Posts Tagged cartels

New Book By ATF Whistleblower On Fast and Furious

From Ammoland:

The book holds a special interest for me. As the “blogger” who, along with the late citizen journalist Mike Vanderboegh, first reported on the connection between the slaying of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) “walking” guns to Mexico, Forcelli was one of the subjects of our reporting.

In The Deadly Path, Forcelli reintroduces us to many of the other characters and scenarios we covered in our attempts to get corporate media and Congress to investigate for themselves.

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Sen. Grassley Wants Info on Defunding of Gun Tracing Program

From CBS News:

Sen. Chuck Grassley, a Republican from Iowa, sent a letter to the head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives on Tuesday requesting all records relating to Project Thor and a briefing on the program, which was an interagency initiative launched in 2018 aimed at identifying and dismantling the supply chains across the U.S. that provide weapons to Mexican drug cartels. The effort was denied funding for fiscal year 2022 by ATF, CBS News found.

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Twelve States Back Foreign Country In Lawsuit Against American Businesses

From Guns.com:

The 26-page brief, submitted by the attorneys general of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, and Oregon, as well as the District of Columbia, supports a controversial $10 billion lawsuit brought by Mexico against some of the biggest names in guns including Barrett, Beretta, Century Arms, Colt, Glock, Ruger, and Smith & Wesson. 

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Cartels Using Drones With C4

From National Security News on Instagram:

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Repost @the_narcology_page More evidence has surfaced to indicate the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) is using drones armed with C4 explosives to attack its enemies. A citizens’ militia group in Tepalcatepec, Michoacán, reports finding two drones inside an armored car that cartel hitmen had abandoned after an attempted raid on the city, which borders Jalisco, on July 25. The C4 was packed with ball bearings to serve as shrapnel in Tupperware-like containers that were equipped with a remote detonation system and duct-taped to the drones, militia members explained. The drones were found in a cardboard box that was soaked in blood, indicating to the militia members that whoever was intending to fly the drones was injured before they could be launched. The new tactic represents the cartel’s determination to wrest control of the western Michoacán municipality from the self-defense militia and an evolution of their air attack strategy. In April, the cartel used small planes to drop explosives on Tepalcatepec, but after authorities increased aerial surveillance in the region the CJNG opted for drones, which cannot be detected on radar. Militia members say that loud explosions have been heard across the municipality, but no one thus far has been injured in a drone attack. They believe the cartel has not yet learned how to fly and detonate them with precision. #mexico

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Rolling Stone Blames Drug War Violence On American Guns

From Rolling Stone:

Pérez, who studied the illegal-arms trade at University College London before joining Mexico’s government, doesn’t deny that other factors, including the failed War on Drugs and the notorious corruption of the Mexican police, have contributed to the crisis. Still, “it would be impossible to imagine this scenario without American guns,” he says.

*Emphasis added.

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How To Deal With The Cartels

From The Federalist:

If the administration wants to go on the offense, it could take a few practical steps in the right direction. Adding more cartels to the list of transnational criminal organizations would allow us to squeeze them as much as possible financially. But it would not be enough, as Giovanni Falcone advises, to “follow the money.” The Insurrection Act, which the president has mentioned before, is another instrument that would be useful in this fight.
Because of the Posse Comitatus Act, our troops on the border operate in a passive, observe and report capacity. The Insurrection Act could remedy that problem. If it is “clearly lawful,” as University of Texas Law School professor Stephen I. Vladeck writes that it is, for the president to use the act in immigration matters, then surely that lawfulness extends to border security. “And although Congress in the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 generally prohibited use of the federal military for domestic law enforcement,” Vladeck writes, “the Insurrection Act was always understood as the principal exception to that general rule.”

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Cartel Beats Mexican Military

From The Federalist:

The battle of Culiacan marks a turning point in the collapse of the Mexican state. There is now no doubt about who is in control of Sinaloa, let alone the rest of the country. Cartel forces seized a major regional capital city in broad daylight and defeated the national armed forces in open battle.

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.50 Caliber Rifles Seized In Mexico

From Breitbart:

The investigation into a recent seizure of several .50 caliber Barrett rifles in this border state revealed that arms smugglers in Mexico City and other areas are paying border state cartels to deliver their weapons safely into the country. 

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Graphic Image: Mexico Now Second Most Violent Country

From Breach Bang Clear:

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Cartel Influence In The United States

From the DEA:

Mexican transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) pose the greatest criminal drug threat to the United States; no other group is currently positioned to challenge them. These Mexican poly-drug organizations traffic heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine, and marijuana throughout the United States, using established transportation routes and distribution networks. They control drug trafficking across the Southwest Border and are moving to expand their share, particularly in the heroin and methamphetamine markets.

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Mexican Border City Reynosa, Erupts With Violence

From BBC:

Gun battles have left at least three people dead on the streets of Reynosa, a Mexican city on the border with the US that has been plagued by drug cartel violence.

Fighting broke out after the arrest of a leader of one of the main gangs in the area.

 

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Mexican Civilians Defy Gun Ban To Defend Against Cartels

From TribLive.com:

Eight months after locals formed self-defense groups, they say they are free of the cartel in six municipalities of the Tierra Caliente, or “Hot Land,” which earned its moniker for the scorching weather but whose name has come to signify criminal activity.

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Mexico’s Zetas Are Not Finished Yet

Mexico’s Zetas Are Not Finished Yet is republished with permission of Stratfor.”

By Scott Stewart and Tristan Reed

During the question-and-answer portion of our quarterly Mexico Security Monitor webinar, we were asked a question pertaining to the current status of Los Zetas. The question was something to the effect of: “Some Mexican media outlets and analysts claim that Los Zetas have been dismantled as an organization and are now little more than a ‘ragtag operation.’ Why do you disagree with that assessment?”

This question apparently came in response to our quarterly cartel report (an abbreviated version is available here), in which we wrote that despite the leadership losses suffered by Los Zetas, including the arrest of their leader, Miguel “Z-40” Trevino Morales, there were no signs that other leaders were challenging the current leader and Miguel’s brother, Omar Trevino Morales. We also wrote that we believed Los Zetas have maintained their operational capabilities in terms of drug smuggling and other criminal activity, and that they have retained the ability to defend their operations and to continue conducting offensive operations deep in their rivals’ territory. Read the rest of this entry »

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Mexico and the Arms Trade

From Free Republic:

It wasn’t sporadic.  It was continuous throughout the city.  For a country that bans guns I thought, how in the world did they get their hands on all these full-auto weapons?  Clearly what sounded like M16 fire was prolific along with 7.62 x 39 AK autos with a smattering of smaller caliber full-autos, most likely 9mm.  Gun fire can be heard in most American cities on New Years, but I’ve never heard full-auto weapons being fired, at least not in the San Diego area.

The next day I went into work and sat down with a trusted senior Mexican manager.  I looked at him and said, “I thought guns were illegal in Mexico.”  He chuckled and said, “So you stayed in town last night?”  As the conversation progressed, it became clear that guns are as common in Mexico as tamales at Christmas.  Everyone he knows, including himself, own at least one gun.  And, it matters not whether it’s a semi-auto or fully automatic, they’re all illegal, so why stop with semi-autos?  Though clearly illegal in the states in most instances, a lot of Mexicans have more firepower in terms of military weapons than we can only dream of owning here.

This article first appeared in 2009. The author describes how no one in Mexico is unarmed despite it being illegal to own a gun larger than .22.

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Mexican Town Arms Women In Struggle Against Cartel Violence

From Tea Party Economist:

The women signed up over the past four days with the Union of Peoples and Organizations of Guerrero State, or UPOEG, Xaltianguis community self-defense force commander Miguel Angel Jimenez told reporters.

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