Archive for the 'Mexico' Category

The Trace.

Mexican authorities were outgunned by criminal cartels in two notable incidents this month. In both cases, the criminals were armed with high-powered .50-caliber firearms. First, on October 13, in the state of Michoacan, a police convoy was ambushed with .50-caliber sniper rifles, leaving 13 officers dead and nine wounded. Four days later, in the state of Sinaloa, the government was forced to abandon an operation to arrest the son of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, after his henchmen assaulted the authorities with both sniper rifles and truck-mounted machine guns.

“We are seeing a full-out criminal insurgency in Mexico right now,” said Robert Bunker, an international security expert who teaches at the Army War College Strategic Studies Institute and has written about the use of .50-caliber rifles by Mexican cartels.

Often, the weapons come from the United States, where civilian sales of high-caliber sniper rifles are unregulated in all but three states.

Oh.  So we’re going to do this again?

Okay.  It might be just a wee bit interesting if it really meant anything.  And if it did, the only thing it would mean for me is that the FedGov needs to close the border.  I mean really close it.  To all traffic, both human and vehicular.

But that’s not what this is about.  The Trace wants you to think that if we just have more gun control we might be able to help the Mexican government, something I couldn’t care less about and isn’t even on my radar screen.

But where to weapons in Mexico really come from?

Ever wonder where Mexican drug cartels are getting all their weapons? After all, since 1972, the most power rifle that you can buy in the country is a .22 caliber weapon. Yet, Mexican drug cartels have grenades, grenade launchers, and fully automatic guns. We have been collecting some quotes on where Mexico gets its guns.

1. “Most cartels buy in bulk, and the weapons are coming from places like Nicaragua and other South American countries. Also Asia and some from the Middle East,” a Tijuana-based police authority who requested anonymity explained. “And, another factor is the CNC machines making uppers in clandestine shops in Mexico.”
2. “These kinds of guns — the auto versions of these guns — they are not coming from El Paso,” [Ed Head, a firearms instructor in Arizona who spent 24 years with the U.S. Border Patrol] said. “They are coming from other sources. They are brought in from Guatemala. They are brought in from places like China. They are being diverted from the military. But you don’t get these guns from the U.S.”
3. Fox News: The fact is, only 17 percent of guns found at Mexican crime scenes have been traced to the U.S.

So there’s that.  But don’t confuse them with the facts.

David Codrea:

“El Paso among ‘Top 10 Safest Metro Cities’ in U.S. for 2019,” the El Paso Times reported earlier this year. “Despite border and immigration controversies, El Paso preserves its reputation as one of the safest metro cities in the nation.”

“2018 ended as one of the deadliest years for Ciudad Juárez in recent times,” ABC’s KVIA 7 noted in January. “El Diario de Juárez reported there were 1,247 homicides, a number comparable to the most violent era for the city from 2008 to 2011.”

When I hear the name of the city of Juarez, I just think about the movie “Sicario.”  Or if that’s note enough, you can watch this.  Or this.

AP:

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Vigilante attacks and mob justice appeared to be on the rise in Mexico this week as violence mounted, more than two dozen bodies appeared along roadsides and the government ruled out any new crackdown on criminal gangs.

Prosecutors in the northern state of Sinaloa said Thursday five young men have been murdered in recent days, and in all five cases toy cars were carefully placed atop their corpses. The men were apparently car thieves, and the toys indicated both the reason they were killed and served as a warning to other thieves.

The latest such murder came Wednesday. Prosecutors said the victim had been identified as the same man seen on security camera footage earlier that day stealing a pickup truck at gunpoint from a woman outside her home in the state capital, Culiacan.

The National Human Rights Commission said 43 people have been killed in lynchings so far this year, and 173 injured. That was up from the already-record year for mob justice in 2018.

“Those who take justice into their own hands commit acts of barbarism, not justice,” the commission said.

Vigilantes say they have to act because authorities won’t crack down on criminal gangs, which have become more brazen and have begun returning to the grisly mass executions that marked Mexico’s 2006-2012 drug war.

Actually, there is a strong history of constables gathering a Posse of locals and enforcing justice.  I much prefer it to the [in]justice we see today.

As for Mexico, it is a failed state, right on the Southern border.

David Codrea:

When gun-grabbers first started throwing around that claim, they were assuring us it was “95 to 100 percent.” The con they’re pulling is limiting numbers to what is being submitted for tracing. The total population of guns recovered but not submitted is much larger. And the total number of guns in the hands of Mexico’s warring cartels equips armies.

Speaking of which, since KPBS brought up “grenades,” who thinks the cartels get their weapons onesie-twosie from U.S. gun stores and gun shows? How about their “U.S.-military issued rifles, machine guns, grenade launchers and explosives”?

In reality, many of the weapons are obtained from police, Army deserters and corrupt administrators.

The only thing this proves to me is that the best gunsmiths and machinists live in the U.S. and sell legally to the police and military in other countries.  Otherwise, what’s old is new again.  Always looking for a reason to control things.

Reuters:

The FBI on Saturday said it had arrested Larry Hopkins, the leader of an armed group that is stopping undocumented migrants after they cross the U.S.-Mexico border into New Mexico.

[ … ]

“We’re not worried about it, he’s going to be cleared,” said Jim Benvie, a spokesman for the United Constitutional Patriots (UCP), blaming his arrest on political pressure from Lujan Grisham.

Hopkins is the “national commander” of the UCP, which has had around half a dozen members camped out on a rotating basis near Sunland Park since late February.

This came after the New Mexico governor said this.

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Friday lashed out at members of a militia group who are stopping migrants at the border, declaring “regular citizens have no authority to arrest or detain anyone.”

Because they’re actually detaining and arresting them, rather than letting them go at bus stops in San Antonio and other cities like Customs and Border Patrol.  We can’t allow anyone to actually enforce the law.

In other news, the Mexican military disarmed a couple of U.S. troops on the U.S. side of the border.

Armed Mexican troops disarmed two United States soldiers while they were on the American side of the border, U.S. defense officials have said.

U.S. Northern Command said in a statement that “five to six Mexican military personnel questioned two U.S. Army soldiers who were conducting border support operations” this month. The U.S. soldiers were in an unmarked Customs and Border Protection [CBP] vehicle near the southwest border near Clint, Texas.

Officials confirmed that the Mexican troops were armed with what seemed to be rifles. They raised their weapons when they saw the two U.S. soldiers, and then took a pistol from one and put it in the CBP vehicle. According to officials talking to CNN, the two Americans obliged “in an attempt to de-escalate a potential volatile situation.”

That’s why they don’t want the U.S. Marine Corps on the border.  Those Mexican troops would be dead now.

But since no one in power wants to stop immigration – not the big business president, not the senate or house (the republicans in the pocket of big business, the democrats wanting more voters), and not Mexico, it won’t be stopped.

If you ever believed that immigration would come to an end at some point, disavow yourself of that notion right away, at least until the costs of covering the immigrants with medical care becomes so extreme that FedGov has to confiscate retirement accounts and 401Ks to pay for it all (they’ll “nationalize” it all, and promise to take care of everyone).

Military Times:

President Donald Trump said that he is considering sending even more troops to the southern U.S. border to help with security missions there, calling the situation there increasingly dangerous.

“I’m going to have to call up more military,” he said Wednesday during a roundtable with supporters in Texas related to his plans for a southern border wall and tighter immigration laws for Central and South American migrants.

Ain’t that something?  They’ll send sons of America to fight all sorts of police actions and “authorizations to use force” around the globe, but the one thing they are tasked by the constitution for doing – preventing and responding to foreign invasions – the elitists in charge call illegal under Posse Comitatus.

There’s nothing wrong with Posse Comitatus.  What’s wrong is in Washington, D.C., and the demons, gargoyles and pit vipers who ensconce there.

That’s my title because that’s the title of the video.  Forget for a moment where this is occurring, or that it’s a little dated (2016).  I found this profoundly interesting, and if you watch it with an open mind I think you’ll find all sorts of lessons and tactical applications.  I’ll let you fill in the details in the comments section.  And I think you’ll be surprised at some of what happens in the video.  I’m posting it for educational purposes only, of course.

Small Wars Journal:

Tunnels are dark and often wet, hot, and humid. They can contain tight spaces, low overhead clearances, and present a range of explosive and toxic environmental challenges. All of these impediments are enhanced by poor visibility, darkness, impeded sight lines, and amplified noise (echoes) facilitating sensory decrements that inhibit maneuver, engagement, and situational awareness. Tunnels also degrade intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance complicating tactical and operational decision-making. In addition to tactical challenges found in all confined space operations, illicit taps bring an additional explosion hazard both within the tunnel and in proximate inhabited spaces.

It reminds me of the tunnel in Sicario, except not as well-constructed.

I think I’ve said this before, but this poses not just a tactical challenge to anyone, regardless of persuasion, but a challenge to life as well.

This is a confined space.  It has the following hazards (not an all-inclusive list): civil engineering (collapse of roofing or siding), access to breathable oxygen, lighting, noise, concentration of various bacteriological hazards (such as legionella), temperature, humidity, submergence during rain from flash flooding, concentration of explosive gases, concentration of explosive dusts, etc., etc.

Stay out of confined spaces.  They mean death to you.  I think I’ve mentioned it before, but I don’t go spelunking.

The Washington Times:

ICE officers who endorsed President Trump in 2016 now say he has failed to follow through on his get-tough promises, saying catch-and-release of immigrants living illegally in the U.S. is not only still happening, but has gone into “overdrive.”

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers say they’re being roped into such mundane tasks as opening the doors on vans to release immigrants already caught by Border Patrol agents. That’s dragging the officers from their usual duties of nabbing fugitives, or scouring local prisons and jails for immigrant criminals who lived illegally in the U.S. ready to be deported.

The shell game is all the more “ridiculous,” the officers said, because Border Patrol agents could fill out paperwork and open the doors themselves, but the agency’s leaders don’t want to be part of catch-and-release.

“Hundreds of man hours are wasted each day at a time of crisis on the border,” the leaders of the National ICE Council, the union that represents ICE officers, said in a letter sent directly to Mr. Trump on Monday.

[ … ]

“You frequently speak publicly of the great public safety work ICE is doing under your leadership. To be direct Mr. President — the rhetoric doesn’t match reality and we hope that this letter shows you the complete and total nonsense that is really taking place under the Trump Administration on the southern border,” the ICE officers said.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

The letter comes as the situation at the southwestern border has grown out of control for Homeland Security.

Some 160,000 migrant children and family members have been encountered at the border over the last five months, shattering previous records.

Most are arrested by the Border Patrol, though 10-15 percent are encountered by Customs and Border Protection officers trying to come through a border crossing without permission.

Because of the overwhelming numbers, lack of bed space and court rulings, Homeland Security usually processes and quickly releases most of them, with the vain hope that they’ll come back for hearings and eventual deportation.

That’s been dubbed “catch-and-release,” and Mr. Trump took office promising to stop it.

Instead the rate has increased, and it’s spurred the bureaucratic sparring.

Mr. Crane says Border Patrol agents have the power to fill out the release paperwork and to do the releases on their own, but they don’t want to face the embarrassment. So they make ICE officers fill out the release paperwork, and when they drive the immigrants to bus stations to be dropped off, they make an ICE officer actually open the van doors.

Because if Trump ever did intend to do anything about immigration and the border (and he was probably being dishonest about immigration), he intended to wait until after he no longer had the House of Representatives to make it a big deal so that he would be blocked and could make it a re-election issue.

Because he thinks Americans are tools.  By my calculations the only good thing we’ve gotten from Trump is Neil Gorsuch.

Via WiscoDave, Iotwreport.com:

Americans in border towns in New Mexico are leery of reporting crimes and suspicious activities by illegal immigrants because they fear they will be retaliated against by drug cartels, according to a  Washington Examiner report.

Seven residents who live within 30 to 50 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border told the paper that calling local or federal law enforcement for help after discovering they have been victims of illegal immigrant crime could lead to “nasty consequences.”

One cattle rancher from Hidalgo County told the Examiner he calls in every crime, but not without punishment from the cartels.

“I turned in 700 pounds [of marijuana] up here … I called it in [to Border Patrol]. They went and got it. That night, they [smugglers] came back. They … broke off all the floats off my troughs — chopped ’em up, drained all of it,” he said.

Brave rancher.  But most people won’t be that brave, nor do they have the wherewithal to engage in battle with the cartel(s).

Here is the step-by-step process for the destruction of a country and culture.

[1] Corrupt enough powerful people with money and power – money for powerful corporations like Monsanto, or Archer Daniels Midland, who want immigrant workers, or even for smaller entities like local roofing and siding companies, and power for the democrats who want voters.

[2] Convince enough idiot voters that the immigrants just “come for love” and appeal to compassion.

[3] Underfund border security, and in any event, make it nearly impossible for them to perform their mission.

[4] Get enough lawyers involved that no one could ever successfully craft rules for the use of force or rules of engagement (RUF/ROE) for the border that would make the international community happy.

[5] Never, ever, send the military to the border under arming orders.  Let them do things like paperwork (and maybe string some wire) for looks and theater.

[6] Corrupt the churches so they teach that Jesus was a Bohemian, pacifist, flowerchild beatnik, and you will be too if you want to be a Christian.  No real Christian can be a warrior, at least not unless recognized by the state.

[7] Weaken the armed forces so that if they ever do deploy to the border, they won’t be fit to serve in any meaningful capacity anyway.

[8] Make sure that the police and judiciary are essentially one and the same, on the same side as it were, and make sure that the public is scared of ever taking any kind of action they deem illegal or vigilante.  Make the cost too high for them to bear to defend themselves or their property.

[9] Allow the criminal elements of the hordes to roam freely and perpetrate their desires at will.  This is advantageous for the controllers, as it keeps the fearful people in check and without recourse.  They cannot turn to each other, cannot turn to the state, and cannot turn to the criminals.  And they won’t act for themselves.

[10] Make the promise of provision of “free” health care for everyone who crosses the border, illegal or not.  This “free” health care hides the real cost of illegal immigration, but it’s advantageous to the corporations, so it must come to pass.

[11] Finally, invade the schools from elementary to college with socialists who do not believe in liberty, and this will ensure a vast supply of idiots as future voters, thus creating power in perpetuity.  These voters will never allow turning this death spiral around.

And thus you have a recipe for utter disaster for a nation.  It’s almost as if it were happening before our very eyes, yes?