Blog dedicated to reporting on Mexican drug cartels
on the border line between the US and Mexico
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Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Mexico Acknowledges US Intel Agents

Mexico acknowledges US intel agents, won’t discuss reports they help interrogate, tap phones.

By Associated Press
The Mexican government is acknowledging that U.S. intelligence agents operate in Mexican territory to help combat drug cartels, but refused to discuss a report they have been posted to a base in northern Mexico and have helped in interrogations, wiretaps and running informant networks.

The participation of U.S. agents and the designation of a new U.S. ambassador, Anthony Wayne, whose last posting was Afghanistan, has raised concerns that America may view Mexico as an Afghan-style battleground.

Mexico has already acknowledged it allows U.S. drones to conduct non-piloted surveillance flights over Mexican territory, though it says it “controls” the flights; a Mexican official is present in the drones’ control room.

“In recent months, Washington’s growing military, political, intelligence and police interference has been documented in many ways, as has the Mexican government’s acceptance of it,” the newspaper La Jornada wrote in an editorial Monday.

The New York Times reported over the weekend that CIA agents and former U.S. military personnel are working at a Mexican military base, and that officials have weighed the possibility of sending private military contractors. The use of such contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan was marred by scandals.

The office of Mexico’s federal security spokesman, Alejandro Poire, said in a statement late Sunday that U.S. agents do participate in analysis and exchange of information, but don’t carry weapons or participate in operations like raids, or arrests.

But the statement that the government won’t discuss specifics of the agents’ role “for national security reasons.”

The statement said the U.S. cooperation “is carried out with unrestricted respect for Mexican law.”

The Associated Press has been able to identify several hundred U.S. agents working in Mexico.

According to that tally, the Drug Enforcement Administration has more than 60 agents in Mexico. There are 40 Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, 20 Marshal Service deputies, 18 Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents, and dozens more working for the FBI, Citizen and Immigration Service, Customs and Border Protection, Secret Service, Coast Guard and Transportation Safety Agency.

The U.S. has committed to giving Mexico $1.5 billion in anti-drug aid since 2008 under the Merida Initiative.

According to official figures, at least 35,000 people have been killed in drug violence in Mexico since late 2006, when President Felipe Calderon launched his crackdown on organized crime. Other sources, including local media, say the number is closer to 40,000. The federal government has not released an update of its numbers since December.

26 comments:

  1. 36000 people die a year from violent homicides in Brazil. So that isn't so bad. But Cartels use the same tactics as Al Quaeda as far as the media goes. Leave a person/s tortured and dismembered, get attention, blast someone and thats it, WTF is that to the media?

    -790

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  2. Texcoco Mex said

    Well I hope is for the best. In my own personal opinion I'm O.K. with the CIA, FBI, ATF, DEA, ICE U.S Marshals and Cost Gard, but I don't like the idea of the private military contractors.

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  3. Blah...Blah...Blah...

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  4. Good,so why is this a story, to try and get ignorant nationalistic Mexicans sturred up?? Hope positive results about time good show!!

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  5. All of the assistance we can give them and what ? The police and the judges in Mexico are totally corrupt . And if the judges don´t let them free then the prison guards will ! Give me a break. This war is about something else . It´s not about trapping the bad guy. It´s about making the bad guy launder his money in the right banks. Mexico will end up a failed narco state . There´s no other avenues open.

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  6. Anon August 9, 2011 6:32 PM what are talking about? If you don't like this blah blah, then go blah blah somewhere else : \

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  7. anon 717...:-) agreed...I also think alot of our intelligence and help will be corrupted by the Mexican system. In fact , wikileaks I believe proved that .

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  8. @ BUGGS

    I was looking back at the past articles from borderland beat. There is so much valuable information about this drug war that you have provided for us in this website. BB has almost every important event about this war from the past couple years. You have done a great job sir. I hope you write your book. I would like to read it.

    The U.S. and mexico need to continue to work together. Can you imagine if all drugs were legalized tomorrow? What would happen to both the U.S. and mexico? There are so many people, departments and businesses that make money from the drug business. They would all collapse. What would happen to the FBI, ATF, DEA, ICE, U.S. marshalls, the coast guard, the police dept., immigration dept., the judicial system, prison systems, recovery centers, drug dealers, cartels and street gangs? So many people would be affected.

    I personally don't believe in prohibition. GOD created the first prohibition law.... and look what happened with that? We still had to eat from that one tree which has caused suffering for all of us. But i realize that if we legalize all drugs, it would create all kinds of new problems.

    Maybe it's okay to just legalize marijuana.

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  9. wow.now that america is withdrawing troops from afghanistan and iraq these private security contractors need to keep making there money.so it looks like mexico is on the horizon and big dollars will be spent on these contractors.it seems as if these ppl are the ones that really benefit from all of the violence in the world.private security contractors love war.they could care less if thousands upon thousands of ppl die because to them its a way to profit with scoring major contracts from govnts. and instead of mexico spending there money on helping there ppl the USA has to open there mouth and convince them that they should rather spend there money on hiring these piece of shit private security contractors to keep this war going and to keep giving them there money.mexico should just make a deal with the narcos, like the ex president of mexico vicente fox did.keep the violence away from the innocent ppl and do your dirt elsewhere because drugs will never stop as long as there is a demand for it.

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  10. Asymmetric 'non-kinetic' warfare?

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  11. Has the US government declared war again without actually doing it legally and constitutionally once again? I think we all know the answer to that one already. It is YES, yes the government has.

    Now the next question is if there is any American citizen who really thinks the Mexican people approve of the Calderon Administration turning over control to the US military and government as they have now done? Would we as a people do so ourselves... turn over internal operations to a foreign power? I rather doubt it.

    This running roughshod over the Mexican people will have long term consequences that are only now even being barely remotely considered by the top levels of the US government.

    'The Associated Press has been able to identify several hundred U.S. agents working in Mexico.'

    There's probably more US military and policing agents there already, and most certainly more will certainly follow those already there. Nobody has seriously questioned whether this actually is in the US national interest or not? It definitely is not.

    he dire consequences in eroding away Mexico's national sovereignty should be obvious to anyone who is not a totally arrogant US national chauvinist who always think that they can get away with murder without ever being called to account for it. In the case of interfering inside Mexico as our reactionary corporate pawn government misleaders are now actually doing, all of us will eventually pay the biggest price.

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  12. Texcoco Mex said

    Anon August 9, 2011 7:17 PM The police and the judges in Mexico are totally corrupt........You talk about Mexico like if we have no good people. Well U.S is not perfect either and here I will give you an example. Judge E. Curtissa Cofield, addressed a police officer as "Negro Trooper" during a tirade riddled with racial slurs. she was arrested for drunk driving, Judge C. Joseph Rehkamp of Luzerne County, PA., was arrested in January 2010 on assault charges, Oklahoma judge, sentenced to four years in jail after being convicted on four counts of indecent exposure. Gerald Liberace, a former senior district judge in Havertown, PA., was sentenced on March 29, 2011, after being convicted of corruption of a minor. Judge Manuel Barraza, was arrested in on suspicion of taking money and sexual favors as bribes. U.S. District Judge Samuel Kent was sentenced after pleading guilty to a single count of obstruction of justice.

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  13. Texcoco Mex said

    In Georgia, Chief Judge Rucker Smith from the Southwestern judicial circuit was arrested for DUI on May 28, 2011. Rhonda Hollander, a traffic court judge from South Florida, was arrested on June 30, 2011, for allegedly taking candid cell phone photos in the men's bathroom. So as you can see not every one is perfect and this are just some examples I found in two minutes.

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  14. Texcoco Mex said

    Anon August 9, 2011 7:17 PM Here I will show you something you problably don't know about U.S.

    This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories
    by Phillip Smith, August 10, 2011, 02:51am

    In Shreveport, Louisiana, the Winn Parish sheriff was indicted August 2 on charges he helped his girlfriend cover up methamphetamine deals. Sheriff A.D. "Bodie" Little is one of 11 people charged with dealing meth in the Winn Parish and Shreveport areas.

    In Carlisle, Kentucky, the Nicholas County sheriff pleaded guilty Tuesday to stealing asset forfeiture money. Sheriff Dick Garrett was accused of taking more than $43,000 from the forfeiture account and and using at least $10,000 to pay his homeowners insurance and pay off personal loans.

    In Phoenix, two Border Patrol agents were indicted August 4 on charges they forced accused drug smugglers to eat marijuana and flee barefoot and nearly naked into the desert. Agents Dario Castillo, 23, and Ramon Zuniga, 29, were charged with five civil rights violations by a federal grand jury in Tucson

    In Laredo, Texas, a former Laredo police officer was sentenced August 4 to 6 ½ years in prison for helping a drug trafficker move and store cocaine. Pedro Martinez III, 34, agreed to escort loads of cocaine in exchange for payment from undercover FBI and BATF agents he thought were smugglers and recruited fellow officer Orlando Hale to help out.

    In Laredo, Texas, a Webb County deputy constable was arrested Monday by FBI agents on charges he acted as an escort for a cocaine trafficker. Eduardo Garcia, 44, was indicted for escorting loads of cocaine through Laredo for a local trafficker for $500 a pop.

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  15. Texcoco ....even your own President has had it with the corrupt Mexican judiciary. Yes I´m positive they´re are a few honest judges in Mexico just like they´re a few bad judges in the US, but any judge who decrees innocence in such a high profile case as the Queen of the Pacific or Hank Rhon is doing nothing but harm to your country. But of course , Mexicans would rather cry foul because of the source of the criticism rather than fix your problem.

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  16. Texcoco Mex said.

    This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories
    by Phillip Smith, August 02, 2011, 05:25pm

    In Houston, a Houston police sergeant was arrested July 27 Sgt. Leslie Atkins, 46, faces federal charges of aiding and abetting the possession with the intent to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine and with accepting a $2,000 bribe to provide protection.

    In Oak Hill, Florida, the city council voted Monday to dissolve the police force over a number of issues, including the case of marijuana plants found on the property of 86-year-old Mayor Mary Lee Cook.

    In Tulsa, Oklahoma, a Tulsa man has sued the city and a Tulsa police officer alleging that he falsified a search warrant that led to his conviction and life sentence in prison. DeMarco Williams, 36, filed the lawsuit July 28 in federal court in Tulsa and becomes the fifth person to sue the city police officers accused of falsifying search warrants and other corrupt practices in a festering scandal that keeps on giving.

    In New Orleans, a New Orleans police officer resigned last Friday as he was being investigated for allegedly lying about a January drug arrest in the Algiers section of the city. Officer Samuel Birks, a four-year NOPD veteran, was charged in state court late last month with filing false public records and malfeasance in office.

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  17. Texcoco Mex said

    This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories
    by Phillip Smith, July 20, 2011, 03:42pm

    In Waycross, Georgia, a Ware County prison guard was arrested last Friday after he set off a metal detector upon arriving at work and was found carrying contraband cell phones and marijuana. Theodis Martin, 25, is charged with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute.

    In Kansas City, Kansas, three Kansas City Police SWAT team members pleaded not guilty Monday to federal charges they stole cash and other property from homes while serving search warrants, including one that was part of a federal sting operation. Officers Jeffrey Bell, Darryl Forrest, and Dusting Stillings are accused of stealing video game equipment during searches at several homes last year.

    In Baltimore, a Baltimore police officer was indicted Tuesday along with four other people on drug and gun charges. Officer Daniel Redd and the others were charged with conspiracy to distribute heroin.

    In Provo, Utah, a former Provo police officer was sentenced last Friday to probation for stealing prescription medications from a home where he had previously responded to a call. Tony Brewer, 33, was arrested after a Provo family said he went to their home to investigate a 911 call, then returned several times and stole Lortab pills.

    In Portland, Oregon, a former federal probation officer was sentenced Monday to 10 years in prison for sexually abusing five women under his supervision between April 2005 and June 2009. Mark John Walker, 52, had pleaded guilty in April to charges he violated the civil rights of his victims by sexually abusing them.

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  18. Texcoco Mex said

    This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories
    by Phillip Smith, July 13, 2011, 12:39am

    In Atlanta, a Fulton county sheriff's deputy and three jail guards were arrested June 30 on charges they smuggled drugs and cell phones into the jail. Fulton County Sheriff's Deputy Marvie Trevino Dingle, 34, and detention officers Akil Scott, 31, Derick Deshun Frazier, 31, and Brian Shelby Anthony, 30, are accused of accepting payments to deliver contraband into the Fulton County jail.

    In Yorkville, Illinois, the former Yorkville deputy police chief pleaded not guilty July 6 to charges he stole opioid pain relievers from the department's drug take-back program. Dave Delaney, 37, is charged with possession of a controlled substance and theft of government property.

    In Muscatine, Iowa, a former Muscatine police officer was sentenced last Friday to five years in prison after being caught with cocaine and missing drug money. Scott David Burk, 48, went down after fellow officers in the Muscatine County Drug Task Force searched his home and vehicle and found the dope and currency missing from the task force evidence room.

    In Brownsville, Texas, a former Customs and Border Patrol officer was sentenced July 6 to 17 years in federal prison for taking $500,000 in bribes from a Mexican drug cartel over a 3 ½ year period to allow cocaine and illegal aliens to cross the border unimpeded. Luis Enrique Ramirez, 39, had fled to Mexico after being indicted, but was captured while trying to reenter the US.

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  19. If you want to know about police corruption just go here

    http://stopthedrugwar.org/taxonomy/term/27?page=8

    Week after week they post about currupt police officers arrested in the line of duty.

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  20. well texcoco ...you´re just making my point. In Mexico 50% of police are corrupt( that´s official numbers) , not a few isolated cases . Towns in Michoacan and Western Guanajuato are having their whole police force arrested. Again not just a few isolated cases . And there are towns in Tamaulipas, Durango and Chihuaua that are being policed by the army. Please ...your defense, bu being offensive, is just making my point. Until Mexicans demand change on a massive scale, not just a few poets marching to Juarez, this will continue to slide downward. But of course Mexicans have lived with these abuses for centuries , if not millenniums, so I´m not holding my breath.

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  21. Sheepie sheepie sheepie wake up! You guys don't know shit about the cartels or what is going on in the real world! You need advice or knowledge, open your mind and listen!

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  22. @ texcoco mex

    this article is about the mexican drug war and U.S. Intel agents. it's not about corrupt american law enforcement.

    we all know that there are many bad people in american law enforcement. we don't need to be schooled on this subject. but i'll tell you this, for every bad american cop, there are 50 more bad mexican cops. i believe that more than 50% of mexican cops are corrupt. and that may be an understatement.

    you cannot compare the two and sound knowledgeable.

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  23. Texcoco Mex said

    Anon said All of the assistance we can give them and what? The police and the judges in Mexico are totally corrupt.
    Is the negativity that I don't like. Is almost like saying is a waist of time and money helping Mexico.
    You can not denied Mexico is doing something about it, 22 or 24 out of 35 or 37 capos were arrested or killed since 2006. @August 10, 2011 11:40 AM I do agree in Mexico 50% of police are corrupt and @ajulio I also know I cannot compare the two and sound knowledgeable in fact I don't have to much knowledge on this, is only that since 2006 U.S corruption has increased and should not be ignored U.S police are acting like Mexican police more and more.

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  24. texcoco ....you and I are on the same side - I live here ...for 22 years, and have Mexican children. That´s why I´m mad. And I´m mad at my country as well, not because of the corruption but because the problem originates with our drug policies and problems , and because our immigration policies are sick. But I also know from direct personal experience that the judicial system in mexico is more ill than most. Yes , they´re all ill. In the US, 183 men have been liberated from death row since the science of DNA has proved their innocence. Justice everywhere is in need. But when cases of such high profile as are happening in mexico get such obviously corrupted then my question is why wage this war if you can´t bring the criminals to justice , and then even after being sentenced are let out of the prisons by corrupt wardens ? It makes no sense. I know everything that´s happening in the PJR to weed out the badseeds but also weed out the corrupt judges. Hank Rhon got away with murder. What are Mexicans going to do about it ?

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  25. So Texcoco - what's your point? Don't criticize Mexican corruption?

    Why not? It's a big part of the problem. Nobody is saying there is no corruption in the US. But the US does not have criminal organizations inflicting murder, kidnapping, extortion and gunfights in the street on honest citizens.

    One question that no one has answered for me - Why has the Mexican govt not been able to seize the property and money of the narcos that have been arrested?

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  26. I don't know why the Mexican Government hasn't been able to seize property, accounts, or fine banks that launder money, close businesses that launder money after being caught 3 times etc. Must not be a priority? You tell me.

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