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At Large
Drug Running in Place
Most everything about the Mexican government’s relationship with the drug cartels is a mystery.
There’s been an interesting development in the actions Mexico has undertaken to control its very lucrative illicit drug industry. The Mexican authorities have announced they will compensate informants to the level of 25% of funds or property value that are confiscated with their aid in uncovering money-laundering schemes.
It is possible that Mexican officialdom has not seen the large number of crime films that so expertly detail the rewards that drug cartels mete out to “whistle blowers” or “snitches,” depending for what side one is rooting. Exactly how the Mexican government intends to protect these newly enriched informants is a mystery. But most everything about the Mexican government’s relationship with the drug cartels is a mystery.
The latest figures released by official sources calculate that about $10 billion of illicit drug traffic net income is “laundered” annually by the cartels. Various measures have been introduced to restrict “suspicious transactions” (the official designation). The problem is that the regular business community — banking, real estate, construction, transportation, etc. — all benefit one way or another from this flow of finance. The construction of luxury beach-front condominiums has grown exponentially in the past several years in spite of an otherwise international recession. Unfortunately for the very silent financial partners, the well-publicized drug violence has depressed the numbers of eager American and Canadian buyers.
It has become clear that the Sinaloa cartel has grown to control the entire region of northwestern Mexico from the California/Arizona border down to just west of Mexico City at Michoacan, the home state of the cartel La Familia Michoacana. Los Zetas, the cartel built by former members of Mexican army special forces, has rebounded from its contests with the Gulf cartel and is now well in control of the Mexican border area northwest of Ciudad Akuña/Del Rio on the Texas border all the way to Matamoros/Brownsville on the Gulf. The Zeta territory now extends inland from the Gulf coast all the way down to Vera Cruz and beyond. The importance of this massive division of drug-trafficking turf is the potential to actually reduce the level of violence — a fact of which the Calderon government in Mexico City has taken note.
There have been more than a few reports that the central government has initiated contact through intermediaries with both the Sinaloa and Zetas to work out a “peace agreement” that effectively will reduce violence in the northern states by sharing civil security with the drug cartels themselves. As soon as the possibility of such discussions surfaced, they disappeared from press comment. This meant that the original reports were either totally false or — they were completely true. In either case it was a matter no longer appropriate for public discussion.
American authorities have indicated off the record that they are doubtful that such an entente cordiale would be successfully worked out. Similar deals on a smaller scale have been tried before and they either never got off the ground or lasted only briefly. The principal impediment to such an arrangement is the corruption within the Federal and State government law enforcement structure itself.
The cartels — now with the dominance of the Sinaloa and Los Zetas — have their hands well placed on the “hearts and souls” of key government figures on all levels. With the exception of the Navy and its marines, the Mexican military is reportedly shot through with drug corruption. Some army units have been said to provide drug traffic protection — to say nothing of trafficking in drugs themselves.
The past, however, is never far behind the present in northern Mexico. In the end of April this year the bodies of 128 people were uncovered in mass graves near the Texas border. Apparently these were victims of springtime raids by Los Zetas on buses in the San Fernando region. The authorities were able to squeeze the fact that this was a Zeta operation from one of their suspects, but no one could ever tell the police why the massacre had been perpetrated.
As the drug wars in Mexico took their toll, there has been an increased emigration of their operations into Central America as a transfer station. Guatemala had been a focal point as a new trafficking hub until very successful combined Guatemalan/U.S. teams trapped Juan Ortiz Lopez (aka Chamale) in his home. Lopez had felt quite secure as the “big fish” (as the Interior Minister called him) in Guatemala.
This high tech helicopter raid was an example of what can be done when there is real cooperation between U.S. and Latin American anti-drug agencies. The question is whether Mexico will put aside its official pride and stop blaming the gringos for its own inadequacies and get its house in order. The chances of that occurring do not look good. The Mexican government and its politicians would rather just run hard in place giving the appearance they are trying to get somewhere. Meanwhile the ordinary Mexicans pay the price.
About the Author
George H. Wittman writes a weekly column on international affairs for The American Spectator online. He was the founding chairman of the National Institute for Public Policy.
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Dee See| 5.13.11 @ 6:50AM
ALMOST as 'mysterious' as the Rockefeller
Foundation's American subversion op. at work
via 'generous' funding of BOTH 'la Raza' and
'Reconquista'.
------------BETTER get with the DEE-program
and FAST! This is REAL.
Bob K.| 5.13.11 @ 8:27AM
Coke has always been the choice drug of the "Ruling Class" here in the USA. Maybe when we start putting users of that drug in jail who are related to members of the "Ruling Class" Mexico will stop blaming us gringos and see that we too are serious about controlling the Drug Trade.
Remember all those rumors about that airport in Arkansas when the Clintons were Governors there?
Louis Jenkins| 5.13.11 @ 8:47AM
The Gun Runner scandal is just the tip of the iceberg. Go to the Sipsey Street Irregulars for the scoop on that one. The Mexicano government is hip deep in the dung. A couple of years ago the #2 man in the drug war agency was found to be funded by a cartel, and the truth be there are others higher up who haven't been outted yet. Money is laundered by the banks, so follow the money. Gringos this, Gringos that. What a bunch of malarkee! Fill the moat with ten times the alligators needed, throw in a bunch of sharks, and put Man-O-Wars in it to while you're at it. Maybe then we'd get a little rest from the drugs and hoards of illegals making their way into the country.
Hillel| 5.13.11 @ 9:14AM
As long as we are being paranoid,what about the Bureau of Alcohol,tobacco and firearms selling rifles tht went across the border?
Louis Jenkins| 5.13.11 @ 1:39PM
Dear Hillel:
As I said, go to that blog site and read it. The proper name is Fast and Furious, by the ATF. While there are only 2,700 arms documented, I dare say there is a greater number, including 50 cal. Barrett sniper rifles being sold. How far does the corruption go on our side of the line? Eric Holder? Obama has also hired a "gun" for news leaks too. Who knows, but someone on our side is making money too.
PattyMor| 5.13.11 @ 9:28AM
I have come to the conclusion that, like alcohol, drug usage is with us. So what good is accomplished by chasing drug runners and putting users in jail?
Reluctantly, I have come to the Libertarian position, that drugs (except LSD and date rape drug) should be legalized. Send the users to the conventional drug store and sign a release to get their fix. It would make drugs safer and take the crime out. It would make people responsible for their own decisions.
By ending the war on drugs, we could dismantle the DEA, help pay down the deficit, and focus on rehabilitation.
JimH| 5.13.11 @ 10:05AM
Unless you are willing to consider legalization in some form the choices are these:
1. Maintain the status quo which is to have an ineffective prohibition which serves to enrich gangsters on both sides of the border, increase corruption, and encourage drug users to use more concentrated and dangerous drugs.
2. Have an effective prohibition. This would further erode freedoms lost in the so called war on terror and create new government monsters which would make the DHS look like the ACLU.
Occam's Tool| 5.15.11 @ 11:36PM
Dear PattyMor:
the date rape drug (GHB) is legal---it is a treatment for narcolepsy. Yeah, surprised the crap out of me too when I heard that it had been legalised for that purpose. I have never prescribed it for anything, myself. I prefer Provigil.
Why disallow LSD and allow methamphetamine?
Petes sake| 5.17.11 @ 10:56AM
Well for one thing, we cannot field-test for drug use in the driving population.
Everyone--even the guy who mows your lawn--would have to be drug tested.
For another, it would create a huge regulatory government agency with corresponding costs and tax increases. Thanks but no thanks.
Radioman777| 5.13.11 @ 9:59AM
I'd guess that about half the Mexican government is on the take.
loulou| 5.13.11 @ 10:30AM
You're being generous.
Melvin| 5.13.11 @ 10:21AM
As odd as this sounds. Drugs or form thereof will not be legalized. Government and law enforcement make way too much money for that to happen.
It's not only the Mex's that are corrupt.
The Big E| 5.13.11 @ 11:45AM
"It has become clear that the Sinaloa cartel has grown to control the entire region of northwestern Mexico from the California/Arizona border down to just west of Mexico City at Michoacan, the home state of the cartel La Familia Michoacana. Los Zetas, the cartel built by former members of Mexican army special forces, has rebounded from its contests with the Gulf cartel and is now well in control of the Mexican border area northwest of Ciudad Akuña/Del Rio on the Texas border all the way to Matamoros/Brownsville on the Gulf. The Zeta territory now extends inland from the Gulf coast all the way down to Vera Cruz and beyond."
It seems that the drug cartels want the Mexican Government out of certain parts of Mexico. At what point does their control over these areas rise to the level of sovereignty?
The violence we have seen in northern Mexico is probably coming our way soon. Now, their fighting over control of turf in Mexico; next, they'll be fighting over control of trafficking routes in the U.S.
The Big E| 5.13.11 @ 11:47AM
Obviously, that should have been ". . . they're fighting."
daddio| 5.13.11 @ 12:19PM
Let's just make Mexico the 51st state. Bring the army home from the middle east and send them south to plant the flag.
LMajito| 5.13.11 @ 12:04PM
mexico is just going through the same situation as colombia did in the 80s when lehder, escobar, gacha, ochoa and orejuela controlled the drug trade...they even made an offer to pay 1/2 of colombia's foreign debt if they were left alone in their trade...however the main player, although colombian, was the black widow Blanco, living first in queens nyc, then miami and lastly city of angels out west leaving a trail of murder and blood that stretched from rooselvet ave to sunset strip via dadeland mall. but when you count dollars by the pound rather than bills, out of 10 officials, 11 will be bought and paid for. who can forget us congressman from louisiana with $280k in foil wrapped bill packs in his freezer?
when the mexican society grows weary of the violence, maybe things will change. however, don't expect this anytime soon because mexico has always been a violent land, even from the aztecs time. it part of their genetic makeup...listen to their folks songs sung by their heros...all talk about proudly dying filled with lead even because some dude thought the other guy was talking trash (one example "Llego Borracho El Borracho" by Jose Alfredo Jimenez)
So just like colombia, maybe one day mexico's folks will decide to become civilized and renounce violence but until them no amount of gringo (which is a latinization of the expression "green go" when mexicans wanted the green yanqui soldiers to leave mexico) interference will work...regardless of drugs being legalized or not...
tatosian| 5.13.11 @ 12:07PM
I read a piece a while back written by a guy named Francisco Martín Moreno, a writer for the Mexican daily Excelsior, who wonders why "We never see photographs of U.S. drug kingpins arrested" and asks, "Where are the North American drug kingpins?"
He answers his own question with "Very simple: because an above-suspicion number of U.S. federal and state executive, legislative and judicial branch authorities are on the payrolls of the drug lords...It's better, much better, to blame Mexico for all of its problems…."
A bit of a stretch perhaps but, it is rather odd isn't it? We're told the illegal drug trade is perpetrated by gangs (cartel franchises) in the US.
We are also told that our security and law enforcement agencies are the best in the world, yet the growth of those franchises seems to have accelerated after the birth of the gargantuan dhs.
Curious.
Gives a whole new angle to the open borders crowd doesn't it?
Might also help explain why some legislators, who've consistently disregarded the needs of American citizens, have become obsessed with the human needs of all those good hearted folks bringing their family values across the rio grande.
Curious.
http://www.mexidata.info/id2775.html
ABNCP| 5.13.11 @ 2:16PM
There are two components to this huge narcotics problem Mexico and the United States have. Mexico has historically had a diffenent constitution and different government values than the the United States. Books have been written on the problems Mexico faces, but I want to concentrate on the U.S.
Mexico is at war. The number of casualities on any given month in Mexico due to drug violence compares or exceeds those in Afghanisan. You can look it up. This violence is almost totally caused by those American's who are so selfish and hedonistic they allow the pernicious desire to use drugs overcome their common sense. Most of the Heroin, Cocaine, Methamphetamine and Marijuana consumed in the U.S. originates or transits through Mexico. Anyone who is buying those drugs in the U.S. is financing that violence.
Is Mexico corrupt? Sure at certain levels it always has been. But what's going on down there now is like corruption on steroids. It's the small number of Americans with their insane compulsion for narcotics consumption that finances much of this madness.
How small is that number? Folks, that number is only 1.3%. 1.3% of our population using hard drugs, Cocaine, Heroin and Methamphetamines. Does that make any sense Americans? 1.3% of our population causing much of this madness and we can't stop it. Are you kidding me? If you include Marijuana that numbe comes to about 6%.
I am going to set Marijuana aside since the profits for selling this poison are quite different. The street value of a kilo of Cocaine after being cut with additives to reduce the purity and stretch the investment is about $ 174,000. The street value of a kilo of Marijuana is about $ 2,000. Do the math, it's hard drugs we need to stop.
Now let's crush the myth about legalizing hard drugs and how we can't win this drug war since we tried doing the same with alcohol with the Volstead Act in 1920. The number of Americans using Alcohol in 1919 before prohibation was over 50%. Let's see 1.3% using hard drugs. Over 50% of the country drinking alcohol, oh yeah that would make quite a difference. Of course we can crush drug users and sellers if we get serious about it and stop being the P.C. country we have become. How about first time hard drug user get three years HARD LABOR, that would be making little ones our of big ones. Sellers get five years doing the same. For the second offense, if there is one, users five years and sellers 10 years. Oh by the way there would be no time off for good behavior.
While most of the drugs coming into the U.S. originate in Central or South America, not all of them do. A certain amount is coming in from South West Asia. That money without a doubt is being used to finance the terrorists in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq. Those bastards are killing and wounding our troops. How does that make you scumbag druggies feel? The way to stop this is two fold get serious about taking care of our own drug user/seller problem and SECURE THE BORDER!!!
Ore Gone| 5.13.11 @ 4:06PM
We need to secure all the borders first. We get a lot of hot air blown about national security but only when it furthers the lefts agenda. In the meantime the borders are like a sieve. Jail time has never proven to be a deterrent for addiction. It has been tried many times over the years and all it does is allow the druggies to learn a new trade from the hardened inmates in the prison systems.
The Big E| 5.13.11 @ 4:49PM
I assume you're getting your numbers from various government sources, since they are comparable to the numbers I've seen published by the Feds. Those numbers, I dare say, are nowhere near accurate.
I have been a criminal defense attorney for more than 15 years, and if there's anything I've learned in that time, it is that people routinely lie about their drug use (they also lie about their alcohol use, even when their staggering drunk). They lie about it to their spouses, their families, their pastors, their doctors, their lawyers, their employers, the cops, even themselves. And yet, you think they will be honest about it on a government survey?
Something else I've learned in those 15 plus years is that when you lock a drug addict up, regardless of how long, when they get out, they are still a drug addict, and most of them will quickly return to using drugs.
The reality is that if we instantaneously removed every cocaine, methamphetamine, and marijuana user in the country, we would only be scratching the surface of the drug problem in this country. From what I have seen and read, the number of people in this country who abuse prescriptions medications far, far exceeds the number who abuse the drugs you described, and if you think it is only abusers of illicit drugs who commit crimes to get their fix, then frankly, you're living in a fantasy world. Also, a substantial percentage of those hooked on prescription meds, especially opioid based pain killers like oxycodone or hydrocodone, got that way while taking them according to their doctor's orders.
And don't even get me started on methadone clinics. I'll take up so much space complaining about the way they do things that AS will have to impose a word limit on comments.
None of the above are offered as a justification for legalizing the few dangerous drugs which are currently illegal. And I don't claim to know what the answer is, but it's obvious to me that a purely law enforcement response is simply not going to get the job done, and will only cost us billions more which we simply do not have.
Dave Williams| 5.13.11 @ 7:02PM
Singapore provides treatment for drug users.
Singapore EXECUTES drug dealers.
Singapore does not have much of a drug problem, and if we ever develop the intestinal fortitude to follow their example (well, I can dream...), neither would we.
Pelligrino| 5.16.11 @ 9:35AM
Mr. Williams, I am with you. Execute the drug dealer (and suppliers) on the spot. No apprehending, no incarceration, no trial, no lawyers. Bullets, done, & gone.
6-8 years of zebra striped uniform chain gang hard labor for all illegal drug users. Yes, ALL.
common sense| 6.4.11 @ 9:40AM
Seriously? You are aware that over 60 percent of adults in the US have used illegal drugs, aren't you?
ABNCP| 5.13.11 @ 7:03PM
My post was focused on the Mexican/American border and the chaos that those drugs are having both in this country and Mexico. Perscription drug use we can focus on by smacking doctors and pharmacists around when that time comes . God knows they pass out far to many of the damm things. I've heard the same arguments that I am reading from your posts about the death penalty," the death penalty doesn't solve anything, people still kill people. Well the ones put to death don't. Let me tell you, a person sent to prison doing HARD LABOR, real hard labor, eight hours a day for six days a week swinging a sledge hammer for three to five years will not ever want to go back to that or redo the actions that put them in that position. Of course that means we have to be able to pass out those type sentences. However I believe this country is just about ready to turn the corner. In the next five years this country will see a tremendous change. The liberal P.C. nexus is going to be overturned. As far as drug users and dealers are concerned maybe they go to prison, they don't get out.
The Big E| 5.15.11 @ 9:02AM
"Let me tell you, a person sent to prison doing HARD LABOR, real hard labor, eight hours a day for six days a week swinging a sledge hammer for three to five years will not ever want to go back to that or redo the actions that put them in that position."
Of course won't want to. But if they're an addict, they will anyway. It's almost as if serious addicts have little or no free will when it comes to drugs. Personally, I think we haven't yet begun to understand the full extent of the damage that drug use - whether prescription or illicit - does to the human brain. And I suspect that the truth is that, as a society, we don't actually want to know.
tucker | 5.13.11 @ 8:06PM
Until the first step is achieved nothing will be accomplished. The first step is to SEAL the 2,000 mile border. We live in a world in which terrorism is THE major problem. Terrorists do not wear RED COATS and are taught to blend and infiltrate.
Just for openers I wonder how many terrorist
"CELLS" are established in the United States as a direct result of the open borders .
It's a no-brainer and administration after administration can't address this high security risk . Does anybody in Washington care?
Occam's Tool| 5.13.11 @ 9:50PM
Wall off the border. By the way, Big E, at the suboxone clinic I help run we taper if they don't keep appointments witht herapists or come back dirty on drug screen. We also rarely give a take home dose.
But I have seen methadone clinics that do a crappy job, and suboxone prescribers, as well.
The Big E| 5.15.11 @ 9:07AM
OT,
It's good to know that SOMEWHERE there's a suboxone or methadone clinic that's being run the right way. I've certainly never encountered one. I've had folks come to see me who's been going to methadone clinics for literally years without any reduction in dose whatsoever, plus are still using illicitly.
I agree completely about the border though. Closing it entirely would help alleviate so many problems.
Occam's Tool| 5.15.11 @ 11:45PM
Well, methadone should be continued if the purpose is to block receptors. However, the problem is diversion.
The medical director of our clinic is good friends with the Drug Task Force guys and constantly monitors the situation to make sure that our suboxone scripts/pills are NOT going into the community. I also handle mood disorders co-morbid with this as the psychiatrist on premises, and treat avoiding the use of Seroquel (abusable in this setting) or Neurontin (ditto), as well as the usual controls. He is my primary care guy for our state psych hospital, where I'm his medical director, so we know each other quite well, and can complete each other's sentences. We also do fequent drug screens and reduce if they mess with us.
It actually is easier to run a clinic if you follow rules and set limits. And it's better for the patients. It is important to realize that methadone is going to do jack about stimulant abuse. The trick is that the methadone clinic should be tying methadone scripts to clean drug screens and 12 step attendence. The VA Sepulveda Methadone Clinic, where I trained, did things the right way when I was there---last half of '92.
It's always good to hear from you. Brutal job you have.
Occam's Tool| 5.15.11 @ 11:45PM
Sorry--frequent drug screens.
Replica Handbags&wallet; | 5.13.11 @ 9:52PM
its really very nice and fantastic post, thanks for sharing this with us.
Dee See| 5.14.11 @ 12:40AM
Rockefeller/Carnegie/Ford Foundations,
which BTW share the SAME board of directors, is
BACKING 'La Raza' and 'ReConquista'.
WHAT ABOUT THIS SITUATION DON'T
WE GET?
K962| 5.14.11 @ 6:47AM
Mexico is corrupt as Afghanistan. Invasion by the Meixcan hordes is not acceptable. It is no longer a country but a tribal Cartel fiasco.
Nursing Schools in Virginia | 5.14.11 @ 6:48AM
What about all the huge numbers of deaths which will arise from all the greedy ones who see a chance to turn in members of their own families, just to get a share of the spoils of destruction? The mentality of these people is sub-human.
CHummel| 5.14.11 @ 11:04AM
How many problems would be solved if we drug tested public employees?
Occam's Tool| 5.15.11 @ 11:49PM
Not as many as you'd think. I have worked in a situation where I was randomly drug screened, and one where I was not. I'm a teetotaller whose only weakness was for poppyseed buns and Vienna hot dogs. All one has to do in that case is turn down the sensitivity of that test and proceed.
K Patrick McDonald | 5.15.11 @ 2:43AM
The Big E said:
"The number of people in this country who abuse prescriptions medications far, far exceeds the number who abuse the drugs you described, and if you think it is only abusers of illicit drugs who commit crimes to get their fix, then frankly, you're living in a fantasy world. Also, a
substantial percentage of those hooked on prescription meds, especially opioid based pain killers like oxycodone or hydrocodone, got that way while taking them according to their doctor's orders."
Hallelujah and pass the champagne. I cannot express my appreciation for these words. It is indeed a breath of fresh air to realize there are bright folks out there who actually "get it."
As one who investigates medical crimes, my peers and I are throat deep in the destructive societal impact of the legal drug cartels. So
as a 32-year emergency medical professional who has treated well over 12,200 patients, I proffer this:
We Americans have developed no habit more inherently insane, than forcibly drugging the entire population of healthy people.
The legal drug cartels churn legal poisons out at an astonishing rate; the FDA approves them; and our otherwise ethical doctors become pill-pushers, just as surely as the pimp on the street corner.
The pharmaceutical giants are the monsters of the Midway, amassing an army 80,000 strong to overpower physician doubt – a well-equipped battalion of ground troops armed with the deadliest, most effective weapons known to mankind – spray-on tans & the world’s greatest legs. They have their banter down so well they effectively lecture physicians on what the new diseases ought to be.
Do the legal drug cartels hire chemists, to train our MDs in the nuances of cellular response?
Why, no. They hire cheerleaders:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11.....cheer.html
And our doctors buy the spin, hook, line & sinker.
We now live in a true tail-wagging-the-dog society, where “you might get sick” has become the disease de jour.
But we are not merely poisoning our animals and ourselves. We are poisoning our food and our water and our soil.
How long before we discover – wonder of wonders – that the "health process" itself is far more devastating than the illnesses?
After all, it is indeed errant medicine that kills 400 innocent citizens every day, and 130 or so, are the result of prescription drugs.
Keep popping those pills, folks. Keep up the panic when this year's Flu de jour scare drives you to the vaccine tables. After all, there is NO money to be made in a nation of healthy citizens.
And a steady weakening of American immune systems is like bowling for dollars.
Well, we never really got to the weird science punch-line anyway. At least, not until the very, very end of the Twilight Zone.
Cue Rod Serling.
Bob K.| 5.15.11 @ 8:53AM
How did this column by George Wittman about the Drug Problems of Mexico affecting America get turned into a vehicle for Anti Medical/Pharmacy rants?
Try to stay on point unless you want people to think you are trying to get them off the discussion of the serious drug problems we have with Mexico.---For whatever reason you might have.
Richard Baker| 5.15.11 @ 10:57AM
Bob K:
The drug smuggling airport in question is in Mena, Arkansas. I've always wondered how much Slick Willy and his bride knew of this enterprise.
Truly, if I were a Mexican, I'd be mad as Hell at the gringo desire to get/stay stoned. While Old Mexico had much corruption before, the advent of the Baby Boomer desire/lust for drugs has just made it immeasurably worse.
Bob K.| 5.15.11 @ 4:12PM
As you can tell I am in complete agreement with you.
Many years ago during the Johnson Administration I worked in the Washington DC area. I used to hear stories, even then, about parties thrown by the political class where bowls of Cocaine sat on top of the Grand Piano and little silver spoons were available for the use of it.
I never saw it myself but I heard about it often.
Occam's Tool| 5.16.11 @ 11:42PM
I presume that the Mexican government is completely corrupt. Rarely go wrong that way.
weddingdresses | 6.24.11 @ 2:08AM
As you can tell I am in complete agreement with you.
Many years ago during the Johnson Administration I worked in the Washington DC area. I used to hear stories, even then, about parties thrown by the political class where bowls of Cocaine sat on top of the Grand Piano and little silver spoons were available for the use of it.
I never saw it myself but I heard about it often.