"Mexican police say federal officers were targeted in attack; Trafficking group called responsible in brutal slayings" by Ken Ellingwood, Los Angeles Times | July 15, 2009
MEXICO CITY - Marking a gruesome new setback in the war on drug gangs, Mexican authorities said yesterday that 12 people found tortured and fatally shot in the western state of Michoacan a night earlier were federal police officers.
Officials said the slayings were the work of La Familia, a Michoacan-based trafficking group that has carried out at least 10 attacks against federal police in the state since Saturday, when authorities captured an alleged leader of the group.
Monte Alejandro Rubido, a senior federal security official, said the 11 men and a woman were off duty when they were ambushed. He said the killers left a message with the heap of bodies that threatened federal police. Elsewhere, authorities came upon two posters warning that police faced death if “they didn’t leave or line up’’ with La Familia, a cult-like gang that US officials say has fast become one of Mexico’s strongest trafficking groups.
The officers’ killings represent the government’s worst single loss of life since President Felipe Calderon declared an army-led crackdown against drug traffickers in December 2006. Eight federal police officers died in a shootout in the northwestern state of Sinaloa in May 2008. Eight soldiers were found decapitated in coastal Guerrero state in December. The influence of drug gangs has seeped into politics in Michoacan, a scenic belt of forested mountains and coastline that is Calderon’s home state.
Rubido said the same La Familia cell involved in the attacks on the officers includes a newly elected congressman who is half brother of Leonel Godoy, the leftist Michoacan governor, and another man who ran as a Green Party candidate for Congress. The violence in Michoacan erupted after the arrest Saturday of Arnoldo Rueda Medina, who authorities say is a ranking La Familia operative and close aide to its founder, Nazario Moreno Gonzalez. Gunmen carried out half a dozen attacks against federal forces around the state Saturday, killing five.
A federal officer was also killed Monday night when gunmen fired on a convoy of federal police heading toward the port city of Lazaro Cardenas. At least six officers were wounded, according to Mexican media reports.
Calderon says government pressure has pushed drug trafficking groups to lash out at authorities and each other. More than 11,000 people have died since the crackdown began. “We cannot, we should not, we will not take one step backward in this matter,’’ Calderon said yesterday.
--more--"I didn't highlight much there because the article never really tells you anything. It completely obscures the role of the CIA and Jewish mafia in the drug trade.
Neither does this follow-up piece.
"Mexico raises police level after cartel attacks" by Associated Press | July 17, 2009
MEXICO CITY - Mexico quadrupled the federal police presence in a western state yesterday after a cartel killed 20 officers and troops in the boldest revenge attack ever mounted by drug traffickers against the government.
The government deployed 1,000 more federal police to the cartel’s home state of Michoacan, bringing the total to 1,300, said Public Safety Department spokeswoman Veronica Penunuri. They will be backed by at least three Black Hawk helicopters and three armored vehicles.
Creeping militarism that foreshadows the North American Union plan of the globalists.
The weekend attacks were a blatant challenge to President Felipe Calderon, who has deployed about 45,000 soldiers and tens of thousands of federal police across the country in an attempt to halt the drug trade. Calderon insists that the backlash for the capture of Arnoldo Rueda proves the cartel has been hurt, but government critics said it revealed how vulnerable federal forces are to heavily armed crime organizations with intelligence networks within police forces.
The deception is grand, isn't it?
Yup, the poor overwhelmed, outgunned feds! Puh-leeze!
--more--"
"US firms vie for Mexico drug war contracts" by Reuters | July 17, 2009
MEXICO CITY - As Mexico battles to keep a lid on drug murders, American companies are vying for millions of dollars worth of contracts for military equipment and training under a long-promised US aid package.
Private US security firms will get the bulk of a $1.4 billion package pledged by the United States in 2007 to help its southern neighbor crush rampant drug gang violence. A fraction of the aid has been delivered.
Almost all of an initial $400 million tranche approved by the US Congress in 2008 and being released bit by bit to buy helicopters and inspection gear and train Mexican police will be doled out to 30 or 40 US companies, said an official at the US Embassy in Mexico City who asked not to be named.
Cha-ching, cui bono?
The state-of-the-art equipment, promised by former president George W. Bush at a meeting with President Felipe Calderon in the colonial city of Merida, is badly needed in Mexico as the death toll from a 2 1/2-year drug war tops 12,800.
Interesting that the piece above only said over 11,000, huh?
Yeah, I am tired of the MSM games here in AmeriKa!
“We would love to get in on some of that Merida money,’’ said Scott Newman, an executive from the Texas firm Texcalibur, which specializes in bulletproofing cars used in war zones and whose firm recently attended a security fair in Mexico to hawk its wares.
That is the FIRST I'VE HEARD OF IT, MSM? WTF?!!!!!!!!
The Mexican government has welcomed the “Merida Initiative’’ and a promise by President Obama to try to stem the smuggling of US guns to Mexico, but is not holding its breath waiting for the gear to arrive. Calderon has poured some $7 billion into a high-stakes army crackdown on drug cartels, but his security forces struggle to match the clout of powerful gangs.
Yup, the poor, poor government with their APCs and Black Hawks!
--more--"
I say LEGALIZE them all and be DONE with VIOLENCE and OBSCENE PROFITS!
We all know that will NEVER HAPPEN though, because BLACK PROFITS fund BLACK OPS and FILL BANK COFFERS!
