Cartels threaten to kill Texas Rangers, ICE agents | texas, rangers, drug - TheMonitor.com

This report appears to counter the Department of Homeland Security's recent statement that the borders have become safer.

As of late March 2011, law enforcement officials have warned their personnel that unspecified drug cartels planned to shoot US agents and Rangers from across the border. This information was released at a hearing before a panel of the House Committee on Homeland Security; the subject of the topic was called “The U.S. Homeland Security Role in the Mexican War Against the Drug Cartels.”

Cartels threaten to kill Texas Rangers, ICE agents | texas, rangers, drug - TheMonitor.com

3 Sinaloa cartel members face death penalty in Malaysia

For a minute I thought Mexico finally woke up and realized they needed to enact the death penalty, but I was wrong...this incident occurred in Malaysia.

The so what here is that the cartels retain the dominant psychological advantage of affecting life over death. The Mexican government, unfortunately, appears to roll-over.

--Yes, the armed forces have made some gains.

--Yes, the government appears to have prosecuted some efforts to mitigate news stories being published by the media.

 

--BUT, what returns...sustained returns is given to the people by the government?  Is the government filling in the social voids left by the cartels once they remove them? What are the Mexicans getting in return for giving up their freedom of speech/expression? There needs to be some payback, or they will align themselves with the cartels.

Borderland Beat: 3 Sinaloa cartel members face death penalty in Malaysia

Bill would label Mexican drug cartels as terrorist groups

Bill would label Mexican drug cartels as terrorist groups

Thomas Hobbes and Mexico - A Thought

What is Thomas Hobbes's notion of freedom and Mexico?


I think there is one word that helps summarize Hobbes’s perspective on freedom – paradox. This is because he saw freedom as one’s ability to exercise power (Stafford, 2010). Hobbes believed that man is “naturally, free and equal” (Stafford, 2010). Man has the right to do whatever he pleases. The paradox comes when Hobbes also notes that man’s exercising of his right to do whatever he pleases may infringe upon the ability of another man’s ability to exercise his liberty/freedoms (Nelson, 1996, 184). This, therefore, means man is always in motion and competing for power over others to protect his own self-interests- this means war/conflict (Stafford, 2010).


How is it significant to the formation of the social contract?


Another paradox comes into play with regards to Hobbes’s perspective of social contract. To protect ones freedoms, to have some semblance of security, some freedoms have to be relinquished and subordinated to a sovereign authority; the exception being the right to self-preservation (Stafford, 2010). This perspective gave justification for the existence for monarchic rule or subordination to a state. Without the state there is constant chaos as people continue to compete for power and influence to secure their own interests.


Hobbes Today


Mexico today, exemplifies both examples.  The failure of the state to maintain its part of the social contract to meet the needs and interests of its people has forced its population to “exercise power” to secure freedoms denied them by the state-namely the ability to acquire money needed to survive and take care of their families (Nelson, 1996, 187). Mexicans ally themselves with drug trafficking organizations to meet individual and group needs by securing money to survive and live life on their own terms through the trafficking of drugs (Grayson, 2010, iii-iv).


Some drug trafficking organizations like La Familia filled other voids, as warped as they are, by providing drug treatment services and or religious studies (Grayson, 2010, iii-iv). In return, those people support the cartels brutal and bloody operations against other groups competing over the same lines of communication needed to sustain operations needed to continue bringing in money and living life on their own terms (Grayson, 2010, iii-iv).






References:


Grayson, George W. 2010. 'La Familia Drug Cartel: Implications for U.S.-Mexico Security' http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pubs/display.cfm?PubID=1033; accessed 24Mar11


Nelson, Brian R. 1996. Western political thought: From Socrates to the age of ideology (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall.


Stafford, Adrienne. 2010. Political Theory lecture notes. Week 3: The dawn of modern political thought.

Colombia Is No Model for Mexico's Drug War

Borderland Beat: Colombia Is No Model for Mexico's Drug War: "By Sanho Tree ..."

Security Through Partnership: Fighting Transnational Cartels in the Western Hemisphere | Center for a New American Security

Fighting Transnational Cartels in the Western Hemisphere

The most dangerous threat to the United States and its allies in the Western Hemisphere is the growth of powerful transnational criminal organizations in Mexico and Central America, according to the authors of Security Through Partnership: Fighting Transnational Cartels in the Western Hemisphere.

Type of Publication: Policy Brief

Date: 03/21/2011

Authors: Colonel Robert Killebrew, USA (Ret.), Matthew Irvine

Go to the site to Download the Full Policy Brief (PDF)

13 Illegal Immigrants Arrested in California Wearing U.S. Marine Uniforms

I hope we do not have a traitor, or traitors, in our ranks. 

13 Illegal Immigrants Arrested in California Wearing U.S. Marine Uniforms

By Joshua Rhett Miller

Published March 22, 2011 | FoxNews.com

Border Patrol agents recently arrested 13 illegal immigrants disguised as U.S. Marines and riding in a fake military van, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Tuesday.

The illegal immigrants were clad in Marine uniforms when they were apprehended at the Campo Border Patrol Westbound I-8 checkpoint at 11 p.m. on March 14 near Pine Valley, Calif., border officials said. Two U.S. citizens in the van also were arrested.

After the suspicious white van was subjected to secondary inspection, it was determined that the driver of the vehicle and its front seat passenger were U.S. citizens who were attempting to smuggle 13 illegal immigrants into the United States. All of the vehicle's occupants wore U.S. Marine uniforms, reportedly emblazoned with the name "Perez."

"This effort is an example of the lengths smugglers will go to avoid detection, and the skilled and effective police work and vigilance displayed everyday by Customs and Border Protection personnel," the agency said in a written statement.

The van used in the smuggling attempt, according to California's El Centro Border Intelligence Center, was a privately owned vehicle registered out of Yucca Valley, Calif., and was bearing stolen government plates that had been defaced. The center digit -- 0 -- was altered to read as an 8. Further research through multiple government agencies determined that the plate belonged to a one-ton cargo van registered to the U.S. Marine Corps.

The military referred inquiries back to Customs and Border Protection.

The van entered into the United States via Mexicali, Mexico, and proceeded to Calexico, Calif., where the U.S. Marine uniforms were donned, according to Homeland Security Today.

The Campo Border Station was constructed in June 2008 and is located roughly 28 miles east of San Diego Sector Headquarters in rural East San Diego County. It is responsible for securing approximately 13.1 linear miles of the U.S.-Mexico border and 417 square miles of surrounding territory. An estimated 7,000 vehicles pass through its two checkpoints daily, according to its website.

URL

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/03/22/report-13-illegal-immigrants-apprehended-marine-uniforms/

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Good Guys in the Mexican Drug War?

Good Guys in the Mexican Drug War?

Picture of Mexican Terrorist

I think the pictures below are interesting.  It makes won wonder if some of the cartel members are trying to imitate the late Muslim extremist al Qaida of Iraq Terrorist Abu Musab al Zarqawi...look for yourself.  The Mexican terrorist immediately below this line is reportedly involved in human smuggling as noted by this source.  Below his picture are pictures of Zarqawi.

U.S. sends drones to fight Mexican drug trade

Stepping up its involvement in Mexico’s drug war, the Obama administration has begun sending drones deep into Mexican territory to gather intelligence that helps locate major traffickers and follow their networks, according to American and Mexican officials.

The Pentagon began flying high-altitude, unarmed drones over Mexican skies last month, American military officials said, in hopes of collecting information to turn over to Mexican law enforcement agencies. Other administration officials said a Homeland Security drone helped Mexican authorities find several suspects linked to the Feb. 15 killing of Jaime Zapata, a United States Immigration and Customs EnforcementImmigration agent.

President Obama and his Mexican counterpart, Felipe Calderón, formally agreed to continue the surveillance flights during a White House meeting on March 3. The American assistance has been kept secret because of legal restrictions in Mexico and the heated political sensitivities there about sovereignty, the officials said.

Before the outbreak of drug violence in Mexico that has left more than 34,000 dead in the past four years, such an agreement would have been all but unthinkable, they said.

Pentagon, State Department, Homeland Security and Mexican officials declined to comment publicly about the introduction of drones in Mexico’s counternarcotics efforts. But some officials, speaking only on the condition of anonymity, said the move was evidence of the two countries’ deepening cooperation in efforts to prevail over a common threat.

In addition to expanding the use of drones, the two leaders agreed to open a counternarcotics “fusion” center, the second such facility in Mexico, where Mexican and American agencies would work together, the officials said.

In recent years, the United States has steadily stepped up its role in fighting Mexican drug trafficking, though officials offer few details of the cooperation. The greatest growth involves intelligence gathering, with Homeland Security and the American military flying manned aircraft and drones along the United States’ southern border — and now over Mexican territory — that are capable of peering deep into Mexico and tracking criminals’ communications and movements, officials said.

In addition, the United States trains thousands of Mexican troops and police officers, collaborates with specially vetted Mexican security units, conducts eavesdropping in Mexico and upgrades Mexican security equipment and intelligence technology, according to American law enforcement and intelligence officials.

“It wasn’t that long ago when there was no way the D.E.A. could conduct the kinds of activities they are doing now,” said Mike Vigil, a retired chief of international operations for the Drug Enforcement Administration. “And the only way they’re going to be able to keep doing them is by allowing Mexico to have plausible deniability.”

In addition to wariness by Mr. Calderón’s government about how the American intervention might be perceived at home, the Mexican Constitution prohibits foreign military and law enforcement agents from operating in Mexico except under extremely limited conditions, Mexican officials said, so the legal foundation for such activity may be shaky. In the United States, lawmakers have expressed doubts that Mexico, whose security agencies are rife with corruption, is a reliable partner.

Before Mr. Obama met with Mr. Calderón at the White House, diplomatic tensions threatened to weaken the cooperation between their governments. State Department cables obtained by WikiLeaks had reported criticism of the Mexican government by American diplomats, setting off a firestorm of resentment in Mexico. Then in February, outrage in Washington over Mr. Zapata’s murder prompted Mexican officials to complain that the United States government paid attention to drug violence only when it took the life of an American citizen.

In the end, however, mutual interests prevailed in the March 3 meeting after a frank exchange of grievances, Mexican and American officials said.

Mr. Calderón told Mr. Obama that his country had borne the brunt of a scourge driven by American guns and drug consumption, and urged the United States to do more to help. Mr. Obama, worried about Mexico falling into chaos and about violence spilling over the border, said his administration was eager to play a more central role, the officials said.

The leaders emphasized “the value of information sharing,” a senior Mexican official said, adding that they recognized “the responsibilities shared by both governments in the fight against criminal organizations on both sides of the border.”

A senior American administration official noted that all “counternarcotics activities were conducted at the request and direction of the Mexican government.

Mr. Calderón is “intensely nationalistic, but he’s also very pragmatic,” said Andrew Selee, director of the Mexico Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. “He’s not really a fan of the United States, but he knows he needs their help, so he’s willing to push the political boundaries.”

Mexican and American officials said that their cooperative efforts had been crucial to helping Mexico capture and kill at least 20 high-profile drug traffickers, including 12 in the last year alone. All those traffickers, Mexican officials said, had been apprehended thanks to intelligence provided by the United States.

Still, much of the cooperation is shrouded in secrecy. Mexican and American authorities, for example, initially denied that the first fusion center, established over a year ago in Mexico City, shared and analyzed intelligence. Some officials now say that Mexican and American law enforcement agencies work together around the clock, while others characterize it more as an operational outpost staffed almost entirely by Americans.

Mexican and American officials say Mexico turns a blind eye to American wiretapping of the telephone lines of drug-trafficking suspects, and similarly to American law enforcement officials carrying weapons in violation of longstanding Mexican restrictions.

Officials on both sides of the border also said that Mexico asked the United States to use its drones to help track suspects’ movements. The officials said that while Mexico had its own unmanned aerial vehicles, they did not have the range or high-resolution capabilities necessary for certain surveillance activities.

One American military official said the Pentagon had flown a number of flights over the past month using the Global Hawk drones — a spy plane that can fly higher than 60,000 feet and survey about 40,000 square miles of territory in a day. They cannot be readily seen by drug traffickers — or ordinary Mexicans — on the ground.

But no one would say exactly how many drone flights had been conducted by the United States, or how many were anticipated under the new agreement. The officials cited the secrecy of drug investigations, and concerns that airing such details might endanger American and Mexican officials on the ground.

Lt. Col. Robert L. Ditchey, a Pentagon spokesman, said Tuesday that “the Department of Defense, in coordination with the State Department, is working closely with the Mexican military and supports their efforts to counter transnational criminal organizations,” but did not comment specifically on the American drone flights.

Similarly, Matt Chandler, a Homeland Security spokesman, said it would be “inappropriate to comment” on the use of drones in the Zapata case, citing the continuing investigation.

Though cooperation with Mexico had significantly improved, the officials said, it was still far from perfect. And American officials acknowledged there were still internal lapses of coordination, with the Pentagon, Department of Homeland Security and the Drug Enforcement Administration at times unaware of one another’s operations.

More than anything, though, officials expressed concern about reigniting longstanding Mexican concerns about the United States’ usurping Mexico’s authority.

“I think most Mexicans, especially in areas of conflict, would be fine about how much the United States is involved in the drug war, because things have gotten so scary they just want to see the bad guys get caught,” said Mr. Selee of the Wilson Center. “But the Mexican government is afraid of the more nationalistic elements in the political elite, so they tend to hide it."

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/16/world/americas/16drug.html?hp=&pagewanted=print

The New Mafia: Suburban Invasion

'New video by The Daily reports on the Mexican cartel influence in the US, not sure what to make out of it, but interesting viewing. Most of the information is fact while some will say the overall picture is pure exaggeration.'

article and video source:  Borderland Beat: The New Mafia: Suburban Invasion: "New video by The Daily reports on the Mexican cartel influence in the US, not sure what to make out of it, but interesting viewing. Most of ..."

Poder 360° - Why did Mexican organized crime grow so out of control?

Poder 360° - Why did Mexican organized crime grow so out of control?

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Galula and Mexico

Here's a thought from the late David Galula that remains relevant for Mexico.  While Mexico is not facing a widespread political war, the country is facing a number of mini-insurgencies that cripple the state.  Just replace the word revolution with subversion or war of subversion, as the fight still remains a competition for power, control and influence.  Metaphorically speaking, the series of mini localized insurgencies can be compared to aneurisms that cripple a body...causing a system to be blind, crippled, inept, unable to function effectively as a state.  Worse yet, aneurisms can kill...implying the state as we know it can die as well.

A quote from the late counterinsurgent David Galula that is worth understanding and directly applies to the general's position.

Source:  Counterinsurgency Warfare:  Theory and Practice

"It can no longer be ignored or applied unconsciously in a country beset by a revolutionary war, when what is at stake is precisely the counterinsurgent’s power directly challenged by an active minority through the use of subversion and force. The counterinsurgent who refuses to use this law for his own purposes, who is bound by its peacetime limitations, tends to drag the war out without getting closer to victory. How far to extend the limitations is a matter of ethics, and a very serious one, but no more so than bombing the civilian population in a conventional war. All wars are cruel, the revolutionary war perhaps most of all because every citizen, whatever his wish, is or will be directly and actively involved in it by the insurgent who needs him and cannot afford to let him remain neutral. The cruelty of the revolutionary war is not a mass, anonymous cruelty but a highly personalized, individual one. No greater crime can be committed by the counterinsurgent than accepting, or resigning himself to, the protraction of the war. He would do as well to give up early."


and


"The strategic problem of the counterinsurgent may be defined now as follows: “To find the favorable minority, to organize it in order to mobilize the population against the insurgent minority.” Every operation, whether in the military field or in the political, social, economic, and psychological fields, must be geared to that end. To be sure, the better the cause and the situation, the larger will be the active minority favorable to the counterinsurgent and the easier its task. This truism dictates the main goal of the propaganda—to show that the cause and the situation of the counterinsurgent are better than the insurgent’s. More important, it underlines the necessity for the counterinsurgent to come out with an acceptable countercause."

Borderland Beat: If I Capture a Zeta, I Will Kill Him, Why Interrog...

This man knows what needs to be done, why and how to do it?


Since the early eighties there have been a number of studies highlighting the need and importance of governance by both the Mexican and US political leadership, but both have failed.  The situation in Mexico is nearing a point where statewide violence is going to have to be prosecuted to begin a cleansing process.  There's evidence to back this up.  Wishful thinking and lofty words of diplomacy will only delay what appears to be inevitable- statewide conflict.


By ~2008 drug war deaths were estimated at 7K; by the beginning of 2011 the death toll has gone up to around 30K. This number excludes the impacts on families by creating orphans and/or throwing surviving family members on streets to survive by any means possible. It excludes kids recruited to become killers and/or traffickers. This only addresses a small portion of governance.  The political, economic and other institutional realms are also chaotic, ineffective and need to be replaced.


No, the day is coming when Mexico's drug war will turn into a total civil war. There's data and assessments to back this up from 1995 to late 2010. At least five of those source materials were posted to this blog yesterday for everyone to read. Look for the label 'baseline' to find those posts on this blog, the label block is to the left of this blog.


More to follow later...


the source of the following post is the Borderland Beat. I highly recommend visiting this site often if you want some situational awareness regarding events in Mexico.

 If I Capture a Zeta, I Will Kill Him, Why Interrogate Him; Police Chief

Tuesday, March 15, 2011 |  Borderland Beat Reporter Buggs

Take a ride with a general on a military operation, as the Jornada reporter Sanjuana Martinez conducts an interview while the military convoy tours the area.

The retired general Bibiano Villa Carlos Castillo does not beat around the bush: "To save Torreón we have to have balls." He is the Director of Public Safety and unequivocally, he adds; "Military personnel are trained for combat. No cowards. We had civilians that at the times of "chingadazos" (fighting) they folded. Previously they use to chase the cops around here, now none of that shit, we now chase them and kill them when we catch them. Here we fuck up anyone who is bad."

He dresses in a navy blue shirt and trousers, wears a helmet along with a ballistic vest. He Wields the handgun he carries when he goes to bed, he takes out the magazine, checks his rounds and, locks and loads. It's a Magnum 44 which he holsters around his waist. He grabs his sniper rifle G3 with retractable stock 7.62 caliber, capable of penetrating armor. He grabs a radio and two cell phones. He then gives an order with absolute command: "Let’s go," and walks away toward the parking lot followed by members of his personal guard which is composed of 114 military soldiers.

It's four in the afternoon and six trucks carrying about 30 armed masked military men are waiting for him to start "hunting thugs" in the "hot spots" of the city dominated by Los Zetas who are fighting Los Chapos. He boards a maroon SUV and starts an interview with  a reporter of the national newspaper La Jornada inside the vehicle.

On March 2nd during a similar operation he was ambushed. Gunmen traveling in five trucks intercepted his convoy and fired over 500 rounds at him. The shield of the armored truck rated at level six saved his life. Six policemen were wounded. Is not the first time sicarios have tried to kill him since he took office. That time he knew that one of his own betrayed him: "Who was it? ... If I knew, I would have killed the bastard. Those who sell us out do not deserve to live."

At the start of the operation he adds: "I like the adrenaline. I come on patrol. When I capture a Zeta or Chapo I kill him. Why interrogate him? What is he going to tell San Pedro of what he did. The military has their own security and intelligence, they don't need his information. Believe me, The day when they capture me they are not going to cover me with kisses. Right? They are going to tear me apart. So what? That's what I'm exposed to. The day it's my turn, we will settle things, period."

General Villa Carrillo operates with the ethics of the "iron fist," that is what mayors and governors of several states have decided to institute in police agencies that have increasingly become more militarized.

Red Bulb

When asked about his lineage, he smiles with pride. He is the grandson of Jesus Arango, alias El Bizco cousin of Doroteo Arango, better known as Francisco Villa: "I feel proud because he was a great fighter. He practiced guerrilla warfare, and now it's my turn to fight the urban guerrillas. Each one with their own training."

He says he knows the enemy very well, so much so that during the ride, he was listening to them from a radio frequency that he had intercepted. Clearly the sicarios are heard recounting an operation step-by-step: "Right now they know where we are. They transmit everywhere. Taxi drivers warn them, they are halcones. They even call me 'el viejillo loco'. The sons of bitches respect no one."

Last year, the Comarca Lagunera region that is located in Torreon, Coahuila, Gomez Palacio and Lerdo, Durango, was the second most violent place in Mexico after Ciudad Juarez, with 689 drug-related killings.

In Torreón the murders and massacres in bars and nightclubs have doubled. Starting from 2008 Los Zetas took control of the plaza corrupting most cops. When the general took charge as chief he fired more than 500 officers. Today he commands 1014 officers: "That cabron who does not want to work, a chingar a su madre. Period. Here we pay well (8 thousand pesos). We accomplish three objectives: to give every police officer a house, major medical insurance and life insurance worth up to 700,000 pesos. So the ones who want to collect life insurance, well they can die."

General Villa Castillo, 62, majored in telecommunications. Was trained for 16 years. He received training in Israel. He has two degrees and a masters. He has a scanner valued at 4 million pesos to intercept calls

"from the enemy." He is convinced that the Chapos live in Gomez Palacio, Durango, and Los Zetas in Matamoros, Coahuila. Both are competing for the territory of Torreon.

The convoy of his operation passes through the river Nazas that separates the two states, where sicarios leave mutilated bodies all the time. The river has four bridges: yellow, black, silver and the Union, but at length of over 50 km there are more than 15 clandestine trails used by Chapos, who are named as such because several drug cartels joined the Sinaloa cartel to take over Torreon.

While patrolling one can see patrol cars along the river that forms part of the so called Sellamiento Nazas, a joint operation that aims to control the flow of criminals in the region: "We do work, it's not just because a reporter is with us that we are pretending to be patrolling. All day we are involved in this. They go through there. Can you see the bullet holes on the vehicles?

Hazardous Territory

The city is divided into nine high conflict areas, especially the poorest, now converted into a battlefield. The hills are full of very poor homes and form part of the majority of the misery in the region. The dust of the desert raises high to the conspicuous movement of the convoy. The people look with suspicion, rush away and go inside their homes immediately. Within minutes the streets are deserted.

We enter the Cerro de la Cruz, a region controlled by Los Chapos. There is only one paved road, the rest are primitive passages. A network of dirt roads that makes it harder for police to work. The place is full of halcones and is perfect for ambushes. The young people in the corners are not worried by the passing of the authority "they are the same," says the general who since taking charge of the police force has lost six policemen in gunfights and has sustained 76 confrontations with criminals, "What happens is that those bastards never give full battle. They just fire in bursts and then flee. The advantage we have is our weapons, shot by shot, but well aimed. That is why they have a lot of casualties. We have killed about 200 of them."

"Six lost, compared to 200 ... does that mean we are winning the war like Felipe Calderon says?"

"The problem is that we kill a few of them and more come out, is like we pick up another stone and still more ... Very few civilians have been killed. We always aim carefully to kill the drug dealer. Never a civilian. When they see when the shooting starts, they start running and everyone hits the ground to protect themselves."

Organized crime has found the best breeding ground for their particular army of "burreros" and sicarios in the Comarca Lagunera region, hundreds of unemployed youth, drug users and the forgotten by the politicians of the State.

Villa Castillo joined the Army at the age of 16 by order of his mother. He was the second of 36 children his father had with six women. He says that he is incorruptible and loyal to the death: "I'm not ashamed to say it: my father is the Army and my mother the homeland. To them I owe everything. They educated me, indoctrinated me and prepared me for this."

War is war, and therefore justifies military codes. The operation of patrol now passes through the Alianza mercado, a highly contentious area. Many businesses have left due to extortion and violence. We then crossed the tracks and we enter the legendary community Durangueña, a common scene of shootings and executions, and controlled by Los Zetas. "I distrust the Federal Police because they do not kill, just apprehend. But the Mexican Army and Marines, they kill."

The next residential region of poverty and misery is the San Joaquin region, a lot of alleys here: "They are places ideal for an ambush. It's hard to get out of here. They are entrenched on the hills and from there they shoot at us but now we bring long-range weapons with telescopic sights. We can pick out any bastard that is a mile away. We just see them fall ... The ethics of sicarios or narcos has been lost, they are now just murderers. They used to have ethics even when they killed, but now they come and tear everything up to pieces."

The Cerro de las Noas, famous for the Christ protector, is now a setting for the bloodiest of battles. In the recess of the hills Los Zetas turn them into bunkers with entrenched snipers: "The other day we had to go there to kill six 'cabrones' and we did kill them. What is the problem?"

- What were they Zetas or Chapos?

"Zetas."

- How do you know if you don't question or talk to them ...

"We knew because they had stolen some of our guns, and we found them there."

There are laws general. You decide who should live or die ... Don't you think that is up to God to decide?

"Yes, but we need to give him a little help."

-If one of them approaches you to talk ...

"I kill him where he stands. I fuck him up."

- Kill then ask questions later?

"That is how it should be. It's a code of honor."

For the general, human rights are something that are not working like they should. He says the work of the National Commission on Human Rights is good, but "has not fulfilled its functions." It should protect the injured and appears to defend the offender."

The convoy of the operation passes through the community of Primero de Mayo. The wooden huts of Zaragoza Sur y Norte stand towards the Avenue of Las Mieleras: "They hide in the rocks. Every so often we go up and take away their parapets. They are armed with "cuerno de chivo" rifles 270 with telescopic sights."

After an hour and a half of patrolling the Chief orders a return to the barracks. Next to his office there is a living space. It has a bed, exercise equipment and a sauna: "I work all year, Sundays and holidays. I do not take vacations. My entertainment? ... My recreation are women. Tonight I have body to body fight in the ring, which is a bed. Who wins? Them, I give every chance to the women."

Some time after the interview it was announced that the retired general would be transferred to the Ministry of Public Security (SSP) of Quintana Roo.

Source: La Jornada

Mexican Drug Cartel Structure

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American Chronicle | Mexican Army corrupted and now largest Drug Cartel in Mexico

American Chronicle Mexican Army corrupted and now largest Drug Cartel in Mexico

Excerpt - Mexico's Narco-Insurgency and U.S. Counterdrug Policy

Conclusion


As the apparent intractability of the gun issue demonstrates, crafting a comprehensive counter-narcotics strategy will be no easy undertaking. Doing so will require going past the politically popular aspects of counternarcotics, such as interdiction, and zeroing in on more contested issues like guns and demand. In financial terms, funding at the necessary levels all of the programs discussed above will involve expenditures considerably beyond those already approved for Plan Merida. Moreover, creating such a program will entail a determined effort by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy to ensure that counternarcotics receives sustained executive-level attention and that the myriad agencies involved -- ranging from the ATF to USAID -- achieve the coordination necessary to preclude one aspect of this strategy from countering the efforts of the others. Finally, it bears repeating that the inter-hemispheric drug trade is so entrenched that even a "perfect" counternarcotics strategy will produce meaningful progress only over the long term.


The costs of action are therefore high, but the price of inaction would be exponentially greater. The effects of drug use in the United States and the potential for the economic and political destabilization of Mexico make counternarcotics an immensely significant national security issue. Addressing this problem effectively will require substantial economic resources and political capital, but, given the stakes, the investment is a necessary one. American policymakers must seize on the current crisis to achieve a balanced counternarcotics policy, one that not only strengthens Mexico's forces of order but also addresses the underlying issues that have long nourished the drug trade and made it so violent. If they do so, the United States may finally begin to make sustainable progress in curbing narcotics smuggling and its devastating effects. It they do not, the Merida Initiative will simply go down as one more failed offensive in the long campaign against drugs.

Excerpt - Mexico's Narco-Insurgency and U.S. Counterdrug Policy

Mexico a Failing State - JOE 2008

This piece caused much angst in both US and Mexican diplomatic circles as both governments refused to believe Mexico continues to fall apart into increasing disarray.

...In terms of worst-case scenarios for the Joint Force and indeed the world, two large and important states bear consideration for a rapid and sudden collapse: Pakistan and Mexico...

...The Mexican possibility may seem less likely, but the government, its politicians, police, and judicial infrastructure are all under sustained assault and pressure by criminal gangs and drug cartels. How that internal conflict turns out overthe next several years will have a major impact on the stability of the Mexican state. Any descent by Mexico into chaos would demand an American response based on the serious implications for homeland security alone...

…A serious impediment to growth in Latin America remains the power of criminal gangs and drug cartels to corrupt, distort, and damage the region’s potential. The fact that criminal organizations and cartels are capable of building dozens of disposable submarines in the jungle and then using them to smuggle cocaine, indicates the enormous economic scale of this activity. This poses a real threat to the national security interests of the Western Hemisphere. In particular, the growing assault by the drug cartels and their thugs on the Mexican government over the past several years reminds one that an unstable Mexico could represent a homeland security problem of immense proportions to the United States…

source:  The JOE 2008 - USJFCOM: Ready for today, preparing for tomorrow

Mexico and the Future

Note:  This assessment is very interesting; this piece was produced in 1995.  This piece is part two to Mexico in Crisis.

Brief Synopsis

The recent traumatic developments in Mexico caught both the Mexican and U.S. governments, as well as most academic observers, by surprise. Until the Zapatista National Liberation Army burst onto the scene in January 1994, Mexico s future seemed assured. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) had just been ratified by the U.S. Congress, and there was a widespread expectation that Mexico would take off economically and would, within the reasonably near future, join the ranks of the developed countries. And while the outlook for democracy seemed more problematic, few questioned the essential stability of the political system. Since then, much has changed. What happened and why are explored by Donald Schulz in an earlier SSI study, Mexico in Crisis. Dr. Schulz goes beyond that preliminary assessment to look at the prospects for democratization-, socioeconomic development, political stability, U.S.-Mexican relations, and the national security implications for both countries. His findings are unsettling, and so are some of his policy recommendations, for they cut at the heart of many of the assumptions U.S. and Mexican leaders have made about the effects of current policies and where Mexico and the U.S.-Mexican relationship are headed.

Mexico and the Future

Mexico in Crisis

Note:  This assessment is very interesting; this piece was produced in 1995

Brief Synopsis

This is the first of a two-part report on the causes and nature of the crisis in Mexico, the prospects for the future, and the implications for the United States. In this initial study, the author analyzes the crisis as it has developed over the past decade-and-a-half, with the primary focus being on the 6-year term of President Carlos Salinas de Gortari and the first few months of his successor, President Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de Leon. Contrasting the euphoric hopes generated by the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with the explosive events of 1994 and early 1995, he explains how a country with such seemingly bright prospects went so wrong. He argues that the United States has few foreign policy concerns more profoundly consequential for its national interests including its security interests than the political stability and general welfare of Mexico. For that reason, it is especially important that we understand what has happened and why. Dr. Schulz s preliminary findings are sobering. Despite some promising moves by the new administration with regard to judicial and police reform and a more cooperative approach to the political opposition, he questions President Zedillo's willingness to challenge the Partido Revolucionario Institutional (PRI) elite and the narcotraffickers. The fundamental problem, he suggests, is that Mexico s political economy is dominated by an oligarchy that has grown accustomed to borrowing from foreigners to enrich itself. If he is correct, then there is likely to be trouble ahead, for the current bailout will only perpetuate the system, virtually assuring that there will be another crisis down the road.

Survey: Mexico in Crisis

Mexico in Crisis

Baseline- Organized Crime and Terrorist Activity in Mexico, 1999-2002

Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches

Essentials of Research Design and Methodology


Those studying the current drug wars in Mexico first need a baseline.  A baseline will help researchers recognize when the problem developed and how it progressed over a period of time.  A baseline will also indicate if the problem became worse because of a preference to ignore the problem, or if other problems exacerabated the situation into what it has become today.

Below is a piece from the US Congressional Research Service that is worth reading.

Preface

This study is based on open source research into the scope of organized crime and

terrorist activity in the Republic of Mexico during the period 1999 to 2002, and the extent of cooperation and possible overlap between criminal and terrorist activity in that country. The analyst examined those organized crime syndicates that direct their criminal activities at the United States, namely Mexican narcotics trafficking and human smuggling networks, as well as a range of smaller organizations that specialize in trans-border crime. The presence in Mexico of transnational criminal organizations, such as Russian and Asian organized crime, was also examined. In order to assess the extent of terrorist activity in Mexico, several of the country’s domestic guerrilla groups, as well as foreign terrorist organizations believed to have a presenc in Mexico, are described. The report extensively cites from Spanish-language print media sources that contain coverage of criminal and terrorist organizations and their activities in Mexico.

 

KEY FINDINGS

Mexico’s drug trafficking and alien smuggling networks have expanded their criminal activities aimed at the United States by capitalizing on the explosive growth of trans border commerce under NAFTA and the attendant growth in human and merchandise traffic between Mexico and the United States. The growth in trans-border commerce, as manifested in soaring levels of overland passenger and commercial vehicle traffic, has provided an ever-expanding “haystack” in which the “needles” of illicit narcotics and illegal aliens can be more easily concealed.

In the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, increased border security measures temporarily heightened the risks of interdiction for Mexican drug traffickers and alien smugglers. This heightened level of risk forced smugglers to increase their reliance on sophisticated counter-detection measures, such as border tunnels, multiple repackaging of drug shipments, containerization, and rail transport.

Mexico’s three major drug cartels are being superseded by a half-dozen smaller, corporate style, trafficking networks. In a process that mirrors the post-cartel reconstitution of drug trafficking networks in Colombia, this “new generation” of Mexican drug traffickers is less prone to violence and more likely to employ sophisticated technologies and cooperative strategies. The processes that are driving Mexican drug trafficking organizations toward establishing cooperative networks of increasing sophistication and decreasing visibility are likely to intensify in the post-September 11 environment. As a result, Mexican drug trafficking networks are likely to emulate their Colombian counterparts by investing heavily in counterintelligence, expanding and diversifying their legitimate enterprises, and concealing transnational partnerships that could attract undue attention from U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies.

Alien smuggling from Mexico to the United States is a US$300 million-a-year business, second only to Mexico’s illicit drug trade in terms of revenues from criminal activities. Between 100 and 300 human smuggling rings operate in Mexico, many of which are loosely coupled with one or more of a half-dozen core human smuggling networks that have extensive transnational contacts.

A variety of Russian criminal organizations, operating through dozens of small cells, are engaged in a wide range of illegal activities in Mexico. Some Russian criminal organizations based in southern California have entered into drug trafficking partnerships with Mexican drug cartels.

Asian criminal organizations are active in Mexico as partners with domestic alien smuggling and human trafficking rings, as suppliers of primary materials for narcotics to Mexican drug traffickers, and as wholesalers and retailers of counterfeit merchandise and pirated intellectual property.

Between 16 and 25 domestic insurgent groups operate in Mexico. Except for the Zapatista National Liberation Army, none of the groups numbers more than a few dozen guerrillas. Their influence is largely confined to the southern states of Guerrero, Oaxaca and Chiapas, although some groups have perpetrated small-scale terrorist attacks in Mexico City and other urban areas.

During the late 1990s, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) establisheda clandestine arms smuggling and drug trafficking partnership with the Tijuana-basedArellano Felix Organization (AFO).

Since the mid-1990s, Mexico, at the request of the Spanish government, has deported scores of terrorists belonging to the Basque separatist group, Fatherland and Liberty (ETA).

Statements by high-ranking Mexican officials prior to and following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks indicate that one or more Islamic extremist organizations has sought to establish a presence in Mexico.

source:  Organized Crime and Terrorist Activity in Mexico, 1999-2002  

CNN, Discovery to feature cartels, border security | discovery, border, cartels - TheMonitor.com

There's a new show on the Discovery Channel focusing on Mexico's drug war. The show will reportedly address local, state and federal law enforcement efforts to mitigate drug smuggling into the US. Check out Texas Drug Wars.



For more information about the show check out - Pilot Show: Texas Drug Wars - Discovery Insider

CNN, Discovery to feature cartels, border security discovery, border, cartels - TheMonitor.com

Borderland Beat: 'Shocked and Saddened'

Borderland Beat: 'Shocked and Saddened': "Follow up information on the Columbus, New Mexico raid. By Rene Romo Journal Southern Bureau Residents of this southern New Mexico border ..."

Borderland Beat: Demand for Mexican Security Firms’ Services Soars

Borderland Beat: Demand for Mexican Security Firms’ Services Soars: "Mexico’s private security companies saw demand for their services soar 25 percent in 2010 due to a surging crime rate and requests for prote..."

Borderland Beat: US to boost agents in Mexico after murder

Borderland Beat: US to boost agents in Mexico after murder: "AFP US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will double the number of its agents deployed in Mexico and examine new security measures ..."

Borderland Beat: Wanted: Officers to Retake Mexico

Borderland Beat: Wanted: Officers to Retake Mexico: "Photo: Janet Jarman for The New York Times Officer José Ramón Hernández, above center, of the Jalapa police prepared to storm a house durin..."

Sinaloa Cartel welcomes new Juarez police chief, J...

Bienvenido a Juárez Julian Leysola este es tu primer regalito y esto va seguir pasando a toda la bola de peynetones atte. - El cartel de Sinaloa.Welcome to Juarez Julian Leysola (sic), this is your first gift. This will continue happening to all of the snitches.Signed:The Sinaloa Cartel


Borderland Beat: Sinaloa Cartel welcomes new Juarez police chief, J...: "Less than two days after assuming the position of Public Security Director of Juarez, Julian Leyzaola received his first death threat. La..."

Bit by Bit, a Mexican Police Force Is Eradicated

Bit by Bit, a Mexican Police Force Is Eradicated: "By RANDAL C. ARCHIBOLD NY Times GUADALUPE DISTRITO BRAVOS, Mexico — Her uncle, the mayor who gave her the job nobody else wanted, warned h..."

Unsafe in America - Cartels forcing Americans to move

New Government in Mexico

Michoacan is the home Mexican President Calderon.  Calderon does not control the state; the state continues to be dominated by the cartels, at least at the perceptual level...the most important level in conflict as perceptions will determine who the people will follow.  Mexico is a confederaton of fiefdoms.

'To the People of Michoacan: We inform you, that as of today, we will be performing the duties previously realized by la Familia Michoacana.We will be at the service of the people of Michoacan to handle any situation that undermines their integrity.Our commitment to society is to preserve order, prevent thefts, kidnappings, extortions, and protect the State from possible interventions by rival organizations.-Knights Templar'

Borderland Beat: 'Templars' appear in Michoacan, vow to protect soc...: "Banners appeared in Michoacan Thursday morning announcing a previously unknown criminal organization denominating themselves the Templars...."

Mexican Janus and Psychological Warfare Part 2

Marisol Valles García, the 21 year old mayor of a Mexican town has fled the country with her family for safety in the US. 

The cartels and criminals maintain psychological control over the Mexican population.  The security situation continues to crumble.

It's going to take more than ideals to break up the cartels, it's going to require a significant increase in lethal force to bring down the cartel a notch in order to set conditions for governance to be reinstituted.

References:

Borderland Beat: 21-year-old Praxedis G. Guerrero police chief rele...: "By Adriana Gómez Licón / El Paso Times After fleeing Mexico to request asylum, the young police chief of the Juárez Valley was released ..."

Monday, October 25, 2010 The Mexican Janus and Psychological Warfare

"Narco Execution Videos and its Effects on the Population"

One seriously has to ask themself:

-What drives people to go with this way of life?
-What would dissuade them from participating in this type of activity?
-What good will jail do if they only do time, but often get out early?
-What will stop this activity if less than 3% of these criminals are ever indicted for their crimes (Buscaglia in 2010 BBC video posted to this site)?
-What makes young children grow up and participate in such atrocities?

Even al Qaeda never appeared to go through this extreme; there was a politcal/quasi religious over tone in their activities.  The Mexican drug cartels have none of that.

As long as the cartels have the psychological advantage to use whatever force they deem necessary, while the government appears unable to control its state, the people will align with the cartels to survive in active or tacit support roles.

The cartels will not submit themselves to any law, but their own, while they have the means to resist.  They appear to only respect lethal force.  Only high-op tempo lethal force is going to cause a disruption in their activities until a form of governance can be established.

While it is likely these kind of activities may be few in nature, they appear to be a norm according to media reporting.  A strategic communications campaign is needed thwart this perception of strength.

Other comments-

This video highlights why the Mexican government needs to have a death penalty.   The video also captures why the US needs to take a greater interest as to what's occurring at our southern borders and bleeding over into the US.  The drugs are not the only concern coming across the border, but also the culture. THE VIDEO CAPTURES A NORM IN MEXICO WHERE CARTELS ARE ACTIVE, NOT AN ANOMALY.  

Forget Libya, Egypt, etc...focus is needed on Mexico.  Where are the US politicians, Human Rights Activists, UN and other international organizations in this fight?

Currently the cartel remains the only power able to control life and death.  The population will align themselves with the power that has the greatest influence over their lives.

Warning, the video is extremely graphic.  It captures the harsh reality of the cartels and the inability of the government to protect its people. 

Narco Execution Videos and its Effects on the Population: "This video surfaced today on the narco blogs, its content is extremely violent. It is unknown exactly when it was filmed, nor where it took ..."

Other related articles of interest:


Mexican Drug Cartels: Narco-Insurgent Center of Gravity


Mexican Drug Cartels: Strategy to Counter Drug Operations


Mexican Drug Cartels: 'Disrupt Insurgent Psychological Dominance'


Mexican Drug Cartels: Ripping Apart Narco-Insurgents ...


Mexican Drug Cartels: Narco-Terrorists Fills Governance Void - See How

Police: Teens recruited as hit men for drug cartel Rosalio Reta and Gabriel Cardona were young American teens in the border town of Laredo, Texas. U.S. authorities say they would cross the border to visit the cantinas and clubs in Mexico. That's where police say their visits took a sinister turn -- they were recruited and trained to be U.S. hit men for a major Mexican drug cartel. Mar 13

This is what we do not want bleeding over into the US.

Hats bearing the Zetas drug cartel logo are displayed next to stacks of loaded rifle magazines, during a media display of seized weaponry by the military, after they raided a drug hitmen training camp near the municipality of Higueras, some 50 km (31 miles) away from Monterrey May 11, 2010. The army seized machineguns, rifles, four rocket-propelled grenade launchers, two rockets, grenades, ammunition, twelve trucks and communication radios during the raid, according to local media. One drug hitman died during the operation. REUTERS/Tomas Bravo (MEXICO - Tags: MILITARY SOCIETY CRIME LAW)

Death of Artuto Beltran

Death of Artuto Beltran