17-03-2009, 02:33 AM
(This post was last modified: 17-03-2009, 03:41 AM by Tosh Plumlee.)
Fr Brookings.edu
The Violent Drug Market in Mexico and Lessons from Colombia
Vanda Felbab-Brown
March 2009
Drug-related violence and the breakdown in security in Mexico have escalated to extraordinary levels over the past two years. Vanda Felbab-Brown examines this growing threat to civil society in Mexico, the spillover of crime into the U.S., how the situation compares to similar struggles in Colombia, and offers recommendations for a new strategy in the region.
To view the full page, go to:
http://www.brookings.edu/papers/2009/03_mexico_drug_market_felbabbrown.aspx?emc=lm&m=223288&l=4&v=192882
From article:
"... Some of the violence is also spilling across the border to the United States. Border patrol officers are increasingly confronted by drug traffickers with firepower. Perhaps as much as 90% of the firearms used by Mexican drug trafficking organizations5 have been purchased in the United States. Murders and kidnapping of U.S. residents who (or whose relatives) are caught up in the drug trade have increased dramatically. So has the kidnapping of illegal immigrants who, sometimes snatched en masse from coyotes (people smugglers), are held for ransom to be extorted from their relatives in the United States. More and more, coyotes force illegal immigrants to carry drugs (mainly marijuana) as a payment.
Because of their involvement in illegality, both groups are likely to significantly underreport abductions and kidnappings. Increasingly, such crime is leaking from border communities deeper into the U.S. border states. The number of kidnappings in Phoenix, Arizona, for example, tripled from 48 in 2004 to 241 in 2008.6 Drug turf wars among the drug trafficking organizations are beginning to occur in major cities in the U.S., such as Dallas, Texas. Still, the violence and criminality on the U.S. side of the border remain relatively low, and nowhere close to their levels in Mexico. ..".
(as yet)
from my notes on Sunday March 15,2009
Our Homeland Security Agency is doing nothing except just watching the problem get worse, and does nothing toward protecting American citizens along the borders.
Our State Department also is in 'limbo" not knowing what to do. Our Secretary of State is in god knows where and also has no clue on how to handle this can of worms.
This war down here has now crossed over the border in six places and these gangs are now heavily armed and embedded deep within our major cities, waiting for the call to attack Americans and anyone else who gets in their way.
Our Law Enforcement agencies are out gunned and spread to thin to handle this problem. Its about to get worse. So far the media has been put under wraps so "as not to spread panic". Our elected officials only hope this problem will just go away.
But, as of today American citizen as well as Mexican citizens are getting kidnapped and murdered at an alarming rate.
I just got back from Juarez Mexico and it was a real education. I went out to a site where two American bodies were found. One was a sixteen year old girl.., shot in the head after she was raped. Her boyfriend 20years old was bound and gagged and brutally tortured and castrated. In the girls clutched hand was the badge of a Mexican policeman. I was told she had ripped it from one of her abductors in a struggle. It was in the grave with her. They would not let me take pictures. As they removed the bodies, they gave me a mask to put over my nose and a swatter to swat the flies away. The masked Mexican Sargent told me it was a "common thing nowadays". These two are the twenty sixth and twenty seventh bodies he had recovered in the last two weeks. The couple were from El Paso across the border from Juarez Mexico. They had been reported missing three days ago.
Tomorrow we go to another grave site. This secret Mexican team is a select bunch of fine dedicated law enforcement personal and take exception as to how some of them are viewed in the American media. They cannot understand how our government stands by and lets this sort of thing happen to its citizen. I had no answer for them. And too, it was a debate I did not want to get involved with them. Their nerves are worn a little thin and their very jumpy.
They have invited me back in hopes I can help them get the right story out there for them in their fight in their Drug War. I consider it an honor and I will do my best, but its an up hill battle. The media and our government does not want to know these things. "It may cause bad relations with Mexico and the United States, if we cover this sort of thing", I am told. "It would be best if I let the experts handle these matters...., if for no other reason than my safety". Good Lord willing I'll be back tomorrow.
I wonder who is on survivor tonight? Looks like I am going to miss it. DAMN.
(hopefully to be continued)
P.S from a friend concerned about safty:
![[Image: ap_logo_106.png]](http://l.yimg.com/a/i/us/nws/p/ap_logo_106.png)
Watchdog: Press freedom deteriorated in America
Mon Mar 16, 4:37 pm ET
ASUNCION, Paraguay – Freedom of the press has deteriorated in the Americas, with Mexico among the most dangerous countries in the region to be a journalist, the Inter American Press Association said Monday.
"Press freedom has worsened in the hemisphere in the last six months," the IAPA said as the association's four-day midyear meeting drew to a close in the Paraguayan capital.
Mexico "continues to be one of the most dangerous places for journalists," the group reported, pointing to four recent murders and eight attacks by criminal organizations.
"Unfortunately, their actions are bearing fruit. Self-censorship is a reality in the Mexican press," the organization said.
IAPA also expressed concern that the international financial crisis is forcing United States news media to shed thousands of jobs, eroding the sector's crucial role as whistle-blowers for corruption cases in the private and public sector.
The Miami, Florida-based organization accused Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez of "humiliating the press," and said his "incendiary rhetoric" has been adopted by other heads of state in Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Brazil and Argentina.
Twenty-six journalists remain imprisoned in Cuba, said the IAPA, which called on President Raul Castro to "relax repression against liberty of expression."
IAPA applauded a drop in violence against journalists in Colombia.
(end)
.
The Violent Drug Market in Mexico and Lessons from Colombia
Vanda Felbab-Brown
March 2009
Drug-related violence and the breakdown in security in Mexico have escalated to extraordinary levels over the past two years. Vanda Felbab-Brown examines this growing threat to civil society in Mexico, the spillover of crime into the U.S., how the situation compares to similar struggles in Colombia, and offers recommendations for a new strategy in the region.
To view the full page, go to:
http://www.brookings.edu/papers/2009/03_mexico_drug_market_felbabbrown.aspx?emc=lm&m=223288&l=4&v=192882
From article:
"... Some of the violence is also spilling across the border to the United States. Border patrol officers are increasingly confronted by drug traffickers with firepower. Perhaps as much as 90% of the firearms used by Mexican drug trafficking organizations5 have been purchased in the United States. Murders and kidnapping of U.S. residents who (or whose relatives) are caught up in the drug trade have increased dramatically. So has the kidnapping of illegal immigrants who, sometimes snatched en masse from coyotes (people smugglers), are held for ransom to be extorted from their relatives in the United States. More and more, coyotes force illegal immigrants to carry drugs (mainly marijuana) as a payment.
Because of their involvement in illegality, both groups are likely to significantly underreport abductions and kidnappings. Increasingly, such crime is leaking from border communities deeper into the U.S. border states. The number of kidnappings in Phoenix, Arizona, for example, tripled from 48 in 2004 to 241 in 2008.6 Drug turf wars among the drug trafficking organizations are beginning to occur in major cities in the U.S., such as Dallas, Texas. Still, the violence and criminality on the U.S. side of the border remain relatively low, and nowhere close to their levels in Mexico. ..".
(as yet)
from my notes on Sunday March 15,2009
Our Homeland Security Agency is doing nothing except just watching the problem get worse, and does nothing toward protecting American citizens along the borders.
Our State Department also is in 'limbo" not knowing what to do. Our Secretary of State is in god knows where and also has no clue on how to handle this can of worms.
This war down here has now crossed over the border in six places and these gangs are now heavily armed and embedded deep within our major cities, waiting for the call to attack Americans and anyone else who gets in their way.
Our Law Enforcement agencies are out gunned and spread to thin to handle this problem. Its about to get worse. So far the media has been put under wraps so "as not to spread panic". Our elected officials only hope this problem will just go away.
But, as of today American citizen as well as Mexican citizens are getting kidnapped and murdered at an alarming rate.
I just got back from Juarez Mexico and it was a real education. I went out to a site where two American bodies were found. One was a sixteen year old girl.., shot in the head after she was raped. Her boyfriend 20years old was bound and gagged and brutally tortured and castrated. In the girls clutched hand was the badge of a Mexican policeman. I was told she had ripped it from one of her abductors in a struggle. It was in the grave with her. They would not let me take pictures. As they removed the bodies, they gave me a mask to put over my nose and a swatter to swat the flies away. The masked Mexican Sargent told me it was a "common thing nowadays". These two are the twenty sixth and twenty seventh bodies he had recovered in the last two weeks. The couple were from El Paso across the border from Juarez Mexico. They had been reported missing three days ago.
Tomorrow we go to another grave site. This secret Mexican team is a select bunch of fine dedicated law enforcement personal and take exception as to how some of them are viewed in the American media. They cannot understand how our government stands by and lets this sort of thing happen to its citizen. I had no answer for them. And too, it was a debate I did not want to get involved with them. Their nerves are worn a little thin and their very jumpy.
They have invited me back in hopes I can help them get the right story out there for them in their fight in their Drug War. I consider it an honor and I will do my best, but its an up hill battle. The media and our government does not want to know these things. "It may cause bad relations with Mexico and the United States, if we cover this sort of thing", I am told. "It would be best if I let the experts handle these matters...., if for no other reason than my safety". Good Lord willing I'll be back tomorrow.
I wonder who is on survivor tonight? Looks like I am going to miss it. DAMN.
(hopefully to be continued)
P.S from a friend concerned about safty:
Watchdog: Press freedom deteriorated in AmericaMon Mar 16, 4:37 pm ET
ASUNCION, Paraguay – Freedom of the press has deteriorated in the Americas, with Mexico among the most dangerous countries in the region to be a journalist, the Inter American Press Association said Monday.
"Press freedom has worsened in the hemisphere in the last six months," the IAPA said as the association's four-day midyear meeting drew to a close in the Paraguayan capital.
Mexico "continues to be one of the most dangerous places for journalists," the group reported, pointing to four recent murders and eight attacks by criminal organizations.
"Unfortunately, their actions are bearing fruit. Self-censorship is a reality in the Mexican press," the organization said.
IAPA also expressed concern that the international financial crisis is forcing United States news media to shed thousands of jobs, eroding the sector's crucial role as whistle-blowers for corruption cases in the private and public sector.
The Miami, Florida-based organization accused Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez of "humiliating the press," and said his "incendiary rhetoric" has been adopted by other heads of state in Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Brazil and Argentina.
Twenty-six journalists remain imprisoned in Cuba, said the IAPA, which called on President Raul Castro to "relax repression against liberty of expression."
IAPA applauded a drop in violence against journalists in Colombia.
(end)
.