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How Colorado and Washington Can Change the Drug War

November 12, 2012, 3:36 pm
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Borderland Beat
 
It appears that the PRI party is receptive to the idea of the U.S. legalization of marijuana. Cesar Duarte weighs in that Mexico could leagally export MJ, control and regulate the drug. Mexico has decriminalized drug use of all drugs in small quanities for personal use, however many citizens and police remain ignorant to the recent law change.  After the Mexican law change, Calderon made a trip to California 2 years ago when legalization of  MJ was on the ballot.  In a perplexing move, on his trip to three California cities his  speeches included the fact that he was against the California initiative and hoped it would go down in defeat. Below is Global Post's take on the issue..Paz,  Chivis
 
Tuesday’s marijuana legalization votes could spark a movement that stems a key revenue stream for drug cartels.
Might Americans' growing ability to get stoned without fear of arrest end Mexico's bloody gangster wars?
The legalization of recreational marijuana approved by voters Tuesday in Washington and Colorado could sap power from vicious smuggling gangs, and undermine the Mexican government's rationale for pressing on with the drug war, some analysts say.
The impact of the vote hinges on whether the state initiatives survive expected court challenges and continued enforcement of US federal drug laws.
But if they do — and legalization catches a wave across America — Mexico's narco-traffickers could lose up to 30 percent of the estimated $6.5 billion they earn annually from smuggling drugs, according to a study by the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness, a private think tank.
“We don't know how this is going to end, but we do believe that something big can happen,” contends Alejandro Hope, author of the study and a former senior crime analyst with Mexico's equivalent of the CIA. “The mere possibility is enough to continue closing following the election results and what comes afterward.”
At least initially, US federal officials' reaction to the legalization vote is unlikely to be friendly. President Barack Obama’s administration so far has rejected calls from across Latin America — including from former presidents of Mexico, Colombia and Brazil — for drug decriminalization as a means to crimp cartel profits and stop the gangland violence.
“It's worth discussing, but there is no way the Obama-Biden administration will change its policy,” Vice President Joe Biden said in a March visit to Mexico City. Apart from Congressional opposition to a policy shift, the US is party to international treaties that require drug enforcement.
But the legalization votes came just weeks before Mexico's own presidential transition. Enrique Pena Nieto, who takes office Dec. 1, has signaled that he wants to shift the anti-gangster campaign away from drug interdiction toward curbing the violent crime plaguing ordinary Mexicans.
Pena aides and allies argued that the Washington and Colorado results support that view, requiring a rethink of Mexico's militarized anti-narcotics campaign, which has claimed at least 60,000 lives, and perhaps far many more, in the past six years.
“We have to carry out a review of our joint policies in regard to drug trafficking and security in general,” Luis Videgaray, a senior Pena aide, told a Mexican radio interviewer following Tuesday's vote in the US. “This obliges us to rethink our relationship in regards to security. This is an unforeseen element.”
Meanwhile, a key border state governor and Pena ally has set the bar pretty high on any government drug policy reform planning.
“It seems to me that we should move to authorize exports,” Cesar Duarte, governor of gangster-plagued Chihuahua, which includes Ciudad Juarez, told Reuters in an interview . “We could therefore propose organizing production for export, and with it no longer being illegal, we would have control over a business which today is run by criminals. And which finances criminals.”
Despite booming pot production in California, Tennessee and other US states, Mexican marijuana still supplies about half the US market, according to the competitiveness institute study. Though lower than US marijuana in THC, the chemical that gives the weed its kick, Mexico's product is priced low enough to be competitive.
While a greater share of the gangs' profit comes from cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine — as well as kidnapping, extortion and other rackets — marijuana serves as a reliable bread and butter earner. An evaporating US market for Mexican marijuana would hit hardest the Sinaloa Cartel of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, which earns as much as half its income from smuggled pot, Hope's study estimates.

But the Zetas, a powerful rival cartel that controls much of northeastern Mexico and the South Texas border, would also be slammed. With only limited connections to Colombian cocaine suppliers, the Zetas rely on pot smuggling for much of their income. Losing the marijuana trade could push the Zetas more deeply into extortion, kidnapping, human smuggling and piracy of movies, music and oil.

Before the Nov. 6 vote, 14 US states already had treated low-volume marijuana possession much like traffic violations. Others such as California and, in this latest vote, Massachusetts, have legalized marijuana use for medical purposes, which critics say is a backdoor way for recreational users to get the drug.
“This obligates us to think deeply the strategy we have to have in Mexico toward fighting this criminality,” Manlio Fabio Beltrones, the powerful head of the congressional caucus of Pena's Institutional Revolutionary Party, said following Colorado and Washington marijuana votes. “Above all when the principal consumer is liberating its use.”
Neglected War has another interesting article LINK HERE
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End police abuse in Juarez

November 13, 2012, 10:24 am
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El Diario de Juarez November 11, 2012

Husband and Wife speaking of their kidnap and torture in Juarez at the hands of Police

Editorial translated by un vato for Borderland Beat

[Translator's note: There have been numerous news reports of police abuse in Juarez this past year, to the point that Police Chief Leyzaola recently pulled some surprise inspections in several police districts and ordered the release of dozens of detainees who had been arrested because of their physical appearance or because they did not have official identification on them when stopped by a cop.  Although the number of homicides has declined measurably in Juarez, extortion, robbery and kidnapping appear to have increased. A big problem is that the police agencies have not earned the public's trust. --un vato] . 

Trust in police agencies, an essential element if one wants to talk about consolidating advances in the area of public safety, will never be possible so long as its agents -- especially municipal police in their current phase-- abuse the citizen they were supposed to protect and become the criminals they are supposed to fight.

Any statistical gain from a decrease in criminal matters will be of little use if in the collective imagination an intervention by police generates fear instead of security.

It's no longer a matter of isolated cases. The complaints, the stories that have developed with police officers as antagonists of law-abiding citizens are a constant that does not allow any minimizing or dissimulation.

The general outcry to end abuses-- to adjust strategies, to purge the police of bad elements, to improve methods for internal control and to prosecute criminally those that have gone over to the side of the criminals-- has to be dealt with at the highest level of authority.

The accumulation of cases is alarming. The people of Juarez began this week by learning about the dramatic case of a man who was left for dead by police and, severely beaten and with a plastic bag placed on his head, was dumped in an isolated place in the city's southwest.

Daniel Hernandez Favela, 50 years old, was taken from his home in the La Cuesta housing subdivision by a group of 14 municipal police agents wearing hoods -- according to the complaint filed with the State Attorney General-- who were looking for drugs in the house. They "drove him" around for more than two hours, beat him while they were interrogating him about his activities and threatened to kill him.

Because he denied he was involved in selling drugs, the agents kicked him until he lost consciousness. He later woke up, abandoned in an area outside the city. He had to use a wheelchair to appear in person to denounce the incident and had to be helped by his relatives because it was difficult for him to stand up and walk.

At the Attorney General's Office, it transpired that the police involved in the incident belong to the Special Operations Group (GEO; Grupo de Operaciones Especiales) which has been singled out in other complaints for illegal searches, injuries and even theft of property from the  homes they go into.
9 Year old American boy shot by police as they arrested his mother for murder, she was innocent and set free
Recently, another man was unable to save his life after a confrontation with a municipal police officer. After a month-long agony, David Martinez Valenzuela, 31 years old, died at the General Hospital on Wednesday. The victim was shot several times when he intervened to stop a man from beating up a woman. The aggressor turned out to be a member of the Municipal Police and he is now at large.

Also during this week, three preventive police officers, among them a woman, were arraigned before a  magistrate (juez de garantia), accused of abuse of authority, unlawful use of public force and injuries against three young people who last August were taken from their home in the Portal del Roble subdivision to be tortured and dumped in a vacant lot.

Maria Victoria and Jose Refugio Sifuentes Gamboa and Erick Villa Sifuentes accused the police of detaining them and beating them with no apparent motive after they entered the home without a search warrant.

After they searched the home, the police officers took the three young people away and drove around with them for three hours through several parts of the city. During that time, they covered their faces with plastic bags and continued to beat them.

According to the charges presented by the prosecutors, one of the agents kept pressing Erick Villa's eye until it bled. Finally, they dropped them off and left them with their hands tied on a property close to Independencia Blvd.

The three police agents are facing charges of abuse of authority and excessive use of force, with one of them specifically charged with causing injuries.

The police officers were taken before a judge that will decide on November 14 whether they can be prosecuted criminally, although, in the meantime, they are free.

To close out the week, another story involved municipal police agents that turned out to the leaders of a gang of extortionists and "cobracuotas" (protection money collectors).
 




On Thursday, the initial arrest of five suspected criminals was widely disseminated because it happened in part due to the decisive actions of a Traffic police agent who pursued two vehicles that had just been involved in Molotov bomb attack against a mechanic's shop whose owner refused to pay the "cuota" (protection money). That day, the way that the Municipal Police coordinated an operation to surround the criminals, one of which fired his pistol against the officers, was notable.

The next day, the case took an important twist when a municipal police agent was arrested and presented to pretrial authorities by his fellow officers after the investigation revealed that he was the leader of the gang and he received the "cuota" money.

Just yesterday, it happened that two other agents, who could not be arrested, also participated in that criminal activity along with Edgar Antonio Castaneda, the (police) officer who, when he appeared before the Public Ministry, said he knew the detainees but denied leading the gang.

That's how the week closed, but the recent register is full of more horror stories in which the police have dirtied their badge and their uniform to become victimizers instead of protectors of the citizens.

Just last week, four other municipal agents were subjected to criminal prosecution, all of them for abuse of authority and torture committed against two young men they stopped with a car that was reported s stolen and who presumably had committed a carjacking.

One of the officers was also accused of aggravated rape.

An arraignment magistrate (juez de garantias) ruled that there were sufficient elements to initiate criminal proceedings, after the State Attorney General filed the charges described above, for offenses committed against the two suspected car thieves that they detained on October 18 in Colonia Las Haciendas.

Initiating criminal proceedings against the police officers was made possible due to the actions of the prosecutor who was assigned the case that the cops filed against the suspected carjackers. Upon noticing the injuries that a doctor was able to confirm right there, upon questioning the suspects and listening to the statement regarding the rape and the threats to keep them from saying anything, the prosecutor ordered the arrest of the municipal agents. 

The four agents of the Public Safety (Department) face preventive imprisonment while the proceedings against them are exhausted.
Two UTEP Engineering students ran out of gas in Juarez, the girls father went for gas
as the young couple waited.  That is when municipal police came and became very agressive

According to the State Human Rights Commission (CEDH; Comision Estatal de Derechos Humanos), there have been 35 complaints filed against municipal police officers for unlawful arrest, theft and abuse of authority. Also, there are some cases of torture and physical and verbal assault inside the police district facilities.

Since the beginning of the month, another dozen complaints of abuse and human rights violations by police officers from different agencies have been received at the mobile units that were installed by the CEDH and the Security Table (Mesa de Seguridad) at several locations around the city.

But the complaints began to skyrocket since last year when the Municipal Ministry of Public Security (Secretaria de Seguridad Publica Municipal), led by Lt. Col. Julian Leyzaola, launched the strategy of "sectorization" which, in essence, involved gradually taking territorial control by zones with reinforcements from agents and new patrol vehicles that were able to carry out a type of "sweep" in each of the districts. 

However, the operation was not limited to preventive patrols and developing community ties, but rather, it degenerated into simple forays whose ultimate objective was to generate the maximum possible number of arrests.

There was so much abuse of authority that the "offenses" of many of the detainees was nothing more than their physical appearance, a lack of an official identification document or not being able to prove "making an honest living" to the police officer.

It is unacceptable that, despite numerous complaints, the practice continues. And even though the authorities deny systematically that the police officers are working under arrest quotas, the courts continue to be filled with these types of cases in which, in addition, there is a prevailing tendency to criminalize the most vulnerable sectors of society.

How can they pretend to take a step towards a community police model -- to regain the neighborhood police character-- if, aware of the abuse on a daily basis, the last thing a citizen wants is to have a police officer nearby?

There are, then, areas that will not allow more delay, and the first one has to do with a review of work processes and schemes that affect only the statistics of police intervention or the Treasury, from the payment of fines, but which are not necessarily related to a decrease in crimes.

Another is the perennial demand for purging police agencies, which has never been effective due to  operational and budgetary incapacity that all levels of government of have demonstrated, despite the fact that the implementation of professional fitness controls (examenes de confianza) was diagnosed as a priority some time ago.

Although in many of the cases police officers have been charged, that was possible because of the willingness of their commanders to bring charges against the officers involved, or because the protectionist culture among different police and pretrial agencies has been eliminated, the public is still waiting to learn about the systematic application of exemplary punishment of all those who betrayed the trust placed in them as public servants.

Until these pending matters are resolved, even with the undeniable decrease in crime statistics, it will be difficult to convince the community, internal or external, that the City of Juarez can be presented as a "success" in the area of public safety.
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Piedras Negras Mantas: Name Killer of Gerardito and Charge FP With Narco Collusion

November 13, 2012, 1:44 pm
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Borderland Beat


Translation by Cristero

Piedras Negras, Coahuila.- The three narco-banners that appeared yesterday in Piedras Negras, denounced an alleged kidnapper and murderer of Gerardito Heath Sanchez, nephew of the 1st City  Councilor, Guillermo Sanchez.
The young man who today would be 16 years of age, he was 15 when he disappeared in March of 2011 in the city of Piedras Negras Coahuila.
 
The narco-banners were placed on Roman Cepeda St with September 16th Ave [corner], one more in the  Eliseo Mendoza Berruato Ave. across from the 11th Clinic of the Social Security Hospital,  and the third on  Hwy. 57 in Villa De Fuente on a curve known as “El Chagos”.
On the narco-banners appears a photograph of a subject that is singled out as the alleged kidnapper.
The mantas even make an appeal to elements of the Mexican Navy, where they point out that the alleged subject rides aboard units [vehicles] of the Federal Preventive Police acting as a “Madrina”[fake federal cop].
It also emphasizes of other actions [crimes] that this person has done, but this narco-banner has not been attributed to no [criminal] group. 
After it was known [by GATE] about the placement of these narco-banners, elements of the Group of Special Weapons and Tactics [GATE] of the Secretariat of Public Security were involved on a chase on Constitution St. and Progreso St. in a neighborhood known as Colonia González, where three people traveling in a compact car managed to escape.

Three narco-banners as depicted in the first photo appeared yesterday at several points of Piedras Negras.

TEXT READS:
MARINES[NAVY] OF MEXICO HOW IS IT POSSIBLE THAT IF YOU ARE FIGHTING AND SPENDING SO MUCH IN FIGHTING THE DRUG TRAFFICKERS AND CARTELS AND YOU ALLOW OR PERMIT OR FAIL TO CHECK THE FEDERAL POLICE OR PFP, IF THEY HAVE IN THEIR TRUCK A SICARIO[KILLER] HERE IS AN EXAMPLE[PICTURE]
WE DON’T KNOW HE UNIT NUMBER IN WHICH “EL TUKAN” IS IN BUT HE IS DRIVING THE PATROL[UNIT] RIDING[DRIVING] WITHOUT A WORRY.  AFTER SO MANY DEATHS THAT HE OWES[THE KILLER]
WHERE IS YOU OBLIGATION AS PUBLIC SERVANTS COMBATANTS OF DELINQUENCY IF YOU ARE A DELINQUENT YOURSELF. DISAPPEARING AND KILLING INNOCENT PEOPLE BUT WITH A [POLICE] BADGE OF THE PFP. MR GUILLERMO SANCHEZ THIS IS “EL TUKAN” WHO KIDNAPPED AND ASSASSINATED YOUR GRANDSON GERARDO HEAT SANCHEZ
AND THE COMMANDER PELOS OF THE PFP, IS WORKING WITH THEM  AS GODMOTHER HERE IN PIEDRAS NEGRAS.
HE IS IN POSADA ROSA (HOTEL THAT WAS ALLEGEDLY ATTACKED BY THE ORGANIZED CRIME, DAYS BEFORE) AND HE WAS ARRESTED IN SALTILLO BY GUNPOINT AND THEN HE WAS RELEASED
The narco-banner speaks of the nephew of the 1st councilman of Piedras Negras  and who is responsible for the murder. The young Gerardito Heath Sanchez was visiting with  friends at  the home of Victor Cruz when he and the entire Cruz family was kidnapped and never seen again.
Sources: Vanguardia and Zocalo/editing by Chivis.  Thank you Cristero!
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Embroidery Movement Keeps the "Disappeared" in Public Eye

November 13, 2012, 3:06 pm
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Borderland Beat
Relatives of people who have gone missing in Mexico are camped out in front of the country’s Interior Ministry on hunger strike. Shannon Young reports.

The women began their hunger strike on Tuesday as part of a last-ditch effort to pressure the federal government to take action on the issue of disappearances before the current administration leaves office.

The cold early Monday became the seventh consecutive day of the hunger strike undertaken by a group of women fighting against impunity in Mexico where kidnapped family members are killed and have not received justice.

But the hunger strike isn’t the only effort to keep the issue of drug war victims in the public eye and on the government’s agenda ahead of the change of power.


Borderland Beat - Calderon's Indifference, Calderon's Unnamed Leave a Mark


Mexico’s drug war has produced a series of hard-to-fathom statistics. More than 60 thousand people have been killed in the past 6 years. Thousands of others have gone missing. And now – an extensive investigation by the newspaper Milenio reveals tens of thousands of unidentified bodies found on the streets or elsewhere were buried in mass graves dug by the government over the past 6 years.

Embroidery Movement-Keep the "Disappeared" in Public Eye
As part of its investigation, Milenio sent out more than 470 public information requests to government agencies at the federal, state, and local levels. It found the unidentified, unclaimed bodies of more than 24 thousand people have been buried in formal mass graves in Mexico over the last six years.

While that’s a staggering figure, it’s far below the real number of John and Jane Does buried nationwide. Six of Mexico’s 31 states did not provide data in response to Milenio’s requests.
Mexico has thousands of cases of missing and disappeared persons and victims’ relatives have become increasingly vocal about what they say is the government’s lack of political will to deal with the issue.
The Movement of Embroidery for Peace in Mexico announced that on Saturday, December 1, 2012, the last day of Felipe Calderón's term, it will mount exhibits of hundreds of handkerchiefs embroidered with the names of those killed, missing and threatened throughout the administration. These exhibits will be mounted not only in various Mexican cities but abroad. In a statement, the activists said that these pieces of cloth embroidered by bereaved families are "the true memorial to victims of the war against organized crime" and are the symbol with which they want to bid farewell to the Calderón presidency.

Mexico: Farewell, Calderón - Thousands of Handkerchiefs Embroidered with Drug War Victims' Names in Red
"They are a symbol and a practical means of preserving the memory of the violence that has occurred since President Felipe Calderón took office; [Calderón] leaves the country mired in an arbitrary and sinister war against drug trafficking--[a war] with serious strategic and operational flaws."

The Movement also warned that "the most painful consequence has been the repeated failure to protect victims of this battle" between federal forces and organized crime. 

With the display of embroidered handkerchiefs, they announced, they will ask the incoming government to investigate each disappearance and kidnapping, under international standards, that may lead to recovery of victims still alive.
They also proposed that the next federal administration publish and hence bring into effect the General Victims Act proposed by the Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity led by the poet Javier Sicilia.

Moreover, they will demand from Enrique Peña Nieto a "public and transparent" correction of the strategy for fighting organized crime and monitoring of the allegations in the trial against Calderón in The Hague for alleged human rights violations and war crimes.

The initiative of embroidering names of the dead with red thread on white handkerchiefs emerged in Mexico City [one handkerchief, one victim]. Later, others in Nuevo León began to embroider with green thread [for the disappeared; green represents hope for their return alive
Since then, various groups of citizens committed to peace in Mexico have formed embroidery groups in public plazas--activities in which foreigners have joined in solidarity.

The statement was signed by groups of embroiderers from the cities of Guadalajara, Mexico City, Toluca, Puebla, Aguascalientes, Mexicali, Tijuana, Chihuahua, Colima, Torreón, Saltillo, Xalapa and Oaxaca. And from Michoacán, Nayarit, Morelos and Nuevo León; and solidarity groups from Spain, Japan, Guatemala, Honduras, Italy, Argentina, Chile, Peru, United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, France, England and Cyprus. 
It is estimated that during this administration about 80,000 people have been killed, 30,000 have disappeared, and more than 130,000 have been forcibly displaced by the violence. 

Sources: Beginning of the movement,  Southnotes, Spanish original

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Legalization: a Perspective from Mexico

November 14, 2012, 1:01 pm
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Samuel Bojorquez RioDoce Sunday, November 11, 2012


Translated by un vato for Borderland Beat

Dedicated to Ethan Nadelmann, for his tenacious struggle.

The legalization of marihuana in the United States is a relevant trend, to say the least, that is already having an impact in countries that, like Mexico, have serious problems derived from the business of drug trafficking.

Along with the presidential and congressional elections in the United States last Tuesday, (legalization) for recreational use (consumption for pleasure), gay marriages, funding abortions...

Colorado and Washington approved recreational consumption of marihuana-- Oregon opposed it-- and with that they join 15 other states that allow the consumption of Cannabis, although these others allow it for medicinal purposes.

It's a historical event in the United States that, little by little, advances against prohibitionist policies, in a global environment that is reporting an increase in criminal activities involving drug trafficking and in which high level opinions are coming together to propose debate, urgently, on the timing of legalizing the consumption of drugs like marihuana.

Two years ago, in November of 2010, the residents of California rejected this measure in the midst of loud debate that injected the theme into the national agenda, which the defenders of the so-called Proposition 19 noted at the time, despite the defeat they suffered.

After those debates, it was no longer a matter of "hippies and cops", and one must give thanks for American democracy that today its citizens are now putting matters as controversial and urgent as this on the table and are able to make decisions about them.

In Mexico, we are still in diapers, with the laudable exception of the nation's capital, where themes such as the decriminalization of marihuana consumption, abortion, gay marriage, euthanasia, were addressed and resolved, or are about to be resolved, in an environment that in substance resembles the great European democracies and that of the United States itself.
Most citizens in Mexico are clueless to the 2009 "legalization".  See footnote

In April of last year, the Chamber of Deputies (Camara de Diputados) approved penal and (public) health reforms, intended to combat the sale of drugs at retail, in which the right of addicts to consume drugs is recognized, when and if drug possession does not exceed specified amounts. But it was not the intent of those reforms to decriminalize consumption, but, rather, to create a punitive framework against the sale of drugs at retail, which is different.

Resistance to the decriminalization of consumption continues to dominate the issue, which is only mentioned in marginal circles, but not in the great spheres of public power, even with the manifest failures of anti-drug policies, beginning with the more than 70,000 reported deaths that President Felipe Calderon's war against the drug cartels has left.

Does the decriminalization of marihuana consumption help in the fight against drug cartels? It is clear that it will not solve the problem, but it will represent progress while, viewed from a certain perspective, it will greatly decrease their income and, therefore, their operational capability. To decriminalize means, in itself, to regulate, normalize, and this would also include its production and commercialization.
 
 But you cannot decriminalize the consumption of marihuana for recreational purposes if you penalize its sale. Somebody will have to sell it legally, and, therefore, somebody else will have to produce it within the law.

Those who defended Proposition 19 in California argued that legalization of marihuana would mean the loss of 60% of the income of the Mexican drug trafficking cartels. That is very difficult to measure unless one has access to the narcos' books, but it is evident that it will  reduce their profits. Their war making capabilities would also have to diminish, and therefore their propensity for violence.
 
Today, they have a monopoly on the production, movement and sale. Including the sale at retail in the largest marketplace in the world; because the distribution networks are no longer "gringo only," but also Mexican, with operators directly linked with drug cartels here. The drug is grown in the mountains -- or in the valleys, with support of irrigation modules, as we saw in 2006--, it is transported using small aircraft, through tunnels, via highway or by sea to the United States and delivered to operators working with the same cartel in Arizona, Nevada, California or New York for distribution.

All this would turn into a crisis with the decriminalization of marihuana. And government should even look at this from an economic perspective. And get ahead of the times. The decision taken on Tuesday by the citizens of Washington and Colorado begins a new chapter in the debate over drugs, because it will no longer be authorized just for medicinal purposes, but for whoever wants to use it just for the pleasure of using it, just like they do today with a beer or a shot of whiskey.
                                           -Video below was filmed in DF it features a man on the street interviews
                                                          of the US election, but primarily opinions of the MJ legalization in two states.-

Ball and chain
The trend in the world is towards decriminalization, and Mexico should have many more reasons to enter wholeheartedly into the debate. Two years ago, on the same day that the matter was being voted on in California, Calderon said that what was needed was a comprehensive global review on the regulatory framework regarding drugs. And he predicted that an eventual legalization would not stop the violence associated with organized crime, but would generate greater economic stimuli for criminal organizations. It looks like he now thinks differently, judging from what he has said recently, but in any case, his words should be taken seriously.
 Against the flow
There are other countries that are already "putting on the huarache" (beginning to do something about this). Last June, the Uruguayan Defense Minister,  Eleuterio Fernandez Huidobro,  presented a legislative proposal to legalize marihuana as a measure to combat crime. According to the proposal, the government would have a monopoly over the distribution and sale of marihuana, which would only be sold to adults registered as consumers in a database.
 Against the flow
That you're the boss in Sinaloa, Governor? Don't make us laugh: in Sinaloa the narcos have been in charge for decades.

Foot Note:
Mexico passed legalization of drug possession- in certain quantities- for personal use. 
The law passed in 2009 and sets out maximum “personal use” amounts for drugs, also including LSD and methamphetamine. People detained with those quantities no longer face criminal prosecution.
The maximum amount of marijuana for “personal use” under the new law is 5 grams — the equivalent of about four joints. The limit is a half gram for cocaine, the equivalent of about 4 “lines.” For other drugs, the limits are 50 milligrams of heroin, 40 milligrams for methamphetamine and 0.015 milligrams for LSD.
 Anyone caught with drug amounts under the new personal-use limit will be encouraged to seek treatment, and for those caught a third time treatment is mandatory.
 
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Knights say "Adios" to President Calderon

November 15, 2012, 2:56 am
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Borderland Beat

The criminal group Los Caballeros Templarios (Knights of Templar) said their goodbyes to the six year President Felipe Calderon of Mexico through narcomantas placed in at least three states. 

In Guanajuato, the messages were put on the pedestrian bridges of Apaseo El Grande, Tarandacuao, Uriangato, Coroneo, Acámbaro y Villagrán. 

The criminal organization expressed their disagreement against the fight the federal government brought against organized crime. 

"Message for Sr. Felipe de Jesus Calderon Hinojosa:

Sr. President we want to tell you through these mantas, since we have only this resource to communicate with each other, that we were never in agreement with the way you treated us.  Your intentions might have been good but not the way you did it. However with all the pain and wounds that are still present, we want to tell you that we learned a lot, because at the same time, we, as  rebellious countrymen or very heroic ones, we recognize that we also caused damage to PFP (Federal Police), very much deserved. We as countrymen or a brotherhood wanted to respect you, but you never looked our way. In a cool manner it would have been different for Michoacan, if you, with your title and authority, that you showed, if you might have treated your country with love and true justice. Before all and everything we apologize and since we are not going to have you anymore in December as our president, we hope for you, your family, and cabinet that it will go like Vicente Fernandez said (in his song)............................................................... "I wish it will go beautiful for you" -- 

CTGM-Caballero Templarios Guardia Michoacana "

In Moreilia, Michoacan, the mantas appeared with the same message, seemingly also were circulated by fliers.


Source: Reforma
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Murdered for Losing Product

November 15, 2012, 12:44 pm
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Murdered for Losing product
 
November 6th 2012:  Two brothers were found murdered in Tijuana, on the 'free road' to Tecate, from Tijuana.  The first Alberto Galeana, known as 'Aldo', 20 years old.  A little up the road, and not known until later, was the body of his older brother, Antonio Galena.  Both bodies were wrapped in black tape, with the 'Looney Tunes' logo, adorning the tape, which covered the brothers completely.  Bruises were visible on both of the bodies, amidst other signs of torture, or interrogation, Aldo's front teeth had been wrenched out, forcefully, and not surgically removed.  

The two lifeless bodies found on the road, on the Sunday afternoon, were in a sense two more anonymous corpses, found with all the pre requisites of a narco related murder, wrapped in plastic, signs of torture, dumped on a road, coldly, like an afterthought.  Two more, that will garner a brief mention in the local papers, and in a sense, that's all there will be.

 This is not to slander the dead, or accuse the innocent, just a closer look at two brutal, yet, almost run of the mill executions, in a land where debt settling, and lines of credit will leave family members wrapped in plastic and tape, on the side of the road.

Alberto Galeana was 3 weeks away from graduating from the Autonomous University of Tijuana, (UBAC), with a degree in computer science, he was also an intern at 'El Mexicano', the prime contributor to this article, and one of the most well read newspapers in Tijuana, and San Diego, along with Zeta, and Frontera.  Aldo held a 9.5 grade point average, was considered by classmates and employers to be a good student.  His brother, Antonio, was involved in drug trafficking, and smuggling, going back at least eight years.  He was arrested by San Diego police in Chula Vista, with an amount of drugs, which he was imprisoned for, sometime in 2004, or 2005.

This time, Antonio lost, across the border again, in San Diego, another car of drugs, which he was either delivering, or received on credit. Reports state that tried to work out a deal, by giving up another vehicle, and partial payment, but it didn't work out, one way or the other, and he and his brother were kidnapped, tortured, and killed.  Then, thrown on the side of the road.  The scenarios may not matter to some, and least of all to the family and friends of the victims, but here are a few different paths of what may have happened.

The Drugs: Roughly estimating, 25,000-50,000 worth of product, which is roughly 150 pounds of marijuana, cost, 35,000, somewhere in the realm of 300 per pound, depending on when he came into possession, and other factors.  Or maybe 2 kilos of cocaine at 20,000 per kilo.  Or 3 kilos of crystal, at 15,000 a kilo.   Enough product that someone wanted their money made up, wouldn't have been less then 20,000, to have two people picked up and murdered.  And not retail sales in Tijuana, but shipments that crossed the border.  This wasn't someone killed for selling to the wrong customers or in the wrong place.

It could have been a case of Antonio losing the drugs, he was delivering, either by being robbed by a third party, or losing them to the police, or some other way.  If they were indeed seized by police, usual protocol, would be Antonio would have to come up with police statements, like a search warrant, or arrest sheet, which spells out exactly what happened, and if he is without fault, he would not owe for the shipment.

 Workers are expendable, but good workers, can keep working, and simply pay off their employers with services, not receiving payment, indentured servitude, in a way, but at least you live.  Was he unable to come up with the proper documents? Did they not exist?  Was the load lost some other way, and he wasn't telling the truth? Did he have a history of these situations, and someone was just out of patience? Did he mistakenly trust someone who was an informant, or an undercover officer?

The labyrinth of murky drug deals, murder, drugs, and their owners is fascinating, leaving the tragedy and loss of life aside, it is like going down the rabbit hole.  It reminds me of the Greek underworld, Hades, and all the mythology from school.  A twisted, brutal, and bizarre dual life, where flesh is cheap, and drugs are expensive, even at wholesale prices, where it is better to kill two, then let something go unpunished.  The catch, if you call it that, is this is an interesting story, but on the same Sunday, in Tijuana, authorities found 2 more bodies, unrelated to the Galena brothers.  And more the next week. And today, and yesterday.  The stories behind them are as endless as the bodies, tossed onto the road, wrapped in blankets on a street corner, bloody and wounded in a ditch, hung from a bridge, executed in their home, kidnapped from work.  It just goes on.  We can try to hypothesize, predict, guess, project, and to what end?  I don't know, but I'd rather try, then simply shake my head, and turn the page, or click away, watching the bodies of two dead men, whose stories I will never really know.

Sources, AFN Tijuana, El Mexicano, Zeta Tijuana.
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POT.COM Marijuana Stock Explodes

November 15, 2012, 5:21 pm
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Borderland Beat
 
The New Dot.Com

Up 442% :  On Tuesday I posted on forum this article from Wall Street Journal.  Stocks we as low at .75 to 1 dollar.  Yesterday they were at 44 dollars.  Today I hear they are over 215 (MEDBOX).  They will adjust after this initial frenzy, however there will be new entries into the market as the law gains ground and spreads to other states more small successful medical MJ companies will go public.
On November 5th , Marijuana Inc was awarded world exclusive marketing rights in preparation for the onslaught.   One of the more interesting companies that I was clueless of its existence is MJ vending machines, for medical MJ, it operates but an thumb print ID scan on the machine.  amazing two articles below....Paz, Chivis

Thank you "Richard" for this personal photo
Mark Twain is said to have remarked that a gold rush is a good time to be in the pick and shovel business. Investors may be able to apply that same bit of wisdom to the growing number of U.S. states that have legalized pot.

Although federal law prohibits the sale or possession of marijuana, Massachusetts last week joined the ranks of states — 18 plus Washington, D.C. — that allow its use for people suffering from chronic illnesses like cancer, HIV/AIDS, multiple sclerosis and epilepsy.

In Washington and Colorado, meanwhile, voters passed an initiative to allow pot for recreational use. Those changes have kickstarted a small but fast-growing medical-marijuana industry, estimated to be worth about $1.7 billion as of 2011, according to See Change Strategy, an independent financial-analysis firm that specializes in new markets.

In Colorado alone, sales topped $181 million in 2010, and the business employed 4,200 state-licensed workers, says Aaron Smith, executive director of the National Cannabis Industry Association , a nonprofit trade group that campaigns for marijuana’s federal legalization.

In addition to profiting itself from growing and selling marijuana, the industry benefits a slew of other businesses, such as insurers, lawyers and agricultural-equipment firms, experts say.

“Call it the ‘green rush,’” says Derek Peterson, CEO of GrowOp Technology, an online retailer of hydroponics — products used in the cultivation of indoor plants — and a subsidiary of OTC stock Terra Tech /quotes/zigman/8701126/quotes/nls/trtc TRTC 0.00% . “The industry is expanding, and there are all kinds of investment opportunities.”

For regular investors looking to get in on the action — and without having to actually grow or sell drugs — there are several small-cap stocks that stand to gain from marijuana’s growing acceptance. Medbox /quotes/zigman/7157004/quotes/nls/mdbx MDBX +80.00% , an OTC stock with a $45 million market cap, for example, sells its patented dispensing machines to licensed medical-marijuana dispensaries.

The machines, which dispense set doses of the drug, after verifying patients’ identities via fingerprint, could potentially be used in ordinary drugstores too, says Medbox founder Vincent Mehdizadeh. Based in Hollywood, Calif., the company already has 130 machines in the field, and it expects to install an additional 40 in the next quarter. “The smart money is trying to help with compliance and transparency,” Mehdizadeh says.

Of course, investing in drugs the federal government still outlaws poses enormous risks to investors, says Sam Kamin, a law professor and the director of the Constitutional Rights & Remedies Program at the University of Denver.

In fact, nearly 500 of the estimated 3,000 dispensaries nationwide have either been closed by the federal government or shut down in the past year, says a spokesman for StickyGuide.com , an online directory and review site for medical marijuana dispensaries — and yet another ancillary business that’s currently seeking investors.

That said, there are many companies that appear to be betting on a change in federal law.

Steep Hill is a quality-control laboratory that tests medical marijuana to see if there’s any contamination from mold, bacteria or harmful pesticides. The company, based in Oakland, Calif., is also actively seeking funding of up to $3 million. David Lampach, co-founder and president of Steep Hill, expects a federal law legalizing medical marijuana within the next decade.
 
Click to enlarge
Cannabis Science in Colorado Springs, Colo. /quotes/zigman/11136879/quotes/nls/cbis CBIS +22.06% , an OTC stock with a market cap of $41 million, is developing marijuana-based medicines to help cancer and HIV/AIDS patients. “We’re at the beginning of the revolution in medicine,” says CEO Robert Melamede.

Other companies are creating a range of quirky products that allow people to use marijuana without smoking it. Medical Marijuana /quotes/zigman/548382/quotes/nls/mjna MJNA -7.98% an OTC stock with a $69 million market cap, based in San Diego, Calif., offers more than 50 ways to ingest marijuana , from Dixie Elixir soda to Dixie Chill ice-cream and a range of Dixie Edibles, like chocolate truffles and crispy rice treats.

While experts say competition in the medical-marijuana business is growing fast, they add that there are also still plenty of opportunities for entrepreneurs. For example, Troy Dayton, president and CEO of ArcView Group , an angel investor network for the industry, says demand has been growing for handheld tobacco vaporizers like those made by Ploom (which charges $250 for its “premium loose-leaf vaporizer”). “There’s a rush now to make the ideal vaporizer,” Dayton says. “There’s still room for a kingmaker in this space.”

In the meantime, at least one drug company is directly selling medical marijuana to patients around the world. GW Pharmaceuticals /quotes/zigman/286334/quotes/nls/gwprf GWPRF +3.36% , based in London, markets Sativex, billed as the world’s first marijuana-based medicine.

With a market cap of around $137 million, it’s listed on the Alternative Investment Market, a submarket of the London Stock Exchange. Sativex is currently sold as a mouth spray to help alleviate symptoms of multiple sclerosis in several countries, including the U.K., New Zealand, Germany, Spain, Denmark and Canada, a spokesman says, and it is currently seeking FDA approval in the U.S. for use as a pain reliever in late-stage cancer patients

THE GREEN RUSH
 
Article from Investor Pro MSN
                                                                  
These are heady times for supporters of legalized marijuana as well as those looking to cash in on pot's growing national acceptance. This month, voters in Washington state and Colorado agreed to legalize the recreational use of marijuana for adults. And medical marijuana is currently legal in 18 states and Washington D.C.

Of course, marijuana remains illegal by federal law. But people involved in what some are calling the "green rush" are still looking at business and investment opportunities in cannabis and its production.
And as with nearly all markets, some people are willing to take the risk.
"Think of it as another dot.com explosion," said Bruce Perlowin, CEO of Hemp Inc. (HEMP +20.83%), in a recent press release. 
 And according to an investor fact sheet or Medical Marijuana Inc. (MJNA +10.87%), the current U.S. medical marijuana industry is estimated at $17 billion, with expectations it could grow up to about $29 billion by 2016.
"It was almost unthinkable 10 years ago that you would have legitimate, fully reporting to the SEC companies that were in the nature of pure plays, with positions in the medical marijuana industry," says Sterling Scott, CEO of Los Angeles-based GrowLife Inc. (PHOT +50.00%), a consortium of companies that sells products for indoor growing.
Scott, a former federal regulatory attorney, estimates there are about 10 cannabis-related companies currently being traded as over-the-counter stocks. Most OTCs are relatively small and often new companies that don't yet meet the requirements to be listed or traded on exchanges like Nasdaq or the New York Stock Exchange.
The future of large dispensaries is yet to be determined
 
Click to enlarge
Scott  breaks down these marijuana sector firms into four groups:
 
o   Established companies, like GrowLife, that sell equipment and expendables for the cannabis industry.
o   Companies like Medical Marijuana, whose mission, according to its website, is to become the industry's "premier cannabis and hemp industry innovators."
o   Groups like Hemp Inc. that are looking to develop a legal market for the industrial and commercial use of hemp (which contains only trace amounts of marijuana's active ingredient) in products such as paper, oils and cloth.
o   Companies focused on the clinical, medical use of cannabis in areas such as cancer, inflammation and pain treatment.
"The safest position during the Gold Rush in California in the 1800s was to sell (miners) the equipment they needed to go out and explore for gold," explains Scott. "Our company has taken a fairly conservative position, as to the kind of things that we can engage in, because of the federal law position. And we intend, until there's a great deal more clarity on the federal side, to continue to be fairly conservative. But that's not true of all these companies."
So are these small stocks worth an investor's time? It depends on how the future plays out for the sector.
"If the new marijuana laws in Colorado and Washington… are a sign of things to come, if you're a firm that can benefit by this industry being created into a legal and viable industry, then if you can get in early enough, then those stocks may go up in value," says Mac Clouse, professor of finance at the University of Denver's Daniels College of Business.


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November 15th Badanov's Buzzkill Bulletin

November 15, 2012, 9:00 pm
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By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com

Mexican Army units since November 3rd have seized 9,655.258 kilograms of marijuana, 6,1 kilograms of opium gum, 2.52 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine 1.434 kilograms of heroin MX $1,512,700.00 (USD $114,296.78) and USD $945.00 (MX $12,486.85) in cash, according to official Mexican government sources.
  • Mexican Army units with the VI Military Region detained several individuals and seized quantities of drugs and money in Veracruz state November 3rd.  The action took place in Cordova municipality where soldiers seized quantities of marijuana and powder and crack cocaine, as  well as one vehicle.  A total of five suspects were detained at the scene.
  • An army unit with the Mexican VI Military Region seized quantities of drugs and cash in Veracruz state November 3rd.  The unit was on patrol in Adolfo Ruiz Cortines colony in Coatzintla municipality when the incident took place.  A total of MX $1,008,330 (USD $76,171.67) in cash as well as quantities of marijuana and cocaine were seized.  Two unidentified suspects were also detained at the scene.
  • An army unit with the Mexican 2nd Military Zone seized guns and detained one unidentified individual in Baja California state November 3rd.  The unit occupied a military checkpoint in Tijuana municipality where soldiers seized two rifles, 22 weapons magazines and 4,200 rounds of ammunition.
  • A Mexican Army unit with the 2nd Military Zone seized drugs and detained suspects in Baja California state November 3rd.  The unit was on patrol in Cedro colony where the unit performed a traffic stop.  Soldiers seized 2.52 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine.  Two unidentified suspects were detained at the scene.
  • An army unit with the 2nd Military Zone seized a quantity of marijuana and detained suspects in Rancho Magaña, presumably in Mexicali municipality in Baja California state November 3rd.  The unit performed a traffic stop where soldiers seized 49.35 kilograms of marijuana in 12 packages.  Two unidentified individuals were detained at the scene.
  • A Mexican Army unit with the 6th Military Zone exchanged gunfire with armed suspects in Coahuila state November 6th.  The unit was on patrol in Periodistas colony in Piedras Negras municipality when soldiers came under small arms fire.  Army counterfire killed two armed suspects.  Following the firefight soldiers seized two AR-15 and one AK-47 rifles, quantities of weapons magazines and ammunition and one vehicle.
  • An army unit with the 9th Military Zone located drugs in Sinaloa state November 1st.  The unit was on patrol in La Costerita bypass in Culican municipality when it rolled up on an abandoned vehicle.  Soldiers found 6.1 kilograms of opium gum and three rifles inside the vehicle.
  • A Mexican Army unit with the 9th Military Zone seized motor fuel in Sinaloa state November 1st.  The unit came up on the find near the village of La Higuerita in Culican municipality where soldiers took possession of 12,000 liters of diesel fuel and two fuel tankers.
  • An army unit with Mexican 9th Military Zone seized chemicals in Sinaloa state November 4th.  The unit found the chemicals in a building in Miguel Hidalgo colony in Culican municiaplity.  Soldiers seized 19 each 200 liter drums and 11 each 50 liter containers with an unknown chemical inside, 10 each 25 kilograms bundles of caustic soda and three vehicles.
  • A Mexican Army unit seized quantities of drums and chemicals in Sinaloa state November 4th.  The unit performed a traffic stop near the village of Soyatita in Badiraguato municipality.  Soldiers seized 22 each 50 liter containers of chlorine, 16 each 50 liter containers of monomethylamine, eight each 50 liter containers of perfume, 200 liters of alcohol, 200 liters of toluene and one ton of lead dust.  One unidentified suspect was detained at the scene.
  • An army unit with the 29th Military Zone detained suspects and quantities of drugs in Veracruz state November 4th.  The unit had been dispatched to the village of Canticas in Cosoleacaque municipality based on a complaint from an anonymous kidnapping victim.  Soldiers detained four suspects, and seized personal quantities of powder cocaine, four rounds of ammunition and one vehicle.
  • A Mexican Army unit with the 2nd Military Zone seized quantities of drugs in several incidents in Baja California state November 5th.  The seizures took place in Tijuana, Tecate and Ensenada municipalities where soldiers took possession of 7,394.008 kilograms of marijuana, 1.434 kilograms of heroin, two rifles, quantities of ammunition, six tractor-trailer rigs, two boats and one outboard motor.
  • An army unit with the Mexican 29th Military Zone seized quantities of weapons and munitions in Veracruz state November 6th.  The raid took place in  Benito Juarez colony in Coatzacoalco municipality where soldiers seized 20 rifles, one machine gun, one rocket launcher, one rocket, 12,000 rounds of ammunition, 52 weapons magazines, personal quantities of powder cocaine, MX $250,000.00 (USD $18,919.90) and six vehicles.  Four unidentified suspects were detained at the scene.
  • A Mexican Army unit with the 8th Military Zone rescued 28 kidnapping victims in Tamaulipas state November 7th.  The raid took place near the village of Los Arados  Altamira municipality where soldiers located the victims, including 23 migrants from central and south America, Of those, six were women and six were children.  Contraband seized included MX $3,370.00 (USD $255.04) and USD $945.00 (MX $12,486.85) in cash.  Seven unidentified suspects were detained at the scene.
  • An army unit with the Mexican 9th Military Zone seized more than one metric ton of marijuana in Sinaloa state November 7th.  The seizure took place near the village of El Frayle in Badiraguato municipality where soldiers took possession of 1,022 kilograms of marijuana in 101 packages.
  • A Mexican Army unit with the 8th Military Zone seized more than one metric ton of marijuana in Tamaulipas state November 7th.  The military unit was on patrol near a gap that leads to the village of Refugio Hinojosa in Miguel Aleman municipality.  There soldiers seized 1,189.9 kilograms of marijuana.
  • A Mexican Army unit with the 8th Military Zone seized cash in southern Tamaulipas state November 7th.  The unit raided a location in Tampico municipality where soldiers seized MX $250,400.00 (USD $18,950.17), one weapons magazine, 29 rounds of ammunition, one vehicles, a cashier's check for MX $10,000.00 (USD $756.80)and communications gear.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug war and national political news for Rantburg.com
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Narco Banners Flood Coahuila and Veracruz

November 16, 2012, 10:41 pm
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By Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat

Acuna Mantas
For the past week, narco banners have flooded Coahuila and parts of Veracruz.  The first reports of mantas  were in Piedras Negras, Coahuila where they were displayed in several parts of the city which sits adjacent to Eagle Pass, Texas.
Subsequently, reports of mantas bearing the identical message were revealed in the following Coahuila:
Acuna, Monclova, Sabinas, Rosita, Saltillo, Torreon and parts of Veracruz.
Saltillo, Coahuila's capital city

Text translated by Cristero:
MARINES[NAVY] OF MEXICO HOW IS IT POSSIBLE THAT IF YOU ARE FIGHTING AND SPENDING SO MUCH IN FIGHTING THE DRUG TRAFFICKERS AND CARTELS AND YOU ALLOW OR PERMIT OR FAIL TO CHECK THE FEDERAL POLICE OR PFP, IF THEY HAVE IN THEIR TRUCK A SICARIO HERE IS AN EXAMPLE.
WE DON’T KNOW HE UNIT NUMBER IN WHICH “EL TUKAN” IS IN BUT HE IS DRIVING THE PATROLS DRIVING WITHOUT A WORRY. AFTER SO MANY DEATHS THAT HE OWES (THE KILLER)
WHERE IS YOU OBLIGATION AS PUBLIC SERVANTS COMBATANTS OF DELINQUENCY IF YOU ARE A DELINQUENT YOURSELF. DISAPPEARING AND KILLING INNOCENT PEOPLE BUT WITH A [POLICE] BADGE OF THE PFP. MR GUILLERMO SANCHEZ THIS IS “EL TUKAN” WHO KIDNAPPED AND ASSASSINATED YOUR GRANDSON GERARDO HEAT SANCHEZ
 
AND THE COMMANDER PELOS OF THE PFP, IS WORKING WITH THEM AS GODMOTHER HERE IN PIEDRAS NEGRAS.
 
HE IS IN POSADA ROSA  AND HE WAS ARRESTED IN SALTILLO BY GUNPOINT AND THEN HE WAS RELEASED.  (THE POSADA ROSA HOTEL  WAS ALLEGEDLY ATTACKED BY THE ORGANIZED CRIME, DAYS BEFORE)
Piedras above and Veracruz below
The narco-banner speaks of the nephew of the 1st councilman of Piedras Negras and who is responsible for the murder. The young Gerardito Heath Sanchez was visiting with friends at the home of Victor Cruz when he and the entire Cruz family was kidnapped and never seen again.
In March, 2011 Los Zetas Cartel reigned a week of terror in Piedras Negras and “los cinco manantiales”, the towns of Allende, Morelos, Zaragoza, Villa Union and Nava.  Reports of over 100 people kidnapped of all ages including an infant.  The homes were destroyed by fire, as firefighters were prevented from conducting their duty. 
Gerardo Heath Sanchez, then 15 years of age, was a victim of being at the wrong place at a time of horror.  His “crime” was visiting the home of his friends Victor and Guillermo Cruz Saldua and their parents, Victor Cruz Requena and Brenda Saldua Dovalina when sicarios burst into the home. The Cruz family and their guest Gerardo were abducted. The home of the Cruz family was  set ablaze soon after the abduction.
Brenda and Victor Cruz
It was known to local residents that  Victor Cruz, a local businessman, had links to organized crime. It was reported that the Cruz family was killed directly after the kidnapping, although hope remained strong for Gerardo’s family when his mother received a message that he would be released within 72 hours.  72 hours passed with no other communication, he was not released, nor located.

The lone remaining son of Victor Cruz escaped the abduction and sought refuge with his extended family in Eagle Pass.

It was guessed that an  “ajuste de cuentas” - settling of accounts- was ordered by  Zetas.  This included several local businessmen involved in money laundering, used as frontmen  for investments and surreptitious businesses, was ordered by the Zeta leadership.  People under the slightest suspicion of a betrayal such as being informants, were targeted.
These agreements are services by businessmen in return for protection.  The precarious pacts are fragile covenants whereas once made their lives and that of their families are completely reliant on the notions of the cartels, especially the plaza chiefs.  This was the scenario that lead to the fate of Cruz, his family and the visiting teen Gerardo.
After abducting the targeted victims, Zetas destroyed dozens of  homes and businesses owned by the victims, below are photos of some of the destruction.
 
 Sources used to compose this post: Borderland Beat Archives-Zocalo-Vanguardia
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Former Mayor of Tiquicheo, Michoacan, Murdered

November 17, 2012, 12:50 pm
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Translated by Vato for Borderland Beat from Proceso


MEXICO, D.F. -- The former mayor of Tiquicheo, Michoacan, Maria Santos Gorrostieta Salazar, 36 years old, was found dead Thursday morning in a vacant property in the Cuitzeo municipality (county).

Previously, Gorrostieta had suffered two attacks. one on October 15, 2009, when she was ambushed along with her husband, Jose Sanchez, who died in the attack. She was wounded in the incident.

The other attack took place in January, 2010, when, after taking part in a public event in Altamirano City, Guerrero, she was attacked and wounded by individuals who were carrying assault rifles.

On that occasion, she, two of her collaborators and a female journalist were wounded.

Gorrostieta Salazar was the municipal president  of Tiquicheo from 2006 to 2012. Although she was a member of the PRI party when she attained the office, she later  joined the PRD party.
Her injuries from 2009  murder attempt -bottom photo Siglo Viente-
Before finishing her term, she requested permission to run for representative. However, she was unsuccessful and decided to return to the mayor's office.

The body of the former mayor was found Thursday, November 15, in an area known as El Chupadero, at around 8:00 in the morning.

The body remained unidentified in the medical examiner's office (Semefo) until 2100 hrs (9:00 p.m.) on Friday, when her relatives went to the Michoacan Department of Justice (Procuraduria General de Justicia).

The body showed stab wounds, injuries to the back of the head and abrasions on the knees, which leads authorities to assume she was dragged, according to a report from that agency.

Until now, authorities lack any indication as to the possible motive and the identity of the executioners. 
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4 die in Zacatecas state

November 17, 2012, 9:00 pm
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By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com

A total of four armed suspects were killed in an armed encounter in Zacatecas state Friday afternoon, according on Mexican news accounts.

A news item posted on the website of NTR Zacatecas news daily said that an army patrol from the Mexican 53rd Infantry Battalion, 11th Military Zone was on patrol between General Joaquin Amaro and Tabasco municipalities  on Mexico Federal Highway 54  when the gunfight took place.

According to the article armed suspects attempted to spring an ambush on the road patrol, when army counterfire ended the encounter.  Presumably more than the four dead had participated in the battle, as no detentions were reported.

Soldiers seized seven rifles, one grenade launcher, an undisclosed quantity of ammunition and two vehicles following the conclusion of the gunfight.

The NTR Zacatecas report also mentioned a news release by the Mexican Secretaria de Defensa Nacional (SEDENA) saying the army had plans to reinforce operations in the northern municipalities of the state, especially around those areas that border Durango state to the northwest and Coahuila state to the north.

SEDENA is the controlling agency for the Mexican Army.

The announcement appears to run counter to an announcement earlier last month that Seguro Laguna, the massive security operation concentrated in the La Laguna area in eastern Coahuila and western Durango state, would end November 30th, the day before the inauguration of president elect Enrique Pena Nieto.

El Universal news daily in a dispatch posted on its website late Friday night, however, said that the new redeployments are intended to protect Mexican families during holiday travel, which means the new deployments are likely temporary.  The road between Fresnillo municipality in Zacatecas and Durango city in Durango, Mexico Federal Highway 45, is one of the most dangerous to travel because of instances of highway robbery in the past.

Seguro Laguna began a year ago as an effort of federal and state security forces to create a severe choke point at a major intersection of federal highways used by organized crime to bring product and shooters to the northern border areas of Mexico, especially in Tamaulipas state.

The latest information is that SEDENA maintains at least three rifle battalions in Zacatecas state.  Several rifle company sized bases were opened in 2012.

Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com
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Transportation Networks lead to US Hubs for Mexican Cartels

November 18, 2012, 4:31 pm
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A few miles west of downtown, past a terra-cotta-tiled gateway emblazoned with Bienvenidos, the smells and sights of Mexico spill onto 26th Street. The Mexican tricolor waves from brick storefronts. Vendors offer authentic churros, chorizo and tamales.
Chicago's Little Village neighborhood is home to more than 500,000 residents of Mexican descent and is known for its Cinco de Mayo festival and bustling Mexican Independence Day parade. But federal authorities say that Little Village is also home to something else: an American branch of the Mexican Sinaloa drug cartel.

Members of Mexicos most powerful cartel are selling a record amount of heroin and methamphetamine from Little Village, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. From there, the drugs are moving onto the streets of south and west Chicago, where they are sold in assembly-line fashion in mostly African American neighborhoods.
Chicago, with 100,000 gang members to put drugs on the street, is a logistical winner for the Sinaloa cartel, Jack Riley, the DEAs special agent in charge of the Chicago field division, said after a tour through Little Village. We have to operate now as if were on the Mexican border. Its not just Chicago. Increasingly, as drug cartels have amassed more control and influence in Mexico, they have extended their reach deeper into the United States, establishing inroads across the Midwest and Southeast, according to American counternarcotics officials. An extensive distribution network supplies regions across the country, relying largely on regional hubs like this city, with ready markets off busy interstate highways.

One result: Seizures of heroin and methamphetamine have soared in recent years, according to federal statistics.

The U.S. government has provided Mexico with surveillance equipment, communication gear and other assistance under the $1.9 billion Merida Initiative, the anti-drug effort launched more than four years ago. But critics say that north of the border, the federal government has barely put a dent into a sophisticated infrastructure that supports more than $20 billion a year in drug cash flowing back to Mexico. 

The success of the Mexican cartels in building their massive drug distribution and marketing networks across the county is a reflection of the U.S. governments intelligence and operational failure in the war on drugs, said Fulton T. Armstrong, a former national intelligence officer for Latin America and ex-CIA officer. 

We pretend that the cartels dont have an infrastructure in the U.S., said Armstrong, also a former staff member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and now a senior fellow at American Universitys Center for Latin American and Latino Studies. But you dont do a $20 billion a year business . . . with ad-hoc, part-time volunteers. You use an established infrastructure to support the markets. How come were not attacking that infrastructure?

A reported 8.9 percent of Americans age 12 or older 22.6 million people are current users of illegal drugs, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services up from 6.2 percent in 1998. Demand for and the availability of illegal drugs is rising.
Charles Bowden, who has written several books about Mexico and drug trafficking, said policy failures have exacerbated the problems. The war on drugs is over, he said. There are more drugs in the U.S. of higher quality and at a lower price.

Of the seven Mexican organized crime groups that traffic drugs across the United States, the Sinaloa cartel dominates the business, selling most of the heroin, marijuana, methamphetamine and cocaine. One Mexican national-security expert estimated that the cartel moves a kilo of cocaine over the U.S. border about every 10 minutes.

The Sinaloa cartel, named after a Mexican Pacific coast state, is headed by Joaquin El Chapo Guzman, one of the worlds most brutal and sought-after drug lords.

Officials say the Sinaloa cartel typically sends its drugs across the border to distribution cells in cities such as Los Angeles. From there, dozens of operators including truck drivers who conceal the packages amid shipments of fruits, vegetables and other consumer goods bring the drugs east and north, unloading them at nondescript warehouses, condominiums and duplexes managed by the cartel. 
The DEA has estimated that Mexican drug trafficking organizations now operate in 1,286 American cities. That number, however, includes both major regional hubs such as Chicago, with direct links to large Mexican cartels, and scores of communities where smaller trafficking groups happen to be led by Mexican citizens who may have no operational connections. The DEA said it was not able to provide a full list of the 1,286 cities.

Besides Los Angeles and Chicago, Atlanta has emerged as a major distribution hub. The access to interstate highways and a growing Hispanic population allow cartel members to travel freely and blend into the general population, leading the organizations to bulk up operations.

In Atlanta, officials said, four rival cartels are battling for control: the Beltran Leyva; remnants of La Familia Michoacana; the Knights Templar, a splinter group of La Familia; and the Sinaloa.

Seizures of heroin in the city have increased 70 percent in the past two years and traffickers are selling a better quality of Mexican Brown heroin to many who are already addicted to pharmaceutical painkillers, said Harry S. Sommers, the DEAs special agent in charge of the Atlanta field division. The drug is now mostly being smoked or snorted, not injected by needle.

Theres not a significant difference between Oxycontin and heroin, Sommers said. Sometimes they give the heroin away at first and get people hooked on it. 

The increasing amount of heroin agents are seeing in Chicago and Atlanta is reflected nationwide, a ccording to the DEA. In the first nine months of this fiscal year, 1,394 kilograms of heroin were seized, compared with 487 kilos of heroin seized at the southwest border in fiscal year 2008 and 773 kilos in 2009. Heroin arrests nationwide are up, too. In the first nine months of this fiscal year, 3,350 people were arrested on heroin charges, compared with 2,510 in 2008.

Mexican meth
Officials say the cartels ability to infiltrate U.S. cities reflects calculated business decisions.
In recent years, U.S. officials have cracked down on American-made methamphetamine by passing federal and state laws to restrict the sale of the precursor chemicals used to manufacture it, particularly pseudoephedrine, a common over-the-counter decongestant for allergies and colds. 

The cartels have filled the void. Mexican-produced meth now accounts for 80 to 90 percent of the product sold in the United States, and it is swiftly moving into major urban hubs including Phoenix, Denver, St. Louis, Chicago and Atlanta, according to the DEA.

Federal agents have seized 7,574 kilos of methamphetamine at the southwest border in the first nine months of this fiscal year, compared with 2,237 kilos in 2008 and 3,064 in 2009.
We've seen a sudden increase of meth in Chicago in just the last several months, said Riley, the special agent in charge there. Until now, meth has been mostly a rural phenomenon. We havent seen this on the streets in large cities. Its an indication of the cartels seizing the market.

The Sinaloa cartel has both slashed the price and produced a purer form of meth that gives users a faster and longer-lasting high, Riley said. To get the methamphetamine on the streets, the cartel is using its existing distribution networks.

Experts say Mexican cartels have also been calculating in their use of violence. In Mexico, more than 60,000 people have been killed in the past six years in mass murders, beheadings and mutilations as the cartels have fought for control. 

Bowden, who spent years in Mexico writing about the violence, said its no accident U.S. cities havent seen the same levels of brutality. In the U.S., murder is bad for their drug business, he said. In Mexico, it is business.

A tenacious foe
Each time the federal government succeeds in prosecuting cartel members, the groups deploy new lieutenants to keep the drugs flowing north and the cash and U.S. guns going south into Mexico.

The DEA and other federal agencies say that they are making strides in combatting organized crime with new strike forces, composed of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. In Chicago, for example, the DEA-led strike force has worked with the FBI; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; Chicago police; Immigration Customs and Enforcement; and other state and federal agencies to bring down traffickers. 

Officials also said large drug busts across the country have netted scores of dealers, thousands of kilos of drugs and tens of millions of dollars in cash. 

The Justice Department, in the meantime, is extraditing an increasing number of high-ranking cartel members to the United States for prosecution, including Jesús Vicente Zambada-Niebla, the son of Guzmans top partner in the Sinaloa cartel and a trafficker who officials say is the biggest Mexican drug kingpin to be prosecuted in a U.S. courtroom. 

Despite major drug seizures, Armstrong, the former national intelligence officer, said officials have not scored lasting gains.

Its because the U.S. government hasnt broken the system, Armstrong said. Theyve arrested dealers. But the distribution system and its network are alive and well.

Washington Post



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Pena Nieto's security proposal rankles Mexican left

November 18, 2012, 9:00 pm
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President elect Pena Nieto
By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com

A proposal by the transition team of Mexican president elect Enrique Pena Nieto has the Mexican left up in arms and claiming the proposal is  throwback to the Mexican Dirty War of the 1970s and 1980s, according to numerous Mexican press reports.

According to press reports, president elect Pena is seeking to eliminate the Secretaria de Seguridad Public (SSP) and move its fuctions, primarily the Policia Federal (PF) to the Secretaria de Gobiernacion (SEGOB) or Interior Ministry.

The proposal was formally presented last Thursday by Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) Mexico state federal deputy  José Sergio Quiroga Manzur.  According to a report published on the website of Milenio news daily,  Sergio Manzur said the reform was intended to "ensure strong coordination" with regard to the internal security of Mexico.

The proposal so far has been seen by Mexican security experts as generally positive.  An El Universal news daily report quoted two experts, Samuel Gonzalez, an independent security consultant, and Jorge Chabat, a professor at the Centro de Investigacion y Docencia Economica (CIDE).

Gonzalez was quoted by El Universal saying that the SSP was never a federal security agency, but rather a police agency, whose functions belonged in SEGOB because its inclusion into arguably the most powerful federal agency would improve "coordination actions of public security."

Chabat said that folding the SSP into SEGOB would increase the powers of SEGOB to the extent it would give it a function outside the one it current has and that is of a coordination agency, sort of a chief of staff.

It should be noted that the SSP and the PF are both creations of the PRI, with the PF created during the term of the last PRI president, Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de Leon.

But objections to the proposal have been voiced from Mexico's leftist political parties, mainly coming from Jose de Jesus Zambrano Grijalva, president of the Partido de Revolucion Democratica (PRD), who said in an El Universal wire story he sees the reorganization primarily as a political move. 
Zambrano Grijalva


"We can not allow,much less agree, that the return of public safety to (SEGOB) for political purposes..," said Zambrano Grijalva, adding that the SSP in SEGOB could be used for punitive actions in a political context, "...and that we can not afford."

Zambrano Grijalva also said that he sees the move as Pena's "Get Tough" policy on security.

In his remarks, Zambrano also raised the specter of late Fernando Gutierrez Barrios, head of the now defunct Direccion Federal de Seguridad (DFS). That agency was used by a series of PRI presidents against several leftist movements starting in the late 1960s, many of them violent during Mexico's Dirty War.  Zambrano Grijalva raised the objections because he himself had been a victim during the Dirty War along with others of Mexico's left.

PRD Senator Miguel Barbosa said that his party's caucus would not oppose the move, due to take effect December 1st when president elect Pena takes office. The new reorganization is likely to be approved anyway even without support from the left. 

Senator Barbosa also characterized the proposal as "insane."

Partido Trabajo (PT) deputy Manuel Bartlet, himself a former interior minister, said the proposal reminded him of the "mega secretaria" or mega-ministry of the 1970s, which he said was a reminder of how powerful SEGOB was during past PRI administrations.

Deputy Bartlett was Interior Minister under the presidency of the late Mexican president Miguel de la Madrid in the 1970s.

PRD general secretary Dolores Padierna Luna called the proposal "dangerous."  She said that she saw the proposal as an attempt to concentrate political control into one single agency in the Mexican federal government.
Dolores Padierna Luna

Zambrano Grijalva also said that reforms passed in the 12 years since the last PRI president, would probably prevent abuses by the incoming president elect Pena.

In the area of security reforms president elect Pena faces a legislative headwind starting out.  Last month, his caucus' attempt to steam roll labor reforms was a test of how well PRI, in its weakened state in the Chamber of Deputies, could advance its own reforms.  PRI had to use another minority party, Partido Nueva Alianza (PANAL) to move labor reforms in the Chamber of Deputies, a margin of only two votes necessary to move the legislation forward.  PRI failed to gain a clear majority in the election that returned PRI to the presidency, and even with its electoral ally, the Partido de Verde Ecologista de Mexico (PVEM), the Mexican greens party,  the PRI Chamber of Deputies coalition was forced to make a deal with PANAL to move labor reform along.

PRD has its own problems in the senate in opposing PRI reforms. When the labor reform legislation reached the senate, Partido Trabajo (PT) members began to make noises about increasing its role in their coalition with the PRD and the Movimento Ciudadana (MC), another political minor party tied to the left.

But for the conservative Partido Accion Nacional (PAN) wanting to deny the senate a quorum -- to the extent PAN even rented a suite of hotel rooms in Mexico City for that purpose -- the labor reform legislation, even with the many objections PRD and the parties of the left voiced, may well have been passed in its original form.

Throughout his campaign, president elect Pena has publicly said that he intended to change the strategy in dealing with Mexico's organized problem, even going as far as using a former Colombian police commander, Oscar Adolfo Naranjo Trujillo, as his advisor.  Pena has also said in remarks to the press that he intended to raise the profile of Mexico's police forces, and diminish the role of Mexico's armed forces in the drug war.

But with less than 12 days away from his inauguration, Pena has yet to give any indication of who he intends to appoint as heads of several Mexican federal agencies.  Naming a new Secretaria de Defensa Nacional (SEDENA) and Secretaria de Marina (SEMAR), as well as SEGOBwould be a clear indication of how he intends to use his powers as president to deal with Mexico's organized crime problem.

Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com.
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New Frontier of the Drugwar: Prescription Drugs

November 19, 2012, 10:20 am
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Borderland Beat
 
 
Notes:
It may surprise some to hear that 1 of 5 teens have used Oxycontin recreationally. It probably will surprise most to know that is a 2007 statistic, and prescription drug use has taken a 40% increase among teens. Oxycontin is heroin made in a lab. Its creation targeted usage was  late stage terminal cancer patients. However, soon physicians were prescribing the drug for post op pain, then for pain derived from any source.  Overdoses for prescription drugs is more than heroin and cocaine combined. 
The US recreational drug of choice remains by far marijuana.  Opiates, those grown from the poppy flower is still among the lowest use in the world.  That includes heroin and cocaine.  There is a tiny rise of heroin use of 5%, however 5% increase of low numbers will still be low number.  It is an issue to watch however as heroin is a cheap substitute  for chemical heroin, Oxycontin another is Krokodil.  That may be a main contributing factor.    Oxycotin is one of the drugs in the chemical opiates a separate calculation.  RX drugs for non medical useage is the highest drug use second to only marijuana.
Prescription narcotics includes codeine, morphine and oxycodone.  The U.S. has only about 5 percent of the world's population but uses about 80 percent of all the RX opioid drugs.  I use several resources to garner stats, one is ….Paz, Chivis
Heroin Use
Below is a repost of forum poster "DD" -click on any image to enlarge-

Should prescription drug abuse be treated primarily as a medical or a criminal justice matter? At the Texas Senate Criminal Justice Committee last week, the answer to that question seemed nearly a faint accompli, with the focus more on tactics and best practices for maximizing prosecutions of doctors and potentially patients. See the Texas Tribune's coverage.
Americans consume 80% of the world's opiates, including 99% of the world's hydrocodone, Dr. Emilie Becker of the Texas Department of State Health Services told the Texas Senate Criminal Justice Committee last week. (Here's the agenda and here's the link to the online video.)
In 1990, said Becker, the Center for Disease Control estimated there were  575,000 new opioid users nationally; by 2010 that number had mushroomed to 4.5 million, with the number of drug-related deaths rising with use.
She presented this striking chart to the committee, demonstrating that last year, for the first time, drug overdoses eclipsed deaths from firearms and traffic accidents:
Becker said the rise in prescription drug use increased in lockstep with number of people who die from them, but the demographic of people dying of overdoses is changing: It's more likely white, male and middle aged.
She cited Austin in particular for a 41% increase in overdose deaths, which she mostly attributed to prescription drugs as opposed to heroin or other illegal drugs. Becker ominously called the "pen" a "deadly instrument in the doctor's office."
One in five Texas teenagers have experimented recreationally with prescription drugs, said Becker. By far the biggest proportion of opiod use among teens was attributed to kids drinking codeine cough syrup.
The volume of prescription drugs presently on the market is vast. Sitting unused in US medicine cabinets, she said, is "enough hydrocodone to medicate every American adult 5 mg every 4 hours for 1 month "
Becker's primary suggestions involved better coordination between state regulators and law enforcement, and she agreed with other speakers that the Legislature had so recently passed new enhancements on these topics that one couldn't yet judge the impact of changing the law or what additional changes might be beneficial.
But she emphasized that she wanted to target not just doctors at "pill mills" but also physicians who prescribed the pills (presumably in good faith) as part of their regular practice. That seems to step pretty quickly into dicey territory, especially for Republicans who spent the last two years bashing government interfering with the doctor-patient relationship or dictating medical care to physicians.
 DPS Col. Steve McCraw continued with the tough talk, declaring, "A pusher is a pusher, a drug trafficker is a drug trafficker whether they've got a lab coat or what." However, he agreed the new laws haven't yet had tie to be fully evaluated and recommended staying the course, though at Sen. Huffman's insistence he said that if the Legislature chose to prioritize this task, it could pony up for more investigators at the agency to target doctors.
Judge Ryan Patrick, son of committee member Sen. Dan Patrick, was appointed by Gov. Rick Perry as a Houston-area district judge, but before that he was prosecuting prescription drug cases. He praised DPS for retraining narcotics investigators to monitor the state's prescription tracking program for doctor shoppers. Thanks to that shift in resources, the Harris DA saw a doubling of cases filed, all with "incredibly high" clearance rates. Most of them focused on people who go to 30-40 doctors and/or pharmacies per month, he said. "The evidence on these cases was terrific."
Multi-agency task forces went after pill mill clinics, said Patrick, but the clinics are getting smart. Some require blood draws, he said, because they know undercover police officers can't get stuck with a needle. Frequently, they're charging higher entrance fees. He said a special exception for nurse practitioners operating clinics created particular headaches.
Prosecuting pharmacists remains difficult, he said. It requires the DA's office dealing with the administrative boards, which they'd never done before, and administrative regulators to cooperate with law enforcement more than they're used to. It's easier in some instances to prosecute patients. Under the recently enhanced statute, he said, a patient commits a felony if they go to a new doctor for a prescription and don't notify their old one. 
According to the state pharmacy board, over one million dosage units were reported pilfered in 2010, declining nearly 50% in 2011. A Houston PD rep testified that recent changes in the law have been effective and suggested no changes to penalty structures, though he recommended more data gathering. Before regulation and recent penalty enhancements, he said, pain clinics would pop up around Houston "like mushrooms after a Texas rainstorm."
TCJC's Travis Leet said that already 30% of incoming prison inmates are incarcerated for drugs, 75% of those for low-level possession. He encouraged alternatives to the criminal justice system, particularly for users, noting that returning veterans numbered disproportionately among those addicted to pain killers and other prescription drugs. (See his written testimony.)
Another doctor urged the committee not to interfere with the doctor-patient relationship and that there were still many people out there with "untreated pain." Sen. Huffman insisted that wasn't the intent of the committee, they just wanted to keep such drugs "out of the hands of teenagers, basically" she said. (One notices that doesn't quite get to the white, male, middle aged demographic described by the DSHS as the main prescription drug abusers.)
 Finally, Jeannette Moll from the Texas Public Policy Foundation said that this is a different type of crime because most purchasers didn't purchase the drugs illicitly. She called for a statutory presumption that offenders convicted of possession be sentenced to treatment instead of prison.
The presumption would not apply to trafficking crimes nor where the judge thinks the defendant poses a danger to society, she suggested. She also advocated a "Good Samaritan" exception be crafted to prescription drug statutes to encourage people to call 911 in response to an overdose.
 
Read UN Drug report 2012 
 
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"La Comandante Rojo", Zeta Cell Leader detained

November 20, 2012, 6:39 am
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Borderland Beat 
"La Comandate Rojo" led  a Zeta cell which included 5 Municipal Police officers, 1 ex-Marine, and Children. 
The government of Nuevo Leon announced yesterday the arrest of a Los Zetas cell in Nuevo Leon. State security spokesman, Jorge Domene  reported that the criminal group is linked to at least 16 kidnappings, 12 murders and extortion.

According to Domene, the cell of Los Zetas was lead by,  Irma Valentina Ramos Espinoza, La Comandante Rojo, 35 years old, along  with  Heriberto Manrique Ríos Gutiérrez, El Z-210, who is also 35 years old.  Both have their homes in Las Quintas neighborhood, of the Guadalupe municipality.
Domene said the criminal organization was operating in the town Doctor González, and pointed out  that the five minors were taken to the State Council for Children.

They presented 19 suspects held on location at the Agency of state research.
Fernando Rosales Murillo, El Sonric’s, 29  is former member of the Marines, the municipal police officers are: Lucio Peña Esparza, 31; Juan Ángel Larraga Martínez, 38; Juan Cristian Larraga Martínez, 30; Édgar Orlando Ruiz Bautista, 32, y Felipe de Jesús Barajas Ramírez,  46.

According to security spokesman, the group has about 20 complaints against them for kidnapping, murder and business extortion in Doctor Gonzalez Parás, Cerralvo, Agualeguas, Los Herrera and Melchor Ocampo. 

At the time of  their arrest, police confiscated drugs, weapons,  torture boards, two vehicles, and handcuffs.  
Proceso

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Maria Santos Gorrostieta Salazar; her statement

November 20, 2012, 6:08 pm
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Borderland Beat

 
Maria's message translated below is in this video
 

 [After the second attempt on her life, Maria Santos Gorrostieta Salazar was interviewed by El Universal. She was addressing critics who doubted the severity of her injuries. As a sign of respect, I thought it would be appropriate to translate a letter that she made public in which she explains what kept her going. I decided to translate the entire letter instead of the abridged version most commonly seen in news reports. She was a brave lady. -un vato]

 Message to the citizenry

There is no doubt that life at times lacerates us with sufferings and humiliations that not all of us are able to understand completely, many times we tend to appear arrogant and stubborn before God's will. However, despite everything, I have had to bear losses that I would not wish on anyone, and have had to accept them with resignation and with the knowledge that it is our Lord's will, and have gone on, even with a wounded soul.

I know... that life surprises us at times, hurts us, makes us complain even about ourselves; it is well known by those around me that my life has not been easy, it has been permeated by sorrows and misfortune.

Despite that, and despite my own safety and that of my family, what occupies my mind is my responsibility towards my people, the children, the women, the elderly and the men who break their souls every day without rest to find a piece of bread for their children.

It is a great burden to know that among my responsibilities as city mayor is that of obtaining the benefits, the programs and the aid that I know will represent great improvements in the economy and in the quality of life of the people of Tiquicheo.

 One of the greatest sorrows that a human being can suffer is that of pain in the soul. This is seldom understood by people around us because they simply have not lived it or are indifferent to the suffering of others.

 My life these past few months has received blows that I sincerely believe I do not deserve, since my efforts have always been focused on leading my people, my city, towards a better quality of life, to provide them the tools that will help them face the difficult economic situation that we are all going through.

Despite that, for some, my efforts and dedication have not been enough and they have regretfully celebrated the misfortunes I have suffered.

The inner strength that has moved me to get up, even when I'm dying, has served to demonstrate and make tangible the great commitment that I have with my ideas, my projects for the future, and, of course for the people who witnessed my birth and for whom I will get up however many times God allows me to, to keep on searching, scratching, negotiating plans, projects and actions for the benefit of all of society, but, in particular, for the vulnerable ones.

This is who I am...

[I have omitted poetry here that Maria Santos Gorrostieta attributes to an anonymous source.-- un vato]

At another stage in my life, perhaps I would have resigned from what I have, my position, my responsibilities as the leader of my Tiquicheo. But today, no; it is not possible for me to surrender when I have three sons, whom I have to educate by setting an example, and also because of the memory of the man of my life, the father of my three little ones, the one who was able to teach me the value of things and to fight for them; and, although he is no longer with us, he continues to be the light that guides my decisions, each of which, it goes without saying, is dedicated to getting my city out of its backwardness.

It's true they have attacked my physically and morally; one can still feel on my body the wounds from the bullets and from the disbelief of some who have doubts about my mutilated body. I struggle day to day to erase from my mind the images of the horror I lived, and that others who did not deserve or expect it also suffered. To them, my recognition, respect and love for the courage with which they faced their troubles and for their unconditional support for myself and my work.

I wanted to show them my wounded, mutilated, humiliated body, because I'm not ashamed of it, because it is the product of the great misfortunes that have scarred my life, that of my children and my family.

It is a living witness to the fact that I am a woman of strength and integrity, and that, despite my wounds, both physical and mental, I am still standing and still in the constant struggle to become a better person and a better leader of a city that still trusts me and expects results from its mayor.

You may ask, what is it that so attracts Maria Santos Gorrostieta Salazar today? Where does the power of her integrity reside, this public and political figure, from Tiquicheo, from Michoacan, Mexican and universal: in her works, in her life, or in her wounded body and her serene face? It is difficult to answer you from this hemisphere of my life, however, I would point out that transgression and resistance are conjugated in perfect harmony in my being.

Many persons have mistakenly doubted the severity of my injuries; today, the proof is in their hands, my mutilated body speaks for itself, evidence of how vulnerable we are, of our life's fragility and of God's wishes, which are always present in our daily sorrows.

To many, it may seem an act of insolence to show my wounds such as they are, but it was necessary because I had to give my version of the facts, what it really meant to be attacked like that and the traces that these attacks left on me and my people. Because everybody else could say, unsay, talk, invent, defame, except me; and now is the time and place to do so.

What you can see doesn't need much of an explanation; I simply want your understanding, support and consideration, because despite the fact that I show myself as somebody strong and unbreakable, inside of me, I am still a woman, fragile, a dreamer, a romantic, a mother, but one thing for sure, with an unquenchable determination to continue with my mission of service as head of this administration to which I was elected, and to help those who have less and that still live in a state of great vulnerability.

I firmly believe, in fact, I am certain, that my conduct during my term as mayor has been correct, since every one of the decisions I've made has been focused on serving my people. If the opposite had been true, it would undoubtedly have already been noticed. This is why I make available for anybody who wants to look at what has been done up to now. The accounting and my conscience are clean, the projects and actions are in plain view.

A year after a bloody incident

Throughout this year, I am here with an open mind and a quiet heart, several memories come to mind that no doubt history will judge me on; all I want to say is that walking on this rocky path has not been easy, that it has been permeated with disappointment and despair. I'll tell you that whatever trench I get, I will defend it with sword and cape, I am faithful to my ideals and to achieve my conviction and my objectives, always convinced that truth and authenticity will set us free. I am grateful with all my heart to those persons who have trusted in my work, to my children, my mother, my brothers, friends, collaborators and to the city that has given its unconditional support.

 I have walked a long road towards freedom, and I have tried not to hesitate. I've stumbled along the way, but I've discovered that great secret; that after climbing a hill, one finds that there are many more behind that. I've given myself a moment of rest to look at the glorious landscape that surrounds me, the view back towards the road I've traveled. But I can only rest for a moment, because freedom brings with it responsibilities and I don't dare fall behind. My long road is not yet finished; the footprint that we leave behind in our country depends on the battle that we lose and the loyalty we put into it. Today, it is a privilege to be part of the history of Tiquicheo.

With love,

Dr. Maria Santos Gorrostieta Salazar

Below is an uplifting video of her in life conducting her duties as mayor

Sources: youtube videos-video at bottom contributed by Magic

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November 20th Badanov's Buzzkill Bulletin

November 20, 2012, 9:00 pm
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By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com

Mexican Army units in ongoing counternarcotics operations since November 8th have seized 5,932.807 kilograms of marijuana, 10.5026 kilograms of poppy seeds, 4.6 kilograms of marijuana seeds, 1.66 kilograms of cocaine, MX $62,820.00 (USD $4,818.45) in cash, USD $320.00 (MX $4171.97) in cash, according to official government sources.
  • A Mexican Army unit with the 45th Military Zone seized a large quantity of marijuana in Sonora state November 7th.  The unit was dispatched to Nuevo Nogales colony in Nogales municipality on an anonymous complaint and seized 642 kilograms of marijuana packaged in 60 packages.  Three unidentified individuals were detained at the scene.
  • An army road patrol with the Mexican 8th Military Zone seized more than one metric ton of marijuana in Tamaulipas state November 9th.  The unit was on patrol near the village of Valadeces in Reynosa municipality when soldiers seized the drugs.  A total of 1,015.007 kilograms of marijuana were seized along with a tractor trailer rig.  Two unidentified individuals were detained at the scene.
  • A joint police patrol with an element of the Mexican 8th Military Zone seized drugs, munitions and other contraband in a raid in Tamaulipas state November 9th.  The joint operation seized 250 kilograms of marijuana, 25 rifles, 144 weapons magazines, 5,300 rounds of ammunition, MX $53,500.00 (USD $4,103.58) in cash, tactical and communication gear, and two vehicles.
  • An army unit with the Mexican 8th Military Zone seized drugs and weapons in a raid in Coahuila state November 9th.  The unit had been dispatched to Francisco I. Madero municipality based on an anonymous complaint.  Soldiers seized personal quantities of marijuana and cocaine, four rifles, 18 weapons magazine, 399 rounds of ammunition, 14 stars used for puncturing automobile tires colloquially known as ponchallantas, and one stolen vehicle.
  • A Mexican Army unit with the 37th Military Zone seized a quantity of cocaine and weapons in Mexico state November 9th.  The army unit had been dispatched to Heroes de Tecamac colony of Tecamac municipality based on an anonymous complaint.  Several suspects fled the scene when they observed the arriving military patrol, leaving contraband behind.  Seized contraband included 17 bags of cocaine totalling of 1.66 kilograms, three rifles, two weapons magazines and 243 rounds of ammunition.
  • An army unit with the Mexican 8th Military Zone seized more than two metric tons of marijuana in Tamaulipas state November 9th.  The military unit was on patrol in El Mirador colony in Ciudad Miguel Aleman municipality when it rolled up on an abandoned residence.   Inside soldiers found 2.021.9 kilograms of marijuana.
  • A Mexican Army unit with the 7th Military Zone seized quantities of drugs, guns and cash at a traffic stop in Nuevo Leon state November 8th.  Soldiers seized personal quantities of marijuana and crystal methamphetamine, eight radios, MX $7,400.00 (USD $567.60), miscellaneous contraband and one vehicle.  Thee unidentified suspects were detained at the scene.
  • An army unit with the Mexican 7th Military Zone seized weapons and munitions in Nuevo Leon state November 9th.  The unit had been dispatched to the town of Cadereyta Jimenez based on an anonymous complaint.  Soldiers seized six rifles, 24 weapons magazines, 594 rounds of ammunition and tactical gear.  Three unidentified suspects were detained at the scene.
  • A Mexican Army unit with the 4th Military Zone seized drugs, munitions and vehicles at a ranch in Sonora state November 9th.  The unit was on patrol on a stretch of road between Huasabas and Granados municipalities when soldiers observed suspected criminal activities near the rancho La Cruces.  Soldiers seized A bag 3.9 kilograms of marijuana, 0.5026 kilograms of poppy seed, 3.1 kilograms of marijuana seeds, four rifles, three handguns, 288 rounds of ammunition, 24 vehicles, several units of farm machinery and four motorcycles and other contraband.  Four unidentified suspects were detained at the scene.
  • An army unit with the Mexican 4th Military Zone seized a large quantity of marijuana in Sonora state November 11th.  The military unit was on patrol in Baviacora municipality when suspects aboard three vehicles observed the unit, and then fled, abandoning one vehicle.  Inside the vehicle soldiers found 178 packages of marijuana totalling two metric tons.
  • A Mexican Army unit with the 45th Military seized quantities of drug and guns in Sonora state November 8th.  The military unit was on patrol in Kennedy colony of Santana municipality when contraband were seized including seven rifles, one grenade, 10 weapons magazines, 619 rounds of ammunition, personal quantities of marijuana, MX $1,920.00 (USD $147.27) in cash, USD $320.00 (MX $4171.97) in cash and one vehicle.  Three unidentified suspects were detained at the scene.
  • An army unit with the Mexican 45th Military Zone seized quantities of drugs and guns in Sonora state November 10th.  The army unit was on patrol near ejido San Lazaro, Santa Cruz when the seizure took place.  Soldiers seized eight rifles, two handguns, 16 kilograms of marijuana, 21 weapons magazines, 940 rounds of ammunition and three vehicles reported as stolen.  Three unidentified suspects were detained at the scene.
  • A Mexican Army unit with the 22nd Military Zone seized quantities of chemicals used in the production of synthetic drugs in Mexico state November 13th.  The military unit was on patrol on a road between the villages of  San Pedro Tenayac and Zacazonapan in Temascaltepec when it rolled up on a building with the chemicals.  Soldiers secured 650 liters of caustic soda in four containers, 340 liters of acetone in several 200, 50 and 20 liter containers, 625 kilograms of sodium in 25 each bags, 240 liters of an unknown chemical substance in 12 each 20 liter containers and other contraband.
  • An army unit with the Mexican 22nd Military Zone destroyed a poppy plantation in Guerrero state November 12th and 13th.  The plantations were found near the village of Huitzotitla in Taxco de Alarcon municipality.  Soldiers destroyed 12 poppy plantations with a total ofn 23.47 hectares, one mixed poppy-marijuana plantation totalling .48 hectares and seized 10 kilograms of poppy seeds and 1.5 kilograms of marijuana seeds.
  • A Mexican Army unit with the 5th Military Zine seized guns in Chihuahua state November 14th.  The military unit was on patrol near the village of Lazaro Cardenas in Meoqui municipality when the discovery was made.  Soldiers seized  15 handguns, 11 rifles, 2,093 rounds of ammunition, 38 weapons magazines and three kevlar helmets.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com
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Mexico promotes five sailors to admiral

November 20, 2012, 9:00 pm
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By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com

The Mexican Secretaria de Marina (SEMAR) or Mexican Navy has elevated five sailors to the rank of admiral, the top rank of admirals in the Mexican Navy, according to official and private news sources.

The five sailors all have extensive experience in coastal counternarcotics operations, and one is a naval infantry commander. They are Admirals Juan Ramon Alcala Pignol, commander of the Tenth Naval District, in Michoacan; Arturo Bernal Carrasco, head of the Fourth Naval Region, in Sonora, Victor Uribe Arevalo, commander of the Eighth Naval Zone in Puerto Vallarta; Vidal Francisco Soberon, secretary to SEMAR Admiral Mariano Francisco Saynez, and Pedro Garcia Valerio, a naval infantry commander.  All five are graduates of Mexico's Heroica Escuela Naval Militar naval academy.  The appointments of all five were confirmed by the Mexican senate last week.
  • According to a news item posted on sipse.com, Admiral Alcala Pignol has served at director of Heroica Escuela Naval Militar, deputy director of SEMAR's office of personnel management and commander of the Mexican 5th Naval Zone in Tabasco state.  He executed operations against the La Familia de Michoacan drug cartel as commander of the 10 Naval District operating in part out of the port of Lazaro Cardenas in Michocacan.  Between July 27, 2009 to July 31, 2010, while vice admiral, he served as commander of the IX Naval Region based in Yucalpeten, Yucatan.
  • According to a new item posted last February on the website of uniradionoticias.com, Admiral Arturo Bernal Carrasco has been commander of the IV Naval Region based in Guayamas, Sonora, a post he took in February.   The IV Naval Region encompasses the coast between Gulf of Santa Clara and Mazatlan.  His predecessor, Vice Admiral Eduardo Villa Valenzuela had conducted naval counternarcotics operations along the coasts of Sonora, Sinaloa and Baja California states, and coordinated police in Guaymas and Empalme municipalities in Sonora state.  Admiral Bernal Carrasco has also seved as SEMAR's  Director General de Recursos Humanos or human resouces.
  • According to a news item posted on the website of elvigia.net, Admiral Victor Uribe Arevalo had taken over command of the Mexican II Naval Region based in Ensenada, Baja California last February, replacing Admiral Humberto Santos Gomez Leyva.  Admiral Uribe Arevalo has previously served as chief of naval staff and commander of the Sixth Naval Zone based in Lazaro Cardenas, Michoacan, and Eighth Naval Zone of Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco.  He was formerly inspector of the 2nd Naval Zone and was commander of the destroyer flotilla of Mexico's Pacific fleet.
  • Admiral  Vidal Francisco Soberon was a secretary to SEMAR Admiral Francisco Saynez.  According to sipse.com, he commanded the Naval Subsector Matamoros, Tamaulipas, led a group of command of the Sixth Fleet Ocean Surveillance Ship, and was chairman of the Committee on Special Studies of the General Staff of the Navy.  He has also trained on the Cuauhtemoc, the Mexican Navy's sailing training ship.
  • Admiral Pedro Garcia Valerio is general coordinator of Mexican Naval Infantry forces, and has served in various naval infantry rifle company and battalion commands.  He is credited with the formation of SEMAR's first parachute rifle battalion and has commanded the Mexican Pacific Fleet's amphibious reaction force.  He was also Mexico's naval attache in the republic of China from 2000 to 2002.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com
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Stories of Pain: Legal Drugs, Lethal Outcome

November 21, 2012, 9:38 am
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Borderland Beat
 
As heroin and cocaine use  has steadily diminished, heroin had a tiny rise in 2011, but by far is the one of the less used drugs, and legal marijuana increases, cartels may take the path of Asian traffickers by producing and trafficking knock-off pharmaceuticals. 
Chaz La Brey: A grandmothers memories displayed on her refrigerator
Danny was not yet 25 years of age when he slipped and fell off a roof breaking his back. He needed immediate surgery to stabilize his back.  When he was released from the hospital, he was sent home with a prescription of Oxycontin for pain.
That evening he was in excruciating pain, and asked his girlfriend to bring the Oxy, he took 1 tablet.  He became very impatient when after 30 min the pain medication had not given him relief. 
He ingested a second tablet. 
Soon visiting friends at Danny’s home could hear loud snoring, they joked and laughed about it, one pal taped the snoring to tease him about later.  They had no idea that the snoring was a sign he was dying, that the snoring was a reaction to the fluid filling his lungs.
Two hours later, the snoring stopped.
Danny was dead from an overdose of Oxycontin.  Just like that.  I have no knowledge if Danny's frustration motivated him to help the pain by adding "something" else.  All I know is that he was dead, and the coroners report states an overdose of oxycodone is the cause.
.
Later his girlfriend was adamant when explaining that they were not advise about the danger of the drug, or that it was as lethal as heroin,  they were not told the tablets were “LA” tablets, meaning long acting. 
Danny was my cousins first born son,  Danny was my second cousin.  He called me “Tia” or “Auntie Chivis”, as all the second generation cousins refer to me as.  It was a tragic death, made more so by the fact he did not live to wed his long time girlfriend, or to know she was pregnant. The baby, a boy, is now 2.
I will never understand why physicians crossed the threshold creating a new protocol in prescribing Oxycontin for pain derived from issues other than that for which was intended, that being late stage terminal cancer. 
Oxycontin is a killer, and often the supplier is a physician known as a “pain clinic doctor”, prescribing massive amounts of pain medication to addicts or people wanting them for non medical reasons.
And it is all perfectly legal.  

But, there is a need and place for pain medications.  We do not want a society that refuses to help a patient suffering real pain, however when our nation's number of drug deaths out number traffic accidents,  something is very wrong.

In the video from LA Times at the bottom, one doctor states "If I have one regret in practicing pain management, it is the fact that it is an avenue for a patient to kill themselves"
After posting the “New Drugwar Frontier” post, someone gave me a copy of the November 11tharticle in the LA Times titled “Legal Drugs, Deadly Outcomes”.  The article in full is posting below.
 
Legal Drugs, Deadly Outcomes
 
Terry Smith collapsed face-down in a pool of his own vomit.
Lynn Blunt snored loudly as her lungs slowly filled with fluid.
Summer Ann Burdette was midway through a pear when she stopped breathing.
Larry Carmichael knocked over a lamp as he fell to the floor.
Jennifer Thurber was curled up in bed, pale and still, when her father found her.
Karl Finnila sat down on a curb to rest and never got up.
These six people died of drug overdoses within a span of 18 months. But according to coroners' records, that was not all they had in common. Bottles of prescription medications found at the scene of each death bore the name of the same doctor: Van H. Vu.
After Finnila died, coroner's investigators called Vu to learn about his patient's medical history and why he had given him prescriptions for powerful medications, including the painkiller hydrocodone.
Investigators left half a dozen messages. Vu never called back, coroner's records state.
Over the next four years, 10 more of his patients died of overdoses, the records show. In nine of those cases, painkillers Vu had prescribed for them were found at the scene.
 Vu, a pain specialist in Huntington Beach, described himself as a conscientious, caring physician. He declined to comment on individual cases, citing confidentiality laws, but he said he treats many "very, very difficult patients" whose chronic pain is sometimes complicated by substance abuse and depression, anxiety or other mental illness.
 "Every single day, I try to do the best I can for every single patient," he said in an interview. "I can't control what they do once they leave my office."
 Prescription drug overdoses now claim more lives than heroin and cocaine combined, fueling a doubling of drug-related deaths in the United States over the last decade.
 Health and law enforcement officials seeking to curb the epidemic have focused on how OxyContin, Vicodin, Xanax and other potent pain and anxiety medications are obtained illegally, such as through pharmacy robberies or when teenagers raid their parents' medicine cabinets. Authorities have failed to recognize how often people overdose on medications prescribed for them by their doctors.
 A Los Angeles Times investigation has found that in nearly half of the accidental deaths from prescription drugs in four Southern California counties, the deceased had a doctor's prescription for at least one drug that caused or contributed to the death.
Reporters identified a total of 3,733 deaths from prescription drugs from 2006 through 2011 in Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura and San Diego counties.
Alex Clyborn: a gifted athletic and eagle scout,
 "if it can happen to us it can happen to anyone:,  says his mother pictured at top
An examination of coroners' records found that:
In 1,762 of those cases — 47% — drugs for which the deceased had a prescription were the sole cause or a contributing cause of death.
A small cadre of doctors was associated with a disproportionate number of those fatal overdoses. Seventy-one — 0.1% of all practicing doctors in the four counties — wrote prescriptions for drugs that caused or contributed to 298 deaths. That is 17% of the total linked to doctors' prescriptions.
 
Each of those 71 physicians prescribed drugs to three or more patients who died.
Four of the doctors — including Vu — had 10 or more patients who fatally overdosed.
Vu had the highest total: 16.
 
Experts said the findings challenge the prevailing view of what is driving the surge in overdose deaths and should prompt closer scrutiny of doctors and their prescribing practices.
"The data you have is something that's going to shock everybody," said Dr. Jorge F. Carreon, a former member of the Medical Board of California.

Carreon, a South Gate physician whose term on the board ended in July, said he had long suspected that doctors' prescriptions were contributing to the increase in overdoses. The Times' analysis, he said, showed that it was "worse than what I thought."
 President Obama's drug czar, R. Gil Kerlikowske, said of the findings: "Do I think this has the potential to change the game in the way it's being looked at and being addressed, both at the state and federal level? Yes, I do."
In its review of prescription drug fatalities, The Times examined cause-of-death findings, toxicology reports and other information in county coroners' files, including lists of prescription medications found at death scenes. Those lists typically identify the prescribing doctor.
The deaths often stemmed from multiple drugs, sometimes prescribed by more than one physician. In some cases, the deceased mixed alcohol or illicit drugs with prescription medications.
 Medical experts say that even one overdose death should prompt a doctor to conduct a thorough review of his or her prescribing.

Dr Vu of Huntington Beach
 "Personally, it would be a big, big deal," said Dr. Peter Przekop, a pain and addiction specialist at the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage and an assistant professor at Loma Linda University School of Medicine. "I would certainly want to stop using those medications until I knew what was going on."
 
The 71 doctors with three or more fatal overdoses among their patients are primarily pain specialists, general practitioners and psychiatrists. Almost all work alone, without the peer scrutiny that is standard in hospitals, group practices and HMOs.
 
 





Four of them have been convicted of drug offenses in connection with their prescriptions. A fifth is awaiting trial on charges of second-degree murder in the overdose deaths of three patients.
The rest have never faced criminal prosecution over their practice of medicine, and most — including Vu — have spotless records with the Medical Board of California, which licenses and oversees physicians.
 Dr. Lynn Webster, president-elect of the American Academy of Pain Medicine, said many physicians lack an appreciation of how easily patients with chronic pain can become addicted to their medications, and how dangerous those drugs can be.
 "It leads them down a path that can be very harmful, and that's what physicians have to watch for," said Webster, who practices in Salt Lake City.
 He said physicians who prescribe pain medications have a duty to screen patients for risk factors for addiction and then watch them closely to prevent abuse.
 
                   Below is an interview of the "pain doctors" of Orange County
 
In interviews, several of the 71 Southern California doctors with multiple patient deaths described themselves as compassionate caregivers who try to ease the suffering of those in pain.
Vu and others said they follow recommended practices to deter drug abuse, including requiring patients to sign "pain management contracts" in which they agree to take their medications as directed and not obtain more from other doctors.

Some of the 71 doctors said overdose victims caused their own deaths by ignoring instructions on the safe use of medications. Some said family members of the deceased bore responsibility too for failing to intervene. Some also faulted health insurers, saying that reduced payments to physicians have made it difficult to spend the time to monitor patients adequately.
 
These doctors' 298 patients who died of overdoses ranged in age from 21 to 79. The median age was 48.
 
Many had histories of mental illness or addiction, including previous overdoses or stints in drug treatment. Others did not start out as high-risk patients. They were middle-aged adults — teachers, nurses and police officers — with bad backs, injured knees and other non-life-threatening conditions.
Lynn Blunt was a 46-year-old mother of four who suffered from degenerative disc disease. Despite the pain, she was careful not to exceed the recommended dosage of her medications, said her husband, Lonnie. She wanted to remain alert enough to care for her two youngest children, girls ages 14 and 11, he said.

The condition eventually crippled Blunt, leaving her dependent on a cane and unable to continue working as a U.S. customs inspector. She saw a series of doctors, eventually ending up at Vu's California Pain Center.
 
According to coroner's records, Vu prescribed skin patches containing fentanyl, a pain reliever 100 times more powerful than morphine.
 
On Sept. 7, 2006, coroner's records show, Blunt went to Vu's clinic to receive an epidural injection of an unspecified medication for her pain. A day later, she was found dead in her family's apartment in Downey.
Blunt overdosed on multiple drugs prescribed by Vu and two other doctors, coroner's records show. High levels of fentanyl were found in her system.
Blunt had been looking forward to a planned trip to the East Coast to visit one of her two grown children, her husband said.
"We followed the prescriptions," he said. "Something didn't mix well.
Vu, a native of Vietnam, was 11 when he and his family immigrated to the U.S. as refugees just before the fall of Saigon in 1975. They settled in Seattle.
 
As a high school student, he volunteered at a clinic for low-income families and was impressed, he said, by the selflessness of physicians serving "people who really needed help."
 
He earned undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of Washington and served a residency in anesthesiology at USC. He is board-certified in that field and in pain medicine.
 
"I pretty much achieved the dream come true that America affords," said Vu, 49, who lives with his wife and four children on Christiana Bay in Huntington Beach.

Lynn Blunt was a 46-year-old mother of four who suffered from degenerative disc disease. Despite the pain, she was careful not to exceed the recommended dosage of her medications, said her husband, Lonnie. She wanted to remain alert enough to care for her two youngest children, girls ages 14 and 11, he said.

The condition eventually crippled Blunt, leaving her dependent on a cane and unable to continue working as a U.S. customs inspector. She saw a series of doctors, eventually ending up at Vu's California Pain Center.

According to coroner's records, Vu prescribed skin patches containing fentanyl, a pain reliever 100 times more powerful than morphine.

On Sept. 7, 2006, coroner's records show, Blunt went to Vu's clinic to receive an epidural injection of an unspecified medication for her pain. A day later, she was found dead in her family's apartment in Downey.

Blunt overdosed on multiple drugs prescribed by Vu and two other doctors, coroner's records show. High levels of fentanyl were found in her system.

Blunt had been looking forward to a planned trip to the East Coast to visit one of her two grown children, her husband said.

"We followed the prescriptions," he said. "Something didn't mix well."

Vu, a native of Vietnam, was 11 when he and his family immigrated to the U.S. as refugees just before the fall of Saigon in 1975. They settled in Seattle.
As a high school student, he volunteered at a clinic for low-income families and was impressed, he said, by the selflessness of physicians serving "people who really needed help."

He earned undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of Washington and served a residency in anesthesiology at USC. He is board-certified in that field and in pain medicine.

"I pretty much achieved the dream come true that America affords," said Vu, 49, who lives with his wife and four children on Christiana Bay in Huntington Beach.

Vu said most of his patients are referred by other doctors, who turn to him as "a last resort" for those who have been battling pain for years. Many patients come to him already dependent on narcotics, he said.
 
Vu said he conducts routine urine tests to make sure they take their medications as prescribed and do not use illegal drugs. He said he regularly uses a state-run prescription monitoring program to see whether any of his patients are also obtaining drugs from other doctors.

"I am doing the best I can in this very difficult field," he said. "I consider myself to be one of the best. But we have limits."

He said any patient death from an overdose was unacceptable, but added that he has treated thousands of patients successfully with the same drugs.

"Are we willing to trade that?" he asked. "Are we willing to withhold pain medications from everyone?"

Vu said he was unaware of many of his patients' deaths until Times reporters contacted him. He called the information "eye-opening."

"I'm a physician," Vu said. "I feel terrible when somebody loses their life. I'm the one who should be prolonging life, so I'm saddened by that."

Asked whether he could have taken steps to prevent any of the deaths, Vu paused.

"No," he said, finally. "I don't think so."

Larry Carmichael was a problem drinker who got sober through Alcoholics Anonymous. A doting single father, he coached his son's T-ball team and passed on his love of surfing and fishing.

Carmichael worked as a carpet layer until a car accident left him with debilitating back pain, recalled his son, Dan. He went from one doctor to another in search of relief, and eventually became Vu's patient.

By 2007, Carmichael "had a high tolerance and was known to take too many pills for his pain," coroner's records state. Renee Allen, Carmichael's girlfriend, said she encouraged him to see if he could live without the medications, and to find another doctor.

"I'm not going to sit around and watch you die," she recalled telling him.

But Carmichael kept taking pills. In the months before he died, Carmichael twice passed out, his son said.

"He needed real help," Dan said.

On March 7, 2007, Carmichael filled prescriptions from Vu for half a dozen pain and anxiety medications, including morphine, according to coroner's records.

After Carmichael failed to return phone calls for two days, Dan went to his father's apartment in Lake Forest and found him dead. He was 51.

Dan grabbed his father's prescription bottles and smashed them against a wall, sending pills flying around the room, according to a report by a coroner's investigator.

The coroner concluded that Carmichael died of an accidental overdose of morphine.

For decades, prescriptions for narcotic painkillers were limited largely to cancer patients and others with terminal illnesses. The prevailing view was that the risk of addiction outweighed any benefit for the great majority of patients whose conditions were not life-threatening.

Today, narcotic painkillers are among the most popular prescription drugs in the U.S.

The seeds of this turnabout were planted in the late 1980s, when influential physicians argued in medical journals that it was inhumane to ignore suffering in non-cancer patients.

This new perspective coincided with efforts by drug makers to win approval for formulations of narcotics intended to ease moderate pain.

Pharmaceutical companies launched sales campaigns that downplayed the risks of addiction and overdoses and promoted the benefits of pain relief.

In 2001, Congress declared the start of the Decade of Pain Control and Research. Medical boards across the country encouraged physicians to assess and treat pain in all patients. In 2007, California lawmakers expanded the scope of pain relief, making it legal for doctors to prescribe narcotics to addicts, so long as the purpose was to treat pain and not simply feed a habit.

The use of painkillers quadrupled between 1999 and 2010. Doctors write about 300 million prescriptions a year for painkillers. That is enough for every adult American to be medicated around the clock for a month, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Hydrocodone became the most commonly prescribed drug in the U.S., eclipsing the leading antibiotics and cholesterol medications.

Older pain drugs — including morphine, codeine and Dilaudid — found new life outside hospital wards, while new ones such as fentanyl and Opana were brought to market. OxyContin, a chemical cousin of heroin, had sales of more than $1 billion within a few years of its introduction.

Narcotic pain relievers now cause or contribute to nearly 3 out of 4 prescription drug overdoses and about 15,500 deaths each year, according to the CDC. For every death, 32 people are treated in emergency rooms for nonfatal overdoses.

Although the death toll has received considerable attention, the medical board and law enforcement agencies in California have not mined coroners' files, as The Times did, to identify doctors whose patients overdosed on drugs they prescribed.

Nor have officials tried to take advantage of detailed information that pharmacies provide to the state attorney general's office, listing the kinds and quantities of drugs prescribed, by which doctors and for which patients.

The Controlled Substances Utilization Review and Evaluation System was designed to help doctors learn whether any of their patients were seeking drugs from other physicians too.

The system could also be used to identify doctors who write large numbers of prescriptions for commonly abused drugs. The CDC has urged state authorities to use such programs to identify not only doctor-shopping patients but the physicians who cater to them. In California, authorities do neither.

Karl Finnila had a long record of drug arrests by the time he became Vu's patient. He was bipolar, had attempted suicide and had overdosed several times, according to coroner's records and his sister Sally, a tax accountant in Irvine.
 
Finnila, the oldest son of a Mattel Inc. executive, had been addicted to prescription drugs since he was a teenager, his sister said. He had been in and out of mental hospitals and was unable to hold a job.

He would lose touch with his family. But every so often, Sally would find him, take him to lunch and buy him a new pair of shoes and socks.

On June 29, 2007, Finnila was discharged from a hospital in Orange County, according to Carol Spetzman, a friend and caregiver. He had been treated there for a drug overdose, his sister said.

That same day, he filled prescriptions from Vu for hydrocodone and carisoprodol, a muscle relaxant, at a pharmacy down the hall from the doctor's office, coroner's records show.

Finnila then checked into a sober-living home in Westminster. After dinner, he went for a walk, sat down on a curb and died, coroner's records state.

The cause was "combined effects" of hydrocodone, carisoprodol and seven other medications prescribed by Vu and other doctors. He was 43.
Jennifer Thurber had been coping with pain for much of her life by the time she came under Vu's care.

Thurber's childhood was marred by a painful stomach condition that caused severe indigestion. She had corrective surgery when she was 11, but a car accident seven years later brought the problem back.

She was prescribed various medications for the pain and eventually began abusing them, according to her father, Charles, an Orange County sheriff's deputy.

Thurber obtained drugs through various doctors. On May 21, 2007, she filled prescriptions for morphine and methadone written by Vu.

Two days later, her father climbed the stairs of the family's Fountain Valley home and pushed open the door of her bedroom to ask her to get ready for dinner.

He found his daughter in bed, pale and motionless. Blood trailed from her nose. He laid her on the floor and attempted CPR.

Thurber died of an overdose of multiple drugs prescribed by Vu and two other doctors, coroner's records show.
 
Morphine and methadone were among the drugs. She was 22.
"That was my birthday," her father recalled, his voice wavering. He said he blames himself for not seeing the signs of drug abuse sooner and for not paying closer attention to her doctors and what they were prescribing
"At the time," he said, "we thought they were trying to help her.

Source: LA Times
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