Mexican Drug Violence Spills Over Into U.S. (Sunday Times, 29 March 2009)

Mexican Drug Violence Spills Over Into U.S. (Sunday Times, 29 March 2009)
“By the hair-raising standards of torture, kidnapping, extortion and other drug-related mayhem that has become tragically routine along the U.S. border with Mexico, the inspection of a battered red Ford pickup truck traveling south through the Arizona desert this month hardly seems worth recording. U.S. border patrol agents stopped the vehicle as it headed towards Mexico through the Organ Pipe Cactus national park. A search quickly uncovered seven assault rifles, a couple of handguns and thousands of rounds of ammunition. Compared with the seizure of 500 rifles and 100 fragmentation hand grenades close to the Texas border, it was scarcely a big haul. Yet it was the latest evidence that Mexico’s drug cartels are resorting to sinister techniques that are changing the nature of border violence and confronting Obama with an expanding threat on U.S. soil.”

U.S. officials call it “ant trafficking.” Cartel leaders are bribing or coercing armies of U.S. citizens to buy weapons from American gun shops. They smuggle the guns into Mexico in a continuous operation that steadily builds up arsenals.

“The cartels have fingertips that reach throughout the United States” - Janet Napolitano, homeland security secretary.

“It is an undisputable fact that the weapons and firearms used to fuel the drug-related violence in Mexico can be traced back to guns procured legally or illegally here” - Anthony Placido, chief of intelligence at the Drug Enforcement Administration.

While California, Arizona and Texas remain the principal sources of US firearms that turn up at Mexican bloodbaths, Placido said weapons used by drug traffickers had been traced to Denver, Philadelphia and Seattle, among other cities (Phoenix has become capital of drug-related kidnappings).
FUNDAMENTAL SHIFT IN THE CRIMINAL ELEMENT FROM MEXICO MIGRATING UP HERE.

Last year 368 abductions reported.
Will become Ciudad Juarez or Guadalajara?
In San Juan, Texas, a hand grenade was thrown into a bar but failed to explode.
Wealthy residents having bulletproof glass and armour installed in their cars.
US authorities have committed themselves to A VERY ROBUST MOVEMENT OF PERSONNEL to border areas.
Texas has requested 1,000 national guardsmen to be placed on border duty.
The Pentagon may supply pilotless drones for the same kind of man-hunting missions as in Afghanistan.

President Felipe Calderon: “The financial aid Mexico needs from Washington SHOULD BE EQUIVALENT TO THE FLOW OF MONEY THAT AMERICAN DRUG CONSUMERS GIVE TO THE CRIMINALS,” (between $10 and $35 billion).

“Our inability to prevent weapons from being illegally smuggled across the border to arm these criminals causes the deaths of police officers, soldiers and civilians.”

Obama has signaled his support for a ban on assault weapons – which brings him into conflict with America’s most powerful lobby – the NRA (4 million members).
Juan Manuel Pavon – Mexican chief of the Sonora state antidrug squad – assassinated by cartel hitmen hours after attending a US seminar on weapons smuggling. Guns later tracked to an Arizona gun shop.