Thread: Mexico: The Third War

Mexico: The Third War

February 18, 2009 | 1923 GM
By Fred Burton and Scott Stewart

Mexico has pretty much always been a rough-and-tumble place. In recent years, however, the security environment has deteriorated rapidly, and parts of the country have become incredibly violent. It is now common to see military weaponry such as fragmentation grenades and assault rifles used almost daily in attacks.

In fact, just last week we noted two separate strings of grenade attacks directed against police in Durango and Michoacan states. In the Michoacan incident, police in Uruapan and Lazaro Cardenas were targeted by three grenade attacks during a 12-hour period. Then on Feb. 17, a major firefight occurred just across the border from the United States in Reynosa, when Mexican authorities attempted to apprehend several armed men seen riding in a vehicle. The men fled to a nearby residence and engaged the pursuing police with gunfire, hand grenades and rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs). After the incident, in which five cartel gunmen were killed and several gunmen, cops, soldiers and civilians were wounded, authorities recovered a 60 mm mortar, five RPG rounds and two fragmentation grenades.

Make no mistake, considering the military weapons now being used in Mexico and the number of deaths involved, the country is in the middle of a war. In fact, there are actually three concurrent wars being waged in Mexico involving the Mexican drug cartels. The first is the battle being waged among the various Mexican drug cartels seeking control over lucrative smuggling corridors, called plazas. One such battleground is Ciudad Juarez, which provides access to the Interstate 10, Interstate 20 and Interstate 25 corridors inside the United States. The second battle is being fought between the various cartels and the Mexican government forces who are seeking to interrupt smuggling operations, curb violence and bring the cartel members to justice.

Then there is a third war being waged in Mexico, though because of its nature it is a bit more subdued. It does not get the same degree of international media attention generated by the running gun battles and grenade and RPG attacks. However, it is no less real, and in many ways it is more dangerous to innocent civilians (as well as foreign tourists and business travelers) than the pitched battles between the cartels and the Mexican government. This third war is the war being waged on the Mexican population by criminals who may or may not be involved with the cartels. Unlike the other battles, where cartel members or government forces are the primary targets and civilians are only killed as collateral damage, on this battlefront, civilians are squarely in the crosshairs.


The Criminal Front

There are many different shapes and sizes of criminal gangs in Mexico. While many of them are in some way related to the drug cartels, others have various types of connections to law enforcement — indeed, some criminal groups are composed of active and retired cops. These various types of criminal gangs target civilians in a number of ways, including, robbery, burglary, carjacking, extortion, fraud and counterfeiting. But of all the crimes committed by these gangs, perhaps the one that creates the most widespread psychological and emotional damage is kidnapping, which also is one of the most underreported crimes. There is no accurate figure for the number of kidnappings that occur in Mexico each year. All of the data regarding kidnapping is based on partial crime statistics and anecdotal accounts and, in the end, can produce only best-guess estimates. Despite this lack of hard data, however, there is little doubt — based even on the low end of these estimates — that Mexico has become the kidnapping capital of the world.

One of the difficult things about studying kidnapping in Mexico is that the crime not only is widespread, affecting almost every corner of the country, but also is executed by a wide range of actors who possess varying levels of professionalism — and very different motives. At one end of the spectrum are the high-end kidnapping gangs that abduct high-net-worth individuals and demand ransoms in the millions of dollars. Such groups employ teams of operatives who carry out specialized tasks such as collecting intelligence, conducting surveillance, snatching the target, negotiating with the victim’s family and establishing and guarding the safe houses.

At the other end of the spectrum are gangs that roam the streets and randomly kidnap targets of opportunity. These gangs are generally less professional than the high-end gangs and often will hold a victim for only a short time. In many instances, these groups hold the victim just long enough to use the victim’s ATM card to drain his or her checking account, or to receive a small ransom of perhaps several hundred or a few thousand dollars from the family. This type of opportunistic kidnapping is often referred to as an “express kidnappingâ€

All the more reason to get that darn border secured! It absolutely amazes me that so many illegal alien supporters, to include some of our very own congresspersons, are constantly advocating against measures that would help to secure the border (including fencing).

Originally Posted by MW

All the more reason to get that darn border secured! It absolutely amazes me that so many illegal alien supporters, to include some of our very own congresspersons, are constantly advocating against measures that would help to secure the border (including fencing).

What they really oppose is the shrinkage of their billfolds if they close down the cheap labor source for their buddies in corporate America and the world!

This did not have anything to do with illegals I know but thought it interesting.This came up again today on the road runner news about the Skull and Bones Secret Society,which supposedly includes Bush and even Obama and Robert Gates and John Kerry

http://www.rr.com/news/news/article/111 ... er_remains[/quote]

even Geronimo fought off the Mexicans in his time

Originally Posted by uniteasone

This did not have anything to do with illegals I know but thought it interesting.This came up again today on the road runner news about the Skull and Bones Secret Society,which supposedly includes Bush and even Obama and Robert Gates and John Kerry

http://www.rr.com/news/news/article/111 ... er_remains

even Geronimo fought off the Mexicans in his time

I found this quote so true:
"Members swear an oath of secrecy about the group and its strange rituals, which include devotion to the number "322" and initiation rites such as confessing sexual secrets and kissing a skull. The atmosphere makes Skull and Bones favorite fodder for conspiracy theorists."

Conspiracy enthusiasts will fall for anything so trivial such as a school club for kids simply because of the supposed secrecy that revolves around it bwahaha. Crazy liberals.

i completley agree with avenger 100% but hell i would like the chance to pick my own lettuce and tomatoes.

Originally Posted by LodiLapp

i completley agree with avenger 100% but hell i would like the chance to pick my own lettuce and tomatoes.

My parents moved our family to PA. in 68 and I worked after school and on weekends planting lettuce in springtime and picking it in the fall. That was how farmers did it back then, they hired local kids who needed the money. It was off the books then too.