trip wires

Mass graves found in Mexico.

The Mexican authorities say they have recovered more than 50 bodies from a clandestine cemetery in the northern state of Nuevo Leon. The dead are thought to be victims of drugs gangs who have been fighting for control of smuggling routes into the United States.

Most of the bodies are male and have tattoos. Some have been mutilated and burned. Other graves have been found, including one in May in Taxco.

In the past weeks, two other mass grave sites have been discovered in Nuevo Leon, which is the scene of a fierce battle between between rival drugs gangs. The powerful Gulf cartel has been fighting its former allies, the Zetas, for control of lucrative smuggling routes to the US. 

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On July 23, 2010, Fox News tells us that explosives were seized from gunman in a clash with soldiers in a remote area. These gunmen had army uniforms and satellite phones in their possession.

Mexico's Defense Department said in a statement Friday that soldiers had seized 57 pounds (26 kilograms) of explosives from gunmen killed in two clashes with soldiers in the remote mountains of the border state of Chihuahua. State authorities first reported the shootout between troops and assailants Thursday saying eight gunmen had been killed near the rural town of Madera, about 145 miles (230 kilometers) south of the U.S. border but gave no other details. The Defense Department said nine gunmen were killed in two clashes and that troops had also seized army uniforms, seven satellite phones, two ATVs and ten cars.

Just a week earlier, on July 17th, a drug cartel detonated the first-ever successful car bomb in Mexico. Who could have predicted?

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico — The first successful car bombing by a drug cartel brings a new dimension of terror to a Mexican border region already shocked by random street battles, bodies dangling from bridges and highway checkpoints mounted by heavily armed criminals.
The attack, seemingly lifted from an al-Qaida playbook, demonstrated once again that the cartels are a step ahead of both an already guarded public and federal police, who have recently taken over command from the military of the battle against traffickers in Ciudad Juarez, a city across the border from El Paso, Texas.

...The car bomb, which killed at least three people Thursday, was the one thing nobody was expecting. It was a carefully planned attack designed to catch the extremely wary population and security forces off guard. A street gang tied to the Juarez cartel lured federal officers and paramedics to the site of the bomb by dressing a bound, wounded man in a police uniform and calling in a false report of an officer shot, said Ciudad Juarez Mayor Jose Reyes. Among those killed was a private doctor who rushed to the scene to help treat the wounded man. Among the injured was a local TV cameraman who had been filming the paramedics treating the man. Even in a country where beheadings and drive-by shootings are routine, they could not imagine the cartels would choose that vulnerable moment to strike.

Really? They couldn't imagine such a thing? Even after the drug cartels gunned down all those teenagers at a party a few months ago, for no reason? Totally random? As I wrote at the time:

It's NOT random. This is terrorism. Conditioning your mind. It's all in the papers. You only have to look. They want you to know this, very much, that there's nothing you can do. There's nothing even that THEY can do, because they tried. See? It's hopeless.

Such as this snip from the above story about the car bomb: 

"The attack, seemingly lifted from an al-Qaida playbook, demonstrated once again that the cartels are a step ahead of both an already guarded public and federal police..."

They are always a step ahead. It's just infuriating. How do they do that?

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Al Qaeda-like. We anticipate hearing about links to foreigners. We anticipate officials finding possibly direct links to Hezbollah, Iran, or perhaps a few steps removed via the Abu Sayyaf or Jemaah Islamiya. Something that can be linked back to Iran or perhaps Pakistan without too much difficulty. That would help to provide a justification to do something like bomb Iran or Pakistan in retaliation (self-defense), should an attack happen in the US.

Investigators are looking into how these attackers learned how to do remote controlled car bombs.

Federal police said the bombing attack was in retaliation for the arrest earlier in the day of a top leader of the La Linea gang, which works for the Juarez drug cartel. Investigators were still trying to determine what type of explosives the attackers used. Brig. Gen. Eduardo Zarate, the commander of the regional military zone, said as much as 22 pounds (10 kilograms) of explosives might have been used. He said it might have been detonated remotely, adding that burned batteries connecting to a mobile phone were found at the scene.

A senior U.S. law enforcement official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the Mexican investigation is ongoing, said it is possible Mexican drug cartels were receiving bomb training from foreign groups – but it is just as likely they are learning on their own. "They could be looking at the Internet, and there are publications out there," he said.

Either it's the fault of foreigners or the internet. Win win.

More intelligence needed, according to Eric Olson of the Woodrow Wilson Center's Mexico Institute (think tank).

Olson said the best way for federal police to confront this new threat would be to improve their intelligence capabilities – an area he called a serious weakness. "It requires operational intelligence. It requires 'We know this is going to happen or likely is going to happen in this neighborhood,'" he said. "That kind of refined intelligence is extremely difficult anywhere. But it doesn't seem to be available in a place like Ciudad Juarez."

The cartels, on the other hand, "have an amazing intelligence capability," he said. "They are far ahead of law enforcement. All that keeps law enforcement from getting ahead of the curve." Mexican cartels – armed with billions of dollars and networks of informers among corrupt police forces – have long demonstrated their ability to target the highest-ranking security officials and government officials.

So the drug cartels are Very Organized and have amazing intelligence due to their 1) billions of dollars and 2) networks of informants among the police forces. And the drug cartels are "far ahead of law enforcement" because their networks deliver such good information. It's so good that law enforcement can never catch up. Ever.

But the networks include corrupt law enforcement people.

Therefore, these corrupt people must be high up and/or exceedingly well-placed, or else how could the drug cartels always stay So Organized and ahead of the non-corrupt law enforcement people?

Also, the drug cartels have demonstrated their ability to target the " highest-ranking security officials and government officials." Have the drug cartels targeted the President of Mexico, because he would be the highest-ranking government official. I don't think so. But they have targeted people like this:

Monterrey, NL - Gunmen kidnapped the transit chief of the northern Mexican city of Monterrey, Juan Enrique Barrios Rodriguez, on Monday, hours after abducting highway department director Reynaldo Ramos, city officials said....The kidnappings occurred days after Monterrey Mayor Fernando Larrazabal purged the police department of officers suspected of having links to drug traffickers. A total of 178 officers were dismissed.

And a well-known conservative politician went missing in May, but his body has not been found.

The investigation into FernÁndez’s disappearance sparked a confusion familiar in many recent high-profile murders and kidnappings in Mexico. ...Confusing and contradictory information then sped across the airwaves. Party comrade Manuel Espino tweeted that FernÁndez’s body had been found on a nearby military base, then said the information was unconfirmed and sent an apology to media outlets. A leading radio presenter announced that family members were going to see FernÁndez in a nearby hospital. Mexican news websites flashed reports that a decapitated body had been found nearby. The Federal Attorney General’s office sent three different news releases saying the bearded politician was nowhere to be seen. “Until now there is no sign that FernÁndez is not still missing,” it said in the last statement. Amid the confusion, President CalderÓn sat waiting in his presidential jet before eventually departing late on a scheduled trip to Spain.....Tension has also been simmering inside the PAN in the run-up to 12 governorship races this year, with FernÁndez backing a faction opposed to CalderÓn.

I think the President of Mexico might be safe from the drug cartels. Lucky for him. But people who try to interfere with the Organized Crime rings -- not so much. Meanwhile the President of Mexico and the Obama administration do stay busy doing a lot of hand-wringing and throwing our taxpayer money around while nothing much gets accomplished. They are surprisingly Not Organized when it comes to fighting Organized Crime.

Regrettable, as usual.

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Again, we anticipate hearing about links to foreigners and terrorist groups. We anticipate officials finding possibly direct links to Hezbollah, Iran, or perhaps a few steps removed via the Abu Sayyaf or Jemaah Islamiya, perhaps LeT, or perhaps something new. Some group that can be linked back to Iran or perhaps Pakistan without too much difficulty, because the American people have a limited attention span and there can't be too many links in the chain or it won't be "believable."

Just before this big Wikileaks story came out, supposedly breaking new ground on the Afghan War, Hillary Clinton was in Pakistan making these remarks (among others):

“Should an attack on United States be traced to Pakistan, it would have a very devastating impact.” This means, another demonstration of “shock and awe” over Pakistan, as on Afghanistan in 2001, but with a difference, that India would also join them, as they are also having jitters after the Mumbai attack.

So an attack on the United States traced to Pakistan would justify a major attack on Pakistan, involving India. That seems to be what she's saying.

And an attack on the United States could come from these drug lords in Mexico, especially since now they are using explosives and may have as-yet unspecified links to foreign groups.

But could such an attack be linked to Pakistan? Possibly through the Abu Sayyaf group.

See: foreshadowing, for a very similar situation to the one described above with Hillary Clinton, when Robert Gates seemed to preemptively absolve India for retaliating against Pakistan; and the links between Abu Sayyaf, the US military, and Pakistan.




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April 25, 2009: Terrorist groups operating in Mexico and training cartel gangs

by Michael Webster (http://www.lagunajournal.com/curriculum_vitae.htm)  O_o

Mexican drug cartels, Hezbollah (Party of God) and other Islamic terrorist groups like Al Qaida are joining forces in Mexico. Hezbollah is synonymous with terror, suicide attacks bombings, kidnappings and beheadings. Other tactics include assassination, hijacking. Numerous reports and public Usama Bin Ladin proclamations indicate strong desire to obtain and utilize biological, chemical and nuclear weapons. Al Qaida the international terrorist network that the United States has singled out as the most serious threat to US security.

Their targets tend to be prominent symbols (public buildings, embassy and military personnel, etc.) of the United States, its allies, and moderate Muslim governments. According to a former CIA Director, “Usama Bin Ladin's organization and other terrorist groups are placing increased emphasis on developing surrogates to carry out attacks. No wonder the criminal organizations in Mexico seem to have adopted many Middle Eastern terrorist tactics with kidnappings and beheadings happening throughout Mexico.

According to authorities global Islamic terrorist have moved into Mexico and other Latin American countries to open the door for Mexican cartels to have excess to Afghanistan opuim at bargain basement prices, those profits from those sales are being passed on to Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations worldwide to attack the states from within. Hezbollah is known to be raising money for their cause in the U.S and some Americans say they have brought suite case dirty booms into the U.S. and are waiting for further instructions.

High ranking Mexican army officers claim Hezbollah is currently training Mexican drug cartel enforcement gang members. They are teaching them their gorilla terror tactics that they use in the Middle East. One high ranking Mexican Army officer who will at his request remain anonymous says Hezbollah is now believed to be training Mexican drug cartel enforcers the art of bomb making. It is now feared that there will soon be car and truck bombings of Mexican solders at the many road blocks that they have set up throughout Mexico, their barracks, police stations and even government buildings are at risk. The training is designed to combat the Mexican Army federal police and the American Special Forces and DEA agents now operating in Mexico. 

Hoo! But at the same time that all these anonymous claims and beliefs are coming through, some interesting facts:

High level Mexican military and government sources revealed that U.S. Special Forces and DEA agents are operating in Mexico. They have been allowed into Mexico to seek clandestine terrorist groups believe operating in Mexico. The government of Felipe Calderón authorized some American Special Forces and US anti-narcotics agents to operate in some states without oversight by Mexican authorities. The permission provides that DEA agents will not be required to issue a report to Mexico on their work in the country. Mexican sources said they have no knowledge of which terrorist groups or drug cartels or drug bosses the group will try to meet with because that information “is reserved and the government of the president of the US, Barack Obama, considers it of national security.”

The report goes on to describe how the US collects valuable intelligence about the terrorists in exchange for reduced charges:

The operation concerns the use of a unilateral strategy in Mexico that the U.S. Military and DEA used in Colombia a decade ago and which has, from the year 2000 to the present, involved the voluntary surrender of at least 50 important drug bosses, financial operators and leaders of militant killer units of criminal organizations that still operate in that country. The criminals who will agreed to cooperate with the Americans and provide information about terrorist groups operating in Mexico and who are using terrorist training bases to train drug cartels gang members on militant radical Islamic gorilla fighting tactics and are required to submit to a plan of collaboration that requires the drug bosses to share information about the activities and whereabouts of the terrorist and their colleagues.

They also are to reveal the location of the principal location of the terrorist and the routes of transport of narcotics, humans and terrorist to the US. The information provided is in exchange for the obligation of authorities to reduce the penalty charges once the subjects are incarcerated in the US.

Regarding the operation in Mexico, one official emphasized, “This is a unilateral effort of the US government; the Mexican government is totally out of it.”

So on the one hand the US government has all this information. And on the other hand the drug lords have amazing intelligence and always stay a step ahead, and are incredibly organized.

Let us pause here to consider the obvious implications.

Since then some other groups have come to light. They may be the "surrogates" Webster speaks of.

July 26, 2010: Mexican police investigate possible new drug gang:

ACAPULCO, Mexico (AP) - Mexican authorities are investigating the possible emergence of a new drug gang that appeared to take credit for six killings through a message left with the bodies Monday, officials said. The six men were found inside a car in the southwestern city of Chilpancingo, Guerrero state police said in a statement. Next to them lay a message reading: "This will happen to all rapists, extortionists and kidnappers. Attentively, the New Cartel of the Sierra."

Another possibility: April 6, 2010: New Cartel: Cartel del Pacifico Sur (Cartel of the South Pacific):

State of Morelos - After the assassination of Arturo Beltran Leyva by the Mexican Marines the restructuring of the cartels in Morelos could have possibly created a new drug cartel: The South Pacific Cartel "Cártel del Pacífico Sur" (CPS)

In the last recent days there has appeared graffiti, narco-messages, burning of homes, businesses and cars, and besides the usual murders, there has been a new signature of the source of all this: Cártel del Pacífico Sur (CPS).

South Pacific

Southeast Asia

Sierra Madre