cannabisnews.com: Grisly Find Won't Slow Drug Flow





Grisly Find Won't Slow Drug Flow
Posted by FoM on December 04, 1999 at 11:45:58 PT
By Pauline Arrillaga, Associated Press Writer
Source: Star Tribune
A man is busted smuggling 137 pounds of marijuana in the fuel tank of his pickup. The same day, across the Mexican border in Ciudad Juarez, authorities begin digging up graves believed to hold the enemies of a ruthless drug gang. 
A day later, another man is caught at the border with 232 pounds of pot under the floorboard of his van. At the grave site, body bags are being loaded onto a truck, also destined for the United States. As the grisly search for bodies unfolded last week on Mexican ranches outside Juarez, the smuggling of narcotics across the border into the United States continued uninterrupted. Regardless of how many corpses eventually are unearthed, and what is learned of their deaths, experts warned that the drug trade isn' t likely to feel an impact. They say that won' t come without a renewed commitment to bring down the men calling the shots -- and a decrease in Americans' insatiable appetite for drugs. " The final test of this will be not that you just find the bodies and not that you find some low-level gunman, but that the leaders of these organizations and the corrupt officials that work with them are arrested, brought to justice and punished severely, " said Thomas Constantine, retired head of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. " That will be the test of whether or not this will be successful, " he added. " And that will not be easy." The joint U.S.-Mexican search at four sites around Juarez, a bustling city of 1.3 million people, began after a former Mexican federal police officer told the FBI that 100 or more bodies may be buried there. Mexican Attorney General Jorge Madrazo immediately pointed the finger at the notorious Juarez drug cartel, one of Mexico' s largest and most violent gangs. He noted that more than 100 people, including 22 Americans, had disappeared in Juarez over the past several years, presumably at the hand of the cartel, now headed by Vicente Carrillo Fuentes. Carrillo Fuentes, who assumed control of the gang after the 1997 death of his brother, Amado, is among dozens of top drug lords and lieutenants facing U.S. indictments that could lock them up for life. But such prosecutions have been hindered by the failure of honest Mexican officials -- and, more significantly, the unwillingness of corrupt officials -- to round up and extradite the wanted men. " We know who they are. We know what crimes they have committed. The problem is that nobody can find them in Mexico, " Constantine said. " As long as they exist in a sanctuary, we will be unable to bring these people to justice." Others note that even in the rare instance a cartel leader is caught, the successful prosecution of one man alone is not enough to cripple organizations that have a string of successors waiting in the wings. Take the case of Juan Garcia Abrego, who after more than a decade of free rein over the Gulf cartel in Matamoros, across the border from Brownsville, Texas, was captured by Mexican police in 1996 and flown to Texas for prosecution. The first international drug lord put on the FBI' s Most Wanted list, Garcia Abrego was later convicted and given 11 life prison sentences. His gang barely skipped a beat. " There was a temporary disruption because of the power struggle, but the amount of narcotics coming across the border has increased, " said Phil Jordan, former head of the DEA' s El Paso Intelligence Center, which tracks Mexican drug gangs. The same thing occurred after the death of Amado Carrillo Fuentes, who molded the Juarez cartel into a thriving business that earned tens of millions of dollars smuggling drugs through El Paso to Dallas, New York and Chicago. When Carrillo Fuentes died following plastic surgery meant to hide his identity, a bloody power struggle ensued between Vicente Carrillo Fuentes and a faction of the cartel aligned with the Tijuana-based Arellano Felix gang. While smuggling activity dipped slightly during the turf war, the organization quickly regrouped and has since even branched out into other cities along the Texas border, Jordan said. The discovery of the burial grounds outside Juarez, and Mexico' s invitation to the FBI to participate in the excavation, " is a minor step, " Jordan said. " Those bodies cannot talk, " he said. " They have to allow us to go around and pick up the big guys that can talk." Despite the sporadic arrests, turf wars and leads, drug activity along the border from Texas to California continues to blossom. In El Paso alone, U.S. Customs seizures have soared from 40, 012 pounds of marijuana, cocaine and heroin in 1990 to 269, 021 pounds in fiscal 1999. The DEA estimates 500 pounds of marijuana purchased in Juarez for $50, 000 can be sold for $400, 000 in U.S. cities like St. Louis. Still, many are hopeful the horror of the Juarez graves will prompt Mexican and U.S. officials to redouble their anti-drug efforts. " I' ve always thought it would take some dramatic event to change the dynamics of this situation, " Constantine said. " I am hoping that this is so gross, so tragic, that all of the barriers will fall." Published: December 4, 1999Copyright 1999 Associated PressRelated Articles:Dozens More Mexican Graves a Possibility - 12/04/99http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread3873.shtmlMex. Massacres Reflect Failure of US War On Drugs-12/03/99http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread3866.shtmlBorder Is No Barrier On Rio Grande - 12/03/99http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread3865.shtmlNew Strategy is Needed To Fight Drug War - 12/03/99http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread3864.shtml 
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Comment #3 posted by John R. Bills on December 05, 1999 at 21:51:22 PT
McCaffery: Propaganda specialist
I would like to ask the general just exactly how much training in the area of propaganda production he has had considering that he has made it all the way through the ranks of the US Army. I guess that was the best move for Clinton seeing that the Republicans were trying to label him soft on drugs: hire an expert in deception and propaganda for his drug "czar". 
http://www.marijuana.com
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on December 05, 1999 at 13:58:31 PT
You're right again observer!
That's right observer. They attach things to events even though they aren't really associated to fuel the fire of the drug war!
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Comment #1 posted by observer on December 04, 1999 at 15:18:39 PT
the same day!
> A man is busted smuggling 137 pounds of marijuana in the fuel tank of his pickup. The same day, across the Mexican border in Ciudad Juarez, authorities begin digging up graves believed to hold the enemies of a ruthless drug gang. Right: and "the same day" a cute little boy played with an adorable puppy. Are all things happening on "the same day" part of the Juarez graves? After all, they happened on "the same day"...Here we see the propaganda technique of "transfer." The propagandist is attempting to associate "marijuana" with the bodies. The only association shown so far, is that which the psychological operator has made in this article by placing the two sentences next to one another.``Transfer. This is a technique of projecting positive or negative qualities (praise or blame) of a person, entity, object, or value (an individual, group, organization, nation, patriotism, etc.) to another in order to make the second more acceptable or to discredit it. This technique is generally used to transfer blame from one member of a conflict to another. It evokes an emotional response which stimulates the target to identify with recognized authorities.'' -- Appendix I: "Psychological Operations Field Manual No.33-1> A day later, another man is caught at the border with 232 pounds of pot under the floorboard of his van. At the grave site, body bags are being loaded onto a truck, also destined for the United States. Again, we see the same attempt to use guilt by association. There are some graves being dup in in Mexico. A man is caught at the border with some weed. No connection shown of course; but the propagandist wants his target audience to think that marijuana is somehow related to murder. Drugs are "related" to murder like (the drug) alcohol is "related" to murder: make that drug illegal, and gangsters will literally kill each other to supply the market. Blame Prohibition. ``Guilt by association: Guilt by association links a person, group, or idea to other persons, groups, or ideas repugnant to the target audience. The insinuation is that the connection is not mutual, accidental, or superficial.'' -- FM 33-1> Still, many are hopeful the horror of the Juarez graves will prompt Mexican and U.S. officials to redouble their anti-drug efforts. Yes, especially those who stand to gain money and power from such "anti-drug [user] efforts". That's what "vested interest" means. (The 'watchdog' media seems to forget this. Good thing America has 'freedom of the press.')
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