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

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Op woensdag 16 november 2011 02:36 schreef El_Matador het volgende:
War on Drugs:

CDA: Nederland moet qat verbieden
_{di 15 nov 2011, 22:04}

DEN HAAG - Nederland moet qat verbieden, vindt het CDA. Vooral de Somaliërs in ons land kauwen het de hele nacht en zijn dan de volgende dag uitgeteld. Zo integreren ze natuurlijk niet, gaat Mirjam Sterk betogen bij de begroting Integratie deze week.

In juni bleek dat de gemeente Uithoorn een doorvoerhaven is voor de drug naar Zweden, herinnert ze zich. „Alle reden dus om de drugs te verbieden. Nederland is op dit moment nog het enige land dat dit niet heeft gedaan”, aldus het Tweede Kamerlid.
_{Bron: Telegraaf}

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Leading international drug-war expert Sanho Tree, with whom I appeared on a panel a couple of years back at the C.U. Boulder Conference on World Affairs, argues that drug cartels are not in the business of killing people. It’s bad for business. Certainly a drug cartel or a random street gang may fight for control of trafficking corridors, but state-directed drug arrests remove players and thus open valuable real estate over which rival gangs then fight.

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Mexico: Journalists under attack in fresh wave of violence

Fresh attacks against media outlets in Mexico highlight the authorities’ failure to take measures to protect journalists from a wave of intimidation and violence by armed gangs, Amnesty International said today.

Gunmen set a car alight and fired bullets outside the offices of a newspaper in the northern city of Torreón, Coahuila state, yesterday, while a newsroom in the eastern state of Veracruz was ransacked by armed attackers on 6 November.

“As these latest incidents show, Mexico continues to be one of the most dangerous countries in the world to be a journalist,” said Javier Zuñiga, Special Adviser to Amnesty International.

“The Mexican authorities must demonstrate that threats and violence against the media will not be tolerated, by putting in place effective preventative measures and by carrying out a thorough, impartial investigation into the attacks and swiftly bringing those responsible to justice.”

At least three armed men reportedly took part in the attack on the newspaper El Siglo de Torreón in the northern state of Coahuila early on Tuesday morning.

In addition to setting a car alight outside the main entrance to the newspaper’s offices, the gunmen shot at least 20 live rounds at an adjacent building, which houses a sister publication. No one was hurt in the attack.

Shots were also fired at the newspaper’s offices in August 2009, while several other media outlets in and around Torreón have come under attack and journalists have been abducted in recent years by organized crime groups.

In the neighbouring state of Zacatecas, authorities are investigating the case of two delivery workers from the newspaper El Financiero, who have been missing since Monday afternoon after they reportedly informed colleagues they were being followed by police.

Meanwhile on 6 November El Buen Tono, a daily in the eastern port city of Veracruz was ransacked by gunmen who vandalized equipment and set fire to the newspaper’s offices.

UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression Frank La Rue has said Mexico is the most violent country in the Americas for journalists, and the fifth most dangerous worldwide.

According to figures published in September by the state-funded National Human Rights Commission (Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos, CNDH), 74 journalists have been killed in Mexico since 2000, including at least eight so far this year. Those behind the attacks and killings are virtually never identified or brought to justice.

Given the high risk to reporters, particularly at local level, regional Mexican media outlets often take precautions like toning down their coverage or completely ignoring issues surrounding crime and insecurity.

“The self-censorship brought on by Mexico’s violent war on organized crime is eroding freedom of expression in some parts of the country,” said Javier Zuñiga.

“The authorities must do more to ensure effective protection measures for journalists so they can carry on their work without facing intimidation or physical attacks. The most urgent measure needed is to end the impunity enjoyed by those responsible for attacks on journalists and media outlets.”

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Op woensdag 16 november 2011 11:25 schreef Viajero het volgende:

[..]

Mooi. Dus alle Somaliers in Nederland stoppen nu met qat kauwen. Want het is nu verboden. En als het verboden is, verdwijnt het vanzelf.

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Op woensdag 16 november 2011 23:34 schreef El_Matador het volgende:

[..]

Ik heb er geen ervaring mee, maar qat is zo ongeveer de meest onschuldige drug volgens mij. Misschien dat je er mondkanker van krijgt, maar dat krijg je van meezingen met Frans Bauer ook.

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Op woensdag 16 november 2011 23:40 schreef LXIV het volgende:

[..]

Qat is fysiek misschien onschadelijk, maar als mannen het de hele nacht kauwen en overdag daardoor gewoon helemaal niks doen dan zijn de sociale gevolgen wel enorm.

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Op woensdag 16 november 2011 23:40 schreef LXIV het volgende:

[..]

Qat is fysiek misschien onschadelijk, maar als mannen het de hele nacht kauwen en overdag daardoor gewoon helemaal niks doen dan zijn de sociale gevolgen wel enorm.

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Op woensdag 16 november 2011 23:40 schreef LXIV het volgende:

[..]

Qat is fysiek misschien onschadelijk, maar als mannen het de hele nacht kauwen en overdag daardoor gewoon helemaal niks doen dan zijn de sociale gevolgen wel enorm.

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Authorities: Tons of drugs went through cross-border tunnel

(CNN) -- A nondescript white warehouse building in southern California hid a sophisticated drug smuggling tunnel that traffickers used to transport tons of marijuana from Mexico into the United States, authorities said.

Investigators on both sides of the border seized more than 14.5 tons of marijuana in connection with the tunnel's discovery this week, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in a statement Wednesday.

Authorities said the drugs had a street value of more than $25 million, CNN affiliate KGTV reported.

"I'm confident that if these cartels want to continue to try to smuggle their drugs into the United States in this fashion, we're going to find them, and we're going to find them faster than they can build them," said William R. Sherman, acting special agent in charge for the Drug Enforcement Administration in San Diego.

From the floor of the San Diego warehouse, authorities found a 3-foot-wide tunnel that stretched the length of four football fields and was equipped with structural supports, electricity and ventilation, ICE's statement said.

Highway troopers found 3 tons of marijuana packed into boxes inside a cargo truck that they stopped after it left the San Diego warehouse. That discovery allowed agents to obtain a warrant to enter the warehouse, the statement said, where they recovered 6.5 additional tons of marijuana. Mexican authorities later seized at least 5 tons of marijuana from a warehouse in Tijuana, Mexico, on the other end of the tunnel.

Sherman said it was the third sophisticated cross-border tunnel found in the area within a year.

U.S. federal authorities have found more than 75 cross-border smuggling tunnels in the past four years, most of them in California and Arizona, according to ICE.

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Ex-head of MI5 calls on government to decriminalise and regulate cannabis

Change policy and look at alternative ways of combating UK's drugs culture, says Eliza Manningham-Buller

The former head of MI5 believes the "war on drugs" has proved fruitless and it is time to consider decriminalising the possession and use of small quantities of cannabis.

Eliza Manningham-Buller has backed calls for the government to set up a commission to examine how to tackle the UK's drug culture and consider the highly controversial move of relaxing the law.

She was speaking at a meeting held by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Drug Policy Reform on Thursday where senior government representatives met experts from across the world to consider ways of combating the issue.

The cross-bench peer said the current policy was failing and it was time to look at alternative ways of tackling the production and use of drugs by assessing how other countries are dealing with the problem. She believes serious consideration needs to be given to the idea of regulating cannabis so that its psychotic effects can be controlled more closely.

"For the next 50, years do we continue on the same well-worn policy track which has proved so successful so far?," she said. "Or will we acknowledge the truth, that we are unlikely to address the harm that is being caused to the world unless we accept, as the US Senate recently did, that much [not all] of the vast expenditure on the so called 'war on drugs' has been fruitless?

"Would harm be reduced if cannabis was regulated so that its more dangerous components, which can lead to psychosis, were eliminated? Should we follow Portugal's example and focus on drug use as a health issue rather than a crime issue?"

Manningham-Buller said there was too much of a knee-jerk opposition to changing drug policy but it is an issue that needs to be at the forefront of national debate.

She urged politicians to come up with a more successful way of tackling the issue by assessing evidence that looks at how to reduce the harmful effects of drugs in a cost-effective approach.

Christian Guy, policy director of the Centre for Social Justice, agreed that the war on drugs was failing but said it would be dangerous to "wave a white flag in surrender".

He added: "Giving up the fight to tackle illicit drug use now would be disastrous; it would further fuel the social breakdown and addiction poverty which destroys so many lives.

"It would send the wrong signal to those who are counting on our help."

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Rise in use of cocaine has peaked, says EU drug agency report

Britons remain biggest users of cocaine in Europe as experts warn of new threat from synthetic drugs

The relentless rise in the use of cocaine across Europe over the past decade has peaked as a result of the austere economic climate, according to the European Union's drug agency.

However, the UK remains at the top of the European league table for cocaine use – as it has for seven out of the last eight years – despite the bubble bursting.

The annual report from the Lisbon-based European monitoring centre for drugs and drug addiction, published on Tuesday, shows illicit drug use across the EU relatively stable, with positive signs that cocaine use has peaked and cannabis use among young people continuing to decline.

But the agency says this encouraging picture is being offset by new threats from 'legal highs' and other synthetic drugs. It says that 39 new substances have been identified so far this year via the European early warning system on top of the 41 notified for the whole of 2010.

There are no signs of decline in their use and more than 150 new substances are being monitored by the authorities.

The EU drugs agency said this rapid appearance of new substances is being driven by a record 600 online retailers willing to despatch an order for what purports to be 'psychoactive substances' to at least one other EU state. The total includes 80 online shops selling mephedrone based in the UK.

The July survey that found these retailers also discovered a much wider variety of products. Many also displayed prominent disclaimers such as 'not for human consumption' or 'for use only as plant food'. Others exercised caution by placing restrictions on delivery.

Ireland and Poland have both rapidly passed legislation limiting the open sale of 'legal highs'. Health inspectors in Poland closed down 1,200 stores last year.

The report says cocaine has established itself over the past decade as the most popular stimulant drug across Europe with more than 4 million people using it every year.

"But the new data presented today raises the question as to whether its popularity has now peaked," it adds. "The financial burden associated with regular cocaine use may make it a less attractive option in countries where austerity is now the order of the day."

Experts say the bubble has burst because the average retail price for cocaine has reached between 50 and 80 euros per gram. There is also a growing recognition of the problems linked to cocaine use that has tarnished its image as an affluent lifestyle drug.

The EU data shows cocaine use by young adults, aged 15 to 34, in the UK has dipped from 6.1% in 2009 to 4.8% in 2010, with similar declines in Spain, Italy and Denmark.

The fall in popularity also echoes recent trends in Canada and the US, which have cocaine popularity levels below those in Britain.

Cannabis remains Europe's most popular illicit drug with 78 million – or 20% of all Europeans – having tried it. Around 22.5 million Europeans used cannabis in the last year but its popularity is in sharp decline among schoolchildren.

A link with declining levels of cigarette smoking, changing fashions and the easy availability of other drugs may all lie behind the decline, said the experts. The proportion of schoolchildren in England who have ever tried cannabis has almost halved from 40% in 2000 to 22% last year.

Wolfgang Gotz, the EU drugs agency director, said the drugs market was quick to adapt to threats and opportunities: "This is reflected, not only in the sheer number of new substances appearing on the market, but also in their diversity and in how they are produced, distributed and marketed," he said.

"We need a proactive strategy that allows us to identify new drugs and emerging trends so that we can anticipate their potential implications."

He warned that individual national efforts were likely to prove ineffective without a co-ordinated response across Europe.

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In Mexico, widespread human rights abuse by gov’t in drug war

Mexico - Mexico’s war on drugs has led to widespread human rights violations committed by the country’s military and police, with a new report revealing evidence strongly suggesting these security forces are participating in torture, disappearances and murder.

A new 212-page Human Rights Watch (HRW) report, Neither Rights Nor Security: Killings, Torture, and Disappearances in Mexicos War on Drugs (pdf), takes a close look at President Felipe Calderóns efforts in battling the countrys violent drug cartels.

The report is based on in-depth research conducted in five of Mexicos most violent states: Baja California, Chihuahua, Guerrero, Nuevo León, and Tabasco. HRW found Mexicos security forces systematically use torture in obtaining forced confessions from detainees or in gathering information on the cartels.

Instead of reducing violence, Mexicos war on drugs has resulted in a dramatic increase in killings, torture, and other appalling abuses by security forces, which only make the climate of lawlessness and fear worse in many parts of the country, said José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at HRW, in a news release.


Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/314664#ixzz1e8JDPydo

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'KLPD-rapport: Italiaanse maffia-organisatie hartstikke actief in Nederland'

De 'ndrangheta, de machtige maffia-organisatie uit de Italiaanse regio Calabrie, is in Nederland 'hartstikke actief' en zelfs bezig om te infiltreren in de bovenwereld. Dit hebben bronnen bij de politie verklaard tegenover het journalistieke onderzoeksprogramma Argos (Radio 1).

De politiebronnen baseren zich op een rapport van het Korps Landelijke Politiediensten (KLPD). Dit rapport, getiteld 'De 'ndrangheta in Nederland', werd afgelopen juni al voltooid, maar is ondanks herhaalde verzoeken van Argos nooit publiek gemaakt.

Antimaffia-eenheid
De PvdA wil naar aanleiding van de Argos-uitzending dat de politie een speciale antimaffia-eenheid opricht om de Italiaanse misdaadorganisaties in Nederland beter te kunnen aanpakken. PvdA-Kamerlid Jeroen Recourt gaat zijn voorstel voor een 'specifiek rechercheonderdeel' tegen de maffia morgen (dinsdag) voorleggen aan minister Opstelten van Veiligheid en Justitie.

Het KLPD-rapport beschrijft, volgens bronnen die inzage hebben gehad, niet alleen de vermenging tussen boven- en onderwereld, maar meldt tevens de aanwezigheid van 'ndrangheta-cellen die op instigatie van de maffiaorganisatie actief worden.

De studie doet geen aanbevelingen over de manier waarop de 'ndrangheta in Nederland moet worden aangepakt. 'Maar mij bekroop na lezing in elk geval wel het gevoel: hier moeten we meer aan doen', zegt een politiefunctionaris in Argos.

Het KLPD bevestigt het bestaan van het rapport, maar wil niet ingaan op de inhoud ervan. Het korps laat wel weten dat de vermenging van boven- en onderwereld 'voor de hand ligt'. 'Het kan worden beschouwd als een randvoorwaarde voor de bedrijfsvoering van elke misdaadondernemer.'

Noodklok
Vorig jaar luidden enkele vooraanstaande Italiaanse maffiabestrijders in Argos al de noodklok over de activiteiten van de Italiaanse misdaadorganisaties in Nederland. De maffia gebruikt Nederland volgens deze deskundigen niet alleen als een van de belangrijkste doorvoerhavens van drugs, maar is hier ook geworteld. Zo bleken twee daders van de bloedige maffia-afrekening in een Italiaans restaurant in Duisburg, in 2007, in Amsterdam te wonen. De maffiabestrijders riepen politie en justitie in Nederland op om hun pijlen actiever op de Italiaanse misdaadsyndicaten te richten.

Het rapport van het KLPD over de 'ndrangheta lijkt de analyse van de Italiaanse deskundigen te bevestigen. Het document is volgens het KLPD binnenskamers gebleven 'omdat het geen doel was om een openbaar rapport te maken'. Maar 'gezien de brede interesse van buiten de politie', wil het korps het rapport 'op korte termijn' toch openbaar maken.

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Nederland moet qat verbieden. De Tweede Kamer heeft de regering vandaag opgeroepen dat snel te regelen, zodat gebruik van het verdovende middel volgend jaar al kan worden teruggedrongen.

Het CDA was gekomen met het verbod omdat qatgebruik vooral de integratie van Somaliërs in Nederland in de weg zou staan. Kauwen van de bladeren en takjes zou schooluitval en langdurige werkloosheid in de hand werken.

Een adviescommissie beval al eens aan naar qat te kijken, dat nu als softdrug wordt gezien. Omringende landen treden veel strenger op tegen gebruik van dit middel. Daardoor dreigt Nederland een doorvoerhaven voor dit middel te worden.

Het kabinet besloot al eerder van de partydrug GHB en van sterke wiet en hasj harddrugs te maken.

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Twee vrachtwagens vol lijken gevonden in Mexico

De autoriteiten in de Mexicaanse stad Guadalajara hebben in twee vrachtwagens en een auto de lijken van zeker 20 mensen gevonden. Dat heeft het Openbaar Ministerie (OM) in de deelstaat Jalisco, waarvan Guadalajara de hoofdstad is, meegedeeld.

Guadalajara is met 4,4 miljoen inwoners de op een na grootste stad in Mexico.

De lichamen van de doden waren vastgebonden en gekneveld, aldus de woordvoerder van het OM. In een van de wagens heeft de politie een boodschap van een criminele bende gevonden, maar de woordvoerder wilde daarover verder niets zeggen.

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Wietsatelliet boven Limburg (Nederland)

De European Space Agency (ESA) gaat in samenwerking met het anti-wietproject Het Groene Goud ruimtevaarttechnieken toepassen om buitenhennep op te sporen. Het gaat om een pilot, die in het voorjaar van 2012 van start gaat in Noord-Limburg.

^{_{Venlo/Venray
Door Marco van Kampen}}

De organisatie van het Europese ruimtebureau heeft opdracht gekregen om ruimtetechnieken breder in te zetten, onder andere voor de politie. Hennepdetectie sluit daar bij aan. Bij de pilot in Noord-Limburg wordt het Korps Landelijke Politiediensten (KLPD) dan ook nauw betrokken.

De ESA gaat via satellieten experimenteren met een techniek waarmee hennep onderscheiden kan worden van andere gewassen. Dit gebeurt op basis van het meten van golflengten. Het ruimtebureau test verschillende observatiemethoden om te onderzoeken welke het meest effectief is. Daarvoor gebruikt de ESA onder meer high resolution multispectrale instrumenten, bedoeld om afwijkingen in velden waar te nemen. Daarnaast worden innovatieve sensoren getest. De ESA en de KLPD vinden het op dit moment nog te prematuur om nadere uitleg te geven over de onderzoekmethodes. "Het project zit nog in de onderzoeksfase”, aldus een woordvoerder van de KLPD. "Tegen de tijd dat de pilot van start gaat, kunnen we concretere informatie geven over de invulling.”

De basis van het onderzoek is Het Groene Goud, vanwege de historische gegevens van het project en de methodes die gebruikt worden bij de aanpak van wietteelt. Vooralsnog speurt Het Groene Goud met helikopters naar hennep in maïsvelden. Als de proef met ruimtevaarttechnieken een succes blijkt, zijn de helikopters in de toekomst niet meer nodig.

Volgens een woordvoerder van de gemeente Venlo wordt de pilot "internationaal op de voet gevolgd”. Hoeveel geld erin wordt gestoken, is nog niet duidelijk.

http://www.limburger.nl/a(...)elliet_boven_Limburg
^{_{Gepubliceerd op: 25.11.11 07:00}}

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De European Space Agency (ESA) gaat in samenwerking met het anti-wietproject Het Groene Goud ruimtevaarttechnieken toepassen om buitenhennep op te sporen. Het gaat om een pilot, die in het voorjaar van 2012 van start gaat in Noord-Limburg.

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Op vrijdag 25 november 2011 11:49 schreef Boris_Karloff het volgende:
Wie is er aan de winnende hand?

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Op vrijdag 25 november 2011 11:49 schreef Boris_Karloff het volgende:
Wie is er aan de winnende hand?

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Activists accuse Mexican president of war crimes in drug crackdown

International criminal court asked to investigate Felipe Caldéron over killing, torture and kidnap of civilians by army and police

Mexican human rights activists have asked the international criminal court to investigate President Felipe Caldéron, as well as top officials and the country's most-wanted drug trafficker, accusing them of allowing subordinates to kill, torture and kidnap civilians.

Netzai Sandoval, a Mexican human rights lawyer, filed a complaint with the ICC in The Hague on Friday, requesting an investigation of the deaths of hundreds of civilians at the hands of the military and traffickers.

More than 45,000 people have died in drug-related violence in Mexico since 2006 as powerful cartels fight security forces and each other for control of smuggling routes into the neighbouring United States and other countries.

"The violence in Mexico is bigger than the violence in Afghanistan, the violence in Mexico is bigger than in Colombia," Sandoval said.

"We want the prosecutor to tell us if war crimes and crimes against humanity have been committed in Mexico, and if the president and other top officials are responsible."

Signed by 23,000 Mexican citizens, the complaint names the Sinaloa cartel boss Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman, who has a $5m bounty on his head, as well as the public security minister, Genaro Garcia Luna, and the commanders of the army and navy.

A decision by ICC prosecutors on whether to investigate could take months or years, legal experts said.

The Mexican government has denied it is "at war" and said the use of the military in its battle against drug gangs is a temporary measure taken at the request of state governments. "The established security policy in no way constitutes an international crime. On the contrary, all its actions are focused on stopping criminal organisations and protecting all citizens," said an interior ministry statement.

The office of the ICC prosecutor said in a statement it had the request, which it would study and "make a decision in due course".

Richard Dicker, an international justice expert with Human Rights Watch, said: "There are a large number of boxes that the prosecutor would need to check off before he could actually open an investigation.

"It's possible ... but I think you want to be clear on what the challenges and obstacles are."

In considering the case, ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo will have to decide if the crimes presented in the activists' complaint, such as the torture of criminal suspects, qualify as crimes against humanity. "The crimes would have to be widespread or systematic, carried out by a state or organisation in attacks on a civilian population," Dicker said.

"It's certainly very arguable," said William Schabas, professor of international law at Middlesex University. "The prosecutor has been very focused on Africa. The pattern is he stays within the comfort zone of the United States. Going after Mexicans for the war on drugs falls outside that comfort zone."

Activists say Caldéron has systematically allowed Mexican troops to commit abuses against civilians since the military was deployed to fight drug traffickers in 2006. More than 50,000 soldiers are battling cartels around the country, while the ranks of federal police have swelled from 6,000 to 35,000 under Caldéron's watch.

A Human Rights Watch report said there was evidence Mexican police and soldiers were involved in 170 cases of torture, 24 murders and 39 forced disappearances in five Mexican states. "We have known for five years that the Mexican army is committing sexual abuse, executing people, torturing people and kidnapping, and there have been no sanctions," Sandoval said.

Mexico's national human rights commission received more than 4,000 complaints of abuses by the army from 2006 to 2010. In the same period it issued detailed reports on 65 cases involving army abuse, according to Human Rights Watch.

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Op vrijdag 25 november 2011 12:09 schreef Basp1 het volgende:

[..]

Altijd de onderwereld. De overheid blijft structureel achter de feiten aanlopen. Zolang je dingen verbied wordt het lucratief voor de onderwereld om er in te gaan handelen.

En deze wietstatteliet is weer het volgende propaganda verhaaltje van onze overheid om de bang gemaakte burgers maar te laten geloven dat ze van alles doen om de teelt te bestrijden.

2 jaar geleden hadden ze het toch over onbemande reuk vliegtuigjes die ook zo kwekerijen zouden moeten kunnen opsporen hoeveel horen we daar nu nog over? Niets meer, we kunnen wel raden waarom, omdat het niet werkt. . Het vervelende is alleen dat het onze als maatschappij veel geld kost om zo'n onzinnige strijd te moeten voeren.

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Op zondag 27 november 2011 22:58 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:
Mexico-Stad overspoeld door bijna tienduizend zombies

[ afbeelding ]
[ afbeelding ]

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Mexican government rejects war crimes allegations

Felipe Calderón is accused in letter to international criminal court of presiding over murder and torture in fight against drug gangs

The Mexican government has threatened legal action against activists who reported its president and his top officials to the international criminal court for alleged war crimes in the fight against drug gangs.

President Felipe Calderón's office called the accusations "absurd" and said the security policy of a democratic state that investigates human rights abuses could not be compared to the war crimes committed by authoritarian states.

"The allegations against the Mexican government are clearly unfounded and out of order," the statement said.

"They constitute in themselves clear slander, reckless accusations that hurt not only people and institutions, but also terribly affect the good name of Mexico, for which [the government] will explore all the alternatives to legally act against those who make them in different forums and courts, national and international."

Netzai Sandoval, a human rights lawyer, filed the complaint with the ICC in The Hague on Friday, requesting an investigation into the deaths of hundreds of civilians at the hands of the military and drug traffickers in Mexico, where more than 45,000 people have died in drug-related violence since 2006.

The complaint, signed by 23,000 Mexican citizens, asks the ICC, the world's first permanent war crimes court, to open a formal investigation into crimes against humanity in Mexico and names the Sinaloa drug cartel boss Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman as well as Calderón and his top security chiefs.

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Mexicaanse leger ontdekt weer een (drugs)tunnel

Het Mexicaanse leger heeft opnieuw een tunnel ontdekt die werd gebruikt om drugs te smokkelen. De tunnel liep van een loods in de Mexicaanse plaats Tijuana onder de grens door naar een loods bij San Diego, in de VS.

Video

Bron: NOS.nl http://nos.nl/video/31826(...)ekt-drugstunnel.html

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Mexico unearths drug tunnel under US border

US officials say 32 tonnes of marijuana seized from 600 metre-long tunnel, similar to another found on November 16.

Mexican authorities have unearthed a 600-metre-long drug smuggling tunnel beneath the US border, the second such find in the same area this month.

The 15ft-deep tunnel found on Tuesday was similar to another tunnel found on November 16, and contained both lighting and transport carts, indicating the growing technical sophistication of the country's powerful drug cartels.

"The tunnel was located after we were informed of it by US authorities," who had found the other end of the passage in nearby San Ysidro, California, Ricardo Garduno, Tijuana's police chief, told the AFP news agency.

In Mexico, security forces who took part in the raid said three tonnes of marijuana were uncovered inside the tunnel.

But US authorities said in a statement hours later that 32 tonnes of marijuana, worth $65m, were confiscated in the operation.

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Human rights group takes US to court for terror training

Human Rights groups turn heat up on US foreign policy and leaders of major rights violations involved in worsening Mexican atrocities

As Mexican police found dozens of brutally assassinated people in recent weeks, including yesterday's 26 more corpses yesterday in Guadalajara and killing of leading human rights defender, and US Secretary of State and other American entities are being exposed for supplying the weapons to Mexican criminals, a major human rights NGO announced it is taking the United States government to court this month to demand transparency about School of the Americas to end secrecy hiding the nation's terror training military facility at Fort Benning, Georgia where Mexicans train. Over twenty-four rights advocates were arrested at Occupy Fort Benning earlier this month to raise awareness about US foreign policy and 'School of the Assassins.'

After human rights worker Nepomuceno Moreno publicly accused police of kidnapping his teenage son, Moreno was shot dead Tuesday driving through his hometown in northern Mexico, fuelling bitter nationwide debate and awareness-raising globally on U.S. foreign policy supporting Mexican atrocities with military training and weaponry.

"Corrupt officials were being blamed yesterday by activists who worked with Nepomuceno Moreno in a national anti-crime movement that has been calling for an end to organised crime, police abuse and a military-led government assault on drug cartels," reported New Zealand Herald.

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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.

C.I.A (Cocaine.Import.Agency) ...The Drug Affair (part 1)

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En dit is wat we nu weten over de vermoedelijke dader, Nordine Amrani. Hij is 32 jaar oud (al werd eerder over een leeftijd van 29 gesproken) en heeft een Belgisch paspoort. In 2008 belandde hij in de gevangenis voor een celstraf van 58 maanden omdat hij in drugs en wapens handelde. Bij hem thuis werden toen tientallen wapens en wapenonderdelen gevonden, waaronder een raketwerper en een AK-47, een kalasjnikov. Ook trof de politie toen 2.800 cannabisplanten aan in het huis.

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Kopstuk Mexicaanse drugsbende Los Zetas vast

Leden van de Mexicaanse marine hebben gisteren in de oostelijke deelstaat Veracruz kopstuk Raúl Lucio Hernández Lechuga van het drugskartel Los Zetas aangehouden. Hernández, bijgenaamd El Lucky, zou een van de oprichters van het beruchte kartel zijn.

Dat heeft de Mexicaanse marine in de nacht afgelopen nacht laten weten. El Lucky behoorde tot de 25 meest gezochte criminelen in Mexico.

Los Zetas is opgericht door Mexicaanse oud-militairen. Het is een van de machtigste bendes van Mexico.

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Survey: Teen marijuana use rises, alcohol use down

Associated Press= LANSING, Michigan (AP) — More U.S. teens are using marijuana and see it as less of a risk, while their alcohol use has dipped to historic lows, according to an annual national survey of drug use released Wednesday.

The findings are based on an annual survey of 47,000 teens conducted by the University of Michigan for the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

One of every 15 high school seniors reported smoking marijuana on a daily or near daily basis, the highest rate since 1981.

"One thing we've learned over the years is that when young people come to see a drug as dangerous, they're less likely to use it," Lloyd Johnston, the study's principal investigator, said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "That helps to explain why marijuana right now is rising, because the proportion of kids who see it as dangerous has been declining."

The study said marijuana use among teens rose in 2011 for the fourth straight year after considerable decline in the preceding decade.

One of every nine students in their last year of school before college reported using synthetic marijuana within the previous 12 months.

The synthetic drug survey question was asked for the first time this year. Fake marijuana, sometimes sold in drug paraphernalia shops and on the Internet as incense, contains organic leaves coated with chemicals that provide a marijuana-like high when smoked.

A Drug Enforcement Administration emergency order banning the sale of five chemicals used in herbal blends to make synthetic marijuana took effect March 1. Many states also have their own laws banning the sale of synthetic marijuana.

White House drug czar Gil Kerlikowske called on parents to get involved to help stop the use of synthetic marijuana.

"It's not in the vocabulary of parents, and they need to be aware of it so that when they have that conversation about substance abuse that they are knowledgeable and they talk about this," he told the AP.

Alcohol use continued a trend of decline dating to the 1980s and hit a historic low for the survey, which began in the 1970s.

Other drugs showing some evidence of decline in use this year include cocaine, crack cocaine and inhalants.

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Rijbewijs kwijt na tweemaal rijden onder invloed van drugs

Automobilisten raken hun rijbewijs kwijt als ze tot twee keer toe betrapt worden op het rijden onder invloed van drugs. De politie kan automobilisten, maar ook motorrijders en bromfietsers, dwingen om mee te werken aan een speekseltest.

De ministerraad heeft besloten dit per 1 juli 2013 mogelijk te maken. Sinds 1 juni van dit jaar raken autorijders hun rijbewijs al kwijt als ze tweemaal veroordeeld worden voor rijden met te veel drank op. Zij moeten dan opnieuw examen doen.

Er komt een lijst met populaire drugs die aangeeft bij welke hoeveelheid een gebruiker een gevaar voor het verkeer gaat vormen.

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Na een speekseltest volgt een bloedonderzoek die uitwijst of een bestuurder in overtreding is.

Uit onderzoek bleek in september nog dat dagelijks duizenden automobilisten onder invloed van drugs achter het stuur zitten. Dit zou jaarlijks 80 verkeersdoden tot gevolg hebben.

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Brazil ecstasy haul points to new generation of drug mules

Demand for synthetic drugs has led to the rise of 'narco-turistas', many of whom are affluent and university-educated

Early one October morning, João Geraldo de Almeida climbed out of bed and set off for the barbecue of his life.

Escorted by a convoy of armed police, he climbed into the mountains outside Brazil's third largest city, strapped on a face mask and set fire to nearly six tons of illegal drugs. "It was the biggest quantity of drugs we'd ever burned," boasted Almeida, head of the Federal Police drug squad in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais.

The annual incineration of police hauls of marijuana and cocaine is nothing new to South America, home to some of the biggest coca fields and marijuana plantations on Earth. But among Almeida's haul was a more unusual find: about 70,000 ecstasy pills and 16,000 tabs of LSD.

The drugs pointed to a growing phenomenon: the use of so-called "synthetic" drugs such as ecstasy, MDMA powder and GHB in South America's largest nation.

Brazil remains one of the largest cocaine consumers in the world and a major transit point for the drug. But a recent report by the UN's Office on Drugs and Crime suggested consumption of synthetic drugs, stable or falling in much of Europe, is on the rise in Brazil and other South American countries.

The demand for such drugs has spawned a new generation of drug mules. In Brazil they call them "narco-turistas".

"They are passengers who leave the country, spend 10 days sightseeing in Europe and then come back with the drugs. They fake a holiday," said Almeida in Belo Horizonte, capital of Minas Gerais. "If you look at their cameras they'll have a whole load of photographs of tourist spots, sometimes even from several different countries."

Brazil's narco-turistas bear little resemblance to South America's traditional drug mules – desperate, cash-strapped locals, Africans or Europeans, who smuggle stomachs or suitcases of cocaine from airport to airport for a fraction of their cargo's worth.

Instead, security officials say narco-turistas are well-off, university-educated Brazilians. "They are much harder to locate because they blend in with your average passenger," said Almeida. "They're not like your traditional drug mules whom you can spot in the airport queue. They are middle class and upwards. They are never poor."

Foreign mules are regularly caught trying to ferry South American cocaine back to Europe – this year Romanian, Spanish and Polish citizens have been arrested at Belo Horizonte's Confins airport. But the narco-turistas are exclusively Brazilian. Normally they have no criminal record. They are often students, nearly always men, nearly always wealthy.

"In our investigations we have come across a lot of high-level people," said Almeida, his desk stacked with sky-blue investigation files. "We've arrested lawyers, doctors, business people, the owner of one gym. These are people who go to Europe a lot. They are students, they might have studied in Europe, or been on tourism trips there, or business trips."

Thanks to its booming economy – mineral-rich Minas Gerais is Brazil's third richest state – and improved flight connections to Europe, Belo Horizonte has become a key entry point for such traffickers. Of about 194,000 ecstasy pills seized by police in Brazil so far this year, 92,000 were seized in Minas Gerais, Almeida said. Nearly all were found at the city's Confins airport, from which there are direct flights to Lisbon. From Portugal, narco-turistas fly to other European countries to pick up the drugs, with Belgium and Holland two of the key pick-up points.

"100% of the drugs we are seeing here are coming from overseas. None of them are produced here [in Brazil]. None of our investigations have led us to believe that there might be an [ecstasy laboratory] here in Belo Horizonte," said Almeida.

A report released in September by the EU's border management agency, Frontex, claimed the narco-turistas believed they were less likely to be caught at airports such as Confins.

"The target airports are not the ones in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, the main international hubs in the country. Rather, because of the belief that the larger airports are more closely and thoroughly watched, traffickers prefer to use secondary hubs such as the airports in Belo Horizonte, Salvador and Recife, where direct flights to Portugal, Spain, France and Germany are available."

The growing role of the narco-turistas has underlined how Brazil's drug scene is no longer just about rolled-up banknotes and furtive trips to the bathroom.

In 2001 Brazil's federal police reported seizing 1,909 ecstasy pills at the country's borders and airports. Ten years on, that figure has mutiplied by 100.

After a July operation that dismantled an ecstasy trafficking ring which had been importing 30,000 pills each month from Holland, drug squad chief João Luiz Caetano de Araújo said: "Synthetic drugs are slowly replacing cocaine consumption."

"It is a cleaner drug, it is easier to sell and it is consumed more by the middle class," he told the Brazilian news magazine Veja.

Next year the changing habits of Brazilian drug users will make their big screen debut, with the release of Artificial Paradises, a feature film focusing on "Brazil's ecstasy generation".

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Op zondag 18 december 2011 22:01 schreef waht het volgende:

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De vrije markt vindt een weg. Een fundamenteel onderdeel van het leven.

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Mexican authorities disband Veracruz police force in bid to stem corruption

All 800 police officers and 300 administrative employees laid off, and navy deployed to patrol Gulf coast city

The entire police force in the Mexican port of Veracruz was dissolved on Wednesday in an effort to root out corruption, and armed marines were sent in to patrol.

A state spokeswoman, Gina Dominguez, said 800 police officers and 300 administrative staff had been laid off. They can re-apply for jobs, but must meet stricter standards with officers "who are better trained and more committed and who can deliver under our current security circumstances," she said.

Armed marines barricaded police headquarters and navy helicopters flew over the city where 35 bodies were dumped in September in one of the worst gang attacks of Mexico's drug war.

The change was agreed on Monday by the governor of Veracruz, Javier Duarte, and the federal interior secretary Alejandro Poiré.

Mexico's army has taken over police operations several times before, , notably in the border city of Ciudad Juarez and the border state of Tamaulipas. But Veracruz is the first state to completely disband a large police department and use marines as law enforcers. There are about 2,400 marines in the state of Veracruz.

Dominguez said the navy operations will last only until the state can train more of its own police. Duarte already had disbanded a police force in the state's capital of Xalapa, but in that case state agents immediately replaced city police.

President Felipe Calderon has pushed an ambitious process for vetting all of Mexico's 460,000 police officers. His administration allocated $331m for 200 cities to train and re-equip municipal police forces.

Governors have complained they lack the resources to ensure their police forces are clean.

Veracruz is a common route for drugs and migrants coming from the south. It was first dominated by the Gulf Cartel, and then its former armed wing, the Zetas, took over after the two split. The state saw a rise in crime this spring after a government offensive in neighboring Tamaulipas scared drug criminals away to Veracruz.

But the dumping of the 35 bodies shocked Mexico as it turned the port into a battleground between the Zetas and a gang aligned with the Sinaloa Cartel, led by Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.

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Grote drugsbaron Colombia geeft zich over

José Eberto López Montero, een van de belangrijkste drugsbaronnen van Colombia, heeft zich samen met bijna 300 leden van zijn bende aan de autoriteiten overgeven. López Montero gaf leiding aan de Anticommunistische Volksbeweging van Colombia (Erpac).

Naast drugshandel wordt de paramilitaire groepering onder meer verdacht van moord, ontvoering, afpersing en het rekruteren van minderjarigen voor de bende, aldus de Colombiaanse zender Caracol zaterdag. Erpac was actief in het departement Meta in met midden van Colombia. Vorige maand had López Montero al laten weten dat hij 'oorlogsmoe' was.

Onder de aangehouden bendeleden zijn naast López Montero vier andere kopstukken van Erpac. Ook namen de autoriteiten een grote hoeveelheid wapens en munitie in beslag.

Vermoedelijk zijn er nauwelijks nog leden van de bende op vrije voeten.

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Mexico arresteert handlanger van ‘belangrijkste drugsbaron land’

Mexico heeft het hoofd veiligheid van het beruchte drugskartel Sinaloa gearresteerd. Dat maakte het Mexicaanse leger gisteravond bekend. Het gaat om een handlanger van Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman, een van de meest gezochte criminelen ter wereld.

Het hoofd veiligheid van Guzman werd opgepakt in de noordwestelijke stad Culiacan, de hoofdstad van de staat Sinaloa. Zijn naam is nog niet bekend gemaakt, maar volgens het leger wordt hij later vandaag aan de media gepresenteerd.

Guzman zelf wordt volgens persbureau AP gezien als de belangrijkste drugsbaron van Mexico en een van de rijkste mensen ter wereld. Hij heeft sinds zijn ontsnapping uit de gevangenis in 2001 al jarenlang aan het oog van de Mexicaanse autoriteiten kunnen ontsnappen. Zakenblad Forbes rekent hem tot een van de honderd machtigste mensen van de wereld.

De handlanger van Guzman die nu is gearresteerd is volgens de autoriteiten verantwoordelijk voor het leiden van activiteiten van drugskartels in verschillende Mexicaanse staten en zou zich ook schuldig hebben gemaakt aan onder meer kidnapping en afpersing. Het leger zei gisteravond niet of de arrestatie van Guzman zelf met het oppakken van een van zijn handlangers dichterbij is gekomen.

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Mexicaanse drugsoorlog kostte afgelopen jaar aan 12.000 mensen het leven

Zeker 12.000 mensen zijn in Mexico in 2011 om het leven gekomen door de drugscriminaliteit. In vergelijking met 2010 is dat een toename van 6,3 procent.

Dat heeft de Mexicaanse krant La Reforma vandaag gemeld. Ook andere media in het Latijns-Amerikaanse land berichtten over meer dan 12.000 doden vorig jaar door geweld waaraan vooral de drugskartels zich schuldig maken.

Ze wijzen erop dat het geweld steeds grimmiger wordt. In 2011 zouden bijna 600 mensen zijn onthoofd. Ook zijn er 1000 gevallen van marteling geregistreerd.

De regering van president Felipe Calderón heeft nog geen officiële cijfers verstrekt over het aantal doden door drugscriminaliteit in 2011. Een woordvoerder van justitie zei dat die cijfers in de eerste helft van 2012 komen.

Drugsbendes in Mexico bevechten elkaar met grof geweld om de beste smokkelroutes naar het noorden te bemachtigen. Sinds de regering van Calderón in 2006 de strijd aanging met de kartels, zijn volgens Mexicaanse media meer dan 50.000 mensen omgekomen.

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Wereldwijd zo'n 200 miljoen druggebruikers

Wereldwijd zijn er zo'n 200 miljoen gebruikers van (in de meeste landen) illegale drugs. Dat is één op de twintig mensen tussen 15 en 64. Zo blijkt uit cijfers die het medische tijdschrift The Lancet vandaag publiceert.

In de studie wordt het aantal druggebruikers wereldwijd geschat op 149 miljoen tot 271 miljoen. Het aantal cannabisgebruikers ligt het hoogst, tussen de 125 en 203 miljoen.

Het aantal gebruikers van amfetamines (o.a. speed) wordt geschat op 14 à 56 miljoen, het aantal cocaïnegebruikers op 14 à 21 miljoen en het aantal gebruikers van opiaten (o.a. heroïne en morfine) op 12 à 21 miljoen. Het gebruik van XTC, LSD, anabole steroïden en het misbruik van medicijnen werden echter niet opgenomen in de studie.

Uit de meest recente statistieken van de Wereldgezondheidsorganisatie (WHO) blijkt dat er in 2004 250.000 overlijdens zijn toegeschreven aan het gebruik van drugs, tegenover 2,25 miljoen overlijdens door alcohol en 5,1 miljoen overlijdens door tabak.

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Op vrijdag 6 januari 2012 08:56 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:

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Mexico pakt leider Los Zetas, alias 'de hondendoder' op

Mexicaanse veiligheidstroepen hebben Baltazar Sauceda Estrada, een vermoedelijke leider van het drugskartel Los Zetas, aangehouden. De autoriteiten verdenken Sauceda Estrada, bijgenaamd Mataperros (hondendoder), ervan dat hij opdracht gaf tot een aanslag op een casino in augustus vorig jaar, waardoor 52 mensen omkwamen.

Dat hebben de autoriteiten laten weten, aldus de Mexicaanse krant El Universal vandaag. Mataperros is gisteren samen met een kompaan aangehouden in de noordelijke stad Monterrey. Ze reden in een gestolen vrachtwagen en hadden een voorraad cocaïne en marihuana bij zich.

Een groep gemaskerde daders drong eind augustus het casino Royale in Monterrey binnen. Ze begonnen te schieten op de aanwezigen en stichtten daarna brand. De aanslag zou te maken hebben met afpersing.

Los Zetas is een van de machtigste bendes van Mexico. Het kartel probeert, net als zijn rivalen, met geweld de beste smokkelroutes richting de Verenigde Staten in handen te krijgen en te houden.