Foreign News Report 01-06-08

By: NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FORMER BORDER PATROL OFFICERS Cambio de Michoacan (Morelia, Mich.) 1/5/08

note: yesterday's report carried a single quote from Eduardo Medina Mora, Mexico's Attorney General, during an interview with the Spanish newspaper "El Pais"; what follows is a translation of the article about the interview, including more quotes and a Q&A session.

"The PGR (note: the Mex. Dep't. of Justice) reports that city police protect narco"

One year after Felipe Calderon's arrival at the Presidency of Mexico, the battle against drug traffic continues to be the largest challenge for the state. From his combined post as Minister of Justice and the country's prosecutor, Eduardo Medina Mora has the mandate to put a stop to the drug cartels' lawless activities. In some areas of Mexico, organized crime makes itself at home. There are movie-like stories: a death convoy controls the city of Cananea (Sonora) for hours with complete impunity; an armed commando assaults the Tijuana morgue and takes a cadaver away; another group of hired killers busts into a hospital looking for a wounded person; three "nortena" music singers have been murdered in the last few weeks and the roster of persons decapitated to settle accounts seems unstoppable. "President Calderon's efforts in his first year is mainly directed to recover for Mexicans the right to live in peace and tranquility in their communities" says the Attorney General. In his spacious office on Avenida Reforma, in Mexico City, Eduardo Medina Mora goes over achievements and failures, and speaks directly of the institutional weakness in the security forces. "We have a highly fragmented police, with more than 1600 different police agencies in the whole country." - How does the lack of a confidence inspiring police make difficult the battle against delinquency and organized crime? "It's a central theme. In some parts of the country, not very large but quite visible ones, organized crime, the mafias, challenge the State's basic powers, such as the monopoly of the use of power and the exclusive right to collect taxes."

- Which are the areas in which organized crime deals with the State with no respect ? "The largest impunity is on the northern border, especially in the states of Baja California and Tamaulipas, in the extremes of the coast of the Pacific and the coast of the Gulf of Mexico."

- Organized crime's impunity contrasts with the optimist panorama which President Calderon portrays. Is the government guilty of crowing when evaluating the fight against organized crime? " I think not. We have given serious blows to the crime groups' operational and logistical capabilities. The historic seizures of cocaine, methamphetamine, pseudoephedrine, marihuana, etcetera, have been very significant this year. In Mexico, we dismantled the Occident's most important pseudoephedrine organization, the raw material for the methamphetamines. The organization of the Chinese man Zhenli Ye Gon used to bring in more than 100 tons of pseudoephedrine a year."

- But in 2007 violent deaths have increased " There was an increase in April and May. Later, the decrease was consistent, with a downward tendency. President Calderon said from the first day that this would be a long range battle, that it would cost a lot of effort, resources and human lives."

- What is the death toll for 2007 ? " The problem is the executions, which are aggravated crimes committed with some degree of extreme violence and that can be attributed to organized crime. By our count, we'll close the year with some two thousand 500 executions. Last year we ended with two thousand 350.

- You have denounced the attempts by narcotraffic to interfere with the electoral process. " Without a doubt. In states such as Tamaulipas and Michoacan we have data, denunciations by candidates who were intimidated or kidnapped, who received threats with the aim of influencing the result and the conduct of the contenders in an election."

- Are there city or state governments infiltrated by narcotraffic? " There are city police that are paralyzed, that function more as support for the tasks of organized crime than for the tasks of public security and protection of the citizenry. That is where the responsibility of the governors and the mayors is largest."

- In the fight against laundering of money originating from narcotraffic there hasn't been much success. " Mexico receives around a billion dollars in cash from the United States' banking system, and returns to the United States around 17 billion dollars. We have traced this flow of cash with the authorities and intelligence agencies of the United States. One part can be explained by tourism, border transactions and money from the Mexican emigrants, but there are ten billion dollars that crossed the border in cash that have no explanation other than narcotraffic.

- How do you rate the collaboration by the United States in the battle against drug traffic? " The United States plays a fundamental role in the aspect of international cooperation. Mexico has a huge drug traffic problem because of its vicinity with the world's first drug market. We have made a very large effort and we ask the United States to assume its responsibilities. For example, in the illegal traffic of firearms. The firepower of the criminal organizations cannot be explained without the purchase of high powered weapons in the neighbor country."

1. 25,000 marihuana plants were found in a greenhouse complex covering 20 hectares (1 hct. = 2.47 acres). Estimated weight of the 2 meter tall plants: 3 metric tons. 16 persons were arrested . This, at Francisco Madero, Durango.

2. In the hills near La Tasajera, Sinaloa, Mexican army personnel found a marihuana drying and processing facility and campground. The weight of the weed: 10.8 metric tons. There were no arrests.

Foreign News Report The National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers (NAFBPO) extracts and condenses the material that follows from Mexican and Central and South American on-line media sources on a daily basis.

We Invite you to visit the internet home of the at NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FORMER BORDER PATROL OFFICERS

The organization of the Chinese man Zhenli Ye Gon used to bring in more than 100 tons of pseudoephedrine a year."

"Used to", as in it's decreased or do they simply don't bring it to Mexico? With the US open border and never expiring visa policies, how much is coming in here?

“Last March, police raided the Mexico City home of Chinese businessman Zhenli Ye Gon and seized some $207 million in cash allegedly linked to one of the Western Hemisphere’s largest trafficking rings for pseudoephedrine, the main chemical ingredient in methamphetamine.”

Also:

Two Mexican Companies of Drug Dealer Found

Mexico, Dec 25 (Prensa Latina) Mexican authorities announced on Tuesday that two new companies were discovered to be owned by Zhenli Ye Gon, who is accused of drug dealing and whose extradition was requested to the United Sates, where he is detained.

Investigators proved that Zhenli, the chief of a criminal organization of ephedrine trafficking, had a total of five companies to complete a chain destined to the production, distribution, and export of synthetic drugs.

The names of the new companies discovered are Unimed Nutrition and Universal Transportation, and according to the General Attorney of the Republic they put an end to the process to control the trafficking of those drugs in Mexico.

The Chinese born businessman escaped from Mexico helped by corrupted policemen, and was detained in the US territory last year.

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