The situation in Mexico has serious consequences for our Rights, and even our lives here in AZ and all along the Mexican border. We cannot emphasize enough how much it is in our interest to have a free, safe and prosperous Mexico as our neighbor. Many of us have family, friends there and they are our neighbor.

We strongly support the Human Rights of the Mexican people to be able to defend themselves. That means the Mexican people should once again have the rights and resources to possess, bear and use modern and effective firearms. As over 70 years of corrupt federal government and it's attending gun control have shown, the bumper sticker is so true. "If guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns". Mexico is a textbook example of the failures of gun control. While some very limited firearms are permitted on paper, and in practice, the real effect has been to disarm the good people of Mexico.
That was done by the very corrupt political party that ran a country rich in natural resources and people, into the ground to prevent a revolution, not to "control crime" as was the pretense.

As the archived reports will show, the defenseless people of Mexico have suffered way too much. They deserve much better. We need to help.

Given the gravity of the ongoing drug war in Mexico our neighbor to the south, ASR&PA has been working to monitor the border situation and it's many effects on our state and our members:

Including drug and human trafficking, with related issues of murders, kidnappings, home invasions, extortion, destruction of wildlife habitat, illegal immigration, white slavery, money laundering, expenses of incarceration and medical treatments, the list goes on and on. Also de facto cession of areas of the state to the DTO's; fugitives, cash, firearms and ammunition running south. Most of these issues could be significantly reduced by simply securing the border.

To get it out of the way, ASR&PA does support legal immigration, trade, and travel between our countries. Especially so that we and our Mexican neighbors can once again freely and safely travel to our neighboring countries for competition, training, hunting and just enjoy good company.

Sunday, May 15, 2011

AZMEX 6-2-09


Mexican Drug Cartels Armed to the Hilt, Threatening National Security

Wednesday, February 04, 2009

By Matt Sanchez


In November, along the border with Texas, Mexican authorities arrested drug cartel leader Jaime "el Hummer" Gonzalez Duran — one of the founders of "Los Zetas," a paramilitary organization of former Mexican soldiers who decided there was more money to be made in selling drugs than in serving in the Mexican military.

Click here for photos.

As El Hummer was being transported to the airport in an armed vehicle, his fellow cartel members launched a brazen attack against the federales.

They were armed to the teeth. Their arsenal ranged from semi-automatic rifles to rocket-propelled grenades. When the smoke finally cleared and the government had prevailed, Mexican federal agents captured 540 assault rifles, more than 500,000 rounds of ammunition, 150 grenades, 14 cartridges of dynamite, 98 fragmentation grenades, 67 bulletproof vests, seven Barrett .50-caliber sniper rifles and a Light Anti Tank (LAW) rocket.

Click here to see video of the Mexican military's fight with the drug cartels.

This is modern Mexico, where the leaders of the powerful drug cartels are armed to the teeth with sophisticated weapons, many of which are smuggled over the border from the United States. It is with this array of superior weapons that drug cartels are threatening the very stability of their own country. And it's why America's outgoing CIA Director, Michael Hayden, says violence in Mexico will pose the second greatest threat to U.S. security next year, right after Al Qaeda.

"Americans are understandably focused on the flow of drugs and migrants into the U.S. from Mexico," says Andreas Peter, author of "Border Games: Policing the U.S.-Mexico Divide."

"But too often glossed over in the border security debate is the flow of weapons across the border into Mexico," he told Foxnews.com in a statement via the Internet.

The cartels are obtaining arms from America by using "straw man" buyers, who legally purchase weapons at gun shops and gun shows in the U.S. The weapons cross into Mexico, where border security is much weaker heading south of the border than it is going north.

Authorities don't know how many firearms are sneaked across the border, but the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) says more than 7,700 guns sold in America were traced to Mexico last year, up from 3,300 the year before and about 2,100 in 2006. Mexican authorities say 90 percent of smuggled weapons come from the United States.

In Northern Mexico, high-powered American weapons have enabled drug cartels to control whole territories. There is the Colt AR-15, the civilian version of the military M-16. And there is the "cuernos de chivo" — Spanish for goat horns . . . the 30-shot curved banana clip of the AK-47.

The AK-47, long the symbol of guerrilla revolution, is not the most accurate or technical assault rifle, but it gets the job done. It is the workhorse of drug cartels, and ammunition can come from a variety of world sources, including the United States.

And then there are the sniper rifles.

"The .50-caliber was interesting because we haven't seen that type of arm used in Mexico yet," said Scott Stewart, a former U.S. Army intelligence officer and an analyst for Stratfor, a geopolitical security firm. The ..50-caliber long-range sniper rifle is incredibly accurate and dangerous; a trained operator could kill a human being with a round from well over a mile away.

For criminal cartels like Los Zetas, greater firepower means greater influence in not only the drug trade; it has enabled them to infiltrate and threaten the entire power structure of Mexico. In December, the Mexican attorney general announced the arrest of Maj. Arturo Gonzalez Rodriguez for allegedly assisting Mexican drug trafficking organizations — allegedly for $100,000 a month.

The connection between the drug cartels and the Mexican army has given cartel leaders access to military grade weapons like the high powered Five-Seven semi-automatic pistols.

A favorite with the cartels, the Five-Seven has the advantage of being light: under 2 pounds, with a 20-round clip filled with bullets the cartels call "matapolicias' — "cop killers."

"The 5.7 x 28, armor piercing (AP) rounds are not available for sale to the general public and are probably coming from the Mexican military," said Stewart who has analyzed U.S.-Mexican border security issues for half a decade.

The drug-related murder rate in Mexico doubled in 2008 from just one year before, and as the violence escalates, the power of the drug cartels has destabilized Mexican authority to the point of threatening national security.

Last week Gen. มngeles Dahuajare announced that more than 17,000 soldiers had deserted in 2008.

"The Mexican Army is becoming a revolving door for the enforcement arm of the drug cartels; they simply pay better," Stewart said.

"If they don't get the weapons from the U.S., they'll get it from somewhere else: Brazil, Guatemala, Argentina or even former satellite state 'gray markets,'" he said.

Despite the efforts of his comrades in crime, El Hummer wound up in jail — and Mexican authorities paraded him before the media to reassure the public that they are still in control.

But that was largely for show. As long as weapons flow into Mexico, the drug cartels will be able to develop an arsenal. "Control" will be unstable, at best.

 

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,487911,00.html




Note: these latest "hits" were in rural SW Chihuahua state.  Notable mainly for the 90 rounds used in one of them.  
thx
  CUAUHTÉMOC
 
/El Diario  (Chih, Chih.)

Semana sangrienta en la región; dos ejecutados mas, ahora en La Junta
 
De la Redacción
Viernes, 06 de Febrero de 2009
Aumenta la cuenta de ejecutados en la región en esta sangrienta semana.
Ayer en La Junta, Guerrero, fueron ejecutados 2 hombres en la colonia Mirador, aparentemente cerca del domicilio de uno de ellos.
Los hechos ocurrieron alrededor de la 1:00 de la tarde en la intersección de las calles Felipe Ángeles y Jiménez. Todo hace suponer que el copiloto al bajar de una camioneta ram colo verde oscuro, otro vehículo se les acercó y les comenzó a disparar, dejando al copiloto tirado sobre la calle cercado e iniciando una persecución contra el conductor de la unidad que intentaba escapar.
metros adelante, en el cruce de las calles Felipe Ángeles e Industrias, el chofer quedó muerto dentro de la camioneta tras ser alcanzado por las balas.
Los hoy occisos viajaban a bordo de un vehículo pick up, Dodge, Ram, 1500, color verde, cabina y media 4 x 4, mismo que presentaba múltiples impactos de proyectil de arma de fuego  y a bordo del cual fue localizado el cuerpo de uno de los fallecidos, hasta el momento no identificado plenamente.
El protocolo de información enviado por al Subporcuraduría de Justicia Zona Occidente establece que el copiloto fue identificado como José Luis Delgado Veleta; del segundo, versiones policiacas comentaron se le conocía como "el memo".
Personal especializado en la escena del crimen, embaló recogió mas de 90 casquillos percutidos calibre 7.62 x 39 y .223, que se localizaron a lo largo de la calle Felipe Ángeles, desde donde se encontró el primer cuerpo sobre la calle hasta donde se localizó el vehículo con el segundo cuerpo.
La Policía Ministerial Investigadora inició con la indagatoria en torno a los hechos sucedidos alrededor de la 1:00 p.m. del día; mientras tanto, personal de Servicios Periciales se hizo cargo de realizar los análisis correspondientes a la evidencia localizada, así como de la necropsia de ambos cuerpos.
En el lugar, que fue ampliamente resguardado por agentes ministeriales y militares, los Agentes del Ministerio Público levantaron numerosos casquillos que se encontraban regados en los mas de 100 metros que separan a las calles Jiménez e Industrias, sobre la calle Felipe Angeles.
Tan solo en el vidrio frontal de la camioneta, se apreciaban mas de 15 disparos, además de otra cantidad de tiros sobre las puertas de la camioneta.
 
Estas recientes ejecuciones, se unen al tiroteo ocurrido en domingo en el carril de caballos en El Terrero, con saldo oficial de 3 muertos; el "levantón" de 2 personas en la plaza de El Molino el pasado miércoles y donde se encotraron casquillos de arma de fuego y rastros de sangre. Ayer, la ejecución de otras 2 personas en La Junta, Guerrero.
Sin embargo, las cifras extraoficiales aseguran que hubo decenas de muertos en las carreras de El Terrero, que esa misma noche ocurrió otro enfrentamiento en El Molino con saldo de 5 muertos, versiones sin confirmar por las autoridades policiacas.

No comments:

Post a Comment