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Posted
  On 1/11/2023 at 12:31 PM, NotActuallyALonghorn said:

Between this and Biden's visit to El Paso, it must have shifted a lot of traffic to the east. We crossed back into Texas at Laredo Saturday night/Sunday morning and from the time we got in line to the time we cleared customs it was 8.5 hours.

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Shit I was thinking about hitting up Matamoros with a South Padre trip in a few weeks, but hell no with those waits.

Posted (edited)

We should add weed to NAFTA and import that along with avocados & limes.

Only partially kidding, evidently New Jalisco has already taken over a lot of the ag sector, but what the hell. Just get them to concentrate on legal marijuana, which could be lucrative and employ a lot of people, and get them to stop exporting Meth and Fentanyl ffs.

Edited by GringoSalado
just ripped a sweet bong hit
Posted
  On 1/11/2023 at 6:41 PM, SimonBolivar said:

Shit I was thinking about hitting up Matamoros with a South Padre trip in a few weeks, but hell no with those waits.

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these wait times aren't typical at all. it's all the US people returning from Mexico after spending Christmas/NYE there

Posted
  On 1/11/2023 at 5:41 PM, Bevo said:

Why have prescriptions, then? Just legalize everything. If fentanyl is legal to sell, I see no reason for control of Tylenol 3, oxycodone, morphine, and then by extension everything else. Why would it be fine to buy morphine and heroin on the streets and not amoxicillin? 

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Answering this against my better judgment, but overuse of antibiotics helps train diseases to fight said medicines and kill us with more efficiency. Opiates don't do that -- in fact, pure opiates are not that bad for your body at all, aside from the risk of addiction and overdose. Cocaine messes with your heart and nervous system, alcohol destroys your liver and kidneys, benzos are similiar, but the danger of opiates does not come from what they do to your internal organs but from how they rewire your brain. 

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Posted
  On 1/15/2023 at 7:25 PM, williemackgarza said:


Come on, man.
We cross colombia to hunt.
Dont need more prople there!

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I don't think you're gonna see a mass rush of surlyites to Colombia. The car traffic is still pretty light. Most of the snowbird RV traffic and other people scared of Laredo/Tamaulipas in general cross at Eagle Pass.

Posted
  Quote

Mexico’s president said Wednesday his government will consider a plea by imprisoned drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman to be returned to Mexico, presumably to serve out his sentence.

Guzman, 64, was sentenced to life behind bars in the United States for a drug conspiracy that spread murder and mayhem for more than two decades.

Guzman has lived in poor conditions in prison since his 2019 conviction, said José Refugio Rodríguez, a Mexican lawyer who claims to represent him. Rodríguez told local media that Guzman hasn't had adequate access to sunlight, visits, good food or medical care.

The Mexican Embassy in Washington said in its Twitter account that it had received an email from Rodríguez about the issue and had turned it over to Mexico's Foreign relations Department.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said “we will review it,” adding: “You always have to keep the door open when it comes to human rights.”

The U.S. and Mexico have a prison transfer agreement that allows inmates convicted in one country to serve out their sentence in their home country under certain circumstances. But given Guzman's crimes, his sentence and the risks he purportedly still poses, many doubt the agreement would apply in his case.

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Good luck with that, dude. 

Posted
  On 1/11/2023 at 4:52 PM, YGIFS said:

It's been supposed to spill over since the War on Drugs went full throttle in the 1980's.  40 years later, there is no en masse cartel violence in the United States border states/cities.  Every year is supposed to the year, it's the Aggie Football of politics.  My mother's family stretches from Brownsville to Rio Grande City.  They don't shop in Mexico anymore and they barely use their deadbolts at home.    

As more and more states legalize more and more drugs, the violence in Mexico will get worse.  And the violence in the United States will decline.  Our own internal drug trade does just fine visiting violence upon itself without any help from our neighbors to the South.

I'm more curious what Americans who think the U.S. border towns have been warzones all this time, believe happens to drugs once they cross our border in bulk.  The mule isn't going to continue on across our interstate highway system.  Too big a risk.  You'd be very surprised how bulk narcotics make their way to distribution hubs around the country.  Hint, it isn't the cartels.  

 

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Posted
  On 7/27/2024 at 10:18 PM, Parliament said:

Nice

One of the world's most powerful drug lords, Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, leader of Mexico's Sinaloa cartel, has been arrested by US federal agents in El Paso, Texas.
Zambada, 76, founded the criminal organisation with Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, who is currently jailed in the US.
Arrested with Zambada on Thursday was Guzman's son, Joaquin Guzman Lopez, said the US justice department.
In February, Zambada was charged by US prosecutors with a conspiracy to make and distribute fentanyl, a drug more powerful than heroin that has been blamed for the US opioid crisis.
Citing Mexican and US officials, the Wall Street Journal reports that Zambada was tricked into boarding the plane by a high-ranking Sinaloa member following a months-long operation by Homeland Security Investigations and the FBI.
Believing that he was going to inspect clandestine airstrips in southern Mexico, Zambada was instead flown to a private airfield outside El Paso, Texas.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4ng4g31x1wo

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Now Netflix has more material for another season of Narcos.

 

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Posted
  On 7/28/2024 at 12:37 AM, BurntEyes said:

Ummm.. I realize it was the BBC but pretty sure fentanyl was not the cause for the US opioid crisis.

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Well, it was oxy and hydro, which led to the heroin, which led to the fentanyl.  Fentanyl has supplanted them all at this point.

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Posted
  On 7/28/2024 at 3:31 AM, TwiceHorn said:

Well, it was oxy and hydro, which led to the heroin, which led to the fentanyl.  Fentanyl has supplanted them all at this point.

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Oh, I'm well aware. Prior to the point of big pharmaceutical and Healthcare combining forces through a lot of money changing hands, the Cartel had zero near zero interest in fentanyl production. They are going to listen to market demand though.

Posted
  On 7/27/2024 at 11:49 PM, Newdoc said:

Now Netflix has more material for another season of Narcos.

 

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Sounds like a script from Narcos….

Chapito tricked him….

  Quote

And late Saturday, criminal defense lawyer Frank Perez of Dallas told USA TODAY that his client, Zambada, did not get on the Beechcraft plane of his own accord, but as part of a deal by the son of El Chapo to negotiate a better plea agreement with U.S. authorities for himself.

"My client neither surrendered nor negotiated any terms with the U.S. government," Perez said in a statement given exclusively to USA TODAY. "Joaquin Guzman Lopez forcibly kidnapped my client. He was ambushed, thrown to the ground, and handcuffed by six men in military uniforms and Joaquin."

After that, Perez said, Zambada's "legs were tied, and a black bag was placed over his head. He was then thrown into the back of a pickup truck and taken to a landing strip. There, he was forced onto a plane, his legs tied to the seat by Joaquin, and brought to the U.S. against his will. The only people on the plane were the pilot, Joaquin and my client."

In an interview, Perez said Zambada was meeting someone for breakfast and that instead of that person showing up, Guzman Lopez and his aides appeared and assaulted him.

That caught Zambada and his small security detail off guard, and he was tied up, thrown in the back of a pickup truck and driven about 20 minutes away to an airport, where he was put on the plane with Guzmán López, Perez said.

“He was the one who set up the meeting” to get Zambada to come out, Perez said of Guzman Lopez. He said the son of El Chapo then personally tied his father’s longtime partner to the chair of the aircraft so he couldn’t escape.

 

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Posted

Filthy business. Mayo gave up Chapo to get his son out of a pinch in Chicago, and Chapo’s son returns the favor.

I’ll give Chapo’s son for exercising patience to draw out El Mayo. I’m sure he wanted revenge the second his dad got sent to ADX Florence.

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Posted

NYT

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Posted (edited)

The next season of Narco's is gonna be LIT!

Legal experts say that even if Mr. Zambada García arrived in the United States under physical duress, it may have no effect on the criminal charges he is facing. There is longstanding legal precedent allowing prosecutors to pursue cases against defendants who were brought to the United States against their will, the experts said.

“U.S. law is quite clear that even kidnappings that violate extradition treaties don’t provide a basis for relief for the defendant,” said Daniel Richman, a former federal prosecutor and professor at Columbia Law School.

Pretty sure that precedent was set by the daring abduction of a Hong Kong money launderer and his return to Gotham City.

Edited by Parliament
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Posted

https://www.borderreport.com/news/business-leader-gunned-down-after-complaining-about-cartels-extortion-on-tv/

Business leader gunned down after complaining about cartels, extortion on TV

On Monday, the head of the business chambers’ federation in Tamaulipas state, across the border from Texas, gave television interviews complaining about drug cartel extortion in the state. Hours later on Tuesday, Julio Almanza was shot to death outside his offices in the city of Matamoros, across from Brownsville, Texas.

“We are hostages to extortion demands, we are hostages of criminal groups,” Almanza said in one of his last interviews. “Charging extortion payments has practically become the national sport in Tamaulipas.”

The problem came to a head when the Femsa corporation, which operates Oxxo, Mexico’s largest chain of convenience stores, announced late last week that it was closing all of its 191 stores and seven gas stations in another border city, Nuevo Laredo, because of gang problems.

The company said it had long had to deal with cartel demands that its gas stations buy their fuel from certain distributors. But the straw that broke the camel’s back came in recent weeks when gang members abducted two store employees, demanding they act as lookouts or provide information to the gang.

Since convenience stores are used by most people in Mexico, the gangs see them as good points to keep tabs on the movements of police, soldiers and rivals.

“We had incidents in stores that consisted of them (gangs) demanding we give them certain information, and they even abducted two colleagues to enforce this demand,” Roberto Campa, Femsa’s director of corporate affairs, told local media.

In a statement Monday, Femsa said its stores in Nuevo Laredo remain closed this week “due to acts of violence that put our colleagues’ safety at risk.”

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Posted

I just don’t know how this problem gets solved. They just kill anyone who tries to solve it. This is a situation where I wonder whether a Democracy with moral standards and laws can deal with this sort of stuff (not referring to Mexico). It’s almost like a Dictator needs to take paramilitary and special forces and just wipe them all out. Otherwise they will continue to rule the country. 

Posted
  On 8/1/2024 at 4:51 PM, Dbeasy said:

I just don’t know how this problem gets solved. They just kill anyone who tries to solve it. This is a situation where I wonder whether a Democracy with moral standards and laws can deal with this sort of stuff (not referring to Mexico). It’s almost like a Dictator needs to take paramilitary and special forces and just wipe them all out. Otherwise they will continue to rule the country. 

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This similar to Africa. Corrupt, mass killing shitheads ruin it for everyone living there.

Not sure if these situations ever get resolved.

Posted

Cartels/Gangs/Mafia's thrive on chaos. It gives them cover. The old saying Plata o Plomo (Silver or lead) rings true in a lot of places.

@Dbeasy, this was tried in El Salvador. Dropped the crime rate tremendously, but lots of external groups are pissed. 13 year olds get locked up without trial due to a shitty uncle/cousin or being in the wrong place.

 

 

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Posted
  On 8/1/2024 at 5:08 PM, MissingInAction said:

It's by design. Disrupt the countries you need shit from.

Makes them easy pickings.

That plus if they're fighting each other they're not fighting you.

Sound familiar?

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Like avocados?

Avocados are wildly important in the U.S., and most are imported from Mexico. This week, the U.S. briefly banned Mexican avocados after a U.S. inspector in the state of Michoacan reported receiving threats. But avocados and limes have long been used by drug cartels to help finance their violent business plans. Emily Green reports for VICE News from Mexico and joins us from Mexico City. Thanks so much for being with us.

https://www.npr.org/2022/02/19/1081948884/mexican-drug-cartels-are-getting-into-the-avocado-and-lime-business

Posted
  On 8/1/2024 at 4:51 PM, Dbeasy said:

It’s almost like a Dictator needs to take paramilitary and special forces and just wipe them all out. Otherwise they will continue to rule the country. 

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Columbia tried that with Escobar.  It turned into open warfare.  Mass bombings.  Chaos.  It was a war-zone.  That also assumes a captive military that has not been infiltrated/corrupted.  

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Posted (edited)
  On 8/1/2024 at 5:09 PM, InkaUtexas said:

Cartels/Gangs/Mafia's thrive on chaos. It gives them cover. The old saying Plata o Plomo (Silver or lead) rings true in a lot of places.

@Dbeasy, this was tried in El Salvador. Dropped the crime rate tremendously, but lots of external groups are pissed. 13 year olds get locked up without trial due to a shitty uncle/cousin or being in the wrong place.

 

 

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Would love to refute this post here but it would be CR. Let me just say the guy leading El Salvador has the highest approval rating of any leader in the world and El Salvadorans are grateful for his leadership in freeing their country from the cartels. Night and day difference in crime levels. His plan works and should be the model that Mexico follows.  The only groups that have issues with him are NGOs and people not living in El Salvador.

Edited by Macklemore
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Posted
  On 8/1/2024 at 7:24 PM, Macklemore said:

Would love to refute this post here but it would be CR. Let me just say the guy leading El Salvador has the highest approval rating of any leader in the world and El Salvadorans are grateful for his leadership in freeing their country from the cartels. Night and day difference in crime levels. His plan works and should be the model that Mexico follows.  

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I did not discount his plan. And the voices against it come mainly from the outside. No matter what El Salvador does, with their history someone is going to bitch.

But to continue the discussion and be devils advocate. Does that 13 year old now spend his life in jail? There is no "rehabilitation" programs large enough for the amount arrested.

I have very good Salvadoran friends there. A few years ago their solution was like the early 1980's. And these are not the Elite. These are small business/land owners who were tired of the extortion and murders.

And not sure how it would be CR.

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Posted
  On 8/1/2024 at 7:27 PM, InkaUtexas said:

I did not discount his plan. And the voices against it come mainly from the outside. No matter what El Salvador does, with their history someone is going to bitch.

But to continue the discussion and be devils advocate. Does that 13 year old now spend his life in jail? There is no "rehabilitation" programs large enough for the amount arrested.

I have very good Salvadoran friends there. A few years ago their solution was like the early 1980's. And these are not the Elite. These are small business/land owners who were tired of the extortion and murders.

And not sure how it would be CR.

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Thanks for your perspective. He has implemented a rehabilitation program for those who are imprisoned but were not charged with violent crimes who are used in kind of Depression era WPA capacity. My understanding is if we start talking about individual politicians and policies that would be CR.

Posted
  On 8/1/2024 at 7:27 PM, InkaUtexas said:

I did not discount his plan. And the voices against it come mainly from the outside. No matter what El Salvador does, with their history someone is going to bitch.

But to continue the discussion and be devils advocate. Does that 13 year old now spend his life in jail? There is no "rehabilitation" programs large enough for the amount arrested.

I have very good Salvadoran friends there. A few years ago their solution was like the early 1980's. And these are not the Elite. These are small business/land owners who were tired of the extortion and murders.

And not sure how it would be CR.

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The reason this happens isn't because of the foot soldiers it because of the head honchos. 

Right now there is still a predominantly cash driven economy in the areas where this is worst. They can't exactly starve out the cash to pay the thugs from doing the bidding of the head honchos. There are also too many feudal lord types to just go after them. 

The only realistic way to do this is too costly from both an administrative and a shear force perspective. There aren't severe enough penalties for participation and trying to enforce them like judge dredd would just result in all out "war".

They can't really starve out their source of funds anymore as a tactic because the cartels have branched so much further out than just drugs to get entrenched. Think American Gangster, but times 50 for every little city or town. 

Posted
  On 8/1/2024 at 6:06 PM, BabaYaga said:

Columbia tried that with Escobar.  It turned into open warfare.  Mass bombings.  Chaos.  It was a war-zone.  That also assumes a captive military that has not been infiltrated/corrupted.  

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You reminded me of a story I had completely forgotten about. In the 1990’s, I was a product line director for a company that provided the pcs/cellular network infrastructure for the whole country of Colombia, all 3 cellular carriers. 

One day I was sitting in my cushy Dallas office and we got a phone call from one of my installation crews in Colombia. With gunfire in the background they explained to us that the Colombian government was in a gunfight with one of the cartels at the base of a cell tower under construction. 

One of our guys was up there installing cable and was stuck. I think he’d already been up there something like 15 hours. They asked us what to do. I was not particularly helpful, but eventually the battle died down and the guy finally was able to climb down the tower. 

That was an insane time period. Eventually they wouldn’t even let me or other Americans in the company go into Colombia for awhile because it was so dangerous. 

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Posted
  On 7/27/2024 at 10:18 PM, Parliament said:

Nice

One of the world's most powerful drug lords, Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, leader of Mexico's Sinaloa cartel, has been arrested by US federal agents in El Paso, Texas.
Zambada, 76, founded the criminal organisation with Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, who is currently jailed in the US.
Arrested with Zambada on Thursday was Guzman's son, Joaquin Guzman Lopez, said the US justice department.
In February, Zambada was charged by US prosecutors with a conspiracy to make and distribute fentanyl, a drug more powerful than heroin that has been blamed for the US opioid crisis.
Citing Mexican and US officials, the Wall Street Journal reports that Zambada was tricked into boarding the plane by a high-ranking Sinaloa member following a months-long operation by Homeland Security Investigations and the FBI.
Believing that he was going to inspect clandestine airstrips in southern Mexico, Zambada was instead flown to a private airfield outside El Paso, Texas.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4ng4g31x1wo

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And they aren't going to be able to roll up to the jail and break them out the last time El Chapo's kid was in custody.  He'll be reunited with pops in ADX Florence soon enough.

Posted
  On 8/1/2024 at 7:24 PM, Macklemore said:

Would love to refute this post here but it would be CR. Let me just say the guy leading El Salvador has the highest approval rating of any leader in the world and El Salvadorans are grateful for his leadership in freeing their country from the cartels. Night and day difference in crime levels. His plan works and should be the model that Mexico follows.  The only groups that have issues with him are NGOs and people not living in El Salvador.

Expand  

He’s specifically said his plan would not work in Mexico. If the larger cartels needed control of El Salvador to operate, they would have it. But they don’t. 

Posted
  On 8/1/2024 at 7:37 PM, immamac said:

The reason this happens isn't because of the foot soldiers it because of the head honchos. 

Right now there is still a predominantly cash driven economy in the areas where this is worst. They can't exactly starve out the cash to pay the thugs from doing the bidding of the head honchos. There are also too many feudal lord types to just go after them. 

The only realistic way to do this is too costly from both an administrative and a shear force perspective. There aren't severe enough penalties for participation and trying to enforce them like judge dredd would just result in all out "war".

They can't really starve out their source of funds anymore as a tactic because the cartels have branched so much further out than just drugs to get entrenched. Think American Gangster, but times 50 for every little city or town. 

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You mean downtown San Salvador that lives on remssions from the US or gang extortion? One feeds the other BTW.

I grew up there and it was only since COVID that I did not go back twice a year. Well I missed a few when in the sandbox. I know El Sal quite well across society. I do not hang out at tourist spots. I have studied it and presented a few papers/projects on the subject. Happy to discuss anti-gang/cartels on a global level in a different thread if anyone wants one.

You are right and wrong. But back to rehabilitation, there is no way to get the Maras/cartel foot soldiers back into society being discussed. Other countries are talking more draconian measures. An abandoned Island in Honduras, dilapidated cruise ships in Ecuador. Want to end this? Act like the Taliban. Latin America will not do that. The culture today, the power within existing structures of the gangs/maras/cartels, and of course, if they did then their past will be brought up.

  On 8/1/2024 at 7:33 PM, Macklemore said:

Thanks for your perspective. He has implemented a rehabilitation program for those who are imprisoned but were not charged with violent crimes who are used in kind of Depression era WPA capacity. My understanding is if we start talking about individual politicians and policies that would be CR.

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There is very little in rehabilitation. I am friends with ex-prosecutors and police officers. They laugh at the concept of rehabilitation and understand this is going to be a ticking time bomb. One of the largest programs was shut down since the person leading the rehabilitation was in cahoots with the Maras.

Thread is on Mexico. I won't derail anymore.

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Posted
  On 8/1/2024 at 8:40 PM, InkaUtexas said:

You mean downtown San Salvador that lives on remssions from the US or gang extortion? One feeds the other BTW.

I grew up there and it was only since COVID that I did not go back twice a year. Well I missed a few when in the sandbox. I know El Sal quite well across society. I do not hang out at tourist spots. I have studied it and presented a few papers/projects on the subject. Happy to discuss anti-gang/cartels on a global level in a different thread if anyone wants one.

You are right and wrong. But back to rehabilitation, there is no way to get the Maras/cartel foot soldiers back into society being discussed. Other countries are talking more draconian measures. An abandoned Island in Honduras, dilapidated cruise ships in Ecuador. Want to end this? Act like the Taliban. Latin America will not do that. The culture today, the power within existing structures of the gangs/maras/cartels, and of course, if they did then their past will be brought up.

There is very little in rehabilitation. I am friends with ex-prosecutors and police officers. They laugh at the concept of rehabilitation and understand this is going to be a ticking time bomb. One of the largest programs was shut down since the person leading the rehabilitation was in cahoots with the Maras.

Thread is on Mexico. I won't derail anymore.

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I was talking about Mexico not El Salvador. 

Posted
  On 8/1/2024 at 8:34 PM, Helobious said:

He’s specifically said his plan would not work in Mexico. If the larger cartels needed control of El Salvador to operate, they would have it. But they don’t. 

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To a certain extent they do have control. Same in any MS-13, 18 territories in Central America. The approach is a bit different.

Posted

My question is...if the FBI has direct contact and frequently talks to Chapitos, Mayo, all the top of the pyramid type guys, then they clearly know how to contact them, what their likely whereabouts are, who they interact with, etc. and why can't they just treat them like they do the Hamas or terrorists? With Mexico's approval or their "wink wink" disapproval-but-approval, You know, drone bomb their facilities, sneak a bomb in Mayo's ranch and then months later detonate it, etc.? 

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