Posted on 08/30/2010 11:55:08 AM PDT by AuntB
There was a time a time when the municipality of San Fernando in northeastern Mexico was known for farming, fishing and a quiet way of life. Today, it is associated with death. This week, a young Ecuadorean with bullet holes through his shoulder and cheek told the story of how he and his travelling companions on their way to the US in search of work had been kidnapped in San Fernando by the Zetas, one of Mexico’s drug cartels. Even Monterrey, the country’s industrial center known until recently for its peaceful lifestyle, has been turned upside down with terror. The past few months have seen an increase in so-called “narco-bloqueos” or impromptu roadblocks by drugs gangs to create maximum chaos in the selected cities and thwart any local authority to keep the peace.
“They pulled us out of the truck violently and demanded money,” The young Ecuadorian told authorities after managing to escape. “They said that they were Zetas and that they would pay us $1,000 every two weeks [if we joined them] but we didn’t accept and they opened fire.” Mexican authorities confirmed the account when they discovered in a remote and semi-derelict grain warehouse 72 bullet-ridden bodies with their hands tied and eyes bandaged. Among them was a woman in the final stages of pregnancy.
Revelations of what has now been confirmed as the worst massacre since Felipe Calderón, Mexico’s president, declared war on organized crime almost four years ago have focused international attention on the country’s drug war like never before. They have underlined the extent to which the cartels have moved into other avenues of crime, such as extortion, kidnapping and human trafficking. And they have left Mexicans with the increasing feeling that the government is losing the war.
It used to be possible to pay little heed to Mexico’s drugs cartels, which supply an estimated 80-90 per cent of the cocaine consumed in the US, as well as a substantial chunk of marijuana, methamphetamines and heroin. Today, the violence resulting from bloody inter-cartel battles over local markets and international smuggling routes affects just about everyone.
Less than a week ago, police found four decapitated bodies hanging from a bridge in a wealthy area of Cuernavaca, a weekend getaway about an hour from Mexico City prized for its climate of eternal spring. The victims’ genitals had been hacked off and their little fingers removed. Nearby, police found a calling card left by the South Pacific Cartel, a relatively new drugs syndicate.
Remember the “plaza”, that sunlit square complete with bubbling fountain in the middle that forms any self-respecting image of a Mexican town? Today, it means a local territory for dealing drugs.
Dar piso - The literal translation of “dar piso” is to “give floor” (to something). Today it means to kill someone or to “take them out”. Narco- Perhaps the most flexible term in the new vocabulary is the prefix “narco”.
Try “narcocandidato”, the term for describing a corrupt politician. Or “narcofiesta”, a party of rabble-rousing music, pretty girls and plenty of white cowboy hats held by and for drug traffickers. Then there is the somewhat older term “narcocorrido”, a ballad whose lyrics are specifically about mafia culture. Things got so bad this week that Coparmex, a national confederation of 36,000 businesses that account for one-third of Mexico’s economic output, demanded that federal, state and municipal governments fulfilled their obligations to protect citizens. Mexico’s security arrangements are a patchwork of institutions – there are more than 1,600 separate police forces dotted around the country – with little or no information-sharing and notoriously vulnerable to bribes and corruption.
Aware of their inability to perform even basic tasks of law and order, the center-right Sr Calderón has deployed almost 50,000 army troops to win the nation’s streets back from organized crime. But Raúl Benitez, a security analyst and expert in military affairs, says that the brute-force approach has fallen far short of what is needed. “Militarizing cities without proper intelligence and information-gathering is never going to work,” he says. “There is a perception that the government is not controlling the situation.” That perception is increasingly reinforced by the numbers. According to the latest estimates, about 28,000 people have died as a result of drugs-related violence since Sr Calderón declared his war in December 2006. Since January alone, 7,500 people have been murdered, according to Reforma newspaper – 255 of those were decapitated.
With no sign of the violence receding, Sr Calderón and his administration have begun to step away from their assertion that the mounting death toll was a sign of the cartels’ weakness and desperation in the face of the state’s crackdown. Instead, they are trying to rebrand the war on the cartels as a wider struggle for security. They have called on the opposition to help them design the appropriate strategy.
At the same time, the government is attempting to broaden its attack on organized crime. This week, it announced additional measures to help clamp down on the cartels’ money-laundering operations, which the administration estimates run into billions of dollars a year. One of them includes a bill to prohibit the purchase of real estate, vehicles and other goods for more than 100,000 pesos ($7,700) in cash.
Experts have welcomed the initiatives – although in both cases, they have asked the question: why now and not four years ago?
It is now time to enforce the rule-of-law along our southern borders. No more excuses…no more delays…no more politics, no more kowtowing to special interest groups, or claims by open-border believers and LaRaza. The fact is that the Citizens of the USA are in daily danger and are being killed because the border states of Mexico are controlled by thugs and terrorists copying Jihad tactics of mayhem and murder. Once again, the entire area is festooned with upheaval, violence, and lawlessness as it was in 1846. The northern states in Mexico; Baja California Norte, Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, and Tamaulipas are under rogue control, and the Mexican Police and Army cannot control them. Therefore, it is in the national interest of the United States to restore order because of this clear and present danger to US Citizens and our economy. ****
If our Federal Government will not execute an operational plan to secure our southern borders then the States and the people must do it. However, let me provide an executable plan of operations for the Federal Government to undertake with resolve and commitment to protect and secure the American people.
The problems on and across our southern borders of California, New Mexico, Arizona and Texas are in the news every day. You would have to live in a perpetual cave not to know the situation. We have a war of gigantic proportions…illegal invasions, treacherous drug cartels, gangs, human trafficking, drugs (is there not a war on drugs???), smuggling, kidnappings, and corruption of officials on both sides of the borders. Now if I were the Commander-in-Chief, I would be on a war-footing and I would have my military commanders planning and executing a strategy that will defeat swiftly and decisively these cancerous enemies and bring the border under control.
The plan is basic and advanced unconventional/conventional war planning. This combines the best use of our Forces that will encompass intelligence, targeting, structural organization of our forces to accomplish the mission, base operations, offensive and defensive operations. First, organize three (3) Border Task Force Groups (BTFGs) and position them in three operational bases, one in Texas, one to be in Arizona and one in Southern California. We have existing bases in those states that can be use. There is no requirement to create any new bases. I will not name these existing bases because of operational security but Department of Defense can easily figure this out! The BTFGs will be organized based on joint task forces of Special Ops, Army, Air Force and Navy. Selected units and personal will be relocated and moved to these designated bases. I would also declare with Mexico, a 20 mile “No Go” zone on the Mexican side of the border. Any group or persons occupying this zone engaging in criminal or illegal activities against Mexico or the United States will be engaged and shot on site.
There will be approximately 5,000 warriors assigned to each BTFG. The organization will be commanded by a Two Star “Warrior” and each of the three BTFGs will be commanded by a Brigadier General. The mission for the Command will be to target and conduct offensive and defensive operations on the Mexican side of the border. National Guard, Border Patrol, DEA, and local sheriffs units will conduct border security operations on the United States side of the border. This initiative does not violate any existing Posse Comitatus laws.
The Posse Comitatus Act is a United States federal law (18 U.S.C. § 1385) passed on June 18, 1878, after the end of Reconstruction, with the intention (in concert with the Insurrection Act of 1807) of substantially limiting the powers of the federal government to use the military for law enforcement. The Act prohibits most members of the federal uniformed services (today the Army, Navy, Air Force, and State National Guard forceswhen such are called into federal service) from exercising nominally state law enforcement, police, or peace officer powers that maintain "law and order" on non-federal property (states and their counties and municipal divisions) within the United States. The statute generally prohibits federal military personnel and units of the National Guard under federal authority from acting in a law enforcement capacity within the United States, except where expressly authorized by the Constitution or Congress. The Coast Guard is exempt from the Act.
The National Guard is and will be the asset of the State Governors to be used as required to augment the Active Force BTFGs operations on the US side of the border.
Remove Homeland Security Department from this action completely.
Maximum use must be made of our Special Operators, Delta Force, Special Forces, Seals, AF Special Ops, Rangers, Marine Recon and Special Ops Air Assets and augmented by Active Force regular Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force.
The concerns and anxiety of Americans, particularly in the Border States have grown significantly in the past year. Governor Jan Brewer has had to take extraordinary legislative action to help rectify the situation and we applaud her and others in Arizona for their initiative and courage. Changes in law enforcement operations have forced smugglers of drugs and illegal aliens into ever more isolated areas, increasing the number of deaths and the level of violence to a point where even the most hardened enforcement officials are alarmed.
The number of arrests made by Border Patrol agents is one of the few reliable measurements of the rising influx. That number dropped right after 9/11, but it has since been climbing. In fact, the cost of protecting the nation's borders has increased 58 percent since 9/11, but in three of the four years since the attacks, the number of people nabbed by the Border Patrol still increased. In the fiscal year that ended in September, the Border Patrol reported 1.19 million arrests, compared with 932,000 in fiscal year 2003. The Pew Hispanic Center estimates that the number of illegal immigrants in the United States has grown from 8.4 million in 2000 to 15 million today.
The political ferment over illegals has never been greater. 78 percent of Americans think and know that the government is not doing enough to control our borders; talk shows bristle with demands for action. Additionally, Global jihad and jihadis are a major threat as they eye the southern border as a path of least resistance to strike inside the United States.
America…We must act NOW for the welfare and security of our precious nation. Support Governor Jan Brewer of Arizona and the other supportive Governors.
***** Report from Adam Thomson in Mexico City August 27, 2010
FamilySecurityMatters.org Contributing Editor Paul E. Vallely, Major General (USA/Ret.) is an author, military strategist and Chairman of Stand Up America and Save Our DemocracyProjects.
Border Patrol Joins ICE Agents In Condemning Obama Administration
http://www.postchronicle.com/news/original/article_212319230.shtml
On the heels of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents’ 258-0 “vote of no confidence” against their superiors, U.S. Border Patrol agents are slamming President Barack Obama’s administration, especially Attorney General Eric Holder.
“We are receiving reports… that Eric Holder and DOJ have signaled that they [will continue to] challenge SB1070.
If this development wasn’t so sad, it would be funny,” according to the membership of the National Border Patrol Council Local 2544, which represents U.S. Border Patrol agents in Tucson, Arizona.
While lamenting the disinterest in the Obama Administration for border security and immigration enforcement, Local 2544 officials said in a statement,
“Now, [Attorney General Eric] Holder and DOJ [Department of Justice] apparently have found resources to challenge SB1070.
This is an obvious political ploy, and Americans should be outraged [that] they actually go after a state for trying to do something about the out-of-control illegal immigration mess.
[....]
The Immigration and Nationality Act includes section 287(g), added in 1996, that grants local and state jurisdictions the ability to enforce immigration law with proper training and supervision by federal authorities.
In 2003, Alabama became the second state in the nation to participate in the program by signing a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Department of Homeland Security.
Florida was the first state to participate, in 2002, and later Arizona’s Sheriff Joe Arpaio sent his deputies for training.
While many politicians claim their police officers are not allowed to enforce immigration laws, their excuse for ignoring illegal aliens is a canard.
Too few police agencies are taking advantage of the training offered by ICE and DHS.
“Partnerships with our state and local law enforcement colleagues have always been essential to our fight against illegal immigration,” said Paul Kilcoyne, Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s deputy director for investigations.
“This innovative and cooperative effort allows our state troopers to become force multipliers for America’s border security mission.
We always welcome those who enter our country legally, but we won’t stand idly by and do nothing when we catch illegal aliens, some who have committed crimes like armed robbery, rape and drug smuggling, in our state,” he said.
The 287(g) program, one of ICE’s top partnership initiatives, allows a state and local law enforcement entity to enter into a partnership with ICE, under a joint Memorandum of Agreement (MOA), in order to receive delegated authority for immigration enforcement within their jurisdictions.
If only one side fights... guess who will win?
“If only one side fights... guess who will win?”
What seems obvious to you and I seems to escape the powers that be.
Over the weekend: The anti-migrant face of Mexico; Outbreak of violence around Acapulco
August 30, 2010 by m3report
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FORMER BORDER PATROL OFFICERS
Visit our website: http://www.nafbpo.org
Foreign News Report
Saturday 8/28/10
El Sol de Mexico (Mexico City) 8/27/10
Mexico has double standards toward migrants
According to Mexico’s Center for Human Rights of Migrants (CNDH), Mexico operates on a double standard in regards to the treatment of undocumented migrants. In a communique issued from Cd. Juarez, the organization pointed out that while the Mexican government demands respect for their countrymen in the US, it violates the human rights of Central and South Americans in Mexico. In reference to the recent massacre of 72 people in Tamaulipas, what happened there is only a reflection of the vulnerability of migrants in Mexico. Just this past May, they point out, the United Nation’s Human Rights Council expressed surprise at the growing xenophobia, aggressions, tortures, anti-migrant laws and even murders suffered by undocumented Central and South Americans in their transit through Mexican territory.
One of the most serious problems facing migrants in Mexico today is kidnapping. The CNDH documented the kidnapping of 9,758 undocumented migrants in Mexico between September 2008 and February 2009, more than 1,600 per month. The report also warned that the kidnapping of migrants has become a common practice, usually unpunished and with acts of extreme cruelty, carried out as much by the authorities as by organized crime. The crime is very lucrative. In the total number of cases cited above, the take in those six months was approximately 25 million US dollars.
http://www.oem.com.mx/elsoldemexico/notas/n1761035.htm
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El Nuevo Diario (Managua, Nicaragua) 8/27/10
Editorial cartoon
El Universal (Mexico City) 8/27/10
Weekend activities begin early around Acapulco
In different acts of extreme violence, 14 people were executed mob-style Friday in various areas in and around Acapulco, Guerrero. The spree of murders began at midnight with a group of four, followed by two in another area, then six more in a group and, finally two in yet another area. All the victims had their hands and feet tied, were blindfolded and had narco messages left on their bodies.
http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/704605.html
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Sunday 8/29/10
El Universal (Mexico City) 8/28/10
Executions continue in Chihuahua.
The wave of mob style executions reported yesterday (above) continued and spread to the state of Chihuahua with a total of 37 dead. Homicides in Chihuahua totaled 22 in various parts of the state. Five of those killed have been identified as police agents. All were clearly mob hits.
http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/estados/77621.html
—–
Explosions reported in Reynosa
An official report from Reynosa, Tamaulipas, alerted people of two explosions in the downtown area, one near the La Quebradita bar and the other at the intersection of Chapa and Colon streets. There were no injuries reported from the explosive devices, only material damage. [Reynosa is across the Rio Grande from McAllen, Texas.]
http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/704823.html
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Monday 8/30/10
El Tiempo (Bogota, Colombia) 8/29/10
Close inspection of Colombian aircraft
This year, Colombian authorities have grounded 158 private aircraft for various violations including narcotrafficking and duplication or counterfeiting aircraft registrations among other licensing infractions. The most recent government inspection operations were carried out in five diverse airports in central Colombia with the seizure of a Beechcraft King 300 with what appeared to be an altered registration.
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Prensa Libre (Guatemala City, Guatemala) 8/29/10
Guatemalan Migrants called “heroes”
Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom, in Los Angeles, California, to inaugurate the sixth annual Guatemalan festival (Feria Chapina), called his country’s migrants “heroes” for having the courage to migrate to the US, an unknown country. Plans were revealed to construct a monument to migrants near La Aurora, Guatemala City’s international airport.
http://www.prensalibre.com/noticias/Colom-Feria-Chapina-EE-UU_0_325767433.html
——————–
El Universal (Mexico City) 8/29/10
[The daily opinion column in El Universal, which usually covers several topics, had two of interest related here in part:]
Whose desperation?
The federal government’s official claim that it is winning the war against organized crime and that the resulting desperation is driving the escalation of violence by the drug cartels has little support. In Chihuahua, restaurant and bar owners decided to shut down at 19:00 hours to avoid being drug dealers. They and others such as taxi drivers and other small businesses have packets of drugs forced on them to sell to customers. If the businessmen fail to comply, they are murdered. Lacking security from the authorities, the business owners decided to shut down at night in an attempt to put a stop to the abuse.
Investigation hampered by poor judgment
The investigation of the execution murders of 72 Central and South American migrants in Tamaulipas has encountered a major obstacle: the authorities will not have their principal witness, the only survivor of the massacre, since he has turned down a humanitarian visa to remain in Mexico. He wishes to return to his native Ecuador because of threats to his family after his name was released to the press. Loss of the principal witness puts this massive case at risk simply for lack of compliance with article 24 of the UN’s Convention against transnational organized crime that makes it clear that the government was obligated to take measures to prevent the release of the identity of a crime victim who is also a witness.
http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/columnas/85680.html
—–
More on attacks in Reynosa
Three grenade attacks in different parts of the border town of Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Saturday afternoon left a total of 14 adults and 9 minors wounded, among them a 3-year-old. These attacks include the two reported yesterday (above), in which the news erroneously reported that there were no injuries. Paramedics reported that two of the victims are in grave condition. Near one of the explosions, an abandoned Chevrolet Trail Blazer was located with doors open and its engine burned. Documents inside had the name Jose Martinez with an address in Mission, Texas.
——————–
La Jornada (Mexico City) 8/29/10
Human trafficking, a 3 billion dollar business for organized crime in Mexico
Mexico, D.F. (Notimex) – A Mexican legislative report pointed out that between 1998 and 2008, more than 60,000 Central and South Americans “disappeared” while transiting Mexico en route to the US, inasmuch as none of them reached their families in the US or returned home. Their whereabouts remain unknown. Unofficial reports point out that in the past five years, as part of the incursion of narcotraffickers into the business of kidnapping of migrants, the number of deceased could exceed 400 per year. Official figures put the estimated number of annual deaths of Central American migrants in Mexico at 200.
A member of the National Confederation of Public Organizations (CNOP), Edmundo Ramirez Martinez, explained that the trafficking of people over the northern border has become a “huge business” that generates earnings of over three billion dollars a year for organized crime.
——————–
-end of report-
RELATED
For Immediate Release
National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers
Former Border Patrol Chiefs Join in No Confidence of Upper Management
Brunswick, GA - 28/8/2010 - Recently, the union representing Border Patrol Agents joined the one representing ICE Agents in stating they have no confidence in the current DHS & ICE upper management. Now an association of retired Border Patrol Chiefs & Agents has stated their support of the two union’s positions.
The Nat’l. Association of Former Border Patrol Officers, or NAFBPO (www.nafbpo.org) strongly believes that with illegal aliens entrenched in every single state of our nation, interior enforcement of our immigration laws is woefully lacking. This has been caused by a lack of resources, and continues to worsen under faulty operational policies and a non-willingness by upper management to enforce existing immigration laws.
NAFBPO is adamant there are two primary tasks that must be accomplished to improve our system for legal immigration which eliminating the blight of illegal immigration. These are a secured border and strong interior enforcement. NAFBPO’s collective experience in dealing with border & immigration matters as well as an institutional knowledge dating back over a half century leads us to emphatically state that without these two tasks being implemented successfully, immigration control will never be possible. Buck Brandemuhl, retired Chief of the Border Patrol and a founder of NAFBPO says “The U.S. has reached a critical crossroads in dealing with the illegal alien problem. This problem must be addressed now, as it is strangling our democracy and threatening our national security.”
There are a number of steps required in addressing the two essential tasks. In the near future, NAFBPO will be posting a comprehensive immigration enforcement and reform proposal setting forth those steps that if implemened collectively, will provide a common sense solution to illegal immigration and a return to the rule of law
NAFBPO is the National Assn. of Former Border Patrol Officers, an organization advocating for increased homeland security through a controlled border and effective immigration enforcement. In 2006, a group of retired Border Patrol Chiefs and Agents formed NAFBPO in order to use our collective knowledge and experience to educate America to the realities of border and immigration issues, while actively working for no amnesty and working for effective immigration reform. One of the most effective tools is the M3 Report, a collection of translated Spanish-language news media from south of the border. This free report is often quoted by legislators and news media. To subscribe to this free report, go to: http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=wordpress/m3report
Email: nafbpo@gmail.com
Web site: http://www.nafbpo.org
This just can’t be....Obama just said that the border is as secure as it was in 1990! And we know he would NEVER lie! /s
bump
Maybe he meant the border between Ohio and Indiana??? This "being President thingy" can be so confusing. So much more relaxing on vacation.
Hola! Esta dela gobermiento y tengo ayuda para usted!!
(Loose translation of my poor Spanish - Hello! I'm from the government and I'm here to help you!)
Ping!
Nothing to worry about....Obama sent 30 National Guardsmen to the border today.
Mexico is a criminal state, from top to bottom, and the enlightened left wants the US to become just like it.
It seems to me that if Sr. Calderon were really serious about stopping the descent into chaos in Mexico’s northern provinces, he would be BEGGING us to close the border and secure it. If the drug and human trafficking ends, the flow of money to the cartels ends. And then shortly thereafter, the cartels vanish after one last cannibalistic orgy of violence against each other.
http://tfr.faa.gov/save_pages/detail_0_1858.html
10 am local to before 1:00 pm
Should be just enough time to get close to the border - but not too close, it is El Paso after all - and claim credit for the National Guard troops that took over 3 months to send down there...:^)
Or is it just a fundraiser?
I have never imagined anyone vacationing like they do
When amnesty is passed and we find out there really were 30 million illegals in the country, there will be no more border to defend. Those states closest the “border” will soon become extensions of Mexico.
Sometimes it seems the most vocal are those calling for completely open borders and legalization of all narcotics.
I see no peaceful outcome for this...
Mexico has been the number one source of drugs for some time. The drugs might originate in Mexico, but then they have to be smuggled into the country in bulk after which they are divided up into smaller and smaller parcels until they reach the POS - point of sale- which means the street gangs. The whole thing is controlled by Mexicans from the top cartel leaders in Mexico to the smugglers to the street gang dealers. Many of the street gangsters are illegals, it's a complete distribution system from beginning to end. If the cartels did not have the thousands of Latino illegals there would not have been the widespread distribution system that allows the drug trade to exist. Therefore, the look the other way policies of three presidents and other politicians have made it possible for the Mexican drug cartels to become billionaires powerful enough to wage open warfare on the government of Mexico. You would think that the Columbia experience would have taught our great leaders a lesson.
Agreed, and here’s a little something for all to contemplate.
Of the 1 million documented gang members in the US, 500k are of Latino/Hispanic descent. Also half of all prisoners in Fed prisons are of the same.
This has become THE issue that must be resolved or we are going to lose vast tracts of this once proud nation...
Thanks for filling me in on the Latino gang numbers. I new there were many thousands but I had no idea that it was 500 thousand!
Have you ever read Heathr MacDonald’s “The Immigrant Gang Plague” from City Journal, Summer 2004?
Here are some notes that I had written down:
In middle class suburbs of Southwest Miami, second and third generation Hispanic youths are perpetrating home invasions, robberies, battery, drug sales and rape. Kevin Ruiz knows students at the University of California at Irvine who retain their gang connections. Federal law enforcement officials in Virginia are tracking with alarm the spread of gang violence from Northern Virginia west into the Shenandoah Valley and south toward Charlottesville, a trend so disturbing that they secured federal funds this May to stanch the mayhem. “This is, in fact, a national problem,” said FBI assistant director Michael Mason, head of Washington bureau’s field office. Hispanics have a felony arrest record up to triple that of whites. Hispanics can dramatically raise community crime levels.
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