Thread: Napolitano’s comments (and leadership) against cartels are rather laughable

Napolitano’s comments (and leadership) against cartels are rather laughable

You see, the U.S. government still sees cartel activity as simply a crime, to be dealt with by law enforcement (arrests, court trials, prison, etc.). However, the cartels see this struggle against the U.S. and what is left of the Mexican government as a war.

usopenborders.com
March 5th 2012

Note from Poster, Gary Meinert: While reading this report please remember that two weeks ago the Mexican government stated for the world to hear that 70.1% of Mexico is under cartel control.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano was in Mexico City on Monday to meet with Mexican Interior Minister Alejandro Poire.

After their meeting, Napolitano held a press conference in which she insisted that the Mexican government’s war against the drug cartels “is not a failure.”

This, despite the fact that many experts on the subject say that the cartels are now in control of not only much of Mexico, but of parts of the U.S. border region as well.

Edgardo Buscaglia, a professor at Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México in Mexico City recently told El Universal that through corruption of local officials, criminal gangs are now in control of 71.5 percent of Mexico’s cities and towns.

Buscaglia said: “They are operating notoriously in front of the noses of the police, the politicians, and the authorities of all stripes, and for this there has to be some type of tolerance from the state and it can be at a political or a police level. This is telling us that this type of co-opting is on the rise and now we are seeing greater competence between criminal groups to place themselves in these municipal jurisdictions and this competition generates violence.”

Buscaglia has served as an advisor to the World Bank and the United Nations.

As evidence of Buscaglia’s findings, the Mexican Attorney General’s Office, announced in January that there have been 47,515 drug-related killings since December 2006, when President Felipe Calderon began sending troops throughout the country to confront the various cartels through September 2011.

Even more sobering was the U.S. Department of Justice’s 2011 National Drug Threat Assessment which stated: “Mexican-based trafficking organizations control access to the U.S.–Mexico border, the primary gateway for moving the bulk of illicit drugs into the United States.”

The report went on to say the cartels now “dominate the supply and wholesale distribution of most illicit drugs in the United States.”

Napolitano went on to brag about the two countries’ “continuing effort to keep our peoples from becoming addicted to dangerous drugs.”

Really?

Then perhaps, Madame Secretary should consider the following…

The Mexican cartels are now sending massive amounts of heroin into North Carolina which is produced from opium from poppy fields throughout western Mexico. With Charlotte now the main East Coast distribution center for Mexico’s black tar heroin, the drug is more than plentiful inside the city, and the cost is a mere $12.50 a dose.

The Drug Enforcement Administration reports that during 2008 alone, heroin seizures across North Carolina increased by 77 percent over the previous year.

That tremendous supply streaming into Charlotte is fueling a rapidly growing demand which is having a devastating effect on many of the city’s residents.

The McCleod Addictive Disease Center in Charlotte reports that they now see 15 to 20 new patients daily, seeking treatment for heroin addiction. The center’s program manager, Ronnie Bradley says that in 2008, that number was only seven or eight.

Of course, that heroin first has to come through border-states such as Arizona.

Over the last five years, the surging supply of heroin has resulted in a nearly 50 percent increase in emergency-room admissions and inpatient hospital stays for overdoses at hospitals throughout Arizona, according to the Arizona Department of Public Health.

There were 13, 168 such hospital visits in 2009 alone.

Then Napolitano was asked if she considered Mexico a safe destination for U.S. tourists.

She replied: “I think Americans come and go freely to Mexico all the time and I expect that to continue. It’s a wonderful country. There are many, many places to go and to see. And obviously we also do a tremendous amount of commerce.”

Keep in mind that only two days earlier, 22 Carnival Cruise Line passengers were robbed of cash, jewelry and their passports while visiting the resort town of Puerto Vallarta.

Giving Napolitano the benefit of the doubt and assuming she has not heard of the robbery, nor of the multiple U.S. citizens who have been murdered in Mexico recently while on vacations as well as on missionary work…are we also to assume that the Secretary of Homeland Security does not know that the U.S. State Department issued a travel warning for Mexico on February 8, 2012?

The report lists several cities and even entire states to which U.S. citizens should “defer non-essential travel .”

The State Department warning reads: “The TCOs (Transnational Criminal Organizations) themselves are engaged in a violent struggle to control drug trafficking routes and other criminal activity. As a result, crime and violence are serious problems throughout the country and can occur anywhere. U.S. citizens have fallen victim to TCO activity, including homicide, gun battles, kidnapping, carjacking and highway robbery.”

Then Napolitano made a statement which truly shows just how ill-prepared the U.S. government is to deal with the growing power of the cartels…

A reporter asked her if she believed the threat posed by the cartels to be as serious as that of terrorist groups.

Napolitano replied: “[Drug trafficking] has to be handled in a somewhat different way. It’s a different type of crime and it’s a different type of plague, but that’s also why it is so important that we act not only bi-nationally, but in a regional way, to go after the supply of illegal narcotics.”

You see, the U.S. government still sees cartel activity as simply a crime, to be dealt with by law enforcement (arrests, court trials, prison, etc.). However, the cartels see this struggle against the U.S. and what is left of the Mexican government as a war.

“Sicarios” (assassins) move about freely between the two countries and go on missions from which they know they may never return…just like terrorists.

The cartels’ ultimate goal is to control both countries and they are not intimidated by laws, nor by police or judges.

If you think the cartel members are nothing more than run-of-the-mill criminals, ask yourself this question…How many robbers, rapists, murderers or even drug dealers hang banners from bridges on a weekly basis touting their dominance and daring the authorities to challenge them?

We need combat-tested generals to lead this fight…not cabinet secretaries.

Source: Napolitano

Buscaglia has served as an advisor to the World Bank and the United Nations.

Just the person we need here, it seems to me it is about making things so bad or appearing to be so, that the United Nations will step in....There goes the loss of sovereignty and control...Are we Awake yet???