Excerpt and link to the report in Spanish.
The Mexico City daily El Universal reports (link in Spanish, interpreted by the Los Angeles Times) that “government statistics [reviewed by the newspaper] show that in 2008 and 2009, the second and third complete years of Mexico’s drug war, violent deaths of people between 15 and 29 shot up about 150 percent.”
Source: Report: More Mexican Youths Die From Violence Than Auto Accidents - International News - AllMediaNY
Comment: Report documents an incident regarding police corruption
MEXICO CITY — Federal police arrested a state police officer Thursday in connection with last week’s arson fire at a casino that killed 52 people in northern Mexico.
Source: State police officer detained in Mexico casino arson that killed 52 - The Washington Post
Blogger Labels: Mexico,Police,Corruption,Mexican,Officer,Casino,Fire,Monterey,Comment,Report,incident,Federal,connection,arson,Source,State,Washington,Post
Comment: What’s important to take away from this piece?
Excerpt: Mexico gov opens corruption probe in deadly fire
By ELLIOT SPAGAT, Associated Press – 1 hour ago
MONTERREY, Mexico (AP) — A casino fire that killed 52 people in the northern city of Monterrey has put new pressure on the government to regulate a rapidly growing gambling industry that many Mexicans believe is vulnerable to corruption, money laundering and extortion.
The state of Nuevo Leon, where Monterrey is located, launched a new offensive Wednesday against casinos as a videotape was released of the brother of the city's mayor taking wads of cash inside an unidentified gambling establishment days before last week's deadly arson attack.
Mexico's gaming boom has occurred under the administration of President Felipe Calderon, which has led a bloody crackdown on organized crime. The Calderon government says it has not approved a single casino permit since he took office in late 2006 and blames judges for issuing injunctions to allow gambling halls to operate outside of local authority.
…
"The pace of growth has been very fast, outstripping the authorities' ability to enforce the existing regulations, including prosecuting those who are operating without the necessary permits," David Elizaga, Codere's chief financial officer, said during a conference call with investors last week.
Gambling businesses must report their earnings to Mexico's tax agency, which industry experts say has had trouble monitoring the income of legal operations, let alone illegal ones.
Some 700 soldiers, federal police and tax agents raided 11 casinos and confiscated more than 3,500 machines in Monterrey and Mexico City over the weekend, an operation the tax agency said was part of its regular enforcement…
Read Full Article: The Associated Press: Mexico gov opens corruption probe in deadly fire
Excerpt:
The significance of this increased contact between Mexican cartels and prison gangs like La Eme and Nuestra Familia is that, through these new supply connections, California and the rest of the United States could see a long term increase in the supply of drugs coming from Mexico and Central America. The connections will likely overlap so that even if the “choke-point strategies” of U.S. law enforcement are successful in arresting those individuals who serve as the links between Mexican cartels and U.S. gangs, the criminal networks will simply shift to other points of contact.
The Law of Criminal Cartels: Practice and Procedure (0)
Read: Why Extraditing Mexico Drug Traffickers Could Strengthen US Gangs
