US Drug War In Mexico & Central America

Violence, Official Corruption Are Hallmarks Of US Drug War In Mexico & Central America

Border Agent Killed By Suspected Smuggler

The US Border Patrol lost a 6-year veteran agent in an incident in southern California when he was run down by a suspected drug smuggler attempting to flee pursuit.

The Los Angeles Times reported on Jan. 21, 2008 ("Agent's Death Highlights Attacks on Border Patrol") that "The off-road enthusiasts were revving their dune buggies and all-terrain vehicles Saturday morning when a brown Hummer suddenly cut into the campground. The man at the wheel, a suspected drug smuggler, was heading to Mexico, fast. U.S. Border Patrol Agent Luis Aguilar, the only person in the way, threw a spike strip in front of the car. The Hummer sped up. 'It looked like the man swerved and hit the agent intentionally,' said one witness. Aguilar, struck by the Hummer going an estimated 55 mph, died within minutes."

According to the Times, "Aguilar, 32, a six-year veteran, was part of an anti-smuggling team patrolling the scenic landscape of sand dunes and trailer-dotted campgrounds in southeast California. On weekends, when the dunes fill with riders, Mexican smugglers slip across the open border, trying to blend in with the other off-road vehicles. Authorities suspect the Hummer was carrying drugs. The suspects had been driving west on Interstate 8, but when they saw the Border Patrol following, they turned off the freeway and started speeding back to Mexico. On an access road to the Buttercup campground, just two miles from the border, Aguilar was waiting for them at an intersection. Authorities said it was unclear whether the suspect intentionally ran over the agent, or swerved to avoid the spike strip."

The Times noted that "Nationwide, assaults against Border Patrol agents rose from 752 in 2006 to 987 in 2007. Authorities say clashes are likely to continue as smugglers respond to beefed-up border security with more aggressive measures."

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US Planning $1.4 Billion Drug Control Funding Package For Mexico

The US and Mexico have nearly finalized negotiations for a $1.4 billion dollar drug control funding package. Legislation to approve the deal is reported to be included in a much larger military spending bill. The Dallas Morning News reported on Oct. 2, 2007 ("US May Send Mexico $1.4 Billion In Drug War") that "Tucked in the Pentagon's massive budget request is at least $1.4 billion in U.S. aid to Mexico for its fight against increasingly violent drug kingpins - including better training and high-tech tools. Negotiators for the two countries have agreed on the package now awaiting U.S. congressional approval, officials familiar with the proposal said Monday."

According to the Morning News, "It was unclear whether the Mexican aid package is contained in the $460 billion 2008 defense authorization bill, which the U.S. Senate approved 92-3 Monday night, or in a pending $193 billion supplemental Iraq war budget. One Senate Republican aide familiar with details of the bill said the money is in the measure approved Monday night, but neither U.S. nor Mexican officials could confirm that. In any case, the defense bill still needs to be finalized by House and Senate negotiators before going to President Bush for his signature - and the legislative process is still weeks from completion. A U.S. official familiar with the aid package said it probably will come up for debate in the coming days and weeks as details of the bill become public. The official requested anonymity. Beyond the two-year duration of the aid arrangement, the governments would probably form a permanent cooperation agreement that must be agreed upon by the next U.S. administration following the 2008 presidential election, officials said. In general, the plan calls for the U.S. to take on a bigger role in the fight against Mexican drug traffickers - and it represents a significant increase from the estimated $40 million Mexico currently receives annually from the U.S. government."

The Morning News noted that "Phil Jordan, former head of the regional Drug Enforcement Administration office in Dallas, is skeptical. 'Until you reduce U.S. demand for drugs and weed out the immense corruption among Mexico's law enforcement, pouring more U.S. money into Mexico won't necessarily solve the problem,' he said."

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Drug War Out Of Control, Education System Resource-Poor And Failing; Calderon's Solution: Student Drug Testing

Mexican President Felipe Calderon has announced plans to institute drug testing in schools throughout Mexico. Leaving aside concerns about the effectiveness of student drug testing in general, the question is begged as to whether the Mexican government can afford such an initiative.

The Houston Chronicle reported on July 3, 2007 ("Mexico's President Unveils Anti-Drug Plan") that "Mexican President Felipe Calderon on Monday launched a new phase of his anti-narcotics crusade that will include the drug testing of students in more than 8,000 schools nationwide. Calderon's initiative is seen as recognition of a growing problem among Mexican adolescents. Many Mexicans, including police and other officials, have long seen drug trafficking as an American problem, limiting the public's support for combating the problem. "Society is demanding a coordinated response from the authorities to confront this social cancer," Calderon said at a junior high school in Monterrey, the industrial hub 150 miles south of Laredo, Texas, that has been battered by gangland violence this year. In addition to calling for drug testing, Calderon said local, state and federal governments will build more parks and sports complexes and push for public involvement in them, with an initial $7 million investment in Monterrey. And he said more than 300 clinics would be opened across Mexico to treat drug and alcohol addictions."

According to the Chronicle, "The number of Mexico City middle- and high-school students who admitted using crystal meth doubled between 1997 and 2003, to 3.6 percent, according to the most recent study by the National Psychiatric Institute. Fifteen percent admitted to using some kind of narcotic, with cocaine, marijuana and meth the drugs of choice. However, experts say actual drug use among Mexican adolescents is probably twice that high, particularly in poor urban neighborhoods."

The Chronicle noted that "Warfare between the criminal gangs that smuggle cocaine and other drugs into the United States has killed more than 1,300 people this year and rattled the Mexican public. Police increasingly blame rivalries among retail drug traffickers -- who sell in neighborhoods and villages -- for a growing percentage of the bloodshed. Calderon has sent more than 24,000 army troops into drug producing and trafficking regions where the violence has been worse in recent years. Last week, his administration removed nearly 300 commanders from the federal police forces, replacing them with officers supposedly more trustworthy. The violence has slackened in recent weeks, spurring speculation that the major trafficking organizations have reached a truce that will help take public attention off them."

One serious concern regards the amount of resources available to the Mexican education system. A 2005 report by RAND Corporation, "Education In Mexico: Challenges and Opportunities," noted that:
"The government currently spends about $28 billion yearly on education, almost a quarter of its programmable budget. On per-student terms, this is equivalent to US $1,350, well below the OECD average. Spending is lowest in primary school (US $800), then increases for upper secondary ($1,700) and rises sharply for higher education ($4,000). These disparities in the spending pattern across levels of education raise some important equity issues, as only a small section of the population is able to benefit from the higher spending in higher education. In addition, the share of the rural, low-income, or indigenous students (who tend to be among the most disadvantaged) who can benefit from public higher education is low when compared to populations in urban areas who are relatively better off.
"As is the case in other countries, particularly in developing countries, educational authorities in Mexico have little room to spend resources on school reform programs, school equipment, teaching materials, and other improvement efforts, as teacher salaries represent about 90 percent of education spending (Latapí and Ulloa, 2000). Our interviews revealed that in some states (e.g., Aguascalientes), the proportion of the states' education budget spent on salaries could be as high as 98 percent." (p. 12)

The RAND report further notes:
"Out of every 100 students entering the first grade of primary school in Mexico, around 68 of them will complete all nine years of basic education. Thirty-five of these will go on to graduate from upper secondary. These numbers are taken by using the terminal efficiency or completion indicators and the absorption rates reported by SEP in its latest annual report (SEP, 2003). There are no precise data on how many of the upper secondary graduates enter college. We should note, though, that the dropout levels among those entering college are significant (as high as 77 percent according to figures from ANUIES, 2003). The actual portion of the population aged 18 and older in Mexico that holds a bachelor's degree is around 8.5 percent (Villa and Pacheco, 2004)." (p. 17)

As well, they report:
"Educational attainment and achievement levels in Mexico are generally low, although they have improved greatly in the past 10 years. In 2003, average educational attainment of the population aged 15 and older was 7.9 years, while in 1993 it was 6.8 years. These averages mask important regional differences. Wealthier states like Nuevo León and Mexico City have average educational attainment rates of 9.5 years, which means children have completed basic education plus some upper secondary. In contrast, poorer states such as Oaxaca and Chiapas have average educational attainment of six years, which means children have completed basic primary education only.
"Mexico has not fared well in recent international examinations. On the 1995 Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), Mexican students placed last or second to last among a group of countries that included mostly developed nations. Even in Latin America, Mexican student-performance is among the lowest. The regional mean for language arts in the Laboratorio Latinoamericano student assessments conducted by UNESCO in 2000 was 261. Mexican student scored 250, below the regional Latin American mean, and below Cuba (342), Argentina (277), and Brazil (269). In mathematics, the regional mean was 257, while Mexican students scored 255. Again, this placed them below Cuba (357), Argentina (265), and Brazil (263)."

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Eleven Journalists Killed So Far This Year In Mexican Drug War

Drug wars in Mexico have claimed the lives of as many as eleven journalists so far in 2007, according to a report in the Houston Chronicle ("Mexico 2nd Only To Iraq In Journalist Slayings"). The Chronicle reported that "Statistics vary among watchdog groups, but they agree that Mexico has surpassed Colombia, a country plagued by decades of guerrilla and drug violence, in the number of journalists killed each year. Seven Mexican journalists were slain last year, according to a count by the Miami-based Inter American Press Association. The Paris-based Reporters without Borders tallied nine killings, and the Federation of Mexican Journalist Associations reported 11. Three journalists were killed in Colombia last year, according to Reporters without Borders. The group counted 65 journalists and media assistants slain in Iraq over the past year."

According to the Chronicle, "Many Mexican reporters, particularly in the embattled border states, have stopped writing about organized crime, and, as the drug war spreads south, journalists across the country are becoming targets. On May 3, World Press Freedom Day, the decapitated body of a local drug dealer turned up outside a newspaper in the eastern port city of Veracruz. According to local press reports, the killers left this warning: 'For Milo, you'll all pay. You know it, and more heads of damned reporters are going to roll.' The threat was presumed to be directed at Milo Vera, a local columnist. 'There's total impunity,' said Jose Antonio Calcanio, president of the Federation of Mexican Journalists Associations, which represents 137 journalist groups nationwide. 'The government has no interest in resolving any of these cases,' Calcanio said. 'It's only when there's a prominent case like Amado Ramirez that they pretend to act, but then they forget, and nothing happens.' Two suspects were arrested in the days after the radio host's murder, but both were released on bail. Many of Ramirez's colleagues suspect the men were scapegoats."

The Chronicle noted that "Nearly 1,000 people have died in gangland-style killings related to drug-trafficking in the first four months of the year, compared with 2,000 in all of last year, according to Mexico City's El Universal newspaper. The southwestern state of Guerrero, home to Acapulco, has been one of the hardest hit, with some 300 gangland homicides last year. The city made headlines worldwide after several heads were dumped outside government offices last summer and another washed up on a beach. Then came a series of armed raids on local police stations, including one in which seven state officials died in February. After Ramirez's murder, the U.S. State Department updated its travel advisory for Mexico, for the first time warning of drug-gang violence in Acapulco."

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Mexican Drug War Violence, Corruption Reach New Heights

Violence and corruption are inevitable byproducts of prohibition. The drug war is reaching new heights in Mexico as the fight for control of border trafficking escalates. The Indianapolis Star reported on March 24, 2007 ("Nearly 500 Killed In '07 In Mexico's Drug War") that "According to media reports, nearly 500 people have been killed in Mexico's drug wars so far this year despite a crackdown on the illicit trade by President Felipe Calderon. The dead include dozens of police officers, the daughter of a retired Army general, and a suspected cartel hit man in the northern city of Monterrey left with a knife sticking out of his chest and a message to local officials affixed to his body. 'Attorney General: don't be a fool,' the note said. It accused local officials of protecting Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman, leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, the bitter rivals of the Gulf Cartel, based in the border state of Tamaulipas. 'This is just the beginning.' According to a tally kept by the Mexico City newspaper El Universal, the number of drug-related killings had reached 491 by Friday."

A state security official was one of those who survived an attack by cartel gunmen recently. The New York Times reported on March 19, 2007 ("Mexico Questions Police Officials About Ambush") that "Three high-ranking state police commanders and a former police chief were being held for questioning on Sunday in the attempted killing of the Tabasco State secretary of public security, after hundreds of soldiers and federal agents raided the police headquarters there the day before. The raid was the latest in a series of similar operations President Felipe Calderon has ordered to counter the influence of drug cartels in state and local police forces. 'It's part of the general strategy to go into the states that have problems with narcotics traffickers,' said Miguel Monterrubio, a spokesman for the president. On March 6, gunmen yet to be identified tried to kill Francisco Fernandez Solis, the secretary of public security who took office only a few months ago. Mr. Fernandez Solis survived the ambush but his driver was killed. Last Thursday, a severed human head was thrown on the ground in front of the police headquarters. The grisly act was seen as a warning to officers to avoid meddling in the drug trade. Over the last year, decapitations have become a common way for drug traffickers to intimidate rival gangs and the police in Mexico. On Saturday afternoon, about 350 federal police officers and 150 soldiers and federal agents surrounded the state police headquarters in Villahermosa, the capital of Tabasco, seized the armory and disarmed the local police, as they have done in Tijuana, Oaxaca and other cities since Mr. Calderon took office in December. After the raid, state police officers returned to duty with only nightsticks, while armed federal officers patrolled in pickup trucks. Federal investigators were testing the guns to determine whether any had been used in the attack on the police chief or in other crimes, officials said."

According to the Times, "Investigators in Tabasco originally theorized that drug dealers had attacked the police chief because he was cracking down on their business, but now federal prosecutors are pursing a second line of inquiry, officials involved in the investigation said. That theory holds that a shadowy 'brotherhood' of rogue officers angry over the new police commander's rigorous approach to fighting the drug trade carried out the attack."

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Cartel Gunmen Kill Five Police In Acapulco

Mexican police have become the targets in a bloody turf war among drug cartels. The Dallas Morning News reported on Feb. 7, 2007 ("Cartels Kill 5 Mexican Police") that "Drug cartel assassins posing as soldiers disarmed police at two stations in Acapulco before shooting five officers and two secretaries to death Tuesday in the face of anti-drug operations ordered by President Felipe Calderon, authorities and analysts said. The brazen morning killings came as thousands of federal police and soldiers, some in helicopters, patrolled the beach resort in an attempt to reduce violence from a fierce turf war between the Nuevo Laredo-based Gulf cartel and its Sinaloa state rivals. A police commander also was gunned down in the Sinaloan capital of Culiacan, and on Monday a grenade exploded outside a police building in a town near Acapulco. Witnesses said the Acapulco gunmen brought video cameras to document the slayings. They apparently used the presence of the military to fake a weapons examination at the two police stations, such as one carried out legitimately by soldiers in Tijuana. The Acapulco officers readily handed over their weapons to the fake soldiers, some of whom wore the red berets of army special forces. 'Our colleagues accepted turning over their guns to the seven presumed soldiers. Later they went to a storage area, and then they [the fake soldiers] opened fire on them,' said Jesus Aleman, deputy attorney general for the state of Guerrero."

According to the Morning News, "'This is a demonstration of force,' said Javier Trujillo, who writes on the drug cartels for two local publications in Acapulco. He said he could not remember a greater number of police killed in one day in Guerrero. More than 400 people died in drug violence in the state last year, a dozen of them decapitated. But Tuesday's message, Mr. Trujillo said, is as much for rival traffickers as for the government. The state police killed in the attack, he said, were alleged to have been working for the Sinaloa cartel and its enforcement arm, Los Pelones. For two years, they have been fighting an incursion in their Acapulco 'turf' by the Gulf cartel and its enforcers, Los Zetas, who are based along the Mexico-Texas border. 'To me, this is an operation carried out by the Zetas because they knew that the police commanders in Zapata and Renacimiento were with the Pelones,' said Mr. Trujillo. 'What's surprising is their use of army uniforms. This was a very clean operation.'"

The Morning News noted that "Violence was not limited to Acapulco on Tuesday. In the Sinaloa capital, Culiacan, a police commander was riddled with more than 100 bullets by men who fired at his pickup. And on Monday a grenade exploded outside a federal police building in Tecpan de Galeana, Guerrero, about two hours up the coast by car from Acapulco. No one was injured. The one-day death count of six police officers and two police secretaries was one of the highest for law enforcement in many months. In November, six police officers were slain in the central state of Michoacan."

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Mexican Government Sends Troops, Federal Police To Take Over Law Enforcement In Tijuana

The new president of Mexico, Felipe Calderon, has sent thousands of troops and federal police into Tijuana to take over from the local police. The New York Times reported on Jan. 7, 2006 ("Mexico's New President Sends Thousands Of Federal Officers To Fight Drug Cartels") that "The president has sent thousands of federal police and troops into the drug-plagued states of Michoacan and Baja California to break up criminal organizations and stop the brutal violence they perpetuate. The federal forces have burned marijuana crops, arrested suspected drug gang members and disarmed local police forces the authorities say are crippled by corruption."

According to the Times, "In Tijuana on Tuesday, Mr. Calderon ordered 2,600 soldiers and 110 federal police officers to begin an operation aimed at ending the grip of mobsters on the local police department, slowing the flow of drugs and ending kidnappings and killings related to the trade. The officers began patrolling the streets with caravans of pickups filled with heavily armed officers in black combat outfits. The army set up roadblocks, while navy boats prowled the coast and helicopters buzzed overhead. Soldiers in camouflage uniforms pulled over cars at random and searched them. Federal and state police manned checkpoints in the town. The federal government also stripped all 2,320 city police officers of their weapons on Wednesday night. The move prompted fears that anarchy would break out in the city streets, where drunken brawls, car thefts, muggings and drug-induced mayhem are a daily fact of life. The city secretary of public security, Luis Javier Algorri, said Friday morning there were too few federal officers to keep order, much less ferret out drug gangs at the same time. 'We think they don't have the experience to deal with these sorts of problems,' Mr. Algorri said. 'And without firearms this kind of work will be hard to carry out.' The decision to disarm the local police reflects the belief among federal officials that many local officers are on the payroll of drug cartels as assassins, enforcers and, in some cases, kidnappers. Federal prosecutors say the lack of help from the local police in border towns, either because they are corrupt or afraid, makes it nearly impossible to dismantle drug cartels."

The Times noted that "But some opposition politicians and experts on the drug trade wonder if the federal interventions are not more flash than substance, and question if they will have a lasting impact on the drug trade and police corruption, whose roots run deep. Mr. Calderon's predecessor, Vicente Fox, created an elite force to combat narcotics dealers and arrested dozens of drug cartel leaders during his six-year term. Rather than stanch the violence, however, the arrests led to a brutal war between the remaining traffickers for the smuggling routes and territory."

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Crackdown On Domestic Methamphetamine Production Spurs Growth In Imports From Mexico

A growing number of authorities around the US are becoming aware that Mexican methamphetamine production has been increasing dramatically in the past few years since states and the federal government have been cracking down on domestic US production. The Los Angeles Times reported on Nov. 26, 2006 ("US Crackdown Sends Meth Labs South Of Border") that "Methamphetamine production has surged south of the border, from Baja California ranches to the highlands of Michoacan to the industrial parks here in Mexico's second largest city, where authorities in January busted the largest laboratory ever discovered in the Americas. The fortress-like compound ringed by high brick walls housed 11 custom-designed pressure cookers that could produce 400 pounds of the drug per day. It dwarfed anything ever found in California, where the standard cooking tool is a 23-quart beaker and a 20-pound batch is considered a good production day. 'It was the mother lode of mother lodes,' a U.S. law enforcement official said. The boom in Mexican methamphetamine production stems from successful efforts in the U.S. to control the sale of chemicals used to produce the drug, including the cold medicine pseudoephedrine. Drug traffickers, some of them ex-convicts and fugitives from the United States, including a former chemistry professor from Idaho arrested last month, authorities say, have resettled in Mexico because of the easy access to pseudoephedrine and other chemicals. The largest share of the chemicals is believed to be shipped to Mexico from factories in China and India and routed through Hong Kong. China has emerged as the top concern for U.S. authorities. Like traffic in heroin and cocaine, the methamphetamine economy has become a global phenomenon. So too is the battle to control what most U.S. law enforcement authorities consider the country's greatest drug threat."

According to the Times, "The rural fringes of California metropolitan areas, including the Inland Empire, which once were centers of methamphetamine production, remain important distribution hubs. But the number of 'superlab' discoveries in California has dropped from 125 in 2003 to 12 through mid-October this year, according to the DEA. Nationwide, the numbers have dropped from 130 to 19 during the same period. Superlabs are operations that can produce more than 10 pounds of methamphetamine per cooking cycle. Authorities now estimate that 80% of the methamphetamine on U.S. streets is controlled by Mexican drug traffickers, with most of the supply smuggled in from Mexico. Methamphetamine seizures at the U.S.-Mexico border jumped 50% from 2003 through 2005, from 4,030 to 6,063 pounds. Mapping the methamphetamine production network is difficult in a country of remote ranchlands and under-patrolled metropolitan areas. Few law enforcement authorities are trained to recognize the signs of a drug lab, including the fumes and pollutants that pose significant environmental hazards. Nonetheless, the number of labs discovered by Mexican authorities nearly tripled from 2002 to 2005, from 13 to 37, and methamphetamine seizures more than doubled, to 2,169 pounds, during the same period. U.S. authorities believe the numbers are a fraction of actual activity, as signs of an extensive production infrastructure have surfaced in the last year or so. Among those signs: Mexico's importation of cold medicines jumped suddenly in recent years, from 92,000 tons in 2002 to 150,000 tons in 2005. Though recently imposed restrictions have cut legal imports by about half this year, U.S. authorities believe significant amounts are still being smuggled through corruption-ridden Mexican ports."

The Times noted that "In Mexico, meanwhile, drug lab discoveries have spanned the country. In Mexicali, several labs have erupted in flames. In Michoacan, authorities have discovered large production operations and believe lab activity is rife in the state's rural areas. Producers also have flooded the Mexican domestic market with the drug, creating an epidemic of methamphetamine addiction and drug-related crime in many cities. 'It's a grave public health problem of enormous dimensions,' said Victor Clark Alfaro, a border expert and director of the Binational Center for Human Rights in Tijuana. Guadalajara, capital of the western state of Jalisco, has emerged as a production hub for methamphetamine, authorities say. Lab activity is easily camouflaged in the metropolitan area of 4 million people, which encompasses isolated ranchlands, industrial areas and densely packed urban neighborhoods where exhaust and sewer smells mask the fumes of superlabs."

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Trafficking From Mexico, Corruption At Border Getting Worse

Though it is difficult to imagine it is believed that corruption at the border and drug trafficking into the US from Mexico is getting even worse. The Dallas Morning News reported on Sept. 25, 2006 ("Narcotics Seizures On Rise Along Border") that "With the fiscal year almost over, Customs and Border Protection's Laredo sector saw its heroin seizures jump 40 percent. Seizures of undeclared currency, frequently a measure of illegal drug proceeds headed south, jumped 72 percent to nearly $10 million. And officials are particularly alarmed that a relatively new kid on the block, a purer and more addictive Mexican-produced methamphetamine, is showing up all over the state in huge amounts."

According to the Morning News, "The illicit drug marking the biggest increase -- and the most alarming, authorities said -- is the smokable form of methamphetamine, known as 'ice.' This fiscal year, customs inspectors at eight ports of entry between Brownsville and Del Rio have seized 683 pounds of meth as of July 5, the most recent month for which data are available. That compares with 627 pounds for all of fiscal 2005. DPS agents seized 123 pounds of Mexican meth in the first quarter of fiscal 2006, compared with 28.8 in the same period in the previous. fiscal year. In June, DEA administrator Karen Tandy told a Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee that about 80 percent of the meth used in the U.S. is distributed by Mexican trafficking organizations and comes from large 'super labs' built on the Mexican side of the border. Three are located at Monterrey, Ciudad Acuna and Piedras Negras."

The Morning News noted that "The Drug Enforcement Administration estimates 65 percent of all narcotics smuggled into the U.S. enters from Mexico. Three of the four major distribution pipelines used by Mexican drug cartels pass through Texas. But for every strategic advance by drug agents, Mexican traffickers try out new ways to bypass law enforcement's attention. For instance, Border Patrol agents in McAllen caught a man last June with 38 pounds of heroin sewn into a vest. Inspectors in the Valley find that smugglers are opting for frequency over quantity, running smaller loads across the international bridges more often. 'We now have more people and are better equipped to conduct border inspections faster and more efficiently,' said Felix Garza, spokesman for Customs and Border Protection at Pharr. 'The smugglers know that, and they're always looking for ways to beat the system.' And for the area around Laredo, the continuing lethal turf battle between rival drug organizations across the river in Nuevo Laredo plays a key role in the intensified movement of drugs, said Leticia Moran, director of field operations for the Customs and Border Protection's Laredo office, which covers eight ports of entry from Brownsville to Del Rio. 'It appears the organizations are trying to move more hard narcotics in an effort to make more money,' said Ms. Moran. 'They try to put more of the smaller loads of the more expensive drugs across.'"

A graphic by the Morning News displaying statistics on border seizures along with other drug data is available by clicking here.

Corruption and violence are also on the increase. The El Paso Times reported on Sept. 20, 2006 ("Feds – Agent Took Money, Let Drugs Pass Checkpoint") that "A veteran U.S. Border Patrol agent has been arrested on accusations he was bribed to wave drug loads through the checkpoint on Highway 62/180 east of El Paso, federal court documents state. Arturo Arzate Jr., 47, was arrested Friday as part of an on-going multi-agency investigation that included undercover agents, said Special Agent Andrea Simmons, a spokeswoman for the FBI in El Paso. Border Patrol spokesman Doug Mosier said Arzate has been with the agency since 1985 and has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the case."

According to the Times, "According to a federal criminal complaint, Arzate was allegedly paid $50 per kilo of marijuana and $1,000 per kilo of cocaine he allowed to pass through the checkpoint between El Paso and Carlsbad. The document alleges Arzate met with smugglers to plan when he could allow contraband to pass. An investigation began last November when someone told the FBI that Arzate had been seen with a now-dead local drug trafficker named David Soto discussing moving drug loads through the checkpoint, the complaint stated."

US officials are now expressing concerns that drug cartels have the upper hand in Mexico. The Dallas Morning News reported on Sept. 21, 2006 ("Are Drug Cartels Gaining Upper Hand In Mexico?") that "Once encouraged by Mexico's assault on drug traffickers, U.S. officials now worry that the cartels' growing geographic reach and the recent killing of a judge and police officials are signs that the government may be losing control of the drug fight. The powerful cartels are securing smuggling routes through Central America and are recruiting gunmen from there, say senior U.S. officials in Washington and Mexico City. 'The concern is growing. There is a dramatic spike in violence,' said one senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity. The tense presidential succession now under way in Mexico will make the coming months 'very dangerous,' the official said. Law enforcement officials from both countries will meet today in the Texas border city of Laredo, in part at the urging of U.S. Ambassador Tony Garza, who last week described lawlessness in Mexico as an urgent problem. The U.S. Embassy issued a new travel advisory to Americans, warning them of a rising level of 'brutal violence' throughout Mexico, especially along the border with Texas. Mexican officials acknowledge the violence but say it is a result of their aggressive law enforcement efforts. They say the U.S. must share responsibility for the problem because of the continuing demand for illegal drugs. Foreign Minister Luis Ernesto Derbez called Mr. Garza's comments 'unfortunate.'"

According to the Morning News, "The attacks against public officials have led some U.S. officials to compare the situation in Mexico to Colombia in the 1980s and '90s, when drug cartels declared war on the government and targeted police, judges and even politicians. 'It's a practice, a pattern of terrorism in that they are trying to influence public opinion about who's really in charge and what their capability is and to silence those who may want to come forward and help both of our governments,' said a senior U.S. anti-narcotics official, speaking on condition of anonymity. 'Mexico is waking up to a new era of brutality. Anyone who gets in the way, including law enforcement, pays the price. They're turning it into this public spectacle. That's alarming.' Most of the victims of drug violence continue to be members of the drug-trafficking organizations, which are battling for control of turf and trading routes, officials say. More than 1,500 people have been killed this year in drug-related violence, and the violence has taken a brutal turn, with 13 beheadings in recent weeks. Last week, authorities in the central state of Michoacan arrested three Guatemalan men, two of whom identified themselves as former soldiers. The men had 12 military-style assault rifles and nearly 3,000 bullets. Investigators said that they may have belonged to a brutal anti-insurgency battalion in Guatemala known as Kaibiles and that they may have participated in six beheadings this month in Uruapan, Michoacan. Prosecutors said the men testified that there are more former Guatemalan soldiers in the state, fighting a fierce turf war between the Gulf cartel, based in Nuevo Laredo, and the local Milenio organization. Current and former U.S. law enforcement officials say the brutal tactics, if not halted, may travel beyond the U.S.-Mexico border and into the United States. 'If these beheadings and other types of violence aren't curtailed in the killing fields of Mexico, don't be surprised that soon they will find their way to El Paso, Laredo or the Dallas metroplex,' said Phil Jordan, former U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration chief in Dallas. 'Narcoterrorism knows no boundaries.'"

The Morning News noted that "A new study by Mr. Yanez (Jose Arturo Yanez Romero, a professor at Mexico's National Institute for Criminal Law) found that 3,502 federal investigators of the attorney general's office have been investigated for corruption since 2001, and hundreds more for other crimes. The attorney general's office has 12,000 employees. In a presentation this month at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, Mr. Yanez said that 400 members of the military have been killed in the battle against drug traffickers since 2000. More than 60 federal investigators have been killed in that period, along with hundreds from state and municipal police forces. One of the issues troubling U.S. officials is the lack of response from Mexican law enforcement authorities in going after criminals who've assassinated government officials =AD setting a dangerous precedent for fellow police authorities and elected officials. The recent killings of the judge and the police officials are examples of 'where a line must be drawn and not allowed to cross,' said the senior U.S. anti-narcotics official. 'What we saw happening 10 to 15 years ago in Colombia is now very, very alive and well in Mexico. The dynamics between Mexico and Colombia are different, but the challenges are the same,' the official said. 'Mexico is waking up to a new era of violence never seen before.' In Villa Madero, Michoacan, the entire 32-member police force resigned or failed to show up for work this week after being threatened by drug traffickers, local authorities said. Members of the force complained about a lack of arms and communications equipment to protect themselves. The town is near the state capital of Morelia."

Fox Buckles Under US Pressure, Tells Legislature To Reconsider Decriminalization Bill

Mexican President Vicente Fox, bowing to US pressure, has told the Mexican legislature to reconsider the decriminalization measure which it recently passed – even though his administration had introduced the measure in the first place. The New York Times reported May 4, 2006 ( "Under US Pressure, Mexico President Seeks Review Of Drug Law") that "After intense pressure from the United States, President Vicente Fox has asked Congress to reconsider a law it passed last week that would decriminalize the possession of small amounts of drugs as part of a larger effort to crack down on street-level dealing. In a statement issued late Wednesday, Mr. Fox said the law should be changed 'to make it absolutely clear that in our country the possession of drugs and their consumption are and continue to be crimes.' Officials from the State Department and the White House's drug control office met with the Mexican ambassador in Washington Monday and expressed grave reservations about the law, saying it would draw tourists to Mexico who want to take drugs and would lead to more consumption, said Tom Riley, a spokesman for the Office of National Drug Control Policy."

According to the Times, "Later in the day, Mexico's chief of the Federal Police, Eduardo Medina Mora, tried to clarify the law's intent, saying its main purpose was to enlist help from the state and local police forces. Until now, selling drugs has been solely a federal offense, and the agents charged with investigating traffickers are stretched thin, he said. Mr. Medina Mora, the main architect of the first measure, which Mr. Fox sent to Congress in January, said it was true the law would make it a misdemeanor to possess small quantities of illegal drugs, but he added that people caught with those drugs would still have to go before a judge and would face a range of penalties. 'Mexico is not, has not been and will not be a refuge for anyone who wants to consume drugs,' Mr. Medina Mora said. The current law has a provision allowing people arrested on charges of possessing drugs to argue they are addicts and that the drugs were for personal use. The new law sets an upper limit on how much of each drug one could possess and still claim to be using it to support a habit, Mr. Medina Mora said, and stiffens penalties for people possessing larger amounts of drugs."

The Times noted that "Judith Bryan, a spokeswoman for the American Embassy here, said the officials in Washington had urged Mexico "to review the legislation and to avoid the perception that drug use would be tolerated in Mexico and to prevent drug tourism." It is unusual for American officials to try to influence internal Mexican legislation. Mr. Fox made it clear late Wednesday he would not sign the bill in its current form, but would send it back to Congress with proposed amendments."

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Mexico Moves Toward Decriminalizing Simple Drug Possession In Spite Of US Pressure

The nation of Mexico has moved closer to decriminalizing personal use possession of small amounts of some drugs. According to the New York Times on April 29, 2006 ("Mexico Passes Law Making Possession Of Some Drugs Legal"), "Mexican lawmakers passed a sweeping new drug law early Friday that would crack down on small-time dealers, legalize the possession of small quantities of drugs and mandate treatment for addicts. Under the bill, it would be legal to have 25 milligrams of heroin, a fifth of an ounce of marijuana or half a gram of cocaine. The bill also makes it legal to possess small amounts of LSD, hallucinogenic mushrooms, amphetamines and peyote. President Vicente Fox had proposed the law in January 2004 in the hopes of slowing down the rapid growth in drug addiction and the ranks of small-time dealers that has hit Mexican cities and towns in recent years, just as it has long plagued American cities. Both houses of the Mexican Congress passed it in a last-minute flurry of legislation as their session drew to a close. The final version of the bill passed the Senate by a vote of 53 to 26 during an all-night session that ended Friday morning. After its final approval, the president's spokesman, Ruben Aguilar, said Mr. Fox would sign it into law. 'This law gives police and prosecutors better legal tools to combat drug crimes that do so much damage to our youth and children,' Mr. Aguilar said."

The Times reported that "Supporters of the bill said it was meant to fix major flaws in Mexico's current drug laws. First, it will allow local judges and the police to decide on a case-by-case basis whether people should be prosecuted when caught with small amounts of drugs. Previously, every drug suspect had to be prosecuted, a system that put many addicts in jail while dealers went free after bribing officials. Second, the state and local police will be empowered to arrest and prosecute street dealers who are carrying more than the minor amounts allowed under the law. Under existing laws, drug crimes were handled only by federal officials. The new measure also requires people caught with less than the legal limits to go before a judge, prove they are addicts and seek treatment. 'We are not authorizing the consumption of drugs,' said Senator Jorge Zermino, the bill's sponsor in the Senate. 'We are combating it and recognizing that there are addicts that require special treatment. We cannot close our eyes, nor fill our jails with addicts.'"

The reaction of the US government was muted. According to the Associated Press on April 29, 2006 ("US Cautious On Mexico Drug Measure) that "The United States reacted cautiously on Saturday to a Mexican measure that would make it legal to carry small amounts of cocaine, heroin and other drugs for personal use. News of the decriminalization did not make the front pages of any major Mexico City newspaper, nor was it discussed in editorials. It was slightly better publicized in the north of the country, where turf wars between rival drugs gangs have caused hundreds of killings along the Mexico-U.S. border, but was still overshadowed by news about immigration."

Reaction in the US was mixed. The San Antonio Express-News reported on April 29, 2006 ("Mexico Close To Legalizing Drug Use") that "A spokesman for Texas Gov. Rick Perry expressed displeasure and called the vote a 'tragic reversal of the war on drugs.' 'Obviously, this will create a lot more problems with drug traffickers along the border,' spokeswoman Kathy Walt said, adding that Texas had lost its 'partner' in the drug war. 'We expect the situation will only get worse,' she said. Gary Johnson, the controversial Republican governor of New Mexico from 1994 to 2002, welcomed the move and suggested laws should be relaxed further. 'I think it is certainly a step in the right direction,' Johnson said, taking a break from a marathon bike ride from New Mexico to California. 'If an individual is smoking marijuana in the confines of their own home, doing no harm to anyone other than arguably themselves, that shouldn't be a crime,' he said. The U.S. government, often critical of Mexico's efforts to fight drug cartels, declined to officially comment. 'We haven't studied the law yet, but any effort to decriminalize or legalize illegal drugs, even for personal use, would not be helpful,' said a U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the delicate nature of international relations."

According to the Express-News, "Along the Rio Grande, drug-fueled violence and corruption are so entrenched that officials are desperate for relief. Francisco Chavira, a Nuevo Laredo city councilman, supported the bill and said its provisions would allow authorities to focus on kingpins and spare the addicts. 'It is good that Congress passed the measure, because being a consumer and being a drug trafficker are not the same thing,' said Chavira, who believes addicts should not be punished, but treated. 'The war on drugs is one thing; addiction is another,' he said. 'Different strategies are needed for each.' In nearby Laredo, Webb Country Sheriff Rick Flores said Mexico was hunting for solutions. 'Right off the bat, I can tell you that Mexico is trying an experiment to see how to deal with minor offenders,' he said. 'The Mexican bill is not as radical as it sounds, but letting drug users off the hook could actually cause a rise in other crimes.'"

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Nuevo Laredo Shake-Up: Top Cop Steps Down, General In Charge Of Federal Law Enforcers In Area Quits

Law enforcement in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, was shaken up in March with the departure of two top officials. The San Jose Mercury News reported on March 24, 2006 ( "Violent Border City Seeks New Top Cop") that "In a new sign of turmoil on the violence-racked Mexican border, the police chief in Nuevo Laredo has resigned and authorities have quietly replaced the military general in charge of law enforcement, officials confirmed Thursday. The changes came a week after the administration of President Vicente Fox blamed corrupt elements of the city police force for a spectacular attack that killed four federal intelligence agents last week. A Fox official indicated that the hit men were aligned with a drug cartel. Police Chief Omar Pimentel, in the job for only eight months, resigned Wednesday night and the mayor accepted his resignation, said city press officer Marco Antonio Martínez. Pimentel was the successor to Alejandro Domínguez, who was gunned down last summer on his first day in the job. Officials named a temporary replacement Thursday and said patrols would continue uninterrupted. Also Thursday, a representative of the Federal Preventative Police (known here as the PFP) confirmed that Gen. Álvaro Moreno Moreno, who had been leading law enforcement efforts in Nuevo Laredo since last summer, had been replaced March 14 without official announcement."

According to the Mercury News, "Nuevo Laredo, 2 1/2 hours south of San Antonio, is at the center of a war between two drug cartels competing for access to lucrative distribution routes into the United States. Already, 57 people have been slain in gangland-style attacks this year, more than double the number killed during the same period last year. Late last week, only a day after authorities sent in some 600 reinforcements from the PFP, suspected traffickers gunned down four federal agents dressed in civilian clothes in a brazen afternoon attack. Rubén Aguilar, a press officer for the president, said evidence pointed to involvement by corrupt city police officers."

The Mercury News noted that "Moreno, who was leading the federal agents in Nuevo Laredo, had left quietly weeks earlier, officials told Knight Ridder. His departure came amid Mexican media reports and public statements raising questions about whether the PFP forces sent to restore order have themselves been infiltrated by elements of the drug cartels. PFP official Daniel Popoca said Thursday that Moreno had been rotated out as part of a routine change in the federal police forces, not because of his performance."

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Members Of Mexican Military Accused Of Illegally Crossing US Border, Aiding Traffickers

Media reports are raising concerns that members of the Mexican military, frustrated by low wages, are going to work for drug traffickers and have even crossed into the United States conducting illegal business.

The Dallas Morning News reported Dec. 24, 2005 ( "Drug War Corruption Taints Mexico Military") that "U.S. officials and analysts say there are new signs that drug corruption is spreading within the Mexican military, an institution long regarded as more professional and less prone to criminality than the country's law enforcement agencies. In interviews, four senior U.S. officials, a senior Mexican intelligence official and three independent analysts all expressed concern about the expanding role of the Mexican military in the drug war. Some said low pay among the middle and lower ranks makes military personnel vulnerable to offers from cartel leaders who may double or triple their pay. 'Corruption is more serious in the Mexican military than just about any other Latin American military,' a U.S. official said on condition of anonymity. 'The reason is not that the Mexicans are any more venal; it's that we're talking about huge amounts of money because drugs flow into Mexico and that makes them more vulnerable.'"

According to the Morning News, "The emergence of two new paramilitary groups, Los Negros and Los Numeros, which may seek to bolster their forces with military personnel and federal agents, has added to the concern, U.S. officials said. The groups are said to work for the Sinaloa cartel, purportedly headed by Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman. They were recruited to battle the rival Gulf cartel and its enforcement arm, the Zetas, and to spread the Sinaloa cartel's dominance along the entire U.S.-Mexico border, the officials said. The Mexican government's central role in fighting drug trafficking is a relatively recent development. In 1996, during the administration of President Ernesto Zedillo, the U.S. government encouraged the Mexican government to give the military a central role in anti-narcotics efforts - in part because the military was viewed as uncorrupted, analysts said. 'We're the ones who pushed the Mexican military into fighting narcotics,' said Armand Peschard-Sverdrup, head of the Mexico Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. 'We've pushed them into narco-corruption.'"

The Morning News noted that "The military - historically a rallying point of Mexican nationalism - was long viewed as relatively free of the kind of corruption that has engulfed the country and many of its institutions. For example, this month the Mexican attorney general's office said that 1,493 federal agents - about one of every five members of an elite force of 7,000 working for an agency modeled after the FBI - were under criminal investigation. In the past five years, President Vicente Fox has dramatically increased the military's participation in anti-drug efforts by including military personnel on the attorney general's payroll. 'I think it's very dangerous to move military officers into what should be civilian jobs,' said another senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity. 'It's very risky, not only to the mission they're supposed to perform, but to the institution from where they come.' Since 1996, the U.S. government has spent at least $225 million on training and other military assistance for anti-drug aid programs, according to a report by the Washington Office of Latin America, or WOLA, a nongovernmental organization that monitors military cooperation between Mexico and the U.S. Giving the military a central role has 'allowed drug traffickers to penetrate deep into the military structure,' without markedly slowing the flow of drugs to the U.S., the report said. 'Transparency is essential to combating corruption, but the Mexican military has managed to avoid external oversight,' said Joy Olson, executive director of WOLA. 'It should come as no surprise that the military's secrecy is one factor that has made it more vulnerable to the corrupting influence of the drug trade.' Low wages U.S officials and analysts stressed that low pay among rank-and-file soldiers makes them especially vulnerable to drug traffickers. Soldiers make about $300 a month, compared with $5,000 for lieutenant colonels and about $28,000 for the defense secretary, according to a salary scale on the military's Web site."

Adding to the concern are reports that Mexican soldiers, allegedly in the employ of trafficking organizations, have crossed into the US repeatedly over the past several years. The Los Angeles Daily News reported on Jan. 15, 2006 ( "Document Says Mexican Soldiers Crossing Border Into United States") that "The Mexican military has crossed into the United States 216 times in the past nine years, according to a Department of Homeland Security document and a map of incursions obtained by the Daily Bulletin. U.S. officials claim the incursions are made to help foreign drug and human smugglers into the United States. The 2001 map, which shows 34 of the incursions, bears the seal of the president's Office of National Drug Control Policy."

According to the Daily News, "Kristi Clemons, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, would not confirm the number of incursions, but said Saturday the department is in ongoing discussion with the Mexican government about them. 'We - the Department of Homeland Security and the CBP ( U.S. Customs and Border Protection ) - are determined to gain control of the border and will continue to collaborate with our partners on the border,' Clemons said. Border Patrol agents say they for several years have reported sightings and confrontations with Mexican military inside the United States, which the Daily Bulletin documented last year in its Beyond Borders series about immigration. 'We've had armed showdowns with the Mexican army,' said a border agent who spoke on condition of anonymity. 'These aren't just ex-military guys. These are Mexican army officials assisting drug smugglers.' In one 2000 incident, more than 16 Mexican soldiers were arrested by border agents in a small town west of El Paso, in Santa Teresa, N.M., after Mexican soldiers fired on the agents, said T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council. None of the agents was injured in the gunbattle, and U.S. State Department officials forced the border agents to release the soldiers and return them to Mexico with their weapons, Bonner added."

The Daily News noted that "Mexican government officials said they have neither seen the report nor map and dispute the findings, stating that at no time in recent years have military personnel crossed the border into the United States. 'I strongly deny any incursion by the Mexican military on United States soil,' said Rafael Laveaga, spokesman for the Mexican Embassy in Washington, D.C. 'When it comes to Mexican military on the southern side, I have no reports of them crossing into the United States. That would mean that the patrol got lost or lack of expertise and orientation. This could be smugglers with fake uniforms as a tactic to confuse the authorities.' Laveaga added that Mexico's law enforcement agencies work closely with the FBI, Office of National Drug Control Policy and other U.S. agencies to assist in the capture of drug cartel members. Further, Laveaga contended that wealthy smugglers can afford fake uniforms and camouflage their vehicles to resemble those of the military."

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Top Guatemalan Anti-Drug Cops Arrested

The head of a Guatemalan anti-drug police force and two of his deputies were arrested on trafficking charges by US authorities in Nov. 2005. The Associated Press reported on Nov. 16, 2005 ( "US Arrests Top Guatemalan Drug Investigator") that "Police in Virginia have arrested Guatemala's top anti-narcotics investigator and two of his key aides and charged them with conspiring to smuggle drugs into the United States, Guatemalan authorities said Wednesday. Adan Castillo and two deputy investigators, Jorge Aguilar Garcia and Rubilio Palacios, were arrested Tuesday, Guatemalan Interior Minister Carlos Vielman said during a news conference in Guatemala City, the nation's capital. They were charged in a three-count indictment issued by a federal grand jury in Washington after a four-month investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Guatemalan government. 'More than corrupting the public trust, these Guatemalan police officials have been Trojan horses for the very addiction and devastation that they were entrusted to prevent,' DEA Administrator Karen Tandy said in Washington."

According to AP, "Castillo was in Virginia for a training course on fighting drug trafficking in ports when U.S. authorities issued a warrant for his arrest, Vielman said. In a recent interview with The Associated Press, Castillo said he was ready to quit after six months in his post because he was frustrated with a losing battle against drug smugglers. He said traffickers were aided by corrupt officials at all levels of government."

AP noted that "The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration estimates that 75 percent of the cocaine that reaches the United States passes through Guatemala, much of it arriving aboard go-fast boats from Colombia."