090621RMay11 Mexico Articles of Interest

Comment: While the protests in Mexico appear to be gaining some momentum, what is the real objective of the protests? Is it simply to stop the government's efforts to fight the cartels? What about the cartels themselves? What's to stop them? Where are the mass protests against their activities? It appears that it's okay with Mexicans that the cartel activities continue unabated; they don't care that the activity is wrong, that it in itself breaks down society. However, their argument that the cartel problem is a result of failed/failing governance is accurate. As there is no reason to partake in illegal activities if money could be made the honest way. End comment.

In Mexico City, Crowds Protest Drug Violence - Los Angeles Times

Tens of Thousands March in Mexico Against Violence - New York Times

Thousands March Against Violence in Mexico City - Associated Press

Thousands of Mexicans March to Protest Drug War - Reuters

Terrorist Group Setting Up Operations Near Border

Now, the group is blending into Shi'a Muslim communities in Mexico, including Tijuana. Other pockets along the U.S.-Mexico border region remain largely unidentified as U.S. intelligence agencies are focused on the drug trade.

"They have had clandestine training in how to live in foreign hostile territories," the agent said.

The agent, who has spent years deep undercover in Mexico, said Hezbollah is partnering with drug organizations, but which ones is not clear at this time.

He told 10News the group receives cartel cash and protection in exchange for Hezbollah expertise.

"From money laundering to firearms training and explosives training," the agent said.

For example, he tracked, along with Mexican intelligence, two Hezbollah operatives in safe houses in Tijuana and Durango

"I confirmed the participation of cartel members as well as other Hezbollah individuals living and operating out of there," he said.

Tunnels the cartels have built that cross from Mexico into the U.S. have grown increasingly sophisticated. It is a learned skill, the agent said points to Hezbollah's involvement.

Source: http://www.10news.com/news/27780427/detail.html

Churches in Mexico accepting donations from drug cartels | kvue.com Austin

Comment: While this story is true, know this is an old story resurfacing.
Meaning...should the church destroy something that is already built? If the
church continues to receive money from drug lords after the orginal report
it should be destroyed. Additionally, the plaque should be stripped. End
Comment.
"A plaque on a wall outside of the structure clearly identifies the
benefactor: Heriberto Lazcano Lazcano, a top leader of the Zetas, one of
Mexico's most feared cartels. he's a native son who is a wanted man on both
sides of the border.
But people in Tezontle say they don't know anything about the generous
donor.
So is the neighborhood in denial? Critics say the problem extends to the
Catholic Church hierarchy when it comes to narco limosnas, or drug money
donations."
source:
http://www.kvue.com/home/Churches-in-Mexico-accepting-donations-from-drug-ca
rtels-121364079.html

Mexican drug cartels set up shop across U.S. | The Tennessean | tennessean.com

Mexican drug cartels set up shop across U.S.
4:45 AM, Apr. 23, 2011

 Written by
Richard A. Serrano Tribune Washington Bureau
Filed Under
News

COLUMBIA, S.C.—The house on Knightner Road is small, blue and white, with a stone front porch and a string of Christmas lights still hanging. Here, crack cocaine was sold to drive-up customers a few miles from the state Capitol in Columbia.

The one on Pound Road in rural Gaston, just south of Columbia, is a brown-and-white trailer, with a gravel driveway and woods out back. Here, federal law enforcement officers surprised Frediberto Pineda, who had 10 kilos of cocaine worth $350,000 in his possession.

Six months went by between the first FBI inquiries into cocaine trafficking at the house on Knightner Road and Pineda’s arrest. For the bureau, Pineda was a prize worth waiting for. A member of Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel, he had quietly settled in central South Carolina, put down roots and began managing one of the gang’s new outposts.

As the cartels expand up and out from the Southwest border, they are sending waves of men such as Pineda, many of them trained in Mexico, to run their U.S. operations. In the last few years, they have established a prosperous retail industry, with cartels staking out “market territories,” lining up smuggling routes, and renting storage bins and drug houses.

Twice deported after less serious convictions, Pineda looked more like a successful businessman than a drug dealer. He drove a Ford Explorer and wore a shiny watch with red and white jewels.

“He didn’t dress like a construction worker,” lead FBI Agent Michael E. Stansbury said.

The look of prosperity corresponded with a booming business. Earlier this month, FBI Director Robert S. Mueller told Congress that upwards of $39 billion a year in drug profits from north of the border is making it back to Mexico and the cartels.

Atlanta is a hub

Atlanta has become a major cartel hub, where cocaine is stored in lockers, storefronts and homes, then trucked to cities such as Columbia, according to federal officials. The Tijuana cartel has set up shop in Seattle and Anchorage, they added. Elements of the Juarez cartel have been busy in four dozen cities, including Minneapolis. The Gulf cartel has reached into Buffalo, N.Y.

When the FBI started looking into the South Carolina drug trade, agents never imagined the investigation would lead them to a Mexican cartel. In all, the effort has led to charges against 116 people in eight separate indictments, 33 firearms seized, four vehicles impounded, 27 wiretaps approved, and $600,000 in cash and well over $1 million in drugs confiscated.

So far, 111 of the defendants have been convicted, while one suspect awaits trail and four fugitives are on the loose.

No one believes Columbia has become drug free, but the city is the first in the nation to have successfully disrupted a cartel that was so deeply ingrained in a U.S. community.

The success is being hailed by law enforcement officials as a major victory.

Mexican drug cartels set up shop across U.S. The Tennessean tennessean.com

Resource: Mexico Institute

The Mexico Portal provides comprehensive and timely news, analysis and studies on Mexico. It covers a wide range of crucial issues, including migration, security, the economy, development, energy, and elections. The Mexico Portal is a non-partisan, independent project of the Mexico Institute of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

Source:  Mexico Institute

Mexico’s Youngest Assassins

 Border Security
The Narco Wars: Mexico’s Youngest Assassins

For many of Mexico’s youths, a job with a narco-cartel is the only job they can find—and the only one they may ever get.

By: Jana Schroeder
Homeland Security Today




  
Second to right is César Raúl Meza Torres, mini 6, killed at age 21 on April 2010 in Zapopan, Jalisco. He started his brief career as a sicario at a very early age. His father was Raúl Meza Ontiveros M-6 killed on March 2007 in Culiacan.


Organized crime analyst Jose Luis Piñeyro, who teaches at Mexico City’s Metropolitan Autonomous University, told Homeland Security Today, “The most obvious change I see is that those being recruited as hit men or hired assassins are young people—very young people—who are unemployed and poor or drug addicts. They’re not professional assassins, and they don’t have particular knowledge of how to use weapons.” He added: “They’re disposable, they’re recyclable. They’re hired for an average of US $500 to $650 a month to kill an unlimited number of people or to carry out other acts of violence. Ten years ago, a hired assassin charged US $12,000 to $13,000 to kill just one person. So you could say that hiring assassins has become cheaper for drug traffickers.”

source:  Borderland Beat: Mexico’s Youngest Assassins

New study provides context to the tsunami of drug-related violence in Mexico | Borderzine

Comment.  There are some portions with this piece I'm not sure I agree with that I hope to address later in another posting.   Regardless, the piece is worth thinking about. Note, it appears this piece was put together by academics.  While good, they tend to think from one hemisphere...one also needs to look for information associated with more practical issues of the problem e.g. police, military and problem solver type perspectives. This is especially true when studying "open systems", meaning people.  End comment.

New study provides context to the tsunami of drug-related violence in Mexico | Borderzine: "Campbell, who is very familiar with the drug violence in Mexico, said it is difficult to understand what is going on between the cartels but has agreed the context offers a broader outlook of how each drug trafficking organizations operate.

“Each cartel has certain alliances within the Mexican police system, and the political system,” Campbell said. “There are also ways in which those relationships can break out and cause conflict and fighting.”"