Mexico’s Vietnam War? Soldier-to-Criminal Exchange Rates and Narco Battlefield Deaths in Context.
El Centro
SWJ El Centro, or "downtown" in Spanish, is our town square for analysis and discussion of Latin America's guerilla wars and criminal insurgencies. More about El Centro here.
Recent El Centro Journal Articles and SWJ Blog Posts:
Mexican Cartel Operational Note No. 1: Mexican Military Operations Against Los Zetas Communications Networks.
Mexican Cartel Strategic Note No. 10: Fortified Town (Burgward) Strategy Implemented in Tamaulipas.
Bringing the State to the Slum: Confronting Organized Crime and Urban Violence in Latin America by Vanda Felbab-Brown, The Brookings Institution.
A primer to help move past COIN, CT, FID, SFA and start talking strategy to confront today's problems
Mexican Cartel Strategic Note No. 9: Why Does Napolitano Focus on Al Qaeda Lone Wolves and Ignore the Mexican Cartels?
Special Small Wars and Insurgencies Issue: Criminal Insurgencies in Mexico and the Americas: The Gangs and Cartels Wage War.
Mexican Cartel Tactical Note # 7: Los Zetas Three Vehicle (SUV) Commando Engages in Offensive Action in Northwest Harris County, Texas: Ensuing Fire Fight with US Law Enforcement.
Mexican Cartel Strategic Note No. 8: 230,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Mexico and ‘Narco-Refugee’ Potentials for the United States.
Mexican Cartel Tactical Note # 6: Cross Border Incursion with SWAT Teams Responding: 15 Cartel/Gang Gunmen Cross into US Near Escobares, Texas.
Mexican Cartel Strategic Note No. 7: US National Security and the Mexican Cartels - Proceso Magazine Interview with Dr. Robert J. Bunker.
Mexico’s Drug War by Tim Noonan, Yahoo 7 News, Australia, video report.
Mexican Cartel Strategic Note No. 6: 2011 National Gang Threat Assessment: 40% Increase in Active Gang Members from 2009 to 1.4 Million.
An Assessment of Mexican Security Based on Existing RAND Research on Urban Unrest, Insurgency, and Defense-Sector Reform by Christopher Paul, Agnes Gereben Schaefer, and Colin P. Clarke.
Indications & Warning (I&W): VBIED Anti-Vehicular/Anti-Personnel Ambush Capability for Los Zetas [Assumed].
Border Corruption of US Officials by the Mexican Cartels & Cases Shown.
Mexican Cartel Tactical Notes: No 4. Cartel Military Weapons Cache Discovered Near Fronton, Texas.
Texas Border Security: A Strategic Military Assessment
U.S. Strategy to Combat Transnational Organized Crime: DOA (Dead On Arrival)?