Not that I'm tired of the whole phony drug war.
"Marijuana, opium flourish as Mexico fights cartels" October 25, 2011|By Nick Miroff, Washington Post
EL BARRIL, Mexico - The Mexican government is allowing domestic marijuana and opium poppy production to climb to record levels, as soldiers who once cut and burned illegal crops here in the vast Sierra Madre mountains are being redeployed to cities to wage urban warfare against criminal gangs....
Five years into the fight against Mexico’s drug cartels, the country’s sagging eradication efforts expose a major weakness in a US-backed strategy whose leading goal for American officials has been a reduction in the amount of narcotics on US streets.
With Mexican security forces busy fighting off mafia gunmen in places such as Monterrey and Acapulco, their capacity - or commitment - to ripping up rural marijuana and poppy plants has fallen off, sending a surge of fresh dope over the US border.
US officials say they are worried about a new flood of cheap drugs from Mexico but have limited ability to push for a more aggressive eradication campaign, given the government’s urgent need to beat back the criminals. And by seizing more-costly shipments of South American cocaine from the cartels, both governments believe that they can do more damage to their networks....
Maybe you could tell US intelligence agencies to stop running the stuff. That might help.
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Government doing such a great job at it, too:
"Agencies detail campaign against Mexican cartel; Stakeouts led to 76 arrests in Arizona" November 01, 2011|By Marc Lacey, New York Times
PHOENIX - Law enforcement officials yesterday announced the breakup of a massive drug-smuggling ring that used lookouts on hilltops in southern Arizona to move huge quantities of marijuana and other drugs across the Mexican border, eventually reaching users throughout the United States.
Over the last six weeks, federal, state and local officials arrested 76 people, from organizational bosses to stash-house guards to those who transported the drugs in backpacks and in vehicles, the authorities said.
All were linked to the Sinaloa cartel run by Joaquin Guzman, Mexico’s richest and most wanted outlaw, who goes by the nickname El Chapo, officials said.
During an announcement on the crackdown yesterday, Arizona officials estimated the ring had been in operation for at least five years, and had generated more than $2 billion in profits by smuggling more than 3 million pounds of marijuana, 20,000 pounds of cocaine, and 10,000 pounds of heroin.
Such large rings usually use tractor-trailers to get their contraband across, the authorities said, but this operation relied mostly on migrants traveling on foot, straining under their loads.
The authorities acknowledged that the ring had operated under their noses, albeit in rugged terrain that is difficult to patrol....
The authorities were recently reminded of how challenging the drug war had become when they arrested a Homeland Security official stationed at the border, charging him with leading police on a chase through the desert while hurling packages of marijuana from his vehicle.
Related: Deportation officer accused of smuggling marijuana
Last week, a federal grand jury in Tucson delivered an indictment charging a Border Patrol agent with accepting a bribe to let a truck that he believed was smuggling drugs and migrants past a checkpoint in southern Arizona, federal officials said.
Guzman has made bribing the Mexican authorities his trademark, which has frustrated efforts to capture him in the mountain hamlets where he operates.
President Felipe Calderon, who has been criticized for not catching his country’s number one drug lord, recently told The New York Times that he suspects Guzman may be hiding in the United States.
Related: U.S. Government Brings Drug War to U.S. Cities
US officials said they have no evidence to back up the Mexican leader’s claim....
And wouldn't tell you if there were.
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And who is arming those drug gangs anyway?
"Holder admits errors in operation; Weapons leaked into black market" November 09, 2011|By Pete Yost, Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Attorney General Eric Holder yesterday acknowledged serious mistakes in an arms trafficking investigation that allowed AK-47s and other weapons to leak into the black market, but he insisted the Justice Department was taking steps to ensure that never happens again....
The purchases of more than 2,000 weapons aroused the suspicion of “Operation Fast and Furious’’ investigators, but the suspected “straw’’ buyers of those guns were allowed to walk out of Phoenix-area gun shops with AK-47s and other weapons, rather than being arrested.
The goal was to track those weapons to gun-trafficking ring leaders, suspected to include Mexican drug lords, who had long eluded prosecution. But agents lost track of about 1,400 of the guns....
Related: AmeriKa's War on Mexico
The Associated Press has reported that the investigation of Fast and Furious has turned up Justice Department documents which indicate the gun-walking tactic was used in two other investigations by ATF offices in Arizona during the Republican administration of George W. Bush and a briefing memo to Bush Attorney General Michael Mukasey that briefly described use of the tactic. Mukasey has declined to comment on the memo.
The U.S. government giving guns to drug gangs.
Sure is a good way to keep a war going, huh?
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"Mexico captures key drug-cartel aide" September 21, 2011|Associated Press
MEXICO CITY - The Mexican army captured a key figure in the cult-like Knights Templar drug cartel that is sowing violence in western Mexico, a top officer announced yesterday.
Saul Solis Solis, 49, a former police chief and onetime congressional candidate, was captured without incident Monday in the cartel’s home state of Michoacan, Brigadier General Edgar Luis Villegas told reporters.
Solis is considered one of the principal lieutenants in the Knights Templar, which split late last year from La Familia, a pseudo-religious drug gang known as a major trafficker of methamphetamine....
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"Gunmen dump 35 bodies on Mexican street" September 22, 2011|Associated Press
MEXICO CITY - Suspected drug traffickers dumped 35 bodies at rush hour beneath a busy overpass in the heart of a major gulf coast city as gunmen pointed weapons at frightened drivers. Mexican authorities said yesterday that they are examining surveillance video for clues....
The gruesome gesture was a sharp escalation in cartel violence in Veracruz state, which sits on an important route for drugs and Central American migrants heading north.
The Zetas drug cartel has been battling other gangs for control of the state....
Related: Mexican Oil Siphoning Story Stinks
Just like all the other stories in my newspaper.
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"Mexico accuses upstart gang of killing 67" October 08, 2011|By Associated Press
MEXICO CITY - A relatively new drug gang killed at least 67 people whose bodies were found over the course of a couple of weeks in the Gulf Coast state of Veracruz, Mexican authorities said yesterday....
The New Generation gang, believed to be allied with Mexico’s Sinaloa drug cartel, is some sort of paramilitary group aimed at eliminating the hyper-violent Zetas cartel.
New Generation members have dubbed themselves “Mata Zetas,’’ or “Zetas Killers,’’ and many of their victims appear to be from that cartel....
They most be former commandos, too.
Sinaloa and the Zetas have emerged as Mexico’s dominant drug cartels and appear locked in a nationwide battle for territory....
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"Mexican soldiers rescue 61 held by gang" October 17, 2011|By Associated Press
MEXICO CITY - Mexican soldiers freed 61 men being held captive and forced to work for a drug gang in a violent northern border city, the military said yesterday.
The army said the men were found guarded by three kidnappers in a safe house in Piedras Negras on Saturday. Soldiers made the discovery during a security sweep in the area that also turned up an abandoned truck filled with 6 tons of marijuana.
A statement released yesterday said one of the captive men is from Honduras, while the others are from various parts of Mexico.
Piedras Negras sits across the border from Eagle Pass, Texas, in the Mexican state of Coahuila, which has been the scene of ongoing battles between drug gangs. Last week the army arrested a major figure from the Zetas drug cartel there.
In the border city of Matamoros, a bloody, hours-long fight in a prison left 20 inmates dead and 12 injured, state officials said.
The fight Saturday apparently started with a dispute between two inmates, and other prisoners joined in, creating a melee that lasted until authorities retook control of the facility....
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Related:
Mexican official dies in helicopter crash
Mexico’s top Cabinet secretary, Francisco Blake Mora, a key figure in the country’s battle with drug cartels, died in a helicopter crash yesterday with seven others, including the pilot, the government said.
Related: Francisco Blake Mora, 45; led Mexico's war on drugs
