Ex-Mexico prez suggests truce with drug cartels

edjax1952

Member
Aug 20, 2011
266
38
16
Jacksonville, Fl
Ex-Mexico prez suggests truce with drug cartels - Yahoo! News

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Former President Vicente Fox suggested Friday that Mexican authorities consider calling on drug cartels for a truce and offering them amnesty, speaking out a day after an apparent cartel attack on a casino killed 52 people.
Fox, who served from 2000 to 2006, has since advocated legalizing drugs as a way to reduce violence. At least 35,000 and as many as 40,000 people have died since President Felipe Calderon launched an offensive against the cartels in late 2006.
 
Not surrendering Mexico to drug cartels...
:cool:
Why a truce between Mexico and the drug cartels makes no sense
September 2, 2011 - After the latest massacre of Mexican citizens, former President Fox said authorities should seek a truce with the gangs – a suggestion that isn't feasible, says guest blogger Patrick Corcoran.
In response to the latest massacre of Mexican citizens by criminal groups, former President Vicente Fox said the authorities should seek a truce with the drug gangs – a suggestion that simply is not feasible in today's Mexico. One reason is that Mexico truly is, for all its faults, a democracy, which couldn’t be said in the 1980s and most of the 1990s. The former president's statement came in response to the recent arson attack on a Monterrey casino, one of the most deadly strikes on a public place in recent years, which left 52 dead. Mr. Fox, who was quite aggressive toward Mexico drug gangs while in office from 2000 to 2006, told a gathering at the close of a course on public security that “the levels of cruelty that we are seeing and experiencing are enormous,” and that the solution is to “call the violent groups to a truce and evaluate the advantages of an amnesty law.”

This reflects a sentiment that, while still a minority opinion, seems to be growing more common in Mexico. However, it was quickly slammed by a number of political heavyweights. President Felipe Calderon, who once served on Fox’s cabinet as energy secretary, acidly responded that the years of truces with organized crime under previous governments are precisely the reason for Mexico's security problems today. The National Action Party (PAN), which Mr. Calderon and Fox both belong to, passed a motion censuring the former leader for his comments. Though a political rival of Calderon’s, Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard, a presidential hopeful for 2012, also rejected the truce proposal, saying it would be like “throwing in the towel.”

While the politicians’ reponses appear to be a question of ideology, there are also powerful practical reasons for rejecting the truce: It simply is not feasible. Advocates of a truce often point to the 1980s and 1990s, when agreements between the PRI governments and the reigning drug barons supposedly kept violence to a minimum. The idea that there was an explicit deal, in which the government tolerated organized crime in exchange for relative peace, is undermined by the periodic outbursts of bloodshed seen in that period, as well as occasional arrests of even the most powerful capos. However, there is no question that there was significant interaction between high-ranking federal officials and the most powerful trafficking networks during the 1980s and 1990s, and that this played a role in limiting the violence.

There is reason to believe that a similar trade-off would simply be impossible today. In the 1980s, there were two large confederations of drug traffickers: the Guadalajara Cartel and the smaller Gulf Cartel. For the federal government, keeping two groups in line and maintaining contact with two sets of capos was a relatively simple affair. By the early 1990s, Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo’s Guadalajara Cartel had split up, leaving behind a federation of Sinaloa and Juarez traffickers on one side, and the rival Tijuana Cartel on the other. While the leadership in the Gulf Cartel had changed by this point, the federal government was still looking at a manageable number of major actors. It was still possible to apply leverage to a small number of people and affect the industry in predictable ways.

MORE

See also:

Key Gulf Cartel figure is killed in northern Mexico
Sun, Sep 04, 2011 - DRUG WAR CASUALTY:Samuel Flores Borrego is believed responsible for the killing that set off the Gulf Cartel-Zeta war, and is believed to have been killed by his own cartel
Gunmen killed a leading Gulf Cartel commander who was sought by the US and believed to be behind a split with a rival crime organization that intensified Mexico’s drug violence, authorities said on Friday. Samuel Flores Borrego, also know as “el Metro 3,” was shot dead near Reynosa, across the border from McAllen, Texas, in what appeared to be an attack by members of his own cartel, the Mexican Attorney General’s Office said in a statement. He was found on Friday inside a vehicle along with the body of a police officer.

Flores, 39, is believed to be responsible for the killing of a Zetas member in January last year that led to a rupture between the former allies, US anti-drug officials have said. The Zetas started as a gang of hit men for the Gulf Cartel, but after the split formed their own cartel, and fighting between the groups over territory and drug turf has caused violence to soar in parts of Mexico. The US government had a reward of up to US$5 million for the capture of Flores, who faced drug-trafficking charges north of the border, according to an indictment in the District of Columbia last year. Of the 20 people charged in the US indictment, eight remain fugitives, including Zetas leader Heriberto Lazcano and Gulf Cartel leader Jorge Eduardo Costilla.

The indictment says Flores was the Gulf Cartel’s chief in the border cities of Reynosa and Miguel Aleman and gathered information on police and security forces. The Zetas used to operate as the military arm of the Gulf Cartel. The indictment chronicles how the two gangs worked together under the name “The Company,” with Flores calling and meeting with the Zetas leader to plan cocaine and marijuana smuggling operations from Colombia. The alliance crumbled in January last year, when a member of the Zetas was slain in Reynosa apparently by Flores, leader of the border city’s “plaza” or shipping corridors, and a group of men. The killing led to fierce war between the two gangs, mostly in northern Mexico and Mexico’s Gulf coast.

The Mexican government has cracked down on the Zetas, arresting dozens of alleged members this year. Mexican marines killed leader Antonio Ezequiel Cardenas Guillen, also known as “Tony Tormenta” or “Tony the Storm,” in November last year. Mexican President Felipe Calderon acknowledged on Friday in his state-of-the-nation speech that violence “worsened with the rupture between the Gulf Cartel and the Zetas.”

More http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2011/09/04/2003512451
 
Last edited:
What would happen here of The Mexican Government partnered with the drug cartels?

Bleh... they already do. The MX govt is paid very well to turn a blind eye to the drug cartel.

Let them kill each other. Build a big fence on the border and keep the trouble in Mexico.

The drug cartel are already in the US. How do you think so many drugs get across the border? We have corrupt border patrol, too. Plenty of them.

Border Patrol Abuse Articles

That is just one of many many links.
 
Cartels got the upper hand...
:eek:
Former cops: The drug cartels are winning
Friday, September 16th, 2011 -- "[Look] at Phoenix, Arizona," Neill Franklin, a former undercover police officer in Maryland, told Raw Story recently. "That is the number two kidnapping capital in the world. A couple years back they were averaging one drug-related kidnapping every day. We do already have these [cartels] in the United States, but you just don't hear about them very often. And when we do, it's not the 'undocumented workers' as people are often led to believe, it's the result of our drug policies."
Suggesting Phoenix has the second most number of kidnappings out of any city in the world is not new: for instance, that very claim was immediately disputed after Sen. John McCain said it in 2010. However, a review of kidnapping statistics by a team of judges and criminologists earlier this year nearly doubled the official 2008 numbers, lending at least some credibility to the statement. No matter what statistic it is that's examined, be it the kidnapping ranking of Phoenix, shootings in El Paso, marijuana arrests in Brownsville or the number of new gang members in San Diego, the reality of today's America is that drug violence has become a pervasive and pressing threat to most citizens.

"We have got to fix this problem, or else it's going to get a lot worse for us here at home," explained Terry Nelson, whose three-decades in law enforcement saw him serving the U.S. Border Patrol, the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Customs Service. "We talk a lot about the 40,000 people who've died in the last five years in Mexico's drug war, but we don't talk a lot about Central and South America. The drug deaths down there per 100,000 are just as great as Mexico. Guatemala, El Salvador ... These countries are just wiped out by drug cartels, and it's not even in the news."

Just last week, people on both sides of the border were shocked when authorities discovered a chilling scene where two bodies were hanging from a bridge, mutilated beyond recognition, next to a handwritten poster warning to avoid publishing about the cartels on social media or blogs. The situation has become so extreme that today more Mexican youths die from murder than vehicle accidents. But what does this mean for American citizens? In short: the drug cartels have won, but it doesn't have to be this way. Both Nelson and Franklin are members of the non-profit advocacy group Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, which aims to win the hearts and minds of law enforcement and conservative lawmakers, who've largely stood in the way of any significant changes to the nation's drug policies.

Former cops: The drug cartels are winning | The Raw Story
 
Viva la Zetas Killers...
:clap2:
Mexico's Zeta Killers kill 32, revive debate about the 'good-guy cartel'
October 7, 2011 : The 'Zeta Killers' have been linked to the deaths of 67 people. While they claim to be fighting the Zetas drug cartel, experts say they are likely just a criminal group adopting the guise of a 'good-guy cartel.'
Mexico's Zeta Killers: a paramilitary group? Vigilantes? A “good guy cartel?” Or just another group of drug traffickers? The group announced their existence – and intentions – in July, but burst onto the scene two weeks ago when leaving 35 bodies on a road during rush hour traffic in the city of Veracruz, Mexico. In a video of hooded men claiming responsibility, they urged residents of the eastern state of Veracruz to say “no” to extortion and intimidation by the violent Zetas group that is fighting for control of large swathes of Mexico and vowed to target the group.

They appear to be sticking to their word. Another 32 bodies were just found in three houses in the port city, reports the Mexican navy, and they place blame on the New Generation group, of which the so-called “Zeta Killers” are believed to be a subset. The discovery comes as Mexico announced this week a new military reinforcement campaign in Veracruz. The Gulf Coast state has become one of the newest flashpoints in Mexico’s hard slog against drug trafficking. The Zeta Killer video two weeks ago prompted a series of questions about whether paramilitaries were emerging in Mexico, or whether fed-up Mexicans would resort to vigilante justice.

"Our only objective is the Zetas cartel," a “Zeta Killer” spokesman said in the video, claiming they were “anonymous warriors” who did not resort to kidnapping or extortion. The government has sought to downplay this Colombia-like scenario for Mexico, reiterating that the “Zeta Killers” are just another rival gang seeking their share of territory in the lucrative illegal drug trade to the US. In a press conference on Sept. 29, Mexico’s national security spokeswoman Alejandra Sota said: “These are criminal groups, and the state must combat all criminal groups.”

Gary Moore, writing for Insight Crime, says that their existence has revived the myth of the “Good-Guy Cartel.” "The use of coy vigilante messages ("I killed them to protect you") is a fixture in the Mexican cartel conflicts. Some groups – notably the big Sinaloa Cartel (but less so the rapacious Zetas) – seek to curry public favor by claiming that hits on rivals are done to safeguard the citizenry," he writes. La Familia in Michoacan is another group that emerged as so-called "saviors" of the people of Michoacan.

Source

See also:

As gang violence hits El Salvador, a new wave of disappearances
October 7, 2011 - El Salvador is experiencing disappearances linked to the gang violence hitting the country, mostly of young people and teens, with a frequency not seen since the country's civil war, which ended almost 20 years ago.
El Salvador is suffering a new wave of disappearances, mostly of young people and teenagers, who go missing without explanation in a phenomenon linked to the gang violence hitting the country. Thousands of El Salvadorans disappeared in the country’s civil war. Some were children who kidnapped and sent abroad for adoption, and some victims of death squads or the military who were buried in mass graves. Now, almost 20 years after the conflict ended, online newspaper El Faro says that disappearances are as much of an everyday phenomenon as they were during the war.

The police received more than 1,200 reports of disappearances between January 2007 and December 2008, and in the first four months of this year they registered 179 – double the number in the same period in 2010. This is likely an under-representation of the true number of disappeared, as many families will not report their relatives missing, for fear of reprisals. Many of these are young people, with the average age of the missing being between 15 and 25. There is no official body in El Salvador that keeps reliable and complete records of the disappeared, according to El Faro.

Some of the victims are likely to be found in the mass graves which are being found more and more frequently around the country, according to El Diario de Hoy. In August a mass grave containing more than 10 bodies was discovered in Sacacoyo, just outside San Salvador. While one government official said that these contain old corpses buried during the civil war, the Attorney General’s Office said that all of them had died since 2009. Forensic scientist Israel Ticas has been excavating the bodies, which are among more than 500 that he has been involved in removing from their clandestine burial grounds in the last five years.

MORE
 
Last edited:
The cartels are winning because the corruption in Mexico goes all the way to the top. Vincent Fox is an idiot. 'Nuff said.
 
Mexicans gettin' fed up with narco-violence...
:clap2:
Mexicans demand international human rights investigation
Thursday, October 13, 2011 - Mexicans angered by the human toll in five years of gangland warfare are trying to spur an international human rights investigation into roles played by President Felipe Calderon, other senior officials and crime lords such as Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.
Though others have tried in vain to end the bloodshed with prayers, protests and peace marches, a gathering of left-leaning intellectuals, journalists and human rights activists allege "Mexico is living a state of emergency and suffering the most dramatic humanitarian crisis in its recent history."

Blaming both sides

They hope to persuade the Netherlands-based International Criminal Court to investigate both government and gangsters, saying, "The situation can be equally blamed on the actions of criminals within and outside the government." Some legal experts give the effort little chance of being taken up by the court's prosecutors, or winning if it is. Mexican officials quickly rejected both the government's culpability and the court's jurisdiction. "In our country, society is not the victim of an authoritarian government or of systematic abuses by the armed forces," Mexico's foreign ministry said in a statement Wednesday.

'Stop these abuses'

Though it first erupted in 2004, underworld warfare escalated when Calderon deployed the armed forces against the gangs upon taking office in December 2006. Gunfights, assassinations and torture-murders have killed more than 40,000 people since. Those preparing the November petition to the court prosecutor accuse Calderon and other officials of, among other things, being in direct command of soldiers and other federal forces who have abused civilians and of failing to prosecute those crimes. They also charge that Guzman, Mexico's best-known gang boss, and other gangsters have recruited children as both gunmen and lookouts.

Some 1,300 minors have been killed in the violence. "The primary objective is to stop these abuses," said Netzai Sandoval, a human rights lawyer who is spearheading the effort, which has collected 20,000 citizens' signatures. "These are crimes against humanity and war crimes." The International Criminal Court was created in 2002 to deal with egregious human rights abuses and crimes not prosecuted by national governments. Under a treaty signed by Mexico and most other countries, the court's prosecutors' office can investigate cases brought to it either by participating governments or the United Nations.

Only seven cases so far

Prosecutors also can initiate investigations based on complaints brought by outside parties, such as those of the Mexican group. But the court has taken up only seven cases since its founding, all of them involving massacres and other human rights atrocities in Africa.

Source
 
Are these the same guys that were going to help Iranians blow up a Saudi ambassador in our homeland ? OK, I am still trying to get that straight. Let’s give them AMNESTY? OK…..Do they deserve it?
 
Last edited:
mexico is depending on the ignorance of its population. What it proposes is surrender and the development of a shared government on the order of the Vichy government France adopted when it was occupied by the Nazis.

This cannot work because the battle is not only the government against the cartels, but the cartels against each other with government officials choosing up sides in that battle.
 
I say let Mexico sink. Then we go in and clean it up and use some of their natural resources to support all those who have crossed the border illegally AND legally! I can assure you 99.9% of their pop would thank us!
 
I say let Mexico sink. Then we go in and clean it up and use some of their natural resources to support all those who have crossed the border illegally AND legally! I can assure you 99.9% of their pop would thank us!

That is the perfect imperialist commie retort.

Is Obama going to select you as his next VP to replace Biden? Biden is a weak imperialist. Obama is much better at it.
 
Last edited:
Wonder how it will work out when the terms of the truce include the federal army protecting the drug routes into the US, and protection for the cartels against American citizens on their own property interfering with the trade.
 
I say let Mexico sink. Then we go in and clean it up and use some of their natural resources to support all those who have crossed the border illegally AND legally! I can assure you 99.9% of their pop would thank us!

That is the perfect imperialist commie retort.

Is Obama going to select you as his next VP to replace Biden? Biden is a weak imperialist. Obama is much better at it.

Wrong. The commies would have already bombed the hell out of Mexico and so would have the imperialists. They would not wait for it to sink - THEY would have sunk it!
 

New Topics

Forum List

Back
Top