Violent Drug Cartels In Northern Mexico Threaten To Forestall Country's Fracking Boom

International Business Times: Violent drug cartels running rampant in northern Mexico are threatening to forestall the country’s much-anticipated fracking boom.

In a recent incident in Tamaulipas state, about 30 workers for oil and gas company Weatherford International were caught in the crossfire of gangs feuding for control of the U.S. drug market, Bloomberg News reported. Gunmen rolled up in a makeshift tank and blasted the hotel where the Weatherford workers were staying with bullets. The employees were forced to flee under police escort. Read more. 

Mexico arrests suspect in killing of U.S. border agent

By Associated Press, Published: September 7

MEXICO CITY — Mexican federal police announced Friday that they have arrested a suspect in the killing of U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry, the slaying at the center of the scandal over the botched U.S. gun-smuggling probe known as Operation Fast and Furious.

Jesus Leonel Sanchez Meza is one of the five men charged with killing Terry in December 2010 during a shootout in Arizona near the Mexico border. One is on trial in Arizona and the other three remain fugitives. Sanchez was arrested Thursday in Sonora state.


Two guns found at the scene were bought by a member of a gun-smuggling ring that was being monitored in the Fast and Furious investigation. Critics have knocked U.S. federal authorities for allowing informants to walk away from Phoenix-area gun shops with weapons, rather than immediately arresting suspects.

In Operation Fast and Furious and at least three earlier probes during the administration of President George W. Bush, agents in Arizona employed a risky tactic called gun-walking — allowing low-level “straw” buyers in gun-trafficking networks to leave with loads of weapons purchased at gun shops. The goal was to track the guns to major weapons traffickers and drug cartels in order to bring cases against kingpins who had long eluded prosecution under the prevailing strategy of arresting low-level purchasers of guns who were suspected of buying them for others. Read more.

U.S. Drug War Expands to Africa, a Newer Hub for Cartels

NY Times: Charlie Savage and Thom Shanker. Washington - In a significant expansion of the war on drugs, the United States has begun training an elite unit of counternarcotics police in Ghana and planning similar units in Nigeria and Kenya as part of an effort to combat the Latin American cartels that are increasingly using Africa to smuggle cocaine into Europe.

The growing American involvement in Africa follows an earlier escalation of antidrug efforts in Central America, according to documents, Congressional testimony and interviews with a range of officials at the State Department, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Pentagon. Read more.

Drugs and Violence Underscore U.S. Influence in Honduras

Upside Down World: (IPS) - A rise in drug trafficking in Honduras has resulted in a sharp increase in violence, leading some to question the United States’ influence in the country.

Honduras, along with several other Central American countries, has become a transshipment point for U.S.-bound illegal drugs, predominantly cocaine. This has led to wide-scale drug intervention efforts, which has subsequently led to an increasingly bloody effort to stymie the trafficking.

Fueled by the violence surrounding the drug trade, and the failure of security forces in the country, the war on drugs in Honduras has been marred by a rapid increase in homicides. In 2005, there were 2,417 homicides. By 2010, the numbers of homicides jumped up 158 percent from 2005, to a total of 6,239 homicides. Read more.

Mexico cartel accused of laundering money at U.S. racetracks

latimes.com: WASHINGTON — The unlikely marriage of a violent Mexican drug cartel and the all-American world of U.S. quarter horses has apparently ended with the arrest of one of the top suspected members of the Zetas gang after an uncanny run of good fortune at the track raised suspicions.

Charged Tuesday in Austin, Texas, with using horses to launder millions of dollars in drug proceeds were Jose Treviño Morales, his wife and five associates. They were taken into U.S. custody after scores of FBI agents in all-terrain vehicles and helicopters raided stables and ranches near Ruidoso, N.M., and Lexington, Okla.

Working on a tip from more than two years ago, law enforcement officials learned that the Zetas were allegedly laundering up to $1 million a month in the high circles of American-bred quarter horses. Read more. 

Mexico’s two major crime cartels now at war

Washington Post: MEXICO CITY — The two most important criminal organizations in Mexico are engaged in all-out war, and the most spectacular battles are being fought for the cameras as the combatants pursue a strategy of intimidation and propaganda by dumping ever greater numbers of headless bodies in public view — some of the victims most likely innocents.

With the groups no longer limiting themselves to regional skirmishes, the older, established drug-smuggling Sinaloa cartel is now fighting the brash, young paramilitary Zetas crime organization across multiple front lines in Mexico in a desperate battle, according to U.S. and Mexican law enforcement officials and security analysts on both sides of the border.

As the number of total homicides in Mexico has been slowly dropping, the sensational violence spikes higher, creating an atmosphere of instability that makes Mexicans and American visitors fear travel in wide stretches of country that even Mexican military leaders concede are not completely under state control. Read more

Drug War: Car Bombing, Police Ambush Show Sophisticated Tactics of Mexico's Drug Gangs

InSight Crime: "The recent killing of 12 policemen in Guerrero, and a car bomb in Tamaulipas, serve as illustrations of the threat of large-scale violence posed by Mexico’s drug trafficking organizations.

... it is not clear whether the two attacks in Guerrero are linked, although state officials have said they believe they are. A note left by the decapitated heads said "this will keep happening to those who continue supporting the 'FM,'" which presumably stands for the Familia Michoacana. The drug gang is highly active in the region of the state, known as "Tierra Caliente," and is currently battling for control with a splinter group known as the Caballeros Templarios." read more

Mexico Crime: Oil Theft is Big Business for Mexican Gangs

InSightCrime: "Theft from Mexico's state oil company Pemex appears to have shifted from a small-scale criminal nuisance into big business, with actors such as the Zetas and Sinaloa Cartel increasingly getting involved." read more

Drug War: In Mexico, a Dramatic Decline in Seizures of Cocaine and Heroine

La Jornada-  At the same time that Mexico has become the potential producer of 9 percent of all heroin trafficked in the world and become renowned for the ease of setting up methamphetamine laboratories, it has experienced the largest drop of cocaine seizures of all countries in a study by the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB). The annual report also revealed that heroin seizures had fallen off by 30 percent.

The report was distributed yesterday by the Secretary of Foreign Relations. It claimed that despite the deployment of a high number of military and police forces over the past 5 years, 90 percent of the cocaine that arrives in the United States passes through Mexico.

The study states that the three main producers of heroin used in the United States in 2009 are Afghanistan, Colombia, and Mexico. According to the Department of Drug Enforcement in Colombia, 58 percent of the heroin seized in the United States came from Colombia while 39 percent originated in Mexico. The seizures of this drug have diminished from around 459 kilograms in 2005 to 369 kilograms in 2010.

Regional Analysis

The regional analysis section mentions that in 2010 Canada, the United States, and Mexico continue to show elevated levels of production, trafficking, and consumption of illicit drugs.

“The fact that, globally speaking, 70 percent of marijuana seizures, 70 percent of MDMA seizures (ecstasy), and 44 percent of methamphetamines seizures happened in North America illustrates the magnitude of the problem. Furthermore, 99 percent of the world’s dismantled methamphetamine laboratories were found in region.”

The human, social and economic cost of the improper use of drugs in North America has been heightened. In 2007 the estimated economic impact of the use of illicit drugs in the United States was $193 billion. For their part, the Canadian Center for Substance Abuse has calculated that the costs for the Canadian economy due to illicit drug use surpasses $9 billion per year. “In Mexico, the government has budgeted $10.7 billion for the army in 2012,” remarks the report.

Central America and the Caribbean, “for their strategic geographical location,” continue to be important areas in trafficking drugs from South to North America. “A few Mexican drug cartels have moved their operations to Central America, which has consequently bore witness to an increase in violence, kidnappings, bribery, torture, and homicides.”

The study also reports that “Guatemala has been utilized as a transit route for cocaine headed to Mexico, and despite the efforts by Costa Rica, Honduras and Nicaragua in 2010 to combat drug trafficking, for the first time, these countries have became important areas of transit for drugs destined, principally, for the United States. At the same time, the Caribbean has become less important as an area for drug shipment north.” Spanish original 

Translation by Mikael Rojas, Americas Mexico Blog 

Drug War: The Cali cartel, Mexican smugglers and the war on drugs

The Los Angeles Times, Opinion: "If the often-frustrating 40-year war on drugs has taught us anything, it is that even success can have dangerous downsides. Here's an example I came across in researching a book on the downfall of the Cali cartel.

It all started in the summer of 1989, in the northeast San Fernando Valley. But first some background:

Throughout the 1980s, Mexican smugglers were traditionally paid as couriers for hire by the Colombian cartels. They transported cocaine across the U.S. border for commissions that started as low as 20% of a load's wholesale value. As the flow of drugs increased, so did pressure to raise that commission to 30%, then 35%, 40% and more, until the Colombians said: "No mas." No more." read more

Drug War: The ‘Fantasia’ effect and the emergence of Mexico’s new cartels

Justice in Mexico: "Experts point out that the militarized strategy pursued by President Felipe Calderón that focuses on destroying leadership within cartels is not having a real effect in the fight against drug trafficking and violence. They argue that while the arrest of top cartel bosses disrupts their operations, it consequentially contributes to greater infighting between and within competing organized crime groups.

This strategy of breaking cartels into smaller, more manageable pieces seems to be causing a “Fantasia” effect (Shirk, 2011), a name that is inspired by the animated Disney film where a wizard trying to control an animated broom destroys it, but every fragment of the broken broom thereby becomes its own uncontrollable tiny broom. The comparison is that breaking down organizations and cartels does not necessarily destroy them, but rather creates divisions that lead to the emergence of much smaller organizations that operate in lower, less manageable, and more violent levels." read more

Drug War: What Jalisco's Constellation of Gangs Shows about Mexico Cartel Battles

InSight Crime: "The Mexican Army says that six different gangs are currently fighting for control of Jalisco, making the populous Pacific state a microcosm of the shifting alliances and ever-changing fronts of battles raging across the nation." read more

Mexico Politics: Peña Nieto suggests efficacy against crime and gradual withdrawal of the Army

Excelsior: "The presidential candidate of PRI, Enrique Peña Nieto, called for more effective strategies in combating organized crime by strengthening the work of intelligence. The former governor of Mexico State stressed that combating organized crime is an undeniable power of the state and he acknowledged that while some of the actions implemented have been successful, the strategy requires review and revision to achieve greater efficiency.

"I think there are several actions undertaken so far by states and the federal government that are paying off. I think that what works well be kept. I am committed to Mexicans to design and achieve greater efficiency," he said. In this regard, the former governor is in favor of strengthening the work of the areas of intelligence in order to strike blows with greater precision against organized crime." Spanish original

Drug War: Mexico to Use Drones Against Drug Cartels

InSight Crime: "Mexico’s Navy announced plans to deploy unmanned planes in support of government operations against drug cartels, starting March 2012." read more

The Drug War: The Mexican Drug Cartel Threat in Central America

From the Stratfor intelligence group, a detailed analysis of the geographic, economic and strategic factors in the drug war that are turning Central America into a major battle ground.

The article also provides a description of the various Central American drug cartels and street gangs, some of which have their origins in gang members deported from the U.S.. Futher, it discusses the recent intrusion of Mexican cartels.

The article ends by proposing that the U.S. needs to significantly increase its involvement in the region, which it acknowledges, is higly unlikely to happen. Thus, it concludes, Central America will continue to disintegrate.

STRATFOR: "Central America ...  is experiencing increasing levels of crime and the prospect of heightened competition from Mexican drug cartels in its territory. The institutional weakness and security vulnerabilities of Guatemala and other Central American states mean that combating these trends will require significant help, most likely from the United States.

... direct involvement would be costly both in money and political capital. Absent significant U.S. help, the current trend of increased Mexican cartel influence and violence in Central America will only worsen." read more

Drug War: Mexican Blogger Decapitated; Cartels’ War on Social Media Spreads

Wired.com: "The moderator of a popular Mexican social network has been murdered, allegedly for tipping off the authorities about the local drug cartel. Nicknamed “Rascatripas” or “Scraper” (literally “Fiddler”) on the network Nuevo Laredo en Vivo, the 35-year-old appears to have been handcuffed, tortured, decapitated and dumped ... Written a blanket in black ink: “Hi I’m ‘Rascatripas’ and this happened to me because I didn’t understand I shouldn’t post things on social networks.”

The discovery of the body Wednesday morning brings the total number of bloggers and social media networkers apparently killed in the past three months by organized crime in Mexico — and in the border city of Nuevo Laredo — to four." read more

Mexico Prisons: Roosters, Prostitutes, Marijuana Found in Acapulco Jail

InSight Crime: "Authorities in Mexico found drugs, roosters and prostitutes in a Guerrero state prison this week, illustrating the continuing difficulty the government has in maintaining order in its penal system.

EFE Spanish news agency reports that authorities found 19 alleged prostitutes, more than 100 roosters and at least a brick of marijuana when they entered the Las Cruces prison, which is near the embattled city of Acapulco, to transfer some 60 prisoners to another jail. The roosters were used for clandestine cockfighting sessions." read more

Mexican Views: Can Mexico win the war against drugs?

From Mexico, two evluations of the war on the drug cartels: the official, and upbeat, point of view of the Calderon government and a look at the damage and losses from a political scientist.

Americas Quarterly: "Can Mexico win the war against drugs?

Yes, says Alejandro Poiré who was the Mexican government's spokesman for security affairs at the time of writing this article and now serves as director general at the Center for Intelligence and National Security (CISEN).
"By working with Mexican civil society and reforming the police force, we are scoring major victories."

No, says José Merino who is professor of political science at Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México.
"The battle against narcotics traffickers has undermined exactly what is needed to win this war: the rule of law." read more

Mexico Drug War: Amid Gulf Cartel infighting, leaders taken in by U.S. authorities

This article from a Rio Grande newspaper reads like a tangled 'whodunnit.' but it seems to be saying that some Mexican cartel members are fleeing across the border--and even turning themselves in to U.S. authorities--to save their own lives from war raging between two factions of the Gulf Cartel.

The Rio Grande Monitor.com: "An internal Gulf Cartel struggle may have directly caused at least two recent kidnappings in the Rio Grande Valley, as well as an apparent exodus of lieutenants who are looking for safety on U.S. soil. In the last two weeks of October, Rafael “El Junior” Cardenas Vela, Eudoxio “El Bocho” Ramos Garcia and Jose Luis “Comandante Wicho” Zuniga Hernandez were arrested by U.S authorities in Port Isabel, Rio Grande City and Santa Maria, respectively." read more

Drug War: Mexico says key figure in Tijuana drug gang caught

The Associated Press: " One of the main operators in a drug cartel war that devastated the border city of Tijuana was captured by federal troops after he opened fire on a car carrying two rivals over the weekend, officials said Monday. Juan Francisco Sillas Rocha, 34, allegedly reported directly to the head of the Arellano Felix cartel, which controlled the smuggling of cocaine, marijuana and other drugs through the cities of Tijuana and Mexicali into the United States during the 1990s, according to Mexican officials." read more