Colombia Rebels Linked to Mexico Drug Cartels

mariacvetanoski says on Oct 8, 2008, 06:09:

“We are particularly worried about the strengthening connections between Mexican cartels and the FARC,” Mr. Jaramillo said. “The Mexican cartels are buying directly from the FARC.”

would be worried too for those who live near the Mexican/US border...

Save the street children of Colombia Now!!

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chingon says on Oct 8, 2008, 07:06:

I have crossed the US Mexico border at nuevo laredo 3 times in the past 2 years. Once by using a suzuki truck once using a Mercedes Benz, drove them both to Mexico city and back. Never had a problem. but yeah living there must be a mess.

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mariacvetanoski says on Oct 8, 2008, 07:10:

Police: Mexican Cartels Give OK to Hit U.S. Targets
Monday, August 25, 2008

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EL PASO, Texas — Security is being heightened along the southern U.S. border because of a threat that warring Mexican cartels may send hit men into the United States, authorities said Monday.

Law enforcement officials would not discuss specific security measures being taken at the ports of entry, along the border or in the city of El Paso, Texas.

"We received credible information that drug cartels in Mexico have given permission to hit targets on the U.S. side of the border," El Paso police spokesman Officer Chris Mears said.

Authorities learned of the threat last week.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection Chief Officer Rick Lopez said: "CBP is on heightened alert ever since we became aware of the threats in Mexico."

U.S. Border Patrol spokesman Doug Mosier said officials "are reinforcing the importance of vigilance."

Drug cartel violence has claimed thousands of lives in Mexico this year. Nearly 800 people have been killed in Ciudad Juarez, a hardscrabble city of about 1.3 million people across the Rio Grande from El Paso.

The cartels, battling one another and the Mexican government for supremacy and control of lucrative drug and human smuggling routes, have become brazen in their attacks in recent months.

In Juarez this month, masked gunmen stormed a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center and killed eight people. Days later, Red Cross workers stopped treating gunshot victims for several hours after receiving death threats over Red Cross radios. The Red Cross had already stopped responding to emergency calls after 10 p.m. because of security concerns.

Law enforcement officials this year in New Mexico and Texas said they had received a purported cartel hit list identifying 15 to 20 potential targets in those states. Mears said the latest threat contained no specific targets.

The deadly wave of shootings and a rise in kidnappings for ransom in Mexico has prompted some of its citizens, including police officers and a prosecutor, to seek asylum in the U.S.

While the ongoing cartel war has been largely contained in Mexico, more than two dozen gunshot victims have been taken for medical treatment in El Paso, prompting security lockdowns at the county hospital.

Lopez said agents working at the ports, where those gunshot victims have been taken before coming into the U.S., are taking extra security precautions. Ambulances transporting gunshot victims are already being escorted by local law enforcement to the hospital, he said.

Save the street children of Colombia Now!!

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mariacvetanoski says on Oct 8, 2008, 07:13:

Mexico cartels post 'help wanted' ads

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-04-24-mexicocartels_N.htm

MEXICO CITY — One of Mexico's biggest drug cartels has launched a brazen recruiting campaign, putting up fliers and banners promising good pay, free cars and better food to army soldiers who join the cartel's elite band of hit men.
"We don't feed you Maruchan soups," said one banner in the border city of Nuevo Laredo, referring to a brand of ramen noodles.

The recruiting by the Gulf Cartel reflects how Mexico's fight against traffickers increasingly resembles a real war, nearly 17 months after President Felipe Calderón ordered the army into drug hot spots.

"Army and police-force conflicts with heavily armed narcotics cartels have escalated to levels equivalent to military small-unit combat," the U.S. Embassy said last week in a travel warning to Americans.

Fliers urging soldiers to defect began appearing earlier this month in the border city of Reynosa. They were pasted on telephone poles over government posters that offered rewards to drug informants.

Save the street children of Colombia Now!!

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mariacvetanoski says on Oct 8, 2008, 07:20:

A BANNER SAYS..

A truck carrying Mexican army soldiers drives past a pedestrian bridge holding a giant banner signed by the Zetas, the enforcement arm of the Gulf drug cartel, in the border city of Nuevo Laredo, northern Mexico, on April 13. The banner reads, in Spanish: "Operative group 'The Zetas' wants you, soldier or ex-soldier. We offer a good salary, food and benefits for your family. Don't suffer anymore mistreatment and don't go hungry. We wont give you instant noodle soup."

Save the street children of Colombia Now!!

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dwmte7 says on Oct 8, 2008, 07:37:

talk about bold, these guys know how to recruit.

wonder how long it took em to figure out that there was a marriage between the farc and the mexican cartels?

as always, maria, you dig out the "stuff".

dwmte

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mariacvetanoski says on Oct 8, 2008, 08:17:

thanks doug- but these people need real jobs without a commitment to violence and loss of life...

Save the street children of Colombia Now!!

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gatogris says on Oct 8, 2008, 16:03:

Not the first time...Brazilian gang leader Fernandinho Beira-Mar was caught in the process of forging alliances with the FARC in 2001. Moderately reliable sources in March of this year reported seeing Brazilian P.C.C. gang leaders on go-fast boats up a tributary of the Caqueta...bird-watching?

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dwmte7 says on Oct 8, 2008, 17:10:

i know what you mean, maria....and i didn't mean to sound sympathetic in any way with the bad guys. just a foolish attempt to keep light hearted in an area where no light exists. sorry if it came off bad.

douglas

dwmte

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mosvar says on Oct 9, 2008, 14:57:

Gotta get that shit here somehow.......and Americans like it. The war on drugs is only a war on each other. If we legalized it would prevent "armed forces" and "cartels" from murdering and capatalizing.

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manINred says on Oct 10, 2008, 02:13:

"Colombia Rebels Linked to Mexico Drug Cartels"

I would have thought that was a given!

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mariacvetanoski says on Oct 10, 2008, 06:29:

doug- it is just hard when there is NO jobs and unemployment is so high- people are desperate for anything that comes along- we are lucky to have a free school system in this country - where colombia POOR AS THEY ARE- have to pay for education even at an elementary level...

Save the street children of Colombia Now!!

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dwmte7 says on Oct 10, 2008, 08:10:

you're fully aware of the disparity in income in colombia....millions barely able to make ends meet, while a handful of the economically elite, can fly about the world, have yachts, homes in europe, mexico, the us, miami etc. as well as multiple homes and fincas around colombia.

when i was living in the mountains, i taught english to the children of campesinos for free. but to the children of the finca owners or in general, the "haves" i charged 10,000 pesos per hour. now that's not much, but they would complain and ridicule me, giving me a lot of grief and no rest. they'[re so egotistically motivitated and driven. the fact that the poor received anything for free was just undigestable to them. especially, if they wanted the same for their children, they had to pay 10,000 pesos per hour. friends of mine who also taught english charged 20,000 to 40,000 per hour. i was a bargain. but to listen to them, i was a ladron
douglas

dwmte

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