Javier writes at borderlandbeat.com:
It was a night of terror for a small town (330 inhabitants) in Guerrero two weeks ago when at least 40 armed men kidnapped seven people, peppered homes with machine gun fire and robbed some residents of cash and belongings.
The attack on Chacotla began at about 10:30pm and wound up some five hours later and despite calls to 911, municipal and state police offices and the Army, authorities didn’t turn up until the following day. The town of is located 40 minutes from the state capital of Chilpancingo.
Last Wednesday, five of the kidnap victims were found dead.
Upon their arrival in the town the gang blocked the main road before seeking two people in particular: sons of Gabriel González, also known as El Tigre, a 42-year-old man who no longer lives in the community.
The gunmen took González’ sons, aged 21 and 16, along with their mother before nabbing two of González’ nephews, 22 and 17, from their grandparents’ home.
A third man managed to escape with his daughter before the gangsters arrived at his home but his wife instead became the sixth kidnap victim. The seventh was taken from the neighboring town of Mazatlán as the criminals fled.
Residents say they heard several of the armed men identifying themselves as members of the Union of the People and Organizations of Guerrero (UPOEG) community police but that organization later denied any involvement.
Other names were also mentioned: that of Isaac Navarrete, leader of the Sierra cartel, and Celso Ortega, chief of Los Ardillos.
Later that Tuesday morning the kidnappers contacted the victims’ relatives, demanding ransoms that totaled 1.5 million pesos, about US $74,000. The amount was later reduced to 1 million but the families, all farmers, were unable to raise the money.
Early the following Wednesday morning, the two kidnapped women returned to their homes after being left on the shoulder of a road and walking for about two hours.
The fate of the five men was known an hour later: their bodies had been left by the side of the nearby road between the communities of Mazatlán, El Salado, and Lagunillas, each with two shots to the head.
The gang wasn’t done harassing Chacotla residents. During funeral services for the five executed men relatives received phone calls, allegedly from the kidnappers, threatening them with further violence and kidnapping.
Few people attended the burials as fear and apprehension prevailed in the community. Police presence in the town had been sporadic throughout the week so the bereaved residents asked authorities for protection during the funeral services and burials, but their request went unanswered.
Now, the people of Chacotla are not happy with the performance of federal, state and local authorities.
“This cannot be, we’re at the mercy of these criminal groups and the government has abandoned its responsibility of at least guaranteeing our right to live,” said one.
Late last Wednesday evening, eight trucks carrying Federal Police officers turned up, set up a checkpoint at the entrance to the town and began patrols.
Its Mexico what did you expect?
They need the
Magnificent 700
Or the Three Amigos.
I’m glad I’m not the only one to make that M7 (or Seven Samurai) connection. It’s just a shame that Mexico is the same way a century later.
When the bad guys have effectively unlimited resources in a country that’s not particularly wealthy and was poorly managed by a single political party for 70 years, this is what you get.
Kalifornia in 10 years.
Chicago now!
“government has abandoned its responsibility of at least guaranteeing our right to live,”
All the time I see pro gun control people say that their right to live means passing common-sense gun laws.
Ain’t easy to legally bear arms in Mexico, especially the kind that a small community of farmers could use to deter such attacks.
You want common sense gun laws? It’d be easier to learn Spanish and move across the border than continue fighting the 2nd amendment. So please do it.
Mexico is primed for a civil war. The government is in the pockets of the cartels and they’re cheap.
‘Plata.. o plomo?’
A civil war in Mexico. I don’t deny the possibility but I have a strong suspicion that the outcome will be undesirable for both us and the people of Mexico.
I really don’t see it happening in the current climate, even as not good as it is now.
I fear it will get considerably worse before the breaking point is reached.
But when it does, it will be world news…
The likelihood that the US would be compelled to intervene in a Mexican civil war is extremely high. Having a narcostate on our border is intolerable.
I say we pull back and nuke it from orbit, it’s the only way to be sure.
I hope you realize there has already been civil war in Mexico. Like recently and the government folks helped the Narcos(cartels) crush the people that rose up.
Honest Mexican Politician
The most dangerous job in the world.
Luckily it’s a rare position
Even in California, senor…
When the Left tells you the authorities will protect you it’s not true. Just remember that.
“When the Left tells you the authorities will protect you it’s not true. Just remember that.”
And when the right tells you the same, ditto.
And when the left, right or center tells you the government will do anything useful at all, for anyone besides themselves and their immediate social circle….. Again, ditto.
That’s what government is all about. All government, any government, every government. Throughout all of history, and for all future. Without a single exception being even theoretically possible.
“This is what happens when your northern neighbor blackmails you into fighting their senseless drug war by threatening you with punitive economic punishment.”
There, FTFY.
No…this happens when when a culture thinks murder is just business and police use selective rule of law to fein protecting citizens.
It is cute when people talk as if Mexican “culture” is the reason for all of this.
A cursory study of Mexican history will show that the country was well on the way to building a first-world economy and judicial system in the 70’s when the US government insisted that Mexico fight their drug war for them or face economic devastation. A war which pits their still second world economy against a first-world black market.
The irony here is that Mexico ended up economically devastated anyways, while sanctimonious drug warriors in the US preach and bloviate about their sick crusade while condemning the “corrupt” Mexicans.
Yes, yes, just like the communists would have finally made the utopia they’d been building in the USSR and China except those damn capitalists came in and ruined everything.
Or MAYBE when a system or country is in the shitter, it’s the fault of that country or system and not some handy external excuse.
Stupid analogy and a strawman to boot. Typical from the drug warrior/US government dindu nuffin crowd.
Even US cops with their bloated pensions engage in systemic corruption (see: civil forfeiture), do you think second-world cops in Mexico will be able to resist the money associated with a black market created by a far richer foreign government?
I see MDS has a hard on for laws against drugs. Too bad, some of us aren’t about to give up trying to save lives and communities.
You think it hip to declare legalization as the magic crime cure ? You’ve a lot to learn.
“You’ve a lot to learn.”
Funny that, basically every economist in the world and most criminologists deem the American war on drugs to be a complete failure. Drug warriors are the living embodiment of the Dunning-Kruger effect.
“trying to save lives and communities.”
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Ergo, drug warriors are not just stupid, they are also insane.
“You think it hip to declare legalization as the magic crime cure”
Nice strawman.
There is much more to US citizen involvement in Mexico over the last hundred years than the drug war/cartels. American attorneys have been counseling and aiding Mexican (and Salvadorian, and Honduran, and Guatamalan) strong men for many many decades. Individual Americans have been and are major owners of land and businesses in Mexico. Even the Mexican constitutional forbidding of Americans to own land on the coasts has been breached almost without limit. Some big American players in Mexiico have long taken Mexico’s side in Mex/US controversies, and have played the “let’s take the money to Switzerland game” with the Central Americans. These are people who understood the weaknesses of Washington. Things have changed a bit, but only a bit.
But put that aside. The power of Mexico’s gangsters, the cartels, arose as a consequence of how we broke the Colombians. We spent vast amounts on maritime and aerial surveillance and the pursuit of traffickers on the Caribbean (Cuban, Floridian, SE US) routes. We forced the trade to move onto land before it flowed into the US, putting the trade in the Mexican Cartels’ hands. That is simply the true history of the business development.
You’re right about one thing. Your education on the subject is definitely cursory.
Pro-tip: mangling the English language doesn’t earn you any extra points. 🙂
You talk like Mexico was a utopia on its way to being a global power before the mean old U.S of A bullied them into submission. Guess what? They weren’t. They have always been exactly what they are now, a beautiful country and culture ruined by a corrupt and inept government and controlled by criminals. The war on drugs was necessary because we had (and continue to have) an endless flow of drugs coming across the Mexican border. Has it been effective? Not really. But it beats the liberal approach of punishing law-abiding citizens and hoping the criminals decide to become good guys.
“You talk like Mexico was a utopia on its way to being a global power”
Strawman.
“The war on drugs was necessary because we had (and continue to have) an endless flow of drugs coming across the Mexican border.”
Actually the war on drugs started as judicial punishment for what Nixon deemed to be his political enemies at home, long before foreign interdiction efforts started. Of course, the interdiction campaign has been a dismal failure at stopping the flow (the DEA itself estimates their haul at single percentage digits).
“But it beats the liberal approach of punishing law-abiding citizens and hoping the criminals decide to become good guys.”
Another stupid strawman, false dichotomy, etc.
Boy, arguing sure is easy when you just call everything a strawman. And I agree that the effort has been a failure, but I’m not understanding your point here. Are you saying we shouldn’t attempt to limit the flow of drugs into the U.S?
“arguing sure is easy when you just call everything a strawman”
Arguing is easy when the other side cannot put together anything other than strawmen. There, FTFY. 🙂
“Are you saying we shouldn’t attempt to limit the flow of drugs into the U.S?”
Certainly not with current, demonstrably useless tactics. The drug war in its current form is the government’s attempt at virtue signalling: a futile and expensive gesture that also gets lots of people killed (not that they care).
So move there and fix things sweetheart. Simple solution, everybody wins. You make a difference, Mexico gets better, there’s one less nation the US gets to take care of, and we don’t have to listen to you any more.
Don’t you dare make any excuses why you can’t/won’t. Put up or shut up.
“there’s one less nation the US gets to take care of”
So that is what the US has been doing all these years.
“So move there and fix things sweetheart”
Literally the stupidest argument possible. 🙂
Feel free to leave this board if you get triggered by disagreeable opinions and inconvenient facts.
evidence to support your assertion?
MoreDeadSoldiers just what are your bone fida’s? To say every counterpoint to your argument is a strawman argument is in itself a strawman argument. You use hyperbole to say every criminologist would say the war on drugs has failed. Maybe every leftist sociologist who believes we should legalize everything from pot to carfentynal. But, many believe you should take a more proactive approach by making it even more uncomfortable for the Mexican government to turn a blind eye to Cartel activity.
“To say every counterpoint to your argument is a strawman argument is in itself a strawman argument”
Pointing out a strawman is not a strawman. If the accused strawman argument is actually not, then my response would be a false statement. If you see one from me, point it out.
“Maybe every leftist sociologist who believes we should legalize everything from pot to carfentynal”
I find it amusing that you use an economic label to classify opposition of the drug war, when civil libertarian right has been leading criticism of the drug war since its inception. Ignorance breeds the need to label opposing viewpoints for dismissal.
And you can’t even copy/paste correctly. I said criminologist, not sociologist. Read the writings of August Vollmer (a criminology pioneer and critic of alcohol prohibition) for a good introduction of the criminologist dissent against the drug war.
“No…this happens when when a culture thinks murder is just business and police use selective rule of law to fein protecting citizens.”
AKA, when a culture has been so thoroughly indoctrinated that it believes government is some sort of useful institution. For something other than target practice.
For an example…. Just pick a country with a monopolistic government. Any of them will do. They’re all pretty much the same anyway.
And yet it is Mexico that is economically punishing America.
The wealthy class in Mexico is flooding American immigration courts to stop or slow down deportations, so they don’t have to pay taxes to support their own poor. The Mexican elite has largely outsourced the educstion and medical care of their poor to American taxpayers.
Mexico’s culture is “permissive” when it comes to the rule of law (speaking in relative terms). It has shaped Mexico’s society into the embarrassing state that it is in. The culture and the problem is flooding across the border and it is why Americans are clamoring for a secure border.
I wish we had viable programs to expand and secure gun rights for citizens of the failed state of Mexico.
That said, the problem of illegal drugs is not one of supply but one of demand. Either legalize or crush consumption. As someone who rues Wickward v. Filburn and wants limited government I say legalize.
That’s true. Where there is demand for a good, there will always be supply.
Smart policy would involve crushing demand for BOTH drugs and illegal workers. Some combination of legalization of drugs coupled with mandatory addiction treatement to address narco-crime. Prisn time for employers of illegals to address illegal immigration.
They need the Magnificent Seven (and a Company of MPs.)
I was thinking the very same thing! But the seven are going to need significant firepower.
Only good thing about Mexico is Chihuahua beer.
As easy as it can be to dismiss this as “Mexico”, I suspect that many of the people who have been hurt, tormented and terrorized by the cartels and governments are just like many of us here in the States…hard working and just want to go about their lives in a civilized manner.
Even as I support the construction of a barrier and better security on southern border, I would be very willing to make a trade of these Mexican individuals & families for likes and families of Shannon Watts, Mike Bloomberg, Chuck Shumer, the former Pres, etc., even at a some ratio of like 1:10, maybe 1:100, all negotiable.
I’m sure many of these people who experience the influence and fear would certainly appreciate what American citizenship and Liberty are about and would likely become the strongest proponents of the USA. Won’t get into the drug politics at this point, but very much a factor as previously stated.
This just in: In Mexico inaction, or for that matter action, by the Federales can be just as deadly as the water.
In all seriousness, this is an all to familiar travesty that has become the reality of daily life for the common folk in parts of Mexico. A former colleague once relayed to the author of this post, that entire neiborhoods in the small town she grew up in, in NW Mexico, would frequently become abandoned. Whether the inhabits fled from the poverty and violence or were merely exterminated and buried in shallow graves wasn’t known.
When your government gets into bed with the thugs, they end up becoming something worse than mere criminals.
When the police, military, cartels, and vigilantes all decide to conduct reprisal actions on the local population (disarmed of course, it is no fun if they shoot back), and everyone knows the truth after a little motivation, these actions will be considered normal to the perpetrators.
Mexico is well on the way from the second world to the third world.
Indeed, once such events become the norm, it would be daft to expect anything less. Corruption and violence in Chicago e.g.
Two shots to the head roadside counts as a very easy death when Mexican criminals are involved.
Let’s see…a population that has tripled in number in size in 40 years http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/mexico-population/ , with no accompanying resources or income to keep up with this massive population increase, results in corruption and lawlessness (if it were not drugs and kidnapping, crimes would be motivated by other catalysts). You cannot have an essentially peasant society with an exploding population, and expect there will be plenty of everything for all forever for all. Criminal leeches are the expected result. Look to the countries further south and to Africa – all unchecked population growth nightmares, and this will get much worse very soon. We need to get a handle on our borders now, as the flood from failed societies to the south will get much worse over the coming decades (we dont need a “wall” everywhere – increased tech. and manpower can do the trick)
Mexico had growing oil production and exports for a while. Cantarell peaking and collapsing was a harbinger
Mexico’s greatest resource is….being right next door to the porous U.S. border!
true
This article perfectly illustrates why you DO have a need for standard-capacity magazines and MSRs.
Hell, and a whole passel of friends and neighbors with the same.
Can’t happen here? Just wait. Some urbanite LE will shoot the ‘wrong’ person and that mob of ghetto zombies will eventually figure out looting / burning their own neighborhoods is a non-starter.
It is clear that the “war on drugs” is counterproductive.
we need to focus on reducing demand for illegal narcotics – if we weren’t spending billions of dollars on illegal narcotics, there wouldn’t be nearly as much incentive for narco-crime organizations to provide it. Where there is demand for a good, there will be supply.
There are a few ways to get at this problem, but they usually face opposition on “moral” grounds. But how “moral” is it to keep up the expensive and violent “war on drugs” when it clearly doesn’t work?
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