It was just a few days after the story broke that there was a
battle going on within Los Zetas for control of this Mexican drug
cartel that it was confirmed that three high-ranking army generals
had been formally arrested for aiding in cocaine trafficking. One
of these officers was well known earlier to Washington in his
capacity as Deputy Defense Minister and before that as military
attaché at the Mexican embassy.
The fact is that there is a complicated war in progress in Mexico that involves federal law enforcement and military connections with certain drug gangs. There are also linkages of cooperating state and local police to the illegal narcotics trade and competition among these participants. Earlier this year the Mexican government listed 47,515 civilian and cartel member drug-related violent deaths since the fall of 2006.
The "Fast and Furious" exposé provided the soon-to-be outgoing president, Felipe Calderon, with a convenient diversion on which he could focus attention both politically and journalistically. This now has given impetus to an important part of the announced priority program of the incoming government of Enrique Peña Nieto to reduce violence in Mexico -- as opposed to emphasizing reduction in drug trafficking. The theme of this politically profitable focus is that Mexico's problems really stem -- if not totally, certainly partially – from the U.S.- sourced gun supply and North America's insatiable appetite for narcotics.
Read more: http://spectator.org/archives/2012/08/10/new-broom-old-mess
The fact is that there is a complicated war in progress in Mexico that involves federal law enforcement and military connections with certain drug gangs. There are also linkages of cooperating state and local police to the illegal narcotics trade and competition among these participants. Earlier this year the Mexican government listed 47,515 civilian and cartel member drug-related violent deaths since the fall of 2006.
The "Fast and Furious" exposé provided the soon-to-be outgoing president, Felipe Calderon, with a convenient diversion on which he could focus attention both politically and journalistically. This now has given impetus to an important part of the announced priority program of the incoming government of Enrique Peña Nieto to reduce violence in Mexico -- as opposed to emphasizing reduction in drug trafficking. The theme of this politically profitable focus is that Mexico's problems really stem -- if not totally, certainly partially – from the U.S.- sourced gun supply and North America's insatiable appetite for narcotics.
Read more: http://spectator.org/archives/2012/08/10/new-broom-old-mess
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