De War on Drugs in Mexico #3 - Weer kopstuk opgepakt

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Zeker 20 mensen in Mexicaanse bar vermoord

Een groep gewapende mannen heeft gisteravond zeker 20 mensen doodgeschoten in een bar in Monterrey in het noorden van Mexico. Het zou gaan om een afrekening tussen criminele bendes. Militairen hebben de bar omsingeld.

Volgens de zender Televisa zijn er ook vijf gewonden gevallen en hebben de daders van de schietpartij acht mensen in gijzeling genomen.

Sinds het voorjaar van 2010 is het aantal moorden in Monterrey fors gestegen als gevolg van de strijd tussen drugsbendes als Los Zetas en La Familia. Volgens officiële cijfers waren er in 2009 267 moorden in Monterrey gepleegd, in 2010 waren dat er 828. Dit jaar zijn er al 770 mensen omgebracht.

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Zware misdaad in hennepteelt machtiger dan ooit

Geweld, ripdeals, liquidaties, witwassen en corruptie. Massale politie invallen, zwaarbewapende arrestatieteams, inbeslagname van miljoenen euro’s. In Brabant woedt een serieuze strijd tussen de georganiseerde misdaad in de wiethandel en de autoriteiten. Hoe is het met de drugsoorlog in Brabant? EenVandaag ging op pad met de Taskforce tegen de georganiseerde hennepteelt en ging kijken in Brabant - de ‘wietschuur van Europa’.

Alarm
Een half jaar geleden sloegen bestuurders in het zuiden alarm over het uit de hand gelopen geweld na een serie liquidaties en aanslagen. Er kwam een Nationale Taskforce die de criminele bendes achter de wietteelt moest stoppen. Wat is er sindsdien gebeurd?
De criminele softdrugsbendes die de grensregio teisteren blijken machtiger dan ooit en de invloed van de zware misdaad ernstiger dan gedacht. Politie en justitie hebben de grootste moeite de invloedrijke criminele organisaties te bestrijden.

Taskforce
EenVandaag maakt de balans op met Bart Nieuwenhuizen, hoofdofficier van Den Bosch en voorzitter van de landelijke Taskforce tegen de georganiseerde hennepteelt. Hij maakt bekend dat de autoriteiten nog zeker tien jaar nodig hebben om de wietcriminaliteit onder controle te krijgen en een einde te maken aan de macht van de netwerken. En met Simone Steendijk, korpschef Brabant-Zuidoost en vanuit de politie verantwoordelijk voor de Brabantse acties tegen de wietbendes. Ook commentaar van Gitte Stevens, topstrafpleiter in het zuiden en advocaat van grote verdachten in het Brabantse circuit, en de Tilburgse criminoloog Toine Spapens.

Aanval
Achter de schermen rukt de politie regelmatig met honderden agenten uit voor invallen die het milieu een slag toe moeten brengen. Samen met allerlei andere partijen (belastingdienst, marechaussee, gemeenten) zijn ze vooral op zoek naar de organisatoren en grootverdieners in de grootschalige teelt. Tot nu toe rukte de Taskforce zes keer groot uit met een paar honderd man na maandenlang onderzoek. Met resultaat – tientallen arrestaties en inbeslagname van miljoenen aan geld en dure auto’s - maar is het ook blijvend?

Hardnekkig: nieuwe cijfers
Politie en justitie in Brabant hebben de omvang van de georganiseerde misdaad achter de toelevering van coffeeshops en de gigantische hennep-export opnieuw in kaart gebracht. “Het is ernstiger dan gedacht”, zegt Steendijk. Brabant telt 24 georganiseerde criminele netwerken die zichzelf financiert met hennepteelt- en handel. Ze houden zich daarnaast bezig met andere zaken als mensenhandel, overvalcriminaliteit en wapenhandel. Zeker 300 bekende zware criminelen zijn actief in het circuit. Per kwartaal betrapt het OM zo’n 700 verdachten die iets met hennepteelt te maken hebben. “Bijna alle criminaliteit in Brabant hangt samen met wiet”, concludeert dan ook onderzoeker Toine Spapens van de Universiteit Tilburg. Landelijk zijn er volgens Bart Nieuwenhuis zo’n 160 criminele ondernemingen actief in de wietbussiness – waarmee 2 miljard euro per jaar wordt verdiend.
De aanpak van de overheid is kostbaar - 250 agenten zijn fulltime bezig met de opsporing van netwerken. Per actie van de Taskforce worden nog eens een paar honderd politiemensen en (belasting)ambtenaren ingezet. “Gemiddeld duurt het 1,5 jaar om een netwerk op te rollen”, rekent Steendijk voor.

Opbrengst
Sinds de start van de Taskforce, eind vorig jaar, zijn 24 grote namen uit het circuit opgepakt, 700 telers aangehouden en voor 60 miljoen aan hennepoogst vernietigd. Ook werden 54 huizen, tientallen dure auto’s en 3,5 miljoen aan geld inbeslag genomen. Hoofdofficier Nieuwenhuizen en korpschef Stevens zijn tevreden. Ondanks de massale kosten en vele manuren aan politie-inzet moet het op deze weg verder vinden zij. Want met een wietpas en besloten coffeeshops – waar het kabinet op inzet – kom je er niet. “Dat helpt allemaal maar een beetje. Wat nodig is dat je dit jaren volhoudt. Binnen tien jaar hebben we dit probleem opgelost”, belooft Nieuwenhuizen.

Hopeloos
Advocate Gitte Stevens verwacht niet dat het zo’n vaart zal lopen, integendeel. Zij waarschuwt dat zo lang Nederland een gedoogbeleid heeft en coffeeshops wiet mogen verkopen, de opjaagacties van politie en justitie geen enkele zin hebben en zelfs een averechts effect hebben: er treedt een verharding op en alleen zwaardere groeperingen zullen zich nog toeleggen op de wietteelt omdat die over de middelen beschikken om het vol te houden. “Wat wil je: de overheid gedoogt coffeeshops. Op zich een te verdedigen keuze. Maar iemand moet die shops bevoorraden. Rol je de ene groep op, dan staat de volgende klaar. Hoe moet de shop anders aan spullen komen?” Een radicale keuze van de politiek – wel of niet gedogen van coffeeshops – is volgens haar de enige keuze. Ook onderzoeker Spapens denkt dat de overheid en politiek hoognodig echte keuzes moeten maken. Anders kost de bestrijding van illegale wietteelt de overheid nog jaren vele miljoenen aan bestrijdingskosten.

Zangeres Zonder Naam - Mexico

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Doden door aanslagen FARC in Colombia

Bij bomaanslagen in de provincie Cauca in het zuidwesten van Colombia zijn gisteren drie doden en 77 gewonden gevallen. Volgens Colombiaanse regeringsfunctionarissen zit de rebellengroep FARC achter de aanslagen in de door drugsgeweld geteisterde provincie.

De rebellen vielen met een bus vol explosieven een politiepost aan in het stadje Toribio. Een politieagent en twee burgers overleefden de aanval niet. Zestig personen raakten gewond. Bijna tegelijkertijd ontploften elders in de provincie nog twee bommen, waardoor nog eens zeventien gewonden vielen.

Wreed
'Deze aanvallen laten duidelijk de wreedheid en de wanhoop van de FARC zien,' zo liet provinciegouverneur Guillermo Alberto Gonzalez in een verklaring weten.

Colombia is de nummer een cocaïneproducent van de wereld. In Cauca wordt veel cocaïne geproduceerd.

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Rights groups fear wave of deaths as Thailand faces new drugs crackdown

Pledge by PM-in-waiting as methamphetamine addiction rockets echoes brother's 2003 war on gangs

At first the tablets made life easier for Santhisuk: they helped him endure the long hours lugging heavy fabric bales in a Bangkok textiles factory.

Gradually he noticed he was angrier and more aggressive on the days he skipped them. But it was only when arrested for a third time – and sent to rehabilitation at a Buddhist temple – that he admitted his addiction to methamphetamine. Now clean, the 19-year-old labourer is worrying about what will happen when he leaves the sanctuary of Wat Saphan and returns home.

"It will be difficult because all my friends still take it. Drug use is so widespread now that everybody thinks it's normal," he said.

Monks at the temple in Klong Toey, one of Bangkok's poorest areas, say they have seen a huge increase in addiction rates. The problem has spread far beyond the Thai capital.

The number of methamphetamine users in Thailand will reach 1.1 million this year, the head of the country's anti-drug police told the Guardian - equivalent to one in every 60 citizens. The number of users has soared by 100,000 annually over the last five to six years, said Lieutenant-General Atitep Panjamanond.

Yingluck Shinawatra, the prime minister in waiting, has already pledged "a new war on drugs" to eliminate them within 12 months, alarming human rights groups who fear a repeat of her brother's 2003 crackdown.

More than 2,500 people died in three months after Thaksin Shinawatra ordered police to draw up blacklists of suspected dealers and act "decisively and without mercy". Though the police blamed gang crime for most of the deaths - they said 68 were shot by officers "in self-defence" - human rights groups say there is compelling evidence of extra-judicial killings. A committee later reported that more than half the dead, including a nine-year-old boy, had not been involved in the drugs trade.

But the campaign was hugely popular and as drug use rises, many want a return to tough action.

"Personally, I think the killings were a good thing. If you leave it to the courts [dealers] just cycle in and out of prison," said Aminna Bedinlae, 84, who lost her son to drugs and now runs anti-abuse programmes in Klong Toey, where 46 residents were shot.

Substance abuse had always been rife in the Bangkok slum, but in the past glue-sniffing was more common, said the 84-year-old. "Now they start off sniffing glue at six or seven and move on ... [Methamphetamine] is more expensive so they get involved with crime – theft or burglary– and it makes them more aggressive.

"My neighbour's son steals from the family and demands 300 baht [for drugs] every day. If she hasn't got it, he hits her." Drivers and labourers have long relied on methamphetamine tablets – known here as yaba or "crazy drug" – to sustain them through gruelling work sessions.

But Atitep said recreational use was extremely common and that children as young as 13 are taking it, with five- and six-year-olds being used as mules. Last month the public health minister said 6,700 children aged 7 to 17 were rehabilitated in the first half of this year.

Experts warn regular use can lead to addiction and psychiatric problems, and say the drug is associated with violent and aggressive behaviour. Atitep said about 70% of methamphetamine comes across the Burmese border and blamed ethnic militias for churning out more drugs to fund their fight against the regime. The price of a tablet has fallen to as little as 150 baht (£3) in places; half the 2004 price. His department seized 33m tablets in 2009, and 60m last year.

"That doesn't give me pleasure, because there is a lot more supply," the police chief said. "Today we seize 1m tablets. Tomorrow they produce 2m."

One of his teams had just seized 30,000 tablets in Nakhon Pathom province. But officers who traced the gang bosses behind the deal discovered they were already jailed and had continued to trade via smuggled mobile phones.

Atitep said changes in values and society were contributing to increasing drug use. Others say the economic fall out from 2008's global downturn, and the distraction of authorities by political turmoil, have exacerbated problems. Some allege that corrupt officers are facilitating the trade.

At Wat Saphan, monks fear another crackdown would only push problems underground.

"When Thaksin came along it was brutal. There was shooting — bam, bam, bam – and were the results worth it?" asked one monk, Phra Kru Manit. "Do you know who the kingpins are? Do you know which officials are involved? Deal with that, then deal with the problem on the streets." The real solution lay in rehabilitation programmes and better educational and economic opportunities for residents, he argued.

Yingluck told AFP before the election that she would "handle the drugs policy with care [for] human rights".

Montira Kantapin, a spokeswoman for Yingluck's Puea Thai party, said a working group was considering options.

"No one is disputing the government's desire to take on the drugs industry. It is the means we are concerned about," said Benjamin Zawacki, Amnesty International's south-east Asia researcher.

Sunai Phasuk of fellow charity Human Rights Watch said Yingluck's pledge to eradicate drugs was the group's biggest concern.

The outgoing government had identified suspects in a similar way but "with the Democrats' approach they are sent to a bootcamp facility [without proper medical help to quit]; with Thaksin's approach they might end up dead," he said.

He said that many of those killed in the 2003 crackdown had been "victims of personal revenge or sloppy categorisation". One couple was shot dead after acquiring suspicious wealth; it later emerged that they had won the lottery.

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Dertien aanhoudingen voor wietteelt en drugshandel

De politie in Twente heeft dertien mensen aangehouden op verdenking van betrokkenheid van georganiseerde wietteelt en drugshandel. De groep had hennepkwekerijen in Enschede, Hengelo, Hof van Twente en Losser.

Er werden ruim 5.000 hennepplanten in beslag genomen, meldde de politie vandaag. Verder werden er panden doorzocht in Almelo, Enschede en Oldenzaal. Hierbij zijn grondstoffen en apparatuur voor de hennepteelt in beslag genomen. Er zitten nog negen verdachten vast.

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Honderden kinderen dood in drugsoorlog Mexico

De strijd tegen de drugskartels in Mexico heeft sinds 2006 aan ongeveer 1300 kinderen en adolescenten het leven gekost. Dat meldde het dagblad Reforma vandaag.

Enkele Mexicaanse organisaties voor kinderrechten documenteerden schietincidenten waarbij kinderen omkwamen. 'We zijn zeer bezorgd, omdat het aantal gedode jeugdigen in de loop van de jaren is gestegen', aldus de organisaties. De drugsoorlog in Mexico heeft sinds het begin in 2006 aan meer dan 35.000 mensen het leven gekost.

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ATF loses track of 1,400 guns in criticized probe

(CNN) -- Federal agents can't account for more than 1,400 guns after a widely criticized operation aimed at tracing the flow of weapons to Mexican drug gangs, sources with knowledge of the investigation tell CNN.

Of 2,020 guns involved in the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives probe dubbed "Operation Fast and Furious," 363 have been recovered in the United States and 227 have been recovered in Mexico. That leaves 1,430 guns unaccounted for, the sources said..... meer

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Ten Years Ago Portugal Made All Drugs Legal. What Happened Next?

When the drug-drenched nation legalized all drugs within its borders, most critics predicted disaster. Instead drug use has plunged dramatically.

The government in Portugal has no plans to back down. Although the Netherlands is the European country most associated with liberal drug laws, it has already been ten years since Portugal became the first European nation to take the brave step of decriminalizing possession of all drugs within its borders—from marijuana to heroin, and everything in between. This controversial move went into effect in June of 2001, in response to the country’s spiraling HIV/AIDS statistics. While many critics in the poor and largely conservative country attacked the sea change in drug policy, fearing it would lead to drug tourism while simultaneously worsening the country’s already shockingly high rate of hard drug use, a report published in 2009 by the Cato Institute tells a different story. Glenn Greenwald, the attorney and author who conducted the research, told Time: “Judging by every metric, drug decriminalization in Portugal has been a resounding success. It has enabled the Portuguese government to manage and control the drug problem far better than virtually every other Western country."

Back in 2001, Portugal had the highest rate of HIV among injecting drug users in the European Union—an incredible 2,000 new cases a year, in a country with a population of just 10 million. Despite the predictable controversy the move stirred up at home and abroad, the Portuguese government felt there was no other way they could effectively quell this ballooning problem. While here in the U.S. calls for full drug decriminalization are still dismissed as something of a fringe concern, the Portuguese decided to do it, and have been quietly getting on with it now for a decade. Surprisingly, most credible reports appear to show that decriminalization has been a staggering success.

The DEA sees it a bit differently. Portugal, they say, was a disaster, with heroin and HIV rates out of control. "Portugal's addict population and the problems that go along with addiction continue to increase," the DEA maintains. "In an effort to reduce the number of addicts in the prison system, the Portuguese government has an enacted some radical policies in the last few years with the eventual decriminalization of all illicit drugs in July of 2001."

However, as Glenn Greenwald, the author of the Cato study, concludes: "By freeing its citizens from the fear of prosecution and imprisonment for drug usage, Portugal has dramatically improved its ability to encourage drug addicts to avail themselves of treatment. The resources that were previously devoted to prosecuting and imprisoning drug addicts are now available to provide treatment programs to addicts." Under the perfect system, treatment would also be voluntary, but as an alternative to jail, mandatory treatment save money. But for now, "the majority of EU states have rates that are double and triple the rate for post-decriminalization Portugal," Greenwald says.

For those looking for clues about how the U.S. government can tackle its domestic drug problem, the figures are enticing. Following decriminalization, Portugal eventually found itself with the lowest rates of marijuana usage in people over 15 in the EU: about 10%. Compare this to the 40% of people over 12 who regularly smoke pot in the U.S., a country with some of the most punitive drugs laws in the developed world. Drug use of all kinds has declined in Portugal: Lifetime use among seventh to ninth graders fell from 14.01% to 10.6%. Lifetime heroin use among 16-18 year olds fell from 2.5% to 1.8%. And what about those horrific HIV infection rates that prompted the move in the first place? HIV infection rates among drug users fell by an incredible 17%, while drug related deaths were reduced by more than half. "There is no doubt that the phenomenon of addiction is in decline in Portugal," said Joao Goulao, President of the Institute of Drugs and Drugs Addiction, at a press conference to mark the 10th anniversary of the law.

We’re not holding our breath that the Portuguese example will lead to any kind of abrupt about-face in America's own sputtering drug war, which is still sputtering steadily along at a cost of trillions a year. However, with the medical marijuana movement so far refusing to be strangled out of existence by the DEA, Senators Jim Webb and Arlen Specter recently made a proposal to create a blue ribbon commission to look at prison and drug sentencing reform. And for any pro-legalization presidential hopefuls in 2012, the movement for a common sense drug policy in the United States may be finally moving into the mainstream.

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European Commission Recommends Regulated Sale for "Legal Highs"

Duncan Scott of Liberal Democrats for Drug Policy Reform examines European Commission's recent statement on drug policy in this guest post.

Here's a statement from a press release from the European Commission (emphasis mine):

The Commission is considering various ways to make the EU rules more effective, such as alternative options to criminal sanctions, new ways of monitoring substances that cause concern, and aligning drugs control measures with those for food and product safety. In the autumn, the Commission will present a series of options in this respect.

These words are music to this drug policy reformer's ears. What is being actively considered here is a legal framework for the supply of new recreational drugs.

The problem of 'legal highs' is growing, with 115 new substances being identified in the EU over the last 5 years. Our hopeless drug laws can't keep up with criminalising more and more chemical compounds at an ever increasing rate. The drugs are typically sold as 'not for human consumption', even though they are produced with human consumption in mind. Clearly the current legislation is farcical.

No one denies that drugs can be dangerous, and each drug brings its own unique set of challenges for the health of the user and the wider effect on society. When talking of 'food safety' regulations, I hope the EC mean tighter rules than those covering, say, tinned tomatoes. The regulations should be modelled on those covering alcohol and tobacco as a bare minimum, to reflect the dangers of a drug.

The EC report also fails to consider what is causing the big increase in new pschoactive substances entering the market. The demand for legal highs is created by the illegality of more 'traditional' recreational drugs such as cannabis, ecstasy and cocaine. The scientific understanding of traditional drugs is also stronger, at least when compared to a brand new 'legal highs'. We therefore could have a situation where there is a proper legal framework for supplying less well understood recreational drugs, whilst well-known drugs remain criminalised. It would be more successful if legislation were designed to fit around the best understood recreational drugs.

If the EC successfully produces legal high supply regulations, I would expect that some of the first drugs to make use of the regulations will see a reasonable number of users, which could steal the recreational drug market away from both criminal dealers and the unregulated 'legal high' traders.

It is also interesting to note the language used by the EC in its press release. It promotes a non-criminal justice approach with the familiar rhetoric of populist drug policy: "tougher action", "protect our children", "rules must be strengthened", "make sure young people do not fall into the trap" etc. The communications staff at the EC may well have figured that the "tough" rhetoric will be needed to sell what is actually a pragmatic policy approach which faces up to the reality of a demand for recreational drugs. As long as the legislative outcomes are to be a success, I'm happy for the politicians to sell it to the press and public however they can.

Finally, it must be said that there's a long way to go with this yet. This is a highly emotive topic, and the EC has many political hurdles to jump. I can imagine the Daily Mail having kittens over this - EU SECRET PLOT TO PEDAL KILLER DRUGS TO OUR CHILDREN seems an inevitability. Nevertheless, we are seeing pragmatic, non-dogmatic drug policy being actively considered by governments at all levels. Reformers are slowly winning the War on Drugs Policy.

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White House admits marijuana has ‘some’ medical value

Just days after the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) insisted that there is no medical value to marijuana, the White House appeared to contradict the position, saying in a report that there may actually be "some" medical value to "individual components of the cannabis plant" after all.

The statement was just a small part of the Office on National Drug Control Policy's yearly update on the progress of the drug war and its goals moving forward. Overall, the document only serves to affirm the federal prohibition of marijuana and what it calls "'medical' marijuana," which it still views as illegitimate.

But a single passage, under their "facts about marijuana," seems to loosen a bit from the generation-old line that there is no value to cannabis whatsoever.

"While there may be medical value for some of the individual components of the cannabis plant, the fact remains that smoking marijuana is an inefficient and harmful method for delivering the constituent elements that have or may have medicinal value," the report says.

Still, today's medical marijuana patients and proprietors don't have much to cheer in the report, as it goes on to insist that smoking the marijuana plant itself is harmful and dangerous, especially for teens, and perpetuates the largely discredited "gateway drug" theory.

Critics are likely to see the passage as offering a bit of wiggle room for major pharmesutical producers looking to grow marijuana to extract its psychoactive ingredient, THC, or other cannabinoid compounds that have been demonstrated to help abate symptoms of some chronic diseases, like wasting syndrome in AIDS patients or nausea in cancer patients.

In 2007, GW Pharmaceuticals announced that it partnered with Otsuka to bring "Sativex" -- or liquefied marijuana -- to the U.S. The companies recently completed Phase II efficacy and safety trials testing and began discussion with the FDA for Phase III testing. Phase III is generally thought to be the final step before the drug can be marketed in the U.S.

Sativex is the brand name for a drug derived from cannabis sativa. It's an extract from the whole plant cannabis, not a synthetic compound. Even GW defines the drug (.pdf) as marijuana.

Yet as the FDA is poised to approve the drug for Big Pharma, state-licensed medical marijuana dispensaries that provide relief for thousands of Americans are under attack by other federal agencies.

The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) has warned just as much, claiming that federal authorities may be looking to shift policy slightly, if only to legalize marijuana-based medicines for Big Pharma only, which could step in and potentially eradicate the medical marijuana market.

The Obama administration said in a recent memo that it fully intends to enforce the federal ban on marijuana, regardless of whether individual states have legalized its use for medical purposes.

It added that a 2009 memo, which seemed to take the pressure off state-authorized medical marijuana clinics and patients, was merely a guidance on the best uses of federal funds and not actually a change in policy.

An ABC News poll found last year that eight in 10 Americans favor legalizing medical marijuana.

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Italië arresteert 40 leden drugsmaffia

De Italiaanse politie heeft gisteren de internationale drugshandel een gevoelige slag toegebracht. Honderden kilo's cocaïne bestemd voor de Europese markt werden in beslag genomen en in totaal werden veertig verdachten gearresteerd, meldde de politie.

De politie richtte zich op drugshandel in Europa, de Verenigde Staten en Latijns-Amerika. De Calabrische maffia 'ndrangheta importeert volgens de autoriteiten drugs naar Italië en de rest van Europa door deals met Colombiaanse en Mexicaanse drugskartels.

'Het is een zeer grote operatie waarbij wereldwijd zes landen zijn betrokken', zei Nicola Gratteri, openbaar aanklager voor georganiseerde misdaad in de zuidelijke regio Calabrië van waaruit de 'ndrangheta opereert. De 'ndrangheta is volgens Gratteri de grootste importeur van cocaïne in Europa.

Er zijn mensen gearresteerd in onder meer Calabrië, Sicilië en Lombardije. Daarnaast zijn er arrestatiebevelen uitgevaardigd tegen vijf vermoedelijke drugshandelaren in Nederland en Spanje en drie verdachten in Colombia, de Verenigde Staten en Venezuela, meldden de carabinieri.

De 'ndrangheta wordt tegenwoordig als machtiger dan de Siciliaanse maffia beschouwd en drijft een van de grootste drugshandels ter wereld.

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http://opcannabis.wordpress.com/

Welcome!

Anonymous Operation Cannabis is an awareness and reform effort. Under the banner of #OpCannabis we will be informing the public on much of the disinformation that is available and what the reality of the situation is. Through us you will also find petitions, protest dates and other resources to help us in our efforts.

Stay tuned for more information.

To join in discussion, Get I2P – Official Homepages I2PProject.net / I2P2.de Download I2P Installer v0.8.7

Point your IRC client at 127.0.0.1:6668 and /join #OpCannabis

In the meantime enjoy the following documentaries

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Mayhem rivals border in Mexico's 3rd-largest city

Associated Press= MONTERREY, Mexico (AP) — The northern city of Monterrey, once Mexico's symbol of development and prosperity, is fast becoming a new Ciudad Juarez.

Drug-related murders this year are on pace to double last year's and triple those of the year before in the once-tranquil industrial hub. In recent weeks a tortured, screaming teenager was hung alive from a bridge. Two of the governor's bodyguards were dismembered and dumped with messages threatening the state leader.

Last week, gunmen killed 20 people in a bar where Ziplock bags of drugs were found, the largest mass murder to date in the metro area of 4 million people. The toll continued this week: 14 were killed in separate hits on Wednesday, eight more on Thursday.

Officials say two cartels turned the city upside down practically overnight when they split in early 2010 and are trying to outdo each other with grisly displays.

Security officials acknowledge they don't know how much worse it will get.

"As long as there are consumers and a critical mass of young people for these gangs to recruit, it's hard to imagine the number (of killings) will go down," said Jorge Domene, state security spokesman for Nuevo Leon state, where Monterrey is located.

The scale of the killings has rarely been seen in Mexico outside border cities such Juarez, Tijuana and Nuevo Laredo, the main gateways for drugs passing into the United States that have seen dramatic surges of violence since President Felipe Calderon intensified Mexico's crackdown on organized crime in 2006.

And fear is starting to fray the social order. Concern over violence has caused enrollment to drop at the prestigious home campus of Mexico's top private university, the Technology Institute of Monterrey, which has had to lay off some employees.

The chamber of industry in a brash, proud city where the annual income per capita is double the national average didn't want to talk to The Associated Press about the impact of violence on business, though some executives acknowledge they've had to spend more on security.

Shirt factory owner Gilberto Marcos, a member of a citizens' council on security, said some businesses have clearly faced extortion from drug gangs, though few cases are reported.

The Gulf Cartel once controlled drug running through Monterry, and Mexico's third-largest city had a reputation as a quiet, safe place. Where drug traffickers were present, they avoided creating problems, hiding their families amid neighborhoods of corporate executives.

The violence exploded when the Zetas broke away from the Gulf Cartel, creating a struggle for control of the area. The fight has left more than 1,000 people dead so far this year in Nuevo Leon state, compared to 828 in 2010 and 267 in 2009.

In wealthier parts of the area, restaurants are still packed and people still jog and walk their dogs at night. In poorer suburbs, though, entire blocks have been held up by gunmen and young people snatched off the streets.

Monterrey has still not reached the desperation of Ciudad Juarez, which was always a much grittier city and is now considered one of the world's most dangerous after more 3,000 people were killed last year. There, extortion, killings and torchings of businesses have devastated the local economy and sent people fleeing across the border to El Paso, Texas.

But Monterrey is rapidly growning more violent even as murders in Juarez have begun to drop.

Gangs in Monterrey hung the battered body of a topless woman from a freeway overpass last December and more recently two young men were tied to ropes, dangled from an overpass and shot in the midst of rush-hour traffic. One survived.

Sister Consuelo Morales, director of the Citizens in Support of Human Rights, said about 70 families have come to her for help in finding sons and daughters kidnapped off the streets or from their own homes.

One couple, who didn't want to be named for fear of retaliation, said their son, an 18-year-old university linguistics major, was abducted by a dozen gunmen who broke into their home one night in January.

Their best hope is that he is working for a cartel.

"We have this hope that they have him packing drugs or money," said his father, a taxi driver who quit working to search for his son full time.

The Gulf Cartel and the Zetas broke apart over the killing of a Zeta in the border city of Reynosa, across from McAllen, Texas, in January 2010. Since then, they have made a war zone of northeastern Mexico, even as the federal government has mounted a special operation to stop the violence with thousands of military and police reinforcements.

The federal government has made a show of force in Tamaulipas state in Mexico's northeast corner, where the Zetas are blamed for slaughtering 72 migrants nearly a year ago, then kidnapping bus passengers and burying them in mass graves. Domene said that has only pushed the violence westward into Nuevo Leon.

Local and state government can't fight back because much of their police forces have been corrupted or coerced by the gangs.

Nuevo Leon state Gov. Rodrigo Medina has promised to purge bad elements from law enforcement, but critics say his government has moved too slowly. So far only three of the state's 51 municipalities have fully vetted their police departments, Domene said.

In Guadalupe, a suburb of 700,000 badly hit by the violence, only 100 of 800 police officers remain after the new mayor began purging her police department a year and a half ago, he added.

Last month, the dismembered bodies of two of Gov. Medina's bodyguards were dumped in Guadalupe with a message accusing him of favoring one of the cartels. It didn't say which one.

On Thursday, Federal Police Commissioner Facundo Rosas inaugurated the first of nine permanent checkpoints that will be manned by soldiers and federal and state police on all major roads leading in and out of the city. The first is on a federal toll road between Monterrey and Reynosa, a highway that used to be traveled by shoppers heading to Texas.

The state also recently opened a police academy, where recruits have to have at least a junior high-school education, be in good physical and have no criminal record. While that seems minimal by other countries' standards, Mexican forces have traditionally been made up of poorly educated, low-paid workers who receive little training.

The first group of 422 officers will graduate in September after five months' training. Another 1,600 are expected to be trained by the end of the year, Domene said.

Nuevo Leon officials have proposed dissolving all local police departments, which in general are among the most corrupt in Mexico, to create one force of 14,000 newly trained and vetted state officers by 2015. But the proposal has stalled in the local legislature.

For Marcos, the government's efforts to improve security in the state come too little too late.

He said residents had been pushing for the government to do more on security since at least 2005, when drug violence tore apart nearby Nuevo Laredo, the border city across from Laredo, Texas.

The Sinaloa and Gulf cartels were fighting for control there. The Gulf won the fight, backed by their then-allies, the Zetas.

"They ignored us because it wasn't politically convenient to address the problems then," Marcos said. "We said this could become a serious problem and look at us now."

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CDA: Alle coffeeshops moeten dicht

Het CDA eist dat de uitspraak van de Raad van State wordt nageleefd en daarom moet het afgelopen zijn met het gedoogbeleid. Alle coffeeshops moeten dicht.

'Via minister Opstelten roepen we politie en justitie op om te handhaven en niet langer te gedogen', zegt CDA-Kamerlid Çörüz tegen de Telegraaf. 'De Raad van State is klip-en-klaar.'

Uitspraak Raad van State
De Raad van State veegde een apart blowverbod van verschillende gemeenten deze week van tafel. Volgens het hoogste rechtsorgaan is zo'n gemeentelijke regeling overbodig, omdat het bezit van softdrugs volgens de Opiumwet verboden is. De Raad meent dat daaruit volgt dat ook het gebruik strafbaar is.

'Dit kan maar een ding betekenen', vindt CDA-er Çörüz. 'Als je niet mag blowen, kun je ook de coffeeshops niet langer in stand houden. Wij vinden drugs gewoon troep. Het leidt tot gezondheidsklachten en criminaliteit, daar moet je gewoon een eind aan maken.'

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Mass psychosis in the US

How Big Pharma got Americans hooked on anti-psychotic drugs.

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Guatemalan journalist keeps secrets of drug killings for posthumous video

Carlos Jimenez's video to be aired only if he falls victim to the escalating violence against journalists in central America

It is the most compelling video Carlos Jimenez has taped as a journalist but he sincerely hopes it will never be broadcast. If it is, he will be dead.

The tape features Jimenez talking to camera and naming those who have turned his community in El Naranjo, northern Guatemala, into a nest of corruption, violence and fear.

The video, already passed on to trusted contacts, is to be aired only if the reporter is murdered. "It is to be posthumous. I detail who has been doing all the killings. You'll get to see it if they kill me."

The macabre film is the latest sign that narco-fuelled violence has spilled down from Mexico and turned central America into one of the world's deadliest regions for journalists. Media workers are being abducted and gunned down in increasing numbers amid a climate of fear and impunity.

Yensi Roberto Ordoñez, a TV host with Guatemala's provincial Canal 14 cable station, was found dead with knife wounds to his neck and chest in May after receiving threats his bosses said were related to his work.

The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) condemned what it called a "wave of violence" against Guatemala's journalists, especially those in the provinces.

In Honduras, 13 journalists have been killed in the past 18 months. In the most recent case hooded men with AK-47s shot Luis Ernesto Mendoza, the owner of a TV station in the city of Danli, as he arrived at his office.

Days later gunmen ambushed and wounded Manuel Acosta Medina, the general manager of La Tribuna, a daily newspaper in the Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa, as he drove home. More than 30 bullets were fired into the car and at least four hit Acosta but he managed to escape.

"We call on Honduran authorities to thoroughly investigate these vicious attacks and establish what the motives were," said Carlos Lauria, of the Committee to Protect Journalists. "The wave of violence in Honduras is seriously restricting freedom of expression."

The New York-based advocacy group published a report last year accusing authorities of "a pattern of botched and negligent investigative work" when it came to murdered journalists.

Police said the media killings were unrelated and reflected a wider upsurge in homicides, which has made Honduras one of the world's most dangerous countries. To supplement meagre salaries many journalists have other business interests, said police, making them targets for robbery and extortion.

The IAPA said in a report last month that attacks increased after a coup ousted President Manuel Zelaya in June 2009, stoking political tension. "Aggression, intimidation and threats against reporters and media executives have continued as a consequence of the political crisis … and the surge of organised crime and narco-trafficking."

Amnesty International said the Honduran government paid lip service to protecting journalists but took few concrete measures. With the police often suspected of complicity with organised crime, and courts overloaded, the vast majority of murders in Guatemala and Honduras go unsolved.

Jimenez said he was unable to properly report murders in El Naranjo. "I may know who was killed, why, how, where and when but I can't write about it or broadcast it. It's very, very frustrating. But if I deviate from that I could be next."

Gunmen once burst into his radio station – a rickety two-room operation – to complain about a report. For his own security Jimenez repeats on air and in print only the skimpy details offered by police. It is a practise common to newspapers across the region. Some murder reports are less than 10 words.

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Zwaar drugsgeweld teistert Mexico: 49 doden in 2 dagen

Minstens 32 mensen zijn binnen 48 uur omgekomen bij gewelddadigheden tussen drugskartels onderling en het Mexicaanse leger in regio's in het noorden en zuiden van Mexico. Dat hebben lokale autoriteiten vandaag aan persbureau AFP gemeld.

Gisteren werden op verschillende locaties in de noordelijke deelstaat Nuevo Leon vijftien lijken aangetroffen. Onder de slachtoffers bevonden zich vijf ex-gedetineerden. Nuevo Leon kent een sterke heropflakkering van geweld sinds de breuk tussen de voormalige bondgenoten van het zogenaamde Golfkartel en de Zeta's. Deze laatste bestaat voornamelijk uit voormalige elite-soldaten uit het Mexicaanse leger.

Nog eens zeventien lijken werden gevonden in de zuidelijke deelstaat Guerrero. Een groep patrouillerende politieagenten raakten zondagnacht verzeild in een vuurgevecht met onbekende criminelen waarbij de agenten zeven individuen doodschoten. Acht andere lichamen werden levenloos aangetroffen na verschillende geweldadige voorvallen, en ook twee agenten werden vermoord in de badplaats Acapulco door nog niet nader geïdentificeerde criminelen.

De deelstaat Guerrero wordt sinds eind 2010 geteisterd door clashes tussen de concurrerende kartels Familia en de Caballeros Templarios.

Ook kwamen 17 mensen om door een vuurgevecht in de gevangenis van de beruchte Mexicaanse stad Ciudad Juárez. Dat hebben functionarissen van de gevangenis vanmiddag gezegd.

Gevangenen hadden cipiers wapens afhandig gemaakt, waarop een vuurgevecht met gevangenispersoneel ontstond dat zeker een uur duurde. Drugsgeweld komt veelvuldig voor in Ciudad Juárez, dat net over de grens met El Paso in de Verenigde Staten ligt.

Cijfers
Volgens officiële cijfers en uit onderzoek door verschillende Mexicaanse media zijn sinds december 2006 al zeker 41000 mensen omgekomen bij gewelddadigheden tussen drugskartels en de overheid. President Felipe Calderon lanceerde in dat jaar een grootschalig offensief waarbij hij 50 000 militairen inzette tegen de oppermachtige drugsbaronnen.

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NAACP calls for end to “war on drugs”

The NAACP on Tuesday passed what it called a “historic” resolution calling for an end to the war on drugs.

The resolution comes as world leaders are taking a hard look at the 40-year “war,” and also as new data shows widened racial disparities within the U.S.

“Today the NAACP has taken a major step towards equity, justice and effective law enforcement,” NAACP President Benjamin Jealous said in a statement Monday. The resolution was approved by delegates at the annual NAACP convention in Los Angeles. “These flawed drug policies that have been mostly enforced in African American communities must be stopped and replaced with evidenced-based practices that address the root causes of drug use and abuse in America.”

The NAACP noted that African Americans are 13 times more likely to go to jail for the same drug-related offense than their white counterparts. The resolution endorses the expansion of rehabilitation and treatment programs as an alternative to sending drug offenders to prison. It also endorses the expansion of methadone clinics and other proven treatment protocols.

Robert Rooks, director of the NAACP Criminal Justice Program, said in a statement that the war on drugs has created “a system of racial disparities that rivals Jim Crow policies of the 1960′s.”

Last year, noting the racial disparities in drug policy enforcement, the NAACP’s California chapter backed Proposition 19, the failed ballot measure that would have legalized marijuana use in California.

Last month, the Global Commission on Drug Policy also urged governments to end the criminalization of marijuana. The 19-member commission — which included former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, former U.S. Secretary of State George P. Schultz, and former presidents of Mexico, Brazil and Colombia — called the global war on drugs a failure. CBS News’ Sharyl Attkisson reported that the federal drug control budget has grown substantially in the past four decades to more than $ 15 billion a year.

Once the NAACP’s board of directors ratifies the resolution in October, the organization will encourage its 1,200 chapters to organize campaigns to advocate for the end to the war on drugs.

The NAACP approved its resolution on the same day new Census data showed that the “wealth gaps” between whites, blacks and Hispanics are the widest they’ve been since the government started keeping track 25 years ago.

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25.000 Mexicanen sneuvelden in 2010 in drugsoorlog

In Mexico zijn in 2010 door geweld 24.374 mensen door geweld om het leven gebracht. Dat zijn bijna 80 slachtoffers per dag. In vergelijking met 2009 is dat een toename van bijna 23 procent.

Dat meldde de Mexicaanse krant El Universal vandaag op gezag van het nationale instituut voor statistiek en geografie (Inegi).

De meeste doden door geweld vielen vorig jaar in de noordelijke deelstaat Chihuahua. Daar zijn in 2010 4747 moorden gepleegd.

Mexico is al jaren het toneel van een drugsoorlog. Rivaliserende bendes bestrijden elkaar. Ook zijn er bloedige confrontaties tussen de kartels en het leger.

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Op dinsdag 26 juli 2011 21:31 schreef Weltschmerz het volgende:
Weer een kopstuk opgepakt. Dan kan de eindoverwinning in de war on drugs niet meer ver weg zijn.