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10 mayors, other Mexico officials detained
LA Times ^ | May 27, 2009 | Tracy Wilkinson

Posted on 05/27/2009 9:18:12 AM PDT by La Lydia

Mexico City -- Mexican security forces swept into President Felipe Calderon's home state of Michoacan Tuesday and arrested a total of 27 mayors and other government officials, the largest operation to target politicians in Mexico's bloody drug war. The officials, including 10 mayors, are being investigated for alleged ties to drug traffickers and other organized crime syndicates that in effect control large sections of Michoacan, the federal attorney general's office said...

...this is the first time Mexican authorities have gone after such a large number of elected officials...

At least 83 of Michoacan's 113 municipalities are mixed up at some level with narcos, a Mexican intelligence source said...Dozens of mayors and other local officials have been killed or kidnapped as La Familia, with chilling, disciplined efficiency, has extended its reach... La Familia has been doing battle with the so-called Gulf cartel, which moved into Michoacan a few years ago in what was initially a strategic partnership. The arrangement ruptured last year...

La Familia specializes in marijuana, methamphetamine and cocaine. In the last year it has set up shop in 20 to 30 cities and towns across the United States, a senior U.S. law enforcement official said...

Several of the detained mayors are from the so-called Tierra Caliente (Hot Land) section of southwest Michoacan, a rugged, virtually lawless area dotted with meth labs. One person under arrest is the mayor of Uruapan, the city where traffickers in 2006 notoriously tossed five human heads onto a dance floor, an early signal of how grisly the drug war would become.

Six of the detained mayors are with the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, which ruled Mexico for more than 70 years...

(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Foreign Affairs; Mexico
KEYWORDS: aliens; cartels; corruption; drugs; immigration; lafamilia; mexico; narcoterror; warnextdoor; wod
Calderón apparently has started doing what the Italians finally had to do about the Mafia. Too bad about Uruapan, a pretty little city near the West Coast that in earlier times was best known for the wonderful coffee grown in the region. It used to be a lovely place to spend a couple of days while visiting Michoacán.
1 posted on 05/27/2009 9:18:12 AM PDT by La Lydia
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To: La Lydia; NorwegianViking; Texas resident; GulfBreeze; rellimpank; AH_LiveRight; BGHater; nbhunt; ..

Ping!


2 posted on 05/27/2009 9:30:18 AM PDT by SwinneySwitch (Mexico - beyond your expectations.)
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To: La Lydia

“At least 83 of Michoacan’s 113 municipalities are mixed up at some level with narcos, a Mexican intelligence source said...”

And the millions of tax dollars we send down there is going directly in the pockets of the corrupt officials.


3 posted on 05/27/2009 9:36:11 AM PDT by AuntB (The right to vote in America: Blacks 1870; Women 1920; Native Americans 1925; Foreigners 2008)
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To: La Lydia
arrested a total of 27 mayors and other government officials,

It would be interesting to see that happen here.

4 posted on 05/27/2009 10:35:17 AM PDT by Sarajevo (You jealous because the voices only talk to me.)
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To: AuntB

They just haven’t identified anyone in the other 31 towns..give them time...


5 posted on 05/27/2009 11:07:35 AM PDT by B.O. Plenty (Give war a chance...)
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To: La Lydia

Mexicans are sure good at picking ‘em in elections, huh?


6 posted on 05/27/2009 3:34:20 PM PDT by SaraJohnson
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