Zetas steal firearms from Guatemalan government

In a rather unfortunate turn of events, Los Zetas are spreading their influence into Central America. Over the past three years the nacro group has stolen a sizable amount of military hardware from the Guatemalan Government. This article details it rather nicely:

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/04/24/2182835/drug-gangs-help-themselves-to.html

Nazario Moreno Gonzalez killed by police

According to the Associated Press,  Nazario Moreno Gonzalez (the leader of La Familia) was gunned down by federal police on Thursday, in the city of Apatzingan in Michoacan. The fire fight started when cartel gunman attached federal officers in Apatzingan (Gonzalez's home town), and lasted for two days. In response to the fighting, members of La Familia used burnings cars as barricades and blocked off streets throughout Michoacan, including all of the entrances in Morelia, in order to prevent federal police from sending reinforcements.


Five officers and three civilians (including a 8-month-old baby and a teenage girl) were killed during the crossfire. The police recovered three bodies of suspected La Familia members, as well as detained three others. 


Gonzalez's body has not been found.


Despite that though, President Felipe Calderon made a statement confirming his death.


I personally sense something a bit fishy. In order to confirm that Gonzalez is actually dead, there must be a body. Interestingly, this whole affair comes only a month after Gonzalez was making public statements saying he was willing to end La Familia completely.

Detained Narco States La Familia May Surrender

According to the Associated Press, a captured narco named Sergio Moreno Godinez (aka Yellow) stated that the head of the La Familia Michoacan has had enough of the drug trade, and is considering ending the cartel.

Moreno, who was a major trafficker for La Familia in the port city of Lazaro Cardenas, said that Nazario Moreno Gonzalez (aka La Tuta) is having difficulty competing against other cartels, and is constantly losing ground to federal forces.

La Familia began as a vigilante group, with the overarching goal of protecting the people of Michoacan from immorally vicious narcos. Their first major act of retribution took place in 2006, when members of La Familia tossed severed heads into a discoteca in the mountain town of Uruapan.

Since then, La Familia has become one of the most powerful cartels in Mexico. According to the Associated Press, they are Mexico's main trafficker of Methamphetamine. Member of La Familia are bound by an honor code, and are prohibited from consuming (but not trafficking) narcotics. La Tuta requires each member to posses a "bible"of sorts (that he wrote) which explains the moral beliefs and over arching goals of the cartel. Despite their supposed "morals," La Familia is one of the most violent cartels in all of Mexico.

Yet that may no longer be the case, as La Familia dropped letters through out towns and sent e-mails to numerous journalists stating that they would be willing to disband if federal police promise to act honestly and fight to the death to defend the state. Those statements, coupled with the confession of Moreno, lead most government officials to believe that La Familia is nearing its end. Which cartel will take their place though, is an entirely different matter, and is of great concern, since that region has been fought bitterly over by two of the more infamous cartels in Mexico--The Sinaloa Cartel, and Los Zetas.

Narco culture

A video by Time about Narcocorridos. Laugh and judge at your own discretion.

http://www.time.com/time/video/player/0,32068,651073925001_2027104,00.html

Military abuses on the rise...

Mexico's army is one of the most respected, organized, and efficient military forces in Latin America. The army currently consists of 250,000 service men and women, with nearly 45,000 of said soldiers being stationed in drug cartel hot spots all over the country, including Ciudad Juarez and Tijuana.

However, according to bbc.com, the once highly esteemed Mexican army has lost a fair amount of public support. According to a survey by polling firm Demotecnia, public approval of the army has dropped almost 20% since late 2006.


The loss of support is partially due to a steady flow of public complaints concerning alleged abuses committed by the army. For instance, in the last four years, the National Commission of Human Rights has received more than 4,200 complaints concerning said abuses, which include accusations of rape, torture, and the use of excessive force. 


Furthermore, there are a number of recent cases that have only worsened public support of the army. Last March, two students in Monterrey were gun downed as they were leaving their university campus. It was initially  stated that the students had been caught in a crossfire between soldiers and Narcos, but it was later discovered by the National Commission of Human Rights that army soldiers had shot the students, and then proceeded to cover their tracks by tampering with evidence. 


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Many are saying now that the military was brought into the fight against the Narcos a little too soon, and that further involvement of the AFI or local police might have been wiser. However, unlike the federal and local police, the military does have the firepower to contend with the well armed Narcos. What should be considered though for the future, is properly training army personal in dealing with urban warfare, security details, and the protection of civilians. It has been four years since the fighting started, and this past year has been the bloodiest so far, as nearly 1,000 have been killed so far. Unfortunately, there is no end in sight for the fighting

The surge of illegal guns in Mexico...

Once again, here is another American article claiming that there is unstoppable flow of guns coming into Mexico. A fair number of these weapons (the dreaded 90% "fact" is being thrown around again) are apparently coming from the U.S. where it is "easy to buy 9mm handguns and .50 caliber sniper rifles capable of shooting down helicopters." Obviously the author of this Washington Post article is unfamiliar with American gun law, and just how difficult it is to acquire military grade weapons, especially when particular military weapons -- such as the automatic assault rifle or .50 caliber rifle -- can't be legally sold in most states.

The article goes on to talk about eTrace -- a program that allows officials to track the origins of a weapons by imputing information (such as make, model, and serial number) into a database. This program was given to the Mexican government by the ATF a few years back, but Federales have spent most of their time trying to translate the software into Spanish, thus proving it has been a waste of time and money. In addition, and rather unfortunately, the author and the creator of the program negate the "common sense" fact that most firearms used by criminals no longer have their serial numbers, thus making it nearly impossible to trace them. Furthermore, only legally manufactured weapons have serial numbers, and thus the program would do little trace firearms assembled from multiple kits or manufactured abroad/illegally.

The situation involving firearm trafficking in Mexico is not black and white. There are no clear cut answers, as no easy remedy will be found that will permanently eliminate illegal weapons trafficking. Furthermore, it is important for American and Mexican officials to remember that the leaders of dreaded DTO's are extremely well trained and educated, and therefore, should not be underestimated.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon proposes reform to eliminate Mexico's 2,000 local police depts

According to the LA Times, Felipe Calderon proposed a plan yesterday to the Mexican Congress that could potentially revamp the nation's police system by completely doing away with city/municipal police forces.

According to the proposal, management of the country's police system would be shifted over to the 31 states of Mexico. The the nation's 2,000 municipal police department would no longer be needed, and thus would be eliminated.

This "unified command" concept would make it easier to weed out corruption, as a standardized form of police officer testing could be applied nation wide. Mayors would also hold less sway over departments as well, as they would no longer fall under their authority. In addition, police would be trained and equipped according to a federal level, and not a state one. This would aid in alleviating the issue of under-trained and under-equipped departments, particularly ones in underdeveloped areas with either small or non-existence police forces.

However, many are skeptical of the plan, including many of Mexico's mayors, who argue that the plans points the blame of police corruption at them. Furthermore, experts warn that concentrating police authority at the police level could potentially make it easier for DTO's to control entire states via bribes or intimidation of state commanders.

Though the plan has it pros and cons, there aren't many other plans that constructively address the issue of police corruption. This plan places most control at the federal level, increasing the amount of direct communication between the government and police forces, thus in my opinion, decreasing the chance of there being differences in agenda.