Mexico at War with the Drug Cartel: A Dope Report Series
At this stage in the game it is not an overstatement to say that what began as a concern in the Mexican government over the increasing stronghold of the Drug Cartel has become an all out bloody war filled with a staggering amount of murders and beheadings, an increase of state militia to almost 300,000 army officers, and a top to bottom scale of corruption that includes everyone from the financial, political and law enforcement world. The effect of such an entrenched and complicated situation is nothing short of vertigo.
Here are some stats to put things in perspective.
Since December 2006 there have been over 10,475 Drug Cartel related deaths. Over 1000 of those have been government officials, military officers, or state police. There have been over 240 beheadings and counting. As of today there are between 100,000 and 300,000 militia out on the streets battling the Cartel.
March 9Th
26 Members of the Arellano Felix Cartel whose homebase is in Tijuana, and who controls the Baja California region were arrested along with noted kingpin Angel Jacome Gamboa, and one precint commander Rudy Ezequiel Astudillo Constantino. The arrest of a high ranking police officer has become one in a line of many law enforcement officials accused of being in bed with the Cartel
March 10th
5 Human heads found in ice coolers in Jalisco, MX On top of the ice coolers was the message “ I am coming after you, Goyo”.
March 12th
The Department of Homeland Security stated that it wants to use The National Guard to fight the Cartel. This statement has brought the ire of top politicians in the US
March 19th
The Mexican Army captures Vicente Zambada one of the main leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel. Zambada was known to have ordered the murder and beheading of many government officials along with law enforcement, his father is Ismael “Mayo” Zambada, one of the main leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel and is still at large.
March 20
Colombia seizes 3.5 tons of cocaine from a Mexico bound ship in Buenaventura. The estimated street value is 140 million dollars.
March 22
Gunmen killed a state police commander in charge of investigating kidnapping and extortion in the state of Michoacan. Edgar Garcia was sitting at a red light when two cars pulled up and opened fire, he died at the scene.
The Mexican Attorney General offers 2 Million dollar rewards for knowledge leading to the whereabouts for each of the most wanted 24 members of the cartel.
March 24
March 26
A US Marshall accused of stealing government weapons was found shot in Juarez, Mexico His body was found with multiple shots to the back of the head as is consistent with execution style shootings related to the Cartel.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in a trip to Mexico “acknowledged that the string of “bombings, killings and beheadings” are due to our insatiable demand for illegal drugs
March 27
Guatemalan officials find a drug cartel boot camp where young men are trained to shoot firearms and fly planes.It has become obvious that this is controlled by one of the factions of the Mexican Drug Cartel.
April 1
Senate approves 550 Million dollars to fight the flow of money and drugs from Mexico to the US
April 2
“Another one of the “top 24 was arrested while jogging in an elite suburb of Mexico City. Vicente Carrillo Leyva was suspected to be the number 2 in the Juarez cartel. His role is purported to be that of laundering money for his faction of the Cartel.
