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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
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 Posted: Sun Dec 07, 2008 12:19 pm Post subject: 23 seconds of the Mexican drug war |
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Very VERY graphic footage:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-monterrey7-2008dec07,0,5447755.story
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/fc5c649e-c1a3-11dd-831e-000077b07658.html
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Last weekend, nine headless bodies were found dumped on a strip of urban scrubland in Tijuana, the ugly and sprawling border city that abuts the US state of California.
The gruesome killings, the latest incident in a bloody feud between rival drugs cartels, brought the death toll in the Mexican city to 40 in a single weekend.
Over the past two years, as the country's drugs gangs have fought it out for control of territory and smuggling routes into the US, Mexicans have grown accustomed to reading about - and, in many cases, seeing - brutal murders, kidnappings and decapitations.
Several days after taking office in December 2006, Felipe Calder�n, Mexico's president, declared an all-out war against the numerous drugs gangs, taking the controversial decision to enlist the help of the country's armed forces.
Two years on, drugsrelated violence appears to be spiralling. According to local media reports, almost 5,000 people have been killed so far this year - more than double the number last year.
Drugs cartels are better armed than ever and this year their enforcer gangs have even used rocket-launched grenades to attack police stations and civilians. The AK-47 assault rifle has become so commonplace in Mexico that it now even has its own nickname: goat's horn.
In recent years, Mexico has become the most important drugs route. Local authorities believe that up to 80 per cent of the cocaine consumed north of the border passes through Mexico. The US government, meanwhile, estimates that Mexican traffickers receive more than $13.8bn (�11bn, �9.3bn) a year in revenue from illicit drug sales to the US.
The latest violence in Tijuana erupted as federal legislators admitted this week that they would vote on only four of six security-related proposals at present before Congress, and that they might not even manage to pass those ones before ordinary sessions end next week.
"We do not want a police state and that presents difficulties when it comes to agreeing on the wording of the laws," Javier Gonz�lez Garza, president of Mexico's lower house of Congress, said this week.
Mr Gonz�lez's admission is almost certain to add to the increasing despair that Mexicans feel as they witness rising levels of drugs-related violence and plummeting levels of security on the streets and in their neighbourhoods.
In a telling poll published in El Universal newspaper last week, 60 per cent of Mexicans said the authorities were not showing results, while 59 per cent believed organised crime was beating the government in its war against drugs compared with 56 per cent in May.
The government insists that the rise in violence is partly the result of changing patterns in consumption north of the border. In particular, it argues that the US cocaine market is shrinking and is being replaced by methamphetamines which, unlike cocaine, can be produced domestically.
That has forced Mexico's cartels into a bloody fight for a shrinking market, as well as a desperate and aggressive search for alternative sources of income, such as kidnapping, extortion and the creation of a domestic drugs market.
It also maintains that the violence is largely a reflection of the success so far of its anti-narcotics strategy. "We have achieved record seizures of drugs and money, historic seizures of weapons and vehicles and record numbers of extraditions," Genaro Garc�a Luna, the security minister, told the Financial Times in an interview this month.
"The drugs gangs are suffering: we are hitting their businesses and they are now fighting among themselves."
Not everyone agrees. Jos� Reveles, an expert on Mexico's drugs gangs and security issues, says the government's approach is both blunt and ineffective.
"They send in the troops when they should be attacking the cartels through intelligence-gathering," he says.
"The government does not possess any intelligence."
Indeed, different sources confirm that many of the government's successes have come not through internal intelligence but rather via anonymous tip-offs made by drugs gangs about their rivals' smuggling activities.
Moreover, an inquiry into corruption within Mexico's security forces has turned up some alarming results. Since August, at least eight top-ranking officers, including the head of InterpolMexico, have been detained following suspicions that they were working for the Sinaloa drugs cartel, one of the most violent of Mexico's gangs. |
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BS.Dos.
Joined: 29 Mar 2007
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| Posted: Sun Dec 07, 2008 4:26 pm Post subject: |
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Jeez. That's awful.
Wish I hadn't watched it first thing on a Monday morning. |
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catman
Joined: 18 Jul 2004
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| Posted: Sun Dec 07, 2008 4:39 pm Post subject: |
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| Moreover, an inquiry into corruption within Mexico's security forces has turned up some alarming results. Since August, at least eight top-ranking officers, including the head of InterpolMexico, have been detained following suspicions that they were working for the Sinaloa drugs cartel, one of the most violent of Mexico's gangs. |
Reminds me of the movie Traffic. |
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canuckistan
Mod Team
Joined: 17 Jun 2003
Location: Training future GS competitors.....
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| Posted: Sun Dec 07, 2008 8:36 pm Post subject: |
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It was clear they really wanted them there's-no-way-you're-going-to-live-through-this super dead.
Nasty.
It's like the 80's & 90's in Columbia. |
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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
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| Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2008 11:18 am Post subject: |
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| We must legalize drugs. |
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Cheonmunka
Joined: 04 Jun 2004
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| Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2008 3:11 pm Post subject: |
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| $13 billion for 5000 deaths - that's not a bad ratio - that's $2.6 million per head, so to speak. |
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