Mexican official confirms border crossings
"An official at the Embassy of Mexico in Washington, D.C., who asked that his name not be used, has confirmed to Human Events that Mexican military personnel or law enforcement officers crossed the U.S. border – without authorization – 23 times in 2001.
The official was confirming the claim of Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., chairman of the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus, who said in a May 1 press release there had been 23 incursions by Mexican authorities."
18 U.S.-Trained Mexican Pilots Arrested for Cocaine Smuggling
News Briefs
Staff
October 1997
Eighteen Mexican pilots were caught September 1 at a Mexico city airport smuggling nearly 165 pounds of cocaine in a government-owned plane. The pilots were trained in the U.S. to read sophisticated radar used to track planes bringing drug shipments into Mexico from South and Central America. The training was part of a program in which the U.S. government gave Mexico $8 million to further anti-drug efforts (Tracey Eaton, "Mexican agents accused of using plane to smuggle cocaine," Dallas Morning News, September 5, 1997; Andrew Downie, "Drug smugglers learned radar in U.S., paper says," Houston Chronicle, September 5, 1997, p. 22A).
Source
President Fox Guarding Narco Hen House
"In September of last year, I welcomed my good friend, the President of Mexico, to the White House. Standing together on the South Lawn, President Fox and I spoke of building a hemisphere of freedom and prosperity and progress."
George W. Bush - Source
Bush Will Not Stop Afghan Opium Trade
How long is this going to take Jorge?
Click Me:
Clinton Administration Shuts Down U.S. Drug Probe On Top Mexican Official
Mexican Military Rife With Drug Corruption
News Briefs
Staff
August 1997
Mexican Defense Ministry officials acknowledged recently that 34 military personnel have been accused of drug-related crimes during 1997. Several documents leaked to the Mexican newspaper Procesco indicate the existence of widespread corruption within the military [citing "the large number of personnel involved in drug trafficking"] ("Alleged drug ties of Mexican general probed," Houston Chronicle, July 28, 1997, p. A1; Reuters, "Mexico's Military Tied To Traffickers," San Francisco Chronicle, July 28, 1997, p. A11; Andrew Downie, "Mexico says 34 in military accused of drug crimes," Houston Chronicle, July 29, 1997, p. A8; "2 Generals Reported Held in Drug Theft," Los Angeles Times, August 6, 1997, p. A4).
A six-year investigation within the Defense Ministry showed ties between military officers and drug lords. Procesco said two generals, two colonels, and three lieutenant-colonels protected and accepted gifts from Ernesto Foncesca Carillo and Rafael Caro Quintero, two "drug lords" who are in jail for drug-trafficking. At least 10 generals and 22 other officers are under investigation for similar crimes.
Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo has been expanding the role of the military in fighting the anti-drug effort, in large part because of extensive law enforcement corruption (For background information, see "Mexican Drug Czar Fired" NewsBriefs, March-April 1997.)
"Evidence suggests that drug corruption will move from one institution to the other, and that corruption will overwhelm the Mexican military long before the military curtails the drug trade. The corruption might also undermine civilian control of the military at precisely the time that democratization if taking hold in Mexico," wrote Eva Bertram, a policy analyst, and Kenneth E. Sharpe, professor of political science at Swarthmore College, in an commentary in the Los Angeles Times. They added, "The mix of huge drug profits and the small salaries of [Mexican] police and military officials make it rational for counternarcotics forces to 'trade' their enforcement capability for a share of the profits." Bertram and Sharpe, who are co-authors of Drug War Politics: The Price of Denial (University of California Press, Berkeley, CA) (reviewed in NewsBriefs, Summer 1996), conclude: "The drive to corrupt is, to a disturbing degree, fueled by U.S. [anti-drug] enforcement strategies and by Americans' continued demand for drugs ... " (Eva Bertram and Kenneth E. Sharpe, "U.S. Policy Corrupting Mexico Army," Los Angeles Times (Washington Edition), August 13, 1997, p. A2).
Mexican "Drug Czar Fired, Charged With Drug Corruption
"Gen. Jose de Jesus Gutierrez Rebollo, Mexico's highest ranking anti-drug official, was fired and arrested on charges that he accepted bribes in exchange for protecting a high-level Mexican drug trafficker ten weeks after he was appointed.
...U.S. officials did not have contact with the drug czar, believing he was sick. ...Gen. Barry McCaffrey, director of the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy, called Gutierrez "an honest man" and "a guy of absolute unquestioned integrity." Eric Rubin, spokesman for the White House National Security Council, said, "It's one thing not to know he was corrupt, but it's another thing not to even know that he's been [under investigation] for two weeks." One senior U.S. law enforcement official said, "This points to a major intelligence community failure."
Defense Secretary Perry Sees Greater Role for Military in Mexico's Counternarcotics Efforts
MEXICO: Anti-Drug Journalists and 8th Drug Prosecutor Murdered
Mexican Drug Gangs Terrorize Texas Ranchers
Mexican Corruption Condoned at Highest Level, World Policy Institute Says
Top Drug Cartels Penetrating Mexican Government, Judiciary at All Levels
Congressman Says Mexican Drug Cartels Hiring Ex-Green Berets
Cocaine Continues to Pour Through U.S.-Mexican Border
Marijuana Growing in California Increasingly Under Mexican Direction, Police Say
Eduardo Valle, former advisor, Attorney General in Mexico: "Drug trafficking has permeated all political structures and has corrupted federal, state, and local officials. It has deformed the economy. It is a cancer that has generated financial and political dependence, which instead of producing goods, has created serious problems ultimately affecting honest businessmen. The Attorney General's office is unable to eradicate drug trafficking because government structures at all levels are corrupted."
Foolin' them is easy isn't it? Heck yes.
