Free Republic

I know many people do not understand the very real battle happening in the United States. More specifically, here in the Southwest U.S. we have been involved in an extended battle with a foreign criminal element. These organized criminals, known as Mexican cartels, have been discussed plenty but mainly in a general sense. Many times, the intricate details of this battle cannot be fully disclosed, as it can compromise the safety of those involved in the fight against these criminals. However, what can be shared is some general knowledge and information to help educate those who do not understand the...

One of the roughest Mexican drug cartels has allegedly been hiring a ruthless American gang to kidnap and torture those who cross the cartel inside the United States. The Sinaloa cartel reportedly hired MS-13 gang members to fly from Los Angeles, Calif., to St. Paul, Minn., to find the people who stole 30 pounds of meth and $200,000 from a stash house. Police say three MS-13 gang members kidnapped two teens who they believed stole the meth and cash. Then they tied them up and tortured them, even cutting one victim’s pinky with a scissor. The teens were eventually let...

Three enforcers hired by Mexico’s biggest drug cartel flew from Los Angeles to Minnesota last month, kidnapped two local teenagers, and then tortured them for hours at a house in St. Paul in an effort to recover stolen drugs, according to court documents reviewed by the Star Tribune. Acting under orders from the Sinaloa cartel, the three kidnappers were trying to determine who had stolen 30 pounds of methamphetamine and $200,000 from a stash house on Palace Avenue in St. Paul. Before the episode was over, they had issued death threats against the Minnesota pair and their families, demanding that...

Residents living in fear of violent criminal gangs in south-west Mexico are taking matters into their own hands .... Hundreds of armed vigilantes stormed a Mexican town and arrested federal police in the latest bloody battle between residents, criminal gangs, and the police locals say are in league with the gang members. Around 600 members of local 'autodefensas', or self-defence groups, stormed Paracuaro in the troubled Michoacan state yesterday in an attempt to seize control of the town back from the feared Caballeros Templarios (Knights Templar) drug cartel. The battle was the latest in a long-running war between the drugs...

Authorities have confirmed that one gunman has been wounded and that five kidnapping victims have been rescued following a Wednesday afternoon shootout in a busy downtown Reynosa shopping district. Mexico's Ministry of National Defense (SEDENA) confirmed that a shootout took place in the "peatonal" or "pedestrian shopping area" of downtown Reynosa on Wednesday afternoon. SEDENA officials reported that soldiers were in the area when they came under fire from an unknown number of men. Reynosa residents reported the gunfire on the social media network Twitter. SEDENA officials reported that shootout ended with one gunman being wounded and five alleged kidnapping...

(CNN) -- Almost 13,000 people were killed in Mexico by suspected drug violence in the first three quarters of 2011, the country's federal attorney general's office said Wednesday. The figure was the first official tally given by the government for 2011. The exact number -- 12,903 -- corresponds to the deaths reported by state authorities to the federal government that they believe were the result of intercartel rivalry. The figure covers January to September of last year and is not broken down into categories such as how many victims were civilians, how many were innocent bystanders or how many were...

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Three U.S. citizens were among those killed when gunmen attacked buses in the eastern Mexican state of Veracruz, said a U.S. State Department official said on Saturday. The three were traveling for the holidays when they and several other passengers on the bus were killed by gunmen on Thursday, according to the U.S. official and local media. The incident was one of several that day in which gunmen attacked busses in the eastern state, a major oil export hub that has lately become a flashpoint for drug gang violence. On Friday, the tortured bodies of 10...

MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Police found a woman's decapitated body in a Mexican border city on Saturday, alongside a handwritten sign saying she was killed in retaliation for her postings on a social networking site. The gruesome killing may be the third so far this month in which people in Nuevo Laredo were killed by a drug cartel for what they said on the internet.

A corrupt U.S. border agent sitting in a federal prison cell is offering a chilling view of the Mexican drug cartels whose drug shipments he protected for years in return for hefty bribes. He is so terrified of the cartel's famous vicious streak that he fears for his own life -- and the lives of his family -- if he is identified as speaking to ABC News. He depicts a dangerously paranoid crime organization that has spies throughout U.S. law enforcement. To illustrate the cartel's pervasive reach, he said he got his introduction to them through an American cop. From...

On 9/11/01,when terrorists killed almost 3,000 innocent Americans during an attack on our economic system, Americans were outraged. We went halfway around the world to exact vengeance, and spent the next 9-plus years hunting down the leader responsible. Tough words were thrown around by politicians looking to be out front with their patriotism and desire to protect Americans, as only they know how. These same politicians have ignored a much more dangerous enemy, one that has killed many more Americans than the Muslims ever did, and whose leaders are blatant and up front about their desire to destroy America. These...

Yesterday my wife and I attended a community awareness meeting called at our church to talk about the growing methamphetamine and illegal drug problem in our little Idaho community. The County Attorney and a Captain with the Idaho State Troopers made the presentation, with the local Police Chief and Sheriff also in attendance. About 300 people attended. Idaho is an increasing target for the Mexico Drug Cartels for developing and deciminating drugs. The officials clearly showed and demonstrated how these drugs are being funneled, using illegal aliens as carriers, from Mexico, across the remote sections of the US border and...