These guys look like they’re in charge?
Gunmen killed a police chief in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas on Saturday, in the latest apparent sign that President Felipe Calderon’s campaign against drug gangs has failed to contain violence.
A group of men shot state police chief Manuel Cordova as he traveled in a truck in the city of Tapachula near the border with Guatemala, state authorities said.
Gangs, flush with cash from the drug trade, regularly outgun local police by using assault rifles and grenade launchers, and can often easily buy the cooperation of poorly paid cops.
Masked gunmen killed five soldiers in a shootout in the western state of Michoacan earlier in the week. Drug-related deaths in Mexico number more than 700 so far this year. Narcotics-related violence left 2,000 people dead in 2006.
This is the government that the White House thinks is cooperating in securing our borders. They can’t keep their own cops safe and alive. Someone should send Calderon a DVD of “The Untouchables”!
Its actually working , the drug dealers cant bribe like they used to , now that calderon is giving some pain to this guys , all the drug dealers can do is kill , instead of bribing , they are being fed up and they cant do their business like they used to , thats why they are so many assassination not because is out of control.
I don’t usually care for racist SOB’s but, is it just me or haven’t Eideard been posting anti Not-American-People articles all week long?.
Dude, I’m not mexican, but I was born and live in a country where more people get killed over a weekend, that a whole month of Iraq War, including both american (and allies) and Iraqies.
So PLEASE cut some slack dude….
Don’t get me wrong I love America, and opposite to what most of my fellow country men think, I believe american people are quite nice, despite all the defects that people can or may have, BUT you need to understand (Eideard) that the US is not the center of the universe…
#2 — What is heck is your point? I sure cannot figure it out. Are you saying Eideard is some sort of super-patriotic nutball? Hmm. I must be misreading this stuff.
This is just a taste of what’s going to happen in our “illegal” ghettos. Many of these “drug lords” are setting up shop in those communities within the US of A.
They, the drug lords will get the support of the local illegal population, thus you’ll see a lot of people not speaking out or helping local law enforcement when a serious crime occurs.
We’re screwed and the US corporations & government started it all.
– America, the home of the free and enslaved.
Drugs corrupt everything and if you have weak institutions for law and order like mexico people will settle their grievances by other means.
The only arguments about democratic government in Mexico – and courageous opposition to corruption – is when the sell-out took place and which segments of society get the most “credit”.
Was it 100 years ago? 85 years ago? Caudillos, Catholic church, cats-paws for US corporations all deserve their share of responsibility. When push comes to shove, democracy doesn’t come to a nation from outside contributors – as we’re once again witnessing in the Middle East.
So, Mexicans have to throw the bums out if they want badly enough to have an equitable economy and opportunities for all classes of their nation.
We’re pretty much screwed. While the Republicans pay lip service to this issue (border security) the Democrats and Liberals are going to do nothing because they dont want to be seen as bad guys or they are in favor of open borders.
mark – don’t be afraid to characterize how crass it really is. The Republicans want to keep those extra margins for employers of the marginalized [I couldn’t resist that] and the Dem hope for votes from this generation of amnesty candidates – or their kids.
So who do you vote for, who is willing to execute the express wishes of the majority, without cowardice. I despise this 2 party BS of a system.
With dozens of these reports constantly popping up down here almost weekly, why is this article even considered news? You guys up in the US are so out of things down here. I have lived in Mexico City 28 years. I am an American.
Nuevo Laredo, Texas has deaths of media (radio station workers, reporters, TV new personalities, etc) and policemen almost daily. A gang threw grenades into a radio station, and shot several hundred rounds from a AK47 into the reception area. Killed several. A radio station? This is real repression of free speech down here! Laredo is the drug super highway. Most of the drug trade goes through there to all the US and Canada. (There they need to close all the bridges and simply not let any traffic pass either direct. Thanks for the free trade agreement that makes this possible!) Calderon has clamped down, sent in Federal Police (Mexican FBI) and even soldiers to Nuevo Laredo. They have cleaned out most of the Nuevo Laredo police department 3 times in the last 12 months or so. I think there is probably twice or three times as many feds and army soldiers as local police. You guys knock this effort by Calderon? Where did these drug lords get all this power? From selling drugs in the US, NOT IN MEXICO. Mexico consumption is nothing compared to US consumption. The organization here (the bad guys) are from Columbia to the US. The mexican link is a small one. They are middle men of little consequence. Some fall every month and others new ones pop up. This is because drug consumption in the US pays well for all of this. One gets thrown in jail, and the Columbians and US drug lords set up a new replacement.
Calderon IS OPPOSING THE DRUG LORDS. All over the country, policemen and drug enforce chiefs are dying left and right. Tortured, hits, and death squads even going into hospitals to kill the policemen or their own to finish bungled jobs. They are killing reporters who report this news. They are even killing Mexican senators who they perceive as a threat. Some Mexican senators are even proposing making all drug consumption legal in Mexico. (These are Calderon’s political opponents.) These same opponents legalized abortion, recognized homosexuals, and are going after legalizing euthanasia. Interesting. All of this opposition is because Calderon is doing something different than Fox.
Do you realize that the drug lords are now in the illegal alien transportation business? 1 trip across the border, 30 people, $3,500 dollars cash each. That works out to around $100,000 for a night’s work. There is finally something more lucrative than drugs! Stuff some bricks of cocaine in some of their stuff and they become mules for you, even sweeter.
The US would be extremely wise to trash their immigration policies and to just charge the same for a legal work permit. Let them come, work for 2 years and then leave and report to the US embassy monthly in their country before they can reenter. Make them legal, easy entry, and make them pay taxes on what they earn in the US. Paying legitimate US taxes will kill the urge of most Mexicans quicker than anything else! (As a US citizen it certianly is a burden to me!) They will come running back to Mexico! These people already are paying these amounts to cross the border illegally, and 100% of them would jump at legally crossing at this price, and the money goes to Uncle Sam’s pocket to fight the drug and illegal trade instead of drug lords.
Now the kicker. Having lived here for years, I have always had Mexican friends over the years that have gone to the US illegally, worked and come back. (Many do not like you guy’s way of life in the end analysis! I constantly tell them horror stories of what it is like in the US.) Years back they had to cross the desert 3-5 days, even 2 weeks in the open, traveling on foot. Heat, sun, cold, no water, no food. Over the last 8 years nobody I can find has done that. They all crossed over the international bridges, in the line with the regular people. The US immigration people watching our borders (US side) simply get bribes, and they close their eyes when the coyote (the person transporting illegals) nods his head that his 30 people are behind him. With NO VISA, nothing but a telephone calling card or any plastic card, the immigration guy lets them cross like they had a green card. This is what ALL 100% of the people I know down here tell me is how they crossed. Zero of all of Bush’s efforts will fix this US PROBLEM. This is the US corruption here that shines so brightly, not the Mexican corruption. Calderon is fighting the Mexican corruption. Since when is it Mexico’s responsibly to watch the US borders for them? Get off it! Mexico has its own problems and there is NO mexican obligation to watch US borders. In a free country the government cannot restrict movement of its people. Oh, I forgot you guys live in the US, and that rule doesn’t apply under Bush?!?!? aka terror watch lists. If a Mexican tells a Mexican official that he is going to enter the US illegally, what Mexican law is he breaking? He has not even left the country yet? You cannot do anything to people like that. The common Mexican who goes to the US is trying to feed his family. You kick at this common guy, you kick at Calderon who tries to fix what is wrong at personal risk of all his people involved in fighting corruption, but you let US drug dealers run roughshod over everybody, you let the drug users in the street walk free, and the US immigration and customs people get rich off of bribes. It would be better to take a hard look in the mirror before you blast away at Mexico.
So don’t blame Calderon for this mess. Corruption at the border and immigration workers are the blame for the illegal aliens. Amnesty is the get hope of these illegals. Democrats will grant it again next presidential election without a doubt, and that will fill the sails of these people for the next 15 years. No length of steel wall will stop this. In fact the wall is probably a drug lord’s idea to make the US people feel more secure. Let’s see, double the border guard, 10x the investment in border security, steel wall, military survelliance systems, and the drug lord sends them across the bridge, in the line, with a backpack filled with drugs. Wow! How stupid Americans are! This is not a Mexican problem, but a US problem. The Mexican drugs lords would have died of hunger long ago if they didn’t have US drug consumers.
Calderon is ordering entire police departments to get surprise drug tests. All who test positive are immediately relieved of duty. Those police chiefs who are involved with the new Calderon anti drug policy are participating in Calderon’s government at personal peril to themselves and their families. Deaths of police chiefs are very common. It is not that they are crooked, maybe some are. It is because they are in an area where the federal government is cracking down, and they cannot attack the feds, so they hit the local police that are also participating.
Mexico is second behind Iraq for media (newpaper-TV) personnel killed. Mexico is second behind Iraq for missing persons that turn up dead. Calderon has hit the road running in this matter, and you guys criticize him? Give me a break! Better yet, give him a break!
The right question is: Who benefits from the War on Drugs. To start with who benefits ,the goverment. It employs an enormas number of individuals who sole purpose is to fight this war. Also the customers. From what I read prices are down and quality is up. Other then the people diying and incarserated I can think of no losers. And in there own way evan they help the economy.
Fox was President for 7 years and did diddly squat. Calderon has barely begun his term and is already having an effect. Give the guy a chance. Of course the killings are escalating, thats what thugs do to try to intimidate the locals and the Federal Mexican goverment to back off.
The people who shout and point at the increase in killings in Mexico are the same ones who shout and point to an increase of violence in Baghdad since the surge started. I read news sources from all over the world daily and there is actual progress being made, thanks to the surge(i can’t believe it either, i wanted us out of iraq, but it’s true), Al Quida in Iraq is now fighting a 2 front problem, us andf the Sunni tribal leaders in Anbar and Baghdad who have finally had enough of their own people being killed by outsiders. So Al Quida is setting off as many car bombs as possible to cause as much destruction as possible because they know our media will play it up and say the surge isn’t working.
I want us out of iraq, but I have come to beleive that if we go…we will be back in the area with in 3 years fighting a much more lethal and larger war.
Give Calderon a chance, before bitching that he’s not effective.
Amazes me how so many smart people expect miricles in 8 months solving problems that have gone on for years.
OFF DUTY POLICE WHO AREN’T IN UNIFORM KILL POLICE WHO ARE!!!
yawn, next topic