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Posts Tagged border wars
Mexico sending more troops to zone next to Texas
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News, Threat Watch on 25/Nov/2010 17:19
“MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico will send more troops and federal police to try to control drug violence that has spiraled into warfare in parts of the northeast along the U.S. border, the government said Wednesday.
The goal of “Coordinated Operation Northeast” is to reinforce government authority in the two states most heavily affected by a surge in violence following a split between the Gulf and Zetas drug gangs, federal police spokesman Alejandro Poire said.”
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2010-11-25-mexico-troops_N.htm?csp=34
Sinaloa, Mexico: Police being killed at soaring rates
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News, Threat Watch on 15/Oct/2010 16:15
“Twenty-five law enforcement personnel were murdered in the state of Sinaloa in 2007, but this year that number has grown more than threefold and has reached 90.
The highest yearly number so far was in 2008, when 112 agents of various law enforcement agencies fell victim to organized crime.”
http://www.debate.com.mx/eldebate/Articulos/ArticuloGeneral.asp?IdArt=10288392&IdCat=6087
Jaoquin “El Chapo” Guzman will bring war to Tijuana
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News, Threat Watch on 7/Oct/2010 20:17
Tijuana– Headed by Fernando Sanchez Arellano (member of the Arellano Felix dynasty), the Tijuana cartel is recovering territories and markets it had previously lost. They kill, kidnap and offer drugs on a massive scale to a state that is already flooded with them, the ministerial police have been corrupted and are now considered the armed wing of the cartel.
People who live in the city recognize that the violence has diminished, but there are still murders and decapitations, kidnappings and shootouts which are largely ignored by the central government in Mexico City.
There is also suspicion in Tijuana that there is some type of pact between the state government, local business leaders, and the news media to collectively turn a blind eye to these actions.
http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2010/10/el-chapo-will-bring-war-to-tijuana.html
Six Police Killed in Tamaulipas, Mexico
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News on 10/Sep/2010 16:57
“Six police were killed Wednesday in a clash with gunmen in the northeastern Mexican state of Tamaulipas, authorities said.
The battle took place shortly after 3:00 a.m. near the town of Padilla on the highway linking Ciudad Victoria, the state capital, with Matamoros, just across the border from Brownsville, Texas.
The victims were identified only as three members of the Tamaulipas Rural Police and three municipal traffic officers.”
$100K Reward for EDUARDO RAVELO – FBI Most Wanted
Posted by Gary in Threat Watch on 6/Sep/2010 17:41
From: FBI
Eduardo Ravelo
Photograph taken in 1998
Ravelo is known to be a Captain (Capo) within the Barrio Azteca criminal enterprise and is allegedly responsible for issuing orders to the Barrio Azteca members residing in Juarez, Mexico. Allegedly, Ravelo and the Barrio Azteca members act as “hitmen” for the Vicente Carrillo Fuentes Drug Trafficking Organization and are responsible for numerous murders. Ravelo has ties to Mexico and El Paso, Texas. He may have had plastic surgery and altered his fingerprints.
Wanted for engaging in the affairs of an enterprise, through a pattern of racketeering activities; conspiracy to conduct the affairs of an enterprise, through a pattern of racketeering activities; conspiracy to launder monetary instruments; conspiracy to possess heroin, cocaine and marijuana with the intent to distribute.
CAUTION
Eduardo Ravelo was indicted in Texas in 2008 for his involvement in racketeering activities, conspiracy to launder monetary instruments, and conspiracy to possess heroin, cocaine and marijuana with the intent to distribute. His alleged criminal activities began in 2003.
The Roots of Organized Crime in Mexico
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News, Threat Watch on 31/Aug/2010 19:42
Daniel Arizmendi, alias "El Mochaorejas" (ear cutter)
“Organized crime in Mexico today did not form itself in a vacuum, its structure originates from the police and security forces of the Mexican State. That is why this drug war is so bloody and extends to all levels of government and society.
Over the past 30 years, corruption, impunity and the political and discretionary application of justice converted every police officer and every public safety agency into a criminal entity. Whether willing or otherwise, every Mexican police officer, every ministerial (investigative) official, to survive as such, had to break the law and abide by the codes of special privileges granted by the ruling political power, the PRI.
Police were segregated from society and their use in an ideology of political and social repression led to corruption. The political class for decades, and clearly after 1968 and 1971, found in this corruption a vein of gold and overindulged itself on it. The use of laws, rules and regulations for the purpose of extortion was institutionalized.”
http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2010/08/roots-of-organized-crime.html
National Guard troops prepare to deploy along Arizona border
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News on 27/Aug/2010 21:06
On Monday, the initial deployment of National Guard troops will begin arriving along the porous Arizona border separating the United States and northern Mexico. With border violence on the rise, area residents await troop arrival with measured optimism.
National Guard troops will begin arriving along the Arizona side of the border in small groups and without fanfare. It is anticipated that over five hundred troops will be deployed to the region by the end of September.
Their effectiveness however, is hard to predict as the troops, although armed, will only operate as observers, lacking authority to make arrests themselves.
http://www.nowpublic.com/world/national-guard-troops-prepare-deploy-along-arizona-border
Still, the extra boots on the ground are expected to create an additional deterrent for would be smugglers and others who may attempt to cross the border illegally. Some experts however, believe the drug cartels will simply move their operations elsewhere, such as southern Texas, which is already experiencing an increase in drug related violent crimes.
Nuevo Laredo Fears Simmer
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News on 12/Aug/2010 16:33
By KIRSTEN CROW
LAREDO MORNING TIMESTwo days after the most recent gunbattle between suspected drug traffickers and Mexican military forces, an uneasy calm settled over this embattled border city.
But despite the seeming respite from the bloodshed that wracked the city throughout July, experts remain concerned about the escalation of the violence — its frequency, intensity and growing numbers of indiscriminate attacks.
Howard Campbell, Ph.D., an anthropology professor at the University of Texas at El Paso, said that while there was once a “sort of idea of a gentleman’s agreement, the old mafia code of ‘Don’t mess with women, children and bystanders,’†it has ceased to exist.
http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2010/08/nuevo-laredo-fears-simmer.html
The Other US Border Dilemma
Posted by Gary in Threat Watch on 15/Jul/2010 09:25
From: IDGA
… U.S.’s often overlooked northern border has some very serious challenges of its own and there are real and very serious criminal and terrorist threats along its long frontier. The U.S. Canada border has been called the worlds friendliest and for a long time many Americans viewed crossing the border into Canada on par with crossing state lines. It has commonly been seen as very easy to cross, low hassle, and having minimal security presence even at checkpoints.
For those very same reasons this same border has been becoming increasingly attractive to criminals and terrorists that see great opportunity for smuggling and low chance of being apprehended. The U.S. Canada border is massive in terms of mileage and greater in size than the southwest Mexican border that is very large in its own right.
Mexico: Police find the decapitated bodies of three men
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News on 6/Jul/2010 11:17
CULIACAN, Mexico – Police have found the decapitated bodies of three men inside a burned-out car in the drug gang-plagued Mexican state of Sinaloa. The heads had been put on the vehicle’s hood.
Mexican Gang Gun Battle Took Place About 12 Miles from Arizona Border – 21 Dead
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News on 2/Jul/2010 18:25
“A massive gun battle between rival drug and migrant trafficking gangs near the U.S. border Thursday left 21 people dead and at least six others wounded, prosecutors said.
The fire fight occurred in a sparsely populated area about 12 miles (20 kilometers) from the Arizona border, near the city of Nogales, that is considered a prime corridor for immigrant and drug smuggling.”
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/07/01/world/main6639523.shtml
For use in Mexico or coming over the border into Texas?
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News, Threat Watch on 23/Jun/2010 01:05
These are photos of a Zetas camp (a Mexican drug cartel w/ Guatemalan ties) that was found near Higueras, Nuevo Laredo, Mexico - a little over 100 miles away from Laredo, TX.
At least 25 suspects managed to get away.
They found 12 trucks/SUVs under a shaded canopy. The vehicles contained military & police issue accessories. Its estimated that they found around 200 rifles, and 30 pistols. They also found grenade and rocket launchers. There were over 300 magazines and uniforms. They also found a box of 60 grenades.
And to answer one criticism: no Nancy and Diane, most of these guns did not come from gun shows in the American Southwest. You can’t buy selective fire M4s with 14.5 inch barrels, RPG-7s, and 40mm grenades at gun shows. More about the M4s: If those had actually been smuggled commercial M4geries from the States, then they’d be in umpteen different configurations and have 16-inch barrels. Notice how those rows of M4s all look identical? Obviously, those were built to Ejército Méxicano contract specs. Now I suppose those two Barrett .50 rifles might have been smuggled from the States. They aren’t in the TO&Es of most Mexican Army units, but they are used by their Special Forces.
http://www.claytonmspaparazzi.com/2010/06/13/look-what-they-found-near-the-texanmexican-border.html
Who’s crossing our southern border? OTM
Posted by Jack Sinclair in Threat Watch on 24/May/2010 19:49
“Other Than Mexican” Islamic extremists entering the US illegally.
From WSBTV.com Atlanta: “We have hundreds and hundreds of folks coming from Middle Eastern countries – and frankly, I don’t think these people are coming here to cut our grass.”
Mexican narco-pirates ambush boaters on Texas lake
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News, Threat Watch on 22/May/2010 22:07
Armed with machine guns, members of the Zeta drug cartel from Mexico are attacking boats and robbing sailors of their loot—and gadgets—on a lake that straddles the Texas/Mexico border.
Mexico and the Failed State Revisited
Posted by Brian in News, Threat Watch on 6/Apr/2010 14:38
This report is republished with permission of STRATFOR
By George Friedman
STRATFOR argued March 13, 2008, that Mexico was nearing the status of a failed state. A failed state is one in which the central government has lost control over significant areas of the country and the state is unable to function. In revisiting this issue, it seems to us that the Mexican government has lost control of the northern tier of Mexico to drug-smuggling organizations, which have significantly greater power in that region than government forces. Moreover, the ability of the central government to assert its will against these organizations has weakened to the point that decisions made by the state against the cartels are not being implemented or are being implemented in a way that would guarantee failure.
Despite these facts, it is not clear to STRATFOR that Mexico is becoming a failed state. Instead, it appears the Mexican state has accommodated itself to the situation. Rather than failing, it has developed strategies designed both to ride out the storm and to maximize the benefits of that storm for Mexico.
First, while the Mexican government has lost control over matters having to do with drugs and with the borderlands of the United States, Mexico City’s control over other regions — and over areas other than drug enforcement — has not collapsed (though its lack of control over drugs could well extend to other areas eventually). Second, while drugs reshape Mexican institutions dramatically, they also, paradoxically, stabilize Mexico. We need to examine these crosscurrents to understand the status of Mexico. Read the rest of this entry »