LATIN AMERICAN TIMES

Venezuela has deported a Colombian wanted by the United States for drug trafficking.

Venezuela has deported a Colombian wanted by the United States for drug trafficking.

Venezuela has deported a Colombian wanted by the United States for drug trafficking. Officials say 53-year-old Gloria Rojas Valencia was han...

Organized crime gangs equipped with automatic weapons and tractor trailers are branching out into raids on huge grain silos, in a sign of growing lawlessness in parts of Mexico's north.

Organized crime gangs equipped with automatic weapons and tractor trailers are branching out into raids on huge grain silos, in a sign of growing lawlessness in parts of Mexico's north. Attacks on warehouses and cargo trucks have multiplied into a near-weekly affair in the northwestern state of Sinaloa, where one of the worst cold snaps in decades wiped out corn and vegetable plots last month, pushing up prices of the remaining harvest and making it more attractive to thieves. The unusual crime wave in major agricultural exporting states is a new headache for the Mexican government struggling to maintain the country's image as a top emerging market. Mexico's national warehousing association AAGEDE said the spike in thefts began a year or two ago, but its members are only recently coming forward and many are still too scared to report details on the number or scale of the incidents. Jose Jimenez, director of Mexican storage company ALMER, told of one robbery last year in a tiny town in the central state of Zacatecas where an armed commando emptied a warehouse of 900 tonnes of beans, worth around $750,000, loading up 30 trucks over the course of an entire day.

Organized crime gangs equipped with automatic weapons and tractor trailers are branching out into raids on huge grain silos, in a sign of growing lawlessness in parts of Mexico's north.

Organized crime gangs equipped with automatic weapons and tractor trailers are branching out into raids on huge grain silos, in a sign of gr...

Juárez Business Leaders Hired Former Zetas

Leaked State Department Cable Claims Juárez Business Leaders Hired Former Zetas for “Protection” The drug war in Mexico has been depicted in the mainstream media, for the most part, as a conflict between brutal, rival “drug cartels” that are in a pitched battle over territory and for survival as the Mexican military seeks to restore order under the leadership of the brave and resolute President Felipe Calderón. A U.S. State Department cable released last week through WikiLeaks pokes yet another hole in that bogus narrative, however. Given that fact, it is no surprise that the cable has been essentially ignored by the mainstream media, save one small daily, the El Paso Times — located in a U.S. border city across from Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, which registered more than 3,100 drug-war murders last year alone. Diana Washington Valdez, a veteran drug-war reporter for the El Paso Times, in a March 16 story about the WikiLeaks cable, reported that a syndicate of Juárez businessmen hired a group of former Zetas (a paramilitary narco-trafficking group) to “protect themselves against kidnappings and extortions.” The acknowledgement in an official U.S. document of the existence of this vigilante paramilitary group, which is funded by wealthy Juárez businessmen and has close ties to the Mexican military (the Zetas were founded by former Mexican special forces operatives), provides us with an important insight into the dynamics of the violence of the drug war in Mexico.

Juárez Business Leaders Hired Former Zetas

Leaked State Department Cable Claims Juárez Business Leaders Hired Former Zetas for “Protection” The drug war in Mexico has been depicted in...

one of the six suspects is accused of being a member of the brutal "Los Zetas" group.

Venezuela, long accused by the United States of being lax in the fight against drugs, deported six "highly dangerous" suspects on ...

El Salvador has witnessed the way drug money corrupts institutions, including the police and military, and the highest levels of government

El Salvador has witnessed the way drug money corrupts institutions, including the police and military, and the highest levels of government. Capt. Hector Guillen was a ranking officer in the Salvadoran army's elite special forces. He had access to enormous supplies of military-grade weaponry, much of it, like one cache of half a million U.S.-supplied grenades and shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles, left over from the war. In November, just outside Washington, he allegedly offered to trade 3,000 assault rifles, 20 pounds of C-4 plastic explosives and scores of grenades for drugs and money to people he thought were representing leftist Colombian guerrillas. Instead, Guillen, 32, was trapped in a sting operation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. He was arrested and last month indicted by a U.S. federal grand jury on charges of attempting to provide material support to what Washington has designated as a terrorist organization, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. A trial was set for May. It was the most significant case yet in establishing the depths of drug corruption in the Salvadoran military and might have reached higher levels had a press leak not shut down the investigation. In another case, Salvadoran intelligence officials have identified 16 police and 10 military officers they suspect of working with an L.A.-born gangster known as El Burro, who has also affiliated himself with the Zetas. He controls much of the trafficking through western El Salvador and has laundered his money through hotels, resorts and car washes, the officials allege. Mexican drug traffickers first made inroads in El Salvador with the Mara Salvatrucha, the country's oldest and most receptive gang, eager to hire itself out. The other major group, the 18th Street gang, was more suspicious of the Mexicans and resisted outside pressure until early this year, according to Salvadoran intelligence sources. An attack on a passenger bus last month in which seven people were killed may have been an initiation test for the 18th Street gangsters to prove themselves to the Zetas, the sources said. Salvadoran gangs also have started delivering unsuspecting immigrants trying to cross into the United States into the waiting hands of Zetas, who then try to extort money from the victims' families upon pain of death. Police say they recently discovered what they believe to be a Zetas training ground hidden in coffee fields on the edge of the Guazapa volcano, which dominates San Salvador's skyline. Few discoveries, however, could match the plastic barrels discovered last fall buried on properties that authorities have tied to Jorge Mario Paredes-Cordova, who was convicted in the United States in April on drug charges and sentenced to 31 years in prison. The U.S. federal attorney handling the case described the Guatemalan as one of the world's most dangerous drug traffickers. Paredes-Cordova liked to visit El Salvador and, apparently, thought it a good place to hide some of his millions. His numerous houses were full of trap doors and walls that moved with the touch of a button to reveal secret compartments, according to people who inspected the properties. On an unoccupied farm, authorities acting on DEA intelligence discovered plastic water barrels with $100 bills and 500-euro notes — more than $10 million in cash.

El Salvador has witnessed the way drug money corrupts institutions, including the police and military, and the highest levels of government

El Salvador has witnessed the way drug money corrupts institutions, including the police and military, and the highest levels of government....

Saltillo, the capital of Coahuila state: Seven people had been killed and four police officers were injured in a series of firefights that caused alarm throughout the city

Amanda Garcia's peaceful life in Saltillo, Mexico, was shaken this past March when she witnessed a military convoy heading at full speed and against traffic on one of the city's important avenues. The lawyer had taken an alternate route to get home sooner and be with her 7-year-old son. It had been a difficult day in Saltillo, the capital of Coahuila state: Seven people had been killed and four police officers were injured in a series of firefights that caused alarm throughout the city, the state attorney general's office said. A few yards from reaching her home, she was stopped at a military checkpoint. "When I parked I saw at least six soldiers in front of my car, getting out of their vehicle and aiming at me, asking me to get out. One came close to my door and I heard a sound I had never heard before, apparently of a weapon when you take the safety off. Few times in my life had I felt so scared," she said. After an inspection, the soldiers told Amanda that they were looking for a vehicle similar to hers and that she was free to return home. "Usually, the presence of the army does not make me nervous at all, to the contrary. But that day, I really thought they were going to shoot at me," she said. "I've never seen the city so empty." Two days later, a soldier died and another was injured in a confrontation with suspected drug traffickers, after four cartel roadblocks were reported in various parts of the city, according to the attorney general's office. Saltillo, with some 700,000 residents, is a colonial city that until recently was known for its auto industry -- General Motors, Chrysler and Freightliner have plants there -- and construction. However, the situation has changed progressively until the city has reached notoriety for other reasons. According to a report from intelligence company Stratfor, the Gulf and Sinaloa cartels formed the New Federation, an alliance combating the Zetas cartel, and launched an offensive to control the trafficking routes in Mexico's northeast. "There were pacts here, and now those pacts are broken and a battle has begun between various criminal groups for this territory. This is evident," said Raul Vera, the Catholic bishop of Saltillo.

Saltillo, the capital of Coahuila state: Seven people had been killed and four police officers were injured in a series of firefights that caused alarm throughout the city

Amanda Garcia's peaceful life in Saltillo, Mexico, was shaken this past March when she witnessed a military convoy heading at full speed...

Mexican lawmakers complained about the drone flights into Mexico, saying they violated the sovereignty of the nation

well known that the United States routinely uses military drone aircraft in the Middle East with great success to monitor the movement of our enemies. Now it has come to light that the same technology is being used by the United States to help fight the drug gangs in Mexico. The revelation came when some Mexican lawmakers complained about the drone flights into Mexico, saying they violated the sovereignty of the nation. It turns out, however, that the Mexican government is actively encouraging the flights. There are apparently two types of drone flights going into Mexico. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency has been flying Predator drones into Mexico since 2009 and the U.S. Air Force has been sending in Global Hawk drones for the past month, according to an Associated Press report. Mexico's Foreign Relations Secretary Patricia Espinosa said neither of the drones is armed and they are requested and “controlled” by Mexico and therefore cannot violate that nation's sovereignty. According to the AP report, a Mexico representative is always present at the U.S. flight center during operations. This opens a new window into the kind of cooperation that is taking place between the two nations in the effort to battle drug activity in Mexico. Undoubtedly there are other activities taking place of which we are not yet aware. We have long urged the United States to take an active role in helping Mexico battle the drug lords and are pleased to see Mexican officials taking advantage of our nation's technological abilities.<a href="http://www.yumasun.com/opinion/mexico-68601-drug-drones.html"> </a>Whether the drones are tracking terrorists or drug runners, the goal is the same: to get rid of the “bad guys.”

Mexican lawmakers complained about the drone flights into Mexico, saying they violated the sovereignty of the nation

well known that the United States routinely uses military drone aircraft in the Middle East with great success to monitor the movement of o...

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