Yesterday’s shooting at a Denver pot festival had a few heads shaking. People who reject the idea that decriminalizing or legalizing small amounts of marijuana for recreational use is good idea were not pleased. I’m one of them. Not because I think pot smoking makes people violent. That’s ridiculous. Because every time an American buys marijuana he or she’s subsidizing the drug war in Mexico. Helping to put billions of dollars into the pockets of the world’s most vicious criminals. Narcoterrorists and nihilists who rape, torture, intimidate and murder each other and the Mexican populace. American pot smokers are doing their bit to subsidize these monsters and destroy whatever’s left of Mexico’s democratic process and personal liberty. Here’s an article from borderlandbeat.com to help make that connection. Oh, and I favor complete drug legalization . . .
The following are just some of the crimes committed in the last 2 weeks in Tijuana:
April 03: US citizen Jose Alejandro Medina Ortiz, 20, was executed in the Obrera neighborhood, he was driving his vehicle in company of a 15 year old girl when a man walked towards them and shoot him several times in the neck and head. The minor said that she believe the hit man was after her father, since he had a police record in the US for drug trafficking, hoewever, the state´s Attorney General Office announced they captured a man by the name of Jose Ivan Jimenez Mendez aka”El Chulo”, a former police agent from the city of Oaxaca, Oaxaca. Jimenez Mendez admitted working for a man known as “El Atlante”, who is believed to control some of the drug retail in the area known as “Zona Norte”. Authorities said Medina Ortiz was killed because he owed drug money to “El Atlante”.
April 03: Christian Adrian Ubaldo Aguayo Castro, 31, was found dead in the Simon Malverde Street of the Del Monte neighborhood. Aguayo Castro´s body had several signs of torture and his corpse was tied with flexicuffs, he also had a rope tied around the neck.
April 04: The bodies of two men were found wrapped inside blankets, they haven´t been identified yet, but authorities believe they were between 25-30 years old, authorities also suspect they were recently deported because they had tattoos in the arms belonging to US gangs. Both corpses showed signs of torture and one of them had a seat belt around the neck.
April 06: A man identified only as “El Chango”(The Monkey), 25, was executed in the Rubi neighborhood, his body was found in the driver seat of a Jeep Cherokee, when the police officers arrived, they found a cell phone in the victim´s hand with a message from someone known as “El Puma” in which “El Chango” was told to be there so he could be paid some drug money. “El Chango” was shot four times, two in the head and two in the neck. His attackers fled in a Trooper SUV which was later found abandoned in a sea food restaurant.
April 06: A young man was shot to death in the Libertad neighborhood. The young man was walking when a stranger walked toward him and shot him at point blank.
April 06: Two men were executed in the Jardines del Rubi neighborhood, a group of armed men arrived at their apartment and shot them twice in the head. One of the victims was a US citizen identified as Joseph Flores the other victim was Jose Luna Garcia, nephew of Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada. Luna Garcia´s body was buried in Culiacan, Sinaloa.
April 07: In the first minutes of the day, Daniel Diaz Garcia, 30, was shot to death when he was celebrating his wedding engagement in his in-law´s house. When the attacker shot Diaz Garcia, an active police agent who was a guest in the party tried to stop the attacker but was also shot in one leg. The attacker fled and the family of Diaz Garcia asked the state´s Attorney General Office to stop the investigation.
April 09: A woman´s torso and leg were found in an abandoned lot in the Guaycura neighborhood, police agents found some clothes near the body parts. No further info was given by authorities.
April 11: Defense Attorney Roberto Santiago Navarro Vazquez, 45, was shot several times. Navarro Vazquez was known for his work as defense Attorney for Benjamin Arellano Felix and several members of the Tijuana Cartel. The morning he was killed a man caught up with him in a Buick Le Sabre and shot him 5 times in the head and neck. The state´s Attorney General Office´s main line of investigation involves Navarro Vazquez recently working for members of the Sinaloa Cartel.
April 12: A corpse was found at the base of the Hill known as “Cerro Colorado”, the body had 3 gunshot wounds. Police found 3 casings of 7.62 x 39 mm. the same used in AK-47´s
April 12: Another corpse was found in an abandoned lot located in the Tecolote neighborhood, the corpse was tied with ropes and showed a gunshot wound in the head.
April 12: Luis Abarca Villanueva was executed outside his house when he was ready to leave. According to witness recounts, the three attackers were awaiting for him outside his house, they were travelling aboard a Ford Windstar and shot Abarca Villanueva several times, when police agents arrived, Abarca Villanueva was still alive but he died before the ambulance could arrive.
April 13: Two men were shot in the Tijuana River Canal, Onesimo Gomez Sanchez was killed and Fernando Miranda Franco wounded when a group of six heavily tattooed men arrived at the Canal and confronted them. The leader of the group took out a gun and shot both men, then the six men escaped towards the Viva Tijuana Mall. Police agents started a search and arrested three men with similar description to the attackers. The investigators believe the two victims were drug retailers.
April 13: Miguel Olmedo Camacho, 24, was killed in his hot dog stand located in the Infonavit Capistrano neighborhood, just past the street from the local police station. When police agents arrived, a woman was found taking pictures of Omeldo´s corpse, when interrogated, the woman admitted to knowing the victim and the murderer, who she identified only as “El Davis”. Two teenagers arrived at the scene and told the agents someone had just thrown a handgun in a vacant lot a few blocks from there. The gun was a .380 Pietro Beretta, that handgun was just like the one “El Davis” was carrying in a picture found inside the woman´s cell phone.
April 13: A man´s corpse was found wrapped in a blanket thrown in a road leading to the “Corredor 2000” highway. The man, believed to be around 30 years old showed several signs of violence. Investigators believe he was beaten to death.
April 14: Another corpse was found early in the morning in the Pedregal de Santa Julia neighborhood; the body was tied with ropes and had a plastic bag around the head.
April 15: Jose Fernando Garcia Barba, 31, was murdered inside his house´s garage, at the scene, investigator found 2 9mm casings, 4 .40 casings and a .380 handgun. The execution took place in the Playas de Tijuana neighborhood. Police arrested Leonides Zurita Diaz, 24, who has a large criminal record in the United States, Fernando Rafael Balderas, Francisco Jijon Atanasio, Jorge Ivan Caro Robles, Juan Carlos Torres Rocha and Martin Ruiz Villafaña. Zurita Diaz admitted killing Garcia Barba under contract from his friend identified only as “Lil Downy”, “Lil Downy” wanted Garcia Barba dead because he stole a drug shipment from “Lil Downy” and got him arrested in the United States.
Zurita Diaz admitted killing seven people on the course of his life and told police agents that the gun used in Garcia Barba´s execution was bought for 1,800 dollars. Zurita Diaz and the other suspects admitted they were going to kill four more men they had “on their list” the same day they were arrested.
April 15: Two men were executed with shots to the head in a Taco´s stand. Alberto Maciel Pacheco and Luis Orlando Duran Naranjo were eating in the stand located at the entrance of the Los Alamos neighborhood when they were approached by –according to witnesses reports- a well-dressed man, the attacker spoke with them briefly and then shot them twice in the head.
The police report indicates the attacker fled from the scene in a Dodge Dakota pick-up which was later abandoned near the State Police headquarters. Intelligence agents arrested Raul Miranda Ordaz and Agne Ulises Tapia Navarro, the suspects recognized at some point working for the Arellano Felix but claimed to work nowadays for the “Mexicali Cartel” which is allied with the Sinaloa Cartel. Tapia Navarro offered 25 thousand dollars to the agents in exchange for his liberty, he claimed to be under death threats in the Tijuana prison because his “boss” is from Mexicali. According to their statement, they should have returned to Mexicali after the hit, but they got lost in the streets around the scene and were caught.
April 16: Jose Pinson Rodriguez, 37, was killed outside his son´s elementary school. Pinson Rodriguez was driving a gray Audi and had just left his son inside the school when two men approached him and started shooting, the attackers fled in a Dodge Caravan minivan which was abandoned in the parking lot of the COBACH high school. At the scene, investigators found several 9mm and .45 casings.
April 16: At about 12:45 pm, an unknown man was killed at a farmers’ market located in the Miraflores neighborhood, police reports indicate that a suspect has been arrested but no details were given. The victim was shot several times with a handgun.
I think most pot is grown in America or Canada actually…or at least the good stuff is.
Ditto. None of the cancer patients or recreational smokers I know buy weed from south of the border. Its all locally grown.
Yeah no offense but I really doubt that.
No need to doubt. Simple genetic tests are what prove where the week came from. The genetic lineage of the weed here proves that it is not related to Mexican pot.
It is really easy to tell. Weed from Mexico comes is bricks and is very dry, and often brownish. It will be full of seeds because they dont cull the plants of the inappropriate sex. You can spot it a mile away. See this video of what it looks like, just listen to what the guy is saying
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnsOAwdOnA8
Where do you think they get the seeds? Also, marijuana is the cartel’s biggest seller.
You buy seeds at dispensaries or from another local grower who has a strain you like. No one in their right mind would be planting Mexican seeds in the US.
I left this entry out:
April 11: 2745 lbs. of marijuana were seized and three men were arrested in two different operations conducted by the Tijuana police. Javier Estrada Ramos and Jose Manuel Cruz Jimenez were aboard a VW Jetta parked inside a store in the Villa del Real neighborhood, when police agents approached the vehicle, they saw a package in the backseat, when they searched the vehicle the agents notices it was marijuana, five more packages were found in the trunk. Estrada Ramos and Cruz Jimenez drove the agents to a safe house in the Segovia street were they found Victor Campos Solorio, Campos Solorio was In possession of an AK-47 and tried to leave the scene in a Chevy Pick Up. Inside the house the agents found several more packages giving a total of 2745 lbs.
None of the California pot is from south of the border. If you want cash for your unused gold and silver, simply place it into this convenient envelope and mail it to me.
Seeds come from Europe and Canada – you can have them mailed right to your door. Mexican ditch weed is absolute crap, only teenagers who don’t know better and can’t afford the good stuff smoke that crap.
Accur81 for the win!
Yeah only shitty brick weed comes from Mexico. With it I dont think you get high from the cannabinoids so much as you do from depriving your brain of oxygen.
A lot of pot comes in from Mexico. Here’s an article from the lib press to demonstrate:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/02/us/02pot.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
I haven’t seen Mexican weed in 15-20 years (it’s easy to tell, it’s been compressed into bricks). I’m sure it still exists, but everything here seems to be indoor grown domestically these days. From a western NC LEO.
A LOT of weed consumed in Colorado is grown in Colorado. World-class ganja, mon….. no Mex weed, because it’s not good medicine.
Then who’s buying the stuff? They wouldn’t be shipping it if it wasn’t selling.
^thees
blacks and poor high school kids
i agree a lot of it is grown domestically and north of the border these days. however the “dime stop spots” are still numerous in poor city neighborhoods. the people who are buying the dirt weed are most likely getting it at the same spot they get the harder drugs from, which are coming from south the border.
CBP has confiscated many millions of dollars of it coming through Texas.
Remember liberals pot and firearms in a rally dont mix!
This comes out of a screwed up state where guns are outlawed but drugs wont be see the result!
Stop shifting the blame; this wasn’t the act of a peaceable pot smoke; this was a troublemaker, and this could have happened at a pro-gun rally, although it would be ill-advised. Face it – it could be a police provocateur.
Reports I’ve heard suggest it could be a distributor who felt a competing outlet wasn’t keeping a respectful distance.
In any case, taking a bullet is farther than most provocateurs are willing to go.
Somehow I don’t see somebody being suicidal enough to open up at a pro-gun rally.
Really only one solution. It’s time to legalize growing cannabis in the USA. Otherwise we’re still dealing with a substance being smuggled without oversight, just as during Prohibition I.
I dont believe legalization is the best way to go the the US but instead decriminalization. that is what portugal did and their results were and are great. less gov spending and less prison overcrowding. we definitely need both those things. decriminalization would also greatly reduce the cost of drugs effectively removing drug lords like the ones in mexico.
legalization would mean that companies could package and advertise things like heroin and meth. do we want to hear advertisements on the tv and radio for these drugs? also decriminalization would be much easier to gain acceptance by politicians.
Very few people argue in favour of the legalization of meth or opiates. Pot is rather a different kettle of fish. It’s less troublesome by far than alcohol – or would be were it not for criminalization and the industry instantiated by same.
The second Amendment can also be sanely interpreted as not precisely sanctioning the personal ownership or deployment of thermonuclear weapons.
I have never used drugs in my life and never will, but I’m still in favor of legalizing (with regulation ofc) ALL drugs simply because until you do, gangs will continue to profit from them; even with pot legalized/decriminalized, gangs still make a killing off of cocaine/heroin/etc. These gangs are bad news for the U.S.; with their presence violent crime and homicides skyrocket and inner-city neighborhoods remain trapped in vicious war-torn cycles. They have a much more negative effect on society than drugs ever could. Until we cut their funding and shut them down, we’ll never see them leave.
One more side benefit: Less gang violence = MUCH lower firearm homicide rates, meaning less “ammunition” for the grabbers.
While your logic is sound, we’ll have to agree to disagree on this.
Some substances are simply too damned ugly, in my book.
Fair enough, although I doubt there are any drugs as ugly as the chopped-up body of a 16-year old girl who’s been kidnapped and forced into prostitution by Bloods.
That’s pretty bad as well. I was living in Denver when the gangs got together – with police protection, no less – to attempt to hash out their differences.
I sure wouldn’t have minded had a crippled fighter jet “happened” to crash into City Park just thn.
yeah i hear a ton of cigarette ads on the tv and radio.
Legalization si, decrim no. It’s a plant that can grown just about an ywhere,with our without human assistance. It’s stupid to laws against something that grows wild.
While naivete seems to characterize most Baby-Boomer-era-originating discussions of recreational drug use, let’s not introduce it here.
Pot grown for its psychoactive properties has been genetically modified through long and careful breeding to yield more and more potent buzz-producing substances than anything that ever “grew wild.” Also, an Asian plant cultivated for nearly 5,000 years is hardly a landrace crop, particularly as far outside its center of origin as /C. sativa/ is in North America.
Edward Abbey opined that pot was pabulum for puling adolescents. I have never experienced otherwise with the drug or its users. Can’t say the same for those who unwind with a tot of Glenrothes or Tomatin. Then again I always preferred sharp, incisive, virile, mature men whose metabolic sobriety is re-established the next morning to wispy, giggly, euphoric, blurry, escapist, low-testosterone, paranoid ones whose math sucks for a week to a month after last use.
IME pot’s been a good litmus for distinguishing between the two classes of males. I always sensed it was part of the larger program to de-masculinize men and make them smell like skunkbutt.
Decriminalization is a small step in the right direction but only legalization will benefit us fully.
The scenarios that would be severely reduced,
– The billions of dollars in profits that drive the cartels. They have enough money to build WWII class subs to run drugs for crying out loud.
– Drug related violence in its many forms.
– Folks getting impure drugs of unknown quality/potency from shady people in shady areas.
– Underfunded rehab for the folks that want to get clean.
– Less crowded prisons.
The benefits?
– Let Big Pharm manufacture all the hard stuff to medical-grade standards. No more drugs getting made with who-knows-what or cut with who-knows-what being sold in an unsafe environment.
– The revenue from drug sales would be put back into our economy, not the cartels. The billions we spend yearly trying to stop it + the billions we send to the cartels yearly = who knows, maybe half a trillion yearly we can put into our great nation and it’s citizens.
– Tax drugs the same way we do alcohol and tobacco and put that money into world-class rehabilitation centers to turn as many wayward folks back into productive citizens as we can.
Our current attitude and policy towards the drug issue is to put our fingers in our ears and go “la la la la” hoping the same stupid thing we’ve done for the last four decades will somehow magically start working.
Brilliant.
One more thing: We’ve spent at least a trillion on the War on Drugs. Illegal drug use rates have remained constant. What do we have to show for it? Overmilitarized police in the form of the DEA, drug cartels making billions on illegal narcotics and essentially control the corrupt Mexican govt.
WA_2A thank you for that. Police militarization is a huge point I missed.
This stupid war on drugs has been a common excuse for PDs to arm the hell up. The worst, and I mean the WORST part are bullshit no-knock raids. Our Constitutional rights trump busting in doors just to confiscate drugs and all too often these no-knocks go sideways and innocent people are killed or traumatized.
Which is why the Mexican cartels lobby – by proxy – against legalization. Bad for their business model.
As to a shooting at a pot Fest, who cares where it was? Pot was no more causal than were the Batman movie, kindergarten books or Nike running shoes.
Shootings happen. In an ideal world, they wouldn’t. In a better world than this, the shooter wouldn’t get ten arshins before being taken down. In this world, well…
I heard from a friend’s cousin’s stepdad’s nephew who tried it a couple times back in the day that Mexican weed is complete and utter garbage compared to good ‘ol Made in USA.
Of course said friend’s cousin’s stepdad’s nephew has no interest in it anymore because he prefers quality beer and quality cigarettes. My kind of guy.
My wife’s sister’s uncle’s cousin’s nephew’s former roommate shared a similar opinion.
And that’s exactly why we need to legalize it here. I don’t do pot, but I’d prefer our pot smokers supported domestic growers rather than Mexican murderers.
It is the continuing misfortune of Mexico to have as their neighbor both the largest drug market and arms exporter on earth.
Remember, when buying your weed, look for the union label.
Guinness spew! I’m gonna have to get a rubber, machine-washable keyboard.
SNL in it’s golden era.
As they say, jwm FTW.
Dude, like, you’re harshin’ a lot of people’s mellow. Lighten up, Man. Like, if all of those dopers were really into the whole reality thing and stuff, then they wouldn’t be dopers would they? And that would be like really hard, Man. Don’t grind so hard on their self-esteem, you right wing bully you.
The legalization argument brings out ‘conservative’ statists as much as open carry brings out ‘liberal’ statists. “If we could just ban (certain substances|guns) we wouldn’t have all this crime!”
It’s the same statist mindset, coming from different directions. And both thoroughly debunked by history’s example (Prohibition, the proliferation of shall issue).
If $thing_i_dont_like is outlawed, only outlaws will have $thing_i_dont_like.
I’m Moonshine, and I approve of this message.
legitimizing the growing of marijuana and allowing it to function in the flow of regular commerce would nearly eliminate involvement with any Mexican entity(ies). The drug war is the reason the prices are so high and the turf is so coveted generating the growth in violent gangs / cartels for their slice of the pie. In short, the drug was is a crock of ****.
It’s peculiar that when thousands of people get together and commit illegal acts, someone ups the ante and starts shooting.
Oh, wait. No it’s not.
Except the voters of Colorado decided it wasn’t illegal.
Colorado’s Amendment 64 did not legalize smoking marijuana openly and publicly.
Can you point to a victim? No? Then the law is immoral and not worthy of being followed.
Boycott Mexican weed — buy American!
Too funny! 🙂
Too true.
Really need a “Like” button on this site, Rob.
I hate to agree with you about a Facebook anything. But I do.
Well if weed is LEGALLY sold and grown in Canada and the U.S. by authorized venues, then the profit vs risk value will drop a considerable amount for the violent drug cartel’s. That should take some pressure off of law enforcement, saving huge money in operation costs, and allowing them to concentrate on drugs that actually can kill you, like cocaine, meth, heroin, and other nasty’s!
Tax the weed to help support addiction facilities for booze issues, because that’s a much bigger problem leading to family violence, bar fights, and drunk driving…..pot smokers usually don’t cause aggression problems from what I’ve seen.
Pot doesn’t make people aggressive like alcohol or other drugs I know nothing about. If a pothead is aggressive, he woulda have been the same way sober.
If the manufacture and sale was legal, people wouldn’t have to buy it from Mexico. If Camel could sell blunts at gas stations there would be almost no drug smuggling across the boarder because it would no longer be profitable to do so and drug users could buy the stuff cheaper here at home.
How did that thought not cross your mind when you wrote this post? Don’t you realize that the illegalization of it and the War on Drugs is what empowers the cartels and incentivizes smuggling drugs from Mexico?
This article kind of misses the point. If it is legal people would grow it here in the states and then the illegal black market trade goes away.
Exactly.
The cause of the shootings wasn’t the NRA.
The cause of the shootings wasn’t the THC.
The cause of the shootings was simply TNB.
It was, but this site is allied with the JIDF so you’ll never hear of it
Try not wrapping your blunt around a .22 shell, the shootings will diminish, Randy
Most of the users I know grow their own, while I agree the Cartels are still making money off it, it becomes less and less each year, hence all the fighting down in Mexico over an increasingly shrinking market.
Gun owners don’t like the idea of being told what firearms they can and cannot own. Why should drugs be any different? The argument for public safety regarding drug bans easily translates to guns. There seems to be no shortage of people in America that want to tell others what to do.
It isn’t and shouldn’t be the governments business what someone puts in their body. Personal freedom.
The whole “blood” thing makes it more appealing. Where’s a guy need to go for blood diamonds, white slaves, and ivory?
Also, here’s some cartel fun:
http://www.bestgore.com/beheading/chainsaw-beheading-video-sinaloa-cartel-members-decapitated-mexico/
“Because every time an American buys marijuana he or she’s subsidizing the drug war in Mexico.”
Seriously? Tell me more about how the pot grown in someone’s basement has anything to do with some stupid shit in Mexico. Also, tell me about how some stupid shit in Mexico affects me in any way.
If Americans could legally grow and sell pot it would be a boon to local economies and the quality could only be improved. The hemp plant itself offers a large economic opportunity in many other ways. De-criminalizing it here would drop the level of drug related violence. If it can save but one life…
Humboldt County had a great official program for “medicinal” weed going for awhile.
Then da Feds cracked down and decided that something well-run, well organized, and taxed outside their jurisdiction was unacceptable.
actually buying pot indirectly leads to your drug money benefitting wall street.
all the more reason to legalize the damn shit.
RF, although I disagree with your inferences and opinions on marijuana, I can most certainly agree that the situation in Mexico is tragic on a level that most of us can not even begin to comprehend. I think it is an important issue to highlight and I appreciate your commitment to reporting on it. I say this not to disrespect you or your article, but just to bring it to your attention: as I scrolled through the list of dates and descriptions of dozens of terrible and violent acts, all I could think of was Joe Nocera’s “Gun Report”. Did that cross your mind at all as you were putting this together?
Border states with strict laws on marijuana and no medical marijuana programs, that’s where you’ll find cartel weed. States like CA, OR, WA, and CO are not fueling that fire, their more than self sufficient with their weed supply.
#4 cash crop here in Oregon is Marijuana. More money is made by Oregonians growing pot, than growing potatoes. That’s saying something.
btw, I’m not a pot head, and I’m not a liberal Democrat, but I think your heads up your back side if you don’t think the solution to our nations drug problem is legalization. As advocates of the the gun, I would think you of all people should realize that making something illegal only empowers criminals, just like alcohol prohibition demonstrated.
Negative on the cartel thing…I’d venture to say marijuana is one of the top three crops in Georgia…with peanuts and cotton and soybean in competetion. Plenty of home grown here, we don’t have to import…lol
That said, the Denver thing confused the shit out of me…pot smokers are some of the most docile folks I’ve encountered…generally it’s the drunks that fight and shoot each other…of course alcohol is just fine, no problem with that being legal.
Agree with decriminalization – why didn’t we learn anything from the 18th Amendment (Prohibition)? All you get with criminalizing booze/drugs/whatever is making the criminal cartels rich.
I would add one caveat: when you fry your brains on whatever your choice of recreational substance, you are not admitted to a hospital that is supported with my taxes. If you can’t afford medical care, exercise your right to die.
I’ll see your agreement and caveat, and add another: If you become addicted, your in-/out-patient addiction therapy will not be on the public’s dime, either. If you are not aware that addictive substances are, y’know, addictive, then you deserve your fate.
On April 4, 2013 the two men found where between the age of 19-21. They where not gang affiliated and did not have any tattoos. Both tortured,decapitated and burned alive.
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