BajaNomad - Mexico drug gangs threaten cops on radio, kill them

Mexico drug gangs threaten cops on radio, kill them

Bajaboy - 2-6-2009 at 08:19 PM

When will the people of Mexico stand up and say enough to the violence? And please don't give me the just legalize it crap. Can you imagine this happening in the US? Not!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090206/wl_nm/us_mexico_drugs_2

Mexico drug gangs threaten cops on radio, kill them
By Lizbeth Diaz Lizbeth Diaz Fri Feb 6, 2:49 pm ET

TIJUANA, Mexico (Reuters) – Mexican drug gangs near the U.S. border are breaking into police radio frequencies to issue chilling death threats to cops which they then carry out, demoralizing security forces in a worsening drug war.

"You're next, bastard ... We're going to get you," an unidentified drug gang member said over the police radio in the city of Tijuana after naming a policeman.

The man also threatened a second cop by name and played foot-stomping "narcocorrido" music, popular with drug cartels, over the airwaves.

"No one can help them," an officer named Jorge said of his threatened colleagues as he heard the threats in his patrol car.

Sure enough, two hours later the dead bodies of the two named policemen were found dumped on the edge of the city, their hands tied and bullet wounds in their heads.

Cartels killed some 530 police in Mexico last year, some of them corrupt officers who were working for rival gangs. Others were killed in shoot-outs or murdered for working against the gangs or refusing to turn a blind eye to drug shipments.

Violence has hit shocking levels in Tijuana, over the border from San Diego, since President Felipe Calderon launched an army crackdown on traffickers in late 2006, stirring up new wars between rival cartels over smuggling routes.

The drug war is scaring tourists and investors away from northern Mexico, forcing some businesses to shutter just as the country heads into recession this year.

Badly-paid Tijuana municipal police, often accused of collaborating with rival wings of the local Arellano Felix cartel, are badly demoralized, senior officers say.

"These death threats are part of the psychological warfare that organized crime is using against officers," said Tijuana police chief Gustavo Huerta.

"Before, the gangs began infiltrating the radio after a police execution, which was bad enough, but now they are doing it beforehand and the force feels terrorized," he said.

WORN-OUT BODY ARMOR

Officers in threadbare uniforms and worn-out body armor say they are no match for drug gangs with powerful weapons and state-of-the art technology. Some police cling to religious trinkets and pray for protection, but many others have taken early retirement.

"I and many of my colleagues are thinking our time in the force is over," said Olivia Vidal, a Tijuana policewoman with 15 years in the force. "I have three kids. Two are at university. I would never let them follow in my footsteps."

Drug hitmen are brazenly using pirate radio decoders to flag police murders in advance on the airwave, often playing the brassy accordion-led "narcocorrido" ballads that lionize the escapades of heavily armed, womanizing traffickers.

The gangsters use the decoder to access the radio frequency and then use a transmitter linked to a CD player and a microphone to transmit the narcocorrido music and the threats.

In one recent attack, hitmen killed two officers in their vehicle in Tijuana and then blasted drug ballads over police radio while naming their next targets, just as officers were reaching the first crime scene.

Some gangs sarcastically offer their "condolences" over the air after an execution, broadcasting messages like: "We are so sorry."

(Writing by Robin Emmott; Editing by Catherine Bremer and Kieran Murray)

surfer jim - 2-6-2009 at 08:34 PM

Just when you think you have heard everything.....

ENOUGH SAID!

ELINVESTIG8R - 2-6-2009 at 08:34 PM

DENNIS - 2-6-2009 at 10:20 PM

This place needs the big intervention.

Bajaboy - 2-6-2009 at 10:39 PM

I remember back when the Blood and Crips were out of control and the govt. decided enough was enough. They are still around but are kept in check. Why can't Mexico put their gangs in check?

Bajafun777 - 2-6-2009 at 11:42 PM

We should encourage all dual citizens that are in special forces or swat teams in the USA to link back with Mexico as special forces having them live on military bases to go out as strike teams. The USA should pay special forces international pay to those willing to step up to do this. This would get around the foreigners being allowed to carry weapons and arrest or kill Mexican citizens. It will take something special like this to keep the corrupt cops in Mexico from selling good cops out. Brazen you bet, raise eyebrows without a doubt, make big arrests and bring down drug cartels at least best chance to do so. Well, that is my view on the way to handle it and maybe we could get a special forces of about 200 to go from large town to large town staying on military bases and USA supplying all the lastest and best weapons and technology to take these cartels down. Later----bajafun777

Bajahowodd - 2-7-2009 at 12:31 AM

I have a slightly different, and admittedly optimistic take on this. Face it, the escalation of violence only began after Calderone made it his business to go after the cartels. What is being reported in this story could be construed as desperation. The Feds have mobilized like never before. I'm not saying it will be over tomorrow. And, Bajaboy, the demand in our country is not abating. But, maybe the routes of distribution will change, perhaps circumventing Mexico.

Bajaboy - 2-7-2009 at 06:36 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Bajahowodd
I have a slightly different, and admittedly optimistic take on this. Face it, the escalation of violence only began after Calderone made it his business to go after the cartels. What is being reported in this story could be construed as desperation. The Feds have mobilized like never before. I'm not saying it will be over tomorrow. And, Bajaboy, the demand in our country is not abating. But, maybe the routes of distribution will change, perhaps circumventing Mexico.

I like your take and optimism. Let's hope you're correct.

BajaDove - 2-7-2009 at 07:59 AM

The extra troops did not start the violence. That started when the plane fell on the drug king and every one wanted to take his share. then the troops came.

k-rico - 2-7-2009 at 08:40 AM

A neighbor of mine, a Mexican M.D. working in a new TJ hospital, so presumably well informed, told me that number of people in Mexico making a living off the drug trade is estimated to be 400,000! I suppose that includes not only active "workers" but their families also.

Big business.

I have no idea if it's true, but if it is, it gives you an idea of the magnitude of the problem and the likelihood it will be solved.

TonyC - 2-7-2009 at 08:59 AM

Change the penalties for drug dealing, and kidnapping. Absolute. Death. Public flogging....too much? The cops can't use the same tactics...decapitation, and threats to their famalies.

Pay the cops a living wage. Jail time for crooked cops. That includes shaking down a motorist for 40 bucks.

Do this, and with help from us....better equipment, and technology. Mexico may be able to control this problem.

Or just LEGALIZE the crap. So long as it's illegal, there's money to be made. Someone will get into the business. Quit F%#*&* around, and control it.

I need it stick to the trip reports, this is such a downer.

DENNIS - 2-7-2009 at 09:38 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Bajaboy
I remember back when the Blood and Crips were out of control and the govt. decided enough was enough. They are still around but are kept in check. Why can't Mexico put their gangs in check?

You're drawing a wide, distinct line between law enforcement and gangs when it's obvious from arrests of compromised police officials that the line can't exist. That wasn't an issue between Crips/Bloods and police.

BajaGringo - 2-7-2009 at 10:29 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by DENNIS

Quote:

That is true. This is a very different battle right now. Much harder to distinguish the players and know which side they are fighting for...

Bajahowodd - 2-7-2009 at 12:46 PM

This strikes me as similar to the prohibition era in the U.S. There were rival gangs shooting at each other, and crooked cops on the take all over the place. Anyone recall how that problem was solved? :rolleyes:

BajaGringo - 2-7-2009 at 12:48 PM

I agree with you but the issue today is just as divided as it was back then. When prohibition was repealed there were many that thought that signaled the end of the US.

Just like today...

:rolleyes:

flyfishinPam - 2-7-2009 at 12:52 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Bajaboy
When will the people of Mexico stand up and say enough to the violence? And please don't give me the just legalize it crap. Can you imagine this happening in the US? Not!

I wasn't born during the years of prohibition of alcohol in the USA but I can put a couple of pieces of information together from the experiences that I have read about and from first hand information of people who lived through it.

Alcohol was illegal in the USA but there were plenty of persons who were completely willing to buy it.

Alcohol was legal in Mexico and there were plenty of American citizens willing to come here to buy it.

As I can recall, pretty much ALL of the violence was contained inside the USA where alcohol was illegal during the prohibition of alcohol years but not here in Mexico where alcohol was not prohibited.

Maybe we ought to consider this FACT in our arguments for and against the prohibition of recreational drugs.

BajaGringo - 2-7-2009 at 01:10 PM

Stop making sense!!!!

Bajahowodd - 2-7-2009 at 01:13 PM

As has been mentioned by one of our resident sages here in the past, notwithstanding the tremendous effort that it would take to convince enough folks in the United States that legalizing and controlling certain recreational drugs makes more sense than not, there is an even more daunting problem. Namely that we have developed such a huge infrastructure of programs, institutions and people that earn their living from this very industry- the so-called war on drugs. This fight has become deeply institutionalized and won't easily be dismantled.

BajaGringo - 2-7-2009 at 01:20 PM

That is the biggest reason why the US wants to maintain the current policy IMHO...

BajaDove - 2-7-2009 at 04:14 PM

Legalizing and taxing makes more sense to me than fighting with everyone. and the US could use the money it has a lot of bail to pay.

Bajahowodd - 2-7-2009 at 04:28 PM

I just don't see it happening in my lifetime. I was a sixtes activist. Civil rights marches and all that. But I really can't say that I see us any closer to legalization than 45 years ago. And except for some dalliances in college, I don't do the stuff. But who wouldn't rather encounter some happy, goofy guy with the munchies than a belligerent drunk?

TonyC - 2-8-2009 at 10:57 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Bajahowodd
Namely that we have developed such a huge infrastructure of programs, institutions and people that earn their living from this very industry- the so-called war on drugs. This fight has become deeply institutionalized and won't easily be dismantled.

Es la verdad. Namely the Correction Officers Union, just to name one.

BajaGringo - 2-8-2009 at 11:29 AM

It is even much bigger than that. The cities, counties and states all get a cut of the court fees, penalties, and parole costs. Yes, the felons have to pay for their parole costs now on top of the required "classes" they take too once out. A simple conviction for possession of a small bag of marijuana can generate several thousand dollars in these costs which all go into the governments coffers.

Add to that the extra money law enforcement gets in federal grants for drug enforcement programs, the cops, prison guards and parole officers labor unions and then the biggest sharks of all - the attorneys that are always waiting on the court steps to take their cut...

Phil S - 2-8-2009 at 11:40 AM

I'm quiet on this topic for a reason. What's to keep some bored druggie from out of curiousity looking at Baja Nomad, and then deciding that he felt it was his duty to "take out that person who was so negative against the cartels"???????????????????????????????????????????????????? :?:

Woooosh - 2-8-2009 at 12:23 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Phil S
I'm quiet on this topic for a reason. What's to keep some bored druggie from out of curiousity looking at Baja Nomad, and then deciding that he felt it was his duty to "take out that person who was so negative against the cartels"???????????????????????????????????????????????????? :?:

Nothing.

DENNIS - 2-8-2009 at 12:31 PM

Quote:

I think that's giving them too much power. Their loyalty is to their habit...not their supplier. Lock and load if it really concerns you that much but, don't let them run your life.

TonyC - 2-8-2009 at 12:36 PM

Woooosh, with your brutally frank opinion on what's wrong with, and how Mexico should run their country....you have to be top 10 on their list. On both side that is ....bad guys, and the government. Your a brave dude.

[Edited on 2-8-2009 by TonyC]

Woooosh - 2-8-2009 at 04:16 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by TonyC
Woooosh, with your brutally frank opinion on what's wrong with, and how Mexico should run their country....you have to be top 10 on their list. On both side that is ....bad guys, and the government. Your a brave dude.

[Edited on 2-8-2009 by TonyC]

I figure there are a hundred or so TV and newspaper reporters on the top of that list. They don't surf the net much.

Besdies, the local thugs know who I am. My first posts as a newbie on this board were a couple years ago when a narco visited our house (under pretense of being a friend of my nephew) with wild tales of his people dissolving their enemies in acid and torturing peolpe using the N-zi doctor methods. I was looking for answers- trying to figure out what was going on below the surface in Rosarito Beach. One nomad at the time responded that I had a great future on this board- as a fiction writer.

The stuff I post isn't enough to get me in trouble with them. They know me and know I'm not a problem for them. We have an agreement- but you know how making deals with the devil goes. It was a mexican-standoff. The man has since turned himself in to the USA and is doing prison time- he figured that was the safest place to be- because everyone is hiding from Mr. Three Letters.

[Edited on 2-8-2009 by Woooosh]

BajaGringo - 2-8-2009 at 04:24 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Woooosh
We have an agreement- but you know how making deals with the devil goes.

You must be talking about marriage...

Woooosh - 2-8-2009 at 04:26 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by BajaGringo

Quote:

Originally posted by Woooosh
We have an agreement- but you know how making deals with the devil goes.

You must be talking about marriage...

with the "til death do us part" clause underlined.

BajaGringo - 2-8-2009 at 05:36 PM

I always said they ought to "outlaw" that institution...