Posted on 11/18/2005 2:02:01 PM PST by SwinneySwitch
WASHINGTON — Paramilitary enforcers for Mexican drug cartels are responsible for a wave of violence in Nuevo Laredo that poses a serious threat for residents on both sides of the Southwest border, U.S. law enforcement officials told a House committee Thursday.
Assassinations, kidnappings and daylight shootouts between military-trained gangs place citizens at risk along the border where violence has soared past historical norms, officials said.
"These paramilitary groups work for the cartels as enforcers and are a serious threat to public safety on both sides of the border," said Chris Swecker, the FBI assistant director for the criminal investigative division.
Law enforcement officials said the violence is intertwined with other criminal activities along the border, including the smuggling of narcotics and undocumented immigrants.
The rising violence prompted a joint oversight hearing by House Judiciary immigration and crime subcommittees.
"A very dangerous criminal element is at our doorstep, and knocking," said Rep. Howard Coble, R-N.C., chairman of the Judiciary subcommittee on crime, terrorism and homeland security.
The hearing comes as House lawmakers are eyeing legislation this year that would boost law enforcement along the Southwest border to stanch the flow of illegal immigration and curtail violence associated with drug and human smuggling.
A growing number of Democrats are among those urging the Bush administration to crack down on criminal elements along the border.
Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee, D-Houston, said she opposed the use of U.S. militia groups to help patrol the border, but she said more funds were needed by law enforcement agencies to better enforce federal laws and stop the violence from spilling into the United States.
Violence exploded along the U.S.-Mexico border this year with 157 reported murders and 63 kidnappings in Nuevo Laredo, said William Reid with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Federal officials said a turf war among drug cartels is responsible for the violence, which includes the assassination of a Nuevo Laredo police chief, who was gunned down in broad daylight.
Even U.S. law enforcement agents are threatened, said Reynaldo Garza, Border Patrol deputy chief in the Rio Grande Valley. There have been 548 assaults on Border Patrol agents in 2005, more than double the 220 reported in 2003, Garza said.
The root of the escalating violence is the use of trained paramilitary enforcers known as Los Zetas by the Gulf Cartel, which is still supervised by kingpin Osiel Cardenas Guillen, despite his 2003 arrest, Reid said.
Los Zetas is comprised of former members of Mexico's special forces, many of them military deserters hired by the Gulf Cartel, according to the FBI.
They are supported by U.S. organized crime groups known as the Mexican Mafia, the Texas Syndicate and Hermandad de Pistoleros Latinos.
Battling the Gulf Cartel for the lucrative smuggling corridor that runs from Monterrey to San Antonio is the Federation, headed by Mexican drug thugs Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman Loera and Arturo Beltran Levya, federal officials said.
That cartel is supported by gangs that include Los Negros and Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, a Central American-based network of criminals with growing membership in the United States.
"While violence has traditionally been associated with cross-border activity, the current level of violence in the Nuevo Laredo area dramatically exceeds historical norms," Reid said.
Law enforcement officials testified Thursday the rising violence in Mexican border towns could move to U.S. cities if more is not done to stop it.
Several bills under consideration in the House would boost spending for law enforcement agencies and provide equipment to better combat smuggling.
The FBI has established special task forces in San Antonio and the Rio Grande Valley, comprised of 35 officers, to combat street crime that originates from Mexican border cities.
This year Attorney General Alberto Gonzales announced a special violent crime team under the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms in Laredo.
Other ATF crime teams are operating in Houston, Tucson, Albuquerque and Los Angeles.
In July, the Border Patrol and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency launched Operation Black Jack with federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.
The initiative targeted criminals in the Texas cities with ties to the Mexican cartels. It has resulted in the seizure of marijuana, cocaine, assault rifles and the arrest of 20 suspects.
Still, law enforcement officials conceded that stopping violence and crime along the Southwest border is an uphill battle.
"We are not being very effective in stopping anything, either people coming across or drugs," said T. J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council of the American Federation of Government Employees.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
gmartin@express-news.net
Buid the wall, now!
No kidding, genius.
And to think Chertoff the sock puppet says it's to impractical to do anything about this....LOL
Might as well just close up Homeland Insecurity dept and go home....nuthin' to see here.
Go build your own prison. You are NOT going to put a useless wall in Texas. These fools cannot even control the current crossings. It is about time that congress even addresses the problem, and acknowledge the problem.
Fine. We'll put it on the northern border of Texas then.
Same paper:
Drug fugitive is captured
Web Posted: 11/17/2005 12:00 AM CST
San Antonio Express-News
AMARILLO — Federal agents have arrested an Amarillo fugitive who was charged more than two years ago in an international drug trafficking case with ties to Mexico and Los Angeles.
Daniel Anthony Castro was one of 26 people charged with drug trafficking in April 2003 in a large-scale methamphetamine ring.
He was arrested last week in Fort Worth after a lengthy manhunt by Amarillo agents from the U.S. Marshal's Service. He remained in the Tarrant County Jail on Wednesday under a federal warrant out of Amarillo.
In April 2003, federal officers and Drug Enforcement Administration agents arrested 16 people in Amarillo, seizing 37 pounds of methamphetamine and about $280,000 in cash from three Amarillo homes.
Other defendants in the case, most of whom are now serving lengthy federal prison terms, were linked to a drug trafficking conspiracy to distribute 100-pound quantities of Mexican methamphetamine from Los Angeles and Phoenix to Amarillo, Hereford and Warner Robins, Ga.
"distribute 100-pound quantities of Mexican methamphetamine from Los Angeles and Phoenix to Amarillo, Hereford and Warner Robins, Ga."
Sure as heck get around, don't they?
LOL! Yep, how ever they want it, get 'er done! Blackbird.
Plug the dike..Drain the swamp. There is no other alternative.
Place the National Guard on the border until the fence/wall is completed and secured.
Just what I was going to say.
I say it's not a violation of Posse Commitatus when the National Guard and Reserves are utilized for the purpose of Nation Guarding. Let the citizens living there decide.
As for the "rest" of Mexico, this morning's OC Register (in Nation & World section, Mexico/Latin America, Briefly, page News 33) reports that "Two Bombs Targeted Spanish Banks" on Friday. These were banks on the outskirts of Mexico City. (Couldn't locate the article on line. Possibly they want subscribers to sign up for online edition??)
In any case, it says the police found a letter claiming responsibility for the attacks from a previously unknown group called "Barbarous Mexico Revolutionary Workers' Commando."
The same group sent a message to the AP railing against the "neoliberal reorganization and capitalist expansion" and singling out U.S. businesses in Mexico."
So, with the sorry state of our borders, how long do you figure, before they start targeting U.S. businesses in the U.S.?
These people seem to be so vague and confused I suspect they're more of a threat to themselves than whoever they're targeting
...or it could be another example of how nothing can be accomplished there without a bribe being involved.
Protect our borders and coastlines from all foreign invaders!
Support our Minutemen Patriots!
Be Ever Vigilant ~ Bump!
Nope, no terrorism going on in Mexico.
Thanks for the link, here's the article.
Bombs placed in two banks in State of Mexico
BY GLORIA PEREZ /Associated Press
El Universal
November 19, 2005
TOLUCA, State of Mexico Two bombs were planted Friday at branches of a Spanish-owned bank on the outskirts of Mexico City, the latest in a series of attacks against foreign financial institutions in the last four years.
The first device exploded before dawn just below the window of a branch of Bancomer, owned by Spain's Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, State of Mexico Attorney General Alfonso Navarrete said at a news conference.
The bomb shattered glass, wrecked computers and tossed furniture on its side, but caused no deaths or injuries.
A second device was found on fire around midday in a nearby branch of the same bank, State of Mexico police said. The device failed to detonate.
Navarrete described the explosives as "rudimentary" devices.
In the wreckage of the first bomb, police found a letter claiming responsibility for the attacks from the previously unknown Barbarous Mexico Revolutionary Workers' Commando, Navarrete said.
The same group sent an e-mail to The Associated Press railing against "neoliberal reorganization and capitalist expansion." The e-mail specifically criticized U.S. businesses in Mexico, including Wal-Mart and McDonald's, and the U.S.-backed proposal for a Free Trade Area of the Americas. U.S. President George W. Bush and President Vicente Fox have been pushing for the free-trade zone, which would stretch from Canada to Chile.
Bancomer issued a statement saying they would work hand-inhand with Mexican authorities to find the culprits of the attacks. The statement said the damage was superficial and the bank would reopen as soon as possible.
Police made no arrests Friday.
The attacks were similar to others made against foreignowned banks in recent years.
In May 2004, devices exploded outside three banks in Jiutepec, just outside Mexico City. The overnight explosions caused major damage but no injuries. Those bombs targeted branches of Banamex, BBVA-Bancomer and Santander Serfin. Explosives left outside a HSBC bank did not go off.
Authorities found a note near the 2004 bombing sites signed by a group calling itself the Comando Jaramillista Morelense 23 de Mayo in tribute to the peasant leader Rubén Jaramillo, who was murdered along with his family by government forces on May 23, 1962. The note criticized Fox's pro-business policies.
In August 2001, three explosives packed into tin cans detonated and two more were defused at branches of Banamex, which was being purchased by U.S.-based Citibank. A small leftist group called the Revolutionary Armed Forces of the People claimed responsibility.
Police arrested five alleged members of the group and charged them with organized crime and terrorism. The men were acquitted because of lack of evidence.
http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/miami/15822.html
"Doing the jobs lazy Amerucans won't do." George Bush
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.