Can the Mexican Military Beat the Cartels?

Obviously, the answer depends on who you ask. From a technical and practical standpoint, the answer seems to be a pretty basic no. While the military has had some success with capturing and killing hundreds of cartel foot soldiers and thugs, the military’s actions have been acting more as a reactionary force rather than a search and destroy force. Many times, the military will wait out gun battles between rival cartels, then go in and seize weapons, drugs, vehicles, and arrest any stragglers or wounded. Of course Mexico’s laws on using the military against civilians are not as stringent or well defined as ours are, although, they have adapted and wormed through technical loopholes as well as racked up quite a few human right abuses and violations along the way.
For starters, Mexico’s military is a national defense force implemented as a defense against attackers and not for attacking or invading. As such, training for offensive operations on a large scale are minimal and not well suited for symmetrical warfare or a force with no centralized command and control structure. Since the cartels have no centralized command, local cell (or plaza), leaders are able to move around independently with little coordination from higher leadership or logistical support. This makes it difficult for the military, who must maintain unit integrity for their effectiveness. In this respect, the military is at a disadvantage.

Soldier patrolling in San Fernando, Tamaulipas

In general, the military’s overall counter drug mission is not well defined to the point that the common foot soldier on the ground is aware of the mission objective. The foot soldier only follows orders to shoot anyone who fires at them first or at known drug cartel members. Tactical and strategic maneuvering is usually only employed at battalion level and above so company and platoon level units, which usually engage in cartel gun battles, do so only with head on engagements. Although, the military foot soldier is trained enough in individual fire and maneuver techniques, it is enough for them to survive and accomplish their short term missions. The military foot soldier is also better trained in marksmanship and weapon maintenance than most street level cartel members which gives the military soldier a greater advantage.

Although the military has adapted to dealing with the cartels to a certain extent, as an organized governmental agency, it is not well suited for large scale operations against a decentralized organization such as the cartels. One big advantage that the cartels have over the military that is difficult, if not impossible to overcome, is that the cartel members don’t operate by any rule of law or morality. Cartel members can easily blend into the local population and employ hundreds of paid local citizens to act as scouts and lookouts to report any military activity way before the military even arrives. In many cases, that advantage gives the cartels enough time to set up ambushes, hide, or disappear.

Mexican Marines capture the Gulf Cartel finance officer. Note the masks and the US made M-203. 

It also goes without saying that many times, it not beyond reason for military soldiers to succumb to bribery and threats against them or their families. That is one reason most soldiers wear masks, to conceal their identities. In one well documented case, a Marine killed in the operation that took down the leader of the Beltran Leyva Cartel who was hailed as a hero, had his entire family killed just days after his funeral after the new caster at the funeral announced the Marine’s name on the air. Cartel members soon found his surviving family and gunned down his mother, aunt, brother, sister, and wounded another sister in revenge. That incident left many Mexican soldiers and Marines shaken and questioning their roles against the cartels. There have also been several cases of high ranking officers found to be on cartel payrolls which, seriously degrades morale.

Because of the problem of corruption, soldiers are often rotated out of their area of operation every three to six months to avoid possible corruption and getting too familiar with the locals who may be cartel recruiters. This constant rotation prevents units as a whole to familiarize themselves with the terrain, culture, and atmosphere. While the military’s concern on corruption is legitimate, the constant change degrades a unit’s ability to learn what it’s up against.

Mexican soldier seized 3.5 metric tons of marijuana staged to cross into the US near Diaz Ordaz, Tamaulipas.

After some of the battles against cartel members, soldiers have found cartel issued ammunition that is over 10 years old, corroded, and potentially unreliable. Much of the ammunition the street level cartel member receives is either left over from the El Salvador civil war or of cheap quality which eventually ruins the weapons. But, the higher level cartel members do have military grade weapons and equipment. In one incident in Tamaulipas, a street level minion, was seriously injured by his own weapon during a fire fight with the military. The weapon barrel shattered due to repeated use of dirty ammunition and lack of cleaning. It was found to be a cheap AK- 47 knock off which are a dime a dozen in around the world. The gunman’s boss was also injured by military gunfire. His weapon however, was an authentic Russian made AN-94 (Abakan) assault rifle in excellent condition.

The fact that this weapon was found in the hands of the cartel raised concerns for the military because this model of weapon is a Russian military issue weapon and has not been produced since 2006 and then, very few were ever produced. This particular weapon uses a 5.45 x 39mm cartridge which is rather difficult to get in Mexico. Still, this incident just goes to show what the Mexican military may be up against.

Mexican authorities arrested 42 year old Ramiro Pozos Gonzalez, founder of the La Resistencia cartel. During the raid, authorities found Gonzales's gold plated AK-47, complete with golden magazines and golden ammunition.

Pay for Mexican soldiers is pathetic compared to comparable militaries. Even by Mexican standards, a soldier’s pay is just above the poverty line but the fact that the military provides some meals, uniforms, housing and other essentials compensates for the low pay, about  $ 440.00 per month (US).

While the honor and dedication of the Mexican military is admirable and proud, I don’t believe the military will be or given the authority to do what is needed to deal with the cartels as a whole without violating Mexican laws and civil liberties. It would require a major training shift from defense force to the asymmetrical guerrilla style warfare that Mexicans would accept but could become a dangerous step in the direction of military rule.

Mexican soldiers captured a suspect that evaded Texas authorities by jumping in the Rio Grande River.

Personal note. I have met and worked with soldiers from Germany, France, Israel, Denmark, Switzerland and even a few Russians and I can respect any soldier who risks their life for his/her country. I have never spoken to or met a Mexican soldier (that I am aware of) but, I study their actions and monitor the victories as part of my job. I have gained a new respect for what they do after four years of watching them.

Note: I'm not sure why this post's text and spacing is not as I set. Regardless of my attempts to correct it, it will not display correctly. My apologies.

A Mexican's Soldier's Story

Here's a great article I ran across during my research. I believe it really tells a story from a perspective we rarely hear about.

This report was sent to Collateral Damage by JorgeXs, who is an active participant in the Reynosa, Tamps. community watchdog Twitter group, #ReynosaFollow.

It was Monday, September 13. I was preparing to leave for a trip to a Caribbean paradise. For logistical reasons, a family member of mine had to drop me off early at the Reynosa airport. Although the airline states you must early, arriving almost four hours early was a gross exaggeration.

After checking in my luggage I decided I'd pass my time at the boarding gate and download applications for the new I-phone 4 I had recently purchased. After several minutes of being alone, enjoying my phone, I heard a voice saying to me "What happened young man, did you miss your flight?"

I turned and I saw that it was a person dressed in a military uniform.

I smiled and responded: Ït's just because of my ride I was forced to get here way too early."

The soldier, with a sort of distrustful smile and seeing that I was playing with my cellphone, asked me about the telephone. He wanted to know if it was new, what were it's characteristics and so forth. Me, being the tech fan I am, began to explain to him the phone characteristics, the main differences between the new and the previous version and soon we were deeply immersed in a conversation about technology. I lent him my phone so he could try it out and see it's different functions.

At one point, feeling confident, I decided to ask the soldier something that has always kept me wondering.

"Officer, can I ask you a question? Of course, answer me only if you want to, if not, just tell me you can't."

"Well, let's see, ask me", he replied.

"Why, if you (the military) confiscate huge amounts of weapons and modified vehicles, etc., don't you use them yourselves?"

"In all honesty" he responded, "I think we don't do it for two reasons: fairness and foolishness. Because it's not possible that you're patrolling in a Hummer, which we know has limited motor potency and range, and some asshole comes at you in a Suburban or something similar. They hit you, the Hummer is fucked, you start shooting and soon realize nothings happening, you're getting no where, your bullets simply are not penetrating their armor. Before you know it, they return fire: a fucker opens a hatch, comes out, and starts shooting you."

"That's messed up," I said "Because for the people of Reynosa, and no doubt, the rest of Mexico, you are the only ones we can trust. We've always thought you deserve more support, in Twitter, there are those of us who have been talking and we feel there should be a bank account opened in which we could make deposits as token of appreciation."

The officer seemed taken by surprise, but after realizing my comment was sincere, he asked: "What time's your flight take leave?"

"In about three hours", I replied.

"Well then", he said, "come with me so you can see how we live."

I accompanied him to the back of the airport, a couple floors below the control tower. When I got there and looked closer, I see a soldier trying to thaw chicken with tap water in an old plastic paint bucket.

As we moved in further, we entered into, what I guess you could call a kitchen, made up of what little they had: a 30 liter gas tank, a single gas burner, and a small table which looked as if it had once been part of a desk. They were cooking rice with chicken, which actually smelled really good.

After the kitchen, I saw where they slept. A large room whose western facing wall, was for the most part, a large window covered with cardboard and tape. I can't deny it, it was a comfortable, almost cool, temperature and seemed to be filled with the steady, constant sound of a nearby helicopter, which in reality was the air conditioner.

"We just got this air conditioner" said the officer, "because the heat in this city was really fucking with us, we couldn't sleep, it was even worse in the afternoons when the sun hit all day along the windowed wall. It was a real bitch finding all the cardboard. As for air conditioner, some guy that works here at the airport offered it to us. We asked him if he would lend it to us, but he didn't want to. We had to buy it from him, then on top of that, we had to pay someone to fix it and install it. We found some bunk beds that nobody was using, they were just cast aside, in the military academy, so we brought them here."

"The good thing is Calderon raised your salaries when he came into office", I said.

He turned to me and said "What?! I got screwed! He standardized the salaries, I made more before."

I began to ask about the other soldiers, how much they earned.

"Hey buddy, how much do you earn?", he asked another
soldier.

"I get paid bimonthly, $2850 (roughly $220 U.S.) every 15 days." the soldier responded.

"Do you think that's fair?" he asked, and added: "They told us if we agreed to come into high impact operations (that's what the call Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon, Chihuahua, Coahuila, etc) they'd give us an extra daily allowance, but the bonus is only $30 pesos per day."

"$30 pesos?", I asked in amazement. "That's a fucking soda and a small bag of chips. What bullshit!"

The officer just laughed and got up to walk to a small freezer.

"Look at the meat they send us.", he says.

"That's meat?" I thought to myself. The only thing I saw was a big ball of red ice.

"Look at this," he said to me again. We bought it ourselves, it's a variety pack chips and bottled waters we found at Sams Club."

He kindly handed me a bottle of water, but after everything he had said, I felt bad for having accepted it. After hearing and seeing all of this, I couldn't help but make the following comment:

"No wonder narcos are so tempting to you all."

The officer immediately changed his expression and with a tense tone he responded:

"I know. I've had bastards come and offer me money and I've always sent them straight to hell. I've been kicking asses for the Army for twenty years now. Here they teach us values and loyalty, as well as discipline. How can one of these little fucks come around, try to tell me what to do, and laugh at me, just for fucking money? They are fools, fucking idiots, that's why we always come out on top and end up killing the little bastards."

Seeing I had really worked him up, I decided to change the subject.

"Sir, you have my complete respect. How do you go about identifying the narcos?" I asked.

"I don't know if you noticed," said the officer, "but with the conversation we had at the boarding gate, I was actually interrogating you. I realized you knew what you were talking about and never once tried to be evasive. Imagine, some dirty smelly thug walks in. I'm not trying to discriminate, but I know what type of people come to the airport, you can quickly identify when someone is abnormal. I start asking him questions and he tells me he is the owner of a packing company in the United States. I ask him the name of his business, but he just tells me it's a packing company. Then I notice he has around $5000 U.S. dollars, who knows how many thousands of Mexican pesos and a wad of Guatemalan quetzales.

Another one I came across just had certain peculiarities that raised my suspicion. I went over to him to ask to see identification and the first thing he does is yell: MURDERER! I asked him to please calm down, I only wanted information. He doesn't stop screaming until finally one of my subordinates comes over willing to calm him down; I had to back down and pull away. We can't afford those types of luxuries, so I just had to drop his identification and swallow my anger."

"You should have given him a good beat down" slipped out of my mouth.

"No!" he said "Don't think I didn't have the urge to, but we can't give into nor afford such luxuries"

"Ya, apart from that with what happened in Nuevo Laredo", I said in reference to the April 2010 death of two children, Martín and Brayan Almanza, in which the military presumingly fired at a vehicle in which their family was travelling.

"It's sad and messed up" he said sincerely "That was an operative error and it was handled all wrong. I still have my doubts over exactly what happened, why the man driving ignored the signs, but, well, it's all being investigated." he replied.

"Ya, I know", I answered. "And the Feds?" I asked referring to the Federal Police.


"Those sons of fucking bitches, They get paid salaries and extra per diem rates, they sleep in hotels, and with all that, they still get corrupted. We don't trust them, they're a mess. We prefer to work alone and for that reason, I don't let them enter the airport with their weapons. With me, they're fucked, they already complained. But, what the fuck, they shouldn't be in all that bullshit. Anyways, we're going to be rotated and begin new rounds, who knows where. Well, your plane has arrived, I enjoyed meeting you and hope you have a great trip." he said as he told me good-bye.

"Officer, I'm going to do something and I hope you don't take offense. I'd like to give you a little money." I said.

No!, what are you thinking? I only did this to show that even though it's not easy, we're still here." he says.

"Accept it, please" I reply.

"Fine", he says as he reluctantly accepts it "It'll be for the guys, we can buy a pizza with this. Thank you very much"

I boarded my plane thinking about how they are in a place with bathrooms, running water, and more, but what about the other soldiers in kilometer 30, or the ones left out in the brush and wilderness?

The truth is we do have many anonymous heroes, what a shame we do not honor them as they deserve.


eModicus

The US Department of Cannibis

The discussion of the legalization and regulation of marijuana has certainly created quite a stir and created a slew of opinions. It has certainly created divisions among activists and legalists to the point that several movements have been created both for and against legalization of marijuana. If the issue of marijuana legalization is going to be discussed, it is imperative that we also address the issues of regulation, enforcement, taxation, abuse treatment and the effect that marijuana use will have on our society. This is where most discussions fail.

Another point in the discussion that I often find is ignored, are the unintended consequences of marijuana legalization, although the proponents for marijuana would rather not address that issue.

With all the ills and problems our society is dealing with, do we really need to create another problem that will eventually become another burden that taxpayers and non smokers will wind up paying for and subsidizing? What will become of a society that demands acceptance of whatever is popular and a government that bends to whims of demanding citizens?
Aside from addiction and abuse of marijuana as well as the long term affects of marijuana use, will pot smokers also be demanding social services for abuse treatment? Who will pay for all that? We all know cigarette smoking causes several illnesses and ailments such as emphysema and cancer. Tobacco vendors are constantly being sued and accused of killing people for profit for addicting us on their product knowing full well it’s addictive. What’s going to happen when marijuana smokers start wanting to sue someone because they claim they unaware of the effects of THC? Is the government going to be responsible? Or is society in general going to be held holding the financial burden bag?

If marijuana is legalized, who is going to regulate it? The same government who has been fighting it’s import and use for the past 50 years? The same current government that has bungled social security, our taxes, and created the highest national debt in history? If by some ironic coincidence, the government does regulate it, say, maybe the newly formed US Department of Cannabis, what regulations will they put in place? Will the regulations and taxes be more than pot smokers can afford or willing to deal with?

In every pro marijuana article I’ve ever read, I usually see the same claims that crime is reduced or that social woes do not manifest themselves where marijuana is legal. First of all, that is a self fulfilling statement that does not include secondary crimes committed by the addicts. Crimes such as theft, robbery, and other petty crimes for marijuana money. The first part of the statement says that if marijuana is legalized, the pot peddler will no longer be arrested for selling marijuana. True, instead of police reporting 100 pot peddlers being arrested, they’ll report 0. The difference is that the pot peddlers will no longer be charged with possession of marijuana but charged with violation of the standards set by the US Department of Cannabis. That does not mean crime is reduced, it only means that the crime titles changed from possession or intent to distribute, to violations of US Department of Cannabis regulations. How about the marijuana addicts who can’t hold a job because they’re always stoned and commit other crimes to support their habit, just like crack and meth addicts? Those would be reported as robberies and thefts but not classified as drug crimes. So, crime only shifts from the dealer to the user and ultimately onto society. In reality, crime would not be reduced enough to honestly say that pot legalization would reduce crime significantly to support that theory.

Basically, the legalization does not change crime rates, it will only shift the responsibility of the consequences from the dealers and users to the regulatory agency and the related costs onto society.

A fact is that the legalization of marijuana will inevitably create a black market started by the pot peddlers who cannot be registered or licensed for a variety of reasons. These people still have access to suppliers but cannot sell it legally, but they can sell it illegally and cheaper because they won’t be paying taxes or the related expenses required by federal regulation.
The majority of marijuana that comes into the US originates in Mexico and tightly controlled by the cartels that are in the business strictly for the money. They behead people who steal or lose their loads. Do you honestly believe that cartel overlords are going to willingly give up eight to ten percent of their profits so Uncle Sam can get their cut? So what now, grow and sell only American grown pot? Ok, let’s take a look at that scenario. I’m sure there are a lot of people in the US who will want to jump into the pot growing business with both feet. For starters, The US Department of Cannabis is going to set standards for who can grow, how they can grow, and how much they can grow, along with a myriad of standards that will automatically disqualify many wannabe pot growers. Next, come the questions of distribution, quality control, and transportation, all of which will undoubtedly raise the price to almost higher than what you can get on the street from an illegal vendor since the cartels will only undercut the US Department of Cannabis anyway.

Back to the marijuana overlords in Mexico. Cartel leaders who profit from Americans’ addiction to marijuana are a clever bunch. They will not sit idly by and watch the US Government profit from their product(s). They will either raise marijuana prices or find some other way to regain their lost profit margin. Any search into a Mexican newspaper will show that they will NOT give up any profits. People are beheaded and burned alive for losing small quantities of their loads, or profits. That should be proof enough that the cartels will not give in easily to Uncle Sam or anyone else profiting off the Cartels’ marijuana.

The inevitable argument marijuana proponents make at this point is the example of tobacco and alcohol sale and regulation. Yes, both have been legalized and regulated but, look at the problems those two items continue to plague our society. Besides, you can't compare marijuana to tobacco because tobacco is grown and sold by large companies who are under scrutiny from the government. Tobacco is not grown and sold independantly by mom and pop tobacco smokers, marijuana smokers who demand legalization want to be the mom and pop growers and sellers.
As an example, cigarettes have been legal, taxed, and regulated for years. We all know at least one person who has been affected by smoking. Some people have even lost a loved one to emphysema or cancer. We know what suffering has been endured by their families and the expenses involved in caring for a patient suffering from the long term effects of smoking. Each year, the US spends millions of dollars on treatment for people who suffer from the effects of tobacco and yet we still spend even more buying a product we all know can be deadly. I for one, just can’t see any logic in that. Yes, I know that cigarette and pot smokers will stand together and argue in one voice that they have the right to do whatever they want with their money and bodies. But should I or non pot smokers have to pay for your care and treatment because you chose to abuse your body because it’s "your right"?

Smoking is now banned in many places and even some insurance companies are dropping tobacco users, or at least raising premiums. You can expect the same thing for marijuana smokers. Thousands of people have died as a direct result of smoking, causing tobacco related medical treatments costs to skyrocket. Marijuana will be no different in that respect.

As for alcohol, the problem of underage drinking and drunk driving killing drinkers and innocent people on a daily basis in our country is problem that affects way too many people. As it is today, alcoholics and the issues surrounding alcoholism create so many problems and costs taxpayers so much money that it is becoming an epedemic. Does our society really need to add another problem just because some people who feel it's their right to get stoned "demand marijuana's legalization?"

More on the marijuana problem in a later post.


eModicus

Lesson Learned

Well folks, I've learned a valuable lesson. An accident I had warned others about stuck me. I lost my flash drive with many of the posts I had been working on for this site. I know, I know. As somewhat of a techy, I should have known better. I'm not prone to losing things and a little obsessive about accountability, but apparently, my accountability takes a back seat when I get overwhelmed. Given my ever changing work schedule and responsibility load, I misplaced my flash drive.

When I asked my daughter if she'd seen my flash drive, she responded by sarcastically asking "Is that one of those antique storage thingees?" and "brought me into the present" by telling me about Dropbox. I had been an X-Drive user since day one but quit when they stated charging and promptly forgot about online storage. I am now a hardcore Dropbox user!

I'll get to the subject matter posts in a bit but. I'd like to update my progress a bit.  Since the beginning of this blog, I stated that I had made some commitments for this year.

1. I've lost 10 lbs. and gotten in shape. In fact, I finished the P-90X and competed in the Spartan
     Race!
    www.spartanrace.com

2. I've started reading more. I intended on reading more books but I wound up reading more online.

3. Still working on better communication with the wifester and kids but definitely some improvements in that area. This is important so, I'm working hard here.

Now, I'll post some of the articles I've had to rewrite from drafts for now. My best piece on how a cartel sicarios comes into being was totally lost so I'll have to start from scratch with that one. Again, Sorry about the loss and delay of my posts. As I've mentioned, I have a bit of an obsession with accountability so I'll post regularly and make it up to you. Thanks for your concerned emails regarding my absence.


eModicus