Drugs, Murder and Mexico

Meanwhile, in Chicago... (just posting this in case it escaped anyone's eyes last week)

http://www.fbi.gov/chicago/press-releases/2012/latin-kings-nationwide-leader-augustin-zambrano-sentenced-to-60-years-in-prison-for-rico-conspiracy-and-related-gang-crimes

CHICAGO—The highest-ranking leader nationwide of the Latin Kings street gang was sentenced today to 60 years in federal prison, the statutory maximum, after being convicted at trial last April of racketeering conspiracy (RICO) and related charges involving narcotics trafficking and violence that plagued numerous neighborhoods on the city’s north, south and west sides. The defendant, Augustin Zambrano, 51, a “Corona” of the Almighty Latin King Nation, who was responsible for overseeing the illegal activities of all factions of the powerful street gang with some 10,000 members in Illinois alone, has been in federal custody since 2009 and must serve at least 85 percent of his sentence.

Does anyone have any thoughts about this rash of prison breaks? Things are looking extremely ugly in the department of law and order in Mexico these days.
Here's what the NYT has to say: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/22/world/americas/guards-implicated-in-mexico-prisons-deadly-gang-attack.html

Additionally, here's an argument about legalization from a more pan-Latin American (or at least Central American) perspective
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/02/should-central-america-legalize-drugs/253707/

http://www.texasobserver.org/cover-story/the-deadliest-place-in-mexico

^^ Bumping this good read.

That is so scary. When we traveled Mexico by train in the 70's I remember Presido,TX being pretty scary just across the border from Ojinaga, Chihuahua. All of Chihuahua at the time was more less scary. Once in Marfa, the train took off too Mexico with guards sitting on top of the train car with huge weapons. I thought that memory was a scene from a movie until my grandmother told me it was something that really happened on a trip into Mexico.

We stopped taking the train by 1979 and switched to Mexicana. The early 80's in Sinaloa felt safe despite all the Federales with shades and big weapons riding in groups of 6 on the back of small pick-up trucks.

My mom still travels to a dubious spot in Sinaloa to visit my grandmother twice a year. It may not be obvious to those around me but inside I am a nervous wreck for her, not to mention conflicted and resentful. While I know it is very hard to not see loved ones knowing the dangers and going anyway, at this point, just seems so irresponsible and asking for trouble. I wish she would stop.

Summit of the Americas kicks off today -- Guatemala is offering up a formal proposition to introduce a discussion of decriminalization. It's a step. Here's a link en esp http://noticias.lainformacion.com/policia-y-justicia/narcotrafico/guatemala-propondra-en-cumbre-comision-que-analice-despenalizacion-de-drogas_vr7Tv0Qs6Vhj9U455hOmK5/

http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/03/justice/mexico-journalists-killed/index.html

Again.

this also, as mentioned briefly in the above story:

http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2012/05/federal-government-asked-to-help-solve.html

not sure if this was posted but this is a series of cartel maps of mexico:

http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2010/01/maps-of-mexico-cartels.html

http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2012/05/nine-bodies-found-hanging-off-nuevo.html

warning: graphic pix

there were 23 in total (including decapitated heads left in ice boxes behind the city hall): http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/05/bodies-bridge-23-mexico-drug

seriously, i don't know how many times i can read a story about all this and say 'fucking hell'.

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/18-headless-bodies-mexico-tourist-area/story?id=16320937#.T6wsTuh8CSo

http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2012/05/police-find-37-mutiulated-dead-near.html

Milenio reported late that six women and 43 men were among the dead. Previous reports had said a narcomanta left at the scene had been removed, but reportedly said "100 percent Zetas" Another Associated Press dispatched said that the victims were migrants heading to the United States. A late revised report on the website of Milenio said the some of the victims had the facial features of individuals from South America. The report also said the narcomanta had the symbol of Los Zetas only, probably the letter Z, suggesting Los Zetas likely committed the crime.

i started reading about this today, read about the dude who got his face cut off and sewn onto a soccer ball, and then stopped

really hard to say what to do about this, i imagine them doing something like just suspending the (mexican) constitution and due process and full-on declaring shoot-to-kill no questions asked war on these guys, but then again i imagine the corruption is so rampant that drug dudes have infiltrated the army already and who would know who to shoot in the first place

the other idea people are always throwing out is sealing the border but i don't see that as economically feasible

i mean we could legalize weed and we probably will at some point but i doubt we'll ever legalize meth and heroin and coke and i figure that's where the real money is for the cartels anyway

also guns

(also zetas are former military)

you do sort of have to wonder whether this will ever start to creep north of the border, if not why not and if so what we might do about it

MS-13 is north of the border

yeah i know and i know they've done some crazy stuff like put out a hit on an ICE agent in NY but i was more referring to the level of violence, afaik they haven't done anything like killed 30 people on a bus yet

From what I understand, the cartels don't want to risk the full wrath of the US, so they mostly try to do things on the quiet north of the border.

Familiar URL, but some context in this article:
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/Drug-gangs-resort-to-horrific-killings-3535925.php

Hanna speculates that Guzman may be hoping to gain control of Nuevo Laredo before the July 1 presidential elections in Mexico, which seem poised to return the former ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, to power.

Reverand, El Paso and Nuevo Laredo have had their share of problems.

You mean (viejo) Laredo, right? Nuevo Laredo is on the Mexican side.

From what I understand, the cartels don't want to risk the full wrath of the US, so they mostly try to do things on the quiet north of the border.

so here's a question - not to be dense, but what exactly is the "full wrath" of the US? and why aren't they afraid of the wrath of the mexican govt? is it because we have a much more transparent govt with much less corruption? or because it's mostly easier to make an honest buck in america than a dishonest one

(by honest of course i mean one that doesn't involves chainsaw decapitations and corruption i mean passing officials briefcases full of money)

just speculating, but i expect that the mexican cartels are more-or-less used to working against (and with) the mexican gov't. that's a familiar situation for them, "the way things have always been". the ire of the american government, otoh, isn't something they ordinarily have to contend with, and i don't imagine that they're eager to invite it.

sooner or later they will kill someone from the new york times, then we'll see results

I learned a new word from a (Spanish) friend yesterday -- alevosía -- and I think it's worth mentioning here. We were talking about work and blablabla and she asked me if there's a word in English for the killing that happens when it's not just premeditated, but also gruesome and overzealous. For example, someone is shot in the head, and then the body is mutilated for no apparent strategic reason. That kind of killing. And I couldn't think of anything. We were talking about work and engaging in that sort of hyperbole, so she wanted to use the correct word/phrase to describe a situation. The Merriam-Webster dictionary did not satisfy my friend, and I was wondering --

-- is there a word in English for that and I just don't know it?
-- is this a word like fusilar that has (afaik) no direct one-word translation in English?

(Added tidbit: Apparently fusilar also means plagiarize (informally), a tidbit I am VERY happy to learn)

http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2012/05/mexicos-drug-war-50000-dead-in-6-years/100299/

won't anyone answer my questions about alevosía?

La Lechera I think we call that "overkill"

wordreference translates alevosía as either treachery, aforethought (as in murder aforethought) or premeditation so your friend's use my be colloquial or new.

Mad dog killing? I don't think English has a single word. Gruesome, barbarous, deranged all spring to mind as adjectives but overkill lacks enough punch to convey what she's talking about.

Overkill makes me think of someone trying too hard or wasting effort. Drug-trafficking atrocities are meant as terrorizing warnings.

overkill comes from the nuclear arms race initially tho iirc. so pretty punchy there.

Did not know that, interesting.
I still wouldn't imagine anyone describing what is going on in Mexico as "overkill" based on the changing connotation of that word over time.

Overkill implies there is a correct amount of kill and you, friend, went over it.

mayhem

Are you guys familiar with fusilar?

It's a one-word verb that means "to kill by firing squad".

I'm sure there's a Greek word for it, Achilles dragging Hector around the walls of Troy is an example kinda right

xp yeah same root as "fusillade" right?

Right. Afaik, there is no widely used one-word verb equivalent in English?

I'm sure it comes from fusil. Fusiller in French (which comes from fusil, a gun or shotgun) means to shoot, though tirer, (literally 'to pull') is used more often for a single shooter. Fusiller tends to mean there were several shoots from several people.

Interestingly, if you fusilles someone with your eyes, in English it would be to look daggers at them.

This documentary is showing in Chicago this weekend:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvqpyZ1Jzng

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/13/us/drug-money-from-mexico-makes-its-way-to-the-racetrack.html

Pretty interesting. Not sure if this was posted elsewhere.

yeah that was a great story. reads like a real life Breaking Bad episode.

since you're the expert, should I start making picks based on whether the word "cartel" is in the horse's name?

It works when you see a greyhound from Kenosha.

i can't remember the last time i read through all 6 pages of a NYT story. this one was worth it. thx poly

yeah, great read

if i was that dude villareal i think i'd have gone to jail instead of turned. zetas don't fuck around!

plenty of zetas in jail too