Mexico becoming a failed state?

[Bishop Drake]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't the Mexican Cartels move Coke and Heroin for the South American Cartels?

That is correct. However the point that dogbane was making was that they don't have a Hecho en Mexico tag on them....

[pahwraith]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't the Mexican Cartels move Coke and Heroin for the South American Cartels?

That is correct. However the point that dogbane was making was that they don't have a Hecho en Mexico tag on them....

I read in some article that this is why the cartels have made the push for Meth and Weed, since they can produce it and not share the profits. Also, partly the reason the Colombian cartels have invested so heavily on their minisubs, since as Mexican cartels have gained influence and muscle, they have demanded a bigger share of the cut since the take a bigger share of the risk.

Anyway, here's a video proof of local police working for the cartels. Lovely.

http://news.yahoo.com/kidnapping-mexica ... 35793.html

[Pilsung]

http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2012/06/m ... arios.html

An encounter with drunk sicarios (cartel hitmen). Dated 2010 but a great read.

[Blacksmith]

Blue on blue shoot out at the Juarez Airport in Mexico City.

http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/20 ... rport?lite

[Rugger]

I was just pulled over and given a warning by a LEO in a medium sized border town, in TX. The very surreal conversation went like this:
LEO: walks up asks for DL and such
Me: (first words out of my mouth while handing him docs) just to let you know, there is a loaded and chambered firearm in the passenger seat between my bag and seatback. Would you like me to get out of the car, you come around and get it, or whatever makes you comfortable?
L: ok, cc permit?
M: don't have a cc permit. (it's not needed here in Texas to carry a handgun in your vehicle. Just has to be concealed. But a rifle can be open carried in the vehicle. Castle doctrine extends to your vehicle.)
L: ok. What do you do?
M: work for O&G company. I'm headed to the courthouse right now to do research.
L: do you ever head out onto the ranches and well sites?
M: yes, I'm heading out to a couple sites later today.
L: do you take it with you? what is it?
M: yes. a handgun, a g-17.
L: good, but I'd suggest you carry a rifle. That could be a little lite for what you can run into out there.
M: yeah, I do most days when I'll be out there, just not today. (was in a rush this morning and forgot it)
L: good. We've been unofficially suggesting to most of you O&G guys to carry out there, even if your company says not to.
M: that's what I've heard. The border patrol told one of our guys the same thing just the other day.
L: yep. A lot of our guys will work security on the sites when they're off duty. They carry their ARs and normally wear those vests that'll stop rifle bullets. Anyway, be safe out there and slow down a bit.
M: thanks!

He never ran my DL or took any action regarding the pistol. A very cool dude, as most of the LEOs down here on the border seem to be. But a very strange, unusual, and unsettling conversation nonetheless.

[Blacksmith]

A perfectly normal conversation with a South Texas Lawman.

Why was it strange? I don't get it... I have had two conversations that pretty much went exactly like that over the last ten years.

It is not Chicago, LA, DC or NYC.

It is real people dealing with real problems in real ways. Not the least bit surreal to me. Maybe a little too real?

I have an unproven theory that one of the reasons the crime rate is so low (relatively) North of the border is because people have the ways, means and capabilities to take care of problems as they occur. This heads off problems and may even discourage them from happening. It is just a theory though and unproven.

[Rugger]

I guess it just seemed strange that a LEO was reccomending,and encouraging,that I carry my AR so that I would have enough firepower to defend (possibly kill) and extricate myself from a very possible (relatively speaking) scenario of being jumped/ambushed while out in the middle of nowhere, INSIDE of the United States. The combo of the ambush inside of the US, and LEO giving implied blessing to fire at foriegn nationals part, is what put it into the surreal domain. I grew up down here, and have always been very aware of the situation. I already had this plan of action, and have taken reasonable steps to prepare for it, just hadn't had that convo w the law before. That, and it's not a discussion that LEOs in most other places would have with you. I guess you're right. It made it TOO real.

[Rev]

Seems more like the wild borderlands you hear about in less developed countries. This is unsettling.

[Crimson Phoenix]

This is one of the reasons why I'm the oddball geologist who isn't eager to work the South Texas oilfields now, no matter how good the money. I was talking to my friend's husband months ago who usually open carries a Springfield Armory XD with him to work and around town in a belt holster with two reserve magazines. According to him, most of their work crews go out with a private security vehicle escorting them to and from the wellsite whenever he does maintenance on the pipelines or monitoring equipment. From what he describes, their shadows are driving custom armored SUVs or Pickups that look like stock models and the men themselves are very well armed and armored PMC types, typically carrying M16A1/M4A1 type rifles with full auto select fire; and if he is to be believed, their truck box/armory has what sounds like an LMG and antivehicle equipment of an undisclosed type. I find it hard to believe they'd be allowed shoulder fired rockets/RPGs, but that's what he claims. This sounds pretty bad, but it's worse when you realize that it's become a normal fact of life here and doesn't turn any heads.

[Blacksmith]

This is one of the reasons why I'm the oddball geologist who isn't eager to work the South Texas oilfields now, no matter how good the money. I was talking to my friend's husband months ago who usually open carries a Springfield Armory XD with him to work and around town in a belt holster with two reserve magazines. According to him, most of their work crews go out with a private security vehicle escorting them to and from the wellsite whenever he does maintenance on the pipelines or monitoring equipment. From what he describes, their shadows are driving custom armored SUVs or Pickups that look like stock models and the men themselves are very well armed and armored PMC types, typically carrying M16A1/M4A1 type rifles with full auto select fire; and if he is to be believed, their truck box/armory has what sounds like an LMG and antivehicle equipment of an undisclosed type. I find it hard to believe they'd be allowed shoulder fired rockets/RPGs, but that's what he claims. This sounds pretty bad, but it's worse when you realize that it's become a normal fact of life here and doesn't turn any heads.

I think he is exaggerating. No select fire or RPGs for sure. (select fire maybe if they are cops working under certain rules but I doubt it)

[phil_in_cs]

This is one of the reasons why I'm the oddball geologist who isn't eager to work the South Texas oilfields now, no matter how good the money. I was talking to my friend's husband months ago who usually open carries a Springfield Armory XD with him to work and around town in a belt holster with two reserve magazines. According to him, most of their work crews go out with a private security vehicle escorting them to and from the wellsite whenever he does maintenance on the pipelines or monitoring equipment. From what he describes, their shadows are driving custom armored SUVs or Pickups that look like stock models and the men themselves are very well armed and armored PMC types, typically carrying M16A1/M4A1 type rifles with full auto select fire; and if he is to be believed, their truck box/armory has what sounds like an LMG and antivehicle equipment of an undisclosed type. I find it hard to believe they'd be allowed shoulder fired rockets/RPGs, but that's what he claims. This sounds pretty bad, but it's worse when you realize that it's become a normal fact of life here and doesn't turn any heads.

I think he is exaggerating. No select fire or RPGs for sure. (select fire maybe if they are cops working under certain rules but I doubt it)

While it has become common to carry an extra guy to stand watch with a rifle while the rest of the group works, they are not going to that extent, yet. An individual might have his own automatic weapon, but private security isn't allowed them as a group.

Usually simply having a guy on the roof of the truck watching is sufficient, as the smugglers want to smuggle drugs and not confront ranchers. The problems arise when ranchers are fixing a fence cut by the smugglers, and a new group of smugglers walks up on them without realizing they are there.

Open carry of a pistol is a problem. You're ok on private property, but it isn't legal elsewhere.

[pahwraith]

Seems more like the wild borderlands you hear about in less developed countries. This is unsettling.

Have you been down to the border region? It has always been more like a less developed country than first world. Kind of like Indian reservations.

[Crimson Phoenix]

This is one of the reasons why I'm the oddball geologist who isn't eager to work the South Texas oilfields now, no matter how good the money. I was talking to my friend's husband months ago who usually open carries a Springfield Armory XD with him to work and around town in a belt holster with two reserve magazines. According to him, most of their work crews go out with a private security vehicle escorting them to and from the wellsite whenever he does maintenance on the pipelines or monitoring equipment. From what he describes, their shadows are driving custom armored SUVs or Pickups that look like stock models and the men themselves are very well armed and armored PMC types, typically carrying M16A1/M4A1 type rifles with full auto select fire; and if he is to be believed, their truck box/armory has what sounds like an LMG and antivehicle equipment of an undisclosed type. I find it hard to believe they'd be allowed shoulder fired rockets/RPGs, but that's what he claims. This sounds pretty bad, but it's worse when you realize that it's become a normal fact of life here and doesn't turn any heads.

I think he is exaggerating. No select fire or RPGs for sure. (select fire maybe if they are cops working under certain rules but I doubt it)

No kidding. I was fine until he mentioned the LMG and the RPG had to be total BS. Still wanted to tell the story though.

[pahwraith]

So Mexico is going to vote for the PRI and hand them over the congress and presidency.

Anyone who bothers to read this thread would be interested in these articles.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline ... upsha.html

Mexico: An Emerging Narco-Democracy?

Leaked DEA and PGR reports show phone calls from Garcia Abrego's 'Gulf Cartel' to the Office of President Salinas de Gortari, as well as to key Cabinet Secretaries, such as Emilio Gamboa Patron, Secretary of Communication and Transportation (SCT). This latter office is as critical to the evolution of the Cali cartel's drug transportation system as it is to NAFTA. Its portfolio includes the administration of airports, seaports, highways, communication lines, and the Federal Highway Police.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline ... nquet.html

NARRATOR: While Raul was filling his overseas bank accounts, his brother, Carlos, was accumulating political capital. To keep his party in power and his own long-term influence within it, he would need cash_ a war chest. So on February 23, 1993, with elections approaching, an invitation was extended for dinner.

ANDRES OPPENHEIMER: All the 30 biggest businessmen, billionaires, who in some way or another benefited from the privatization of state-owned companies, the wealthiest people in Mexico_ all men, by the way_ arrived in their limousines. They had an idea of what it was about, but didn't quite exactly know what they had been summoned for. And at that dinner, they were asked to contribute $25 million each to the upcoming presidential campaign-- $25 million each. That's a lot of money. That made together about $750 million. It was, like, way, way, way beyond what any American president ever got from the private sector or from anybody else.

Until they made superPACs legal, m'rite guys?


http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/is ... mexico.htm

Northern Mexico, like southern Mexico, has what the Argentine political scientist Guillermo O'Donnell calls "brown zones," in which "the presence of the state is very low" or the knowledge that "the police are working with the drug traffickers . . . has led to the delegitimation of state authority." The coastal state of Sinaloa, in northwestern Mexico, is "brown" and, by all accounts, getting browner. Sinaloa is drug country. Nowhere else in the world have I seen so many handguns sticking out of the pants of men in civilian clothes, who even carry them into first-class restaurants. Federal "policemen" in baseball hats and T-shirts ride in pickup trucks and carry assault rifles. Drugs and violence, though, are only half of the Sinaloan reality. Sinaloa produces three quarters of Mexico's soybeans and a third of its sesame seeds. Brand-new office buildings and hotels are crowded with American businesspeople. Employment opportunities in Sinaloa draw migrants from poorer Mexican provinces. Sinaloa is an emerging neo-medieval principality of the new North America, partly independent and completely amoral, where multinational business and organized crime are entangled in ways that neither is fully conscious of, creating future prosperity while eroding the rule of law.

This was written in 1997!

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline ... cript.html

This is long, I'll highlight the best bits.

Dr. VALENTIN ROSCHACHER, Swiss National Police: We got information from the law enforcement agencies in Europe, informants, U.S. law enforcement agencies in Europe, informants, U.S. law enforcement agencies, from DEA that the former Mexican President's brother could have accounts here in Switzerland under wrong names.

ANTONIO LOZANO, Former Attorney General of Mexico: [through interpreter] We found a house supposedly owned by a Mr. Gomez Gutierrez, but our investigation revealed that Gomez Gutierrez was actually Mr. Raul Salinas de Gortari. And he had a fake passport under that name, but with his picture in it and his signature. This is how we discovered that he had a false identity. Later we discovered he had three or four fake identities. Then we discovered he had several businesses and, finally, we found he had accounts under this false name in Switzerland, London and other places.

NARRATOR: This is what Lozano found: a collection of luxury homes scattered around Mexico, ranches, horses, and banks accounts with millions of dollars in Mexico, all belonging to a man whose main official job was as a civil servant in charge of national grain distribution-- a civil servant who liked to go on safaris with his wife, his fourth, Paulina Castañon; a bureaucrat who put his wife's name on a Swiss bank account totaling $84 million. She says she asked him about that money.

PAULINA CASTAÑON, Wife of Raul Salinas: He wanted to explain me exactly where the money came, everything. And I told him "You know, the only thing I want to know, is this legal money or no?" And he wanted to explain me, but I don't know_ I don't want to know about that money. Who gave it_

LOWELL BERGMAN: What do you mean, you don't_ you put your name there.

PAULINA CASTAÑON: The only thing I want to know is if it's legal or not. He told me, "Yes, it's legal."

"Okay. You're going to prove it?" "Yes, I'm going to prove it." "Okay." I don't want to know who is the money, for what is the money. No. I've never asked questions. Mexican_ not all the Mexican women, because now they are changing, but we don't ask questions to our husbands.

Dr. VALENTIN ROSCHACHER, Swiss National Police: It's really a huge case. I can't remember if there was a case like this before.

LOWELL BERGMAN: How much money is involved?

Dr. VALENTIN ROSCHACHER: We blocked about a little bit more than $100 million U.S. in Switzerland. It could be a lot more. And part of the money came into Switzerland and went out, so it's more than we blocked and probably it's a lot more, but I have proofs for a little bit more than $100 millions and the bigger amount I saw passing different countries. But I can't tell you if the amount was $200 million, $300 million, $400 million or $500 millions, but I think everything is possible in this case.

NARRATOR: When Paulina Castañon was arrested back in November of 1995, she was told that the reason for her arrest was a Swiss suspicion that some of the money was connected to drug trafficking.

Dr. VALENTIN ROSCHACHER: We are more convinced than when we started the case that this money is drug money, or the biggest part of it or_ I don't know if every dollar here on every Swiss account is a drug_ is a narco-dollar, but we think that we're on the good way to prove that the money is all drug proceeds.

LOWELL BERGMAN: You have live witnesses?

Dr. VALENTIN ROSCHACHER: Yeah, live witnesses and I hope they are still alive.

LOWELL BERGMAN: What do you mean?

Dr. VALENTIN ROSCHACHER: You know, it's dangerous for a witness to say, "Okay, this guy and this guy was involved in drug trafficking or gave protection to drug traffickers." That's not-- that's not an easy thing to say, even if it's the truth, you know?

LOWELL BERGMAN: What were the drug traffickers paying Raul Salinas for?

Dr. VALENTIN ROSCHACHER: We are talking about protection, you know?

LOWELL BERGMAN: Protection in Mexico?

Dr. VALENTIN ROSCHACHER: In Mexico.

LOWELL BERGMAN: From the government?

LOWELL BERGMAN: We are being told that some of that money is reaching all the way into Los Pinos, to the presidential palace.

JOSE ANGEL GURRIA, Foreign Minister of Mexico: I think I would disagree totally. I don't think there is any proof of that.

LOWELL BERGMAN: Under Salinas, under Carlos Salinas.

JOSE ANGEL GURRIA: I would_ again, I don't think there is any proof of that. I would challenge anybody who said that because I think it's a very serious allegation. I would say generally that the level of accountability of public servants in the last few years has increased exponentially and that there are

now many ways in which we can both identify and track instances of corruption. We have not rooted it out. We still have it at lower levels and we're working on it.

NARRATOR: Not enough, apparently. At a high level meeting with the U.S. drug czar, Secretary Gurria introduced his new chief of drug enforcement, General Gutierrez Rebollo.

GENERAL BARRY R. McCAFFREY: And we also are delighted to meet for the first time General Gutierrez Rebollo. We know his reputation for focus, for integrity_

NARRATOR: But the U.S. endorsement became an embarrassment when it was revealed that Gutierrez Rebollo was in the pay of the drug cartels.

LOWELL BERGMAN: You must have been shocked. I mean, you publicly vouched for his integrity.

Gen. BARRY McCAFFREY, Director of National Drug Control Policy: Well, of course, I don't publicly vouch for anybody's integrity. What I do is deal with the representatives of foreign powers and it was our view then, based on our own intelligence, that he was what the Mexicans thought he was, was an honest, hard-driving field operative, which they_ who they brought up into their senior ranks and who turned out to be a crook.

NARRATOR: Not just a crook. According to sources in the FBI and DEA, before he was uncovered General Gutierrez Rebollo had betrayed high-level informants, who paid with their lives. But the evidence of high-level corruption keeps mounting, like this deputy attorney general for narcotics during the Salinas regime who, it turns out, was in the pay of the drug cartels at the rate of $1.5 million a month; and this deputy attorney general under Carlos Salinas, the brother of the murdered Ruiz Massieu, found by a Houston jury to have been paid $8 million by the drug cartels.

So the question is: What did Carlos Salinas know about the corruption around him and, more importantly, how could he have not known of the possible involvement of his brother Raul?

So this is who Mexico will returned to power.

[Valarius]

Story from New York Times about a village that kicked out the cops and started patrolling their own forests:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/03/world ... .html?_r=1

[phil_in_cs]

Story from New York Times about a village that kicked out the cops and started patrolling their own forests:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/03/world ... .html?_r=1

Thanks for posting that. I haven't updated this in a while as the dreary crap is in our Texas papers daily and it gets depressing after a while. Nice to see something working out at least a bit. That fits well into the "what can we learn" issue as well.

[Red Cell]

The S.American and Mexican cartels are run by who?

http://dailycaller.com/2012/08/12/house ... documents/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYyqBxD-3xw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSYHCB3hYrw

[sheddi]

Haven't spotted this anywhere else on ZS:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-19417715

Mexico judge orders arrest of ex-Governor Yarrington

A Mexican judge has issued an arrest warrant for a former state governor for allegedly fomenting drug trafficking.

Tomas Yarrington, who was the governor of the northern state of Tamaulipas from 1999 until 2005, is suspected of accepting millions of dollars in bribes from Mexican drug cartels. Attorney-General Marisela Morales asked Interpol for help with his arrest. Mr Yarrington's lawyer said his client was innocent and the charges were politically motivated.

The Mexican arrest warrant comes three months after two civil suits were filed against Mr Yarrington in the United States alleging that he had laundered money for Mexican drug cartels by investing in US property.

[Barr]

A little headway being made, not that it's really going to do much in the grand scheme of things though.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/article/Mexico-Purported-Gulf-drug-cartel-leader-caught-3861266.php

Yet there is more bad news.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/default/article/Even-more-brutal-leader-takes-over-Mexico-s-Zetas-3811728.php

[SharkChild]

Drug violence infiltrates valley schools
http://www.valleycentral.com/news/story ... FKYhuyT7f8

This was on 9/4/12
Leader of Gulf Cartel faction captured in Altamira
http://www.valleycentral.com/news/story ... FKZMOyT7f8

Mexican troops arrest Zetas leader "El Cochiloco" in Zacatecas
http://www.valleycentral.com/news/story ... FKZieyT7f8

[CitizenZ]

-On Friday in Tamaulipas, 16 bodies were found
-dismembered bodies of 17 men were found Sunday


http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2012-09- ... ral-mexico

[phil_in_cs]

big, organized jail break across the river from Eagle Pass
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-19634070

[phil_in_cs]

Kidnappings, either for fun and profit or for intimidation, are very common in Mexico. Moving north, it seems:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/2 ... 15959.html

The University of Texas-Pan American is investigating what it believes was a kidnapping on campus Tuesday night. An investigation is underway, and the university asks for the public's help, according to the Monitor.

Administrators shared a crime alert on its Facebook page at 7:15 p.m., which was originally published on the page of the UTPA Citizen Police Academy. According to the alert, a witness called police, saying two Hispanic males forced a female student into a vehicle, which looked like a Mercury Cougar. One suspect had his hand over her mouth.

The first suspect is described as wearing a striped shirt with a tattoo or birthmark on his left arm. He has a dark collection and a light beard. The second suspect is around 5'8" and 240 lbs. The witness said he's in his mid-to-late 20s.

Police ask anyone with information to contact the UTPA PD at 956-665-7151.

[SharkChild]

Kidnappings, either for fun and profit or for intimidation, are very common in Mexico. Moving north, it seems:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/2 ... 15959.html

The University of Texas-Pan American is investigating what it believes was a kidnapping on campus Tuesday night. An investigation is underway, and the university asks for the public's help, according to the Monitor.

Administrators shared a crime alert on its Facebook page at 7:15 p.m., which was originally published on the page of the UTPA Citizen Police Academy. According to the alert, a witness called police, saying two Hispanic males forced a female student into a vehicle, which looked like a Mercury Cougar. One suspect had his hand over her mouth.

The first suspect is described as wearing a striped shirt with a tattoo or birthmark on his left arm. He has a dark collection and a light beard. The second suspect is around 5'8" and 240 lbs. The witness said he's in his mid-to-late 20s.

Police ask anyone with information to contact the UTPA PD at 956-665-7151.

It happened minutes before I got to that area. I was walking with some friends from class in that direction. The next day we discussed it in class what had happened and ways to try to prevent it and I said most important is situation awareness and all my classmates did not understand what I was talking about. I gave the example being on the phone while trying to get in your car. Distractions that can hinder someone from knowing what is going on. They still did not get it. Some even used the excuse that it won't happen again. I just left it at that.