Drugs, Murder and Mexico

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

well if he hadn't informed then the zetas in jail would be cool, right?

if i was that dude villareal i think i'd have gone to jail instead of turned.

ya srsly

was thinking the same thing

the article talked around villareal being gay, right?

Referred to him as being "effeminate".

and being interested in women's fashion

still

i was thinking maybe that's why he didn't want to go to jail?

El Gordo arrested:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/mexican-marines-capture-son-of-cartel-figure-el-chapo/2012/06/21/gJQAyXeUtV_story.html

possibly not him?!

Apparently a "car salesman"/body double(?) -- http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/mexico/120623/felix-beltran-el-chapo-el-gordo-guzman-arrest-sinaloa-drug-lord

The US Drug Enforcement Administration was credited with providing the intelligence that led to Thursday's raid, and had applauded the arrest, the Washington Post reported.

New William Finnegan report:

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/07/02/120702fa_fact_finnegan

i have a fondness for targeting institutions for their role in the global drug trade

A US Senate investigation has disclosed how lax controls at Europe's largest bank allowed dirty cash to be laundered for almost a decade.

The report into HSBC, released ahead of a Senate hearing on Tuesday, says Mexican drug money passed through the bank over seven years.

Suspicious funds from Syria, the Cayman Islands, Iran and Saudi Arabia also passed through the bank.

HSBC said it expected to be held accountable for what went wrong.

The damning report comes at a difficult time for the British banking sector, with standards and practices are under the spotlight.

Critics say the current furore over the manipulation of the Libor inter-bank interest rate is the latest example of a banking system in need of fundamental reform.

The report also concludes that the US bank regulator, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, failed to properly monitor HSBC.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18866018

Not really drugs, but guns -- is anyone following the reception of this Fast and Furious report from the inspector general?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/justice-ig-critical-of-atf-in-gun-operation/2012/09/19/379daf18-0273-11e2-8102-ebee9c66e190_story.html

The inspector general’s report recommended that the Justice Department review the actions of 14 officials and consider whether disciplinary action is warranted. Among them are former acting deputy attorney general Gary Grindler, Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer, former acting ATF director Kenneth Melson, former ATF special agent in charge William Newell and Deputy Assistant Attorney General Jason Weinstein.

The inquiry “did not find persuasive evidence that any supervisor in Phoenix, at either the U.S. Attorney’s Office or ATF, raised serious questions or concerns about the risk to public safety posed by the continuing firearms purchases or by the delay in arresting individuals who were engaging in the trafficking,” Michael Horowitz, the Justice Department’s inspector general, wrote in the 471-page report. “This failure reflected a significant lack of oversight and urgency by both ATF and the U.S. Attorney’s Office.”

There's a link to a pdf of the report if reading 500 pages of government document is your bag.

http://news.yahoo.com/ap-exclusive-mexico-cartel-may-targeted-cia-201223176.html

Zetas kingpin down:

http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/09/world/americas/mexico-zetas-cartel-boss/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2012/nov/22/mexico-risking-life-truth/

Shit... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/26/maria-santos-gorrostieta-dead-mexico-mayor-tortured-killed_n_2193219.html?utm_hp_ref=world

Earlier this month, Maria Santos Gorrostieta, a former small-town mayor in the drug-trafficking western state of Michoacan in Mexico, was reportedly kidnapped in broad daylight in front of her young daughter.

A few days later, her body was found by the side of a road in the southern part of the state. It is believed that the woman was tortured before she was killed, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Gorrostieta had previously survived two assassination attempts, the LA times adds. The first, in 2009, had claimed the life of her husband, Jose Sanchez, another former mayor of the town; while the second, three months later, had left her badly wounded.

The newspaper continues:

Gorrostieta had been mayor of Tiquicheo, a remote town in the so-called hotlands of Michoacan, farmland firmly under the thumb of drug-trafficking cartels. She had denounced traffickers; she also had to confront accusations that her late husband was involved in criminal business.

Gorrostieta, whose mayoral term ended in 2011, reportedly knew that her life was constantly in danger. Yet, even after her husband was murdered and the second attempt on her life left her riddled with bullets and "in constant pain," Gorrostieta refused to give in, the Christian Post notes.

ugh

Is there an expert on this situation on ilx that could give me some kind hope? or is it worsening?

I think La Lechera is probably the most-versed on ilx in this stuff?

I have nothing hopeful to add here at the moment, I'm afraid. It's my belief that by the time the news gets to US major news outlets, it's already somewhat out of date. So to prognosticate about whether things are getting "better" or "worse" is kinda futile.

However, I do think that changing attitudes about the various facets of the "war on drugs" in the US (Jarecki doc + Colorado vote signal something, even if no one is sure exactly what) could be a sign that some kind of change is on the way. On the other hand, Obama hasn't had a lot to say about Latin America lately.

In sum, who knows. I sure don't.

MONTERREY, Mexico -- Searchers pulled 10 bodies from a well in northern Mexico on Monday, near the site where 20 members of a Colombian-style music group and its crew disappeared late last week, according to a state forensic official.

It was hard to determine how many more bodies were submersed in the water, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly on the case.

Nuevo Leon state Gov. Rodrigo Medina earlier told a local television station, "We have evidence that indicates that (the bodies) may very well be the members of this band," though he said experts were still working to identify the corpses.

Sixteen members of the band Kombo Kolombia and four crew members were reported missing early Friday after playing for a private show at a bar in the town of Hidalgo north of Monterrey.

The forensic official said authorities had been searching for two days when they came upon the well Sunday along a dirt road in the town of Mina, about 140 miles (225 kilometers) from Laredo, Texas.

People living near the bar in Hidalgo reported hearing gunshots at about 4 a.m. Friday, followed by the sound of vehicles speeding away, said a separate source with the Nuevo Leon State Investigative Agency. He also spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to be quoted by the news media.

The officials added that gunfire is common in the area and said investigators found spent bullets nearby.

Relatives filed a missing persons report on Friday after losing cell phone contact with the musicians. When they went to the bar to investigate, they found the band members' vehicles still parked outside.

Kombo Kolombia has played a Colombian style of music known as vallenato, which is popular in Nuevo Leon state. Most of the group's musicians were from the area, though state officials said one of those missing is a Colombian citizen with Mexican residency.

It was Mexico's largest single kidnapping since 20 tourists from the western state of Michoacan were abducted in Acapulco in 2010. Most of their bodies were found a month later in a mass grave. Authorities said the tourists were mistaken for cartel members.

Members of other musical groups have been murdered in Mexico in recent years, usually groups that perform "narcocorridos" that celebrate the exploits of drug traffickers. But Kombo Kolombia did not play that type of music, and its lyrics did not deal with violence or drug trafficking.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/01/27/3203748/colombian-style-band-missing-in.html#storylink=cpy

EEK! Not sure if I want to work around south Texas anymore. When I was in Port Isabel in 2010 people around there kept talking about the problems across the border in a way that made it sound activity was never far from the town. I am from a border town but I guess security or activity just didn't make it across often.

Since Chicago has made international news lately for pointing a finger at Guzman (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-21462254), it seems worth noting what else is going on in Chicago

"... it's essentially like Chapo Guzman has 100,000 Amway salesmen working for him." (says Jack Riley, special agent in charge of the DEA's Chicago division.)
http://www.chicagoreader.com/Bleader/archives/2013/02/22/drug-arrests-drop-in-chicago-but-still-snare-thousands-in-black-neighborhoods

Last week officials sent the latest message that their chief targets are major drug operators—and not the guys on the corner—when the Chicago Crime Commission and DEA named Mexican drug cartel leader Joaquín Guzmán Loera "public enemy number one." Nicknamed El Chapo, or Shorty, Guzman leads the Sinaloa cartel, which the DEA believes is responsible for 80 percent of the heroin and cocaine in Chicago.

As intended, the declaration made international news. But the situation it highlights is a little more complex than the headlines suggested.

Guzman and Sinaloa don't actually peddle drugs on Chicago's streets. Officials say low-level cartel affiliates, or groups who buy from them, smuggle their products to the city or nearby suburbs. From there the goods are sold to street gangs.

there have been rumors going around in the news that el chapo was killed in a gun battle

http://www.forbes.com/sites/doliaestevez/2013/02/22/was-mexican-billionaire-drug-kingpin-el-chapo-guzman-killed/

Another one of those times that makes me realize that by the time news ("news") reaches people like us, it is OLD NEWS. I wonder what's really going on.

I was watching the Pablo Escobar novela for a while, but then I fell behind and lost track of what was happening. It's fascinating how much networks have changed, and how the landscape has changed when the product is the same, more or less.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/26/world/americas/mexico-disappeared/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

More than 26,000 people have gone missing in Mexico over the past six years as violence surged and the country's government cracked down on drug cartels.

Mexico's Interior Ministry announced the staggering statistic on Tuesday but noted that authorities don't have data about how many of the disappearances are connected with organized crime.

The 26,121 disappearances occurred during former President Felipe Calderon's six-year administration, which ended on December 1 when Enrique Pena Nieto assumed the presidency.

Pena Nieto's government has formed a special working group to focus on finding the missing, said Lia Limon, deputy secretary of legal matters and human rights for Mexico's Interior Ministry.

Locating people "is a priority for this government," Limon told reporters.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/01/world/americas/mexico-young-assassin/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

(CNN) -- A 13-year-old boy who had confessed to being an assassin for a Mexican drug cartel was among six people found murdered execution-style, authorities in the central Mexican state of Zacatecas have confirmed.

The boy's body was found Thursday alongside a highway in the municipality of Morelos.

The bodies of five other people, four females and one male, were also found at the same location. Officials say they had all been shot execution-style with high-caliber weapons.

"They all appeared to be young people, but we're still in the process of positively identifying the bodies," Nahle Garcia said.

Speaking about the most recent incident, Nahle Garcia said he's not surprised. "It's really unfortunate, but we're seeing more and more young men who drop out of school and end up selling drugs on the streets," he said. "They all end up the same. They either end up in jail or the cemetery."

:(
i'm always wondering if someday one of these kids is going to filter through my class
at least he would still be alive!

speaking of kids,

The proportion of the Mexican population that is literate is going up, but in absolute numbers, there are more illiterate people in Mexico now than there were 12 years ago. Even if baseline literacy, the ability to read a street sign or news bulletin, is rising, the practice of reading an actual book is not. Once a reasonably well-educated country, Mexico took the penultimate spot, out of 108 countries, in a Unesco assessment of reading habits a few years ago.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/06/opinion/the-country-that-stopped-reading.html?nl=opinion&emc=edit_ty_20130306&_r=0

:-(

h8 this thread. My family are all middle-class & living safely in querétaro, & all my experience of mexico is overwhelmingly positive (although of course I was aware of all this stuff the whole time I was there). Such a great country being betrayed, I could cry

Is there any further news on El Chapo and whether or not he was killed?

i'd be really shocked if he actually was

Yeah, seems to be bogus from digging around a bit.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/27/world/americas/mexico-violence/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

http://www.texasmonthly.com/story/mistress-and-narcotraficante

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57593865/mexican-army-captures-zetas-drug-lord-miguel-angel-trevino-morales/

of interest:

http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/independent/narcocultura/

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-17/heroin-pushed-on-chicago-by-cartel-fueling-gang-murders.html

a decent summary of the connection between guzman and chicago/its many murders

‘Logistical Genius’
Law enforcement officials say Guzman chose Chicago for the same reasons Sears, Roebuck & Co. once centered catalog sales in the city: It’s a transportation hub where highways and rail lines converge and then fan across the Midwest. The disappearance of factory jobs and the struggle of public schools on the city’s South and West sides also give Guzman tens of thousands of willing salesmen who are jobless and poorly educated.
In 2009, a Guzman distributor ran 11 warehouses and stash houses in Chicago and southwestern suburbs. One was in Bedford Park, steps from a facility used by FedEx Corp., operator of the world’s largest cargo airline.
“He’s a logistical genius and a hands-on guy,” Riley says, adding that Guzman is also a billionaire. “If he had turned his talents to legitimate business, he’d probably be in the same situation moneywise.”
The Chicago police strategy of saturating high-crime areas with patrols appears to be cutting the homicide rate. Murders through Sept. 8 fell 21 percent -- to 297 from 377 -- from the 2012 period. Yet the authorities have made scant progress in cracking Sinaloa’s supply chain.