Mexico's Drug War - Page 15

On December 28 2010 11:41 Miss_Cleo wrote:



Studies done by the RAND corporation suggest that legalization will increase the consumption of narcotics, so legalizing will not decrease the demand, this is a myth. But yeah, prohibition does lead to an increase of crime and other social ills.

On December 29 2010 05:09 Ilfirin wrote:



I have a pretty big interest in the subject, and have spent quite a bit of time talking to people I meet about it, and have a pretty good knowledge of the drug culture. Without any evidence to back up my statements (so please take them with a grain of salt, but I dont need lectured, these are purely opinions based on my observations), Id say that consumption would increase initially, but then go to much lower levels then they currently are. If our society focused on harm reduction and prevention, and treated the issue of drugs as a health problem to help people work through, rather then telling them theyre not allowed then absolutely ruining those individuals' lives when they get caught, then Im sure once everything settled and people actually were able to find help, usage rates would decline. It would certainly take time, but how is it worse then the system we have set up now? Plus we'd actually be helping the people who need it, rather then making them out to be a bad person and guaranteeing that they never have a future in our society again.

Also, if anyone doesn't mind an extremely long, but super deep and well-thought out read, check out this paper from a former DEA about why all drugs should be legalized/regulated. I can pretty much promise you that if you read the whole thing with an open mind, you won't have any arguments left. If you do, Id really like to hear them.

End prohibition now!http://leap.cc/cms/index.php?name=Content&pid=26

Also, it would help with our deficit so much its ridiculous to me it hasn't happened already. I mean, way less law enforcement costs, no more overcrowded prisons, less prison costs, more revenue for the government, etc.

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico – The last remaining police officer in the Mexican border town of Guadalupe has disappeared, and prosecutors in northern Chihuahua state said Tuesday they have started a search for her.

Twenty-eight-year-old officer Ericka Gandara held out despite the desertions and resignations that left her as the only officer in the Juarez Valley town, which was served by eight police a year ago.

But Gandara hasn't been seen since Dec. 23. While some local media have reported Gandara was kidnapped, prosecutors' spokesman Arturo Sandoval said her relatives have not filed a kidnap complaint.

Sandoval said the search was started Monday as a missing-person case.

No one knows how many residents have left the city of 1.4 million since a turf battle over border drug corridors unleashed an unprecedented wave of cartel murders and mayhem. Business leaders, citing government tax information, say the exodus could number 110,000, while a municipal group and local university say it's closer to 230,000 and estimates by social organizations are even higher.

The tally is especially hard to track because Juarez is by nature transitory, attracting thousands of workers to high-turnover jobs in manufacturing, or who use the city across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas, as a waystation before they slip north illegally.

But its toll is everywhere you look. Barely a week goes by when Longoria and her husband don't watch a neighbor move away. Then the vandals arrive, carrying off window panes, pipes, even light fixtures, until there's nothing but a graffiti-covered shell, surrounded by yards strewn with rotting food or shredded tires. That could be what's in store for Longoria's three-room home of poured concrete if her husband's transfer comes through.

Long controlled by the Juarez Cartel, the city descended into a horrifying cycle of violence after Mexico's most-wanted kingpin, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, and his Sinaloa Cartel tried to shoot their way to power here beginning in 2008. President Felipe Calderon sent nearly 10,000 troops to restore order. Now, the Mexican army and federal authorities are going door-to-door, conducting an emergency census to determine just how many residents have fled.

MONTERREY, Mexico – Gunmen believed to be linked to drug cartels killed four police officers and a doctor in apparently coordinated attacks in and around the northern Mexican city of Monterrey, authorities said Thursday.

Three officers were wounded in Wednesday's attacks, said Jorge Domene, a spokesman for the security council in northern Nuevo Leon state, where Monterrey is located.

In one of the attacks, gunmen opened fire on a Monterrey police station, killing a medical doctor who was administering tests to employees at the station and wounding three officers, Domene said.

In two additional, separate attacks carried out within minutes of each other in the Monterrey suburb of Guadalupe, gunmen killed two police officers, a man and a woman.

MEXICO CITY – Mexico's federal police said Friday that the once-fearsome La Familia drug cartel has been "completely dismembered" and has broken down into small groups that commit robberies to pay their members.

The cartel has dominated crime in the western state of Michoacan for several years, making money by trafficking methamphetamines and extorting protection money from businesses. It has also become known for its bloody ambushes of federal police.

La Familia has been thrown into disarray, however by the recent arrest and deaths of top members, including cartel leader Nazario Moreno, nicknamed "The Craziest One," who was killed in a shootout with police on Dec. 9.

MORELIA, Mexico – A letter purportedly signed by La Familia drug cartel announcing a one-month truce circulated Sunday in the western state of Michoacan.

In the one-page message, distributed by e-mail and in some cities door by door, the gang claims it will halt all crime activity during January to demonstrate that the cartel "is not responsible for the criminal acts federal authorities are reporting to the media."

Prosecutors have not verified the letter's authenticity, according to an employee of the Michoacan bureau of the federal Attorney General's Office who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

The government says La Familia has been weakened by a recent string of arrests and deaths of top leaders.

On January 03 2011 16:19 Souma wrote:
Can someone put this in perspective for me?

How big was the impact of La Familia in Mexico? That is to say, will the violence be brought down a notch? Or will it still continue all the same?

TIJUANA, Mexico – The severed head of a young man was found hanging from a bridge in the Mexican border city of Tijuana on Monday.

The Baja California state attorney general's office said the head belonged to a man between 25 and 30 years old.

It had several bullet wounds and was hung using a metallic ring and a nylon rope. A threatening message was found nearby on the bridge.

Hours earlier, a woman between 30 and 35 years old was found shot to death in another Tijuana neighborhood, also with a threatening message left nearby.

Authorities have blamed recent cartel-style violence in Tijuana on feuding between rivals and loyalists of Teodoro "El Teo" Garcia Simental, an alleged drug lord arrested last January.

MONTERREY, Mexico – Gunmen opened fire on people gathered at a street corner in the northern city of Monterrey, killing two adults and a 13-year-old boy, authorities said Tuesday.

The boy's twin brother and two men were wounded in the attack Monday night, the Nuevo Leon state attorney general's office said.

Authorities had no immediate suspects. While the motive was unclear, Mexican drug cartels have recruiting younger and younger members.

The government has increasingly detained youths under 18 for drug-related crimes. Last month, authorities arrested a 14-year-old boy who they alleged worked as an assassin for a drug gang in central Mexico.

Monterrey, Mexico's third-largest city, has been besieged by fighting between the Gulf cartel and the Zetas drug gang.

In Apodaca, another town in Nuevo Leon state, a shooting broke out Monday night between marines and suspected cartel gunmen.

VILLAHERMOSA, Mexico – A gang of teenagers, most 15-years-old, were detained after a running shootout with officers in the border city of Ciudad Juarez, officials said Wednesday, part of a trend of ever-younger drug suspects.

Police found packages containing 10 pounds (4.5 kilograms) of marijuana and a .45 caliber pistol in the pickup truck the youths were traveling in.

The five teenagers — three 15-year-olds and two aged 17 — were speeding and tried to escape, pumping several rounds into a police car and leading police on a chase for several blocks in Ciudad Juarez before they were caught, federal police said in a statement. Their names were not released because of their ages.

The government has increasingly detained youths under 18 for drug-related crimes. Last month, authorities arrested a 14-year-old boy who they alleged worked as an assassin for a drug gang in central Mexico.

And in the Gulf coast state of Tabasco, police reported that two men dressed up in clown costumes had been found executed in the city of Cardenas, Tabasco.

The two men, both aged 18, worked as itinerant clowns soliciting tips from passengers aboard passing buses. Their bodies were found Sunday on a roadside next to a hand-lettered sign that accused them of being police informers.

The bodies had multiple bullet wounds.

"This is what happened to me for being a snitch and an informer, and believing the army could protect me," read the sign.

And in the border city of Tijuana, the Mexican army announced Wednesday it had detained the local operations leader for the Sinaloa cartel, Jesus de la Cruz Lopez, alias "The Tomato."

On December 29 2010 05:20 Krikkitone wrote:



Well what it seems would happen is
1. Inital users would increase
2. Users Might more easily stop because help might be more available.

So total amount used Might possibly decline, but almost certainly not.

However, the damage Caused by the use would be lower.

TIJUANA, Mexico – Two purported drug dealers were arrested Thursday on suspicion of decapitating a man who owed them money and hanging his severed head from a bridge in the border city of Tijuana.

Baja California state prosecutor Fermin Gomez said the suspects, Joel Barriga and Alfredo Avila, were captured with seven assault rifles and acknowledged killing the victim.

Rames Mendoza, 30, was reported missing last week. His bullet-ridden head was found dangling from a bridge Monday, fastened with nylon rope and a metal ring.

Also Thursday, two men were found shot to death in the trunk of a car parked outside the General Hospital in Tijuana. Their hands and feet were bound and their bodies bore signs of torture, according to a state police report.

Gunmen later attacked three men driving past a shopping mall, killing one and wounding the other two.

Cartel-style violence largely abated in Tijuana after the January 2010 capture of Teodoro "El Teo" Garcia Simental, one of two reputed crime bosses allegedly caught up in a bloody turf war in the city across from San Diego.

ACAPULCO, Mexico – Police found the bodies of 15 slain men, 14 of them headless, on a street outside a shopping center in the Pacific coast resort of Acapulco on Saturday.

The victims, all of whom appeared to be in their 20s, were discovered in an area not frequented by tourists.

Handwritten signs left with the bodies were signed by "El Chapo's People" — a reference to the Sinaloa cartel, headed by drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman — said Fernando Monreal Leyva, director of investigative police for Guerrero state, where Acapulco is located.

The narco-messages indicated the Sinaloa cartel killed them for trying to intrude on the gang's turf and extort residents.

In the past four years, more than 30,000 people have been killed by gunfire in Mexico. But the guns don't originate in Mexico. The one gun store in the country, located in Mexico City, is operated by the Mexican military and under very tight security.

Instead, the thousands of guns used by Mexican drug cartels trickle in through the United States. Since 2006, more than 60,000 of the weapons used in Mexican crimes have been traced back to the U.S.

For the past year, Washington Post reporter James Grimaldi and a team of Post reporters have been investigating the hidden life of guns, including how guns from the United States have ended up on Mexican streets. He says it's not surprising that the vast majority of weapons used in Mexico can be traced back across the border.

Since February 2010, the major cartels have aligned in two factions, one integrated by the Juárez Cartel, Tijuana Cartel, Los Zetas and the Beltrán-Leyva Cartel‎‎; the other faction integrated by the Gulf Cartel, Sinaloa Cartel and La Familia Cartel.