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| Border Drug Crackdown a Waste? |
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Posted by FoM on August 03, 2001 at 06:17:05 PT Stratfor Global Intelligence Update Source: WorldNetDaily 
The Bush administration is strengthening ties between U.S. and Mexican law enforcement agencies after years of mutual distrust and suspicion. The effort may lead to better statistics for drug seizures, arrests and deportations, but it will not slow organized criminal activity on the border. Cartels are thriving and exploring alliances with each other and with international criminal outfits. U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft and his Mexican counterpart Rafael Macedo de la Concha announced on July 26 a new bilateral initiative to fight drug trafficking, arms smuggling and illegal immigration on the U.S.-Mexico border. The agreement signals a new phase in relations between U.S. and Mexican law enforcement agencies, characterized for many years by mutual distrust and suspicion. The new accord may lead to more narcotics seizures and the occasional drug kingpin's fall. But Mexico's top drug cartels will continue to thrive, exploring new strategic alliances with each other and with organized criminal enterprises in the United States, Latin America and Europe. Forming such alliances will make it easier to stay ahead of the law. Drug trafficking earns Mexico $30 billion a year and accounts for about 10 percent of the country's wealth, according to Mexican journalist Carlos Loret de Mola. Two-thirds of the cocaine smuggled into the United States comes through Mexico. Moreover, Mexico's increasingly sophisticated drug cartels are continually adapting their operations to changes in policing tactics on both sides of the border. Adolfo Aguilar Zinser, national security adviser to President Vicente Fox, says Mexico's war on drugs is not winnable. Fox has nevertheless launched an aggressive effort to capture the country's increasingly powerful drug traffickers and disrupt their operations. For instance, Fox expanded the Mexican military's role in counternarcotics efforts, assigning 30,000 soldiers to combat drug trafficking. He also purged hundreds of corrupt federal and local police officials and prosecutors, and he facilitated the extradition of Mexican nationals wanted on drug charges in the United States. Drug seizures by Mexican police and military units have increased in the past year as a result, and several drug kingpins have been arrested, including Alcides Ramon Magana, a top leader of the Gulf Coast cartel, and Adam Amezcua, leader of the Colima cartel and known in Mexico as the king of amphetamines. Corrupt politicians and military officers also have been arrested in Mexico recently on drug-related charges, including Mario Villanueva, a former state governor, and Army Brig. Gen. Ricardo Martinez, commander of the 21st Motorized Cavalry Regiment in Nuevo Laredo, who was charged with protecting drug traffickers operating on Mexico's Gulf Coast. He is the sixth Mexican general imprisoned on drug-related charges since the 1997 arrest of Gen. Jesus Gutierrez Rebollo, who at the time was the chief of all Mexican anti-drug efforts. Mexico's top drug lords have responded to the government's cleanup effort by exploring new strategic alliances with each other and with criminal organizations internationally. Last April, for instance, according to an Associated Press report, 60 Mexican drug traffickers held a three-day meeting in Apodaca, an industrial town in northeastern Mexico, to discuss ways of creating a new mega-cartel after 12 years of warfare between rival gangs. The report said the meeting was called in response to the Fox government's tough new anti-drug policies. Besides the Mexican drug lords and their bodyguards, two men in Mexican military uniforms bearing general's stars and a group of Colombians also participated in the summit. The only major drug-trafficking group that did not send representatives was the Tijuana cartel, led by the Arellano Felix brothers, which accounts for about 20 percent of the illegal narcotics smuggled annually into the United States from Mexico. Instead of merging its operations with other Mexican cartels, the Tijuana gang has opted for developing strategic alliances with Russian, Colombian and Peruvian criminal enterprises. Evidence of the Tijuana cartel's overseas associations has been accumulating since the end of last year. On May 3 the U.S. Coast Guard intercepted the Belize-flagged Svesda Maru, a fishing vessel carrying 13 tons of cocaine about 1,500 miles south of San Diego. The crew comprised eight Ukrainians and two Russians, and U.S. authorities believe they must have had the permission of the Tijuana cartel to ship this much cocaine to the U.S. West Coast, according to AP. U.S. officials in southern California reportedly suspect the Russian and Ukrainian crew of belonging to a Russian organized crime syndicate in Los Angeles, where between 600 to 800 known Russian crime figures live, mostly in the North and West Hollywood areas. A 1999 California Department of Justice report found that Russian crime groups based in Los Angeles also had formed alliances with La Cosa Nostra in North America, Colombian cartels in Latin America and with the Sicilian mafia in Europe. The Tijuana cartel also did business with former Peruvian spy chief Vladimiro Montesinos, who is now jailed in Lima on charges including drug trafficking, money laundering, arms smuggling, bribery and murder. The Mexico City daily El Universal reported July 8, based on Peruvian intelligence documents, that the Tijuana cartel purchased 18 tons of cocaine from Montesinos between 1995 and 1999. Peruvian government officials in Lima confirmed the report's accuracy. The new alliances give Mexico's cartels more resources and influence, new drug shipment and transportation routes, and allow them to disperse shipments to reduce seizures and lost revenue. The cartels also gain access to more markets, including expansion in the United States, where 57 Mexican drug enterprises are operating in North Texas alone. The additional revenues can go toward the $500 million the cartels already spend to bribe officials to avoid the law. It was not a coincidence that the new U.S.-Mexico initiative was announced officially in San Diego, across the border from Tijuana where the Arellano Felix brothers have operated freely for more than 15 years, longer than any other drug cartel in Mexico. Ashcroft pledged a tough crackdown on weapons smuggling from the United States to Mexico. In return, de la Concha declared the Fox government was "determined to capture" the Arellano Felix brothers. It will take far more than emphatic rhetoric, however, to capture the Tijuana cartel's chieftains. The Arellano Felix brothers' cartel is one of Mexico's bloodiest. Law enforcement officials on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border estimate conservatively that the brothers are directly responsible for more than 500 murders. If the Fox government targets the Tijuana cartel for annihilation, the Arellano Felix brothers will very likely retaliate by murdering more police and government officials. The campaign won't just be limited to Mexican personnel though. The increase in U.S.-Mexico cooperation will lead to even more U.S. officials operating in Mexico, where it's likely that the Tijuana cartel will seek to kidnap and kill U.S. counter-drug agents. Note: U.S.- Mexico agreement will not likely slow thriving cartels. Editor's note: In partnership with Stratfor, the global intelligence company, WorldNetDaily publishes daily updates on international affairs provided by the respected private research and analysis firm. Look for fresh updates each afternoon, Monday through Friday. In addition, WorldNetDaily invites you to consider STRATFOR membership, entitling you to a wealth of international intelligence reports usually available only to top executives, scholars, academic institutions and press agencies. Source: WorldNetDaily (US Web) Related Articles: Mexico's New Anti-Drug Team Wins the Trust of U.S. Ashcroft Meets Mexican Counterpart Analysts Debate Mexico President's Open Border Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help |
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