Posts Tagged ‘drug wars’
Seventy-two bodies found at Mexican ranch
Mexican marines found 72 dead bodies at a remote ranch near the U.S. border, the Mexican navy said on Wednesday, the biggest single discovery of its kind in Mexico’s increasingly bloody drug war.
The marines came across the bodies of 58 men and 14 women on Tuesday at the ranch outside a town near the Gulf of Mexico in Tamaulipas state, some 90 miles from the Texas border, after a firefight with drug hitmen in which three gunmen and a marine died, a spokesman for the navy said.
One suspected trafficker was arrested, the navy said, and several escaped in SUVs.
“The bodies were dumped about the ranch and were not buried. We are still investigating how long they had been there,” the spokesman said. He declined to give more details.
Marines guarding a nearby checkpoint reached the ranch after a wounded man approached them and asked for help. The soldiers came under fire as they neared the ranch, the navy said in a statement.
After the firefight, marines seized assault rifles, bullets, uniforms and vehicles from the ranch — including one with forged army license plates…
Tamaulipas has become one of Mexico’s bloodiest drug flashpoints since the start of the year as rivals from the Gulf cartel and a spinoff group, the Zetas, fight over smuggling routes into the United States…
The Zetas were members of Mexico’s elite special forces trained to fight drug cartels, but they switched sides in the 1990s and became one of the country’s most feared gangs led by Heriberto Lazcano, known as “The Executioner.”
Of course, the Zetas are one of the most dangerous groups of criminals in Mexico. Like the Mujahadeen in Afghanistan, they were trained to a large extent by the United States.
Great job of qualifying recruits, guys.
Mexican states voting under the shadow of drug war
Daylife/Reuters Pictures used by permission
Mexicans will elect mayors and governors in a dozen states on Sunday amid drug gang intimidation and murders of several candidates, which highlight the government’s struggle to curb the escalating drug war.
The Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, is expected to sweep the elections in part because the ruling conservatives of the National Action Party, or PAN, have been criticized for their handling of the economic downturn and raging drug violence. The PRI hopes its gains in Sunday’s election will lay the groundwork for a victory in the 2012 presidential election.
A big win for the PRI will test support for President Felipe Calderon, whose popularity is flagging, and could help launch a presidential bid for Enrique Pena Nieto, the fresh-faced new star of the PRI who has a wide lead in polls…
Opinion polls show support for PAN’s Calderon has slumped in recent months as Mexicans tire of a sputtering economy and a steady surge in killings since the president launched his army-led drug war in late 2006.
More than 26,000 people have been slain since then, mostly traffickers and police but also some bystanders and children. Campaigning for Sunday’s elections has been marred by a spurt in violence, including the murders of two candidates…
Surveys show Mexicans’ top concern is the economy, which is limping back from recession. But the bloodshed and weak courts that brings few criminals to justice are increasingly a worry.
I chat once in a while with a group of acquaintances from Mexico. They all share an apartment here in the county and travel back to their wives and family whenever they can catch an extended holiday weekend – or longer. Yes, they all have Green Cards.
They worry about the economy. They would prefer to have jobs back at home instead of being migrant labor.
They worry about the droggos, the gangsters who would murder their own children for a few dollars more.
And they have nothing but contempt for the police and judges in their home state – as corrupt and cowardly. Nothing has changed.
Kidnapped official found – hanging beneath Tijuana bridge
Daylife/AP Photo used by permission
The mutilated body of a state official who authorities said was suspected of giving fake driver’s licenses to drug gang members was found hanging from a bridge Friday in the Mexican border city of Tijuana.
Relatives identified the man as Rogelio Sanchez, a Baja California state official in charge of driver’s licenses, said Prisma Perez, a spokeswoman for the state Attorney General’s Office. Sanchez, 44, was kidnapped Wednesday as he left his home in Tijuana…
His body was found hanging from the Morelio bridge at 5:30 a.m. in an industrial zone of Tijuana, just as factory workers were beginning to arrive for work…
Gang violence has killed more than 13,800 people since President Felipe Calderon launched a nationwide crackdown on drug cartels in December 2006. Many have been police and other government officials who are often attacked near their homes or inside their cars.
Calderon has acknowledged that rampant corruption is a major obstacle in his fight against drug trafficking. Hundreds of police – and many top-level government officials – have been fired or arrested for suspected ties to cartels under the Calderon government.
RTFA and stay up-to-date on the latest drug gang killings in Mexico.
Mexican police arrested – connected with killings of Federal officers
Mexican army now has 36,000 troops deployed in the war against drug gangs
Daylife/Getty Images used by permission
A federal judge ordered 10 municipal police officers arrested in connection with the slayings of 12 off-duty federal agents in southwestern Mexico, the attorney general’s office said.
The recent spate of violence was sparked by the arrest of high-ranking drug cartel member Arnoldo Rueda Medina.
The federal officers’ bodies were found Tuesday on a remote highway in Michoacan state, where at least 18 federal agents and two soldiers have been killed since July 11 due to drug-related violence…
The officers arrested are on the police force in the city of Arteaga.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon, whose home state is Michoacan, responded to the violence by dispatching 1,000 federal police officers to the area. The infusion, which more than tripled the number of federal police officers patrolling Michoacan, angered Michoacan Gov. Leonel Godoy Rangel. He called it an occupation and said he had not been consulted.
Authorities said Wednesday they were searching for the governor’s half-brother, who they say is a top-ranking member of La Familia Michoacana drug cartel. The cartel is blamed for most of the recent violence in the state.
The governor has publicly urged his brother to surrender.
Uh, his brother hasn’t surrendered.
