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Posts Tagged Mexico
Invasion of the Drug Cartels
Posted by Brian in News, Threat Watch on 17/Jul/2013 16:24
Info-graphic of the increasing influence of Mexican cartels in the United States. Click image to view full size.
Lost ATF Gun Kills Police Chief
From LA Times:
A high-powered rifle lost in the ATF’s Fast and Furious controversy was used to kill a Mexican police chief in the state of Jalisco earlier this year, according to internal Department of Justice records, suggesting that weapons from the failed gun-tracking operation have now made it into the hands of violent drug cartels deep inside Mexico.
President Lies About Gun Violence in Mexico
From Real Clear Politics:
“Most of the guns used to commit violence here in Mexico come from the United States,” President Obama said during a speech at Mexico’s Anthropology Museum
The weapons the cartels are using: RPGs, M-60s, fully automatic AKs and ARs, are not coming from the United States Mr. President.
Mexico’s Drug War: Balkanization Leads to Regional Challenges
Posted by Brian in News, Threat Watch on 24/Apr/2013 08:57
“Mexico’s Drug War: Balkanization Leads to Regional Challenges is republished with permission of Stratfor.”
Editor’s Note:Â This Security Weekly assesses the most significant cartel-related developments of the first quarter of 2013 and provides updated profiles of Mexico’s powerful criminal cartels, as well as a forecast for the rest of this year. It’s the executive summary of a more detailed report available to clients of our Mexico Security Monitor service.
By Tristan Reed
Tactical Analyst
Balkanization of Cartels
Since the late 1980s demise of the Guadalajara cartel, which controlled drug trade routes into the United States through most of Mexico, Mexican cartels have followed a trend of fracturing into more geographically compact, regional crime networks. This trend, which we are referring to as “Balkanization,” has continued for more than two decades and has impacted all of the major cartel groups in Mexico. Indeed the Sinaloa Federation lost significant assets when the organizations run by Beltran Leyva and Ignacio Coronel split away from it. Los Zetas, currently the other most powerful cartel in Mexico, was formed when it split off from the Gulf cartel in 2010. Still these two organizations have fought hard to resist the trend of fracturing and have been able to grow despite being affected by it. This led to the polarized dynamic observed in 2011 when these two dominant Mexican cartels effectively split Mexican organized crime in two, with one group composed of Los Zetas and its allies and the other composed of the Sinaloa Federation and its allies.
This trend toward polarization has since been reversed, however, as Balkanization has led to rising regional challenges to both organizations since 2012. Most notable among these is the split between the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion and the Sinaloa Federation. The Sinaloa Federation continues to struggle with regional crime groups for control in western Chihuahua state, northern Sinaloa state, Jalisco state and northern Sonora state. Similarly, Los Zetas saw several regional challengers in 2012. Two regional groups saw sharp increases in their operational capabilities during 2012 and through the first quarter of 2013. These were the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion and the Knights Templar. Read the rest of this entry »
Mexican Citizens Take Back Town
From The Daily Mail:
The 1,500-strong force has also set up improvised checkpoints on the major road running through Tierra Colorado, which connects the capital Mexico City to Acapulco, a coastal city popular with tourists less than 40 miles away.
8 Murdered In Monterrey
From Borderland Beat:
Unofficially, the dead were identified in the news report as Alfredo Flores, 34, owner of the business, Juana Maria Villegas, 32, José Alfredo Flores Villegas, 15 and Osiris Michelle Flores Villegas, 8. Two other unidentified male victims were killed, and a seventh victim was wounded and taken for medical attention.
Cartels Offer $47,000 Bounty For Identity Of Twitter User
Posted by Brian in News, Threat Watch on 16/Feb/2013 13:21
From La Politica Es La Politica:
Due to the self-imposed silence of the media, and even of the government and police, for many citizens to follow the Twitter account of @ValorTamaulipas is the only way for them to know if and where a shooting might be taking place, as well as what roads are secure, and in what areas people have met with violence or been “disappearedâ€.
Mexico’s Drug War: Persisting Violence and a New President
Posted by Brian in News, Threat Watch on 24/Jan/2013 08:00
“Mexico’s Drug War: Persisting Violence and a New President is republished with permission of Stratfor.”
Editor’s Note:Â This week’s Security Weekly summarizes our annual Mexico drug cartel report, in which we assess the most significant developments of 2012 and provide updated profiles of the country’s powerful criminal cartels as well as a forecast for 2013. The report is a product of the coverage we maintain through our Mexico Security Memo, quarterly updates and other analyses that we produce throughout the year as part of the Mexico Security Monitor service.
In 2013, violence in Mexico likely will remain a significant threat nationwide to bystanders, law enforcement, military and local businesses. Overall levels of violence decreased during 2011, but cartel operations and competition continued to afflict several regions of Mexico throughout 2012. These dangers combined with continued fracturing among cartels, such as Los Zetas, could cause overall violence to increase this year.
A New President
2013 will be the first full year in office for Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, who campaigned on promises to stem cartel violence. The most significant of his initiatives is his plan to consolidate and restructure federal law enforcement in Mexico. Pena Nieto’s ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party has introduced legislation that would switch oversight of the federal police, among other entities, away from the Public Security Secretariat to the Interior Ministry. The president also announced plans to bring the state police from each of Mexico’s 31 states under a unified federal command. Pena Nieto has frequently stated his plans to create a national gendarmerie that would serve as a supplemental paramilitary force for tackling violent organized criminal groups. During a Dec. 17 conference, he announced that this new organization initially would have 10,000 personnel trained by the Mexican army. Read the rest of this entry »
US Agents Banned From Using Firearms While Assisting Mexican Authorities
Posted by Brian in News, Threat Watch on 6/Dec/2012 08:42
From Fox News:
U.S. agents on assignment in Mexico, where they are helping the local authorities go after violent drug cartels, are not allowed to carry weapons for their own protection, a situation that one lawmaker says could turn into “another Benghazi.â€
President Obama gave tacit approval to Mexico’s prohibition against U.S. agents carrying weapons in March 2011, following the ambush killing of ICE agent Jaime Zapata and the wounding of his partner, Victor Avilla.
Mexican Mayor Sacrifices Self to Save Daughter
Posted by Brian in News, Threat Watch on 29/Nov/2012 13:04
From The Daily Mail:
Maria Santos Gorrostieta, who had already survived two assassination attempts, was driving the child to school at around 8.30am when she was ambushed by a car in the city of Morelia.
The 36-year-old was hauled from her vehicle and physically assaulted as horrified witnesses watched, according to newspaper El Universal.
They described how she begged for her child to be left alone and then appeared to get into her abductors’ car willingly.
Pocket Litter: The Evidence That Criminals Carry
Posted by Brian in Opinion, Threat Watch on 29/Oct/2012 10:50
“Pocket Litter: The Evidence That Criminals Carry is republished with permission of Stratfor.”
By Scott Stewart
On Oct. 12, a pregnant medical doctor from Guadalajara, Mexico, attempted to enter the United States through the San Ysidro border crossing. The woman reportedly wanted to give birth in the United States so that her child would be a U.S. citizen. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers arrested the woman, who has since been charged with visa fraud in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.
Ordinarily, the arrest of a Mexican national for document fraud at a border crossing would hardly be newsworthy. However, this case may be anything but ordinary: Authorities have identified the woman as Alejandrina Gisselle Guzman Salazar, who reportedly is the daughter of Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman Loera, one of the world’s most wanted men.
If Guzman is indeed the daughter of El Chapo, the arrest could provide much-needed intelligence to those pursuing the fugitive drug lord. Aside from the intelligence gathered during her interrogation, investigators could also learn much from the information she may have been inadvertently carrying on her person. In law enforcement and intelligence circles, the items of miscellaneous information an individual carries are called “pocket litter” and are carefully reviewed for intelligence value. But the concept of combing through pocket litter for critical information also carries with it some important implications for people who are not criminals. Read the rest of this entry »
Univision is Only Media Investigating “Fast and Furious”
Posted by Brian in Law, News, Threat Watch on 15/Oct/2012 14:34
Statement on Investigation into Shooting of Border Patrol Agents
Posted by Brian in News, Threat Watch on 2/Oct/2012 16:50
Statement on Investigation into Shooting of Border Patrol Agents
Oct. 2, 2012
The FBI and the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office are conducting a joint investigation into the shooting of Border Patrol agents near Naco, Arizona, on Tuesday, October 2, 2012, in the early morning hours. One agent died from his injuries and another, who sustained non-life threatening wounds, was airlifted to a local hospital. The investigation remains ongoing.
Mexico’s Strategy
Posted by Brian in News, Threat Watch on 5/Sep/2012 08:07
“Mexico’s Strategy is republished with permission of Stratfor.”
By George Friedman
A few years ago, I wrote about Mexico possibly becoming a failed state because of the effect of the cartels on the country. Mexico may have come close to that, but it stabilized itself and took a different course instead — one of impressive economic growth in the face of instability.
Mexican Economics
Discussion of national strategy normally begins with the question of national security. But a discussion of Mexico’s strategy must begin with economics. This is because Mexico’s neighbor is the United States, whose military power in North America denies Mexico military options that other nations might have. But proximity to the United States does not deny Mexico economic options. Indeed, while the United States overwhelms Mexico from a national security standpoint, it offers possibilities for economic growth.
Mexico is now the world’s 14th-largest economy, just above South Korea and just below Australia. Its gross domestic product was $1.16 trillion in 2011. It grew by 3.8 percent in 2011 and 5.5 percent in 2010. Before a major contraction of 6.9 percent in 2009 following the 2008 crisis, Mexico’s GDP grew by an average of 3.3 percent in the five years between 2004 and 2008. When looked at in terms of purchasing power parity, a measure of GDP in terms of actual purchasing power, Mexico is the 11th-largest economy in the world, just behind France and Italy. It is also forecast to grow at just below 4 percent again this year, despite slowing global economic trends, thanks in part to rising U.S. consumption. Read the rest of this entry »