BajaNomad - SOMETHING THE DEPT. OF TOURISM WON'T TELL YOU

SOMETHING THE DEPT. OF TOURISM WON'T TELL YOU

DENNIS - 12-6-2010 at 09:30 AM

The San Diego Union-Tribune, LLC • Privacy Policy • Copyright Policy • 12/03/2010

Cables show concern over losing control of parts of the country

KATHERINE CORCORAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS
MEXICO CITY

A Mexican Cabinet minister told U.S. officials late last year that he had a “real concern” that Mexico would lose control of parts of the country to drug traffickers, according to a U.S. State Department cable released Thursday by WikiLeaks.

Undersecretary for the Interior Geronimo Gutierrez Fernandez, who oversees domestic security, “expressed a real concern with ‘losing’ certain regions,” according to the memo, posted online Thursday by the newspaper El Pais of Spain as a growing list of sensitive U.S. government messages were released by WikiLeaks.

“It is damaging Mexico’s international reputation, hurting foreign investment, and leading to a sense of government impotence, Gutierrez said,” according to the memo.

The Oct. 5, 2009, cable describes a dinner that the Mexican attorney general hosted for a delegation from the U.S. Department of Justice. It also quoted Gutierrez as saying the $1.4 billion Merida Initiative, the United States’ major effort to help Mexico fight the drug war, was too hastily crafted to be effective.

“In retrospect he and other GOM (Government of Mexico) officials realize that not enough strategic thought went into Merida in the early phase,” the memo said. “There was too much emphasis in the initial planning on equipment, which they now know is slow to arrive and even slower to be of direct utility in the fight against the DTOs (drug-trafficking organizations.)” President Felipe Calderón, who launched an assault on drug cartels in 2006, has maintained that the federal government has control over all the country. Both the U.S. and Mexico have said recently that Merida money in the future would be directed toward creating more effective institutions.

Mexican officials also proposed a strategy of regaining order in three of the most violent cities — Tijuana, Ciudad Juarez, and Culiacán, in the western state of Sinaloa, home to the powerful cartel of the same name, the cable said.

Gutierrez and National Security System Coordinator Jorge Tello Peon said Calderón has to stop the violence in Ciudad Juarez, the cable said.

“Politically … Calderón has staked so much of his reputation there, with a major show of force that, to date, has not panned out,” the cable said Gutierrez and Peon told U.S. officials at the dinner.

Meanwhile, in Mexico, federal police say they have captured a regional leader of the Zetas gang who allegedly handled drug- smuggling operations from Panama and the Dominican Republic.

Regional security chief Luis Card##as said Eduardo Ramirez Valencia was detained with an accomplice Wednesday in Hidalgo state in an operation that fractured a major route for transporting drugs from those two countries to the United States.

sanquintinsince73 - 12-6-2010 at 10:35 AM

I saw an interview with General Mojica on the Tijuana channel and he claims that Mexico is and always will be in complete control of all it's territory. The interview took place at a change of command ceremony last week in Tijuana.

Woooosh - 12-6-2010 at 11:07 AM

Calderon is scared to death of Hugo Chavez, Castro and Iran and has asked for a stronger US presence in Mexico and Latin America- not a lesser one. He says the Iranian Embassy in Mexico City is "very busy". No Mexican leader wants to admit their own security forces are disjointed and dysfunctional and dependent upon US intelligence leads and operations to be successful against the narcos- but the cables say that is exactly the case.

You'll also notice the last two days the UT has only printed other media outlet stories about what is happening 20 miles away from them- they won't write their own articles out of fear of repercussions from the business community on both sides of the border who care more about dollars and pesos than anyone's safety. I personally challenged the local Union Tribune beat reporter to cover the crime and events that were really happening- but was told these events were "of local interest" (meaning only people living in Mexico found them interesting) and not suitable for San Diego publication. It turns out these thousands of individual crimes were indeed causing security instability and Tijuana was considered for an area to be put under martial law in order to regain control from the cartels.

Those of us who lived through that crime wave in Rosarito know the cables are the most accurate reflection of what we were living through. We saw the bodies and heads and the fear of the Mexican neighbors and business owners. We saw half the TJ police force fired for corruption. We saw bullets sprayed at the Rosarito police stations. The cables even mention the exodus of the Mexican wealthy in TJ to the USA for safety. And these cables are talking about the present situation and are less than a year old. No one should think this situation is under control yet- the military is taking over the police in all five areas up here: Rosarito, TJ, Mexicali, Tecate and Ensenada. Martial law is still a possibility imho.

There are several hundered cables on Mexico yet to be released. We'll see what combined story they tell- but I'll take the US State Department's account of the situation here over that of General Mojica or anyone else given the current sad state and harsh summary of Mexican security forces the cables document.

When the US State Department Travel Advisories pointed to TJ as a dangerous place to be careful in- everyone local blamed the US media for over-stating the risks to tourists and ex-pats. Nope- the State Department was understating the danger all along if anything. What I can't figure out is why the US State Department failed to warn us ex-pats that martial law was a real possibility (and still is) with some explanation of what that would look like on the ground and what we should prepare for. If 12,000 US ex-pats in Asia or Africa were living in a dangerous area about to be under martial law the US State Department would have airlifted them out- not played along with the failing country.

The only good news for Mexico was that these cables are in diplomatic-speak English. The Mexican papers are mostly just reporting on the reporting of these cables by the newspapers in Spain. Few Mexicans will be able to translate the nuances and report on them. The PR spin will be deep- but the truth is already out there. We need to read and understand more of these cables:

www.wikileaks.ch

[Edited on 12-6-2010 by Woooosh]

War

toneart - 12-6-2010 at 11:27 AM

...on drugs in Mexico, or looking for terrorists in Afghanistan, or anywhere, is a terrible waste of money and innocent lives. It cannot/will not solve anything. When will Man learn? Never, I guess. Some of us know this, but those who profit by war will spend billions on media propaganda, to dupe sleeping fools.

Users will never stop using. Traffickers will never stop moving it. Dealers will never stop selling it, unless the market is eliminated. It is an issue of economics.

Let the users kill themselves. Prosecute only when they have committed a violent crime as a result of their usage. The only exception: Meth.! Wipe out those vile nests. And families...write off your kids who are on Meth. They are total losses.

Legalize all other drugs. Take the middle man out of it. Continue to prosecute dealers in the U.S. Cease arresting users.

The priorities are:
1. Stop the violence. War only increases it.
2. Stop the waste of money.
3. Ease the overcrowding of prisons by releasing non-violent, drug related offenders.

Moral opposition to the above is counter productive. It is irrelevant. It impedes any solution.

DENNIS - 12-6-2010 at 11:35 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by toneart
War on drugs in Mexico

I mentioned this same thing in a thread a few weeks back.....Mexico's war isn't a drug war per se. It's a war for controll of the country. The article above says just that.

Insurgency Definition:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insurgency

Woooosh - 12-6-2010 at 11:54 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by DENNIS

Quote:

Originally posted by toneart
War on drugs in Mexico

And I think this is why Calderon is so afraid of his Latin American neighbors and is alarmed by the growing influence of Iran in Latin America. While the proud and nationalistic Mexicans are looking north and complain about the evil USA to the north- a greater evil is priming itself to influence and take control of the region from the south- economically and politically.

toneart - 12-6-2010 at 12:23 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Woooosh

Quote:

Originally posted by DENNIS

Quote:

Originally posted by toneart
War on drugs in Mexico

Yep! Myopic immersion is as bad as masterb*tion when it comes to causing blindness.

Bajahowodd - 12-6-2010 at 03:13 PM

"Calderon is scared to death of Hugo Chavez, Castro and Iran and has asked for a stronger US presence in Mexico and Latin America- not a lesser one. He says the Iranian Embassy in Mexico City is "very busy". No Mexican leader wants to admit their own security forces are disjointed and dysfunctional and dependent upon US intelligence leads and operations to be successful against the narcos- but the cables say that is exactly the case."

First of all, recent political events in Venezuela show a considerable erosion for Chavez among his constituents. Second, Castro who? It seems to me that our long-standing wrong-headed policy toward Cuba has served to create a straw man. Geez. Open diplomatic relations. Let Americans travel there for vacations and study. Just see how long it takes for them to become part of Miami. As for Iranian influence. They are far from alone. Look at the Russians, the Chinese, to name just a couple. Our government brought this on by the neglect it has shown for the region. We've been too busy stirring up trouble in the Middle East. We need to stop carrying a sidearm, because we keep shooting ourself in the foot.

DENNIS - 12-6-2010 at 03:41 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Bajahowodd
First of all, recent political events in Venezuela show a considerable erosion for Chavez among his constituents.

I didn't realize dictators had constituents. Only subjects.

rdrrm8e - 12-6-2010 at 03:50 PM

A Mexican Cabinet minister told U.S. officials late last year that he had a “real concern” that Mexico would lose control of parts of the country to drug traffickers, according to a U.S. State Department cable released Thursday by WikiLeaks.

Undersecretary for the Interior Geronimo Gutierrez Fernandez, who oversees domestic security, “expressed a real concern with ‘losing’ certain regions,” according to the memo, posted online Thursday by the newspaper El Pais of Spain as a growing list of sensitive U.S. government messages were released by WikiLeaks.

At least we don't have that problem in the USA..........

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbeyHmWbQjs

[Edited on 12-6-2010 by rdrrm8e]

Bajahowodd - 12-6-2010 at 05:17 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by DENNIS

Quote:

Originally posted by Bajahowodd
First of all, recent political events in Venezuela show a considerable erosion for Chavez among his constituents.

I didn't realize dictators had constituents. Only subjects.

Dictator? Maybe on his wish list for Santa. The erosion of which I speak came in recent national elections.

OK. Be cynical. There are probably some who would attempt to make the case that elections in the US are meaningless. Just saying that if and until this guy declares martial law, I wouldn't consider him to be a dictator.

Woooosh - 12-6-2010 at 09:54 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by rdrrm8e
A Mexican Cabinet minister told U.S. officials late last year that he had a “real concern” that Mexico would lose control of parts of the country to drug traffickers, according to a U.S. State Department cable released Thursday by WikiLeaks.

Undersecretary for the Interior Geronimo Gutierrez Fernandez, who oversees domestic security, “expressed a real concern with ‘losing’ certain regions,” according to the memo, posted online Thursday by the newspaper El Pais of Spain as a growing list of sensitive U.S. government messages were released by WikiLeaks.

At least we don't have that problem in the USA..........

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbeyHmWbQjs

[Edited on 12-6-2010 by rdrrm8e]

Yes, a Mexican official said it- the Cables just reported it back to the mother ship (Hillary). The cables are all in English diplomat-speak. You won't find many Mexican intellectuals translating and commenting on them- too much room for error and there aren't many Bernsteins and Woodwards left in Mexico. These are not flattering Cables by any means- but no one seems really surprised by the information in them. It's sort of an "aha" moment- "oh, that's what has been going on around here" thing. They helped me understand the dysfunction, perils and possible solutions for Mexico. There are still another 241 Cables on Mexico to be released.
http://www.wikileaks.ch/

CaboRon - 12-7-2010 at 07:13 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by sanquintinsince73
I saw an interview with General Mojica on the Tijuana channel and he claims that Mexico is and always will be in complete control of all it's territory. The interview took place at a change of command ceremony last week in Tijuana.