Small War in Mexico: 2002-2015 (closed)

[motorfirebox]

Regarding the legislation to classify the cartels as terrorist organizations and this rebuttal by the Mexican ambassador:

If you label these organizations as terrorist, you will have to start calling drug consumers in the U.S. "financiers of terrorist organizations" and gun dealers "providers of material support to terrorists."

We don't currently charge heroin users with financing terrorist organizations. On the other hand, I think there are probably more levels between the average dealer and al Qaeda than the average dealer and a cartel. As for pursuing firearms dealers as terrorist provisioners, it seems like too much political strife ("THEYS COMIN FER OUR GUNS") for not enough reward ("We have finally prevented Mexican criminals from getting ahold of handguns! Now they'll be forced to use their assault rifles, grenade launchers, and antitank weapons! VICTORY IS AT HAND!")

[carl]

("We have finally prevented Mexican criminals from getting ahold of handguns! Now they'll be forced to use their assault rifles, grenade launchers, and antitank weapons! VICTORY IS AT HAND!")

You started my day off with a laugh. (I hate it when somebody writes something I wish I had.)

[slapout9]

Slap,

Excellent find and just after the other article elsewhere on the US banking system, in the thread 'The Next America Revolution' and:http://www.rollingstone.com/politics...ilout-20110411

What I note is the role of the whistle blower, so much for all the other internal and external measures to hinder money laundering.

davidfpo, yes I read that and is a nice cross link. Shakespeare was wrong, it's not the Lawyers it's the Bankers

[AdamG]

Adam G:

Thank you for posting the updates on the troubles down there. It is interesting and keep me reminded that things are still far from over to the south.

Carl,
You are so welcome.
Now they're closer.

The signature crimes of the most violent drug cartel in Mexico are its beheading and dismemberment of rival gang members, military personnel, law enforcement officers and public officials, and the random kidnappings and killings of civilians who get caught in its butchery and bloodletting.

But this disparate band of criminals known as Los Zetas is no longer just a concern in Mexico. It has expanded its deadly operations across the southwestern border, establishing footholds and alliances in states from New York to California. Just last year, federal agents tied a cocaine operation in Baltimore to the Zetas.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...pands-into-us/

[slapout9]

Mexican Cartels go for Logos and Branding. H/T to John Robb's blog for this.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...JeP3j5l0#at=52

[AdamG]

A high-level player with one of the most notorious narco-trafficking organizations in Mexico, the Sinaloa “cartel,” claims that he has been working with the U.S. government for years, according to pleadings filed recently in federal court in Chicago.
That player, Jesus Vicente Zambada Niebla, is the son of Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada Garcia — one of the purported top leaders of the Sinaloa drug-trafficking organization. Zambada Niebla was arrested in Mexico in March 2009 and last February extradited to the United States to stand trial on narco-trafficking-related charges.
The indictment pending against Zambada Niebla claims he served as the “logistical coordinator” for the “cartel,” helping to oversee an operation that imported into the U.S. “multi-ton quantities of cocaine … using various means, including but not limited to, Boeing 747 cargo aircraft, private aircraft … buses, rail cars, tractor trailers, and automobiles.”
The revelation that Zambada Niebla claims to have been a U.S. government asset, working with its sanction, is a shocking development in the so-called drug war and has gone largely un-reported by the U.S. media. The claim, if true, adds credence to theories long in play that the Mexican and U.S. governments are essentially showing favor toward the Sinaloa drug organization and its leadership, including El Mayo and Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman Lorea, as part of a broader strategy to weaken and ultimately eliminate rival narco organizations. U.S. and Mexican government officials, of course, have consistently denied that any such arrangement is in place.

http://narcosphere.narconews.com/not...ar-s-duplicity

[AdamG]

MEXICO CITY (AFP) – Senior US and Mexican officials will meet on Friday to discuss joint efforts to halt the increasingly brutal cross-border drug trade, according to Mexico's foreign ministry.

The Mexican delegation will be lead by Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa, an official told AFP late Monday.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/04/2...ar-escalation/

[motorfirebox]

http://narcosphere.narconews.com/not...ar-s-duplicity

I can definitely see that. I understand there's a growing movement to treat the war on drugs as an actual war rather than simple law enforcement--to actually strategize more, accept losses in one area for greater gains in another. Playing the cartels against each other would be in line with that.

[bourbon]

New resource, one of its directors covered the region for Janes Intelligence Review:

InSight - Organized Crime in the Americas

InSight’s objective is to increase the level of research, analysis and investigation on organized crime in Latin America and the Caribbean. To this end, InSight has created this website where it connects the pieces, the players and organizations and gives a cohesive look of the region’s criminal enterprises and the effectiveness of the initiatives designed to stop them. InSight’s staff and contributors also write analysis and do field investigations, providing the type of on-the-ground research absent in other monitoring services.

InSight launched its website 1 December 2010, with profiles on groups, personalities, and security initiatives in Mexico and Colombia. With time it will add more countries, regions, groups, personalities and security initiatives to give the most complete, up-to-date picture on organized crime in the region.

Recent stories:
Factions of Sinaloa Cartel Battle in Durango, 25 April 2011.
Plaza Publica: The Ghost of the Zetas, 22 April 2011.

[slapout9]

Hear a very brief radio clip yesterday(can't remember the source) that an IED was found along some major highway in Brownsville,Texas. Fortunately it was found before it was detonated. Anybody kow anything else about this?

[AdamG]

Hear a very brief radio clip yesterday(can't remember the source) that an IED was found along some major highway in Brownsville,Texas. Fortunately it was found before it was detonated. Anybody kow anything else about this?

http://www.examiner.com/drug-cartel-...-texas-w-video

http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/new...ce-device.html

*
Modified "pineapple" (Frag or dummyFrag?) grenade w/o detonator?

http://www.krgv.com/news/local/story...sd5JC8PCg.cspx

http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/new...ce-caused.html

[AdamG]

SAN DIEGO -- A terrorist organization whose home base is in the Middle East has established another home base across the border in Mexico.

"They are recognized by many experts as the 'A' team of Muslim terrorist organizations," a former U.S. intelligence agent told 10News.

The former agent, referring to Shi'a Muslim terrorist group Hezbollah, added, "They certainly have had successes in big-ticket bombings."

http://www.10news.com/news/27780427/detail.html

[motorfirebox]

I thought this portion was especially interesting:

Tunnels the cartels have built that cross from Mexico into the U.S. have grown increasingly sophisticated. It is a learned skill, the agent said points to Hezbollah's involvement.

"Where are the knowledgeable tunnel builders? Certainly in the Middle East," he said.

[davidbfpo]

Well even from afar it is obvious the skill in building tunnels is not unique to the Middle East or Kandahar. Whether local engineering talent, Mexican or US, wants to offer their expertise is a moot point.

The cited source is also odd, a former agent who has worked undercover in Mexico now adds his knowledge, including:

..Shi'a Muslim communities in Mexico...Other pockets along the U.S.-Mexico border region remain largely unidentified....The agent, who has spent years deep undercover in Mexico, said Hezbollah is partnering with drug organizations, but which ones is not clear at this time.

Open sources suggest very, very few Muslims in Spain:

Islam in Mexico is practiced by a small population in the city of Torreón, Coahuila, and there are an estimated 300 Muslims in the San Cristóbal de las Casas area in Chiapas

Link:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexico

IMHO this report should be taken with a large pinch of dirt!

[motorfirebox]

Yeah, it does seem a bit odd. I wouldn't discount it out of hand, but I'm not completely buying it either.

[AdamG]

A 250-foot long tunnel with electricity, lighting, water pumps and ventilation was discovered in Nogales by border officials. The underground passageway was 3 feet wide by 5 feet tall and originated from an abandoned building in Nogales, Sonora, a Border Patrol news release said. It went 15 feet below ground.

http://azstarnet.com/news/local/bord...b6b0ec8d2.html

(CNN) -- Twelve suspected members of the Zetas drug gang and a member of Mexico's Navy were killed in a shootout on an island in a lake that straddles the U.S.-Mexico border, authorities said Monday.

The Mexican Navy said the shootout occurred Sunday on Falcon Lake, located between Texas and the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, after troops patrolling the area spotted a camping area on an island.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/05/09/...olence/?hpt=T2

[AdamG]

Open sources suggest very, very few Muslims in Spain:

Mexico.

From 2005 -

Long a bastion of Catholicism, southern Mexico is quickly turning into a battleground for soul-savers. Islam, too, is gaining a foothold and the indigenous Mayans are converting by the hundreds. The Mexican government is worried about a culture clash in their own backyard.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/...358223,00.html

From 2006 -

The ongoing controversy surrounding the debate over illegal immigration and border security issues in the United States, specifically as it applies to the porous U.S.-Mexico frontier and the status of millions of undocumented workers and other migrants that enter the country each year from Mexico, continues to dominate headlines. Although the overwhelming majority of those entering the United States from Mexico each day are in search of opportunity, many observers worry that it is only a matter of time before al-Qaeda exploits this vulnerability for its own ends.

In assessing this threat, Muslim communities in Mexico have come under increasing scrutiny by U.S., Mexican and international security officials both as potential enablers for terrorist infiltration and as ideological sympathizers for the brand of radicalism characteristic of al-Qaeda. Muslim conversion trends in Mexico and Latin America have also raised concerns, especially given al-Qaeda's successes in luring some Muslim converts to its cause. To date, however, these assessments have been way off the mark and in many respects divert attention away from the far more pressing threats at hand. A closer look at the nature of Islam and the outlook of Mexican Muslims may explain why.

http://www.jamestown.org/programs/gta/single/?tx_ttnews[tt_news]=790&tx_ttnews[backPid]=181&no_cache=1


From 2010

Using tried and true methods of investigation, the US Drug Enforcement Administration has uncovered the first indications of a significant drug-terror nexus between Latin America and West Africa, Samuel Logan writes for ISN Security Watch.

http://www.isn.ethz.ch/isn/Current-A...=111599&lng=en

[bourbon]

Knowledgeable tunnel builders?

It’s been reported that North Korea lends (or more likely sells) its tunneling expertise to Hezbollah. I don’t know the veracity of the reports, but it wouldn’t be surprising.

They have been finding US-Mexico border tunnels for 20 years now, not a new development. I’ve read the cartels bring Indians up from Southern Mexico to dig the tunnels, and in some instances execute them when the job is done.

It is not unheard of for Mexican DTOs to seek out foreign expertise. I’m sure veteran Hezbollah operatives could teach a thing or two. What kind of numbers, and whether the activity sanctioned by Hezbollah, or these guys are rogue or freelancing is another question.

I imagine Hezbollah gets its share of poseurs too!

[tequila]

I'd have to wait on more evidence of this. I remember a lot of talk back in 2006 about how Somali fighters had been brought in by Hizbullah to fight the Israelis, also sans real evidence. Of course we've all heard of the massive Chechen foreign fighter brigades who afflict us in Iraq and Afghanistan - though I'm unaware of us capturing or finding any real-world evidence of genuine Chechens on the ground in either of those theaters.

There's some Lebanese expatriates in Mexico (thank God), but I'd be more worried about Hezbollah north of the border than south.

[AdamG]

At least 27 people were decapitated at a ranch in northern Guatemala near the border with Mexico, in a grisly mass murder feared linked to drug traffickers operating in the area, police said on Sunday.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...Guatemala.html