Bajaboy - 12-22-2008 at 06:56 PM
Decapitated soldiers new blow to Mexico in drug war
By Mica Rosenberg Mica Rosenberg Mon Dec 22, 5:32 pm ET
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081222/wl_nm/us_mexico_drugs_2/...
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexican President Felipe Calderon vowed on Monday not to back down from the fight against powerful drug cartels who
decapitated eight soldiers in the most serious blow to the army in a 2-year-old offensive.
Police found the beheaded and tortured bodies tied up in the city of Chilpancingo, about an hour north of Acapulco, during the weekend.
The heads were stuffed in a black plastic bag and tossed outside a shopping center with a note saying, "For every one of us you kill, we are going to
kill 10," Mexican media reported.
An ex-police commander, also without a head, was found with the soldiers.
The gruesome attack was the worst against the army since Calderon deployed some 45,000 troops to take on drug gangs after coming to office in 2006.
"We are committed to this fight with all of its consequences," Calderon said at an event honoring a military hero. "We will not stand down and there
will be no truce with enemies of the state," he said.
Calderon's assault against drug gangs has netted several major smugglers wanted in the United States, but violence in Mexico has worsened. More than
5,300 people have died this year, over twice as many as in 2007, as traffickers fight each other and the government over drug smuggling routes.
Washington, which has promised Mexico hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to buy equipment and provide security training, now sees Mexican cartels
as its No. 1 drug threat.
It was not clear which faction was behind the beheadings. The main drug gangs are the Gulf cartel from northeastern Mexico and a federation of
smugglers run out of the northwestern state of Sinaloa by Mexico's most wanted man, Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman.
The violence threatens to scare away investors and hit Mexico's economy, already shaky from the global financial crisis.
Mexican cartels are increasingly taking the place of the Colombian organizations who once ruled the international cocaine trade. Colombians have ceded
many traditional trafficking routes to the United States to the Mexican gangs, preferring lower profile roles or focusing on Europe.
"There are no drug trafficking organizations left in Colombia that think they can go toe-to-toe with the nation-state; the cartels up in Mexico
actually think that they can," a senior Drug Enforcement Administration official based in Colombia told Reuters.
Calderon deployed the soldiers to fight organized crime in part because they are seen as less corrupt than police.
But military men from generals to foot soldiers have said they too are being offered thousands of dollars to turn a blind eye to shipments or call off
anti-drugs operations.
(Additional reporting by Miguel Angel Gutierrez, editing by Patricia Zengerle)
HCR - 12-22-2008 at 08:33 PM
Obviously, more money is needed from the U.S.A.
Yeah, that will solve it.
BajaGringo - 12-22-2008 at 08:39 PM
In reality I would just settle for the USA to stop using illegal drugs.
That WILL solve it...
[Edited on 12-23-2008 by BajaGringo]
Woooosh - 12-22-2008 at 08:41 PM
Senor Three Letters has nothing to do with drugs. And he's the one that is most problematic for us in Baja Norte. What's up with that?
BajaGringo - 12-22-2008 at 09:01 PM
You don't think he is involved with the local drug trade??? That is where he worked his way up in the A-F family before they had a "falling out".
Roasty - 12-22-2008 at 09:20 PM
The Times of London also ran this story http://www.timesonline.co.uk
(error when I posted complete page link)
The message is getting out.
Will be interesting to see how many gringo's are down in baja for the holidays.
[Edited on 12-23-2008 by Roasty]
From the AP report
Dave - 12-22-2008 at 09:24 PM
"Calderon didn't attend the memorial, but his defense and interior secretaries stood before flag-draped coffins at the army base in
Chilpancingo."
You would have thought he could spare the time. 
Hook - 12-22-2008 at 09:59 PM
Maybe he felt the country couldnt spare his loss. He has to be a target.
TonyC - 12-23-2008 at 06:21 AM
["We are committed to this fight with all of its consequences," Calderon said at an event honoring a military hero. "We will not stand down and there
will be no truce with enemies of the state," he said.]
[In reality I would just settle for the USA to stop using illegal drugs.
That WILL solve it... "BajaGringo"]
Is it still the case, that Mexico does not have a death sentence for drug dealing, or kidnapping for that matter? If the president is saying that
they are enemies of the state....?
It's not reality for the USA to stop using illegal drugs....not going to happen. That's reality, unfortunately.
How about just legalize drugs? Also not a reality....correct?
If Mexico wants to fight, they need to fight to win. IMHO.
ELINVESTIG8R - 12-23-2008 at 08:45 AM
The truth of the matter is that the mass murdering going on in Mexico must stop no matter the cost. The Mexican government needs to temporarily invoke
Article 29 of the Mexican constitution and suspend all civil liberties and go into a lock down of the country establishing martial law and curfew.
They need to take their entire Army Air Force Navy and Marines to include their untainted federal law enforcement people and in one motion blanket the
country from one end to the other sweeping across Mexico searching every person, every rancho, every house, every building block by block and either
capturing or killing each and every one of these sub-human bastards. This is the only way it can be stopped.
capn.sharky - 12-23-2008 at 09:42 AM
Bravo for Presidente Calderon. It may be to late, but someone had to take a stand against the Mexican Mafia and drug cartels.....or Mexico would end
up being owned by them. I don't know how serious the Mexican people are about this problem but, we could send Special Forces down to help out with
the problem---like we did in Columbia. Of course the problem stems with the users. If Americans didn't use this sh-- there would be no market for it.
I understand the Mexican government is considering opening tienditas to sell mota and tax it, thereby taking the profit out of it for the Mafia. I
have talked with many Mexicans that want to stop the traffic, but they are afraid to speak out against the cartel.