Thread: South Padre Island / Precinct One Corruption & Border Wa

http://old.brownsvilleherald.com/images/votersguide.pdf

Can democracy exist in a narcostate, such as Afganistan?

Absolutely, the American military strategists need to use Cameron County, Texas, as a case study--a microcosm of a bigger workable macrocosm.

In our microcosm case study we will see how well being an elected official, such as a judge or mayor, can claim to not be accountable for illegal businesses being run out of property they own by relatives of theirs in the same town where a cousin or brother are the law enforcers, OR, your friends run the illegal gambling casinos which you are publicly seen to patronize--almost daily; the hypocrasies not only function, but perpetuate and support the system.

With the smoke and mirrors of this two party democracy, the fiefdom seems to operate with the consent of the governed; watch as they stumble over each other to maintain control;

After said study, we should be able to understand how Afganistan can have a functioning democracy while maintaining it's ability to supply wealthier peoples demand for narcotics.

By Mark Nino - Web Master
Tuesday, April 6, 2010 - 1:33pm
A shoot out between soldiers and suspected drug cartel gunmen has left two children dead and wounded five of their relatives. Mexican government officials say the brothers, ages 5 and 8 years-old, were traveling with family members in an SUV when gunfire broke out and they were caught in the crossfire. Mexican authorities reported that two suspected gunmen were killed and the remaining family members did have injuries from the shooting.

http://www.kveo.com/local/two-children- ... o-gunfight

There is no place for racism, or bigotry in this economical debate regarding illegal immigration. Yes, it is true, most Americans are descended from immigrants--most of who entered legally into the US; American workers are in the pinchers of the recession.

The real culprits here are the politicians protecting companies who prefer cheap illegal labor over legal American citizens, thus further eroding our national economy, perpetuating border violence and corruption.

Legalize homegrown cannabis and punish companies using illegal labor; watch our economy grow.

http://bitterqueen.typepad.com/friends_ ... lence.html

April 03, 2010

Warnings Of Spillover Drug Cartel Violence
Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard believes that the murderer behind the shootingÂ*of rancherÂ*Robert Krentz and his dog was "most likely a scout employed by Mexican drug syndicates to look out for law enforcement" as reported by Dennis Wagner for The Arizona Republic: "I hope this is a wake-up call to people in the United States that there are very sophisticated cartel operations going on in both this country and in Mexico."
Meanwhile, Texas law enforcement is advising ranchers and farmers along theÂ*border "to arm themselves as signs across northern Mexico point to a new escalation of violence" as reported byÂ*Alfredo Corchado for The Dallas Morning News:
Across West Texas, worries abound of possible EasterÂ*weekend massacres in tiny Mexican communities butting up against Texas. In Hudspeth County, near El Paso, Chief Deputy Mike Doyal said Thursday that his "deputies are on high alert, 24-7," for any sign of "a spillover of violence." * * * He said he has four of his 15 deputies on duty in Fort Hancock, up from the lone deputy who normally patrols the community. Earlier in the week, the Sheriff's Department held a community meeting in which authorities advised residents, "If you're out on the fields, arm yourself," Doyal said.
And in New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson ordered National Guard soldiersÂ*to the border as reported by Daniel Borunda and Diana M. Alba for the El Paso Times:
The deployment in New Mexico comes weeks after Texas Gov. Rick Perry activated the Texas Military Forces OH-58 Kiowa and the UH-72 Lakota helicopters to patrol the border between El Paso and Browns ville.Â* The Texas deployment is part of the first phase of Perry's classified plan, which he said is necessary to prevent the spillover of drug violence from Mexico.

By Mark Nino - Web Master
Wednesday, April 7, 2010 - 2:08pm
U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents have seized cocaine valued at more than $800,000 dollars at the Gateway International bridge. Agents found ten packages of cocaine hidden in a Honda Odyssey onÂ* Monday. Two men, ages 37 and 31 years of age, were turned over to ICE agents for questioning.
http://www.kveo.com/local/custom-agents ... t-of-entry

Larger text Smaller text Print E-mail
U.S., Mexican officials to discuss drug cartels, violence

By The Washington Post
Tuesday, March 23, 2010



WASHINGTON — A high-level delegation of U.S. officials, including three cabinet secretaries, will meet with Mexican officials in Mexico City today to discuss efforts to disrupt drug cartels as violence increasingly strikes Americans on the border.
The meeting, which will bring together a particularly high-powered group of dignitaries, will happen a week after U.S. law enforcement agents spanned out in raids across El Paso to gather intelligence about a Texas gang. The gang is suspected of involvement in the recent killing of a pregnant American consulate officer and her husband, a corrections officer.
The Barrio Azteca gang, whose leader in Juarez is one of the FBI's 10 most wanted fugitives, was formed in a Texas prison and has been linked to brutal episodes on both sides of the border. Investigators are trying to find out the motivation for the deadly attacks near the Juarez consulate, including whether the incident turned on a case of mistaken identity.
Long-running initiatives by the Mexican government to fight drug trafficking have included calls for more U.S. assistance — a focus of the meetings with Mexican officials such as President Felipe Calderón and Foreign Secretary Patricia Espinosa. The meetings have been scheduled for months but took on new urgency with the recent killings.
A Justice Department delegation — including Gary Grindler, acting deputy attorney general; Michele Leonhart, acting administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration; and Kenneth Melson, acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives — will accompany Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism John Brennan and Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
"We hope to continue the already high-level cooperation we have with the Mexican government," Grindler said. "We'll explore what are the most important priorities from the perspective of the Mexican government. ... As we can all observe, the problems are immense. The drug cartels have a lot of money and there's a lot at stake for them."
Last week, in a separate action, U.S. authorities arrested seven people in connection with two 2009 incidents of kidnapping and homicide after 700 pounds of marijuana hidden inside a tractor rig were seized last year. Five of the men are American citizens living near the border in the United States; two are Mexican nationals.
The arrests came on the same day that federal agents began Operation Knock Down, the El Paso raids, to glean information about the attack on U.S. consulate employee Lesley Enriquez and her husband, Arthur Redelfs, in their sport-utility vehicle this month. Another man married to a consulate worker was fatally shot after leaving the same party in Juarez.
The meeting will occur as the Merida Initiative, designed to spend $1.4 billion to battle organized crime and violence by training police and Mexican prosecutors, reaches its third year of operation. The Obama administration has requested $346 million more for the program in its 2011 budget. Last year, 107 fugitives were extradited to the United States, and Mexican police have apprehended three cartel leaders since December. But many drug kingpins remain at large.
At the same time, the number of U.S. citizens killed in Mexico has more than doubled since the Merida pact was signed, State Department statistics show. Last year, 79 Americans were killed there, compared with 35 three years ago.


http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsbu ... 72973.html

A collection of South Texas Political gossip.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Drug cartel violence is a problem to be addressed
Politics aside, people, businesses and cities are suffering on the border. It's time to legalize drugs. Take away the profit motive. Make drugs as safe as they can be. Offer rehab. Do it.

People are dying.
In a place where death is measured in massacres, the killing last week of Rogelio Ituarte de la Hoya in Loma Blanca, a dusty agricultural settlement east of this border city, was just a few words on the evening news.

The father of five made it only a few steps from his parked Ford pickup before he was gunned down in front of the corner store La Consentida. The killers then sped off into the night.
Cities, like Juárez are dying. Their citizens are suffering. Justice and order is elusive. It is past time to legalize drugs.
Labels: drug cartel, drug war, Juarez

posted by CouldBeTrue @ 10:00 AM

http://stxc.blogspot.com/2010/03/drug-c ... to-be.html

http://www.elpasotimes.com/newupdated/ci_11770847

Homeland Security official affirms Mexican drug cartel violence has spilled over into Texas

By Brandi Grissom / Austin Bureau
Posted:Â*02/24/2009 12:00:00 AM MST

AUSTIN -- Violence from Mexican drug cartels has spilled over into Texas, state Homeland Security Director Steve McCraw said Monday.
"Yes, absolutely it has occurred; there's no question about it," McCraw said after a hearing before the House Committee on Border and International Affairs.
McCraw answered lawmakers' questions about Gov. Rick Perry's request for another $135 million for border security operations on the same day Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott asked lawmakers for a new tool to help bring down transnational gangs that threaten border communities.
During the border committee meeting, state Rep. Joe Moody, D-El Paso, asked McCraw whether some incidents that have been reported in the El Paso area would be considered elements of spillover violence from Mexican drug cartels.
Moody asked, among other things, if threats against American citizens, individuals seeking treatment at U.S. hospital for injuries sustained in Juárez and Mexican nationals seeking asylum would be evidence of spillover.
McCraw said yes.
"Anything that involves cartel activity that impacts Texans on this side of the border is, by definition, spillover violence," he said after the meeting.
McCraw told lawmakers, though, that Texas has a contingency plan to deal with large-scale violence and that local, state and federal agencies are working to prevent that from happening.
Earlier Monday, state Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, and state Rep. Aaron Peña, D-Edinburg, filed
Advertisement

a bill they said they hoped would make doing business in Texas harder for drug cartels.
Along with Abbott, the legislators urged their colleagues to approve a bill that would give the attorney general expanded authority to seize guns, drugs and cash that are the lifeblood of human and drug smugglers.
"This bill is going to give us the ability to put these kinds of criminals out of business by taking the very thing they are trying to make," Abbott said.
Though such seizures can currently be made in criminal cases, the legislation would allow the attorney general to pursue seizures in civil court, where the burden of proof is less stringent, Abbott said.
Williams said the measure would help ensure that violence from the cartels stays south of the Rio Grande.
"The body count is stacking up along the border," he said, "and we don't want this to spill over into our state anymore."
Brandi Grissom may be reached at bgrissom@elpasotimes.com;512-479-6606.


Make plans
What: Gov. Rick Perry will discuss border security issues with retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey and local leaders.
When: 2:15 p.m. Tuesday

At the end of March, Hillary Clinton will be heading to Mexico to address the escalation of drug related violence and the expansion of the drug cartels, which are an increasing threat also to the United States. In preparation for her trip, Clinton should call to mind the visit that in 1999 she paid as first lady to the city of Palermo in Sicily. At the time mayor of the city, Leoluca Orlando had showed to her how his administration had effectively fought against the mafia by promoting a culture of lawfulness and human rights. A few years ago, in an interview with an Italian newspaper, Hillary Clinton suggested Orlando for the peace nobel prize.

The Secretary of State's upcoming trip emphasizes the urgency of the matter for the United States. About 90 per cent of all the cocaine consumed in our country transits through Mexico. The drug trade generates for the cartels an estimated 13 to 15 billion dollars earning per year. Some 150 thousand people are directly involved in the narcotics business. There are worrying spill over effects; members of the Mexican cartels are already present in 230 American cities.

Violence is rampant. In 2008, there were more then six thousand drug cartel related homicides in Mexico, and in the first months of this year they already exceed more then 1,000. Beside violence, another dangerous feature of narcotrafficking is widespread corruption, a means to assure impunity and territorial control.

What can the Palermo model suggest to the Mexican case? In the living room of his house, Leoluca Orlando showed to Hillary Clinton a reproduction of the traditional two-wheeled Sicilian cart; a metaphor for his strategy. One wheel, he explained to the first lady, is the state, with law enforcement and a working judiciary; jailing mafia bosses, fighting corruption and money laundering. The second wheel is a vibrant civil society. If only one wheel rolls, the cart goes around in circles. For the cart to move forward both wheels need to spin at the same pace.

The key component of Orlando's model, is the empowerment of civil society. In a society where the mafia had absolutely occupied and corroded the public sphere, the effort of the mayor of Palermo lied in giving back the city to its citizens. He proposed a definition of security, which was not rooted in a zero-tolerance approach, but in the empowerment of civic leaders. This meant improving the general quality of life in the city and convincing ordinary citizens that the Mafia was not an evil they were inevitably obliged to live with. Orlando's model was not a counterinsurgency strategy, but one that strengthened governance and participatory democracy.

The model proved successful. The homicide rate in Palermo decreased dramatically and Moody assigned a AAA rating to Orlando's administration. It was not by chance that the United Nations chose Palermo for its 2000 conference on transnational crime. Studying the Palermo case, and with the initial advise of Leoluca Orlando, Roy Godson, president of the National Strategy Information Center, elaborated a policy model to promote in different parts of the world the Culture of Lawfulness approach. Leoluca Orlando, who in the past few years has been traveling extensively to Mexico, has also advised the mayor of MedellÃ*n Sergio Fajardo, now a presidential candidate in Colombia. MedellÃ*n is another success story, in which civic participation played a decisive role in reducing violence.

If the savvy combination of a working judiciary with an active civil society has proven to be an effective strategy in fighting organized crime and endemic corruption, then the strategy implemented so far by the government of Mexico with the aid of the United States is still insufficient. In light of a weak and often corrupted police, the Mexican government has so far embraced a primarily military approach to the phenomena, sending almost 30,000 troops to patrol urban centers. This strategy is rising serious human rights concerns. The most recent State Department's Human Rights Report cites an increasing number of arbitrary killings of civilians by the armed forces. This only adds to the horrors committed by the drug cartels.

What the Mexican citizens need are positive encounters with the state. This is the meaning of promoting a Culture of Lawfulness. Fighting impunity, strengthening the judiciary system, while at the same time promoting civic participation should become a priority for the Obama administration in supporting Mexico's efforts to curb the drug cartels. Providing mainly military aid and better border surveillance (or even its militarization) - that is an exclusive emphasis on repression and law enforcement - will not do it. If this administration is about change, then a more creative and constructive approach to the narcotrafficking problem should be explored and tested. With Palermo in mind.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/aldo-civi ... 74995.html

I don't believe that the Palermo model will work. I agree that the Mexican government should act as though human rights are important and will be upheld, as I agree that militarization of thecommunities most affected by the drug trade is a false solution.

What's not really being discussed here is the long history of the Mexican (and by extension US) drug trade. When you consider that the illicit economy of the cartels is greater than the licit GDP of Mexico, you will see that this problem is far more complex.

In Charles Bowden's book, "Down by the River," he sets out some staggering figures. As the drug trade grew and cartel leaders became wealthier, they began to launder and invest their illicit earnings into the licit economy. The effect is this: if, theoretically, you could shut down the flow of drugs across the border, the Mexican economy would entirely collapse. At this point, the U.S. economy would also suffer and possibly slip into an even larger recession (which seems hard to do right now). The U.S. gov't knows this and has been pursuing a conflicted approach for more than a generation. They figure that if the Mexican economy were to collapse, the flood of "illegal" immigrants would be even higher than it already is. So, they make a show of waging a drug war, while taking no real steps to stop it.

Â*Â* Â*