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Posts Tagged border war
Polarization and Sustained Violence in Mexico’s Cartel War
Posted by Gary in Threat Watch on 24/Jan/2012 22:23
From: Stratfor
As we noted in last year’s annual cartel report, Mexico in 2010 bore witness to some 15,273 deaths in connection with the drug trade. The death toll for 2010 surpassed that of any previous year, and in doing so became the deadliest year ever in the country’s fight against the cartels. But in the bloody chronology that is Mexico’s cartel war, 2010’s time at the top may have been short-lived. Despite the Mexican government’s efforts to curb cartel-related violence, the death toll for 2011 may have exceeded what had been an unprecedented number.
According to the Mexican government, cartel-related homicides claimed around 12,900 lives from January to September — about 1,400 deaths per month. While this figure is lower than that of 2010, it does not account for the final quarter of 2011. The Mexican government has not yet released official statistics for the entire year, but if the monthly average held until year’s end, the overall death toll for 2011 would reach 17,000. Though most estimates put the total below that, the actual number of homicides in Mexico is likely higher than what is officially reported. At the very least, although we do not have a final, official number — and despite media reports to the contrary — we can conclude that violence in Mexico did not decline substantially in 2011.
Mexican Blogger Decapitated
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News, Threat Watch on 10/Nov/2011 02:28
“The moderator of a popular Mexican social network has been murdered, allegedly for tipping off the authorities about the local drug cartel.
Nicknamed “Rascatripas†or “Scraper†(literally “Fiddlerâ€) on the network Nuevo Laredo en Vivo, the 35-year-old appears to have been handcuffed, tortured, decapitated and dumped beside a statue of Christopher Columbus one mile from the Texas border.
Below the man’s body was a partially obscured and blood-stained blanket. Written on the blanket in black ink: “Hi I’m ‘Rascatripas’ and this happened to me because I didn’t understand I shouldn’t post things on social networks.â€
Social media has become an important means for ordinary Mexicans to strike back at the cartels. Civilians have taken to real-time reporting of trouble spots on the country’s dangerous northern highways. Using Twitter, locations of firefights between cartels and government security forces, or risky cartel checkpoints, are broadcast by volunteers to wired motorists.
“Do not be afraid to report,†said Anon4024 at Nuevo Laredo en Vivo earlier today. “This is how we citizens can make a difference in this city.â€
All White House communications on government gun-smuggling scandal at ATF have been subpoenaed.
Posted by Jack Sinclair in Law, News, Threat Watch on 3/Nov/2011 17:29
by Dudley Brown
“In just a few short weeks, Barack Obama’s hand-picked, anti-gun Attorney General, Eric Holder, will be forced to testify before Congress about the ATF’s scandal, “Fast & Furious.”
But this time, there is more evidence.
A number of Eric Holder’s deputies may testify what you and I knew all along — that Eric Holder was well aware of the scandal. Others are also coming forward.
“This was an effort by Barack Obama, Eric Holder and Janet Napolitano to make an aggressive assault against our 2nd Amendment rights. I’m calling for Eric Holder’s resignation and prosecution,” an Arizona Sheriff recently stated.
Ten Arizona Sheriffs have joined the battle to hold Eric Holder accountable for his actions, which have endangered innocent lives all along the border.”
Texas Attorney General warns Obama: Mexican cartels ‘spilling over’ border
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News, Threat Watch on 3/Nov/2011 15:20
“Texas Atty. Gen. Greg Abbott sent a letter to President Obama on Wednesday warning that Mexican cartel violence is increasingly “spilling over” the border and calling for more security.
Abbott cited a “deadly shootout” involving “cartel operatives” last weekend in the town of Elsa, about 250 miles south of San Antonio, in which a Hidalgo County sheriff’s deputy was shot three times. Sheriff’s officials have said the deputy was wearing a protective vest and is expected to recover.
Arizona Officials, Fed Up With U.S. Efforts, Seek Donations to Build Border Fence
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News, Threat Watch on 19/Jul/2011 21:58
By MARC LACEY
PHOENIX — “Americans upset about illegal immigration have a new outlet for their rage: a fund set up by the State of Arizona that will use private donations to build a border wall.Critics call the state’s effort to build its own border barriers a foolhardy, feel-good campaign that will have little practical effect on illegal border crossings. But organizers in the State Legislature, which created the fund, say it will allow everyday people fed up with the inability of Congress to address the problem of illegal immigration to contribute personally to a solution.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/20/us/20border.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss
New regulation requires firearms dealers along border to report multiple sales
Posted by Jack Sinclair in Law, News on 12/Jul/2011 17:53
By CHARLIE SAVAGE
WASHINGTON — “The Obama administration on Monday approved a new regulation requiring firearms dealers along the Southwest border to report multiple sales of certain semiautomatic rifles, a rule intended to make it harder for Mexican drug cartels to obtain and smuggle weapons from the United States.
Under the rule, dealers in Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas will be required to inform the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives if someone buys — within a five-day period — more than one semiautomatic rifle that accepts a detachable magazine and uses ammunition greater than .22 caliber. Such weapons include AK-47s.
…Mr. LaPierre contended that it should take an act of Congress to impose such a requirement, not a regulation developed by the executive branch alone. He noted that the similar rule requiring dealers to report multiple handgun sales was part of the Gun Control Act of 1968.
“We view it as a blatant attempt by the Obama administration to pursue their gun-control agenda through backdoor rule making, and the N.R.A. will fight them every step of the way,†he said. “There are three branches of government and separation of powers, and we believe they do not have the authority to do this.â€
Rep. Darrell Issa and ATF Agent Warn of ATF Cover-Up
Posted by Jack Sinclair in Law, News on 12/Jul/2011 12:31
Monday, 11 Jul 2011 04:16 PM
By Martin Gould
“Eric Holder’s position as attorney general is getting more tenuous as pressure grows on him to resign over the gunrunning scandal that saw weapons fall into the hands of Mexican drug lords.
The actions of his Department of Justice are the subject of an Congressional obstruction of justice investigation into the scheme, said Rep. Darrell Issa, the Republican chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
And he said that much of the documentation provided by the DoJ has been useless. “If it wasn’t already available on the internet, it generally is an all-black page of redaction to where it is of no value.â€
Issa said that, if Holder did not know about the schemes, Operation Fast and Furious and Project Gunrunner, which saw thousands of automatic weapons end up in the hands of violent Mexican drug lords, he should have.
“It is almost impossible to believe that everyone, including CBS News and many newspapers and Fox, had reported on Fast and Furious, yet Eric Holder still didn’t know anything about it.â€
Agent: I was ordered to let U.S. guns into Mexico
Posted by Jack Sinclair in Law, News, Threat Watch on 14/Jun/2011 20:25
(CBS News)
WASHINGTON – Federal agent John Dodson says what he was asked to do was beyond belief.
He was intentionally letting guns go to Mexico?
“Yes ma’am,” Dodson told CBS News. “The agency was.”
An Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms senior agent assigned to the Phoenix office in 2010, Dodson’s job is to stop gun trafficking across the border. Instead, he says he was ordered to sit by and watch it happen.
Investigators call the tactic letting guns “walk.” In this case, walking into the hands of criminals who would use them in Mexico and the United States.
Documents show the inevitable result: The guns that ATF let go began showing up at crime scenes in Mexico. And as ATF stood by watching thousands of weapons hit the streets… the Fast and Furious group supervisor noted the escalating Mexican violence.
One e-mail noted, “958 killed in March 2010 … most violent month since 2005.” The same e-mail notes: “Our subjects purchased 359 firearms during March alone,” including “numerous Barrett .50 caliber rifles.”
Dodson feels that ATF was partly to blame for the escalating violence in Mexico and on the border. “I even asked them if they could see the correlation between the two,” he said. “The more our guys buy, the more violence we’re having down there.”
Video here:
How is it the weapon industry’s fault? Do they blame the auto industry for all of the car accidents in Mexico?
U.S. Border Patrol to its agents: stop arresting illegal aliens to “keep illegal immigration numbers down”.
Posted by Jack Sinclair in Law, News, Threat Watch on 10/May/2011 18:53
“The U.S. Border Patrol has told its agents to stop arresting illegal aliens crossing the border from Mexico to keep the illegal immigration numbers down, Arizona Sheriff Larry Dever tells Newsmax.
He also charges that Attorney General Eric Holder is “holding hands with the ACLU†to protect illegal aliens from prosecution, says illegals are committing “heinous crimes†across America every day, and calls claims that the federal government should be solely responsible for controlling illegal immigration “balderdash.â€
Dever is sheriff of Cochise County, which shares an 83-mile border with Mexico, and he says his Border Patrol sector is responsible for half of all illegal aliens caught trying to enter the country and halt the narcotics entering the United States.”
Smugglers Guide Illegal Immigrants With Cellphones
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News, Threat Watch on 9/May/2011 22:17
John Moore/Getty Images A member of the Arizona National Guard on duty at the border. So-called coyotes are using technology to help avoid patrols.
NOGALES, Ariz. — “A group of migrants was hustling north through the southern Arizona desert the other night when one of their cellphones vibrated with a text message. “Watch out,†it warned. “Things are hot up ahead. Take cover in the bushes.â€
Some border crossers are getting help from smugglers who track patrols from afar and send texts on how to avoid them.
The message, signaling the presence of the Border Patrol, was sent by a smuggler watching the group’s progress through binoculars from a hillside on the Mexican side of the border, members of the group said later. It was part of what border officials and immigrant activists say is an emerging trend in illegal border crossing — the use of what is being called the cybercoyote.
“I’ve crossed eight times, and this is the first time they’ve directed me with my cellphone,†said Sandra Silva, 30, a native of Guadalajara, Mexico, who was on her way to Phoenix. “It’s like a guide through the desert.â€
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/09/us/09coyotes.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss
How far have Mexican drug cartels moved into the US? Arizona Sheriff Larry Dever responds
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News, Threat Watch on 7/May/2011 18:16
Dever: Mexican drug cartels are freely operating many miles from the U.S.-Mexican border.
“You can go up to 70 miles north in Pinal County, which isn’t even a border county, and the Bureau of Land Management put up signs on public land warning people not to travel there because of the threat from drug cartels.
“If you travel into the recreational areas in my county, those same signs are up warning people they could encounter drug and human smuggling. I think we ought to point the signs south and tell the folks who are coming here that this is not a safe place for you to come.â€
He also explains how he has heard that the Border Patrol has told officers to stop arresting Mexican illegals to keep official illegal immigration figures down.
“That comes from agents on the ground, who have told me, told my deputies, told citizens in the area. They have in the past been instructed to scare people back or turn them back south versus arresting them.â€
U.S. Raids Mexican Gang
Posted by Gary in News, Threat Watch on 9/Mar/2011 20:24
From: WSJ
Federal agents have arrested a number of members of the Barrio Azteca drug gang in Mexico overnight, after having tied the group to the killing of a U.S. consulate worker and her husband, according to people familiar with the case.
Drug Crime in Mexico
Track the increasing violence in an interactive map.
Lesley Enriquez and her husband were gunned down in March 2010. Mexican investigators said months later that a captured drug-gang enforcer claimed to have ordered the slaying because Ms. Enriquez allegedly helped provide visas to a rival gang. At the time, federal authorities said the motive for the killing was unknown.
The attack on the Enriquez couple came at almost the same time as a third killing in which the husband of a Mexican employee of the U.S. consulate was gunned down. That raised concerns that U.S. government personnel were being targeted in drug-related violence. Those concerns were revived last month when an Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agent was gunned down on a roadside in Mexico.
Ms. Enriquez was pregnant when she was killed. The couple’s infant daughter was in the car at the time of the shooting but was not injured. Police who responded to the crime scene found the child crying in the back seat.
Agent: ATF partly to blame for Mexico Violence
Posted by Gary in Law, News, Threat Watch on 7/Mar/2011 15:20
Watch this chilling and revealing news story.
From:Â CBS News
Agent: ATF partly to blame for Mexico violence
March 3, 2011 4:01 PM
An agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms claims the agency has a policy that allows guns to get in the hands of the Mexican drug cartels. Sharyl Attkisson reports.
ATF in Damage Control Mode over Gunwalker
Posted by Gary in Law, News, Threat Watch on 7/Mar/2011 15:12
ATF Memo from The Sipsey Street Irregulars
Public Information Officers:
Please make every effort for the next two weeks to maximize coverage
of ATF operations/enforcement actions/arrests at the local and
regional level. Given the negative coverage by CBS Evening News last
week and upcoming events this week, the bureau should look for every
opportunity to push coverage of good stories. Fortunately, the CBS
story has not sparked any follow up coverage by mainstream media and
seems to have fizzled.It was shoddy reporting, as CBS failed to air on-the-record interviews
by former ATF officials and HQ statements for attribution that
expressed opposing views and explained the law and difficulties of
firearm trafficking investigations. The CBS producer for the story
made only a feigned effort at the 11th hour to reach ATF HQ for comment.This week (To 3/1/2011), Attorney General Holder testifies on the Hill
and likely will get questions about the allegations in the story. Also
(The 3/3/2011), Mexico President Calderon will visit the White House
and likely will testify on the Hill. He will probably draw attention
to the lack of political support for demand letter 3 and Project
Gunrunner.ATF needs to proactively push positive stories this week, in an effort
to preempt some negative reporting, or at minimum, lessen the coverage
of such stories in the news cycle by replacing them with good stories
about ATF. The more time we spend highlighting the great work of the
agents through press releases and various media outreaches in the
coming days and weeks, the better off we will be.Thanks for your cooperation in this matter. If you have any
significant operations that should get national media coverage, please
reach out to the Public Affairs Division for support, coordination and
clearance.Thank you,
Scot L. Thomasson
Chief, ATF Public Affairs Division
Washington, DC
Obama, Mexican president reach trucking agreement
Posted by Gary in Law, News, Opinion, Threat Watch on 3/Mar/2011 15:36
This is fraught with so many possible unintended consistences that it boggles the mind as to how people sworn to protect this nation could think there is a possible upside. But then again maybe the “upside” they are looking at only applies to scenarios we (liberty loving free men) would not consider positive. I’m not trying to be obtuse I’m trying to temper my consternation. Maybe that is a lost cause.
Excerpts from The Courier Press and AP contain obvious double-speak/right-think phrases implying that it is the Mexican government that is concerned about guns from our country causing the violence in Mexico and how a more open border might make that worse. Hmm, maybe we should rethink the whole second amendment thing while we are at it?
President Barack Obama and Mexican President Felipe Calderon on Thursday will announce a plan to open up U.S. highways to Mexican trucks, removing a longstanding roadblock to improved relations between the North American allies.
…The meeting comes three weeks after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Jaime Zapata was shot to death in northern Mexico with a gun smuggled in from the U.S.
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