Mexico's Expresses Alarm After President Trump Said He Was Going To Designate Mexico's Drug Cartels As Terrorists Organizations

SCMP/Washington Post: Outcry from Mexico at Trump plan to designate its drug cartels as terrorists

  * US President Donald Trump claims Mexican drug cartels are to blame for 100,000 American deaths a year
  * The US Foreign Terror Organisation list includes Islamic State, al-Qaeda, and Boko Haram in Nigeria

Mexico’s government expressed alarm after US President Donald Trump said he was planning to designate Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organisations, a move that officials here fear could complicate security cooperation and trade between the neighbours.

“Mexico will never accept any action that violates our national sovereignty,” Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard tweeted.

“We will act firmly. I have sent our position to the US as well as our resolution on combating transnational organised crime.”

The Foreign Ministry said Ebrard would contact Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to set up an urgent meeting to discuss “this theme of high relevance for the bilateral agenda”.

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Update #1: Mexico Pushes Back Against Trump Plan To Label Cartels Terror Groups (Zero Hedge)
Update #2: Mexico Responds To Trump Decision To Designate Cartels As Terrorist Organizations (Daily Wire)

WNU Editor: President Trump commitment to designate these groups as terrorists can be heard in the above video. Mexico's alarm on this development is not a surprise. But the Mexican government must know that the current strategy of stopping these criminal organizations is not working. In fact it is reaching levels of violence that is unprecedented.

Mexico’s President Is Saying That The War On Drugs Is Over

Ramos y López Obrador analizan las cifras de homicidios otorgadas por el Gobierno federal. NTX / J. Lira

Madeleine Wattenbarger, The Nation: Mexico’s President Says the War on Drugs Is Over. Not All Mexicans Agree.

AMLO’s new drug policies are a gamble, with implications on everything from internal displacements to international relations.

On February 17, some 300 people from the Mexican state of Guerrero set up camp outside of Mexico City’s National Palace to pressure the government to address their forced displacement by drug gangs from their homes in the Sierra Madre. Two weeks earlier, president Andrés Manuel López Obrador had announced that Mexico’s war against narcotrafficking was over. “There is no war. We want peace, we’re going to get peace,” he’d told reporters in his daily morning press conference. For communities like the displaced from Guerrero, Mexico’s war on drugs is alive and well. The hand-lettered posters around their tent encampment detailed their complaints: “In Guerrero there is no guarantee of anything. It’s a narco state.”

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WNU Editor: Mexico's President Manuel López Obrador is saying that the homicide rates are down, but the stats are saying that 2019 will be the worse year for murders in Mexico's modern history .... Mexico's Lopez Obrador says homicide rates are down, despite data to the contrary (L.A. Times). More on the homicide rate in Mexico can be viewed here .... Map of homicides in Mexico from October 2018 to March 2019 (Elcri.men). What's my take. The stats do not lie, people do. Mexico's Drug cartel war is going to get worse.

Mexican President Obrador's Is Targeting Drug Cartel Finances

Mexico's new President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador holds a news conference at National Palace in Mexico City, Mexico December 3, 2018. REUTERS/Edgard Garrid

Reuters: Mexican President Obrador's Is Targeting Drug Cartel Finances

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is taking aim at the finances of the powerful Jalisco cartel in what a top anti-money laundering official said was an opening salvo in the fight to stop criminal gangs from flourishing with impunity.

Santiago Nieto, new head of the finance ministry’s Financial Intelligence Unit, told Reuters on Thursday he had filed a complaint against three businesses and seven people linked to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. On Wednesday, the finance ministry had said Nieto’s unit filed its first complaint with prosecutors, but provided no details.

The move against the Jalisco cartel, a relative newcomer that has risen to become one of Mexico’s most dangerous criminal gangs, sends a “first message” under Lopez Obrador, who took office Saturday, of his government’s determination to crack down on drug gang finances, Nieto said.

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WNU Editor: This is long overdue. And when we start hearing of asset and bank account seizures, that is when we will all know that Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is serious on taking the necessary steps to end the drug war that has engulfed Mexico for years.

Will Mexican President-Elect Lopez Obrador's Election Promise To Negotiate With Mexico's Drug Cartel Groups To End The Conflict Work?

Reuters: In bloody drug war, Mexico's new leader may try negotiating

CHILPANCINGO, Mexico (Reuters) - For the past 12 years, Mexico has fought violent drug gangs by deploying thousands of police, soldiers and intelligence officers to crack down on cartels and their leaders.

If its new president-elect gets his way, however, negotiation may replace the hard-line strategy that critics say has only perpetuated violence.

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, a leftist who won on Sunday after two previous attempts at the presidency, wants to rewrite the rules of the drug war, aides said, suggesting negotiated peace and amnesties for some of the very people currently being targeted by security forces.

“The failed strategy of combating insecurity and violence will change,” Lopez Obrador said in his victory speech Sunday night, repeating his call to address the socioeconomic ills that push people toward the drug trade and other crimes.

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WNU Editor:  There is too much money involved in drugs .... and for many who live in poverty in Mexico, too much of a temptation to not ignore. That is why I am not optimistic that these talks will go anywhere, and I doubt that the crime and corruption that it spawns will decrease anytime soon. As to releasing drug trafficers and granting an amnesty .... that is only going to increase the violence as soon as many of these former prisoners try to get their old jobs and territories back.

Is Mexico On The Brink Of An Opium War?

TRT: Violence over opium crops plagues Mexico’s Guerrero state

The western Mexican state of Guerrero is one of the most prolific producers of opium in the world.

In a region of Mexico that has become the world's third most prolific producer of opium, a wave of violence has engulfed the mountain communities, instigating a fight back from the local communities.

In the remote mountains of Guerrero state, opium poppies are the cash crop, and intense cartel competition to secure the harvest has led to a wave of violence that has displaced entire communities from their ancestral homelands.

Violence has spiked in the state over the past decade as a growing number of criminal gangs vie for control of crops of opium poppies and for drug-trafficking routes.

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WNU Editor: I do not see the light at the end of this tunnel for Mexico on this crisis.

Mexico's Drug Cartel Wars Have Made June The Bloodiest Month In Mexico In 20 Years

A woman is comforted near the body of a murder victim in Juárez, Mexico, in April. Reuters

L.A. Times: More people are dying in Mexico's bloody drug war than ever before

Drug war bloodshed in Mexico has spiked to record levels, with more homicides recorded in June than in any month in at least two decades.

Prosecutors opened 2,234 homicide investigations last month, according to government statistics released Friday. That’s an increase of 40% over June of last year and 80% over June of 2014.

Rising demand for heroin in the United States and a bloody power struggle inside one of Mexico’s most powerful drug cartels have put the country on track to record more killings in 2017 than in any year since the government began releasing crime data in 1997.

The 12,155 homicide cases opened from January to June make 2017 the deadliest first half of a year.

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WNU Editor: It is hard to believe that Mexico's murder epidemic could get worse .... but it has.

More News On Mexico's Murder Epidemic

Mexico murders up with deadliest month in at least 20 years -- AP
Mexico experiences deadliest month in decades -- FOX News
Mexico City spike in crime, violence sparks fears of cartel warfare -- Reuters
Mexico beats grim record for monthly murder tolls -- Daily Signal
Mexico City sees drug-war-style violence come to the capital -- ABC News/AP

Is The Mexican Military Out Of Control?

In a 2001 shootout in Yurécuaro, Mexican soldiers killed four men said to be members of a drug gang. A bystander was also killed, the local news media reported. Credit Leovigildo Gonzalez/Reuters

Reuters: Body Count Points to a Mexican Military Out of Control

MEXICO CITY — In the history of modern war, fighters are much more likely to injure their enemies than kill them.

But in Mexico, the opposite is true.

According to the government’s own figures, Mexico’s armed forces are exceptionally efficient killers — stacking up bodies at extraordinary rates.

The Mexican authorities say the nation’s soldiers are simply better trained and more skilled than the cartels they battle.

But experts who study the issue say Mexico’s kill rate is practically unheard-of, arguing that the numbers reveal something more ominous.

“They are summary executions,” said Paul Chevigny, a retired New York University professor who pioneered the study of lethality among armed forces.

In many forms of combat between armed groups, about four people are injured for each person killed, according to an assessment of wars since the late 1970s by the International Committee of the Red Cross. Sometimes, the number of wounded is even higher.

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WNU Editor: From covering the Mexican drug cartel war for years on this blog .... I can say without any reservation that the Mexican military has been brutal and uncompromising in its war against the drug cartels. But while it is easy to blame the Mexican army .... the real blame should be on their political masters .... they are the ones who writing the rules on how this war should be fought.

Mexico's Drug Cartels Are Now Waging An 'Instagram War'

Ivan Guzman’s Culiacan mansion in the heart of Sinaloa state has been paid for by his father’s cartel, which makes more than $3 billion annually from the narcotics trade in the United States alone

Daily Mail: Narcos at (Instagram) war! From guns and girls to big cats and big piles of cash, El Chapo's sons spark social media battles between Mexican cartel members showing off their sickening wealth

* Mexico's top cartel members are showing off their lavish lifestyles on social media in a bid to outdo each other
* Pictures of gold-plated guns, bikini-clad women, fast cars and big cats are being posted on Instagram and Twitter
* Trend believed to have been set by the children of El Chapo, a cartel boss who escaped from prison two months ago

Gold-plated guns, voluptuous bikini-clad women and big cats are appearing on the social media accounts of Mexican cartel members in a trend thought to be set by the children of fugitive El Chapo.

In an effort to compete for the title of Narco King of Instagram, Mexico’s most powerful narcos have taken to social media to show off their lavish tastes.

Posting under the hashtags #narcos and #narcostyle, top cartel members flash their enormous wealth over Instagram and Twitter, uploading outrageous pictures which attract hundreds of both adoring and hate-filled comments.

WNU Editor: Here is a perfect opportunity for the Mexican government to catalogue all of this wealth .... and to then seize it for money laundering, tax evasion, etc.. Unfortunately .... my gut is telling me that they are going to do nothing.

Mexico Declares War Against The 'New Generation Jalisco Cartel'

The Guardian: Mexico declares all-out war after rising drug cartel downs military helicopter

* ‘The full force of the Mexican state will be felt in Jalisco’
* New Generation Jalisco Cartel killed 15 and 19 injured in coordinated attacks

Mexico has declared an all-out offensive against the relatively new drug cartel which shot down an army helicopter during a weekend of coordinated attacks across the western state of Jalisco which prompted fresh concerns over the latest escalation of the country’s drug wars.

Six soldiers were killed when gunmen from the New Generation Jalisco Cartel used a rocket-propelled grenade to bring down an army helicopter that was pursuing a cartel convoy on Friday, the national security commissioner, Monte Alejandro Rubido, told Televisa.

Update #1: New Generation cartel Mexico's latest menace -- AFP
Update #2: Recent Cartel Attacks In Guadalajara Are A Bad Sign For One Of Mexico's Economic Success Stories -- Nathaniel Parish Flannery, Forbes

WNU Editor: When your military helicopters are being shot down with rocket propelled grenades .... Mexican Army Helicopter Was Shot Down With Rocket-Propelled Grenades (WSJ) .... that is when you know that you do not have a police situation .... but a serious military problem.

Mexico's Drug Cartel War Is Heating Up

Wall Street Journal: Rise of Drug Cartel Brings Wave of Mexican Violence

Army hunts for three missing soldiers in Jalisco since helicopter was shot down on Friday

MEXICO CITY—A weekend of coordinated violence convulsed Mexico’s second-largest city and a famed beach resort town in the latest sign of the emergence of a powerful and aggressive drug cartel.

Soldiers and police in Jalisco state searched on Sunday for three soldiers who have been missing since gunmen presumed to belong to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel shot down a Mexican army helicopter on Friday, killing three soldiers and injuring 12.

The chopper was shot down as soldiers, marines, and federal and state police began an operation to take down the Jalisco cartel, capture its leaders and improve security in the state, officials said.

“A new and military powerful cartel is appearing, and opening up a new front in the war against drugs in Guadalajara and Jalisco,” said Raul Benitez, a security analyst at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.


Update: Mexico's Drug War: Jalisco New Generation Cartel Blamed After 3 Mexican Army Soldiers Go Missing -- IBTimes

WNU Editor: I have not posted on Mexico's drug cartel war for the past few months .... a mistake on my part in view of the fact that the war is still continuing.

The Rise Of Narcomedia

Facebook Becomes The New Front In Mexico's Drug War -- Matt Stroud, The Verge

The social narconetwork

On December 16th, 2009, Arturo Beltrán Leyva, leader of one of the largest and most violent illegal drug enterprises in Mexico, was killed in a shootout. An ambush, really. Orchestrated by the Mexican federal government and based on intelligence from the US, it took place in a suburb about an hour’s drive south of Mexico City, as part of a coordinated assault on the upscale apartment building where Beltrán Leyva was staying. At least 200 Mexican marines were involved, along with navy helicopters and two army tanks.

But while press conference-fueled reports emerged on international newswires — not unlike those that emerged when Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán Loera was arrested in February — Beltrán Leyva’s death also received a different sort of treatment on Facebook and Twitter. In a forthcoming article in the journal Latin American Perspectives, Carnegie Mellon University historian and anthropologist Paul Eiss describes a photo of Beltrán Leyva’s cadaver that circulated on social media. That photo — and its placement on Facebook and Twitter and elsewhere on the web — represents not only how social media has expanded in Mexico, Eiss says, but how that expansion has transformed the spread of information in a decades-old drug war.

Eiss calls it the narcomedia — the sharing of sometimes gruesome, terrifying messages, frequently on social media. And it’s not just the perceived bad guys sharing these messages.


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My Comment:  For the past few years I have been amazed on the growing role that social media is playing. This is just another example on it's growing importance.

Founder Of The La Familia Cartel And Leader Of The Knights Templar Killed By Mexican Police

Nazario Moreno Gonzalez, who was believed to have died years ago, was allegedly killed in a shoot out with federal agents. (Photo : Wikipedia Commons)

Mexico Kills Drug Lord Thought Dead For Three Years -- BBC

Officials in Mexico say that they have killed a drug lord who was reported to have been shot dead three years ago.

Nazario Moreno, known as El Mas Loco - The Craziest One - was the founder of the La Familia cartel and regarded as the spiritual leader of its offshoot, the brutal Knights Templar.

His death was first announced after a 2010 shootout, but no body was found and he was reportedly seen alive since.

Police said he was finally tracked down and shot dead in Michoacan state.

"From a fingerprint analysis we have confirmed 100% that this was Nazario Moreno Gonzalez," said Tomas Zeron, the head of investigations at the federal prosecutor's office.

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More News On The Founder Of The La Familia Cartel And Leader Of The Knights Templar Being Killed By Mexican Police

Cartel head killed four years after being reported dead, Mexico says -- FOX News/AP
Mexico confirms killing of 'dead' drug capo -- AFP
Notorious Mexican cartel leader Nazario Moreno dead -- again -- CNN
Mexican authorities kill Knights Templar drug cartel leader Nazario Moreno -- Washington Post
Mexico kills drug lord thought dead for three years -- Daily Mail

Who’s The Most-Wanted Drug Lord Now?

El Chapo Has Been Arrested. Who’s The Most-Wanted Drug Lord Now? -- Washington Post

The world’s most-wanted drug lord, Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, was arrested on Saturday. So who earns that spot now? Here are some possibilities:

Ismael Zambada

The Sinaloa cartel kingpin, known as “El Mayo,” is considered a probable successor to Guzmán. He helped run the cartel when Guzmán was in prison from 1993 to 2001. Zambada’s son, Vicente, or “El Mayito,” is facing a federal grand jury indictment in Chicago and has claimed he was a Drug Enforcement Administration informant. Another son, Serafin Zambada, was arrested in November.

Reuters described his style as “brash Mexican cowboy.”

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My Comment:  Nothing is going to change. Guzman's arrest will only mean that everyone in his organization will be moving one notch up.

The Capture Of Drug Cartel Lord Joaquin Guzman Sparks Extradition Fight Between The U.S. And Mexico

U.S. And Mexican Authorities Detail Coordinated Effort To Capture Drug Lord -- Washington Post

MEXICO CITY — The half-dozen Mexican commandos who burst into Room 401 of the Miramar condominium building in the beach town of Mazatlan found the world’s most-wanted drug lord not armed to the teeth, but shirtless and curled up in bed with his beauty-queen wife. An assault rifle was at his side, but he didn’t try to grab it.

The arrival of the elite troops at this seaside condo tower on Saturday morning marked the culmination of nine days of rapid-fire military raids and detective work across the Pacific coast state of Sinaloa.

Mexican and U.S. authorities involved in the investigation offered new details on Sunday about how they put together a jigsaw puzzle that was 13 years in the making. They were helped by U.S.-supplied wiretaps and surveillance technology that allowed them to track the cellphone locations of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán and his crew as they tried everything to avoid capture — even fleeing through sewer tunnels.

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More News On The Arrest Of Mexican Drug Lord Joaquin Guzman

Mexico's top drug lord Joaquin 'Shorty' Guzman arrested -- BBC
Federal Prosecutors Seek Return of Mexican Drug Kingpin to US -- New York Times
US to seek 'Shorty' Guzman's extradition from Mexico -- BBC
US prosecutors to seek Mexican drug lord's extradition -- AFP
Capture of Mexican drug lord 'El Chapo' Guzman ignites fight over trial location -- FOX News
SEE IT: Billionaire Mexican drug lord hid out in basic apartment prior to his capture -- New York Daily News
U.S. want cartel boss on trial to claim his €11 billion fortune -- Sunday World
'El Chapo' Guzman: How the world's most wanted drug lord was finally busted -- CNN
Capture of 'El Chapo' Guzman won't stop $29 billion worth of drugs coming into the US each year OR violence, experts warn -- Daily Mail
Drug kingpin’s arrest shows Mexican authorities making progress -- Eduardo Medina Mora, Washington Post
Guzman arrest: A coup for Mexican President Pena Nieto? -- BBC
Capturing 'Public Enemy No. 1' -- Carl Meacham, CNN
Guzman's arrest unlikely to ease violence in Mexico -- Alfonso Serrano, Al Jazeera

Mexico Drug Cartel Hitman Confesses To A Minimum Of 800 Murders

Jesus Ernesto Chavez Castillo. Borderland Beat

Mexican Drug Cartel Hitman Tells How He Committed 800 Murders Before He Stopped Keeping Track -- Daily Mail

* Jesus Ernesto Chavez is the star witness against his former boss, Arturo Gallegos Castrellon
* Chavez admitted to 800 murders but knows there are more because he stopped keeping track after 800
* Castrellon is the alleged leader of the Barrio Azteca street gang
* Barrio Azteca was the go-to hit-squad for the Juarez drug cartel
* Castrellon, 32, is accused of orchestrating the murders of two Americans during a March 2010 drive-by shooting
* He claims he only confessed after he was tortured for three days by Mexican police who shocked his testicles and raped his wife
* A federal judge ruled last month that his confession can’t be suppressed, but his attorneys want a U.S. jury to decide
* Since Castrellon was arrested the murder rate in Juarez has fallen dramatically

In shocking testimony during the murder trial of an alleged Mexican drug cartel enforcer, the star witness in the case - himself a cartel hitman - told jurors that he stopped keeping track of the number of people he had killed when the number approached 800.

Jesus Ernesto Chavez Castillo, the star witness in the trial of his former boss, Arturo Gallegos Castrellon,gave grisly details about how Castrellon grew the Barrio Azteca gang from a Texas prison gang into the band of contract killers for one of Mexico's most violent drug cartels, the Juarez Cartel.

Chavez testified that he had a daily murder quota he was expected to meet to instill fear in police, elected officials and the public at large.

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Update: Cartel hitman testifies to 800 murders, daily quotas at kingpin's trial -- FOX DC

My Comment: A shocking number that defies imagination. If you add up the numbers .... he was murdering a few people per week.

Mexican Forces Move In Following Deadly Vigilante-Cartel Clashes

Mexico Urges Vigilantes To Stand Down In Drug Gang Conflict -- Reuters

(Reuters) - Mexico's government on Monday pledged to take control of a violent western state after days of fighting between masked vigilantes and members of one of the country's most powerful drug cartels.

Since late last year, vigilante groups in the state of Michoacan have moved deeper into territory controlled by the Knights Templar cartel and they now are converging on Apatzingan, considered one of gang's main strongholds.

The vigilantes' advance has raised the risk of a bloody urban battle in Apatzingan. Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong on Monday urged the vigilante groups to withdraw from the battleground so federal forces could take control.

"Be certain that we will contain the violence in Michoacan," Osorio Chong said at an event in the state capital of Morelia.

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More News On Mexican Forces Trying To Stop Deadly Vigilante-Cartel Clashes

Mexican police start to disarm vigilantes in Michoacan -- BBC
Mexico forces clash with vigilante groups -- Bloomberg Businessweek/AP
Government Troops Move In Following Deadly Vigilante-Cartel Clashes In Mexico -- FOX News
Mexico calls on vigilantes to stand down in drug gang conflict -- Euronews
Mexican militia leader vows to continue battle with drug cartels after plane crash -- Washington Post
Mexican vigilantes split over call to disarm -- AFP
Calm after the storm: Tender moment between Mexican vigilante and girlfriend as fighters vow NEVER to give up the fight against Knights Templar cartel -- Daily Mail

Mexico’s Narco Families Love To 'Show-Off' On Social Media

Pesando el dinero pic.twitter.com/v9jeYZYyAn
— Serafin Zambada (@ZambadaSerafin) July 11, 2013

Internet Posts Provide Incriminating Look At Lives Of Mexico’s Narco Families -- McClatchy News

MEXICO CITY — The sons and daughters of Mexico’s most renowned outlaws just can’t refrain from posting photos of their lavish lifestyles online: Fat bundles of cash. Gold-plated assault rifles. Pet lions and tigers. Tricked-out dune buggies.

All is on display on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. It’s like peering at a gossip magazine for the underground rich and famous as they hide from the law.

The arrest last week in Arizona of the son of the alleged No. 2 leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, Mexico’s most powerful criminal syndicate, brought attention to his social media accounts and those of his closest friends, including the son of the nation’s most wanted man, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.

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My Comment: Talk about making yourself as a target.

Mexico's Self-Defense Groups Are At War With The Drug Cartels

A number of petrol stations were also torched, including two in the state capital Morelia. Photograph: Reuters

Mexico Drug Cartel In Conflict With Self-Defence Groups In Michoacán State -- The Guardian

Escalating dispute involving Knights Templar cartel triggers shootout in major city and attacks on region's power stations

The escalating conflict between self-defence groups from the western Mexican state of Michoacán and the Knights Templar drug cartel triggered a shootout in the centre of a major city and attacks on power stations leaving hundreds of thousands without electricity over the weekend.

The clashes were sparked on Saturday when self-defence groups formed in several outlying towns in the Tierra Caliente, or Hot Lands, region marched on Apatzingán, the biggest city in the area and a key bastion of the cartel.

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My Comment: After years of bloodshed, murder, and mayhem .... the local citizenry are clearly fed up.

Update: Mexican vigilantes take on drug cartels - and worry authorities -- The Guardian

Mexican Drug Lord Killed By Clown

Photo: Killed: Francisco Rafael Arellano Felix has been shot dead at a beach house

Assassin Dressed As A Clown Kills Mexican Drug Lord In Surprise Attack At Family Gathering -- Daily Mail

* Francisco Rafael Arellano Felix was part of Tijuana Cartel
* Gunmen dressed in wig and red round nose opened fire at beach house

A gunman wearing a clown costume has killed the oldest brother of one of Mexico's most notorious drug trafficking families in the resort of Los Cabos.

Francisco Rafael Arellano Felix, 63, a former leader of the Tijuana Cartel, was shot in the head late on Friday at a family gathering in the southern tip of the state of Baja California Sur, state prosecutors said.

'A person dressed as a clown took his life,' the spokesman said, adding that the gunman fled the scene.

'He was hit by two bullets, one in the chest and one in the head,' Isai Arias, a Baja California state government official, said.

An unnamed official said the killer was wearing a wig and round red nose. The motive and the gunmen's disguise were being investigated.

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My Comment: I suspect that this drug lord never saw this coming.

Mexico's Drug Carel War Has Just Exploded

Mexico’s War Against The Cartels Just Exploded -- Robert Beckhusen, War Is Boring

Offensive against cartels and vigilantes hits a wall.

Two months ago the Mexican military sent thousands of troops into a state torn apart by warring cartels and a thriving militia movement. It’s a damned quagmire.

The west-central state of Michoacan has long been a haven for drug traffickers. It’s where Mexico’s modern drug war began in 2006 when then-president Felipe Calderon sent troops to quell the cartels.

But instead of quelling the violence, the Mexican government has been forced to launch another offensive. More than six years after the initial push into Michoacan, new president Enrique Pena Nieto has mobilized an impressive force of 6,000 troops backed by armored vehicles and helicopters and led by a veteran special forces commander.

“We will go with the full force of the state to provide protection to employers and families that have very serious security problems,” said Interior Minister Miguel Osorio.

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My Comment: I agree with this analysis. Mexico's newly elected President Enrique Pena Nieto vowed to pursue a different path against the cartels .... what he had not counted upon was that the cartels would only take advantage of his proposal to find a peaceful solution, and that common citizens would band together to form militias to battle these criminal organizations. My prediction .... Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto will soon be adopting the same measures that his predecessor used in combating the cartels.