Small War in Mexico: 2016 onwards

[davidbfpo]

A short RUSI report by two academic experts, who end with a familiar plea "more data". There maybe stuff here to note.
Link:https://shoc.rusi.org/informer/we-ca...smart-about-it

[AdamG]

A short RUSI report by two academic experts, who end with a familiar plea "more data". There maybe stuff here to note.
Link:https://shoc.rusi.org/informer/we-ca...smart-about-it

Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaah. They cite the GAO updated report. Relevant passage in bold.

GAO was asked to undertake a follow-up review to its 2009 report ( GAO-09-709 ) addressing these issues. This report examines, among other things, (1) the origin of firearms seized in Mexico that have been traced by ATF, (2) the extent to which collaboration among U.S. agencies combating firearms trafficking has improved, and (3) the extent to which the National Southwest Border Counternarcotics Strategy measures progress by U.S. agencies to stem firearms trafficking to Mexico. To address these objectives, GAO analyzed program information and firearms tracing data from 2009 to 2014, and met with U.S. and Mexican officials on both sides of the border.

As far as I know, the Mexican government has been less-than-candid about releasing serial numbers of the weapons they *have* confiscated, so that limits tracing to what the BATFE got it's hands on (not withstanding Fast & Furious).

This report is a self-licking ice cream cone. How about we talk about Mexican corruption, starting with their southern border guards and running as far north as you please?

Be glad the Mexican Naval Infantry still have cojones.

[AdamG]

TENANTLA, Mexico – Whoever wins Sunday's presidential election will have to face not only Mexico's drug cartels, but a new kind of crime involving whole neighborhoods defying police and military personnel.
*
Such "socialized" or "mass" crimes are spreading in Mexico as entire communities empty freight trains of merchandise or steal hundreds of thousands of gallons of fuel from pipelines.

"The logic of the people is that they see politicians and officials stealing big time ... and they see themselves as having the same right to steal as the big-time politicians," said Edgardo Buscaglia, an international crime expert and research fellow at Columbia University. "You begin to create an ethical code in which, 'If the upper-class people can steal and get away with it, we can steal, too, with complete justification.'"

In May, armed men broke the locks on two supermarkets in the southern city of Arcelia in Guerrero state and allowed local residents in to loot them. Police didn't show up for hours.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2018/06...ty-forces.html

[AdamG]

The U.S. has issued a travel advisory for Mexico after authorities found eight bodies in Cancún this week.
*
The Associated Press reports that the eight bodies were found in the Cancún area on Tuesday. Two of the victims were found in an abandoned taxi, while two others were found dismembered in plastic bags at another location, according to the AP. A fifth man was discovered bound and fatally shot on Tuesday, while another was found dead in a hammock. The seventh victim was shot to death and discovered in a plastic bag.

http://time.com/5375156/cancun-eight...avel-advisory/

[AdamG]

Video of what appears to be a column of drug mules on the US side of the border; camouflage uniforms to match the terrain, carrying heavy packs.

Select individuals on horseback armed with rifles/carbines in scabbards.

Use of horses in this type of terrain increases the guards' mobility, ability to react and gives them a height advantage for spotting problems.

Turn off the sound, just watch the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F21PiHnO0JU

[AdamG]

Mexican authorities have taken control of the entire police force in the southern Mexican city of Acapulco, claiming the department has been infiltrated by drug gangs. Two police commanders have been accused of murder, while the rest of the force officers have been stripped of their guns, radios and bulletproof vests and taken for background checks. Acapulco – a beach resort – was a fashionable location favoured by movie stars in the 1950s and 60s, but has since been plagued by escalating violence due to warring drug gangs.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...-a8555756.html

[AdamG]

Interesting plot twist from last year

A Mexican folk religion involving human sacrifice and devoted to "Holy Death" is growing in popularity among drug traffickers and violent criminals, prompting Texas officials and the Catholic Church to warn about honoring the so-called "Saint Death." Authorities are speaking out about the religion devoted to La Santa Muerte, which translates to “Holy Death” and "Saint Death," that has gained popularity steadily since the late 1980s among Mexican-American Catholics.

The killings of 28 prisoners at the Las Cruces jail in Acapulco included executions "in the middle of a ritual to Santa Muerte" led by drug traffickers, according to documents obtained by the Mexican newspaper Reforma. State authorities refused to comment on the ritual aspect of the massacre, but Roberto Alvarez Heredia, security spokesman for Guerrero state, said in the statement the killings began because of “constant dispute between rival groups inside the prison.”

https://www.foxnews.com/us/mexican-f...mong-criminals