On May 03 2014 06:44 Vasoline73 wrote: The drug war and terror will never end in Mexico unless they change their drug laws to be less restrictive and decriminalize the sale and possession of them
For harder drugs the state could save way more money offering drug education and rehab programs than it could fighting a literal ground war. Lives would be saved. Most people and politicians balk at this.
I hope the best for Mexico and that humanity realizes a war like this will never be won.
Thanks very much for your patronising comment. We obviously haven't thought about it before:
On May 03 2014 06:44 Vasoline73 wrote: The drug war and terror will never end in Mexico unless they change their drug laws to be less restrictive and decriminalize the sale and possession of them
For harder drugs the state could save way more money offering drug education and rehab programs than it could fighting a literal ground war. Lives would be saved. Most people and politicians balk at this.
I hope the best for Mexico and that humanity realizes a war like this will never be won.
Thanks very much for your patronising comment. We obviously haven't thought about it before:
One of the main reasons we don't have more liberal drug laws is US government pressure.
If it makes you feel better I did end my most recent comment with: EDIT: Nothing aimed at you, I'm frustrated with the current system so it comes off in my comment, but I'm not directly angry with anyone in the thread. I just think it's ironic to kill people over something that won't ever be solved (and by solved I mean "a drug free world")
I know it's not an easy fix or anyone's specific fault. It's just generally frustrating to me. I do hope I can make a difference somehow in whatever career path I choose and I hope other people do the same. I have faith that this is a generational thing and that over time there will be better understanding. So what can ya do.
Soldiers killed 22 people during a shootout at a warehouse in central Mexico state on Monday, the Defense Department said. The incident comeas as increasing numbers of the country's security forces are being deployed to the region as part of Mexico's highly militarized war on drugs.
The department said in a brief statement that soldiers were patrolling the town of Tlataya when they came across a warehouse being guarded by armed men, who opened fire on the troops. One soldier was injured in the gunfire.
Meanwhile 21 men and one woman were killed in the shootout and soldiers rescued three women who said they had been kidnapped. Soldier also seized 22 automatic rifles, two shotguns, 13 handguns, a hand grenade and dozens of round of ammunition.
Authorities didn't say if those killed in Mexico state were members of an organized crime group. Local newspaper Reforma quoted anonymous sources from the military as saying the men were members of the criminal organization, La Familia.
The town of Tlataya is in the mountains near the state of Guerrero, an area known for growing marijuana. Mexico state, which rings Mexico City, has in recent months seen an increase in killings linked to drug cartels.
Officials in the United States might be tempted to view the disturbing surge in young refugees as simply a border security issue. But the problem is far more complex than that – the drug cartels are now major players in Central American countries, driving vulnerable populations northward to the United States to enhance their own profits. And America’s hardline prohibitionist drug war is only making things worse.
Although the growing power of the cartels is not the only factor accounting for this crisis, Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson suggested in congressional testimony that the “push factor” of violence is important.
Drug gangs have gained control of major chunks of Central America, making honest economic activity perilous. Teenagers especially have few options if they are not willing to work for the drug lords. As Caitlin Dickson noted in the Daily Beast, for example, “by making these countries so dangerous and virtually unlivable for its poorest citizens, the cartels have effectively created an incentive for people to flee, thereby providing themselves with more clientele for their human smuggling business.”
Since the cartels have seized control of human smuggling routes through Mexico, often charging refugees several thousand dollars for passage, the flood of undocumented immigrants significantly supplements the revenue that the drug gangs have long enjoyed from trafficking in illegal drugs. Would-be immigrants who can’t pay are pressed into service to carry drugs into the United States. And the surge of unaccompanied minors helps distract the already strained U.S. Border Patrol, making it easier for the drug lords to avoid having their products intercepted.
All of these problems have been building for years. As the Mexican government stepped up its attacks on the cartels, drug kingpins began moving many of their operations into Central America as early as 2008. Such geographic displacement is a recurring problem with the prohibitionist strategy directed against illegal drugs. Since the drug trade is illegal, its practice in the black market is enormously profitable, and traffickers go to great lengths to maintain their power and market share. Whenever pressure mounts in one arena, they simply relocate to another jurisdiction where the risks and problems are, at least temporarily, less imposing.
Central American countries already had some of the highest homicide rates in the world, but the arrival of the Mexican cartels has made a bad situation even worse. Drug gang turf fights that plagued Mexico over the past decade are now being played out with increasing frequency and ferocity in its southern neighbors. And the same gruesome trophies, especially severed heads, are now showing up with greater frequency as well, increasing the incentive for honest and vulnerable young people to leave.
Just a thought I had while reading the last few pages of the thread:
Despite the miraculous scientific progress mankind has made, social problems, as in those stemming from the ugliness of human nature, continue to plague the world.
I envision a future with very little to no reduction in inequality and just as many serious self-inflicted social structural problems. All anthropologists and sociologists should be fired; why study something that you'll always be powerless to change?
This thought of mine isn't actually accompanied by useless idealism or feelings of indignation. On the contrary, I'm just making an observation and actually thankful for the injustice because I'm part of the lucky 1% (you only need to make ~35K per year to be in the top 1% anyway).
With the battle between rival Mexican drug cartels heating up in the state of Veracruz, a children's party recently became the site of multiple murders. The groups involved in the fighting in this case include the Gulf Cartel, Los Zetas, the Nuevo Generacion Cartel as well as members of the Familia Michoacana, according to reports.
The incident took place Friday night inside a restaurant where party-goers were celebrating a birthday. Two men and a boy were killed. Reports say that masked gunmen carrying AK-47 assault rifles shot a group of people celebrating inside the El Gran Chaparral restaurant which is located near the Matamoro-Puerto Juarez highway.
The shooting occurred in an area called Juan Diaz Covarrubias. "Veracruz, Mexico's third most populous state, has been plagued by a turf war between rival drug cartels that has sent the murder rate skyrocketing in the past few years," reports the Latin American Herald newspaper.
Interesting dilemma. On one side you have the government not being able to meet its requirements, on the other you have people breaking the law to protect their communities. From the ending comments it seems Mexico is handling it well with integrating them as free law enforcement. Not ideal but much better than none or very lacking.
A different solution would probably be short term deputies assisting the police. Cleaning up one area and then moving on to the next. Like when they call out people to look for somebody that is missing or hunters to find a dangerous animal. The upside of that solution would be the lowered chance of permanent groups forming. Downside is that organised criminals might just migrate around the sweeps.
Although millions of U.S. citizens safely visit Mexico each year for study, tourism, and business, Americans have been the target of violent crimes, kidnapping, carjacking, and robbery by organized criminal groups in various Mexican states, the State Department said in a Travel Warning issued on August 15.
The warning states that “crime and violence are serious problems and can occur anywhere… Gun battles have occurred in broad daylight on streets and in other public venues, such as restaurants and clubs. During some of these incidents, U.S. citizens have been trapped and temporarily prevented from leaving the area… The location and timing of future armed engagements is unpredictable.” Therefore, it recommends Americans defer non-essential travel to the areas specifically identified in the warning and exercise extreme caution when traveling throughout the other areas for which advisories are in effect.
One of the areas identified is the State of Mexico, President Enrique Peña Nieto’s home state, where the advisory warns Americans not to travel to the municipalities of Coacalco, Ecatepec, Nezahualcoyotl, La Paz, Valle del Chalco, Solidaridad, Chalco, and Ixtapaluca, most of them part of Mexico City’s greater metropolitan area.
Yet, Mexico City, the nation’s capital, which with its spectacular museums and world class hotels and restaurants is a big tourist attraction, was not included in the warning that replaces one issued January 9, 2014.
In 2013, 81 Americans were murdered in Mexico, up from 71 in 2012, and between January and June of this year, nearly 70 kidnappings of U.S. citizens were reported to the U.S. Embassy and consulates in Mexico.
Mexico has 31 states and one federal district, Mexico City. In 14 of the states the advisory calls on Americans to defer travel unless it is essential and in five others it advises exercising caution.
The Mexican government has increased its calculation of the number of people who have disappeared since the start of the country's drug war in 2006 and now lists 22,322 as missing, officials said.
It had said in May that 8,000 people were missing.
Assistant Attorney General, Mariana Benitez, said 12,532 people went missing during the 2006-12 administration of President Felipe Calderon, who declared war on drug traffickers. An additional 9,790 have disappeared since President Enrique Pena Nieto took office on December 1, 2012.
Benitez said that the list of people reported missing during Calderon's government had gone up to 29,707, but that authorities arrived at the figure of 12,532 still missing after finding the rest alive or confirming their deaths.
She said a second list started with the Pena Nieto government showed 23,234 people reported missing between Dec. 1, 2012, and July 31, 2014. She said 13,444 of those had been located, leaving 9,790 still missing.
Authorities have given conflicting figures on missing people since announcing in February 2013 there was an official list showing 26,000 people unaccounted for.
The cartel in Northern Mexico killed my dad's best friend. They had kidnapped him and held him for ransom, but once his family paid the ransom they delivered the dead body. I wish government could agree to make drugs legal so all this crime would stop, but sadly conservatives would never let that happen.
On August 29 2014 05:17 GettingIt wrote: The cartel in Northern Mexico killed my dad's best friend. They had kidnapped him and held him for ransom, but once his family paid the ransom they delivered the dead body. I wish government could agree to make drugs legal so all this crime would stop, but sadly conservatives would never let that happen.
That's terrible man. Was he American? Involved with bad company? If you don't mind me asking.
On August 29 2014 05:17 GettingIt wrote: The cartel in Northern Mexico killed my dad's best friend. They had kidnapped him and held him for ransom, but once his family paid the ransom they delivered the dead body. I wish government could agree to make drugs legal so all this crime would stop, but sadly conservatives would never let that happen.
That's terrible man. Was he American? Involved with bad company? If you don't mind me asking.
He was Mexican worked in Mexico. My dad works in Mexico too but his friend was very wealthy so hes not as likely to be targeted. He owned a construction company and was competing with another company (that had the cartels backing) for a large job and his company got it, so the assumption is the rival company instigated everything out of spite.
President Enrique Peña Nieto on Friday formally commissioned the Gendarmerie, a new division of the Mexican Federal Police.
The force's more than 5,000 members are "prepared to protect and serve Mexicans in regions where there is greater institutional weakness," he said during the ceremony.
The Gendarmerie, whose 390 senior officers received advanced training in France and Colombia, is to operate under civilian command and will focus on providing security, especially in rural and marginalized areas.
Peña Nieto attended the launch of the Gendarmerie after chairing a session of the National Public Safety Council where he said that homicides were down 27.8 percent in the first seven months of the year.
On August 29 2014 05:17 GettingIt wrote: The cartel in Northern Mexico killed my dad's best friend. They had kidnapped him and held him for ransom, but once his family paid the ransom they delivered the dead body. I wish government could agree to make drugs legal so all this crime would stop, but sadly conservatives would never let that happen.
That's terrible man. Was he American? Involved with bad company? If you don't mind me asking.
He was Mexican worked in Mexico. My dad works in Mexico too but his friend was very wealthy so hes not as likely to be targeted. He owned a construction company and was competing with another company (that had the cartels backing) for a large job and his company got it, so the assumption is the rival company instigated everything out of spite.
On August 29 2014 05:17 GettingIt wrote: The cartel in Northern Mexico killed my dad's best friend. They had kidnapped him and held him for ransom, but once his family paid the ransom they delivered the dead body. I wish government could agree to make drugs legal so all this crime would stop, but sadly conservatives would never let that happen.
That sucks dude, but I am sorry to say I have a feeling even if the drugs were legal these drug cartels would go into something else and it wouldn't stop the violence. These kind of people aren't going to go from killing people to "oh now that drugs are legal I am going to become a good person".
If true this would make both leaders of opposing factions caught, their war turned Northern and Central Mexico into a war zone which killed thousands of civilians.
Héctor Beltrán Leyva, alleged head of a family crime syndicate that waged a bloody conflict in Mexico with a former ally, suspected drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzmán, was captured on Wednesday, an interior ministry source said.
Officials said the purported head of the Beltrán Leyva drug gang was captured inside a seafood restaurant in the city of San Miguel de Allende, a popular enclave for foreigners and artists in the central state of Guanajuato.
No shots were fired in the lightning raid conducted by military special forces to end an 11-month investigation, federal criminal investigations chief Tomás Zerón said at an evening news conference.
Officials said DNA tests were being carried out to confirm the suspect's identity, and Zerón said while the results were still forthcoming it was clear the man was Beltrán Leyva.
The arrest of the alleged Beltrán Leyva drug cartel boss will likely be a serious blow to the gang, which has been substantially weakened since its founding by brothers who gave the outfit its name and split from Guzmán, accusing him of betraying them.
A mass grave has been found on the outskirts of the Mexican town of Iguala, where 43 students went missing on 27 September, officials say.
It is not clear whether the bodies found in a pit are those of the missing students, who were last seen being forced into police vans.
The group had travelled to the area, in the state of Guerrero, to take part in a protest over teachers' rights.
Police opened fire on their buses, killing six people.
Twenty-two police officers are being held in connection with the shooting.
Witnesses said that most of the survivors - all trainee teachers - were bundled into police vans before disappearing.
Some had gone into hiding and contacted their relatives after several days, still fearing for their lives.
Iguala lies about 120 miles (200km) south of the capital Mexico City. The grave was discovered on Saturday, following an anonymous tip, local media reported.
It is not known exactly how many bodies it contains. Guerrero state prosecutor Inaky Blanco said forensic scientists were trying to identify the victims.
"We still can't talk about an exact number of bodies. We are still working at the site," Mr Blanco said at a media conference in the state capital, Chilpancingo.
At least 15 bodies have already been retrieved from the pit.
Some of the relatives of the missing students had joined the search, knocking on doors and handing out pictures of their loved ones.
State prosecutors said local officials and police officers could have links with criminal gangs operating in Guerrero state.
Arrest warrants have been issued for the mayor of Iguala, Jose Luis Albarca, and his security chief who are both considered fugitives from justice and may be involved in the violence.
Mexico correspondent Will Grant says the incident has highlighted the extent of the collusion between criminal groups and officials in much of the country.
EPT
