the suppliants

The latest casualties in the war in Mexico: Retired Mexican Generals & Active Duty USAF Staff Sgts

In order to better protect the citizenry, many mayors in Mexican cities have hired retired Mexican army officers, usually generals, to be secretaries of security.  These military professionals obviously pose a serious threat to the cartels and so therefore they are high-priority targets.  Here is a run-down of retired officers who took over public security positions who have been assassinated this year:

February:  General Mauro Enrique Tello Quiñonez (ret), two of his aides (active duty officers - a major and a lieutenant), and his civillian driver were kidnapped, tortured and executed in Cancun - less than 24 hours after the retired general took the public security position.  Less than 24 hours...

April:  Colonel Arturo Navarro (ret), was gunned down in Piedras Negras, 18 days after taking the position of chief of police.  Navarro was a veteran of the elite presidential security unit.

August:  General Juan Carlos Rodriguez (ret), was named police chief of the northern city of Monclova and narrowly escaped an assassination attempt which killed three of his bodyguards.  He had been on the job for almost two months.

This week here in Monterrey the new municipal mayors took office and installed their new cabinets.  The following municipalities hired retired army officers as either chiefs of police or secretaries of public security: 

Escobedo:  Brigadier General Hermelindo Lara Cruz (ret)

García:  Brigadier General Juan Arturo Esparza (ret)

Guadalupe:  General Angel Fernando Pérez (ret)

San Pedro:  Brigadier General Gonzalo Miguel Adalid Mier (ret)

Santa Catarina:  General Marcial Herrera (ret)

Yesterday after watching the news report about the installation of these retired military men I commented to my wife, "I hope they have strong security details and don't forget to wear their body armor to work."  Given the history it is obvious that these guys are marked men.

So this morning after getting up we turn on the local news to see the sad news that Gen. Esparza of Garcia was gunned down last night along with four members of his security detail as he responded to an emergency call from the municipality's mayor who was being threatened by cartel operatives.  The retired general's truck was ambushed by more than 30 cartel operatives.  The general had been on the job since Monday - three days.  

On another breaking news story:  it's not a good idea for active duty U.S. military personnel to go to strip clubs in Mexican border towns.  U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. David Booher, assigned to the medical unit of the 49th Fighter Wing at Holloman Air Force outside Alamogordo, New Mexico, was among five men gunned down yesterday in a strip club in Juarez, Mexico.

UPDATE:

This morning (Friday, Nov. 6) the district police supervisor of the city of Juarez was assassinated.  He was a former army officer. 

Kids with guns...

From an article in today's Washington Post: 

The number of minors swept up in Mexico's drug wars - as killers and victims - is soaring, with US and Mexican officials warning that a toxic culture of fast money, drug abuse and murder is creating a "lost generation." Although the exploitation of children by criminals is timeless, authorities say the cartels are responding to new realities here. They have stepped up recruiting to replace tens of thousands of members who have been killed or arrested during President Felipe Calderón's US-backed war against the traffickers. The crackdown has led the cartels to diversify their operations, moving from the transshipment of narcotics to extortion, immigrant smuggling and kidnapping. It also has sparked intense rivalries, with youngsters serving as expendable foot soldiers in battles over trafficking routes to the United States and local markets that serve a growing number of Mexican drug users.

Kids With Guns (Gorillaz)Kids with guns
Kids with guns
Taking over
But it won't be long
They mesmerized, skeletons
Kids with guns
Kids with guns
Easy does it, easy does it, they got something to say "no" to

Drinking out (Push it real, push it)
Pacifier (Push it real, push it)
Vitamin Souls(push it real, push it)
The Street desire Push it real, push it
Doesn't make sense to (Push it real, push it)
But it won't be long (Push it real, push it)
Kids with guns
Kids with guns
Easy does it, easy does it, they got something to say "no" to

And they're turning us into monsters
Turning us into fire
Turning us into monsters
It's all desire
It's all desire
It's all desire

Drinking out
Pacifier
Sinking soul
Where you are
Doesn't make sense to
But it won't be long
Cause kids with guns
Kids with guns
Easy does it, easy does it, they got something to "no" to

And they're turning us into monsters
Turning us into fire
Turning us into monsters
It's all desire
It's all desire
It's all desire

Push it real push it push it
Push it real push it push it
Push it real push it push it
Push it real push it push it
Push it real push it push it

Push It, Push It, Real

Public Enemy #1: The Police

One thing about Mexico that everyone can agree on is this:  many if not most police officers are corrupt.  Last week here in Monterrey these two officers were arrested as being part of the Gulf cartel.  They were used as hit men and were arrested in uniform while at a house where several kidnapping victims were being kept.  Once again, the army to the rescue.  But the army, as I've said again and again, is a short-term solution.  In the long-term the government has to restructure Mexico's 2,022 municipal police forces.  I was delighted to hear the news on Friday that Mexico's secretary for public safety, Génaro García Luna, who probably has the most dangerous cabinet position on the planet, announced a proposal to disband the 2,022 local police forces and combine them with the state level law enforcement.  Although I've yet to read the proposal, it definitely sounds like a step in the right direction.  Here's the article in full:

Mexico's top security official on Friday proposed disbanding Mexico's 2,022 municipal police forces and combining them with state law enforcement agencies to better combat corruption and crime.

Local police have fewer resources to fight crime, and their lower salaries make them more susceptible to corruption, Mexican Public Safety Secretary Genaro Garcia Luna said.

"Public safety should be a state policy," he added.

Consolidating police forces would improve communication among officials, he said, and bring greater security to areas where local police have traditionally lacked the means to fight crime. Nearly 90 percent of the country's municipal police forces have staffs of less than 100 people, he said.

Garcia Luna spoke to reporters at the end of a meeting of public safety chiefs from Mexico's 31 states and the capital, where officials presented a report titled "A New Police Model."

The report describes local police as "an easy target for corruption," with more than 60 percent of them receiving monthly salaries of only 4,000 pesos (about $300). Most of them have completed less than 10 years of schooling and are either at basic education levels or illiterate, according to the report.

Incorporating them into state forces would help prevent organized crime from corrupting them, the report said.

Garcia Luna said federal legislators would have to approve any changes to the country's police structure.

President Felipe Calderon has acknowledged that corruption permeates Mexican police at all levels. He has relied on the army to fight ruthless drug cartels, deploying tens of thousands of soldiers across the country since taking office in late 2006. Gang violence has since surged, claiming more than 13,800 lives.

Crackdowns on local police have also become an increasingly common part of the drug war.

In September, the Pacific coast resort city of Cancun fired 30 police officers in an effort to clean up the image of a force long plagued by corruption. In June, nearly 80 police officers suspected of working with drug smugglers were arrested in 18 towns across the northern state of Nuevo Leon after soldiers found lists of police names in the possession of traffickers.

Mexico's 159,734 municipal police make up nearly 40 percent of Mexico's police forces.