Mexico: Rewriting The Rule Book

Rewriting The Rule Book
May 12, 2011: President Felipe Calderon continues to wage war against the
bad habits that led to the current bloody struggle with drug gangs. Calderon
argues that Mexico's deep structural and institutional problems permitted
the unchecked expansion of drug cartel power. Breaking the cartels means
modernizing Mexico. The military side of the Cartel War gets the headlines,
but Calderon insists that winning means continuing a long term struggle.
Mexico must reform its police forces (from local to federal). Mexicans don't
trust the judicial system, and with good reason. They have seen so many
politically-connected criminals escape justice - what Mexicans call the
culture of impunity. This is why the government is devoting a lot of
attention to judicial reform.

May 10, 2011: The government claims the drug cartels are now deeply involved
in prostitution and sex slaving. This happened in Balkans. Guerrilla groups,
in league with criminal gangs, made a lot of money from human trafficking.
They moved illegal migrants and some of the illegal migrants were basically
sold as prostitutes. According to the government, that's happening in
Mexico. Police have evidence Mexican drug gangs primarily focus on Central
American migrants moving through Mexico and heading for the U.S.

May 9, 2011: Police in the city of Durango (Durango state) found six
headless bodies dumped outside of a school. The police said a group of
cartel gunmen were responsible for the murders.

May 8, 2011: Mexican marines killed 12 members of Los Zetas drug cartel in a
spectacular operation. The marines attacked a base camp on an island in
Falcon Lake (on the border between Texas and Tamaulipas state). A sailor was
also killed in the gun battle. The government reported that the Zetas were
storing marijuana for shipment to the U.S. The Marines also seized at some
two-dozen weapons. Falcon Lake is where a U.S. citizen was ambushed and
murdered while jet-skiing in September 2010. From time to time, Mexican Navy
helicopters patrol Falcon Lake.

May 5, 2011: U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency announced that it is
opening seven more inspection booths at the World Trade International Bridge
(Laredo, Texas). The bridge currently has eight booths. The bridge feeds
truck traffic into warehouse and staging areas near Interstate 35. Customs
says there are two reasons for the new booths. First, over 3,000 Mexican
trucks cross the bridge every day and current capacity is overwhelmed.
Second, is the counter-smuggling angle. Inspectors have not had the manpower
or capacity to do thorough inspections of the big rig cargo trucks.
Inspectors could only do thorough checks of a handful of trucks. The drug
cartels know the odds are in their favor, so they hide drugs inside
containers of legal goods. Customs wants to change those odds.

April 29, 2011: Mexican officials have let the U.S. extradite the leader of
the Arellano Felix cartel, Benjamin Arellano Felix. He will now face trial
in the US (likely in San Diego). The Arellano Felix cartel is based in
Tijuana and is sometimes referred to as the Tijuana cartel. Mexico arrested
Arellano Felix in 2002. The U.S. wants him on several charges, including
money laundering.

April 27, 2011: The U.S. State Department issued new travel warnings to U.S.
citizens visiting Mexico. The warning mentions ten Mexican states where
travel is considered dangerous: Sonora, Jalisco, San Luis Potosi, Zacatecas,
Tamaulipas, Michoacan, Durango, Sinaloa, Chihuahua, and Coahuila. The State
Department believes 111 Americans were murdered in Mexico in 2010.

http://www.strategypage.com/qnd/mexico/articles/20110512.aspx