Mexicans praise U.S. border security measures

http://www.idahopress.com/news/?id=21610




MEXICO CITY (AP) — U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano's announcement Tuesday that nearly 500 agents and support personnel will be sent to the U.S.-Mexico border would once have drawn criticism in Mexico.
But on the eve of Wednesday's visit by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Mexico's top diplomat was full of praise for the measures.
Mexican Foreign Relations Secretary Patricia Espinosa described what she called "a new era of cooperation" between the two countries.
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"These are really important actions to support the frontal battle that this administration is carrying out," Espinosa said, noting the U.S. government has said it is open to discussing the measures with Mexican officials.
Mexico has been publicly pressing the United States to do more to stop the flow of U.S. weapons south. The State Department says weapons originating in the U.S. were used in 95 percent of all drug-related killings, and the Mexican government says more than 9,000 people have died since President Felipe Calderon took office on Dec. 1 and launched a national crackdown on cartels.
Mexico's former top anti-drug prosecutor, Samuel Gonzalez, said "the signal here from what Secretary Napolitano said is that this is no longer simply a diplomatic or foreign relations issue for them. It is a matter of U.S. national security."
Mexico once would have bristled at the prospect of the U.S. government sending more agents to the border, especially National Guard units, a possibility that Napolitano said is under discussion.
Mexico opposed the deployment of National Guard units to border states in 2006, mostly because the measure was viewed as a crackdown on undocumented migrants.
This time, border security measures include 100 more agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and increasing the inspection of rail cargo heading from the U.S. into Mexico to detect weapons being smuggled into Mexico.
Mexico has been lobbying for such action for years.
"It's perfect. It's good that there is an attack on all fronts" against the cartels, Gonzalez said.
In part, the change is because cartel violence has increased on both sides of the border while immigration has declined amid extra border security and the faltering U.S. economy. President Barack Obama has also shown a willingness to push for immigration reform.
"On the immigration issue, we have seen in recent weeks under the new U.S. administration a constructive attitude and a clear willingness to seek a long-term solution," Espinosa said.
While immigration will clearly be brought up during Clinton's visit, Espinosa said "the issue of security is naturally one of the most relevant on the bilateral agenda."
The praise for the U.S. efforts is not unanimous. Carlos Montemayor, an author who writes about national security issues, said that "from a Mexican perspective, the U.S. participation isn't consistent, and has some contradictions."
He said the United States appears to focus more on stopping drugs from getting across the border into the United States, and not enough on catching the money launderers or American traffickers who operate north of the border.
Gonzalez said that, more than just agents or police, the most valuable U.S. contribution was the decision to increase the FBI's intelligence and analysis work on Mexican drug cartel crime.
"It is like the measures that were needed to break up the mafia in the United States, intelligence work," Gonzalez noted. "It is not just a military approach, which is not going to get you anywhere."
He noted that Mexico's cartels have morphed into such diversified criminal syndicates — with sidelines in extortion, kidnapping, pirated goods and human trafficking — that what is needed is true cross-border intelligence to stop that trend.

Drug Cartel Violence Spills Into U.S. From Mexico

yet another article about drug violence spilling into US.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/23/us/23border.html?th&emc=th

bz

Let Me Chew My Coca Leaves

Bolivian president Evo Morales Ayma defends traditional use of the coca plant -- a custom present "since at least 3000 B.C." He notes that the UN simply ignores biochemistry, reminding us of what alkaloids are, such as caffeine and nicotine. The UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs has labeled the coca leaf as a narcotic, not just the cocaine extract. Coca leaves are a strong part of indigenous culture in South America and Morales see the UN's actions as an attack on indigenous culture. He also notes that Quinine, another alkaloid, was discovered by the Quechua Indians of Peru -- the first know treatment for malaria.

GOPers Threaten Salvadorans over Election Outcome

Back in the United States, two Republican lawmakers have issued threats over the outcome of Sunday’s national elections in El Salvador. On Thursday, Republican Congress members Trent Franks of Arizona and Dan Burton of Indiana said Salvadorans living in the US could lose their immigration status and the right to send remittances home if the leftist FMLN party wins the vote. Polls indicate the FMLN will beat the right-wing ARENA party, which has long had close ties to Washington. Five years ago, the Bush administration was accused of threatening to cut off aid to El Salvador if voters supported the FMLN.


http://www.democracynow.org/2009/3/13/headlines#13

BZ

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090303/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_venezuela_oil;_ylt=An8tKluW6YOToHq99eNRg2W3IxIF

Venezuelan's oil companies who are state ran are trying to cut 40% costs because of low prices of oil in the rest of world. -Lizette Avila  

US companies stung by violence in Mexico

http://www.iht.com/bin/printfriendly.php?id=20413251



MEXICO CITY: Rising violence in Mexico is forcing foreign companies to change their operating procedures and shipping routes, and to tighten security for their employees, businessmen said Tuesday.
U.S. security consultant John Baird said his family was robbed in late 2008 for the first time in the six years he has lived in Mexico. "2009 is going to be very difficult" because of rising violence and unemployment here, he added.
"I think we're just going to have to hunker down," said Baird, general manager of the Mexico office of the Dublin, Ireland-based security company FreightWatch Group.
He said there have been problems both with drugs stowed in freight shipments and with the army checkpoints posted to detect the drugs.
One popular highway shipping route to the U.S. border now has eight or nine army checkpoints on it. Given that checkpoints sometimes damage or delay shipments, Baird now advises U.S. companies to use another highway — one that doesn't pass through the states of northwestern Mexico where drug cartels are battling for smuggling routes and against security forces.
Xochitl Diaz, a spokesman of Michigan-based auto parts manufacturer Delphi Corp., said one of the company's U.S. executives escaped an attack in the border city of Ciudad Juarez in January.
A car chased the U.S. woman, cut her off, and a man carrying a pistol got out and banged on the window of her car with the butt of the pistol. The woman managed to speed off in her car and made it to the plant.
"We are asking employees to travel in daylight to the extent that they can," Diaz said. "We are asking them to be extra cautious and to travel wherever possible in groups."
Alberto Zapanta, the president of the U.S.-Mexico Chamber of Commerce, said the drug-related violence that cost over 6,000 lives in 2008 "is not pervasive, it's not all over the country, it's along the border ... there are kind of hotspots."
But Zapanta added, "I'm not out wandering around like I used to do." Instead, he uses secure limousines to travel from airports to hotels.
While Mexico's drug cartels don't appear to be targeting foreigners specifically, there is a problem with common criminals taking advantage of the atmosphere of fear created by the drug conflict to extort money or demand protection payments from companies, Interior Secretary Fernando Gomez Mont told a meeting of business people in Mexico City.
"Based on the climate of terror that exists, a bunch of smart guys are simulating extortions or saying they have ties to organized crime, to scare people," Gomez Mont said.
"In most cases, they don't come from organizations that are capable of inflicting harm," he told the executives. "They are using a strategy of taking advantage of disorder."
Companies in Mexico have reported a rising wave of such extortions, but Gomez Mont told executives not to pay such demands.

Border drug war is too close for comfort

http://www.latimes.com/la-na-bordertown19-2009feb.19,0,973784,full.story

This article focuses on the case of Columbus, New Mexico and Palomas, Chihuahua; border towns that are faced with the reality of cross-border residents and the current drug war in Mexico. Residents of the New Mexico town are afraid of the drug war spilling across the border into their quaint and police-less town. The town lacks its own police department and utilizes the Sheriff located about 30 miles away. Recently the town has seen some changes in the make-up of its residents and there is reason to believe that Mexican drug traffickers have moved themselves and their families into the New Mexican town.