Whack-a-mole Drug War: The Security Summit in Central America: On the Modest Meaning of Shared Responsibility

A review of the recent security summit meeting in Central America

The Security Summit in Central America: On the Modest Meaning of Shared Responsibility - Brookings Institution: "At last week’s international conference convened to support Central America’s regional security strategy, held in Guatemala City, all the talk was about the co-responsibility of drug-consuming countries, such as the United States and Europe’s own, in solving the region’s security crisis. But alas, the meeting in Guatemala yielded relatively little in the way of fresh funds to combat organized crime in the isthmus.

In sum, the conference in Guatemala was a useful step towards reversing the tide of violence that is engulfing Central America. At this point, the world has taken notice. But the real job remains to be done, and real commitment to help Central America help itself remains to be shown. "

Immigration Crackdown - Alabama: Hispanics Flee Alabama’s Immigration Law

Hispanics Flee Alabama’s Immigration Law - Bloomberg: "When Tuscaloosa, Alabama, begins rebuilding more than 7,200 homes and businesses leveled by an April 27 tornado, it may find itself missing a workforce capable of putting the city together again.

That’s what Ever Duarte, head of the city’s Hispanic soccer league, said after losing a third of his teams in a week. Tuscaloosa County’s 6,000-strong Hispanic population --including roofers, Sheetrockers, concrete pourers, framers, landscapers and laborers -- is disappearing, he said, before a law cracking down on illegal immigrants takes effect."

Weapons Traffic: OUTGUNNED Law Enforcement Agents Warn Congress They Lack Adequate Tools to Counter Illegal Firearms Trafficking

Here is the report released by Rep. Elijah Cummings on Weapons Trafficking.

OUTGUNNED
Law Enforcement Agents Warn Congress They Lack
Adequate Tools to Counter Illegal Firearms Trafficking


Minority Staff Report
Prepared for Ranking Member Elijah E. Cummings
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
June 2011
http://democrats.oversight.house.gov/

Immigration Politics: How to Weaponize Your Personal Crisis

A powerful essay from 'The Nation'

How to Weaponize Your Personal Crisis | The Nation: "Jose Antonio Vargas... could have continued to survive—even thrive—in this country by keeping quiet and relying on the aid of a few secret-sharers. But he decided that survival on those terms wasn’t enough anymore. “I’m done running. I’m exhausted. I don’t want that life anymore.” And so Vargas went public, risking everything to join the thousands of young immigrants coming out as undocumented and pressing for a pathway to citizenship for themselves and others like them. ...

Call it the politics of personal crisis: it evaporates the middle and dissolves the equivocations that politicians use to disguise moral decisions as arcane policy. It calls out accommodation as farce, and it converts sympathy into radical energy. The moment forces allies to realize that individual acts of compassion are incommensurate with the crisis, and it makes starkly clear that it is not just more secret-sharers and charitable acts that are needed; it is systemic change."

Immigration Politics: New campaign to focus on 'broken' US immigration system

New campaign to focus on 'broken' US immigration system: "Pulitzer-winning Jose Antonio Vargas has launched the 'Define American' campaign to elevate the issue of US immigration and put a new focus on America's undocumented residents.

Jose Antonio Vargas is a Pulitzer-winning journalist who recently made the controversial revelation that he is an undocumented American who came to live in the country as a child without a US Visa.

Originally from the Philippines, Vargas has now launched the 'Define American' campaign to focus on the issue of US immigration.

From the Define American website, their mission is stated as follows:

"Our request is simple: Let’s talk. Our immigration system is broken -- and fixing it requires a conversation that’s bigger and more effective than the one that we’ve become accustomed to.""

Immigration Politics: President Obama Says E-Verify is an Effective Tool, but Needs to be Perfected

President Obama responds to Republican congressional representatives who have introduced legislation to make E-Verify mandatory. 

President Obama Says E-Verify is an Effective Tool, but Needs to be Perfected - Fox News Latino: "President Obama reiterated his commitment to comprehensive immigration reform Wednesday, but said the overall initiative must go beyond E-Verify – an effective, though imperfect, tool that needs improvement.

In a wide-ranging press conference at the White House, the president repeated his quest to fix the nation's broken immigration system – but said any repair would have to balance tough security, a pathway toward legalization, and enforcement that protects, and holds accountable, employers and the immigrant workers they hire.

"E-Verify can be an important enforcement tool if it's not riddled with errors, if U.S. citizens are protected – because what I don't want is a situation in which employers are forced to set up a system that they can't be certain works," Obama said. "And we don't want to expose employers to the risk where they end up rejecting a qualified candidate for a job because the list says that that person is an illegal immigrant, and it turns out that the person isn't an illegal immigrant.

"That wouldn't be fair for the employee and would probably get the employer in trouble as well," he added."

Immigration Politics - Texas: Business lobby helps scuttle immigration curbs in Texas | Reuters

Business lobby helps scuttle immigration curbs in Texas | Reuters: "Powerful business interests helped to scuttle proposed immigration restrictions in Texas on Wednesday, further evidence that Republicans in some states are facing resistance among their own supporters to an immigration clampdown.

The 'sanctuary cities' bill would have barred cities from stopping police departments from asking about immigration status of people who are detained or arrested. It died when the Texas legislature adjourned without passing it. ...

Two powerful Texas businessmen joined the lobbying against the bill, legislative sources told Reuters.

Houston homebuilder Bob Perry and grocery chain magnate Charles E. Butt hired one of Austin's most powerful lobbyists to oppose the legislation....

"They had real reservations about it," Bill Miller, the lobbyist hired by the influential businessmen, told Reuters. "They wanted some changes made, and we expressed the reservations they had about it to members, which kind of slowed it down,"...

Another factor in the bill's demise may have been opposition from Texas law enforcement groups."

Immigration Politics: Hundreds of students press Obama on DREAM Act

Hundreds of students press Obama on DREAM Act - Fox News Latino: "About 200 undocumented students from all over the country on Tuesday here demanded that President Barack Obama halt deportations and push for the approval of the DREAM Act to legalize their immigration status.

Prior to those pressure tactics, Obama had reiterated his support for immigration reform and the DREAM Act at a White House press conference focused mainly on the budget and other issues.

The president called for the legalization of students who have grown up in the United States 'and think of themselves as Americans and who are illegal through no fault of their own and who are ready to give back to our country and go to school and fight in our military.'

But the students, first in a crowded hall of the Senate building and later in front of the White House, complained that Obama had supported immigration reform with words and not deeds."

U.S. - Mexico Relations and Soccer: Gold Cup Final USA vs Mexico: Borders, Burritos and Budweisers

A very sweet story of neighborly relations at the tail gate parties before the Mexico - U.S soccer game in the Rose Bowl

Gold Cup Final USA vs Mexico: Borders, Burritos and Budweisers, | Football & Sport | Sabotage Times: "Welcome to ‘America’s Stadium’ The Rose Bowl: An imposing, star-spangled sports cathedral at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains in Pasadena, California. Home to the UCLA college football team, it’s as American as Uncle Sam and fried chicken. And on Saturday, it hosted an international ‘soccer’ derby of epic proportions: The CONCACAF Gold Cup Final between home team USA and neighboring Mexico. 93,420 soccer fanatics turned out, filling the stadium to the brim. Yet remarkably less than 10,000 of those fans were supporting America. And I was one of the outnumbered."

Weapons Traffic: 'Fast and Furious' inquiry broadens

'Fast and Furious' inquiry broadens - Seung Min Kim - POLITICO.com: "Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), the leading Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, released a report early Thursday titled “Outgunned,” that details how Bureau for Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents say gun laws need to be tightened for them to fight organized crime along the U.S.-Mexico border.

“The same law enforcement agents who were invited by Chairman Issa to testify about ATF’s Operation Fast and Furious have also warned the committee that they are incredibly outgunned in the fight against international drug cartels that are trafficking tens of thousands of military-grade assault weapons from the United States to Mexico,” Cummings said in a statement.

At a previous hearing, Cummings pushed for a look at how American gun laws could be fueling the violence.

“No legitimate examination of this issue will be complete without analyzing our nation’s gun laws, which allow tens of thousands of assault weapons to flood into Mexico from the United States every year, including fifty caliber sniper rifles, multiple AK variants, and scores of others,” Cummings said at the hearing.

Immigration and the Culture of Solidarity

From the Americas Program: This is the final article of a series on border solidarity by journalist and immigration activist David Bacon. All articles in the series were originally published in the Institute for Transnational Social Change’s report Building a Culture of Cross-Border Solidarity.

Immigration and the Culture of Solidarity – CIP Americas: "ONE indispensable part of education and solidarity is greater contact between Mexican union organizers and their U.S. counterparts. The base for that contact already exists in the massive movement of people between the two countries."

Whack-a-mole Drug War: Between Drug Trafficking and Electioneering, Guatemala Left High and Dry

From the Americas Program

Between Drug Trafficking and Electioneering, Guatemala Left High and Dry – CIP Americas: "The heightening of violence in Guatemala, which goes hand in hand with the presence of drug trafficking and was made evident by the recent massacre of 28 people on the Los Cocos farm, is causing alarm in Mexico´s southern neighbor. This situation will make the presidential candidates who will campaign this year call for a stronger hand in a country that experienced the military abuses of the eighties, warns Marco Antonio Castillo, director of the Guatemala-based Asociación Grupo Ceiba, in this interview with the Americas Program."

Whack-a-mole Drug War: UN Report Fails to Question Assumptions of War on Drugs

Bingo! From 'InSight - Organized Crime in the Americas

UN Report Fails to Question Assumptions of War on Drugs: "The annual United Nations' World Drug Report is a useful document for identifying broad trends in the war on drugs. It is even more useful as an example of why global prohibition of narcotics will never succeed. ...

... the information in the report is less interesting than the broader analysis which is left out. Year after year, the reports fail to discuss whether the UN's "zero tolerance" approach to global drug policy is working. The studies provide plenty of charts and graphs, but little reflection on the obvious and well-documented failures of global drug prohibition. The assumptions at the core of the UNODC reports are never questioned. Reading the report can feel like listening to someone describe shadows on the wall; the UN examines the effects of drug control policies, but never their root causes."

Mexican Politics: Mexico's former ruling party is back to its old ways, opponents say

Mexico: Mexico's former ruling party is back to its old ways, opponents say - latimes.com: "State elections this weekend in Mexico are shaping up as a revealing test of whether the once-dominant Institutional Revolutionary Party, on a steady march to retake the presidential palace, has changed its old autocratic ways.

The party, which ruled Mexico with an iron fist for 70 years but lost the presidency in 2000, insists it has reformed and modernized, and it is handily capitalizing on public anger at rising violence and a sluggish economy to make significant gains. The PRI, its initials in Spanish, is expected to coast to victory in the all-important race for governor in Mexico state and is leading in opinion polls in two other states that will vote Sunday.

In Mexico state, the region of 15 million people that hugs this capital, political parties opposed to the PRI are crying foul.

On Wednesday, they demanded that the results of Sunday's election be nullified because of what they allege are egregious campaign-spending abuses by the PRI "

Whack-a-mole Drug War: Day of the Dead

Time magazine reviews the drug war in Mexico

Day of the Dead - TIME: "The harder task is changing a culture that was centuries in the making. 'Mexico's biggest problem,' says Sicilia's lawyer, Julio Hernández, 'is still the problem that leads to all its other problems: impunity.'"

¡No Mas Sangre!: Native Community Defends Land Against Loggers, Organised Crime

Native Community Defends Land Against Loggers, Organised Crime - IPS ipsnews.net: "CHERÁN, Mexico, Jun 29, 2011 (IPS) - 'Our patience has run out,' says Mary, an indigenous woman with three children to care for on her own, since her husband was kidnapped from his home by an armed group. In this town in western Mexico, local residents have begun to defend themselves with sticks and stones against illegal loggers and organised crime groups that are their allies. ...

IPS came to Cherán with part of the Caravan for Peace with Justice and Dignity headed by poet Javier Sicilia, although Sicilia was not present during the visit.

The contingent of four trucks and half a dozen smaller vehicles arrived on Sunday Jun 26, bringing food supplies to the community, and was greeted by the townspeople with celebrations involving traditional local music, dancing and dishes."

Whack-a-mole Drug War: Familia Claim Split with 'El Chango' Over Zetas Alliance

From 'InSight - Organized Crime in the Americas

Familia Claim Split with 'El Chango' Over Zetas Alliance: "With a series of public banners posted around the Mexican state of Michoacan, the Familia drug gang has sought to distance itself from recently arrested boss Jose de Jesus Mendez, alias 'El Chango,' and his alliance with the Zetas.

After Mendez, one of the Familia's leading figures, was captured some days previously, the government said the group was in its death throws. But the new messages cast doubt on that diagnosis, and suggest that with Mendez out of the picture, the split between the Familia and splinter group Los Caballeros Templarios may be salvageable. Far from heralding its decline, this could clear the way for the gang to become still more powerful."

Whack-a-mole Drug War: Mexico Finds Giant Underground Drug Lab

What! You mean the moles have gone underground! From 'InSight - Organized Crime in the Americas'

Mexico Finds Giant Underground Drug Lab: "The Mexican army discovered the most sophisticated illegal drug laboratory ever found in the country, located in the western state of Sinaloa.

The two-story underground facility, used to produce methamphetamine, had an elevator and air conditioning system. Hidden just outside the city of Culiacan, the lab measured 39 feet long by 33 feet wide, and was equipped with a kitchen, bedrooms, workrooms and a warehouse. (See video below.)"

Immigration Crackdown - Alabama: Birmingham City Council Unanimously Votes to Condemn Alabama's Immigration Law

Birmingham City Council Unanimously Votes to Condemn Alabama's Immigration Law - Fox News Latino: "The Birmingham City Council unanimously approved Tuesday on a resolution that characterizes Alabama’s new immigration law as cruel and immoral.

The resolution asks that the law be repealed and urges political leaders to establish a special commission look for more compassionate ways to address illegal immigration.

Members of the nine-person council said the law, which Gov. Robert Bentley signed earlier this month and takes effect Sept. 1, could hurt the city's economy by scaring away business and reinforcing negative images of intolerance and bigotry linked to the state's old Jim Crow laws."

¡Viva Mexico! and Immigration Reality: Mexican national soccer team the new 'America's Team' after attracting huge crowds for Gold Cup

(North) American sports meets immigration reality

Mexican national soccer team the new 'America's Team' after attracting huge crowds for Gold Cup: "The Dallas Cowboys are known as 'America's Team' and the New York Yankees sell out stadiums wherever they go, but the country's hottest sporting draw of late comes from south of the border.

The Mexican national soccer team drew an average of 73,000 fans across the United States during this month's CONCACAF Gold Cup, Reuters reported, capping off their undefeated title run last Saturday with a 4-2 win over the U.S. in front of a capacity crowd at the Rose Bowl.

Despite playing the tournament final on home soil, the Americans heard deafening boos throughout the game from the largely pro-Mexican audience that packed the 90-thousand plus seat venue with the country's traditional green, white and red colors.

The story was the same during El Tri's previous matches, which saw football stadiums in five major U.S. markets filled with fervent Mexican supporters....

And according to the latest census data, these types of fans are increasing exponentially in the U.S.

"The growth will mirror … the demographic shift and the evolution and growth of the Hispanic marketplace," said David Wright, vice-president of global sponsorship of Soccer United Marketing, which works with the Mexican national soccer team in the U.S."

¡Viva Mexico!: Gold Cup Commentary: US loss the only way forward

On a literally level playing field, Mexico is more than a match for the U.S. Too bad it doesn't have that equal foundation in other areas of competition, like economic and political power. 

Gold Cup Commentary: US loss the only way forward | MLSsoccer.com: "The US are now staring reality in the face: Mexico have stolen away the title of Best Team in CONCACAF, and they did it authoritatively and definitively by blowing through the US with style, class and joy — all of the things with which the Americans aspire to play.

This is not a blip on the radar, and it’s not a heavyweight throwing a punch and dancing backward to await a counterpunch. What El Tri did at the Rose Bowl is a clear sign that the balance of power in the region has shifted back South of the Border.

This Mexico team is perhaps the best in history with its whirlwind of an attack and flexible defensive backbone."

Whack-a-mole Drug War: Mexico president feels 'misunderstood' in drug war

¡Pobrecito! Poor little boy!

The Associated Press: Mexico president feels 'misunderstood' in drug war: "Mexican President Felipe Calderon says he feels 'misunderstood' in his government's fight against drug trafficking and crime.
Calderon told Milenio Television in an interview broadcast Tuesday that his conscience is clear despite mounting violence."

Whack-a-mole Drug War: Police Under Investigation

Mexico - Police Under Investigation - NYTimes.com: "The authorities were investigating seven police officers in connection with the killing on Monday of Police Chief German Pérez Quiroz in the northern town of Santa Catarina, officials in Nuevo León State said Tuesday."

Whack-a-mole Drug War: Evolving Views on Mexico’s War on Drugs

A look at the evolving politics of the drug war during presidential election seasons on both the Mexican and U.S. sides

Shannon K. O'Neil: Latin America's Moment » Blog Archive » Evolving Views on Mexico’s War on Drugs: "Mexico’s fight against drug traffickers is being increasingly questioned on both sides of the border. In Mexico, several politicians – mostly from the PRI– have denounced Calderón’s approach. ...

Independent columnists and analysts too are increasingly vocal. ... Ordinary citizens in Mexico have begun to agitate against the government’s strategy – most vocally those following Javier Sicilia ...

In many ways the rising criticism is to be expected. Violence has escalated in the last few years, and spread (though is still concentrated in some 10 percent of Mexico’s municipalities). It has also hit average Mexicans more – as organized criminals expand their operations from running drugs into kidnapping, robbery, extortion, and the like. ...

What may be a bit more surprising is the escalating critiques to the north, and of the U.S. role in combating this insecurity. Two recent Congressional reports lambast the handling of guns flowing south, while another questions the nature and accountability of counternarcotics spending more generally....

Viewed as a whole, the increasing political skepticism (combined with pressures to cut budgets in the U.S. congress) bodes a much heavier lift for continued and deepening cooperation. As both countries go into Presidential elections, these critiques will likely only increase. Much of this questioning is important. All these policies will have long term ramifications for both Mexico and the United States, and as such should be analyzed and debated."

Whack-a-mole Drug War: Mexico Brands Drug Gang Tactics 'Terrorist'

More on the growing governmental impetus to construct the war on drugs as a war on terrorist. From "InSight - Organized Crime in the Americas

Mexico Brands Drug Gang Tactics 'Terrorist': "A report by Mexico’s government has branded the actions of the Familia drug gang as 'terrorist' -- a misleading term to describe a criminal group that has no more political aims or violent tactics than its rivals in the Mexican underworld.

The Secretariat of Public Security's report, titled “Results of the Federal Police in the combat of the criminal organization the Familia,” has sparked wide interest in the country. Applying the “terrorist” label is a guaranteed attention-getter, and, indeed, the report was front-page news on a number of different newspapers.

However, the moniker is not well used here. Even if one overlooks the overtly political or religious element of most modern terrorism and accepts that drug gangs in Mexico occasionally employ terrorist-style tactics, it’s not clear that the Familia has earned the designation."

Immigration Crackdown: South Carolina Governor signs illegal immigration police checks law

SC gov signs illegal immigration police checks law - BostonHerald.com: "Gov. Nikki Haley signed changes into law on Monday that grant more power to police to check whether people are illegal immigrants, a move expected to face legal challenges after similar measures met with lawsuits in other states.

The changes in law require police in South Carolina to call federal immigration officials if someone is suspected of being in the country illegally. And it creates a new police force to enforce a law that would also make it a felony to make fake photographic identification for illegal immigrants. People convicted of that felony could face $25,000 fines and five years in prison."

Immigration Crackdown: Common thread present in immigration law challenges

An overview of the court challenges to immigration crackdown laws passed in Arizona, Utah, Georgia, South Carolina and Alabama.

Common thread present in immigration law challenges - CNN.com: "With a federal judge striking down the most controversial parts of a tough immigration law in Georgia this week, a pattern has emerged of how such laws are being interpreted at the federal level, though their final fate remains uncertain.

Anti-illegal immigration measures have been passed in Arizona, Utah, Georgia, Indiana, South Carolina and Alabama. Parts of those laws have been suspended in four of those states, pending resolutions to the lawsuits. The American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama has vowed to file a lawsuit against the immigration law in that state, which is slated to go into effect in September. The ACLU has also said it will challenge the South Carolina law.

Some parts included in all four of the laws that have been challenged have been struck down in those states.
One measure that has met challenges at every turn has been the one allowing police to inquire about immigration status when questioning suspects. Opponents have said that this will lead to racial profiling, and federal judges have agreed."

Whack-a-mole Drug War: The Top Three Trends in the UNDOC World Drug Report

A good summary of key issues in the UN annual Drug Report, from "InSight - Organized Crime in the Americas"

The Top Three Trends in the UNDOC World Drug Report: "The annual United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) report on the global drug trade paints a picture of success in Colombia. But it's clear the real winners remain the transnational drug gangs, who are evolving fast in response to changing markets. ...

The rise of such designer drugs is a reminder that, like the market for any other in-demand product, the narcotics market is highly flexible and adaptable. This flexibility can also be seen in the way that drug-trafficking organizations (DTOs) are operating. DTOs are becoming more similar to multinational corporations, with an emphasis on networking rather than top-down decision making. This kind of flexibility allows for loosely-linked cells to handle the production, transport and delivery of drugs, criss-crossing three or four continents at a time. ...

In terms of U.S. policy, the growing prevalence of "non-traditional" drugs also raises the question of how substances are identified as posing the greatest threat to national health issues. As the UNODC report notes, overdoses on prescription drugs -- like oxycodone, percocet, vicodin and so on -- are growing more common than overdoses on cocaine or heroin. The rise in popularity for these legal "highs" may also explain, in part, the apparent shift in the U.S. away from cocaine.

The limitations of the UNODC reports are still clear

The UN relies on satellite imagery to collect much of its data on coca cultivation. But coca fields are becoming smaller and smaller, in part due to pressure from eradication efforts. The satellites used in detection efforts work best for fields no smaller than 0.25 hectares. Especially in Colombia, coca is being increasingly grown among legal crops, or in plots smaller than a hectare. Coca bushes can also be planted several times a year, meaning that farmers can move back on land that they had previously abandoned.

This means that many of the annual statistics supplied by the UNODC, especially regarding coca and cocaine estimates, must be considered rough and low-end estimates."

Whack-a-mole Drug War: A Survey of Mexico's Trafficking Networks

A look at the current status of the various Mexican cartels, from "InSight - Organized Crime in the Americas

A Survey of Mexico's Trafficking Networks: "With just a little over a year left in his term, Mexico’s President Felipe Calderon is looking at a very different criminal landscape than when he took office in 2006, with the dominance of a handful of hegemonic groups replaced by a criminal free-for-all.

Perhaps the most obvious change in Mexico today is the relative decline of the large gangs that controlled the nation’s criminal scene five, or even two, years ago. The Sinaloa Cartel, which united capos like Joaquin Guzman, Juan Jose Esparragoza, Arturo Beltran Leyva, Ismael Zambada, and Ignacio Coronel as recently as 2008, has been beset by assaults from adversaries and strife within the group, especially the defection of Beltran Leyva and his network."

Rule of Law: Measuring Reforms to Mexico's Broken Justice System

Measuring Reforms to Mexico's Broken Justice System: "Mexico’s efforts to reform its weak and widely mistrusted judicial system have broad support among legal professionals, though many are skeptical that it will reduce crime, according to a study. ...

Mexico is now undergoing a shift from an inquisitorial system of justice, which presumes the guilt of the accused, to an adversarial or oral trial system, which presumes innocence, following the passage of a 2008 federal judicial reform law. The reforms also plan to increase transparency, throwing court proceedings open to the public, and giving every defendent the right to representation by a qualified public defender.

The changes are being implemented state by state at different rates, with varying results, over the course of eight years. The Trans-Border Institute has carried out a study, entitled "JusticiaBarometro: Survey of Judges, Prosecutors and Public Defenders in Nine Mexican States," which surveyed legal professionals in Mexico....

The legal system is the foundation of the rule of law, and Mexico’s fight against organized crime may depend upon the establishment of an effective and respected judicial system through these reforms. Based on these survey results, the new system enjoys widespread support among legal professionals in Mexico. Ultimately, however, the success of Mexico’s judicial reforms will be measured in decades not years.

Drug War Bloodshed: Chief of Police in Nuevo Leon is Executed Inside his Office

Borderland Beat: Chief of Police in Nuevo Leon is Executed Inside his Office: "A heavily armed commando executed the police chief of Santa Catarina (a town west of Monterrey), Germain Perez Quiroz. He was gunned down inside his own office at the police headquarters of the agency located in community of Infonavit La Huasteca.

At 1530 hours about 15 masked men on board at least three late model trucks and two cars entered the front door of the police station and threatened employees inside until they located the police chief."

Whack-a-mole Drug War: Guatemalan town falls victim to Mexico's bloody narco wars

The 'Guardian' of Britain takes an "on the ground" look at a small village in the Guatemalan jungle over run by narcos.

Guatemalan town falls victim to Mexico's bloody narco wars | World news | The Guardian: "Welcome to El Naranjo, a sun-blistered one-street town on Guatemala's northern frontier, once in the middle of nowhere, now in the middle of Latin America's drug war. Mexico's narco-fuelled bloodshed, with 36,000 dead in four years, is dripping here and across much of central America. ...

On the ground you can travel for days without seeing another soul, but when the forest gives way to pasture and bony cattle it means a town is close. El Naranjo is a few hours' bumpy drive from where twenty-seven peasants were slaughtered. It reeks of fear.

Don't mention this to anyone here, please," begged one shopkeeper, after casually mentioning that los pesados (literally "the heavy ones"), favoured his $130 snakeskin boots. He had inadvertently broken a rule: don't talk about narcos, not even in euphemism.A community leader who requested anonymity said Zetas were forcing people to choose sides, breeding a paralysing suspicion. "There are eyes and ears everywhere." He shook his head. "One of the least populated places on the planet and it's claustrophobic.""

Whack-a-mole Drug: Mexico military admits 44 violations in "drug war"

Mexico: military admits 44 violations in "drug war" | World War 4 Report: "According to Mexico's National Defense Secretariat (Sedena), the military has taken responsibility for 44 cases of violations of civilians' human rights since December 2006, when President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa ordered soldiers to join in the fight against drug trafficking.

Sedena says it has initiated criminal or administrative proceedings against 223 soldiers, including officers, in these cases. However, no general has faced charges so far, and no soldier has received a sentence in cases resulting from recommendations by the government's National Human Rights Commission (CNDH). A total of 5,055 complaints against the military have been received by the CNDH during this period; the military dismisses some of these as 'presented by members [of criminal organizations] to discredit the military institution and in this way to limit its operations.'

The military has opened criminal proceedings in five new cases this year."

Immigration Crackdown - Georgia: Judge halts parts of anti-illegal immigration law

Once again, hurrah for federal judges and the ACLU, which is taking on all these state immigration crackdown laws. 

Judge halts parts of anti-illegal immigration law | ajc.com: "A federal judge on Monday put on hold some of the most controversial parts of Georgia's new anti-illegal immigration law pending the outcome of a lawsuit challenging its constitutionality. The judge upheld other provisions, prompting both sides in the debate over illegal immigration in Georgia to claim victory. ...

U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Thrash's 45-page ruling sharply criticizes state officials for making an end-run around federal law. That provoked a stinging response from Gov. Nathan Deal’s office Monday, which said the state would appeal Thrash’s decision to halt two sections of the law that were supposed to go into effect Friday.

One of those provisions would empower police to investigate the immigration status of suspects who they believe have committed state or federal crimes and who cannot produce identification, such as a driver’s license, or provide other information that could help police identify them. The other part would punish people who -– while committing another offense -- knowingly transport or harbor illegal immigrants or encourage them to come here.

The judge said the American Civil Liberties Union and other civil and immigrant rights groups who are suing to block the law have shown they are likely to succeed in arguments that these provisions are preempted by federal law."

Whack-a-mole Drug War: Transnational Criminal Organizations and Mexico's Drug Wars

From the TransBroder Project of the Center for International Policy

Border Lines: Transnational Criminal Organizations and Mexico's Drug Wars: "Recent declarations by the Departments of State, Homeland Security, and Defense, along with the U.S. military, routinely characterize the Mexican drug-trafficking organizations as Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs), warning about associated “transnational threats” and endangered U.S. national security.

Neither the government nor the military offers an explanation for the wholesale adoption of the TCO designation. Nor do they provide any definition of transnational criminal organization, or explain why the previously common usage of drug cartels, organized crime organizations, and drug-trafficking organizations (DTOs) no longer suffice."

Immigration Reality: Four arrested in connection to Tamaulipas Massacre

From "InSight - Organized Crime in the Americas"

Four arrested in connection to Tamaulipas Massacre: "Salvadoran authorities arrested three men allegedly involved in the trafficking of 14 Salvadorans killed in the slaughter of 72 migrants last August in the northeastern Mexican town of San Fernando."

Whack-a-mole Drug War: Contrary to popular belief, Mexico winning cartel war. OpEd

The author of this article, Ricardo Ainslie, teaches at the University of Texas at Austin. The byline notes that, "He has spent the last two years exploring the impact of the violence on Ciudad Juarez, as well as interviewing Mexican policymakers, including several current and former members of President Felipe Calderón's security cabinet." He is also the author of the forthcoming "The Savior of Juarez: Mexico at the Time of the Great Drug War" (University of Texas Press).
Guess we'll have to read the book to find out who "The Savior" is.

Contrary to popular belief, Mexico winning cartel war | Viewpoints, Outlook | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle: "The Mexican government, finally, is gaining the upper hand in a drug war that has turned much of the border region and parts of interior Mexico into war zones. President Felipe Calderón's campaign against the cartels is now three-and-a-half years old and the death toll is nearing 40,000. After a series of visits to Ciudad Juarez, the war's epicenter, and interviews with federal law enforcement and intelligence officials in Mexico City, I see convincing evidence that the government has dramatically weakened the drug cartels, an essential step if the country is to restore peace."

Immigration Crackdown - Alabama: Birmingham City Council to vote on condemning Alabama's new illegal immigration law

Go, Birmingham!

Birmingham City Council to vote on condemning Alabama's new illegal immigration law | al.com: "The Birmingham City Council Tuesday is set to vote on a resolution condemning Alabama's new illegal immigration law as inhumane and against American principles.

The resolution sponsored by Council President Roderick Royal asks lawmakers to repeal the law and instead set up a commission to recommend other policies.

'The goal is to be on record as the state's largest city that this act is mean-spirited and at its base is morally unacceptable,' Royal said. 'There has to be something wrong with a law that denies the basic human spirit the right to live.'"

Immigration Politics: Sen. Durbin chairs hearing on DREAM Act immigration measure - Lynn Sweet

Sen. Durbin chairs hearing on DREAM Act immigration measure: "Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) is trying again to get the DREAM Act passed and will chair the first-ever Senate hearing Tuesday on the immigration measure to give students in the U.S. illegally a chance to stay."

Whack-a-mole Drug War: Mexican troops replace police in Tamaulipas, a state that borders Texas | Mail Online

The moles keep multiplying, so -- of course -- the government sends in more mole whackers.

Mexican troops replace police in Tamaulipas, a state that borders Texas | Mail Online: "Mexican troops have replaced policemen in half of a large state that borders Texas, in the deep south, because there were fears that the officers were corrupt and helping the drug cartels.

Some 2,800 heavily armed soldiers were deployed in 22 of Tamaulipas's 43 cities over the weekend - this was done, in part, as President Felipe Calderon moved to defend his drug war strategy."

Drug War Bloodshed: Zeta Testimony Solves Mystery of Brutal Bus Massacres

From "InSight - Organized Crime in the Americas"

Zeta Testimony Solves Mystery of Brutal Bus Massacres: "The testimony of the latest captured member of the Zetas organization seems to have resolved the mystery of why that group decided to pull dozens of people off intermunicipal buses in the state of Tamaulipas earlier this year -- then torture, murder, and bury them in mass graves.

The Zeta member, Edgar Huerta Montiel, alias “El Wache,” told authorities (see video below) that his group targeted the buses because they feared their rivals, the Gulf Cartel, were getting reinforcements from other states. “They were orders from above, from [Zetas’ maximum commander Heriberto] Lazcano [that] because those guys were going to the enemy...we had to get them off and investigate them,” he explained. “Every day a bus came,” he continued, “And the ones who had nothing to do with it, were freed. But those that did, they were killed.”"

The Border: Human rights groups urge Congress to investigate Border Patrol's use of deadly force

Border Patrol: Human rights groups urge Congress to investigate Border Patrol's use of deadly force - latimes.com: "A coalition of immigrant and human rights groups Friday urged Congress to investigate the Border Patrol's use of deadly force against rock throwers along the U.S.-Mexico border, saying the frequency of such confrontations is disturbing and inhumane.

The request came three days after an agent in San Diego fatally shot a 40-year-old Tijuana man suspected of injuring an agent by throwing rocks and a nail-studded wooden board."

Whack-a-mole Drug War: Mexico details La Familia extortion practices - San Jose Mercury News

Mexico details La Familia extortion practices - San Jose Mercury News: "Mexico's cult-like La Familia drug cartel conducts widespread extortion rackets aimed at farmers, miners and even bullfight organizers while getting protection from state police commanders, federal officials said Sunday.

Mexico's federal police agency, the Public Security Secretariat, outlined the local businesses preyed upon in a new report on the extent of the gang's corruption and intimidation tactics in its home base of Michoacan state."

Immigration Reality: At least 60 migrants kidnapped in Mexico

AFP: At least 60 migrants kidnapped in Mexico: "Gunmen have kidnapped at least 60 undocumented migrants, including children, who were aboard a freight train in Mexico trying to get to the United States, a shelter director said.

Alejandro Solalinde, a priest who heads the Brothers Along the Road hostel, in the southwestern state of Oaxaca, told AFP that a dozen gunmen on Friday seized the migrants trying to make it toward the US border.
'At least 60 or 80 people, if not more, were kidnapped' from the freight train, Solalinde said, adding that women and children were among those snatched."

¡Viva Mexico!: Bigger Is Not Better in Battle of Neighbors

Mexico 4, U.S. 2. The story of the game and the amazing final goal.

Bigger Is Not Better in Battle of Neighbors - NYTimes.com: "You can run, but you cannot hide from the fact that when Americans play Mexicans at soccer, the result matters most to those who are born and bred to believe that there is really only one game that matters in life."

Whack-a-mole Drug War: Mexico's criminal organizations: weakness in complexity, strength in evolution

An analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the drug cartels and the effects of the government's war against them on their evolution. From another security analysis organization called "Southern Pulse"

Mexico's criminal organizations: weakness in complexity, strength in evolution: "Transnational organized crime exists as a networked system that creates a high degree of resiliency. Government systems laden by a pyramid-shaped bureaucracy and sovereignty have had little effect when attacking networks of organized crime in Latin America. This uneven playing field is easily observed at the strategic level, where non-state threats appear to run circles around slower moving governments. The criminal system rapidly adapts, strengthens and increases in violence, independent of whether independent groups are fighting each other, government forces, or civilian vigilante groups. As a “counter-system,” criminality (or warlord entrepreneurs in the parlance of this volume), is inherently resilient, displacing from one territory to another and across international boundaries, as market conditions or threats to organizational structures present themselves."

The Border: Texas Congressman Pushing for More Deputies Along US/Mexico Border

"Border security" is a pork barrel for Texas. See the indepth investigative article from last year,  At War in Texas, on how Texas politicians talk about "federal failure to secure the border" while collecting federal funds to build up sheriff's departments and other state law enforcement agencies:

CBS 7 - Your Eye on West Texas: "Congress is looking over a bill, HR 2217, which would provide federal funding to increase the number of patrol deputies along America's border with Mexico by 30%.

It's called the Southern Border Sheriff's Community Impact Aid Act of 2011 and would apply to counties within 25 miles of the United States southern border.

CBS7 is told the money will cover not only paying the deputies, but training, vehicles, weapons and uniforms as well."

Immigration Crackdown: South Carolina lawmakers pass anti-illegal immigrant bill

South Carolina joins North Carolina, Georgia and Alabama - a pretty "solid South"

South Carolina lawmakers pass anti-illegal immigrant bill - Fox News Latino: "South Carolina's Republican-controlled legislature has approved a bill that would require police officers to check the immigration status of people they stop for another reason and force companies to ensure their employees are authorized to work in the United States.

SB 20, inspired by Arizona's controversial SB 1070 law, will now go to the desk of GOP Gov. Nikki Haley, who has said she plans to sign it.

The state's House of Representatives on Tuesday approved changes made last week by the Senate,"

Immigration Crackdown - North Carolina: Governor Perdue signs law requiring immigration checks :: WRAL.com

North Carolina jumps on the E-Verify bandwagon.

Perdue signs law requiring immigration checks :: WRAL.com: "Businesses, cities and counties in North Carolina are going to have to start checking the immigration status of new hires.

Gov. Beverly Perdue on Thursday signed into law a bill directing employers to use the federal government's E-Verify system to prevent illegal immigrants from landing jobs. The legislation makes exceptions for companies that employ fewer than 25 people or which use seasonal workers."

The Border: Mexican president confronts Clinton over fatal border shooting

Mexican president confronts Clinton over fatal border shooting - San Diego, California News Station - KFMB Channel 8 - cbs8.com: "In response to a deadly Border Patrol shooting by this week in the Tijuana River Valley, Mexico's president confronted Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over the incident, and later demanded punishment for whomever was responsible.

An investigation is underway to determine exactly where 40-year--old Jose Yanez Reyes was shot when he allegedly tried to cross the border Tuesday night into the United States.

'This is an international incident,' said immigrants rights activist Enrique Morones, founder of Border Angels.

That shooting death of a Mexican national by a U.S. border patrol agent later sparked a confrontation between Mexico's president Felipe Calderon and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at a security summit earlier this week.

Afterward, Calderon tweeted in Spanish, 'In Guatemala I protested to Secretary Clinton about the death of the Mexican in Tijuana. I demanded punishment for those responsible.'"

The Border: Immigrant Shot at U.S.-Mexico Border by Border Patrol Agent

Immigrant Shot at U.S.-Mexico Border by Border Patrol Agent - Hispanically Speaking News: "A man has lost his life after an encounter between Border Patrol agents and undocumented immigrants turned took a deadly turn Tuesday evening....

Both the ACLU and Mexican government are calling for an investigation into the shooting.

Mexico’s Foreign Relations Secretariat released a statement saying, “he Mexican government energetically condemns the death. ... (We) reiterate that the use of firearms to repel attacks with rocks, which is what preliminary information indicates may have occurred in this case, represents a disproportionate use of force.”

executive director of the ACLU of San Diego, Kevin Keenan, said, “We’re concerned that the Border Patrol has a policy supporting the shooting of rock throwers in an situation. Apparently they do not train their agents to handle these situations better.”

Whack-a-mole Drug War: Bolivia Set to Withdraw from UN Drug Treaty

From "InSight: Organized Crime in the Americas"  Good for Bolivia. See our page on the history of the U.N drug conventions

Bolivia Set to Withdraw from UN Drug Treaty: "Bolivia appears on the verge of withdrawing from a major UN narcotics treaty, underscoring the difficulties facing the country as it attempts to balance drug policy with its cultural heritage of coca consumption.

Bolivia has for some time campaigned to amend the 1961 UN Single Convention on Narcotics in order to decriminalize traditional uses of coca. These efforts have been fruitless, and now the lower house of the Bolivian Congress has approved President Evo Morales' request to withdraw from the convention.

Morales and his Movement for Socialism party (Movimiento al Socialismo - MAS) have repeatedly rejected the convention's classification of the coca leaf as an illicit substance, and its calls for the "uprooting" of all wild coca plants. According to them, such a move would be highly impractical at best, and at worst would be a serious blow to Bolivian culture. As they point out, the plant in its unprocessed form is used throughout the country for traditional and medicinal purposes.

Bolivia’s House of Representatives passed the bill on Wednesday, and it will now move to the Senate, where it will likely pass as the MAS party has a two-thirds majority. Once the bill goes through, President Morales is expected to sign it into law. Although the current text of the draft law would let Bolivia rejoin the convention in January 2012, it would release the country from the sections which pertain to coca cultivation.

Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca has said that the move would not represent a rejection of Bolivia's responsibility to control drug production. Instead, he says, it is merely an attempt to bring this into line with Boliva’s 2009 constitution (which allows for limited coca cultivation) as well as its cultural heritage."

Whack-a-mole Drug Wart: Arrests Herald Juarez Drug Gang's Decline

Arrests Herald Juarez Drug Gang's Decline: "A pair of recent arrests have underscored the increasing vulnerability of La Linea, once one of the most potent criminal groups in Juarez, Mexico's most notorious city. ...

These arrests reflect what appears to be an ongoing decline of La Linea. While the gang has long been one of chaotic Juarez’s most fearsome groups, La Linea’s influence has declined over the past several months, and they no longer present the threat that they did in years past."

Whack-a-mole Drug War: $1 billion slated for Central America's drug war

From a Costa Rican newspaper, more on "good money being sent after bad." The World Bank enters the poker game with a billion dollars. 

$1 billion slated for Central America's drug war / Top Story / Current Edition / Costa Rica Newspaper, The Tico Times: "The World Bank unveiled Wednesday a billion-dollar bid to support security measures in Central America, as the United States and Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) upped their funding in the region as well.

“The World Bank will provide $1 billion for Central America in the coming years, which can be used by each country for its own priorities, and clearly including a security strategy,” said World Bank vice president for Latin America and the Caribbean, Pamela Cox.

Cox said the bank can offer technical assistance, especially in ways to strengthen national institutions.

“We have picked up a great deal of experience that combines technical knowledge of the region with the bank’s global focus,” she said.

The Inter-American Development Bank also said it would provide some $500 million, spread over two years, to supplement funding efforts from the region and donor countries, IDB President Luis Alberto Moreno said.

Clinton announced that funding for Washington’s regional security partnership effort was being increased to $300 million this year, up from $260 million."

Whack-a-mole Drug War: Central America Throws Ball into Consumer Nations' Court

Sounds like a tennis game, but both sides are missing the point. The Latin American countries need to increase the rule of law - and the wealthy need to pay enough taxes to enable their governments to be functional. And the U.S. needs to legalize drugs, not "crack down on consumption."

DRUGS: Central America Throws Ball into Consumer Nations' Court - IPS ipsnews.net: "The leaders of Central America, Colombia and Mexico called on the governments of the world's main drug-consuming countries to play a stronger role in fighting drug trafficking and organised crime by stepping up control of weapons sales and taking effective measures to crack down on consumption.

'Europe, the United States and many other countries pressure Central America to increase our tax base, and they are right. But with the same emphasis, I urge them to reduce drug consumption,' said Guatemalan President Álvaro Colom.

He was responding to comments by officials like U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Arturo Valenzuela, who said that one of the reasons his government should not provide the region with more funds is that 'there are countries whose tax revenue is less than 10 percent of GDP.'

Colom was speaking during the First International Conference in Support of the Central America Security Strategy, which ended Thursday in Guatemala City."

Movement for Peace with Justice: Mexico's Calderon agrees to reconsider drug war strategy

Another take on the meeting between Javier Sicilia and Mexican President Calderon

Mexico's Calderon agrees to reconsider drug war strategy - Fox News Latino: " Mexican President Felipe Calderon and a prominent poet who has led a campaign calling for an end to the country's bloody drug war agreed to create a tracking commission to work on the proposals presented Thursday by victims of violence.

After more than three hours of dialogue with Javier Sicilia, who heads the Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity, and victims of violence, Calderon said he was open to 'reviewing' his security strategy.

He also accepted Sicilia's proposal to create a commission to 'work on behalf of the victims' as well as on a new security strategy.

The president likewise agreed to meet again in three months with the poet, whose son was murdered by gangsters in late March.

'I'm willing to make changes,' said Calderon, who added that to do so he would need to 'see clearly' the direction in which to direct his strategy to fight organized crime, an effort in which the military is playing the central role."

Movement for Peace with Justice: Calderon tells Javier Sicilia that Mexico drug war strategy will continue despite appeals

We really did not expect anything different to come from this public meeting.

Mexico drug war strategy will continue despite appeals from activists, Calderon says - latimes.com: "Mexican President Felipe Calderon on Thursday met face-to-face with activist-poet Javier Sicilia in a long and often colorful public meeting aimed at reaching a consensus on how to curb the country's rising drug-war death toll.

Sicilia demanded Calderon apologize for carnage that has left an estimated 40,000 dead, and demanded a change in the government's anti-crime strategy. But Calderon, flanked by Cabinet officials, repeated once more that it would be wrong to alter the basic thrust — a military-led campaign against the country's powerful cartels."

Whack-a-mole Drug War: World Drug Report: Drug markets stable but consumption of synthetic and prescription drugs rises

World Drug Report: Drug markets stable but consumption of synthetic and prescription drugs rises: "While global markets for cocaine, heroin and cannabis declined or remained stable, the production and abuse of prescription opioid drugs and new synthetic drugs rose, according to the World Drug Report 2011 ( www.unodc.org/wdr). Illicit cultivation of opium poppy and coca bush remained limited to a few countries. Although there was a sharp decline in opium production and a modest reduction in coca cultivation, overall, the manufacture of heroin and cocaine was still significant.

The flagship report was launched today at United Nations Headquarters by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon; Yury Fedotov, Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC); Joseph Deiss, President of the General Assembly; Gil Kerlikowske, Director, White House Office of National Drug Control Policy; and Viktor Ivanov, Director of Russia's Federal Service for Drug Control."

Legalization: First-Ever Marijuana Legalization Bill Introduced in U.S. Congress

Hip Hip Hurrah! Go Barney and company!

Law Enforcement Against Prohibition: First-Ever Marijuana Legalization Bill Introduced in U.S. Congress: "The first-ever Congressional bill to let states legalize marijuana will be introduced in the U.S. House by a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers on Thursday, and a group of police and judges who fought on the front lines of the failed 'war on drugs' is announcing its support. ...

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) and Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), would essentially end the federal government's bullying of states when it comes to marijuana policy reform. Initial co-sponsors include Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN), Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) and Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO)."

Whack-a-mole Drug War: UNODC Releases 2011 World Drug Report

The Pan-American Post: UNODC Releases 2011 World Drug Report: "The United Nations’ 2011 World Drug Report will be released by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) today at 10:00 New York time. This annual report highlights developments across the global drug market to explain the factors that drive the world's consumption, production and trafficking of illicit drugs."

Movement for Peace with Justice: Can Mexico's Peace Movement Change Calderon's Strategy?

Can Mexico's Peace Movement Change Calderon's Strategy?: "The president, and some members of his cabinet, will meet with 35 representatives of the Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity. Many of them have lost relatives to drug violence, including poet Javier Sicilia, whose son was murdered in March by a gang. Since then the high-profile writer has led the campaign for peace, including a march across the country to Ciudad Juarez, Mexico's most violent city.

The meeting was originally slated to take place on Thursday, June 23 at the National Museum of Anthropology, a location that the group had selected as symbolic of the “national re-foundation” that the country needs. However, at the last minute officials changed the location to the Chapultepec Castle, according to El Universal. Presumably the switch was made for security reasons, in an effort to limit the chances of the meeting being disturbed by protests.

Mexico’s Interior Ministry confirmed the meeting, saying that the government has been seeking input from civil society “since the beginning of the implementation of the National Security Strategy.” This has been refuted by Sicilia and others, however, who have complained that their calls for a national dialogue have fallen on"

Whack-a-mole Drug War: Arrested Kingpin Reveals Zeta-Familia Alliance

From "InSight-Organized Crime in Latin America: more on the La Famila - Zetas dynamics

Arrested Kingpin Reveals Zeta-Familia Alliance: "The arrested leader of Mexican drug gang the Familia Michoacana revealed that he had recently sought an alliance with the Zetas to support his group in its standoff with rivals the Caballeros Templarios."

Drug War: Mexico's hidden war

Mexico's hidden war - Fault Lines - Al Jazeera English: "In the second episode of a two-part series, Josh Rushing and the Fault Lines team travel to the state of Guerrero to investigate claims that Mexican security forces are using the drug war as a pretext to repress indigenous and campesino communities.

In one of Mexico's poorest and top drug-producing states, where struggling farmers are surrounded by the narco-economy, we ask about the cost of taking the struggle against dispossession into your own hands."

The Border: Border Patrol shooting renews debate on use of force

Border Patrol shooting: Border Patrol shooting renews debate on use of force - latimes.com: "The Mexican government and immigrant rights group condemned the shooting of a man trying to cross the border fence into the U.S. on Tuesday evening. Federal authorities say the man was throwing rocks at the agents. ...

The shooting Tuesday evening renewed the debate over the proper use of force along the increasingly fortified U.S.-Mexico border. It was immediately condemned by the Mexican government and immigrant rights groups, who have long protested what they consider excessive tactics by U.S. Border Patrol agents.

But U.S. authorities said the agents were acting in self-defense, pointing out that rock attacks have resulted in disabling injuries for agents."

Weapons Traffic: Gun-running investigation: AK-47s linked to attorney's slaying in Mexico

Gun-running investigation: AK-47s linked to attorney's slaying in Mexico - latimes.com: "A U.S. congressional investigation into Operation Fast and Furious, the controversial federal gun-running surveillance operation, moves to Mexico amid reports that two assault weapons sold in Arizona were found at the scene of a shootout with the suspects in a Mexican attorney's slaying."

Whack-a-mole Drug War: Mexico officials say capo sought to ally with foes

Ya! That's what happens, the moles multiply.

The Associated Press: Mexico officials say capo sought to ally with foes: "The story of Jose de Jesus Mendez Vargas shows how Mexico's cartels have mutated under a four-year crackdown on organized crime, an example of the way splinter groups and shifting alliances complicate the government attempt to wipe out the drug groups."

Whack-a-mole Drug War: Gil Kerlikowske, Federal Drug Czar and Former Seattle Police Chief, Makes Up Fake Numbers in Call to Escalate Drug War

Chief mole whacker's propaganda

Gil Kerlikowske, Federal Drug Czar and Former Seattle Police Chief, Makes Up Fake Numbers in Call to Escalate Drug War - Seattle News - The Daily Weekly: "Speaking at the ninth annual U.S./Mexico Drug Demand Reduction Conference in Washington D.C. this week, White House Drug Czar and former Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske made it clear that he thinks the failed War on Drugs is not only successful, but should be escalated.
In arguing for more law enforcement and international anti-drug efforts, Kerlikowske made quite the pronouncement. He said 'the rate of Americans using illicit drugs today is roughly half what it was in the late 1970′s.'

Roughly half? Actually it's not even close to that. Try roughly 12 percent lower.

And that drop--which is compared to a survey in 1979, which recorded the highest number of Americans using drugs ever--shows zero evidence of being a result of increased prohibition and law enforcement efforts.

According to the most recent National Survey of Drug Use and Health (2009), there were an estimated 21.8 million Americans, 12-years old and older, who reported doing drugs in the past month.

That same survey in 1979 showed 25 million Americans 12-and-older reported using drugs in the last month.

Twenty five million to about 22 million is no where near 'roughly half.'"

Whack-a-mole Drug War: Clinton Pushes Latin America Business to Help Fund Drug War

She's got to be kidding! When Obama gives in to Republicans over funding the U.S. government, we want to preach to the Latin Americans that they need to do better than us!

Clinton Pushes Latin America Business to Help Fund Drug War - Bloomberg: "U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said businesses in Latin America must pay their “fair share” of taxes to fight drug trafficking.
“True security cannot be funded on the backs of the poor,” Clinton said today at a security conference in Guatemala City, where she was joined by presidents from Central America, Mexico and Colombia."

Whack-a-mole Drug War: Legalization Won't Make It Better

We stongly disagree with the conclusion expressed in the title of this article. However, the article itself doesn't draw such a simplistic conclusion. Rather, it reviews quite thoroughly how the cartels have spread into many other lines of revenue, more and more thoroughly pervading all of the Mexican economy, political sturcture and society. The drug trade still remains the foundation of their revenues -- in the billions of dollars a year.

Foreign Policy: Legalization Won't Make It Better : NPR: "would legalization really work? With each day that passes, it looks like it wouldn't be enough, for one overarching reason: The cartels are becoming less like traffickers and more like mafias. Their currency is no longer just cocaine, methamphetamines, or heroin, though they earn revenue from each of these products. As they have grown in size and ambition, like so many big multinational corporations, they have diversified. The cartels are now active in all types of illicit markets, not just drugs."

Whack-a-mole Drug War: The Crusaders of Meth: Mexico's Deadly Knights Templar

More on the "new" moles in the drug war: the Knights Templar, formerly members of La Familia Michoacana

The Crusaders of Meth: Mexico's Deadly Knights Templar - TIME: "At first, the amateur video shows a normal evening in the seething valley town of Apatzingán, in Mexico's western Michoacán state. But as residents and stall owners mix jovially on the sidewalk, the calm is broken by the sudden, sinister appearance of masked men gripping machine guns mounted on more than 50 pickup trucks, Hummers and Jeeps. The gangsters cruise openly down Apatzingán's main drag, a frightening show of force even by the brutal standards of Mexico's drug-war bloodbath. The propaganda video was sent to media outlets by the newest players in that conflict, the bizarrely named Caballeros Templarios, or the Knights Templar. ...

The Knights are a breakaway group from the "narco-evangelical" cartel known as La Familia ...

In December, federal police allegedly killed La Familia's criminal and spiritual leader, Nazario Moreno, alias El Mas Loco, or The Craziest One. On June 21, police arrested his No. 2, José de Jesús Méndez, alias El Chango, or The Monkey. As The Monkey was paraded before reporters on Wednesday, Mexican police said La Familia had been devastated — a vindication of Calderón's controversial military campaign against the cartels.

But the rise of the Knights Templar from the ashes of La Familia shows the fundamental problem of the drug war: whenever one set of bad guys is taken down, another steps up to take their place, largely because Mexico has few if any real investigative police institutions to halt the vicious cycle. The Knights are purportedly headed by an old lieutenant of Moreno, Servando Gómez, a former school teacher from Michoacán's rugged hills, where meth labs abound like hillbilly stills. "

Whack-a-mole Drug War: Mexico's most powerful drug cartels

Christian Science Monitor is right when it says that if La Familia is fractured, its territory will taken over by remnant groups or other cartels. Narcos aren't going to give up the billion dollar amphetamine business that La Familia controlled. Already the battle between factions of La Familia is taking place in Michoacán, with an increase in murders and blockades of roads when the police come searching for them. 


The aticle provides a good overview of the current status of the major cartels.

Mexico's most powerful drug cartels  - CSMonitor.com: "Mexico declared a major victory Tuesday when it arrested the leader of the La Familia drug gang and 50 of its members, calling the group finished after the arrests. But the deadly drug war in Mexico is far from over. Many experts expect the remaining La Familia members to join allied groups and for its territory to be absorbed by other traffickers.(AMB emphasis) Here’s a look at Mexico’s most powerful drug cartels:"

Movement for Peace with Justice: Citizen’s Pact for Peace with Justice and Dignity

Here is the Americas Program's translation of the "Citizen's Pact for Peace and Justice" signed in Ciudad Juárez by participants at the end of the recent Caravan for Peace with Justice and Dignity.

Citizen’s Pact for Peace with Justice and Dignity – CIP Americas: "For more than four years now, our country has suffered a war on drugs that officially does not exist. It is really a war against the people that has cost 40,000 Mexican lives, mostly youths, and another 10,000, also mostly youths, who inhabit the terrifying limbo that authorities have coldly labeled “disappeared.”"

Immigration and the Culture of Solidarity – CIP Americas

The Americas Program is pleased to present the final article of the series 'Building a Culture of Cross-Border Solidarity'by David Bacon, in partnership with the Institute for Transnational Social Change at UCLA.

Immigration and the Culture of Solidarity – CIP Americas: "ONE indispensable part of education and solidarity is greater contact between Mexican union organizers and their U.S. counterparts. The base for that contact already exists in the massive movement of people between the two countries.
Miners fired in Cananea, or electrical workers fired in Mexico City, become workers in Phoenix, Los Angeles and New York. Twelve million Mexican workers in the U.S. are a natural base of support for Mexican unions. "

Whack-a-mole Drug War: US pledges more foreign aid to fight drug cartels

Still throwing good money after bad

The Associated Press: US pledges more foreign aid to fight drug cartels: "The Obama administration pledged Wednesday to increase its investment in Central America*s security to nearly $300 million this year to thwart the expanding activities of drugs cartels threatening to destabilize the entire region.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced the release of new funds at a meeting of 12 regional countries and donor nations. Some of the money was previously allotted or is being repackaged from other programs, but the total figure represents a more than 10 percent jump from last year's aid of $260 million, U.S. officials said."

Immigration Politics vs. Reality: McCain's Monstrous Lie

Stewart J. Lawrence: McCain's Monstrous Lie: "John McCain's attempt to blame illegal immigrants for the wild fires raging in Arizona is only the latest attempt by the Republican Senator to scapegoat immigrants for America's border problems and to distance himself from his one-time role as the Senate’s most visible champion of comprehensive immigration reform

But it's also monstruous hypocrisy.

Unbeknown to most Americans, anywhere from one-third to one-half of the contract workers who perform the grueling and dangerous work of fighting wildfires out West are the very illegal immigrants that McCain now chooses to blame for starting these fires....

According to a 2006 report by the US Forest Service, illegal immigrants have been involved in fire-fighting nationwide for several decades. But their involvement has spiked dramatically since 2001 when unusually large wild fires began raging out of control in California. The federal government, facing budget cuts, quickly realized that it didn't have enough native-born workers available to man the fire lines. So, in a classic case of "deniable" out-sourcing, it turned to private contractors to find willing recruits."

Immigration Reality: Pulitzer Prize Winning Journalist Reveals He’s an Illegal Immigrant

Pulitzer Prize Winning Journalist Reveals He’s an Illegal Immigrant - FishbowlNY: "Jose Antonio Vargas, a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, has told ABC News that he is an illegal immigrant. Vargas has decided to unveil this secret because he hopes that the spotlight that will inevitably follow him will lead to Congress passing the DREAM act, a bill that would allow immigrant children to become citizens if they go to college or serve in the military.

Vargas’ success makes his confession that much more powerful. He won a Pulitzer for his coverage of the Virginia Tech shootings for The Washington Post and at one point got the elusive Mark Zuckerberg to agree to an interview. Despite all of that, his citizenship status weighed heavily on him:

I wasn’t supposed to be there. I wasn’t supposed to be walking with Mark Zuckerberg. I wasn’t supposed to be interviewing Romney’s sons. Why was I doing it? Because I wanted to survive. I wanted to live. I wanted to earn what it means to be an American."

Immigration Crackdown: U.S. immigration round up 2,400 illegal migrants in 7-day crackdown

U.S. immigration round up 2,400 illegal migrants in 7-day crackdown | AHN: "The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested over 2,400 illegal immigrants within seven days as part of the agency’s Cross Check operation.

ICE Director John Morton said the focus of the crackdown was on arresting convicted criminal aliens who victimize American communities and tracking down fugitives who attempt to evade the country’s immigration system."

Immigration: Poll shows steady support for immigration - Justin Ho - POLITICO.com

The problem, of course, is in how "legal immigration" is set up as a category versus "illegal immigration" as if they were two separate and contrary issues. See today's post on "Development and Migration: the Missing Link"

Poll: Steady support for immigration - Justin Ho - POLITICO.com: "The Gallup survey found that 59 percent of Americans think legal immigration is a good thing for the country, while 37 percent oppose it.

The number of Americans who favor more immigration has climbed to 18 percent, a figure that has slowly increased over time. The numbers were 14 percent in 2009 and 10 percent in 1999.

American opinion on legal immigration has held relatively steady throughout the past decade, with the percentage favoring immigration reaching a high of 67 percent in 2006 and a low of 52 percent in 2002 - largely as a response to the September 11th attacks, according to Gallup."

Immigration Crackdown: South Carolina Lawmakers Pass Illegal-Immigration Bill

S.C. Lawmakers Pass Illegal-Immigration Bill - WSJ.com: "A bill that requires police in South Carolina to check suspects' immigration status and mandates that all businesses check their hires through a federal online system received final legislative approval Tuesday.

The House voted 69-43 to agree with the Senate's changes and send the bill to Republican Gov. Nikki Haley, whose spokesman confirmed she will sign it."

Immigration Crackdown: Georgia puts probationers to work harvesting crops

So even probationers--who can't find other work in an economy where there is 10% unemployment--won't pick cumcumbers under the hot sun. So much for the "illegal immigrants are taking jobs away from U.S. citizens" gambit. 

Ga. puts probationers to work harvesting crops - Food - TODAY.com: "It's 3:25 p.m. in a dusty cucumber field in south Georgia. A knot of criminal offenders who spent seven hours in the sun harvesting buckets of vegetables by hand have decided they're calling it quits — exactly as crew leader Benito Mendez predicted in the morning. ...

Mendez's crew of Mexican and Guatemalan workers will keep harvesting until 6 p.m., maybe longer. Not so for the men participating in a new state-run program aimed at replacing the Latino migrants Georgia farmers say they've lost to a new immigration crackdown with unemployed probationers....

Republican Gov. Nathan Deal started the experiment after farmers publicly complained they couldn't find enough workers to harvest labor-intensive crops such as cucumbers and berries because Latino workers — including many illegal immigrants — refused to show up, even when offered one-time or weekly bonuses. One crew who previously worked for Mendez told him they wouldn't come to Georgia for fear of risking deportation."

The Border: Sen. Mary Landrieu visits the Mexican border, says fence works but it's not enough

The Democrats are as wrong-headed and deluded as the Republicans. For a trenchent analysis of all of this "Secure the Border" insanity, see "Border Security Ten Years After" from CIP's TransBorder Project. 


Sen. Mary Landrieu visits the Mexican border, says fence works but it's not enough | NOLA.com: "Just back from inspecting the U.S.-Mexico border fence, Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., said Tuesday the barrier is working but is not enough, and that the $1.1 billion in cuts in the House Homeland Security budget would wreck efforts to do the job right.

"The House budget is reckless and irresponsible for protecting the homeland and woefully underfunds our effort to secure the border," said Landrieu, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security....

Landrieu joined Tuesday with U.S. Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., John Kyl, R-Ariz., and Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., in introducing legislation to strengthen efforts to combat tunneling along the Southwest border.

Landrieu said the good news from her trip is that the fence has proved a success.

"I think it was the right investment," she said. "The money that we've invested on border security has reduced the number of illegal entrants into this country by almost 70 percent."

But, she said, the fence is only a fence and, even at 20 feet, it can be scaled in as little as 16 seconds, although "that 16 seconds is important" in catching border-crossers.What is needed, she said, is a "fence-plus." "We need lights, cameras and most important, we need the manpower and womanpower on our border," including, she said, intelligence officers."

The Border: U.S. border security: Huge costs with mixed results

the AP looks at the costs of border enforcement and listens to spokespeople on both sides of the issue.

U.S. border security: Huge costs with mixed results: "As Congress debates border funding and as governors demand more assistance, The Associated Press has investigated what taxpayers spend securing the U.S.-Mexico border.

The price tag, until now, has not been public. But AP, using White House budgets, reports obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests and congressional transcripts, tallied it all up: $90 billion in 10 years.

For taxpayers footing this bill, the returns have been mixed: fewer illegal immigrants but little impact on the terrorism issue, and certainly no stoppage of the drug supply.

The Sept. 11, 2001, terrorists didn't come from Mexico, but the attacks led politicians to re-examine border security. Ten days later, President George W. Bush announced a new Department of Homeland Security, with tasks including the security of the nation's porous southern border.

Over the next 10 years, annual border spending tripled as the U.S. built an unprecedented network along the 1,900-mile border with Mexico..."

Whack-a-mole Drug War: Half ton of drugs seized at U.S.-Mexico border

Ho hum.

Half ton of drugs seized at U.S.-Mexico border - People's Daily Online: "About a half ton of marijuana had been seized at a major U.S.-Mexico border crossing, U.S. officials said Tuesday.

The drugs were seized when border agents made several busts at a border crossing in El Paso, Texas, on Sunday, according to local media."

The Border: Man Shot, Killed at U.S.-Mexico Border

Man Shot, Killed at U.S.-Mexico Border | NBC San Diego: "When a man crossing into the U.S. illegally struck a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent with rocks, a second agent fired his gun, killing the man."

Movement for Peace with Justice: Poet to meet with Mexico's president, demand new drug war strategy

Poet to meet with Mexico's president, demand new drug war strategy - CNN.com: "A Mexican poet who leads a popular anti-violence movement will demand a change in the nation's crime-fighting strategy when he meets with President Felipe Calderon this week, activists said.

Poet Javier Sicilia and other members of his group will request specific responses about modifying Mexico's approach to national security, human rights advocate Emilio Alvarez Icaza told reporters Tuesday.

They will also call on the Mexican government to devote more attention to victims of violence, Alvarez said."

Development and Migration: The Missing Link – CIP Americas

An indepth look at the intertwined issues of development and migration, from a conference recently held in Mexico City. Reported by Laura Carlsen, director of the Americas Program

Development and Migration: The Missing Link – CIP Americas: "As both the US and Mexico turn political attention to the 2012 presidential campaigns, the role of development in migration seems farther from the agenda than ever. Experts from Mexico and the United States recently met to figure out how to change that. Brought together under the auspices of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, a binational group of policy analysts, migrant leaders, non-governmental organizations, farmer and labor organizations and foundations gathered to analyze what many see as a crisis and explore options and reforms....

The initial premise seems self-evident: Migration cannot be viewed as a system divorced from broader issues of regional labor markets, development and economic policies. But despite being obvious, the reality is that in public policy and discourse it is routinely and systematically separated from its roots in what Jonathan Fox of the University of California at Santa Cruz referred to as the “persistent disconnect between the migration agenda and a development agenda that goes beyond local infrastructure.”

When you add in the disconnects between sending and receiving nations; federal, state and municipal government; and national security and human rights priorities, it’s no wonder that the immigration debate has become mired in half-truths and knee-jerk politicking."

Movement for Peace with Justice: Video from the Caravan for Peace with Justice and Dignity – CIP Americas

Documentary video from the Americas Program

Video from the Caravan for Peace with Justice and Dignity – CIP Americas: On its way to Ciudad Juarez, the Caravan for Peace with Justice and Dignity passed through some of the cities and regions most affected by President Felipe Calderon’s war against the cartels. This video features stories of hope and survival from people across Mexico living under the war.

The Border: Arizona sheriff blames Mexican smugglers for wildfires

More fanning of the flames. Yeah, we know, it's a cliche of a metaphor, but it is apt.

Arizona sheriff blames Mexican smugglers for wildfires | Reuters: "Two Arizona wildfires that scorched a total of a quarter-million acres and destroyed dozens of homes just north of the U.S.-Mexico border were probably started by Mexican smugglers, a county sheriff said on Tuesday.

The assertion by Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever is likely to add to a furor sparked by Arizona Senator John McCain, who suggested that illegal immigrants were to blame for some of the wildfires raging out of control in the state."

The Border: Why are there more U.S. troops on South Korea's border than on our own border? « - CNN.com Blogs

We usually don't post incendiary items such as this, but the flames of the so called "border war" are being flamed here. For the truth about Sheriff Paul Babeu see our recent post.

Cafferty File: Tell Jack how you really feel Blog Archive - Why are there more U.S. troops on South Korea's border than on our own border? « - CNN.com Blogs: "The 1,200 National Guard troops deployed along the U.S. border with Mexico will stay in place until September, a Homeland Security spokesman said late last week. The troops were scheduled to leave June 30th. But a sheriff in southern Arizona calls the move 'pandering' on the part of the Obama Administration. That number, he says, falls far short of what's needed to keep the country safe.

Sheriff Paul Babeu of Pinal County in southern Arizona went on to compare the number of troops we have along the U.S. border with Mexico to the more than 28-thousand U.S. troops stationed along the South Korean border with North Korea. The 1,200 guardsmen aid a little more than 20-thousand border agents along the Mexico border, and it's just not enough. For Babeu, who has been named Sheriff of the Year by the National Sheriffs Association, illegal immigrants, drug smuggling, and human trafficking are commonplace in his county. He knows what's needed to protect the border and it's far more than the federal government has been willing to do."