churches celebrated Children’s Day with the Lord’s teaching on little children, then following with a fiesta – piñatas, candy and gifts for hundreds of exciting kids! Over 42 souls have been saved and more than 12 have been baptized in the churches. PTL!
The Bible College students won 45 souls to Christ during their evangelistic efforts these two months! Preparations are being made for the May graduation and for the S.E.N.D. Groups coming this summer. God bless.
Thank you for your faithful prayers and support.
Yours in Christ,
Rick and Susie