America's Mexican Border Wars

[Tosh Plumlee]

Just in Hot off the wire:

By DEVLIN BARRETT
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Mexican drug cartels are spreading south into
Central America, U.S. drug enforcement officials said Wednesday, as
the Obama administration put new pressure on drug kingpins ahead of
the president's trip to Mexico City.
Drug Enforcement Administration officials said there are growing
signs the stepped-up law enforcement efforts on the U.S.-Mexico
border are driving the cartels south toward Central America.
"We're looking at what happens south of Mexico as well, because
that's just as important as what's happening on our border," said
DEA Chief of Operations Thomas Harrigan. "With more and more
success the Mexican government has, literally they're pushing these
cartels further south and potentially it could be a problem in
Central America."
Harrigan said it's possible the extra law enforcement efforts
could "push the cartels into Central America."
It's already happening, said Anthony Placido, the DEA's chief of
intelligence.
There have been significant seizures of cartel weaponry in
Guatemala, and shootouts among Mexican cartels with operations in
Central American countries. The cartels "definitely have" moved
south, said Placido.
"We've seen running gun battles in places like Guatemala and
Honduras between rival Mexican cartels," he said.
Last month in an appearance before Congress, U.S. State
Department official David Johnson said that Central American
officials "have identified gangs, drug trafficking, and
trafficking of arms as the most pressing security concerns in that
region."
The acting head of the DEA, Michele Leonhart, told reporters
that more efforts along the U.S.-Mexico border alone will not be
enough to dismantle the cartels.
"A seizure on the border is not going to break the backs of the
cartels. What breaks the backs of the cartels are the partnerships
with the U.S. and Mexican counterparts in country, in Mexico," she
said.
Separately, the White House on Wednesday announced that three
Mexican organizations had been added to a list of suspected
international drug kingpins: the Sinaloa cartel, Los Zetas, and La
Familia Michoacana.
The move came a day before President Barack Obama travels to
Mexico.
The three Mexican groups were added to the U.S. government's
blacklist of drug syndicates, aimed at financially cutting off
significant foreign narcotics traffickers, their organizations and
operatives worldwide.
The list was created by the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin
Designation Act but is known commonly as the Drug Kingpin Act.
Those on the list are denied access to the U.S. financial system
and all trade and transactions involving U.S. companies and
individuals.
La Familia Michoacana, also known simply as La Familia, moves
massive amounts of cocaine from Colombian drug dealers, according
to U.S. officials.
Los Zetas was formed by ex-military men who became hitmen for
the other cartels.
The Sinaloa cartel, often referred to as the Mexican Federation,
began in the 1970's, and now controls most of the seaports along
the Pacific coat of Mexico, officials say.
The president has already promised to dispatch nearly 500 more
federal agents to the U.S.-Mexico border, along with X-ray machines
and drug-sniffing dogs.
Also Wednesday, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is
expected to announce she has chosen a former federal prosecutor to
the new post of "border czar" to oversee efforts to end cartel
violence along the U.S.-Mexico border and slow the tide of people
crossing illegally into the United States.
Napolitano is expected to name Alan Bersin to the post at an
announcement in El Paso, Texas.
-----