Mexican army success mixed so far in combating drugs

Thanks to: UPI.com

The Mexican army is claiming progress in battling drug cartels siting the arrest of a suspected cartel leader in Cancun and the separate detention of 25 suspected traffickers dressed as soldiers.

However other reports speak of gang members dressed as Mexican soldiers harassing and burning villages. 53 inmates even broke out of a jail with the help of a convoy of trucks. Prison guards were held for questioning afterwards because security camera footage reveled guards doing nothing to stop the prisoners from leaving.

As much as I hate to say it the worse things get down there the better it will be for getting marijuana legalised in this country. That may even be true for us as well, the worse it gets here legalization of marijuana will only look like a better option.

I'll keep my first real post in a wile short, let me close by reminding you to call your congress people and let them know that marijuana legalization is important to you. The sooner we fix the law in the US equates to less suffering for the Mexican people caught in the middle of a pointless drug war.

Undercover Mexican drug agents killed

Thanks to: BBC News

Mexican drug kingpin  Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman is probably to blame for the two agent's deaths. A note reading, "Neither priests or rulers will ever get El Chapo" was found with the bodies. The Mexican government has issued a 2 million dollar reward to informants that help arrest  the 24 most wanted drug kingpins in Mexico.

"The note may represent a major change in the drugs war in Mexico which has seen 8,000 people killed in the past two years as drug gangs fight for territory amid government crackdowns."

The only change I see is the drug gangs showing the government in no uncertain terms that they are ready for a fight. Obviously not much of a change at all. The United States and Mexico's policy regarding the Mexican drug cartels' is like fighting a fire with gasoline instead of water. What makes it even more insane in this case is the fire hydrant full of water is two feet away from the gas, and it costs less too.

Mexican official says army will fight drug war until 2013

Thanks to: Reuters

"Monte Alejandro Rubido, who recently joined President Felipe Calderon's National Security Council as a technical director, said troops would stay at the core of the war on drug cartels who have slaughtered nearly 2,000 people so far this year, mainly rival smugglers and police." (italics mine)

Facing a corrupt Mexican police force that, understandably, has in many cases chosen to supplement their income providing protection for the cartels', the Mexican government has resorted to using their army to fight the cartels' and retrain and modernise the police. Now Mexican officials are on record saying the Mexican army will be involved until at least 2013. The first question that comes to mind is how does Mexico plan to pay for this war? With a global recession that is showing no signs of ending, Mexico's defence budget will almost certainly have to be cut between now and 2013.  The cartels' on the other hand have no shortage of cash flow and could in theory continue battling the Mexican army indefinitely wile simultaneously continuing their drug smuggling operation. 

As I highlighted in the above quote the cartels' violence is mainly directed at those who stand in the way of profits. Most of the violence began as infighting between cartels' competing for the best smugging routes and landing strips.  As the government of Mexico has tried to quell the fighting they have also become targets. 

"Several high-profile arrests, including that of a presidential guardsmen who allegedly received $100,000 a month to track Calderon for drug traffickers, have also revealed drug cartel infiltration inside the military." (italics mine)

I love this part for so many reasons. Mainly the fact that it is the very last sentence of the article. Anyways, Hey guess what? The army is on it's way to becoming just as corrupt as the police force! I don't think that might be a bit of a problem in waging a 4 year against the same drug gangs that are "infiltrating" the army, do you? 

Well, do you?

Signs point to Mexican government in cartels' pocket

Via: LA Times

"Reporting from Mexico City -- In the tense state of Durango, Roman Catholic Archbishop Hector Gonzalez announced over the weekend that the fugitive drug trafficker who tops Mexico's most wanted list was living nearby.

And everyone knows it, he added. Except, it would seem, the authorities, who fail to make an arrest.

A shocking revelation indeed. But in Durango, most local newspapers and television stations declined to report the comments, and for some reason national papers that contained the remarks did not appear on many newsstands."

When stories like this come out it's pretty apparent we already lost this war before the US even gets actively involved in fighting it. If the Mexican cartels' can simply buy off Mexican political leaders and police forces then they have already won any increased armed conflict that the policies of the United States regarding the Mexican drug war may incite.

 

Mexico's government sends 10,000 more soldiers to border city

Mexico seeks tighter lockdown in drug war city

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico, April 16 (Reuters) - Mexico's government is hiring more police and sending federal agents to the bloody border city of Ciudad Juarez, where it already has thousands of troops trying to quell drug violence.

President Felipe Calderon, who has made crushing drug gangs a central goal of his government, sent 10,000 soldiers and federal police into Ciudad Juarez in March.

His government says drug murders in the city have since dropped by 80 percent. But police corruption and complaints of rights abuses threaten to undermine early gains and the federal attorney general's office is sending more agents, recruiting more police and appointing a general as an aide to the city's mayor, the army said on Thursday.

"People are asking what will happen if the army leaves Ciudad Juarez. Well, the army's presence here is permanent, but we are also strengthening all areas of security," army spokesman Enrique Torres said.

So let me get this straight, Mexico has to bring in their army to police the streets permanently in Ciudad Juarez to reduce drug war violence in the city and President Obama is praising Mexico?

What  kind of solution is that? Based on this I guess Mexico and the United States are willing to become police states  before they would allow the legal market to regulate the sale and production of Marijuana. This will result in an unacceptable loss of freedoms and privacy for all citizens just to keep some people from using a plant that they prove

time and again they are going to use

anyways. 

We couldn't ask for a better illustration as to why working to end the war on drugs 

sooner, rather then later will make the transition easier for every sector of society to 

accommodate. The longer the drug war rages in either country the farther we could 

descend into a paramilitary police state designed to protect us from the same violence 

that was created by bad drug policy in the first place. I don't think the US or Mexico can 

afford to continue this path for long, it remains to be seen how long the Mexican cartels' 

can hold out.

Obama's off to Mexico

President Barack Obama is on Air force One heading to Mexico today to meet with Mexican President Felipe Calderon.  This will be President Obama's only stop before heading off to Trinidad and Tobago for the Summit of the Americas tomorrow. Topics of expected discussion between the two leaders will center, unsurprisingly, on the drug related violence and immigration issues. 

Many Mexican leaders are calling for the US to reinstate the assault weapons ban, lifted under former President Bush in 2004. But even the mention of reinstating the ban earlier this year was met with opposition by both Democrats and Republicans. Since then Obama's administration has made the decision not go any further with the the reinstatement of the ban. 

What Obama has done is ask congress for $350 million for US - Mexico border security, and send hundreds of Federal agents and drug sniffing dogs to help fight the Mexican drug cartels. The leaders will meet today to show the United state's solidarity with Mexico as it confronts the cartels and will try to come up with more effective means of battling them.

Let's hope they come to the conclusion that they can't fight these guys with guns. We could bankrupt the cartels by dissolving their marijuana market, but I'm not sure enough people would die if we do it that way...

Were gaining currency!

See it says so right at the end of this story! in Mexico anyways...

 

"Mexico's Congress also is debating legalization of marijuana, a political long shot that is gaining currency. Calderon has proposed offering treatment instead of jail time, but would not legalize possession."

 Obama brings new tone to Mexico, aiding drug war via AP 

How to end mexican drug violence

Check out this video I just found. It does a good job of explaining the Mexican drug war 

and what we can do about it. 

Especially good for those of you too ADD to read static text on a page :D

-VeganToker

US guns arm violent drug cartels

Select quotes from Washington AP

"Stopping the flow of money and weapons from the United States into Mexico is critical to dealing with the violent drug cartels creating havoc on the border, the Mexican ambassador to the U.S. said Sunday."

"The key issue right now is how can the United States help to shut down those guns and shut down that bulk cash that is providing the drug syndicates in Mexico with the wherewithal to corrupt, to bribe, to kill," Sarukhan said on CBS's "Face the Nation."

"Tightening border security through fencing and similar means has not had an impact on guns and drugs, Sarukhan said."

"We will be able to control our border if we can control illicit traffic in moving both directions, the drugs moving north, the weapons and the cash moving south," he said. "We will have to work together. And it behooves Mexico to ensure that this common border is secure, that we're doing things on both sides of the border to jointly ensure that the border is secure, that the well-being of our citizens on both sides of the border is being protected."



Is anyone ever going to acknowledge the 200 bazillion pound elephant in the room? No one is offering any real solutions to this problem. The best we've gotten from those in charge is the recycling of old ideas wile simultaneously telling us how these same ideas have failed in the past.

The one and only thing that will end this insane drug war that has already taken the life's of thousands of Mexican, and American citizens is to legalize marijuana. People in increasingly higher levels of public office have started calling for legalisation of marijuana because of drug war violence spilling into their border towns. It's up to us to help get their voices heard nationally. Marijuana Prohibition must end on a Federal level for it to be most effective in crippling the Mexican drug cartels.

-VeganToker

Americans spend $9 billion a year on Mexican pot

According to the Office of National Drug Control Policy, Americans spend about $9 billion a year on Mexican marijuana. This $9 billion dollars make up 62 percent of the Mexican cartels total profits. 

These two simple statistics illustrate a simple yet profound point, if weed was legal tomorrow 62 percent of the Mexican cartels' profits would be gone within a year tops.  A business that looses 62 percent of it's profitability would be crippled at best as a result. 

It's a pretty simple choice really. We can either ignite an all out war on the southern border with Mexican cartels wile meanwhile they continue to make that same $9 billion dollars a year that they can use to fight the US and Mexican armies. Or we can legalize cannabis in this country cut off 62 percent of the cartels' profits and resources to fight with.  

What option leads to fewer deaths and less money wasted?  You be the judge.

-VeganToker

Some disturbing staticstics

So far the conflict between Mexico and US forces and the Mexican drug cartels' have produced the following results:

10,475 Killed (December 2006 - March 2009)

2,477 Killed during 2007

5,630 Killed during 2008

1,744 Killed during 2009 So far.

meanwhile...
45,000+ Drug cartel members have been detained 

These numbers only further illustrate my point. As long as demand is strong, supply will be present regardless of any policy of the Mexican or United States government. There is always someone else willing to risk their life for the possible fortune the illegal drug trade provides those involved. Once again we arrive at the same undeniable truth. Americans addressing  American demand for marijuana equals no profit for Mexican cartels trading in marijuana and that would put an end to the cartels' quicker than any other method we currently have at our disposal.