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Post by jeffolie on Nov 19, 2010 11:59:43 GMT -6
US into Mexico...jeffolie predicts Mexico continues in a hopeless, failed narco-cartel state. Death, corruption, fear dominate. After Obama is out of office, I predict America's military will be in Mexico probably under an 'invitation' to help. ====================================================== Lawmakers block Mexico's crucial drug war reforms MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico's divided Congress is unlikely to pass President Felipe Calderon's pivotal plans to reform the police and combat money laundering, risking a major setback in the war against violent drug cartels. The conservative president is under rising pressure from investors, the United States and fearful Mexicans to contain a conflict that has killed more than 31,000 people in the last four years. But squabbling in Congress and opposition within his own ruling National Action Party (PAN) are stalling the initiatives Calderon says are crucial to fighting organized crime. Amid jockeying before elections in 2012 and disputes over political alliances, Calderon appears unable to forge enough support and, at best, will see his plans heavily watered down. "There is no consensus among lawmakers, not even within the PAN. There is a lot of opposition to the proposal for a unified police command," PAN Senator Alejandro Gonzalez, who heads the Senate's justice committee, told Reuters. The stalled reforms are part of a larger problem hindering Mexico's transition from 71 years of one-party rule since the PAN won the presidency from the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) in 2000. "The Mexican Congress has used its newly acquired power not to push through modernizing reforms but rather to control and thwart the executive at every turn," said political analyst Denise Dresser. "THE KEY TO OUR BATTLE" Calderon wants to bring ill-equipped and notoriously corrupt municipal police forces under the control of Mexico's 32 state governors, ending a dysfunctional system of 2,200 different jurisdictions across the country. Many local forces have been infiltrated by the cartels who are fighting the government and each other over control of smuggling routes for marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine and other drugs into the United States. Weapons and cash flow back across the border into Mexico. "The goal is to hit the criminals where it hurts most, on the economic front," Calderon said on Thursday, adding that the money laundering initiative and the unified police command "are the key to our battle for security." In August, Calderon proposed a revision to several laws in an effort to hinder cartels from funneling up to $40 billion a year in drug revenues through the Mexican financial system. His plan to go after the proceeds of the drug trade has more support but still faces serious hurdles. "The president introduced this initiative with a lot of force but it got stuck in the Senate," Jose Trejo, the PAN senator who heads the finance committee, told Reuters. "If it passes, it will only be with various changes. It will be complicated in this session." Congress will recess on December 15 and both reforms are not expected to fare any better when it reconvenes next year. The PRI, the main opposition party, is key to passing any of Calderon's plans. But the PRI and the leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution are loathe to hand the president any policy victories ahead of the 2012 elections. Calderon has staked his presidency on fighting drug traffickers, deploying the army and federal police across the country after taking office in late 2006. But worsening violence -- including beheadings, car bombs, assassinations of politicians, kidnapping and extortion -- is spooking businesspeople and tourists and could force more companies to scale back investment. news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20101119/ts_nm/us_mexico_drugs
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Post by waltc on Nov 19, 2010 14:12:08 GMT -6
Won't happen since there is no popular or political will for it. Just talk from a handful of Neocon Nazis from our side.
Also if the U.S. wants to turn the entire Mexican populace against them, sure go ahead and put 50,000 trigger happy, shoot and blow-em up first soldiers down there.
What the fat, stupid ahistorical gringos(whose collective memory perhaps goes back to 9/11 and no further) don't get is that the Mexicans still remember our previous invasions and don't want no part of so-called "American help", which usually entails a permanent military presence as well.
BTW did our forces in Afghanistan stop poppy raising and heroin production? No.
Here's the real problem - our people's insatiable demand for drugs from Xanax, demerol, oxycontin, dilodin to meth, heroin and pot. We either terminate those druggies or legalize the shit and let them have all they want.
Nothing else will work
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Post by graybeard on Nov 20, 2010 0:15:37 GMT -6
It's curious that Pres. Calderon came out publicly against Calif Prop 19, the initiative to legalize pot.
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Post by waltc on Nov 21, 2010 17:30:39 GMT -6
From the news articles I read the U.S. Gov't via certain agencies has been putting tremendous pressure on Calderon to limit his drug legalization efforts and wouldn't surprise me in the least that they asked him to go against Prop 19 since the Obama admin is against it as well.
It is my belief that the Feds and local police agencies want the drug war to continue since it means more justifications to screw with our Constitutional Rights and accure more power.
You can see these abuses with the TSA, where that agency has turned into a grope and thug organ to humiliate Americans from 5 to 80+ and where the MSM has gone all out to justify these abuses in the most holy name of "security".
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Post by waltc on Nov 26, 2010 22:50:32 GMT -6
Another voice on why invading Mexico is a terrible idea and by a person who lives there and knows the people unlike the fucktard governor of Texas and the inbred West Point flatworms of the Pentagon who can't think without a Power Point presentation. www.fredoneverything.net/Lumbo.shtml
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Post by graybeard on Nov 27, 2010 6:51:37 GMT -6
Pretty funny, Walt, and right on.
He didn't even mention the probable backlash from the 11 million or so Mexicans and narco traffickers in the US. It could get ugly pronto.
GB
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Post by jeffolie on Dec 18, 2010 15:12:05 GMT -6
At what point will banks, corporations, Chinese interest, etc invite American military to clean up parts of Mexico via an invitation by the Mexican government? My guess is after Obama is no longer President, in 2013+ "...Violence has spread to parts of the country formerly seen as "immune" from such problems...conditions have deteriorated enough that foreign businesses are reconsidering moves to set up shop in that country, as the Wall Street Journal reports in "Companies Shun Violent Mexico"...Electrolux, Whirlpool...Terex Corp...Owens-Illinois..." " =========================================================== December 17, 2010 'We Just Can't Put Our People at Risk' The Mexican stock market has been one of the best performers this year, bolstered by the mad rush of investors looking for the next big emerging market success story. But like those Wall Street analysts who keep seeing a U.S. economic recovery that's not really there, those who are betting on a turnaround south of the border aren't paying attention to what is actually happening on the ground. While things haven't quite gotten to the point where the man on the street is walking around in body armor, conditions have deteriorated enough that foreign businesses are reconsidering moves to set up shop in that country, as the Wall Street Journal reports in "Companies Shun Violent Mexico": Unrest Deters Electrolux, Whirlpool, Others Who Have Considered New South-of-the-Border Plants. MEXICO CITY—Growing numbers of companies are deciding to limit their investments in Mexico because of spiraling drug-related violence in one of the world's most important emerging markets. The latest is Swedish appliance maker Electrolux AB, which said Thursday it had chosen Memphis, Tenn., over locations in Mexico for a $190 million appliance factory that will employ 1,200 people. The decision involved a host of factors, including proximity to component suppliers, distribution centers and another Electrolux plant in Springfield, Tenn. But Mexico's deteriorating security also played a role, the company said. Mexico continues to lure foreign investment with its low wages, location next to the U.S. and the advantages of the North American Free Trade Agreement. One of the U.S.'s largest trade partners, Mexico attracted $14 billion in foreign direct investment in the year's first nine months, up 20% from a year ago, according to government figures. And some of Mexico's biggest investors, including Wal-Mart Stores Inc., are maintaining their investment plans. But fights between rival drug cartels have claimed more than 31,000 lives in the past four years, including more than 11,000 this year. Other crimes like robbery, extortion and kidnapping also have climbed. For some companies, particularly those that don't yet have operations south of the border, the violence has become daunting. "We won't put a factory in Mexico until some of this violence gets addressed," said Ron DeFeo, chief executive of Terex Corp., a Westport, Conn., maker of construction cranes and other heavy equipment. "We just can't put our people at risk." Mr. DeFeo said Terex has looked closely at building plants in Mexico but decided to hold off for now. Owens-Illinois Inc., a Perrysburg, Ohio, maker of glass food and beverage containers, is also wary. "We have been monitoring the Mexican market for a few years now, looking for the right opportunity to directly enter that market," said spokeswoman Stephanie Johnston. "The escalating violence has led us to be more cautious. We take the safety and security of our employees very seriously." Concerns about safety in Mexico were a factor in a decision by Whirlpool Corp. earlier this year to build an oven and cook-top factory in Cleveland, Tenn., rather than in Mexico, Alan Holaday, vice president of North American manufacturing and quality, said in a recent interview. Security was only one of several factors in the decision about the plant, which will employ more than 1,600 workers, he said. Drug-related violence in Mexico probably cost the country some $4 billion in foreign direct investment this year, estimated Gabriel Casillas, J.P. Morgan's chief economist for Mexico. Crime has also spooked foreign executives. Jim Davis, a managing director at Russell Reynolds Associates, an executive-recruitment firm, said he recently conducted a search for a pharmaceutical company seeking a top manager in Mexico City. "A lot of the folks would say, 'My wife would not be in favor of us moving down there at this time,'" Mr. Davis said. "I think the fears are a little bit overblown but the reality is that's what people are reading in the newspapers and seeing on TV." While foreign direct investment is expected to be slightly up in Mexico this year, the figures were boosted by the $5 billion takeover of the beer business of Fomento Economico Mexicano SAB by Dutch brewer Heineken NV. That deal won't include typical investment benefits like construction of factories and creation of jobs in Mexico. Stripping out the Heineken-Femsa deal, Mexico's foreign investment numbers begin to look less healthy, said Mr. Casillas. Moreover, companies usually plan investments far enough ahead that this year's dramatic increase in violence will probably only show up in next year's numbers. In Mexico's violent border regions and troubled interior states of Durango, Sinaloa and Michoacan, foreign investment has dropped to roughly $1.9 billion in 2010 from an average of about $5 billion a year from 2005 through 2008, excluding the Heineken-Femsa deal. Concern about violence is leading to "a lot of caution around future growth plans," said David Speer, chief executive officer of Illinois Tool Works Inc., a big industrial conglomerate based in Glenview, Ill. Mr. Speer said some companies that buy products from ITW units have delayed projects in Mexico due to security concerns, though he declined to name any projects. Violence has spread to parts of the country formerly seen as "immune" from such problems, he said. www.economicroadmap.com/
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Post by waltc on Dec 18, 2010 19:14:21 GMT -6
Leave it to a bunch of college educated Americans who can't read, think and don't know history to consider invading Mexico. I don't know what our colleges are doing to students but they are making them dumb as a sack of hammers to even consider invading our southern neighbor.
Militarily it won't work nor will sending a bunch of fat, stupid, trigger happy cops/DHS goons.
First off we don't have the manpower for a military ground op(we would need about 200,000 men for this and we don't have it) and worse our troops are very, very trigger happy and don't care if they whack a village full of civies. Bad juju, very bad.
Secondly the Mexicans here in the U.S. will go apeshit once our cops/military wipe out a village. And I don't want to think what our Hispanics in the military and law enforcement will do.
Again very bad for us.
But we are a unlettered and uncultured people now, one that views reading and studying history for old people and nerds. Our executives, military officers and so-called statesmen no longer read books but obtain their information via executive summaries and PowerPoint presentations because they have almost no attention span and are easily confused by complex topics that exceed a page in length.
When one reads articles how our senior generals in Afghanistan, many of whom are products of our finest universities, yet they can't be bothered to read books or do their own analysis, etc. And instead must be fed PowerPoint slides with complex subjects reduced to bullet points because they have the attention span of a child. And god help if you give TMI because they'll brain freeze and yell at you. You then realize our military "leadership" are nothing but educated dolts and one could do better with a hog farmer in charge. At least the hog farmer knows how to run something beside his mouth.
So in the end maybe Palin the idiot or Romney the plastic mormon moron will invade to the thunderous applause of mindless WestPoint graduates and the millions of Limbaugh's minions but it won't end well for us. That much is certain.
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Post by unlawflcombatnt on Dec 19, 2010 10:25:25 GMT -6
But the worst part of it all is I'll have to change the title of this section from: "Iraq/Iran/Afghanistan/Pakistan" to: "Iraq/Iran/Afghanistan/Pakistan/Mexico"
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Post by jeffolie on Dec 19, 2010 14:43:56 GMT -6
I am noticing more frequent pieces on crime and political choas in Mexico, every day. For example: "...MEXICO UNDER SEIGE Mexican drug cartels find youths to be easy prey and ..." MEXICO UNDER SIEGE More than 12,000 killed in Mexican drug war this year, officials say The overall death toll in the 4-year-old war is said to be 30,196, but it could be higher. www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-mexico-death-toll-20101217,0,3176872.story and...LOL Darwinian event...trying to steal oil " 'Rivers of fire' in deadly Mexico pipeline blast MEXICO CITY (AP) — A pipeline exploded in central Mexico early Sunday as thieves were trying to steal oil, killing at least 22 people and sending rivers of flaming crude through city streets. www.usatoday.com/news/world/2010-12-19-Mexico_N.htm and also from the Los Angeles Times: "MEXICO UNDER SIEGE Mother shot dead at anti-crime vigil in Chihuahua Video shows the brazen killing outside the Chihuahua governor's office of a woman who had been protesting the freeing of the confessed killer in her daughter's 2008 slaying. www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-mexico-mom-20101218,0,5162480.storyFaced with a poor education system and dismal job prospects, boys and girls as young as 11 are lured into acting as mules, peddlers, lookouts — even executioners — for drug cartels offering easy money. www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-mexico-foot-soldiers-20101219,0,642757.story
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Post by waltc on Dec 19, 2010 17:48:04 GMT -6
Yep the corporate/gov't owned MSM is now ramping up for a possible invasion of Mexico.
It's pretty obvious, since they ignore the fact that the violence is almost entirely limited to two border provinces and that the majority of killings are drug cartel workers.
Go further south and the violence isn't there. The Feds and the GOP won't talk about that aspect.
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Post by graybeard on Dec 20, 2010 3:25:21 GMT -6
You don't get much farther south than the state of Guerrero, and there's been plenty of violence there. Then there's Michoacan, near the center.
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Post by waltc on Dec 20, 2010 13:22:08 GMT -6
Bottom line, the deaths in Mexico are a direct result of tens of millions Americans needing to get and stay loaded. No military intervention can fix that.
The more we use, the more the violence spreads.
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Post by fredorbob on Dec 20, 2010 13:41:29 GMT -6
I thought NAFTA was suppose to turn Mexico into a Utopia.
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Post by fredorbob on Dec 20, 2010 13:42:29 GMT -6
Bottom line, the deaths in Mexico are a direct result of tens of millions Americans needing to get and stay loaded. No military intervention can fix that. The more we use, the more the violence spreads. It's more like tens of millions of Mexicans lost their jobs to free trade and have nowhere else to turn but alternative jobs; like making and transporting drugs.
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Post by waltc on Dec 21, 2010 0:27:34 GMT -6
It's more like tens of millions of Mexicans lost their jobs to free trade and have nowhere else to turn but alternative jobs; like making and transporting drugs.
A lot of them came here, heck I even worked with those whose jobs got outsourced from Mexico to China.
Also NAFTA didn't hurt those in the manufacturing industries, they hammered the hell out of Mexican farmers who couldn't compete with American farm exports.
Every time I read about some NAFTA supporter I want to take a crow bar and ram it up his backside where the sun don't shine.
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Post by graybeard on Dec 21, 2010 8:37:15 GMT -6
A lot more would be right with the world if we eliminated most or all of our farm subsidies.
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Post by fredorbob on Dec 21, 2010 12:04:25 GMT -6
A lot more would be right with the world if we eliminated most or all of our farm subsidies. Farm subsidies or not. A 2nd or 3rd world peasant farmer cannot compete with a highly mechanized farm. And it wasn't just farm jobs lost in Mexico. So this is what the US is back at? Exporting mostly farming goods, cotton and tobacco, oh that's real fucking progress. How about we all dress up like were at a Renaissance Fair and learn how to bow to royalty while were at it.
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Post by jeffolie on Dec 30, 2010 12:59:30 GMT -6
Mexico army's fails drug war "virtually blind" I continue to predict that after Obama is out of office: US military will be invited into selected part of Mexico. ========================================================== '...Mexicans are paying a high price … for a strategy that does not seem to have much impact," said Roderic Ai Camp, an expert on the Mexican military at Claremont McKenna College. "It is not reducing drug consumption in the U.S., it is not reducing drug-related income for the trafficking organizations, nor is it reducing their influence in other activities," such as kidnapping and people-smuggling. "I don't see the army, or anyone else, winning this 'war' in the immediate future." In the four years since Calderon launched an offensive against the cartels shortly after assuming office in December 2006, he has deployed more than 50,000 military troops, plus an estimated 30,000 federal police officers, to more than half of the country's 31 states. In the diplomatic cables released by the WikiLeaks website and published in numerous newspapers, U.S. officials noted that the army's inability to contain violence in Ciudad Juarez represented a demoralizing failure. Troops were eventually pulled out of Juarez and replaced with federal police officers. Calderon's strategy relies in large part on taking down capos and splintering their organizations. In the short term, however, that has often led to more bloodletting as the battles for turf and succession escalate. U.S. officials, who are giving Mexico $1.4 billion as part of the Merida Initiative to fight cartels and shore up law enforcement, repeatedly emphasize that their relationship with Mexican forces, including training exercises and intelligence-sharing, is stronger than ever. Instead of relying on the army, however, U.S. efforts have focused on revamping the police and providing assistance to the navy special forces. '...U.S. diplomats and Mexican intelligence officials say the Mexican military and police distrust each other, refuse to share intelligence and resist operating together, squandering important potential gains. "...Four years and 50,000 troops into President Felipe Calderon's drug war, the fighting has exposed severe limitations in the Mexican army's ability to wage unconventional warfare, tarnished its proud reputation and left the U.S. pointedly criticizing the force as "virtually blind" on the ground. "...MEXICO UNDER SIEGE Mexico army's failures hamper drug war www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-mexico-army-20101230,0,729126,full.story
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Post by jeffolie on Dec 30, 2010 14:00:24 GMT -6
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Post by waltc on Dec 30, 2010 21:56:47 GMT -6
We're in a end game situation, whether we invade or not we're still looking at a economic disaster combined with a descent into fascism and world wide oil shortage.
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Post by jeffolie on Oct 1, 2011 17:54:13 GMT -6
I expect that in 2014 and/or beyond when Republican imposed austerity badly reduces consumer spending that the Adminstration will agitate and seek to put US military into Mexico most likely at the 'invitation' of Mexico or less likely with uninvited actions. ========================================= U.S. Admits Mexican Cartels Control Parts Of Border 09/29/2011 Janet Napolitano spent much of the spring sounding like a broken record ensuring that the U.S.-Mexico border is safe when the reality is that stretches are controlled by drug-trafficking organizations. A new federal report exposing the ugly truth about the southern border has left President Obama’s Homeland Security Secretary with egg on her face. Published by the Justice Department’s National Drug Intelligence Center, the document ( www.justice.gov/ndic/pubs44/44849/44849p.pdf ) contradicts much of what Napolitano has preached in the last few months during highly publicized jaunts to the crime-infested region. Remember this? The Mexican border “is as secure as it has ever been.” Or what about this; violence along the Mexican border is merely a mistaken “perception” because the Obama Administration has successfully fostered a “secure and prosperous” region. Napolitano also said that “misinformation about safety” is negatively impacting border communities and that the U.S.-Mexico border is not “overrun or out of control.” The truth is that Mexican drug cartels do in fact “control access to the U.S.-Mexico border” and the “smuggling routes across it,” according to the Justice Department’s drug assessment, which has been kept quiet by the administration. No press conferences or photo ops to promote this report, which concludes that the “unprecedented levels of violence in Mexico” will continue for years to come. The crisis has also flowed north because cartels—including Sinaloa, Los Zetas and Juarez—have joined forces with U.S. street gangs that operate in more than 1,000 cities throughout the country, according to the report. Together they run profitable enterprises that sell cocaine, heroin, marijuana and methamphetamines brought into the U.S. through the southern border. This sort of “collaboration between U.S. gangs and Mexican-based” criminal organizations will continue to increase, facilitating wholesale drug trafficking into and within the United States, the report says. This is hardly shocking news. The National Drug Intelligence Center has for years determined that Mexican drug trafficking organizations represent the greatest crime threat to the United States. In fact, the agency’s 2009 report ( www.justice.gov/ndic/pubs31/31379/31379p.pdf ) says that the violence, intimidation, theft and financial crimes carried out by the illicit operations “pose a significant threat” to the nation as a whole. www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2011/sep/u-s-admits-mexican-cartels-control-parts-border---------------------------------- About Us ... "Judicial Watch, Inc., a conservative, non-partisan educational foundation, promotes transparency, accountability and integrity in government, politics and the law. ... The motto of Judicial Watch is "Because no one is above the law". To this end, Judicial Watch uses the open records or freedom of information laws and other tools to investigate and uncover misconduct by government officials and litigation to hold to account politicians and public officials who engage in corrupt activities. ..." www.judicialwatch.org/about-us
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Post by jeffolie on Oct 3, 2011 10:45:05 GMT -6
Perry open to sending U.S. troops to Mexico to battle drug cartels The Associated Press 10/03/2011 MANCHESTER, New Hampshire - Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry said Saturday that he is open to sending American troops to Mexico to help battle drug cartels. Perry, the Texas governor, likened the situation to Colombia, where the government accepted American military support in battling drug trafficking. Mexico's government, however, has been opposed to foreign forces in its territory. Perry saids the current violence may require similar military action. "It may require our military in Mexico working in concert with them to kill these drug cartels and keep them off of our borders," he said. Perry often has called for more National Guard troops to help protect the Mexican border and stem the flow of illegal immigration. But Saturday's comments go further. They indicate he's open to deepening America's military involvement across the border. Perry's comments came at a Saturday afternoon reception at the home of New Hampshire Republican gubernatorial candidate Ovide Lamontagne. A spokesman later clarified that Perry is open to all options to cooperate with Mexico. www.presstelegram.com/breakingnews/ci_19029806
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Post by jeffolie on Oct 23, 2011 10:41:33 GMT -6
Mexico army's fails drug war "virtually blind" I continue to predict that after Obama is out of office: US military will be invited into selected part of Mexico. ========================================================== '...Mexicans are paying a high price … for a strategy that does not seem to have much impact," said Roderic Ai Camp, an expert on the Mexican military at Claremont McKenna College. "It is not reducing drug consumption in the U.S., it is not reducing drug-related income for the trafficking organizations, nor is it reducing their influence in other activities," such as kidnapping and people-smuggling. "I don't see the army, or anyone else, winning this 'war' in the immediate future." In the four years since Calderon launched an offensive against the cartels shortly after assuming office in December 2006, he has deployed more than 50,000 military troops, plus an estimated 30,000 federal police officers, to more than half of the country's 31 states. In the diplomatic cables released by the WikiLeaks website and published in numerous newspapers, U.S. officials noted that the army's inability to contain violence in Ciudad Juarez represented a demoralizing failure. Troops were eventually pulled out of Juarez and replaced with federal police officers. Calderon's strategy relies in large part on taking down capos and splintering their organizations. In the short term, however, that has often led to more bloodletting as the battles for turf and succession escalate. U.S. officials, who are giving Mexico $1.4 billion as part of the Merida Initiative to fight cartels and shore up law enforcement, repeatedly emphasize that their relationship with Mexican forces, including training exercises and intelligence-sharing, is stronger than ever. Instead of relying on the army, however, U.S. efforts have focused on revamping the police and providing assistance to the navy special forces. '...U.S. diplomats and Mexican intelligence officials say the Mexican military and police distrust each other, refuse to share intelligence and resist operating together, squandering important potential gains. "...Four years and 50,000 troops into President Felipe Calderon's drug war, the fighting has exposed severe limitations in the Mexican army's ability to wage unconventional warfare, tarnished its proud reputation and left the U.S. pointedly criticizing the force as "virtually blind" on the ground. "...MEXICO UNDER SIEGE Mexico army's failures hamper drug war www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-mexico-army-20101230,0,729126,full.story 'Mexico Under Siege': Sensational, or a stark truth? October 20, 2011 Since June 2008, The Times has been reporting on the drug-related violence on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. The series is labeled “Mexico Under Siege” and has included more than 300 articles to date. The most recent article, on vigilantes targeting the drug cartels, was published Thursday. But reader John Fries of Long Beach finds the label misleading. He wrote: Now yet another article under the headline or title ‘Mexico Under Siege.’ As a frequent traveler to Mexico, most recently three weeks driving in Yucatan, I object to the insinuation contained in this title. Yes, there are some parts of Mexico I would not travel to, just as there are some parts of Los Angeles I don’t drive through on surface streets. To imply that all of Mexico, and all tourists traveling in Mexico, face daily and constant danger is false, misleading and does a disservice both to Mexico and to our fellow citizens possibly interested in visiting our neighbor. It’s no wonder that recently I meet more Europeans than Americans when I travel. I urge The Times to reconsider the way it presents these articles. I am not asking for self-censorship, but rather honest reporting that does not sensationalize nor over-emphasize the actual risk of violence, especially to tourists, very few of whom are ever impacted. Lose the sensationalistic ‘Mexico Under Siege.’ Geoffrey Mohan, the editor who oversaw the project when it began, responds: Our philosophy was to begin covering the killings down there as a real war, instead of publishing piecemeal, incremental crime stories. At the time, the statistics we gathered were staggering: several thousand deaths just in the year since President Felipe Calderon “declared war” on drug mafias. At first, I questioned the central metaphor of a “siege.” I hesitated to isolate just “Mexico” as well. At the time, there were only a few places where a siege mentality prevailed –- governments paralyzed by threats from drug traffickers, police corps corrupted or cowed by the same. So, we were careful to write stories about the U.S. responsibility, and even wrote out of Canada. We also were cautious in every story to isolate the areas where the violence was occurring, and took quite a few opportunities to write about how normal life was in other areas, Baja and the Yucatan among them. But I have to say history absolves us, to quote Fidel Castro for a moment. Since the series was launched in June 2008, the violence has spread to areas that never had such a problem, and many more civilians are either being caught up in the violence or living under direct threat or control of traffickers. All the placid tourist trips into back roads of Yucatan or Baja do little to dispel that truth. Those areas are exceptions solely because they no longer lie in the trade routes (the Caribbean and Pacific routes have shifted). But drug violence is no longer a “fringe” or “border” state problem in Mexico: Interior states that never experienced this level of violence before include much of central Mexico, from Michoacan up through Nuevo Leon. Violence has entrenched itself in Veracruz state, on the east coast. It’s no longer just Sinaloa/Durango/Chihuahua and border states. It’s pandemic. latimesblogs.latimes.com/readers/2011/10/mexico-under-siege.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+readersblog+%28Readers%27+Representative+Journal%29
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Post by graybeard on Oct 30, 2011 8:19:28 GMT -6
Portugal decriminalized all drugs ten years ago, and drug use has stabilized or decreased since, while crime had gone down. www.cato.org/pubs/wtpapers/greenwald_whitepaper.pdfThe DOJ is doing the opposite, cracking down on medical pot, driving consumers underground, which is a great thing for the Mexican Mafia. GB
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Post by jeffolie on May 5, 2012 9:29:40 GMT -6
US into Mexico...jeffolie predicts Mexico continues in a hopeless, failed narco-cartel state. Death, corruption, fear dominate. After Obama is out of office, I predict America's military will be in Mexico probably under an 'invitation' to help. ====================================================== Read more: unlawflcombatnt.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=iraq&thread=8073&page=1#ixzz1u0ewBiWgDozens Dead in Border City Violence At least 23 bodies are found hanging from a bridge, decapitated or dumped near Mexican border city where drug cartels are fighting an escalating turf war. The bodies of 23 people were found hanging from a bridge or decapitated and dumped near city hall Friday in the border city of Nuevo Laredo, where drug cartels are fighting a bloody and escalating turf war. Authorities found nine of the victims, including four women, hanging from an overpass leading to a main highway, said a Tamaulipas state official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to provide information on the case. Hours later, police found 14 human heads inside coolers outside city hall along with a threatening note. The 14 bodies were found in black plastic bags inside a car abandoned near an international bridge, the official said. The official didn't release the contents of the note, or give a motive for the killings. But the city across the border from Laredo, Texas has recently been torn by a renewed turf war between the Zetas cartel, a gang of former Mexican special-forces soldiers, and the powerful Sinaloa cartel, which has joined forces with the Gulf cartel, former allies of the Zetas. Local media published photos of the nine bloodied bodies, some with duct tape wrapped around their faces, hanging from the overpass along with a message threatening the Gulf cartel. Interior Secretary Alejandro Poire met with Tamaulipas Gov. Egidio Torre Cantu on Friday and agreed to send more federal forces to the state, according to a statement from Poire's office. Nuevo Laredo was the site of a 2003 dispute between the Sinaloa and Gulf cartels that set off a wave of violence that has left thousands dead and spread brutal violence across Mexico. That year, then-Gulf cartel leader Osiel Cardenas was arrested and accused drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, sensing weakness , tried to move in on Nuevo Laredo, unleashing a bloody battle. The city of tree-covered plazas and hacienda-style restaurants was transformed as the Zetas, then working as enforcers for the Gulf cartel, and Sinaloa cartel fighters waged battles with guns and grenades in broad daylight. Killings and police corruption became so brazen that then President Vicente Fox was forced to send in hundreds of troops and federal agents, and the only man brave enough to take the job of police chief was gunned down hours after he was sworn in. The Zetas won that fight and have since ruled the city with fear, threatening police, reporters and city officials and extorting money from businesses. They broke off their alliance with the Gulf cartel in 2010, worsening the violence across northeast Mexico. But last month, 14 mutilated bodies were found in a vehicle left in the city center. Some media outlets reported that the Sinaloa cartel took responsibility for those bodies and in a message allegedly signed by its leader, Guzman, said the group was now back in Nuevo Laredo "to clean" the city. Read more: www.foxnews.com/world/2012/05/04/at-least-23-people-killed-in-mexican-border-city-as-victims-hanged-decapitated/?test=latestnews#ixzz1u0eWH8Ib
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Post by unlawflcombatnt on May 5, 2012 14:56:24 GMT -6
As was stated in the original post in this thread, American "investors" will be the main instigators of military intervention in Mexico--just like in every other country we've invaded.
When murders and assassinations start including the top 1%, and when profits of American Free Traitor Corporations in Mexico are jeopardized, military intervention will become increasingly more likely.
It's about $$$, not people.
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Post by jeffolie on Nov 4, 2012 11:30:40 GMT -6
US into Mexico...jeffolie predicts Mexico continues in a hopeless, failed narco-cartel state. Death, corruption, fear dominate. After Obama is out of office, I predict America's military will be in Mexico probably under an 'invitation' to help. " ... The aggressively expanding Zetas took advantage of three things in this state right across the border from Texas: rampant political corruption, an intimidated and silent public, and, if new statements by the former governor are to be believed, a complicit and profiting segment of the business elite. It took scarcely three years." ... Zetas cartel occupies Mexico state of Coahuila ... What happened to Coahuila has been replicated in several Mexican states — not just the violent ones that get the most attention, but others that have more quietly succumbed to cartel domination. If re-elected, Obama will not enter Mexico. The failed state does not bother Obama plus he will push for an easier imigration policy rather than budget for more border control. Meantime Mexico becomes worse. The Assassins called the Zetas now 'own' a border Mexican state from top to bottom. =============================== MEXICO UNDER SIEGE Zetas cartel occupies Mexico state of CoahuilaThe aggressively expanding and gruesomely violent Zetas group dominates territory by controlling all aspects of local criminal businesses. Coahuila state police guard a checkpoint in the city of Piedras Negras in September after a prison break staged by the Zetas cartel in the northern Mexican state. (Adriana Alvarado, Associated Press / September 18, 2012) November 3, 2012 SALTILLO, Mexico — Few outside Coahuila state noticed. Headlines were rare. But steadily, inexorably, Mexico's third-largest state slipped under the control of its deadliest drug cartel, the Zetas. The aggressively expanding Zetas took advantage of three things in this state right across the border from Texas: rampant political corruption, an intimidated and silent public, and, if new statements by the former governor are to be believed, a complicit and profiting segment of the business elite. It took scarcely three years.What happened to Coahuila has been replicated in several Mexican states — not just the violent ones that get the most attention, but others that have more quietly succumbed to cartel domination. Their tragedies cast Mexico's security situation and democratic strength in a much darker light than is usually acknowledged by government officials who have been waging a war against the drug gangs for six years. "We are a people under siege, and it is a region-wide problem," said Raul Vera, the Roman Catholic bishop of Coahuila. A violence once limited to a small corner of the state has now spread in ways few imagined, he said. What sets the Zetas apart from other cartels, in addition to a gruesome brutality designed to terrorize, is their determination to dominate territory by controlling all aspects of local criminal businesses. Not content to simply smuggle drugs through a region, the Zetas move in, confront every local crime boss in charge of contraband, pirated CDs, prostitution, street drug sales and after-hour clubs, and announce that they are taking over. The locals have to comply or risk death. And so it was in Coahuila. One common threat from Zeta extortionists, according to Saltillo businessmen: a thousand pesos, or three fingers. With the Zetas meeting little resistance, wheels greased by a corrupt local government, there was little violence. But the people of Coahuila found themselves under the yoke of a vicious cartel nonetheless. "It was as if it all fell from the sky to the Earth," said Eduardo Calderon, a psychologist who works with migrants, many of whom have been killed in the conflict. "We all knew it was happening, but it was as if it happened in silence." The "silence" ended in rapid-fire succession in a few weeks' time starting mid-September. Coahuila saw one of the biggest mass prison breaks in history, staged by Zetas to free Zetas; the killing of the son of one of the country's most prominent political families (a police chief is the top suspect); and, on Oct. 7, the apparent slaying of the Zetas' top leader by federal troops who say they stumbled upon him as he watched a baseball game. "Apparent" because armed commandos brazenly stole the body from local authorities within hours of the shooting. The military insists that the dead man was Heriberto Lazcano, Mexico's most feared fugitive, acknowledging that he had been living comfortably and freely in Coahuila for some time. "He was like Pedro in his house," former Gov. Humberto Moreira said, using an expression that means he was totally at home and could go anywhere. The Zetas had such confident dominion over the state that Lazcano, alias the Executioner, and the other top Zeta leader, Miguel Angel Trevino, regularly used a vast Coahuila game reserve to hunt zebras they imported from Africa. Since their formation in the late 1990s and early 2000s as a paramilitary bodyguard for the then-dominant Gulf cartel, the Zetas operated primarily in Tamaulipas state on Mexico's northeastern shoulder and down the coast of Veracruz and into Guatemala. For most of that time, Coahuila, rich in coal mines and with a booming auto industry, was used by cartels as little more than a transit route for drugs across the border. The Zetas maintained a presence limited to Torreon, the southwestern Coahuila city that served as a bulwark against the powerful Sinaloa cartel that reigned in neighboring Durango state. In 2010, the Zetas broke away from the Gulf cartel, triggering a war that bloodied much of Tamaulipas and spilled over into neighboring states. Coahuila, with its rugged mountains and sparsely populated tracts, became a refuge for the Zetas, and they spread out across the state, including this heretofore calm capital, Saltillo. Even if the violence hasn't been as ghastly as in other parts of Mexico, nearly 300 people, many of them professionals, have vanished in Coahuila, probably kidnapped by the Zetas for ransom or for their skills. The man in charge of Coahuila during most of the Zeta takeover was Moreira, the former governor. After five years in office, he left the position a year ahead of schedule, in early 2011, to assume the national leadership of the Institutional Revolutionary Party on the eve of its triumphant return to presidential power after more than a decade.But scandal followed Moreira, including a debt of more than $3 million he had saddled Coahuila with, allegedly from fraudulent loans. He was eventually forced to quit the PRI leadership, dashing what many thought to be his presidential aspirations. Tragedy followed when Moreira's son Jose Eduardo was shot twice in the head execution-style in the Coahuila town of Acuna early last month. Investigators believe that most of the Acuna police department turned Jose Eduardo over to the Zetas as a reprisal for the killing of a nephew of Trevino. The police chief was arrested. Killing the son of a former governor — and nephew of the current one, Humberto's brother Ruben — was a rare strike by drug traffickers into the heart of Mexico's political elite. In mourning, Humberto Moreira gave a series of remarkably candid interviews in which he accused entrepreneurs from Coahuila's mining sector of sharing the wealth with top drug traffickers who in turn used the money to buy weapons and pay off their troops. They killed his son, he said. Mining in Coahuila is huge and notoriously dangerous, with companies routinely flouting safety regulations and workers dying in explosions and accidents. The depth to which drug traffickers have penetrated the industry is being investigated by federal authorities. The question on the minds of many Mexicans was: If Moreira was so aware of criminal penetration, why didn't he stop it? Critics suggest that during his tenure, he was happy to turn a blind eye to the growth of the Zetas as long as he could pursue his business and political interests. He denies that now and says fighting organized crime was up to the federal government; the federal government blames state officials, in Coahuila and elsewhere, for coddling the drug lords. " The northern governors have long cut deals with the cartels that operate in their domains. The pattern in the north is cooperation," said George W. Grayson, a Mexico scholar at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va., who has written extensively on the Zetas and Mexican issues. " The Coahuila police are among the most corrupt in all Mexico." The extent to which the Zetas' tentacles had penetrated state government became clear this year when federal authorities discovered a protection racket that dated well into Humberto Moreira's administration and was led by none other than the brother of the state attorney general. According to the federal investigation, he and 10 other state officials were being paid roughly $60,000 a month by the Zetas to leak information to the gang. The nearly 3 million residents of Coahuila, meanwhile, find ways to survive and accommodate. In rural areas where the Zetas are most commonly seen on the streets, people have learned to be mute and blind. In cities such as Saltillo, they change their habits, don't go out at night, send their children to school in other cities. A businessman whose family has lived here for generations said, "We are in a state of war, without realizing when or how we got there." www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-mexico-zetas-control-20121104,0,4077102,full.story
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