Mexican drug cartels with 100,000 SOLDIERS

Discussion Open Forum
1

americanchronicle.com/articles/view/93311

Two of Mexico’s deadliest drug cartels have reached a combined force of 100,000 foot soldiers, wreaking havoc across the country and threatening U.S. border states, the U.S. Defense Department told The Washington Times.

The cartels rival the Mexican army in size and have both Mexico and the U.S. in crisis mode as they deal with what they fear is a coming insurgency along the border.

“It’s moving to crisis proportions,” an unidentified defense official told The Times. The official also said the cartels have reached a size where they are on par with Mexico’s army of 130,000.

What the hell? What the what what what?

Is this the new normal? Has it always been like this? Or is this something new?

It just seems all kind of wrong and it makes Scarface seem like small potatoes.
What has the world come to?

2

Ironically, it’s mostly about that crap hippie drug, cannabis. Those people need to chill with a nice opiate.

3

washingtontimes.com/news/200 … ls/?page=2

“Some recent Mexican army and police confrontations with drug cartels have resembled small-unit combat, with cartels employing automatic weapons and grenades,” the advisory said.

:astonished:

My mind is just blown. Blown away.

4

Beware, Mr Trebuchet, lest your conundrums render you beheaded.

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  1. Probably an overblown exaggeration.
  2. There’s good money in prohibited substances, and the employment situation in Mexico sucks.
6

Drugs are good, and when you do them people think that you’re cool.

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[quote=“Jaboney”]1. Probably an overblown exaggeration.
quote]

I hope so.

In any case, i can’t wait for the movie. :discodance:

8

You got the Zetas and former Guatemalan special forces working for the cartels, and they have links to FARC most likely. Also many police officers and soldiers are on their pay. It got so bad, that a cartel put up a banner looking for muscle through out a town or 2 last year. It’s a lucrative business so you have the cash to spend on muscle, especially when you have the Zetas backing you up, wiki them, you’ll be impressed.

I’m kind of surprised that you guys don;t know this as even a passing glance through the Americas section of the BBC (can’t we have a US section too?) would of brought all this to your attention 6-12 months ago.

9

Two thoughts come to mind. Firstly, government is one big cartel with its own private armies of goons. Secondly, they’ll legalise the drugs of their buddies in the pharmaceutical, tobacco and alcohol industries, yet won’t for other drugs. None of this “War on Drugs” would need to exist if they just legalised the lot of it. It’s amazing how some people can ignore the obvious for so many decades. You’d almost think they have to have a vested interest in maintaining all the crime and other nonsense for all the trouble they go to. Hell, they’re probably even supplying the drug cartels with their arms, one way or another. I mean, drug trafficking is illegal in all the major arms manufacturing countries, so how are they getting the arms?

10

Mr Dropper, sometimes your profundity astonishes me. :bravo:

11

American Chronicle?

Never heard of it. What evidence can you present that this is a trustworthy source of information?

Michael Webster, Investigative Reporter?
Never heard of him. His resume smacks of heavy self-promotional padding, though.

Sounds like a gross exaggeration. Where did that number come from. Evidence?

Yes, it’s a VERY serious problem. VERY. But I’d prefer not to trust just any old exaggeration printed by self-promoting pundits on some obscure web page.

12

I live in San Diego California, right across the beautiful Tia Juana river from all the fun and as a once and future California prosecutor this is of some interest to me. I would say two things, I find the 100,000 foot soldiers a very realistic number based on the wholesale murders going on about 40 minutes south of where I am sitting now. And it is a great example of a DEA-USA Drug Policy question which has never been answered and that is:

If the DEA and the Federal prosecutors manage to extradite major Mexican drug lords and knock out the upper level management of the major Mexican gangs does that mean that the Mexican gangsters will see the error of their ways and stop doing the evil drug business and go back to corn farming and making those ceramic burros that tourist so love

or…

does it simply mean that the fucking US drug policy and obsession with catching the few upper level drug lords so that the DEA can have a nice photo op creates a leadership vacuum in Mexican drug gangs that is “resolved” by hundreds of murders as rivals to the throne (so to speak) sort themselves out.

I should mention in passing that one area of the American Southwest economy that is not in recession/depression is the gun business. The white American gun shops on the El Norte side of the border are doing a fine business. You may think I am kidding but I am not, it is much like that Clint Eastwood film about the drunken Union soldiers selling the rifles to the Mexican banditoes. I forget which one it was Fist Full of Dollars or one of the other ones.

Adios Amigos,
El Brian

13

This may be a slightly better source.

For what it’s worth, I too find the number credible, based on what I hear from friends about the Texas border.

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The soldier thinghy does not scare me. It is the amount of money these guys have, the competition they have with the Southern cartels to buy off politicos in Central America so that their cargos can get through easily while their competitors get stuck, plus “investing” in 'elgitimate" businesses, obviously owned by the same such politicos -so these so called politicians can get reelected in “democratic” elections that please the international community and most importantly, the US of A.

Then they can have the legitimacy to blast off the gang members and their families and any political opposition that gets in the way, as in “accidental” deaths during violent crimes because everyone knows crime is rampant because of the drugs that go to the States and so everything bad that happens is the gringos fault because they are the major consumers yet only people south of the border pay the price for their luxuries and those capitalists are immmoral and salvation is found through rob-olution and che guevara, no, no, though born-again Christianity and neo-con free trade policies and rejecting single mothers and gays and black who are part of drug gangs, because pooor people are poor because they are lazy, not because they can’t get education and women cannot work because it is not safe to work and no one takes care of the kids, so they get into gangs that deal with drugs and etc…etc., etc,…, etc… … :blah: :blah: :blah:

Don’t tell me Latin America is not an interesting place. 100 thousand combined force? Might be a bit short.

15

The situation along the US-Mexico border and in the interior of Mexico is much worse than even this story tells. Mexico has been turned into a narco-ruled dominion with scant hope for change with out massive bloodshed. Think I’m exaggerating? Do some research.
Its money, drugs and power at work.
The Mexican government has sent the Mexican Army into several cities after the local police force has either been so compromised by local cartel money or they have just refused to work due to assasination and murder.
Are there good honest LEOs in Mexico? Yes…of course there are. But these people must try to function in an environment where the morning mail brings a message - “Silver or Lead”…take our bribe or take our bullets. A newer trend is to sprinkle in more and beheadings along with the gunfire.
Deaths directly attributed to drug gangs in Mexico for 2008 numbered over 6300. It looks like 2009 will surpass this.

Juarez, across the border from El Paso was effectively put under martial law this past friday by the Mexican government.
Will it help? IMO, probably not.

I could link to a dozen recent news articles chronicling this decent into madness that has been and continues to occur in Mexico bit it’d probably get tempted or 86’d. Here is just an excerpt to give some overal view of the situation with one link:

[quote][i] * Mexico will send 5000 more soldiers to Ciudad Juarez. Meanwhile a prominent Mexican civil rights activist told a forum in El Paso that the military is involved in unlawful detentions, torture and other abuses while failing to stop the killings. Oops.

* Mexico's President Felipe Calderon felt the need to deny that Mexico is a "failed state." The next day a US State Department report on narcotics control praised Calderon, saying his efforts against the cartels have "proven to be effective." Hmm.

* Meanwhile rampaging organized crime syndicates thumbed their noses at reinforced security measures in northern Mexico, killing 20 people overnight Wednesday. Six of those murders occurred in Juarez.

* The US State Department did not tell spring breakers not to go to Mexico, but it did advise them to avoid areas of prostitution and drug-dealing. (!!!) More than 6,000 people were killed last year in Mexico.

* Texas Governor Rick Perry visited El Paso this week. He wants 1,000 troops to help guard the Texas-Mexico border. "I don't care if they are military, National Guard or customs agents....We must be ready for any contingency." Our local representative responded: "No one in El Paso supports militarization of the border."

* Police are investigating threats against Juárez Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz, who moved his family to El Paso for safety, El Paso police announced Monday.

* After several officers were slain last week, the Juarez police chief resigned. Drug war operatives threatened to murder one of his officers every forty-eight hours until he quit. Since last year more than 60 police officers have been killed in Juarez.

* A Homeland Security official affirmed that Mexican drug cartel violence has spilled over into Texas. Later in the week the US attorney general announced a drug cartel roundup that netted over 750 apprehensions from across the nation.

Mexico’s federal attorney general said Thursday that more than 1,000 people have been killed in drug violence so far this year, but that he believes the worst is nearly over. We certainly hope he has some insider information to substantiate his belief.

And, despite the chaos, millions of ordinary good people in Mexico continue their lives, battling the odds and finding meaning and happiness in small events of ordinary life.
All Voice.com[/quote]

It would be incorrect to interpret this post as an anti-Mexico rant. But it is illustrative of what has been happening to this rich country, both in people and resources.

By the way, the 100,000 figure is probably just slightly low as far as organized ‘soldiers’ working for the cartel groups. But to that number should be added part-timers who are available on a ‘per-job’ basis. Then the number probably is 2xs or 3xs larger.

16

What’s more incredible is almost 1% of the USA is in jail. Stick that in your crack pipe and smoke it.

17

You don’t understand drug culture.

18

If you look at Mexican history (and the general history of that area), the continual cycle of a culture of banditos and/or rebels and robin-hood figures (knights-errant) like Zapata versus governments with endemic corruption, oppression of the poor, hacienda-latifundia systems as well as reactionay vigilante movements, it should not be surprising.

They’re not just drug “gangs” that run a neighbourhood or even a city. I would liken them to warlords of the post-Qing China, except Mexico is not openly/officially broken up into pieces yet.

Like another poster said, I’m more stunned by the implications of what 100K soldiers means in business terms and business stakes - ie what are the net worths and business potentials of those cartels able and willing to support 100+K soldiers (I’m assuming we mean strictly the fighting arm (perhaps not including mercs and allied soldiers), which means more men in support, drug running, businesses, logistics, etc.)

Interestingly, I remember somewhere that the marijuana cartels (as opposed to heroin with the coca native in Peru) in Mexico got their start partly because of Chinese immigrants who were small-time gangs cultivating opium. Then Mexican gangs took it over, and later moved to marijuana giving rise to today’s drug cartels.

19

Most neighbourhoods fall to wreck and ruin when Broon Ale moves in.

HG

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[quote=“brianlkennedy”]

I should mention in passing that one area of the American Southwest economy that is not in recession/depression is the gun business. The white American gun shops on the El Norte side of the border are doing a fine business. You may think I am kidding but I am not, it is much like that Clint Eastwood film about the drunken Union soldiers selling the rifles to the Mexican banditoes. I forget which one it was Fist Full of Dollars or one of the other ones.

Adios Amigos,
El Brian[/quote]

Just this week an AZ gun dealer is going on trial for knowingly selling guns to arms smugglers. The Wall Street Journal has the following article. The Washington Post has an article from two years ago (2007) about this topic.

[quote]PHOENIX – This week, an Arizona gun shop goes on trial in state court in what law-enforcement officials are calling a landmark case against gun dealers who sell weapons that end up in the hands of Mexican drug cartels, fueling horrific violence south of the border that killed more than 6,000 people last year.

X-Caliber Guns LLC, is accused of knowingly selling hundreds of weapons, mostly AK-47s, to buyers who were posing as fronts for Mexican drug gangs. The gun store’s owner, 47-year-old George Iknadosian, has maintained his innocence in court filings.

While the U.S. has long pressed Mexico to stop the flow of illegal drugs such as cocaine from crossing the border heading north, Mexico has complained that the U.S. doesn’t stop the flow of guns heading south. Mexican and U.S. officials estimate that more than 90% of the weapons used by Mexican drug cartels come from the U.S.

Consider what happened last year in the Mexican border city of Nogales. The chief of the Sonora state anti-drug unit, Juan Manuel Pavón, was murdered by cartel hit men, just hours after attending a U.S. seminar on how to resist the tide of American firearms surging into Mexico. Several weapons linked to the crime traced back to X-Caliber Guns.[/quote]