Cockburn on the Calif latino swing / US narco laundries

TOPICS OF CONTINUING SORT OF RELATED INTEREST, GO TO LATEST POST FOR THE LATEST...

They love the guy down Kingston way. Reminder how nearly all the $$ from the US/Mex anti drug deal goes back to US biz, leaving mexico with the warzone.


"Slum dwellers seethed with anger Thursday at security forces waging a house-to-house search for a powerful druglord, as the death toll rose in Jamaica's wave of violence without any sign of the operation's target.

Police said that 73 bodies have been found in morgues, some in a state of decomposition, although several may not have died in the operation. Three security personnel have died in the four-day-old operation.

Heaps of sometimes smoldering garbage littered streets of western Kingston, a world away from Jamaica's world-famous beaches and the stronghold of gangster Christopher "Dudus" Coke -- who is wanted by the United States on drug charges.



Edited 29 time(s). Last edit at 11/05/2010 02:35PM by Uncle Mort.

It is amazing how the anti drug policy of the U.S. is causing so much trouble. Take ol Cris Coke and his impact upon a huge island for example. And all because a culture of addicts refuse to curb a bad habit or at least teach the next generation to "just say no". Sometimes I wonder what the impact would be of a worldwide legalization law. Maybe some day the government will enact a law identifying drug addicts similiar to the Sexual Offender laws now in effect. Not that most people need notification of a drug addict next door. LOL

If only each person with illegal drug habits decided to teach one kid to just say no imagine how it would be in a few years. Less and less addicts. A cleaner world. Since that aint happening everyone reading this should take several kids or maybe a classroom and teach them to just say no. LOL

You've got to be kidding...

No, actually, he's not...

Milenio.com has an encuesta poll map that suggests a PRI sweep of governor races in July. PRD's Gabino Cue (currently a senator, good man) lags 4 points to PRI's Magaña in Oaxaca. The PRI has run the place like a plantation for over seventy years and a changing of the guard would be great-- but it's who counts the votes that will no doubt win. asi es ohio, also mexico. on the other hand, Mexico seldom embraces change gently:



Mexico’s democratization throughout the 1990s, which upset the long-standing collusion between some members of the ruling Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) and particular favored drug traffickers, has been another contributing factor. The PRI’s eroding political monopoly brought in new actors, undermined old deals, and opened up the illicit sector to those previously kept out in the cold. The combination of more lucrative opportunities, heightened competition and changes to the political game created dramatic uncertainty in the market, escalating the bloodshed. Legacies of the PRI’s 70-year rule—in particular the political manipulation of law enforcement and judicial branches, which limited professionalization and enabled widespread corruption—further aggravated the situation, leaving the new government with only weak tools to counter increasingly aggressive crime networks…

LatIntelligence



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/04/2010 08:04AM by Uncle Mort.

Gabino Guey has joined forces with Andres Manuel Lopez Hablador. Andres is the guy thats still running around claiming to be the real president of Mexico. Thats funny. Gabino does have the backing of every left winged radical group Mexico can offer at this time. Too many parties combined and not enough cake once the dust settles. Not a group to be in control of ANYTHING ANYWHERE. Gabinos backers are EXACTLY the same ones who took over the capiatal and literally destroyed Oaxaca a few years ago. Go figure.
Current word from the PRI is complete confidence of a win. Thats a relaxing feeling. No need for cut n paste here. Just the facts.

Or just the hearsay in your case, since your unattributed sayso doesn't make it a fact.

Now for another drug agenda, promoting drugs through health scares. Just because tomzap posters are paranoid doesn't mean the rest of the media won't catch up with them...


Reports accuse WHO of exaggerating H1N1 threat, possible ties to drug makers

By Rob Stein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, June 4, 2010; 3:52 PM

European criticism of the World Health Organization's handling of the H1N1 pandemic intensified Friday with the release of two reports that accused the agency of exaggerating the threat posed by the virus and failing to disclose possible influence by the pharmaceutical industry on its recommendations for how countries should respond.

The WHO's response caused widespread, unnecessary fear and prompted countries around the world to waste millions of dollars, according to one report. At the same time, the Geneva-based arm of the United Nations relied on advice from experts with ties to drug makers in developing the guidelines it used to encourage countries to stockpile millions of doses of antiviral medications, according to the second report.

The reports outlined the drumbeat of criticism that has arisen, primarily in Europe, of how the world's leading health organization responded to the first influenza pandemic in more than four decades.

"For WHO, its credibility has been badly damaged," wrote Fiona Godlee, the editor of the BMJ, a prominent British medical journal, that published one of the reports. "WHO must act now to restore its credibility."

A spokesman for the WHO, along with several independent experts, however, strongly disputed the reports, saying they misrepresented the seriousness of the pandemic and the WHO's response, which was carefully formulated and necessary given the potential threat.

"The idea that we declared a pandemic when there wasn't a pandemic is both historically inaccurate and downright irresponsible," said WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl in a telephone interview. "There is no doubt that this was a pandemic. To insinuate that this was not a pandemic is very disrespectful to the people who died from it."

The first report, released in Paris, came from the Social, Health and Family Affairs Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, which launched an investigation in response to allegations that the WHO's response to the pandemic was influenced by drug companies that make antiviral drugs and vaccines.

"The parliamentary assembly is alarmed about the way in which the H1N1 influenza pandemic has been handled, not only by the World Health Organization (WHO), but also by the competent health authorities at the level of the European Union and at national level," the 18-page draft report states.

"It is particularly troubled by some of the consequences of decisions taken and advice given leading to distortion of priorities of public health services across Europe, waste of large sums of public money, and also unjustified scares and fears about health risks faced by the European public at large," according to the report.

The second report, a joint investigation by the BMJ and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, which is based in London, criticized 2004 guidelines the WHO developed based in part on the advice of three experts who received consulting fees from the two leading manufacturers of antiviral drugs used against the virus, Roche and GlaxoSmithKline.

"We are left wondering whether major public health organizations are able to effectively manage the conflicts of interest that are inherent in medical science," the report states.

Hartl dismissed those charges.

"WHO would say categorically that it believes that it has not been subject to undue conflict-of-interest. We know that some experts that come to our committees have contact with industry. It would be surprising if they didn't because the best experts are sought by all organizations," Hartl said. "We feel that the guidelines produced were certainly not subject to undue influence."

Several other experts also defended the agency.

"Twenty-twenty hindsight can always second guess the decisions of public health officials," said Jeffrey Levi, executive director of the Trust for America's Health, a private nonprofit group. "But this kind of condemnation of public health officials who made the most prudent decisions based on available knowledge could well backfire in future emergencies: I fear that public health officials will draw the lesson that they should wait for greater scientific certainty before responding in the future -- and we could pay for that overcaution with many lives lost."

In response to the criticism, the WHO has launched two investigations, including one by an independent panel of experts led by Harvey Fineberg, who heads the Institute of Medicine at the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.

"These reports raise questions about potential, inappropriate influences on WHO decision-making in the assessment and response to the 2009 H1N1 pandemic and, more generally, question practices employed by WHO to guard against conflict of interest among its expert advisers," Fineberg said in an e-mail. "These topics are among those that will be fully considered by our review committee."

Mort, mort, mort. So exactly what does catching a drug lord in Panama have to do with the PRI party in Oaxaca?

Since the Mexican government is also trying to stop the narco gangs in Mexico isn't that where the war belongs? I mean if Mexican police are fighting Mexican gangs, should they move to Italy to fight? Maybe I need to be stoned to understand you.

[www.milenio.com]

El Tori has such a kindly face, how could he be mixed up with such lowlifes. Real name is "Luna Luna", that works. Maybe he's just a good man with a saw. They love the big lug in Monterrey and so they blockade the main roads with big trucks to keep him near.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/10/2010 08:09AM by Uncle Mort.

ask the kid at the bridge in juarez.

could the blow and the meth ingredients be coming in from panama, landing in puerto?

who was the guy doing the head in the bag trick?

gottagobye
driftllastic

US targets Mexican drug cartels in major sweep

US officials said the operation was "a milestone" Drug enforcement officers in the United States say they have arrested more than 2,200 people in an investigation targeting Mexican trafficking rings.

The joint operation lasted almost two years and culminated on Wednesday with more than 400 arrests across 16 states.

Officers also seized considerable amounts of methamphetamine, marijuana and heroin.

US Attorney General Eric Holder said Project Deliverance was a significant blow against Mexican drug cartels.

He said the arrests and seizures would disrupt their operations, but also warned that it was only one battle in an ongoing war.

The investigation focused on the infrastructure used to distribute illegal drugs across the United States and smuggle guns and cash back to Mexico.

During the 22 months the operation lasted, officers seized more than $150m, 2.2 tonnes of cocaine, half a tonne of methamphetamine, and 62 tonnes of marijuana.

Mr Holder said it had been the most extensive and most successful law enforcement effort to date targeting Mexican drug cartels.

send some of that ganja to my house. i am smoking leaves thanks to the dea stormtroopers in helicopters.

gottagobye
driftllastic

Another massacre, another mass grave. Calderon's narco war strategy is rudderless, costly and losing, cry the priistas to sum up what most are feeling. The govt replies that it's an endless war where everybody has to do "a lot more" to win, and stopping the war cannot be discussed because that would be playing politics doncha know. Cuz it's a war.

La guerra contra el narco no se va ganando: PRI
13 de junio de 2010


Cuando hay bajas de niños y familias implica que se va perdiendo el combate contra el crimen organizado, señaló el diputado Carlos Ramírez Marín


Patricia Torres / El Sol de MĂ©xico

Campeche, Camp.- Mientras que legisladores del PAN defienden la estrategia que el presidente Felipe Calderón realiza en el combate contra el crimen organizado y el narcotráfico, el PRI dijo que no se puede hablar de que estamos ganado esta lucha "porque ni siquiera hemos empezado la auténtica guerra".

Las opiniones del diputado Carlos Alberto Pérez Cuevas; del senador Luis Alberto Villarreal, del PAN; del diputado del PRI, Jorge Carlos Ramírez Marín, se da en el marco de la XLIX Reunión Interparlamentaria, luego de que el viernes fue uno de los días más violentos en lo que va del sexenio, al registrarse 48 personas muertas en hechos relacionados directamente con el crimen organizado.

Jorge Carlos Ramírez Marín, vicecoordinador de la bancada del PRI en la Cámara de Diputados, dijo que "nos hemos empeñado en una guerra que no estamos ganando, que nos ha costado por todos lados dinero, nos ha costado hombres, nos ha costado niños, nos ha costado familias. No es una guerra que estemos ganando. Porque la guerra cuando hay bajas, implica que la estás perdiendo, y aquí hay bajas todos los días", aseguró.

En la medida en que el Gobierno federal no trabaje en el control de las armas y del dinero (lavado), sobre todo en la disminución del mercado, a través de un combate efectivo contra las adicciones, "no vamos a ganar ninguna guerra", advirtió.

El diputado priísta cuestionó que en los asesinatos ocurridos en un "presunto" centro de rehabilitación ¿dónde están los controles?, ¿dónde está la supervisión?, ¿dónde están los directorios de rehabilitación?, ¿quién está manejando esta guerra? Y ya que la llamaron así, ¿quién la dirige?, ¿quién está al frente?, ¿a quién se le pide específicamente cuentas?

También critico que el gobierno de Felipe Calderón tenga cerrazón y que haya sumido a su administración en una especie de parálisis, y lamentó que en el combate al narcotráfico, aparecerán víctimas todos los días.

A su vez, el senador Luis Alberto Villarreal, presidente de la Comisión de Relaciones Exteriores, América del Norte del Senado, indicó que el hecho de que el viernes se registrara como uno de los días más violentos del sexenio, es una preocupación, no solamente del Gobierno de México, sino también del PAN.

Mencionó que esta situación debe ser un acicate para que todos los partidos políticos y los funcionarios de los tres ámbitos de gobierno "hagamos mucho más para devolverle la paz y tranquilidad a nuestro país".

"Los hechos que ocurrieron el día de ayer (viernes) son actos de barbarie que tenemos que condenar. Las ejecuciones que se vieron en este centro de rehabilitación son, no solamente condenables; debemos tener mejor estrategia, más inteligencia para evitar en lo sucesivo este tipo de actos cobardes".

Ante la afirmación del PRI de que se está perdiendo la guerra contra el narcotráfico, señaló que en el discurso del tricolor no ha escuchado cuál sería la nueva estrategia que proponen.

Y agregó: "También dicen que Acción Nacional y el Gobierno no tienen la capacidad de gobernar. La realidad es que el gobierno del presidente Calderón está enfrentando con firmeza a los grandes cárteles y capos mundiales".

Y recordó que ésta no será una lucha de un día, será larga y no hay varita mágica. Y aseguró que el gobierno de Felipe Calderón seguirá adelante y dispuesto a mejorar la estrategia en lo que se tenga que mejorar, pero esto requiere el concurso de todos y no puede politizarse ni partidizarse, señaló.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/13/2010 08:49AM by Uncle Mort.

Goofy, overlong but amusing satire in gringo spanish, about the mexican flu scare and Smithfield Farms' Veracruz operation, that includes a piglet on a leash:

[www.youtube.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/22/2010 08:56PM by Uncle Mort.

The dollar value of unused/expired swine flu vaccine from last year's scare comes to about...
A--$140 million
B--$260 million
C--$90 million


[news.yahoo.com]

Let's you and him fight dept: US banks happily launder mex drug war money to fatten their bottom line. may be keeping the whole system afloat, according to an earlier UN report.

[rawstory.com]

Thoughtful piece on militarizing immigration issues and the border:

[www.counterpunch.org]

Btw governor whatsername can't find any heads to match her claims about narco depravity in arizona. but she may not have to wait long...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/04/2010 11:38AM by inspector hound.

Even the Washington Post gets into the act, cataloguing how Arizona governess lies her ass off to justify new law:

"...Brewer's mindlessness about headlessness is just one of the immigration falsehoods being spread by Arizona politicians. Border violence on the rise? Phoenix becoming the world's No. 2 kidnapping capital? Illegal immigrants responsible for most police killings? The majority of those crossing the border are drug mules? All wrong.

This matters, because it means the entire premise of the Arizona immigration law is a fallacy. Arizona officials say they've had to step in because federal officials aren't doing enough to stem increasing border violence. The scary claims of violence, in turn, explain why the American public supports the Arizona crackdown.

Last year gave us death panels and granny killings, but compared with the nonsense justifying the immigration crackdown, the health-care debate was an evening at the Oxford Union Society.

Two months ago, the Arizona Republic published an exhaustive report that found that, according to statistics from the FBI and Arizona police agencies, crime in Arizona border towns has been "essentially flat for the past decade..." Full article here:



[www.washingtonpost.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/10/2010 10:14PM by Uncle Mort.

I back her 300%.

study confirms what many of you already knew about heading down the road with a good buzz:

[www.enewspf.com]-



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/21/2010 06:40PM by Uncle Mort.

Legalize all drugs, tax them and sell them at the liquor stores.
Most of the crooks and almost all the cops would have to find new jobs. (maybe cleaning up oil spills)
Can't we see that the people taking drugs are our brothers and sisters, our mothers and fathers?
All they want is a relief from their pain, a diversion from a difficult reality, who are they hurting?
The war on drugs has to end, it was a stupid idea in the first place.
Christian morality screws up once again.

How to measure success when you keep fkg up, and when failure ensures you'll get even MORE easy money to push down a black hole or into an overseas account?


July 20, 2010
Report Says U.S. Fails to Assess Drug Aid to Mexico
By MARC LACEY NYT

MEXICO CITY — Despite claims by the United States and Mexico that drug traffickers are feeling the effects of the countries’ joint offensive, a review by the Government Accountability Office has found that millions of dollars have been spent without enough regard for whether the money is doing any good.

The office did say in a report to be released Wednesday that the Obama administration had done a better job in recent months of spending the roughly $1.6 billion set aside to fight drug traffickers in Mexico and Central America. Critics in the region have said bureaucratic hurdles have delayed the aid, which includes training and helicopters.

But the report said the State Department, which is overseeing the so-called Merida Initiative to combat drugs in the region, had failed to set specific targets to determine whether the money was having the desired effect of disrupting organized crime groups and reforming law enforcement agencies.

“Without targets to strive toward, State cannot determine if it is meeting expectations under the Merida Initiative,” the report said.

Officials in Washington and Mexico City typically point to the huge quantities of drugs, guns and money being seized and the number of arrests being made as evidence that traffickers are on their heels. Critics, however, point to the continued violence in Mexico as a sign that the traffickers remain strong.

Nearly 25,000 people have been killed in drug-related violence since President Felipe Calderón took office at the end of 2006. Recent days have been particularly bloody, with an attack on a birthday party in Torreón that killed 17 people and a car bombing in Ciudad Juárez.

Precisely measuring the success or failure of the drug war is exceedingly hard, experts say. The number of arrests means little if many detainees are later released or replaced by new recruits. The seizure of huge quantities of drugs does not indicate that traffickers are struggling if even larger loads are getting through to generate big profits.

Violence could be a sign of the traffickers’ strength, or it could indicate their weakness and desperation, as the Mexican government has contended.

“It’s tricky,” said an American official involved in the drug fight who was not authorized to speak on the record. He suggested that polling on the public perception of the police might be a way to gauge whether Mexican law enforcement was being properly overhauled.

Representative Eliot L. Engel, the New York Democrat who sought the spending review, said in a statement, “Nearly three years and $1.6 billion later, our counternarcotics assistance to Mexico and Central America lacks fundamental measurements of success.”

Militarization of Mexico via the endless drug war--- scalding analysis plus scads of links here:

[mexfiles.net]

....It’s not Mexico that spends half its national budget on “security”, although the present administration is stinting in necessary spending in other areas. It is, however, Mexico — and countries like Mexico that receive “stimulus packages” from the United States to buy arms, and “security advisers” from the United States, where the military presence is most noticeable, and where the problems are the most visible.

Today, the president-elect (or select?) of Colombia — which, despite (or thanks to) massive U.S. “drug war” funding is exporting MORE cocaine and has a murder rate that makes Juarez look like Mayberry, offered to “share Colombia’s experiences” with Mexico in fighting the drug war. Presumably, that includes how not to get caught killing innocent people for fun and profit, how to threaten judges and journalists, and generically justify human rights violations.

The supposed “developing nations” militarization — in this quarter of the planet, at any rate — is largely in response to those “drug war” purchases. Brazil and Venezuela beefed up their forces in response not just to the Colombian build-up, but to the placement of “undeveloping” United States military installations in Colombia and the Netherlands Antilles. The Central American Republics, which have striven mightily, but often unsuccessfully, to throw off militarism, are now being asked to turn back the clock as well. Costa Rica’s red-carpet treatment for the U.S. Navy is only the latest manifestation of a trend that can hardly be laid to the “developing nations”.

At the same time, that United States keeps harping on the “rule of law”, here in Mexico, the “rule of law” is being conveniently short-circuited. No one seems to care (or care to comment) on the ironic fact that Article 129 of the Mexican Constitution forbids the military from involvement in civil affairs, that even gangsters are entitled to a trial (and they aren’t eligible for the death penalty, which isn’t imposed in this country anyway), and “ley de fuego” supposedly went out with Porfirio Díaz...



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/23/2010 10:02AM by inspector hound.

Who's in charge here? Torreon prisoners get day privileges to borrow prison vehicles & weapons, massacre civilians, then return to cells.


[rawstory.com]

As critics pound the govt for creating a narco warzone with no clear plan or victory in view, Pres Calderon agrees to a national debate about legalizing:

[www.eluniversal.com.mx]

former Mexican president Vicente Fox comes out IN FAVOR OF LEGALIZATION :



San CristĂłbal. El ex presidente Vicente Fox propuso legalizar la producciĂłn, distribuciĂłn y venta de las drogas, como estrategia para golpear y romper la estructura econĂłmica de las mafias.

A través de su blog publicado en la página del Centro Fox, el ex mandatario también propuso regresar a la brevedad al Ejército Nacional a sus cuarteles, constitución de la Policía Nacional única y elección ciudadana directa de los jefes y mandos policiales.

Fox celebrĂł la convocatoria para dialogar y debatir con la sociedad este tema central, por lo que compartiĂł sus propuestas.

Vicente Fox estableció que el costo de la lucha contra el crimen organizado, particularmente contra el narcotráfico es enorme para el país, en primer término por las 28 mil vidas que se han perdido.

Consideró que la drogadicción y las adicciones son en general un reto enorme de salud pública y personal, y como tal deben de atenderse, distinguiéndose de la violencia generada por el crimen organizado.

“Debemos pensar en legalizar la producción, distribución y venta de las drogas”, destacó Fox.

Former Mexican president favors legalizing drugs

By the CNN Wire Staff

August 9, 2010 8:41 p.m. EDT

(CNN) -- Former Mexican President Vicente Fox has come out in favor of legalizing drugs in an attempt to disrupt the illegal markets that have turned parts of Mexico into battlegrounds.

In a proposal published over the weekend on his website, Fox argued that drug addiction and drug-related violence should be treated as distinct and separate challenges.

"So, drug consumption is the responsibility of the person who consumes; of the family who is responsible for educating; and of the education system and the socioeconomic context," wrote Fox, who was president from 2000 to 2006. "What we have to do is legalize the production, the sale and the distribution."

Although Fox and current President Felipe Calderon both hail from the conservative National Action Party, or PAN, their views diverge on the issue of how to combat drug violence.

While Fox advocates weakening the cartels by legalizing their market, Calderon has launched an offensive against the drug cartels that has resulted in headline-grabbing drug-related violence in some parts of Mexico. According to the government, more than 28,000 people have been killed in the drug war since Calderon took office in 2006.

Fox said Mexican troops should return to the barracks. The army was not designed nor trained to fight organized crime, Fox said. Removing the troops would also ensure that soldiers would not cross the line into human rights abuses.

In his proposal, Fox also called for the creation of a single national police to provide security, arguing that current state and local police bodies have become corrupted. Some teams from the military could be added to the new police force, he said.

A third proposal was for citizens to directly elect police chiefs, commanders and others in charge of security.

"Legalizing in this sense doesn't mean that drugs are good or don't hurt those who consume," Fox wrote. "Rather, we have to see it as a strategy to strike and break the economic structure that allows the mafias to generate huge profits in their business."

this is the mexican spanish free translation.com version of whoever said it. or do you go and write it down?

Quote ReportUncle Mort [PM] [hide msgs from this user] Vicente Fox joins chorus for legalizing new August 08, 2010 11:01PM IP/HOST: ---.Ptld.qwest.net
Registered: 10 months ago Posts: 225

Former Mexican president Vicente Fox you eat out OR FAVOR OF LEGALIZATION:



San Christopher. The former president Vicente Fox proposed to legalize the production, distribution and sale of the drugs, like strategy to strike and to break the economic structure of the mafias.

Through his blog published in the page of the Central one Fox, the former proxy also proposed to return to the brevity to the National Army to his headquarters, constitution of the unique National Police and direct civic election of the leaders and police commands.

Fox celebrated the assembly to talk and to debate with the company this central theme, for which shared its proposals.

Vicente Fox established that the cost of the fight against the crime organized, particularly against the drug trafficking is enormous for the country, in the first term by the 28 thousand lives that have been lost.

It considered that the drug addiction and the addictions are in general an enormous challenge of personal and public health, and as such they should be attended, being distinguished of the violence generated by the crime organized.

"We should think about legalizing the production, distribution and sale of the drugs", emphasized Fox.



i am all for legalizing and it has been defacto for a long time. the only problem is a lot of nasty guys who don't like to work hard and make a ton will be out of work and looking for a new gig, like rolling old gringo guys on the highway.

Wow, Fox news is real at last!!!.