michael Webster asked:


BY MICHAEL WEBSTER: Syndicated Investigative Reporter. Jan 3, 2009 at 12:01 PM PST. Syndication will be released worldwide Jan 4, 2009 @ 12:01 AM PST

During 2008 Mexico’s violent deaths broke historic records raising the death toll to 5,630 execution murders, beating out last years all time record.

In 2008, more people lost their lives in Mexico do to violence then were lost in the war torn countries of Iraq and Afghanistan combined. 

Mexican officials said statistics for the number of homicides were still being compiled. But an unofficial tally shows that the Mexican border cities are among the highest death tolls in Mexico. In just the two largest Mexican cities bordering the U.S. Juárez and Tijuana they ended the year with a record high with more than 2,600 killings, most of them attributed to turf wars among drug cartels. Some of those executions were Americans.

Carey- May 2008

Carey Marcella McClintock was brutally murdered on August 31, 2008 in Juarez, Mexico.  She was found in an abandoned house in the desert minutes outside of Juarez.  She had been beaten and stabbed multiple times.  Her family feels that her murder may never be solved by authorities.

According to Mexico’s biggest newspaper El Universal in the past four years, 12,061 people have died at the hands of organized crime, 46.5% of them in this past year.  Multi-executions characterized 2008.  In August, a dozen decapitated bodies with signs of torture were discovered stacked in a pile in the state of Yucatan.  In September, 24 bodies were discovered in a nature park near Mexico City, all with coup de grace shots to the head.  Then, in December, nine severed heads in a sack were dumped in a shopping area of Chilpancingo, capital city of the state of Guerrero.

Mexico started off the New Year with a string of more shootouts, killings and kidnappings and it is feared by those in the know that 2009 may even be worse.

In 2008 many Americans were murdered in Mexico.

From Brownsville Texas to San Diego California Mexican cities bordering American cities are where most Americans are being killed by assassinations and executions. Many Americans were kidnapped in the U.S. and taken to Mexico where they were murdered. Still other Americans were abducted and slain in Mexico while visiting, others where shot gangland style in country. Dozens of U.S. citizens have been kidnapped, or held hostage, or killed by their captors in Mexico and many cases remain unsolved. Moreover, new cases of disappearances and kidnap-for-ransom and Americans being killed continue to be reported.

The reach of the violent Mexican drug cartels have targeted and kidnapped and or killed Americans deep into the U.S. on our soil.

Corruption on both sides of the U.S. Mexican border runs deep and can be found in the highest levels of both the Mexican government as well as the U.S.

A high ranking member of the Caldron administration who will remain unknown says, “There is corruption in regards to Narco trafficking in both governments and when there is unlimited cash available that cash finds its way to the powers to be and has no borders when it comes to influence.”

The violent and well financed Mexican drug cartels are fighting to take over the Mexican Government in what has become a civil war that the Mexican government refuses to admit. According to newspapers in Mexico “La Familia” is one of the cartels trying to be the government.  The criminal group “La Familia” has suffered recent major blows through arrests of some of it leaders.  The organization began in 2006, supported by the Gulf drug cartel, with the deceptive purpose of “defending citizens, merchants, businesses and farmers” in place of the legitimate role of the existing government.  With confirmed operations established in 77 cities in the state of Michoacan and in the states of Mexico and Guerrero, including the Federal District, La Familia resorts to the pretense of offering protection, at elevated rates, and threatens with death those who do not accept their terms.  As part of what they call “social work,” they have consented to decapitations and executions.  In areas where they have absolute control, they claim to be dedicated to fighting all crime, thus supplanting the legitimate government.  Besides narco-trafficking, they have extended their criminal activities into other areas, mainly, kidnapping for ransom, human smuggling, gun running and money laundering much of which spills over into the U.S..  In addition to crime, the cartels own or control established businesses throughout Mexico these include strip clubs, other bars and nightclubs, prostitution, restaurants, auto dealers and the sales of stolen American cars, buying and selling beef cattle, farming, buying and selling farm and construction equipment. Much of this activity helps to enhance their goal to over through the current Mexican Government.

On the bright side of this dismal situation if there is one the U.S. Government reports that the Mexican government extradited 10 major drug defendants to face trial in the United States. Those defendants are accused of being associated with some of the most notorious Mexican drug trafficking organizations, including the Gulf Cartel, the Arellano Felix Organization and the Sinaloa Cartel. The defendants arrived recently in Texas and will stand trial in the Southern District of Texas, the Southern District of California, the Central District of California and the Northern District of Georgia.

In announcing the extraditions, Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey said, “The courageous action of the Mexican government in extraditing these 10 defendants – each of whom is accused of major drug offenses or other serious federal felonies – shows the unrelenting commitment of Mexican President Calderon to break the power of the Mexican drug cartels. We stand with him, with Mexican Attorney General Medina Mora, and with all our Mexican law enforcement colleagues, in this fight. Today’s extraditions demonstrate that the cartels cannot operate with impunity, and that Mexico and the United States will work together ceaselessly to defeat them.”

The extradition of these 10 defendants brings the total number of extraditions from Mexico to the United States to 95 for 2008, the highest yearly number of extraditions from Mexico to date, surpassing last year’s record number of 83.

Google or click: 

American Death toll in Mexico’s drug war surges

Mexico’s war more deadly than Iraq

Two more Americans slaughtered in Mexico

For more related reports go to: MICHAEL WEBSTER’S OTHER WRITINGS

Editors note:

Michael Webster’s Syndicated Investigative Reports are read worldwide,  in 100 or more U.S. outlets and in at least 136 countries and territories. He has published articles for MaximsNews, which  is associated with MediaChannel.org and Globalvision News Network, global news and media information services with more than 350 news affiliates in 135 countries. Many of Mr. Webster’s articles are printed in six working languages: English, French, Arabic, Chinese, Russian and Spanish. With ten more languages planed in the near future.

Mr. Webster is America’s leading authority on Venture Capital/Equity Funding. A trustee on some of the nations largest trade Union funds. A noted Author, Lecturer, Educator, Emergency Manager, Counter-Terrorist, War on Drugs and War on Terrorist Specialist, Business Consultant, Newspaper Publisher. Radio News caster. Labor Law generalist, Teamster Union Business Agent, General Organizer, Union Rank and File Member Grievances Representative, NLRB Union Representative, Union Contract Negotiator, Workers Compensation Appeals Board Hearing Representative. Mr. Webster publishes the on-line newspaper the Laguna Journal and does investigative reports for print, electronic and on-line News Agencies.  

michael Webster asked:


BY MICHAEL WEBSTER: INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER Nov 9, 2008 at 5:00 PM PDT

 

According to records kept by El Universal Mexico’s largest newspaper they report since 2005, the 24 hours of last Monday alone was the most violent for the year in the country, with 58 murders linked to organized crime.  This figure surpasses the record set on Sept 12, 2008 when 41 murders occurred within a 24-hour period. Both records occurred in the same year.  Among those murdered just in one day were seven police commanders and officers.  One police officer was wounded and the severed head of a private security guard was left in a gasoline station restroom.

The overwhelming majority of main news items in Mexico on any given day is the killings and violence that happen in Mexico on a daily bases. At the current rate of violent deaths in Mexico it is projected that the number will reach 5,000. That is more deaths than in the Iraq war, where we as Americans are spending 10 billion per month of tax payer’s money to support that war and have over 150, 000 troops and other Americans in country today. Mexico is our immediate neighbor to the south with a population of well over 100 million people with a war that is killing it’s citizens at an alarming rate. Many of those murders kidnappings and violence in Mexico is spilling into the United States where Americans have been killed and/or kidnapped. This is all related to the drug war going on in Mexico between the powerful Mexican drug cartels and the Mexican Government.  

What follows is a compilation of the comparison of deaths both in Iraq and Mexico. To date there have been more then 4,000 plus violent deaths in Mexico both Mexican and U.S. citizens. In comparison to date in Iraq there has been killed appax. 1,312.

During the last 24 hours 38 persons have died in different events caused by members of organized crime; the number has reached 4,052 in 2008 in this country (Mexico), surpassing by more than three times the number of dead in Iraq this year.

 

Additionally an alarming number of Americans are vanishing in Mexico where there has been a dramatic increase in the numbers of U.S. citizens who have recently been reported missing or kidnapped along the border with Mexico, reports the Washington Post. Many who have vanished from U.S. cities are still missing and it is feared they will turn up in the mass graves that have been discovered lately in Mexico.

U.S. State Dept recently issued Mexico alert said “Recent Mexican army and police force conflicts with heavily-armed narcotics cartels have escalated to levels equivalent to military small-unit combat and have included use of machine guns and fragmentation grenades.   Confrontations have taken place in numerous towns and cities in northern Mexico, including Tijuana in the Mexican state of Baja California, and Chihuahua City and Ciudad Juarez in the state of Chihuahua.  The situation in northern Mexico remains very fluid; the location and timing of future armed engagements there cannot be predicted”. Public shootouts have occurred during daylight hours near shopping areas in many Mexican border towns. Click on or  

What follows is the deadly and apparently relentless daily routine of blood and mayhem spread throughout the country of Mexico. Remember this is just one typical day of violence in Mexico. This is from only a few Mexican newspapers. There is no attempt to report every similar instance published in other Mexican newspapers for that day.

 

The following are item headlines appearing on 10/28/08 in the papers indicated.

 

From El Debate (Culiacan, Sinaloa)

-    Unknown subject is murdered in Culiacan

-    Traffic policeman found murdered in Culiacan

-    Unknown subject is found incinerated

-    Shootout between police and hit-men results in one death

-    Guasave resident murdered in Tijuana (Guasave is a city in Sinaloa)

-    Man found incinerated at the Linita de Hitaje Cemetery. The body was in a car reported stolen.

From Diario (Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, edition

-    Four executed and one abducted

-    Bullet riddled body found in Chihuahua

-    Policeman killed Saturday had been threatened in a banner

-    Armed commando kills four outside a bar

-    Shot with gun in the mouth

-    Juarez resident murdered near Sateno

-    Two executed in Chihuahua; they were police

-    Chase and shootout reported in the state’s capital

-    One more killed in Chihuahua City

There were at least 15 persons reported executed from dawn yesterday until press time for this edition; nine of them were in Tijuana, Baja Calif., four in Chihuahua and two in Sinaloa. The violence of criminal groups continues to be unstoppable in the country.”

The following is deadly attacks in Iraq so far this year 2008 totaling approx. 1,312

 From BBC News: Deaths in Iraq

23 Nov 06 – 200 dead

- Five car bombs and mortar attacks in Sadr City, Baghdad

13 Aug 06 – 57 dead

Four-storey building destroyed in blast in Zafaraniya district.

18 July 06 – 53 dead

Car bomb in southern city of Kufa near Shia shrine

1 July 06 – 66 killed

Car bomb in Sadr City, Baghdad

7 April 2006 – 85 dead

Triple ******* bombing at Shia Buratha mosque

5 Jan 06 – 110 dead

Suicide bombers hit Karbala shrine and police recruiting station in Ramadi

18 Nov 05 – 80 dead

Multiple bombings in Baghdad and two Khanaqin mosques

14 Sept 05 – 182 dead

Suicide car bomber targets Baghdad laborers in worst of a series of bombs

16 Aug 05 – 90 dead

Suicide bomber detonates fuel tanker in Musayyib

28 Feb 05 – 114 dead

Suicide car bomb hits government jobseekers in Hilla

24 June 04 – 100 dead

Co-ordinated blasts in Mosul and other cities

2 March 04 – 140 dead

Suicide bombers attack Shia festival at Karbala and Baghdad

1 Feb 04 – 105 dead

Twin attacks on Kurdish parties’ offices in Irbil

28 Aug 03 – 85 dead

Car bomb at Najaf shrine targets senior Shia cleric

In Ciudad Juarez the body of a man who had been beheaded and whose hands were handcuffed behind him was found hung from the Rotario Bridge in Juarez across the border from El Paso Texas. He had been forcibly kidnapped and carried off two days before according to police. A message from a local criminal organization was left nearby. The gruesome display even for this northern border city long accustomed to drug-related violence was shocked.

Shortly after the grisly sighting about 5 a.m., police found the victim’s head in a black bag in a nearby plaza, said state police spokesman Alejandro Pariente.

Pariente said the body was wearing black jeans, a red T-shirt and white sneakers, and was handcuffed. A banner apparently directed at rival drug-gang members was hung next to the corpse.

The victim’s father was barely able to identify his 23-year-old sons body.

 

Caution what follows is a photo showing the hanging body just before its removal.  Yet one more body was found near the Rio Grande in Juarez, this one shot in the head.

Elsewhere, masked men gunned down two police officers in a convenience store in Chihuahua City, the capital of Chihuahua state, where Juarez is located, said Eduardo Esparza, spokesman for the state attorney general’s office. After the killings assailants left a toy pig next to the bodies. A man wearing a pig mask was found hung in a residence in  Juarez. Near the body was a message threatening to do the same to others. Police believe the message was from drug gangs.

Drug violence has been escalating across Mexico and cartels have turned to increasingly gruesome methods to send a message to their rivals and police.

Also in Juarez, the same day four men were found shot to death. And four other men fell victim to gunfire attacks in various places in the city.

Elsewhere in town, the cadaver of a man was found hanging from a metal fence in front of an empty house. A mask with the face of a pig had been placed over his head and his hands had been cuffed. There was also a threatening “narco-message” left with the hanged body.

Later the same day Mexican army personnel detained four heavily armed men in Cuauhtemoc, Chihuahua; the four had with them “an anti-tank rocket launcher, a high explosive rocket, two caliber 308 rifles capable of piercing armor, two cal. 223 AR-15 rifles, a caliber 556 rifle, a .22 caliber rifle, a .22 revolver, a caliber 11.25 pistol, 12 fragmentation hand grenades, a gas grenade and clips of various calibers.” They also had five “T3  level bullet proof vests, bandoleers, gas masks and ID cards of the PGR (Mex. Dep’t. of Justice) plus small amounts of drugs. Most of the front page and the headline on the printed version of a Juarez paper were devoted to the horror which Juarez residents feel because of the level and brutality of all the violence.

Tijuana violence does not cease there either it is becoming an everyday affair according to Jose Gonzalez a resident of Tijuana were there is more violence reported and where the finding of cadavers and narco messages keep police agencies on alert on both sides of the border and the civilian population in a state of panic.

In Tijuana alone there have been to date more than 700 execution type killings carried out by organized crime that have been counted this year, which makes it one of the most violent in the city’s history. Recently in TJ two more decapitated bodies were found, two police officers were murdered and so were eleven other men, all within a 14 hour period.

In a banner headlines on the printed front page of a TJ newspaper read: City policeman executed Physician kidnapped. 

 

A second “ministerial police” agent lost his life Wednesday afternoon in TJ. He was driving his car when the occupants of two other vehicles opened fire killing him dead in his car. Two severed human heads were left on top of the lids of each of two blue plastic barrels found near the Otay Mesa border crossing point on the east side of TJ near the California border. The location is just four blocks away from where six persons were killed by gunfire on Monday. The headless bodies were inside the barrels, and a narco message.

 

A “Ministerial Police” commander was killed and his police officer escort was critically wounded Monday afternoon when killers shot them repeatedly while the two were eating at a restaurant. The hit-men left and disappeared as quickly as they had arrived. 

 

Recently four men fell victim to a gunfire assault at a junkyard in the Lomas Verdes section of TJ but between 4 p.m. and late evening six other men were shot to death and two others were wounded in two other incidents elsewhere in town.

Just yesterday, ten gunmen lost their lives after a shootout with state agents in Nogales, Sonora. The police were attacked with fragmentation grenades; three police and three civilians were wounded.

The body of a gagged man was found in Cabo San Lucas; his fingers had been chopped off. Eight persons have died in Baja California Norte in the last 24 hours, the product of a spiral of violence.

Just recently two Rosarito police officers were assassinated while on patrol. Twenty kilometers away three other persons were murdered. Seven other crimes took place in Chihuahua; two men were found dead in Hermosillo, Sonora, two in Culiacan and “some others more” in Guanajuato, Guerrero, the Distrito Federal and Taxco.

A related account in “El Universal” (Mexico City) states that violence in Rosarito has cost the lives of seven police and at least a dozen other persons in less than thirty days; it adds that there have been mass resignations of police there because of fear of being murdered. Just some years back Rosarito was a laid back, peaceful ocean beach town.

Just recently Baja racer Arron Cooper another American was shot in Mexico while pre-running the Baja 1000 race. See: Baja Racing News.com for more details.

Sources:

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FORMER BORDER PATROL OFFICERS (NAFBPO)  

El Universal, El Debate and Diario newspapers. El Paso Police Dept. El Paso Sheriff’s Dept. Mexico City Police Dept., Juarez Police Dept.

Click on or Google:War on terror and drugs by Michael Webster

michael Webster asked:


BY MICHAEL WEBSTER: Syndicated Investigative Reporter. Jan 3, 2009 at 12:01 PM PST. Syndication will be released worldwide Jan 4, 2009 @ 12:01 AM PST

During 2008 Mexico’s violent deaths broke historic records raising the death toll to 5,630 execution murders, beating out last years all time record.

In 2008, more people lost their lives in Mexico do to violence then were lost in the war torn countries of Iraq and Afghanistan combined. 

Mexican officials said statistics for the number of homicides were still being compiled. But an unofficial tally shows that the Mexican border cities are among the highest death tolls in Mexico. In just the two largest Mexican cities bordering the U.S. Juárez and Tijuana they ended the year with a record high with more than 2,600 killings, most of them attributed to turf wars among drug cartels. Some of those executions were Americans.

Carey- May 2008

Carey Marcella McClintock was brutally murdered on August 31, 2008 in Juarez, Mexico.  She was found in an abandoned house in the desert minutes outside of Juarez.  She had been beaten and stabbed multiple times.  Her family feels that her murder may never be solved by authorities.

According to Mexico’s biggest newspaper El Universal in the past four years, 12,061 people have died at the hands of organized crime, 46.5% of them in this past year.  Multi-executions characterized 2008.  In August, a dozen decapitated bodies with signs of torture were discovered stacked in a pile in the state of Yucatan.  In September, 24 bodies were discovered in a nature park near Mexico City, all with coup de grace shots to the head.  Then, in December, nine severed heads in a sack were dumped in a shopping area of Chilpancingo, capital city of the state of Guerrero.

Mexico started off the New Year with a string of more shootouts, killings and kidnappings and it is feared by those in the know that 2009 may even be worse.

In 2008 many Americans were murdered in Mexico.

From Brownsville Texas to San Diego California Mexican cities bordering American cities are where most Americans are being killed by assassinations and executions. Many Americans were kidnapped in the U.S. and taken to Mexico where they were murdered. Still other Americans were abducted and slain in Mexico while visiting, others where shot gangland style in country. Dozens of U.S. citizens have been kidnapped, or held hostage, or killed by their captors in Mexico and many cases remain unsolved. Moreover, new cases of disappearances and kidnap-for-ransom and Americans being killed continue to be reported.

The reach of the violent Mexican drug cartels have targeted and kidnapped and or killed Americans deep into the U.S. on our soil.

Corruption on both sides of the U.S. Mexican border runs deep and can be found in the highest levels of both the Mexican government as well as the U.S.

A high ranking member of the Caldron administration who will remain unknown says, “There is corruption in regards to Narco trafficking in both governments and when there is unlimited cash available that cash finds its way to the powers to be and has no borders when it comes to influence.”

The violent and well financed Mexican drug cartels are fighting to take over the Mexican Government in what has become a civil war that the Mexican government refuses to admit. According to newspapers in Mexico “La Familia” is one of the cartels trying to be the government.  The criminal group “La Familia” has suffered recent major blows through arrests of some of it leaders.  The organization began in 2006, supported by the Gulf drug cartel, with the deceptive purpose of “defending citizens, merchants, businesses and farmers” in place of the legitimate role of the existing government.  With confirmed operations established in 77 cities in the state of Michoacan and in the states of Mexico and Guerrero, including the Federal District, La Familia resorts to the pretense of offering protection, at elevated rates, and threatens with death those who do not accept their terms.  As part of what they call “social work,” they have consented to decapitations and executions.  In areas where they have absolute control, they claim to be dedicated to fighting all crime, thus supplanting the legitimate government.  Besides narco-trafficking, they have extended their criminal activities into other areas, mainly, kidnapping for ransom, human smuggling, gun running and money laundering much of which spills over into the U.S..  In addition to crime, the cartels own or control established businesses throughout Mexico these include strip clubs, other bars and nightclubs, prostitution, restaurants, auto dealers and the sales of stolen American cars, buying and selling beef cattle, farming, buying and selling farm and construction equipment. Much of this activity helps to enhance their goal to over through the current Mexican Government.

On the bright side of this dismal situation if there is one the U.S. Government reports that the Mexican government extradited 10 major drug defendants to face trial in the United States. Those defendants are accused of being associated with some of the most notorious Mexican drug trafficking organizations, including the Gulf Cartel, the Arellano Felix Organization and the Sinaloa Cartel. The defendants arrived recently in Texas and will stand trial in the Southern District of Texas, the Southern District of California, the Central District of California and the Northern District of Georgia.

In announcing the extraditions, Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey said, “The courageous action of the Mexican government in extraditing these 10 defendants – each of whom is accused of major drug offenses or other serious federal felonies – shows the unrelenting commitment of Mexican President Calderon to break the power of the Mexican drug cartels. We stand with him, with Mexican Attorney General Medina Mora, and with all our Mexican law enforcement colleagues, in this fight. Today’s extraditions demonstrate that the cartels cannot operate with impunity, and that Mexico and the United States will work together ceaselessly to defeat them.”

The extradition of these 10 defendants brings the total number of extraditions from Mexico to the United States to 95 for 2008, the highest yearly number of extraditions from Mexico to date, surpassing last year’s record number of 83.

Google or click: 

American Death toll in Mexico’s drug war surges

Mexico’s war more deadly than Iraq

Two more Americans slaughtered in Mexico

For more related reports go to: MICHAEL WEBSTER’S OTHER WRITINGS

Editors note:

Michael Webster’s Syndicated Investigative Reports are read worldwide,  in 100 or more U.S. outlets and in at least 136 countries and territories. He has published articles for MaximsNews, which  is associated with MediaChannel.org and Globalvision News Network, global news and media information services with more than 350 news affiliates in 135 countries. Many of Mr. Webster’s articles are printed in six working languages: English, French, Arabic, Chinese, Russian and Spanish. With ten more languages planed in the near future.

Mr. Webster is America’s leading authority on Venture Capital/Equity Funding. A trustee on some of the nations largest trade Union funds. A noted Author, Lecturer, Educator, Emergency Manager, Counter-Terrorist, War on Drugs and War on Terrorist Specialist, Business Consultant, Newspaper Publisher. Radio News caster. Labor Law generalist, Teamster Union Business Agent, General Organizer, Union Rank and File Member Grievances Representative, NLRB Union Representative, Union Contract Negotiator, Workers Compensation Appeals Board Hearing Representative. Mr. Webster publishes the on-line newspaper the Laguna Journal and does investigative reports for print, electronic and on-line News Agencies.  

michael Webster asked:


http://www.lagunajournal.com/mexican_revolution_has_began.htm”>

BY MICHAEL WEBSTER: Syndicated Investigative Reporter. Weds, Jan 21, 2009 at 12:01 AM PST.

 

Mexico’s Drugs, Violence and corruption and all of its related ramifications will bring the country down through revolution by its people.

According to a spokesperson for a new radical group calling itself the Juárez Citizens Command is threatening to strike back against lawlessness that has gripped Mexico for a long time, they say that they are going to strike back by killing one criminal a day until order and piece is restored. Similar groups are popping up all across Mexico.

Over the years, with the help of corrupt Mexican officials and corrupt or myopic American officials, and with American politicians nurturing a lack of foresight and discernment therefore developed at the very least a narrow view of what’s actually happening in Mexico and are now in denial of a failed state. As a result of this corruption the failed state of Mexico has become one of the most dangerous places in the world where violence runs rampant and Citizens wake up to executed headless bodies in their streets. The spokesperson stated.

Juan Lopez a shop keeper in the border town of Nogales says “The people of Mexico feel that the government is losing the war against the Mexican Drug Cartels bloody violence and that the government is unable to protect us.”

The Mexican border towns are like ghost towns with no tourist and no customers to buy their goods.  Tourist mainly Americans have stopped shopping in Mexico because of that violence. To make things even more untenable the cartel gangs are demanding protection money from the small Mom and Pop shop owners in Mexico City and throughout the country and it seems the current Calderon government cannot or will not stop it.

Other industries big and small including rich drug traffickers are believed to spend millions buying politicians in the failed hope of government protection as the Calderon administration turns a deaf hear and appear to be in lock step with the U.S. Some say it is because the U.S. is willing to pay more.

Mexico has become the drug capital of the world and the drug superhighway to the United States, delivering its poison of heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana to the drug hungry U.S. market.

According to a DEA undercover operative the Mexican drug cartels have gained more and more of the American market. They have grown bolder in their attempts to expand their operations in Mexico and the United States. They now control the ruling party in Mexico and operate the biggest drug business on earth right here in the USA, right under our noses.

 

Law enforcement on both sides of the border say this is being done through the cartels surrogates Mexican and American gangs. These surrogates smuggle drugs from Mexico to the states and sell or front the drugs to American gang leaders who in turn sell or front the drugs to its members who move the drugs to local dealers and drug addicts for distribution and sales on the streets of America. These same surrogates, conduct murder for hire on behalf of the cartels interests, kidnap and transport victims to Mexico for executions and enforce the cartels will. Many of the drive by and other gang shootings are the result of orders from Mexico.

The Laguna Journal has reported in the past that large amounts of cash from the Mexican drug cartel gangs whom are selling drugs on the streets of American cities are being smuggled back into Mexico.

In its last report, the US Department of Justice disclosed that 17.2 billion dollars in cash entered Mexico in only the past two years as a result of money laundering operations in their country. The report advised that Mexico and Colombia are the principal destinations of narco resources that operate in the US and that “the laundering of drug money is a global industry” with transnational organizations present in various countries.  

General Barry McCaffrey, ex-US anti-drug czar, urged a halt to the “hundreds of millions of dollars” smuggled into Mexico since, with those resources, the drug cartels acquire more force and power.  He warned that Mexico is in a national emergency.  The report, drawn up by the National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC), said that smuggling cash is a method used by traffickers to move profits from drug sales from the US market to the foreign supplier, mainly Mexico and Colombia.  It is estimated that those two drug countries launder between 18 and 39 billion dollars annually.  ”a large part is smuggled in bulk from the US over the southwest border,” the report said.

The Mexican Drug Cartels begin their take over of the Mexican Government by infiltrating the 71-year reign of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) by buying its officials and by contributing huge amounts of cash to their cause. When that didn’t work as well as they liked they went after the ultimate control of government by causing to be formed the new National Action Party, or PAN they than looked for and found a likely candidate that they felt they could control and as a result President Vicente Fox of the PAN, finally ousted the PRI in 2000.

As most new Mexican administrations in March, Fox declared that his administration was in a “head-on battle against corruption.”

“Together, we work for a Mexico full of justice, legality and democratic opportunities,” the president said.

Some recent photo’s were published in the magazine Quien which gave insight into the before and post-presidential life style and it has sparked outrage among many Mexicans.

“The photos show that he got rich during his six years in office, in a very shameless and cynical way,” Lino Korrodi, Mr. Fox’s former chief campaign fundraiser, said in one interview of the former president. Leading the chorus of disapproval, Mr. Korrodi claims that as a candidate Mr. Fox was a terrible businessman, permanently in financial straits and keeper of a simple house with servants paid for out of campaign funds.

Mr. Korrodi claims he raised millions for Fox through the very rich and known drug traffickers. His accusations have prompted calls by many for a congressional investigation into Mr. Fox’s apparently lavish new found wealth.

Hailed as a hero of democracy when he defeated 71 years of one-party rule in elections in 2000, Mr. Fox left the presidential office vilified by much of the press.

At best, he was accused of living in a fantasy world dubbed Foxilandia and of ignoring the need to shore up democracy. At worst he was charged with orchestrating an electoral fraud favoring his personal choice and colleague, the current president, Felipe Calderón Hinojosa who was to carry on the Fox traditions.

But the latest measurement of corruption by Berlin-based Transparency International found that more than 50 percent of Mexicans remain pessimistic about corruption and believe it will get worse. That number is believed to have risen to as much as 75 percent today.

Even the U.S. military recognizes that Mexico is in danger of a “rapid and sudden collapse” due to criminal gangs and drug cartels, according to a troubling new report by the U.S. Joint Forces Command on worldwide security threats.

Bernard Wasow reported that it is no secret that law enforcement in Mexico is a “for-profit” business. Scenes of Mexican policemen taking bribes from tourists and locals alike are commonplace throughout the country. It is hard to view such an experience as many businessmen are said to view corruption: bribery is just another cost of doing business.

In a series of papers, Shang-Jin Wei, formerly of the Kennedy School at Harvard and the IMF, explored the economic effect of corruption. Contrary to the notion that corruption is a relatively minor cost of doing business, Wei found that corruption has a stifling effect on foreign investment and economic growth. That may be much of the reason that the economy of Mexico just never seems to get going. Corruption in Mexico has been a force in public life there since colonial times, said Claudio Lomnitz, a Professor in History at U of M. In Mexico, corruption consists of an intricate system of exchanges in which support for public officials is given in return for certain privileges. Payments of money to ensure that routine services are rendered are also part of the mix, as are elaborate public ceremonies in which hosts extract favors from their politician guests in return for support. “Corruption as a series of phenomena has played an important role in social change and in social reproduction in Mexico,” Lomnitz writes in this environment, the police are expected to resist a combination of deadly threats and bribes that can run to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

” It’s kind of like this,” says Robert Nieves, a former chief of International Operations for the DEA. “You’re offered a bribe. If bribery doesn’t work, you’re offered violence. And that violence will be exacted against you or your family members.” In Mexico, the choice is called “plata o plomo,” silver or lead.

The result is a breathtaking level of corruption. A large percentage of Mexico’s federal law enforcement has been fired for corruption by the Calderon administration or killed by the Mexican drug cartels. In the last year alone, the federal government has fired hundreds if not thousands of Federal Judicial Police and local police for suspected offenses that included theft, extortion, guarding drug shipments–and even murder.  ” But everyone involved in the effort against the Mexican drug trade says there remains massive corruption. One DEA agent whom was asked about corruption in Mexican law enforcement pulled out a thick file full, he said, of information about commanders still in power who are suspected by the U.S. of facilitating the transport of drugs into this country. Former Mexican Attorney General Antonio Lozano said drug money fuels industries and distorts competition. It is not an equal trade partnership when American business people are competing against enterprises that have extraordinary access to illegal capital. Corruption is so deeply embedded in the society that there’s no prospect of eliminating or even curbing it anytime soon.

“Unfortunately, corruption seems to be part of our DNA,” said political analyst Jorge Chabat.

“What we have discovered … is that this is not endemic,” said Eduardo A. Bohorquez, executive secretary of Transparencia Mexicana, or Mexican Transparency. “It’s more epidemic.”

For Bohorquez, whose agency measures corruption in Mexico, “Corruption is the abuse of the public trust to gain a private benefit. You take a mandate from a public group and act on your own behalf.”

But other experts say the problem goes far beyond that, extending from the ordinary citizen to high reaches of government. They say most Mexicans have become accustomed to paying bribes and to the notion that the average police officer will try to shake them down in some way.

“The state has come to be seen as a giant pyramid with the most influential people at the top and everyone else below them also benefiting from bribes, tips, patronage or misappropriations of funds and resources. This particular version of ‘trickle-down economics’ developed its own set of norms and public expectations,” he explained.

Presidential corruption in Mexico is nothing new all Mexican presidents have been charged or suspected of corruption.

Show of wealth snares ex-president Fox recently, he entered Mexican politics’ with little money and left as the former president as a wealthy man. In a picture of self fulfillment as well as romance, Vicente Fox and his wife, Marta Sahagun, gaze at each other beside a new lake constructed in their extensive remodeled estate and grounds. Behind, their ranch-turned-mansion shows off gilded carpets, a desk with hand carved stone horse heads for legs, and life-sized portraits of themselves on the walls. They say when Fox took office his ranch was modest at best and after office the same ranch became opulent mansion. Many believe it was paid for by the Mexican drug cartels.

One of Fox’s predecessors former Mexican President Mario Villanueva Madrid, was reported to be under investigation for his helping to facilitate the smuggling of drugs, particularly cocaine, up from Columbia, up to the Yucatan peninsula, then into the USA.

The United States has a long history of supporting crooked regimes in Mexico, praising their efforts to cooperate with our drug eradication programs, while our corporate interests loot the country’s coffers, hand in hand with Mexico’s elite.

Of course the rumors and charges of corruption and complicity in the drug trade by the Salinas government become well known even though there were hushed up, brushed aside by US officials in the Bush (the first) and Clinton administrations. As one Mexican paper, The daily El Financero, reported, “…up to 95 percent of the people working in the attorney generals office had been bribed by the Gulf Cartel, run by Juan Garcia Abrego.”

By the time Carlos Salinas left office, he and his brother Raul had looted the country of all the money they could get their hands on. Using the recently bailed out and US owned Citibank to launder massive amounts of illicitly gained drug profits; the two brothers amassed an estimated $6 billion dollar fortune between them both.

Raul Salinas was arrested in Mexico City for murder in February of 1995. While his brother Carlos enjoys the life of a jet- setting playboy, enjoying the plunders he accrued while in office.

However it was not long after Calderon took office he started responding to the unlimited amounts of U.S. government money available to his country should he cooperate and become a puppet of the CIA. It boiled down to the U.S. could offer more than the Mexican Drug cartels could so Calderon was groomed to get the Mexican government certified so the U.S. government could funnel hundreds of millions into the Calderon government coffers in the form of the Merida Initiative.

Just today according to the National Association of Former Border Patrol officers government leaders reached a new stage in the narco-war.  The leaders of Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia and Panama agreed to create a united front against narcotrafficing drug cartels.  In a four-hour summit meeting, the presidents of those countries stressed that organized crime represents a danger to social stability and democratic government.  They resolved to compile the existing bilateral and multilateral agreements for combating organized crime and, in the near future, to shape them into a unified legal instrument open for signing onto by other countries in the region.

Responding to this story, one reader ventured the opinion that it was lamentable that those countries feel the need to organize against narco bands which already have a higher level of organization than the affected countries.  He asserted that the real risk to those countries is the internal corruption of each.

Editors note:

 

Michael Webster’s Syndicated Investigative Reports are read worldwide,  in 100 or more U.S. outlets and in at least 136 countries and territories. He has published articles for MaximsNews, which  is associated with MediaChannel.org and Globalvision News Network, global news and media information services with more than 350 news affiliates in 135 countries. Many of Mr. Webster’s articles are printed in six working languages: English, French, Arabic, Chinese, Russian and Spanish. With ten more languages planed in the near future.

Mr. Webster is America’s leading authority on Venture Capital/Equity Funding. A trustee on some of the nations largest trade Union funds. A noted Author, Lecturer, Educator, Emergency Manager, Counter-Terrorist, War on Drugs and War on Terrorist Specialist, Business Consultant, Newspaper Publisher. Radio News caster. Labor Law generalist, Teamster Union Business Agent, General Organizer, Union Rank and File Member Grievances Representative, NLRB Union Representative, Union Contract Negotiator, Workers Compensation Appeals Board Hearing Representative. Mr. Webster publishes the on-line newspaper the Laguna Journal and does investigative reports for print, electronic and on-line News Agencies.

michael Webster asked:

MICHAEL WEBSTER: INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER Oct 16, 2008 2:00 PM PDT 

The new travel alert only updates security information for U.S. citizens traveling and living in Mexico.  It replaces the Travel Alert for Mexico dated April 14, 2008, and expires on April 14, 2009. However it does not up-grade the travel alert to higher status as many believe it should. If the conditions that prevail in Mexico today was happening anywhere else in the world the highest travel alert would have already been issued. I reported last April by asking the questions “why the U.S. Government has not issued a new travel warning or even an up-grade on its existing alert? Now the U.S has up-graded again.

The question still is why not raise the alert to a warning status and protect Americans and warn them to not travel to Mexico. At least until some or all the violence stops and it is safe again to travel in Mexico. Many travelers believe if this same thing was happening in any other country there would be a warning not to travel issued. Why not Mexico?That is the question why not? Mexico is now one of the most dangerous countries in the world. And it is our neighbor to the south with a population of over 100 million people.Even the U.S. Military ban its personal from visiting Mexico because of the increasing violence there.

U.S. Army posts along or near the U.S. Mexican border according to officials, say they’ve discontinued issuing passes to soldiers who want to travel across the border to Mexico. “If it’s not safe for U.S. Soldiers, than it is unsafe for other Americans. Said, John Lutes, who was born in El Paso and served in the military.The new travel alert up-date says “that while millions of U.S. Citizens safely visit Mexico each year, including thousands who cross the land border every day for study, tourism or business, increased levels of violence make it imperative that travelers understand the risks of travel to Mexico, how best to avoid dangerous situations, and whom to contact if one is a victim of crime.  Common-sense precautions, such as visiting only legitimate business and tourist areas, avoiding areas where prostitution and drug dealing might occur, and exercising prudence in where one visits during the evening hours and at night, can help ensure that travel to Mexico is safe and enjoyable.”Violence along the U.S. – Mexico border is increasing Mexican drug cartels are engaged in an increasingly violent fight for control of narcotics trafficking routes along the U.S. – Mexico border in an apparent response to the Government of Mexico’s initiatives to ***** down on narco-trafficking organizations. In order to combat violence, the government of Mexico has deployed over 45,000 military troops in various parts of the country. These Mexican troops are manning road blocks and check points all over the country. The U.S. tells citizens they should cooperate fully with official checkpoints when traveling on Mexican highways. The problem with that is bandits and other criminals are also setting up road blocks and so called check points through out Mexico and are wearing full or partial police or military uniforms and are using vehicles that resemble police or military vehicles, so how is someone even a national much less an American tell which is which.

That is the problem you can’t. And that is one reason Americans should avoid Mexico.The Bureau of Consular Affairs says “Violent criminal activity fueled by a war between criminal organizations struggling for control of the lucrative narcotics trade continues along the U.S.-Mexico border.  Attacks are aimed primarily at members of drug trafficking organizations, Mexican police forces, criminal justice officials, and journalists.  However, foreign visitors and residents, including Americans, have been among the victims of homicides and kidnappings in the border region.Americans in Mexico are falling victim to armed robberies and carjackings. This new type of Mexican Violence has increased in Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez.  Dozens of U.S. citizens have been kidnapped, held hostage and killed by their captors in Mexico and many cases remain unsolved. Moreover, new cases of disappearances and kidnap-for-ransom continue to be reported.From Brownsville Texas to San Diego California the State Department has alerted Americans of the dangers of crossing the border.   Google or click on: Why not a Warning for Mexico travel or at least an up-grade to the existing alert?

In other cases Mexican cartels through their enforcers of Mexican and American gangs order smaller American gangs to kidnap and in some cases murder Americans.”U.S. citizens should be aware of the risk posed by the deteriorating security situation, along the border” said a statement issued in Mexico City and Washington. “Violent criminal activity, including murder and kidnapping, in Mexico’s northern border region has increased.” New cases of disappearances and kidnap-for-ransom continue to be reported. No one can be considered immune from kidnapping on the basis of occupation, nationality, or other factors. Criminals have been known to follow and harass U.S. citizens traveling in their vehicles including motors homes and travel trailers, particularly in border areas including Nuevo Laredo, Matamoros, Reynosa, Juarez, Mexicali, Tijuana and most all border towns. 

Dozens of U.S. citizens were kidnapped and/or murdered in Tijuana in 2007. Google or click on: Americans Being Kidnapped, Held and killed in Mexico The new as the old alert goes on to say “Recent Mexican army and police force conflicts with heavily-armed narcotics cartels have escalated to levels equivalent to military small-unit combat and have included use of machine guns and fragmentation grenades.   Confrontations have taken place in numerous towns and cities in northern Mexico, including Tijuana in the Mexican state of Baja California, and Chihuahua City and Ciudad Juarez in the state of Chihuahua.  The situation in northern Mexico remains very fluid; the location and timing of future armed engagements there cannot be predicted”. Public shootouts have occurred during daylight hours near shopping areas in many Mexican border towns. Over 5,000 people have been murdered in Mexico so far this year. That figure is more than has been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan combined.The new alert goes on to report that a number of areas along the border are experiencing rapid growth in the rates of many types of crime.  More than 1,600 cars were reportedly stolen in Ciudad Juarez in the month of July 2008, and bank robberies there are up dramatically.  Rates for robberies, homicides, petty thefts, and carjackings have all increased over the last year across Mexico generally, with notable spikes in Tijuana and northern Baja California.  Cuidad Juarez, Tijuana, Palomas and Nogales are among the cities which have recently experienced public shootouts during daylight hours in shopping centers and other public venues. 

Criminals have followed and harassed U.S. citizens traveling in their vehicles in border areas including Nuevo Laredo, Matamoros, Tijuana, and along Route 15 between Nogales and Hermosillo. A very dangerous situation is playing out in Ciudad Juarez, Tijuana and other Mexican border towns and has become a special concern for U.S. citizens. A recent series of muggings near the U.S. Consulate General in Ciudad Juarez has targeted applicants for U.S. visas.  Visa and other service seekers visiting the Consulate are encouraged to not carry cash and to make provisions to pay for those services with something other than cash.Mexican authorities are reporting that more than 1,000 people have been killed in Ciudad Juarez this year alone. 

U.S. citizens should pay close attention to their surroundings while traveling in Ciudad Juarez, avoid isolated locations during late night and early morning hours, and remain alert to news reports.  U.S. citizens are urged to be alert to safety and security concerns when visiting the border region.  Criminals are armed with a wide array of sophisticated weapons.  In some cases, assailants have worn full or partial police or military uniforms and have used vehicles that resemble police vehicles. While the largest increase in violence has occurred near the U.S. border, U.S. citizens traveling elsewhere in Mexico should also exercise caution in unfamiliar areas and be aware of their surroundings at all times.  Mexican and foreign bystanders have been injured or killed in some violent attacks, demonstrating the heightened risk in public places.  In recent years, dozens of U.S. citizens have been kidnapped across Mexico and many cases remain unresolved. 

U.S. citizens who believe they are being targeted for kidnapping or other crimes should notify Mexican officials and the nearest American consulate or the Embassy as soon as possible.  U.S. citizens should make every attempt to travel on main roads during daylight hours, particularly the toll (“cuota”) roads, which are generally more secure.  U.S. citizens are encouraged to stay in well-known tourist destinations and tourist areas of the cities with more adequate security, and provide an itinerary to a friend or family member not traveling with them.  U.S. citizens should avoid traveling alone, and should carry a GSM-enabled cell phone that functions internationally.  Refrain from displaying expensive-looking jewelry, large amounts of money, or other valuable items.Criminals have followed and harassed U.S. citizens traveling in their vehicles, particularly in border areas including Nuevo Laredo, Matamoros, Juarez and Tijuana. Though State Department officials updated the travel alert for Mexico, they did not upgrade it to a more serious “travel warning,” which is reserved for long-term conditions, officials said.Even though many Mexican cities on the U.S. Border and elsewhere in Mexico are under siege, the question is why not. Mexico is now one of the most dangerous countries in the world. And it is our neighbor to the south with a population nearing 100 million people. 

Our government admits Criminals are armed with a wide array of sophisticated weapons.  In some cases, assailants have worn full or partial police or military uniforms and have used vehicles that resemble police vehicles. How are American travelers expected to be able to distinguish between the real Mexican army at the road blocks and the criminals? Americans are targeted by Mexican bandits and other Mexican criminals because they are American and are believed to have money with them”. 

The State department says if you do become a victim of crime while your in Mexico and remember this is after the fact are urged to contact the consular section of the nearest U.S. consulate or Embassy for advice and assistance.

23 year old American from El Paso Kyle Mostello Belanger- Believed Missing in Juarez MexicoBorn in Tenn. 23 year old American from El Paso Kyle Mostello Belanger- believed missing in Juarez Mexico. Close friends and relatives believe he was a soldier for the El Paso Barrio Azteca gang. The real question here, was Kyle kidnapped taken to Juarez and murdered as some believe.

According to the U.S. State Department “Travel Warnings” are issued when the State Department decides, based on all relevant information, to recommend that Americans avoid travel to a certain country. Countries such as some middle eastern where avoidance of travel is recommended will have Travel Warnings as well as Country Specific Information. No such travel warning is in place for the country of Mexico.

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