Mexican Troops Aiding Smugglers, Report Says

Inland Valley Daily Bulletin , Ontario, California ^ | January 17, 2006 | Mason Stockstill, Staff Writer

[Larousse2]

BEYOND BORDERS

Mexican troops aiding smugglers, says report

Border drug war backfiring

By Mason Stockstill, Staff Writer

A report outlining hundreds of incursions into the United States by Mexican armed forces over the past 10 years supports what many officials have known for a long time: The corruption once thought endemic only to Mexico's police forces has spread to its military.

The Daily Bulletin reported Sunday on a Department of Homeland Security document that outlines 216 incidents since 1996 where Mexican military personnel crossed the U.S.-Mexican border and were spotted or confronted by the Border Patrol.

Additionally, a map bearing the seal of the president's Office of National Drug Control Policy, dated 2001, shows the locations of 34 of those incursions spread across the southwest United States.

The documents are a striking reminder that steps intended to bolster official action in the drug war can backfire in unexpected ways.

During the past decade, Mexico's military has become involved with anti-drug efforts to a greater degree than ever before, a trend furthered by President Vicente Fox in 2001, when he disbanded the nation's federal judicial police, saying it was too corrupt to successfully fight drug trafficking.

However, while the Mexican armed forces once had a better reputation for avoiding corruption than the nation's police departments, the huge amount of available bribes means many soldiers and high-ranking army officials are now on the payroll of the cartels, according to a report from the Washington Office on Latin America, a nonprofit policy and research organization.

Dozens of officers, including several generals, have been tried for crimes related to drug trafficking in the past 10 years. In 1997, Gen. Jesus Gutierrez Rebollo was accused of using military resources to target one drug cartel at the behest of another. He was later sentenced to 71 years in prison.

Ironically, involving the military in Mexico's drug war has done little to slow the production of illicit drugs or their movement into the United States. The Drug Enforcement Administration's seizures of heroin, cocaine and marijuana have remained relatively steady during the past five years.

"Available data indicate that Mexico's supply of marijuana and heroin to the United States has not changed substantially; transport of cocaine through Mexico to U.S. cities also appears to have remained relatively stable," the nonprofit's report found. "Furthermore, Mexican cartels are responsible for a growing trade in methamphetamines."

Deserters from Mexico's military are known to work for drug cartels, including a paramilitary unit called Los Zetas -- a U.S.-trained anti-narcotics force connected to violence as far north of the border as Dallas.

Officials at the Department of Homeland Security did not return calls for comment Monday.

Mexican officials contacted by the Daily Bulletin denied that the military has crossed the U.S. border at all in the past 10 years, except on occasions when units got lost in the desert.

Rafael Laveaga, a spokesman for the Mexican consulate in Washington, D.C., said the incursions recorded by the Border Patrol could have resulted from drug smugglers using bogus uniforms to disguise themselves.

But T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, discounted that idea.

"On many instances, (officers) can confirm that these are Mexican military units," Bonner said. "There's corruption there. The drug lords have been able to buy the military and police, and it makes it difficult for us to cooperate."

Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., said he was shown a report by the Border Patrol in 2001 that detailed incursions by military units. His complaints to the State Department and Mexican ambassador were brushed off, he said.

"The military is as dirty as any other part" of the government, Tancredo said. "They're part of the cartels, or many are. It's all got to do with money and drugs -- and it's bad."

Related Stories: • Mexican soldiers defy border • Border agents unaware of gang death threat • Report: MS-13 gang hired to murder Border Patrol Special Report: Beyond Borders Blog Site: Beyond Borders Blog ONLINE EXTRA: Official Homeland Security memo download inside article

Staff writer Sara A. Carter contributed to this report.

Mason Stockstill can be reached by phone at (909) 483-9354.

[Larousse2]

I saw something on the net today...clear and present...that wasn't just a movie, was it?

[kcvl]

Mexican military personnel crossed the U.S.-Mexican border

Fox calls Senate bill reward for Mexicans

"They fought for it," Fox said at a breakfast meeting in Sacramento with the California Chamber of Commerce and the Sacramento Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. "They earned what they got yesterday" in the Senate.

[Larousse2]

I've looked up in cia factbook and seen all the natural resources in Mexico...a very wealthy country in natural resources.

It's something I still can't quite pinpoint.

[kms61]

Officials at the Department of Homeland Security did not return calls for comment Monday.

---

that pretty much says it all.

[kcvl]

During his (Vicente Fox) stop in the Yakima Valley he toured G and G Orchards and met with farmworkers. Six busloads of farmworkers and others from elsewhere in the Yakima Valley, Wenatchee and the Tri-Cities were brought to the farm.

The 700-acre cherry, apple and pear orchard and apple-packing warehouse is owned by Rene and Carmen Garcia. Theirs is believed to be the only Hispanic-owned apple warehouse in Washington state.

Rene Garcia said before the visit he planned to ask Fox for duty-free apple exports in Mexico, where US shippers pay a 46 percent tariff on Red and Golden Delicious apples.

Mexico is the nation's top export market for apples, but Rene Garcia is worried he won't have enough pickers for his crop.


http://tinyurl.com/kew9b

[kcvl]

Guest list for state dinner honoring Mexican President Vicente Fox


http://www.sltrib.com/ci_3859950

[Larousse2]

I have to take a quick break and go to the suppermarket.

I wish I knew the handles of Freepers who are military, or former military, to share this thread with, but I don't, sadly.

Be back in just a few:-)

[Nuc1]

Does anyone really believe we could be loosing the war on drugs if we were really fighting it?

[OKIEDOC]

Wheres the link to this article.

[OKIEDOC]

Never mind.

[Larousse2]

No, we just hire more DEA.

[Larousse2]

I'm baaaaaack.

Did you find the link you needed?

[Larousse2]

Try this link, "Beyond Borders":

http://lang.dailybulletin.com/socal/beyondborders/

[Larousse2]

Others slipping through our ports, whatever:

http://lang.dailybulletin.com/socal/beyondborders/part_4/p4_day2_ports.asp

[OKIEDOC]

Yes, thanks.

[Larousse2]

One of the articles I posted has alredy been yanked on their website---the one about Mexican Army Incursions.

[KoRn]

This is cause for an armed conflict to defend our country, having our troops route those bastards. Since our president is the lapdog of Fox in Mexico we will have nothing of the sort. The Senate isn't much better.

[Larousse2]

Here's another link about another Washington Weasel's version:

Chernoff Downplays Incursions (ROTFLMAO!!)

http://www.dailybulletin.com/search/ci_3415703

[Larousse2]

This article about the 216 Mexican Army Incursion has been yanked from their website.

Thank you, Guardian Angel, for telling me to bookmark it!