Mexican Drug Trafficking

Mexico City --- Mexico has been a producer and transit route for illegal drugs for generations, the country now finds itself in a pitched battle with powerful and well-financed drug cartels. More than 28,000 people have been killed in the nearly four years since President Felipe Calderón began his offensive against the nation’s drug organizations, with the gangs escalating fights over turf and dominance as the federal police and military try to stamp them out. While Mr. Calderon dismisses suggestions that Mexico is a failed state, he and his aides have spoken frankly of the cartels' attempts to set up a state within a state, levying taxes, throwing up roadblocks and enforcing their own perverse codes of behavior. The Mexican government has identified 233 "zones of impunity'' across the country, where crime is largely uncontrolled, a figure that is down from 2,204 zones a year ago. The United States and Mexico set their counternarcotics strategy on a new course in March 2010 by refocusing their efforts on strengthening civilian law enforcement institutions and rebuilding communities crippled by poverty and crime.

Source: http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/mexico/drug_trafficking/index.html?scp=3&sq=human%20smuggling&st=cse

Mexico Paper, A Drug War Victim, Calls for a Voice

Mexico City --- “We want you to explain to us what you want from us,” the front-page editorial in El Diario in Ciudad Juárez asked the leaders of organized crime. “What are we supposed to publish or not publish, so we know what to abide by. You are at this time the de facto authorities in this city because the legal authorities have not been able to stop our colleagues from falling.” Luis Carlos Santiago, 21, a photography intern at the paper who was shot dead while leaving a shopping mall after lunch. A car drove up. A barrage of bullets. Mr. Santiago, shot in the head, died instantly while another intern, who was wounded, stumbled and dragged himself to safety in the mall and is recuperating. The message was send to drug gangs in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, the bloodiest city in drug battles. All along the border, news organizations have silenced themselves out of fear from drug cartel organizations.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/21/world/americas/21mexico.html?_r=3&scp=6&sq=human%20smuggling&st=cse

Pilgrims Trafficking Corridor

Santa Elena --- Elizabeth Burns owns a ranch in south Texas called Rancho Los Malulos where illegal immigrants or “pilgrims” as she decides to call them, cross on foot illegally into the U.S.A. Broken bottles, wrappers, and footprints are always normal discoveries every day. Burns takes action is conducting interviews on “pilgrims” who cross through her ranch, but still notifies Border Patrol agents about them. Drilling oil companies have long since been a part of the family’s business, therefore, the roads made by these oil companies provide a perfect route for smugglers, who blend in with the other traffic as they use their own trucks to transport drugs and people through the region. One day she encounters herself with a Honduran national and decides to interview him, she states, “He looked thin, weak and said he was hungry, Burns said. She gave him a Red Bull and some orange soda while they talked. The pilgrim testifies that he was kidnapped by organized crime members and was held for ransom for his release. Urbino Martinez, chief deputy of the Brooks County Sheriff’s Office, said in court documents that smugglers charge as much as $10,000 to move drugs or people through the property.

Source: http://www.themonitor.com/articles/wife-42874-pilgrims-camera.html

Togo woman gets 27 years in NJ forced labor case

Newark, NJ --- Akouavi Afolabi, a woman from the impoverished West African nation Togo, was sentenced to 27 years of sentenced due to running a human smuggling operation by forcing women to work at New Jersey hair braiding salons. The 20 smuggled women ranged between ages 10-19 and where brought into the U.S. from West Africa with fake visas. These women were forced to work at these salons with no pay. Along with Afolabi, her ex-husband and son where convicted and sentenced for these acts. A fourth suspect defendant received a 26-month prison term.

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/20/AR2010092004242.html

Gunmen kidnap 9 Mexican state lawmen, 2 found dead

Acapulco, Mexico --- An agency’s commanders and a team of eight agents investigating a death in the southern Mexican state of Guerrero, where kidnapped while two were found dead. Searchers found the bodies of two officers near a small community, El Revelado, where the police group was kidnapped. In Coyuca de Catalan, another part of Guerrero, two moving vehicles threw two human heads in front of a refreshment stand, believed to be linked to drug gangs. In Ciudad Juarez, a region full of drug violence, police arrested two alleged leaders from the Aztec gang identified as Gonzalo Dominguez Sanchez, known as “El Chore,” and Eduardo Rocha, alias “El Dienton.” These two suspects are linked to at least 10 murders, including the killing of a federal police officer last month. These violent events are just some examples of drug cartel organizations who are battling for control of smuggling routes.

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/18/AR2010091802364.html

Cartel Massacre affects immigration official resignation

Mexico City --- In a ranch about 100 miles south of Brownsville Texas on August 24, 2010, the bodies of 72 Central and South American migrants were found dead and massacred. Followed by this massacre, Cecilia Romero, an immigration official, resigns her position which leaves many unanswered questions and concerns. It is believed that her resignation as head of the National Institute of Migration was due to her inexperience. A government official, who spoke in anonymity, said that they need a person who has experience in security and with a different type of background to head the institute. Officials state that illegal immigration and drug trafficking have both become linked within cartel organizations. For example, several suspected Zeta members were arrested who are thought to be linked to the massacre. Cartel members are killing migrants who refuse to work as drug trafficker, therefore, it is highly possible that drug cartels are increasingly trying to recruit vulnerable migrants to smuggle drugs.

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/14/AR2010091406972.html