Small Wars Journal

Speaking of Mexico....

Mon, 06/13/2011 - 3:37pm

... please tell me this is an example of sensationalized reporting or the source is a bald-faced liar. If not, then let's stop debating whether we should call this an insurgency or not and start debating whether the events down south are part of our world or a Mad Max world:

 

Narco Gangster Reveals the Underworld by Dane Schiller of the Houston Chronicle. BLUF: "Cartels have taken cruelty up a notch, says one drug trafficker: kidnapping bus passengers for gladiator-like fights to the death."

Categories: El Centro

Comments

slapout9 (not verified)

Tue, 06/14/2011 - 1:44am

Bill M, I am looking for a copy of a declassified CIA report on Trans-National Crime that goes into some of the details. Some of my analysis goes back to my early days in LE (back in the 80's)a lot of LE folks saw what was coming and much can be traced back to the ruling families of Mexico(they get their cut,always have).

Link to Miracle-Grow report http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/26/thread26604.shtml

Bill M.

Tue, 06/14/2011 - 12:15am

Slapout, I always appreciate your insights on these topics, especially since my level of knowledge is pretty darn thin on NAFTA. Please explain how NAFTA facilitated the current crisis in Mexico? Correct me if I am wrong, but I don't see a crisis on our side of the border (just trumped up fear reporting to support political agendas, but it doesn't appear to be much different than it has been), only fear that the crisis/violence will eventually bleed over (a legitimate concern). Of course the narcotrade from Latin American has brought violence to the U.S. long before the NAFTA agreement. That comes from the drug culture and everything associated with it (especially the mega profits), whether we have NAFTA or not. The drug cartels in Mexico have existed for years, so what was the catalyst that actually propelled them to this level of violence? Has anyone seen good analysis on how they got to this point?

Slap, on a lighter note, Miracle Grow is good stuff, used it for years (on legal crops), so I think it is safe to assume that the CEO doesn't have to target pot growers with a marketing campaign, since they are probably fully aware of it, but that is his call. Maybe he'll produce a fertilizer called Wacky Tobacci Miracles? In reality I think they would risk a boycott of the willing (those of us who oppose that type of marketing) if they actually follow through with that proposal. We could organize it right here on SWJ, and make room for another fertilizer company to grab their established Mom and Pop market niche.

Surferbeetle

Tue, 06/14/2011 - 12:11am

All,

Steady...

Mexico is inhabited by approximately 111 million people spread out over 760,000 miles, and producing a GDP of almost 1.7 trillion USD a year (the USA's GDP is ~ 14 trillion while Iraq's GDP is around 114 billion, and Afghanistan's is estimated at 27 billion).

Good and bad things happen in Mexico every day, but it's certainly not Iraq nor Afghanistan for that matter. Nor are the themes of corruption, immigration, drugs, human trafficking, and counterfeiting the alpha and omega of the US-Mexico relationship. The Legislative and Presidential elections in July of 2012 will be interesting.

In short take off those FOB blinders/filters and see what's all going on...use those skills we always talk about here at SWJ

Dave Dillege,

SWJ could use a good uncles area study for context.

Steve

NY2TX (not verified)

Tue, 06/14/2011 - 12:03am

NAFTA? Really? Frankly (IMO of course) the root cause of all of this is the long term abject poverty of the lower class in Mexico and the attraction of "riches" from the drug trade that makes it all...

So "pot growers" are the market for Miracle Grow...

NY2TX (not verified)

Tue, 06/14/2011 - 12:03am

NAFTA? Really? Frankly the root cause of all of this is the long term abject poverty of the lower class in Mexico and the attraction of "riches" from the drug trade that makes it all...

So "pot growers" are the market for Miracle Grow...

slapout9 (not verified)

Mon, 06/13/2011 - 11:33pm

NAFTA is the real COG. The purpose of NAFTA is to destroy borders and laws for the expansion of the so called Free Market,which indirectly destroys the legitimacy of the government. It is subversion of the highest order, it subverts(seperates)the Rule of Law(which can only be done by a Government) from the pursuit of profits by any means as the highest priority. We exported our industries and this accelerated the importation of criminals. The CEO of Miracle Grow has just announced his new target market is "Pot Growers" and no I am not kidding!!!

<a href="http://www.rantburg.com">Rantburg</a&gt; publishes in some detail about the Mexican drug as it happens in the northern tier of Mexican states. The archives forall Mexican drug war articles are <a href="http://www.freefirezone.org">here</a&gt;

There was an article published in <i>El Blog del Narco</i> just after the Tamaulipas top cop resigned that described one hijacking in such vivid detail I was moved to tears. Very graphic and detailed about how men were separated from women, the women abused and murdered, and the men forced to fight to the death. The remnants were then told they were now Los Zetas.

Very heartbreaking, so much so I had a very hard time crediting the report. It sounded like the kind of fiction a high school student would write.

<i>The very next day</i> the article was gone along with more than one thousand comments.

Reference to the <i>Blog del Narco</i> report can be found <a href="http://www.freefirezone.org/completearticle.php?id=1810">here</a&gt;

A few days later Alexandro Poire, the Mexican <i>Secretaria de Seguridad Nacional</i> said recruitment may have been the impetus behind the 183 murders in San Fernando, Tamaulipas.

The original article was unsigned and uncredited; it was presented without comment, which led me to believe it was not credulous. To this moment I have a hard time believing the mass murders were anything other than a terror campaign by a local Los Zetas commander who has consumed one too many blunts of <i>ganja</i>.

Recruitment may have happened and may have happened just the way it was described, but consider: who wrote it? If it was written by a witness the witness would have to be a Los Zetas, maybe one of the recruits. If so, why not mention that in a paragraph accompanying it?

Marko,

Your post is sensationalism on so many levels. First, who said we weren't assisting the Mexican? Who has been providing training, equipment and intelligence for years to the Mexican government to combat these narcoterrorists? Just because it isn't on Foxx or CNN doesn't mean it isn't happening. Crime along our SW border has always been high for a lot of reasons, but please explain what U.S. neighborhoods are being ethnically cleansed? The SW has "always" had a large percentage of Mexicans for obvious reasons, both legal and illegal, but a small percentage of the illegals commit illegal acts other than violating immigration laws. The issue of concern for the U.S. is that Mexican-American "gangs" will be co-opted by the cartels (most believe they already have to some extent) to facilitate their business activities (selling drugs, buying weapons, smuggling illegals, etc.). The target on our side is the gangs. I agree they're a serious threat, but to claim the threat isn't being addressed is simply wrong. It may be true that not enough is being done, and what we're doing is ineffective, but the problem isn't being ignored.

NY2TX (not verified)

Mon, 06/13/2011 - 4:54pm

I really don't think that there is as much rationality to the actions of the cartels as "you'd" like there to be.

While I didn't actually agree with all of the article, "Mexico: A Mosaic Cartel War," one thing is irrefutable - <i>"But it is a war of a different kind. In fact, there are several conflicts occurring at once that blend into each other. There is the conflict of cartels among each other, the conflict within cartels, cartels against the Mexican state, cartels and gangs against the Mexican people and gangs versus gangs."</i>

This is a turf war, this is an anti-government action, this is narco-terrorism that was enabled by intense poverty, a social class divide, and a culture of corruption.

Los Zetas are the ultimate in unconventional tactics. They rule by fear and torture. They started as part of the Gulf and then split off. Last week they shot at BP agents across the border.

Personally, I envision more splinterring of the existing cartels and a ramping up of violence.

Marko Volk (not verified)

Mon, 06/13/2011 - 4:43pm

The meat of the matter is that our political establishment utterly lacks the balls to do anything about it, and so will continue to do nothing until nothing can be done but for We the People to fight back. We have an active insurgency on our border that is bleeding over into our own streets, and some neighborhoods here already resemble Juarez more than Main Street, and American cities are being ethnically cleansed of Americans.

Marko Volk (not verified)

Mon, 06/13/2011 - 4:42pm

The meat of the matter is that our political establishment utterly lacks the balls to do anything about it, and so will continue to do nothing until nothing can be done but for We the People to fight back. We have an active insurgency on our border that is bleeding over into our own streets, and some neighborhoods here already resemble Juarez more than Main Street, and American cities are being ethnically cleansed of Americans.

Also, sense this is a heavily influenced Boydian commentary I am trying to produce here, I think this quote is equally important. Because if the government is corrupt, then that will only increase the morality of the cartels and allow them to compete.

--------

Break guerrillas moral-mental-physical hold over the population, destroy their cohesion, and bring about their collapse via political initiative that demonstrates moral legitimacy and vitality of government and by relentless military operations that emphasize stealth/fast-tempo/fluidity-of-action and cohesion of overall effort.

*If you cannot realize such a political program, you might consider changing sides! Page 108 of Patterns of Conflict, Col. John Boyd

Dr. Robert J. Bunker (not verified)

Mon, 06/13/2011 - 4:34pm

Great insights.

Re: I just wish there were more articles and commentary by Mexicans.

We need to reach out to them-- yes, we want them posting articles/comments-- but the truth is Mexican nationals in Mexico who write on this topic can get themselves and their families tortured and killed. It has really reached that point I fear. We are seeing suppression of the free press and academics in Mexico... that is why alternative social media-- such as Blog del Narco and Twitter-- has replaced some of the traditional press-- no names attached to what you post.

You know, if we were to actually fight a war purely based on good versus evil, the war in Mexico is the one to fight. Every last one of those vermin down there deserve death.

If we were also to evaluate the moral/mental/physical aspects of this conflict, a couple of things come up.

The moral aspect of this conflict is the most important, and the cartels are already defeated in this aspect. So basically, the government could really push the envelope when it comes to the moral fight.

Although you can see with the cartels, they are always trying to re-brand their efforts with some kind of moral angle. That they are 'saving the population' from their competitor. Or 'god is on my side'. Or whatever angle that can increase their morality, and isolate their competitors morally.

As for the mental and physical, all I have to say is 'Plomo o Plata'..... The cartels have the upper hand, and they have plenty of lead and silver, and they have plenty of motivation and economic incentive to wield this leverage on society. In essence, they are able to make up for their lack of morality--with the mental and physical aspects of their strategy.

carl (not verified)

Mon, 06/13/2011 - 4:18pm

There are psychopaths in the world. Most of the time they are repressed or killed. Imagine a world where they actively recruited, admired and given power. Maybe something like that is happening.

There sure are a lot of articles about Mexico lately. That is good. I just wish there were more articles and commentary by Mexicans. And I hope the interest isn't a prelude to us thinking about "doing something" in, repeat in, Mexico.

All that death mask and flaying stuff isn't new to Mexico. Just go back and look at what the Aztecs and Mayans and others did.

Dr. Robert J. Bunker (not verified)

Mon, 06/13/2011 - 4:11pm

I've noticed recently that more of the beheadings in Mexico involve flaying the face of the victim-- many times while alive (face peels)-- like these 3 fellows:

Tres descuartizados dan la bievenida a General Terán
http://www.blogdelnarco.com/2011/06/tres-descuartizados-dan-la-bievenid…
domingo 12 de junio de 2011

So I guess "kidnapping bus passengers for gladiator-like fights to the death" fits into that Mad Max world. The improvised armored cars/AFVs do
remind me of those movies also....and I have a few photos of Mexican LE wearing skull masks while operating in tactical gear-- also very post-apocalyptic. "Something wicked comes this way" may be an understatement re the insurgencies taking place in Mexico and Central America now....

NY2TX (not verified)

Mon, 06/13/2011 - 4:05pm

I'd believe it (or most of it) before rejecting it as sensationalism. Los Zetas are notoriously vicious. Shiller's rep is pretty good too.