President Calderon Says Mexico Not a Failed State

President Felipe Calderon said in an interview published Sunday by the Spanish daily El Pais that Mexico was not a failed state and blamed the United States for the flow of illegal arms into his country.

Calderon said he regretted the fact that the matter of referring to Mexico as a failed state appeared in a U.S. government report.

Crime is the most serious problem facing Mexico and a coexistence pact with the criminals is not the solution to quelling the violence besetting the country, Calderon said.

“The political culture in Mexico before forecast that the solution was making an arrangement with the criminals and that would be it ... Then, the agreement was: Look, I don’t see you because it’s a federal matter ... You don’t see me, everyone is happy. I don’t get involved in your business, you don’t get involved in mine ... That has ended,” Calderon said.

The president, however, admitted his fear that the cultural temptation to make a pact or an arrangement with the criminals still prevails in some parts of the country.

Calderon was also asked about the relationship with the United States and the recent resignation of U.S. Ambassador Carlos Pascual, who questioned in a Wikileaks cable the capability of the Mexican army and whether it could effectively conduct the fight against drug trafficking.

“For me, the relationship with the United States is very important and it’s a very complex relationship and much broader than the issue relating to people (Pascual),” Calderon said, adding that the armed forces and the Federal Police have played an important role in the fight against the drug cartels.

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Calderon Blames U.S. Guns for Violence

NRA disputes claim of illicit arms exports.

By Kara Rowland
The Washington Times

Mexican President Felipe Calderon called on Congress on Thursday to reinstate a federal ban on assault weapons that he said are ending up in the hands of violent drug cartels south of the border, using a highly contentious estimate of U.S. guns seized in Mexico when addressing Capitol Hill lawmakers.

Mr. Calderone said he respects the Second Amendment, but argued that violence south of the border spiked in 2004 after the expiration of a U.S. ban on semiautomatic weapons. Echoing statements made by President Obama Wednesday, Mr. Calderon said the U.S. bears some responsibility in propping up the drug trade with its demand for narcotics and supply of guns.

Pointedly, he warned that U.S. failure to rein in weapons dealing leaves America vulnerable to the drug-war violence wreaking havoc in Mexico.

"With all due respect, if you do not regulate the sale of these weapons in the right way, nothing guarantees that criminals here in the United States with access to the same power of weapons will not decide to challenge American authorities and civilians," he said.

Mr. Calderon told a joint session of Congress that of the 75,000 guns seized by Mexican authorities over the last three years, 80 percent are traced to the U.S.

That assertion is suspect as gun-rights advocates and several media outlets have debunked similar figures in the past. Indeed, Mr. Calderon's comments drew a harsh rebuke from the National Rifle Association on Thursday.

"The answer to Mexico's drug and violence problem does not lie in dismantling the Second Amendment; it lies in making sure that the Mexican government takes care of problems on their side of the border," NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam said. "With all due respect to the president, he's either intentionally using false data, or he's unknowingly using bad numbers."

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The President on Organize Crime, Military and Cinco de Mayo

Puebla, Puebla - President Felipe Calderon said the bravery and sacrifice of the Mexican armed forces in the war on drugs make liars of those who doubt, question, or criticize their mission, and called for the people to fervently embrace the causes of the country regardless of risks or costs.

During the ceremony of the 148 anniversary of the Battle of Puebla celebrated on May 5th, the president hailed the Senate approval of the National Security Act which gives a new framework for the intervention of the army in fighting crime, he hoped that the House of Representatives will conduct an analysis and adopt this initiative.

"This fight is for freedom and justice in Mexico and that is why we should support it, that is why we should not only continue ahead, but we must move ahead with a full intent to achieve a victory, a victory with the support of the people and the strength of the state, to the institutions we must attain, and this task of defending the legality, the strength of the country, to protect Mexican families, and the armed forces must play a leading role."

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Most Mexico Drug War Dead are Criminals

By Ivan Moreno
The Associated Press

President Felipe Calderon insisted Friday that few innocent civilians have fallen victim to Mexico's bloody drug war, saying nearly all those killed are people tied to cartels wrestling for power.

Speaking during a tourism conference, Calderon said criminals constitute more than 90 percent of drug war's death toll, which stands at nearly 23,000 in just over three years.

Calderon said police officers and soldiers make up less than 5 percent of deaths and bystanders or other innocents even less.

"But even so, my friends, I recognize that it's a real problem," Calderon said of the drug violence.

"We are fighting it with firmness and we are making progress with our goal," he added.

Calderon's comments came two days after a gunbattle in broad daylight killed six people and wounded five on the main boulevard of Acapulco's tourist zone. Among the dead were a mother and her 8-year-old child. A federal police officer and another bystander also were killed. Federal police have arrested 26-year-old Ernesto Antonio Rocha Reyes, an alleged hit man authorities say carried out the attack with a high-powered assault rifle.

On Friday, four police officers were shot to death in the border state of Tamaulipas.

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The Progress Report

Zetas, Gulf and Sinaloa cartels the most hit in the war of drugs in Mexico.

Since President Felipe Calderon declared war on drug trafficking in December 2006, just days after taking office, more than 22,700 people have died in different instances, almost 10,000 fewer than are handled Unofficially, according to a report classified as "confidential" which was distributed among the legislators who participated yesterday in a meeting with the security cabinet of the federal government.

Also it was highlighted that 2009 was the most violent year since Calderon launched a military offensive against drug cartels to 9,635 registered deaths.

The document also details that in the first quarter of drug violence it has cost the lives of 3,365 people and stresses that Ciudad Juárez is the most violent city in the country with 4,324 homicides so far in this administration.

According to the report, the state of Chihuahua, located north of the country has been the state most affected by drug-related violence with 6,757 murders so far in the six-year term of Calderon, Sinaloa and Guerrero followed with 3,136 and 1,826 homicides respectively.

At the same time according to data provided by the federal government, between December 2006 and March 2010 121,199 people have been detained with links to organized crime.

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Mexico, U.S. Allies in War on Drugs

Calderon: Mexico, U.S. Allies in War on Drugs

President Felipe Calderon called on the United States to help fight organized crime jointly with Mexico, with each country focusing on efforts on its own territory, during a visit to the crime-ridden border city of Juarez.

Mexico City and Washington should approach the war on drugs “as a battle that we have to fight on both sides of the U.S.-Mexican border and win as allies, each on his own territory, each within his abilities, but with close cooperation on information, intelligence and public policy,” the Mexican president said in an address Tuesday.

Drugs are “a binational problem, which has a fundamental origin, basically, which is drug consumption in the United States and the criminal activity associated with that trafficking, and as a result it is the responsibility of both countries,” the president said.

Calderon made his third trip in just over a month on Tuesday to Ciudad Juarez, located across the border from El Paso, Texas, and considered Mexico’s most violent city.

The trip, which had been planned since last week, came in the wake of the killings over the weekend of an American couple, one of whom worked at the U.S. Consulate in the border city, and of a Mexican who was married to another consular employee.

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Mexican President and Minutemen Promise To 'Rescue' Juarez

Minuteman founder calls for U.S. Army incursions to stop drug cartel violence.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon on Tuesday promised to "rescue" and "rebuild" the city of Juarez, which has been plagued by 4,700 slayings since early 2008, the El Paso Times reported.

Calderon, who was in the border city in his third visit there in a month, called the weekend slayings of three people connected to the U.S. consulate "resentful, inadmissible and profoundly deplorable," the Times said.

In a speech to several hundred people, Calderon offered a plan that would attack poverty, improve education and health facilities and offer financial assistance to families in an effort to combat organized crime and the drug war that has turned Juarez into the most dangerous city in Mexico, if not the world, the paper reported.

Meanwhile, Mexican officials said Tuesday they are confident they would soon arrest those responsible for killing Lesley A. Enriquez, 34; Arthur H. Redelfs, 36; and Jorge Alberto Salcido Ceniceros, 37, in a pair of drive-by shootings Saturday as the three left a children's birthday party, the Times reported.

"We expect the investigations of the Chihuahua state attorney general, with help from the Mexican federal attorney general and the U.S. law enforcement agencies, will result in the detention of the people responsible for the crimes," Juarez Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz said Tuesday.

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Calderon Visits Juarez Again

Consular slayings spotlight Mexico's failures in fighting drug gangs.

On a visit to Ciudad Juarez in the wake of the killings of an American couple and a Mexican, President Calderon is confronted by angry demonstrations and a tense, frustrated citizenry.

Los Angeles Times

Police corral a protester at a demonstration in Ciudad Juarez during Mexican President Felipe Calderon's visit to the violence-racked city.

Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua - The slayings of three people attached to the U.S. Consulate here underscore the failings of Mexico's military offensive against drug gangs despite a steady flow of troop reinforcements and personal attention from President Felipe Calderon.

Calderon came to Ciudad Juarez on Tuesday for the third time in 33 days. The trip had been previously scheduled, but its agenda was overtaken by the consulate slayings -- the American couple and Mexican man are just three of the 500 people killed in the city this year alone.

The president encountered angry demonstrations, as on his previous visits, and a citizenry that is tense, frustrated and increasingly hopeless.

A Mexican soldier patrols the scene where a U.S. official was killed in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

"We Are Fed Up, Mr. President," read the banner headline in Ciudad Juarez's leading newspaper, El Diario.

"More than fed up!" said Irene Bota, a shopkeeper and lifetime resident of this city across the border from El Paso. "You should have seen what Juarez used to be like. Artists, celebrities, soldiers from Ft. Bliss [in El Paso] all came to pass time and enjoy themselves. Now no one dares even go outside."

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Who Will Step Up and Do Something?

Juárez violence: Who will step up and do something?

El Paso Times Editorial Board

Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua - Mexican government officials, even at the highest levels, can't seem to come up with any concrete plans to effectively confront violence in Juárez and other parts of Mexico.

Mexican President Felipe Calderón was back in Juárez on Wednesday, but was unable or unwilling to be specific about measures aimed at stopping violence. He said he would send a special team of police to investigate kidnapping and extortion in the city.

Those are certainly matters for concern, but they skirt the core issue of drug cartel violence and how to stop it.

Calderón talked in rather vague terms about improving safety, raising the standards for police recruits, assigning a special prosecutor to Juárez, about changing society and making Juárez a better place to live.

Hugo Almada, who attended the meeting representing the local public safety committee, was blunt in his assessment. Blaming Calderón, the mayor of Juárez and the governor of Chihuahua for the violence, he said, "The problem ... in Juárez is corruption. We think that the corruption of the federal, state, local and military forces is the center and the foundation of the problem."

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No Matter the Name

Fisgón

"My government does not protect or shield anyone, and less, the mexican people."

Related

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Mexico Does Not Protect "El Chapo" Guzmán

Mexico City - President Felipe Calderón denied that his government protects the Sinaloa Cartel, headed by Joauquín Guzman Loera, alias "El Chapo". Calderón said that his government nor protects or shields or tolerate any group of drug dealers, no matter what name they have.

During a press conference with reporters in Los Pinos, the chief executive asserted that such accusations were false and malicious that fall "under their own weight."

He noted that his government has attacked indiscriminately all drug cartels.

He said that from the Sinaloa Cartel others have fallen like Vicente Zambada, Rogaciano Alba and more recently, "El Jabalí," the alleged operator for "El Chapo" Guzman.

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Calderon Back in Juarez

Mexican leader listens to border city on drug war

The Associated Press

Students protest in front police officers against the visit of Mexico's President Felipe Calderon in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2010. Protesters demanded the presidential resignation after a recent massacre that killed 15 teenagers with no known gang ties.

Ciudad Juarez, Chih - President Felipe Calderon promised federal investigations into all complaints of extortion and kidnapping in a Mexican border city overwhelmed by drug gang violence.

Calderon made the pledge after meeting Wednesday with hundreds of residents of Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas.

It was the second time Calderon visited the city since the Jan. 30 massacre of 15 people in a working class neighborhood fueled anger over the government's failure to stem the bloodshed. More than 2,600 people were killed in the city of 1.3 million people last year despite the presence of thousands of federal troops and police, making it one of the world's deadliest cities.

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Media gets Beat up in Juarez

Juárez reporter claims police beat him, 3 others outside Calderón meeting

El Paso Times

Ciudad Juarez, Chih - A reporter says federal police beat him and three colleagues while they tried to interview protesters outside the Camino Real Hotel, where Mexican President Felipe Calderón was meeting with people.

David Fuentes, reporter with Juárez television station Channel 5, said police asked him to move from the area where protesters had gathered.

"They threw us to the floor and started beating us up," he said.

He said police also beat two radio reporters and a reporter for La Polaka, an Internet news operation.

Police executives were not immediately available to respond to the allegations.

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Calderon Returns to Juarez

Mexico's President Felipe Calderón will return to Juárez this week.

El Paso Times

Ciudad Juarez, Chih - Mexico's President Felipe Calderón will visit Juárez again this week as he revises the strategy to fight organized crime in the country's deadliest city.

More than 4,500 people have been killed in Juárez since January 2008.

Calderón will attend a meeting with Juárez, Chihuahua state and federal officials as well as business and human rights groups at noon Wednesday at the Juárez Camino Real Hotel.

During his visit Thursday, in front of about 500 people, including several cabinet members, Calderón committed to go back to Juárez to hear a follow-up on changes to the strategy to combat violence.

The recent massacre that left 15 people dead prompted the presidential visit. It also led to a vocal protest. The angry mother of two teenagers killed in the birthday party attack on Jan. 30 at one point interrupted the meeting to speak to Calderón face to face about her frustration with the inefficiency of the police investigation.

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We Are All Juarez

Ciudad Juarez, Chih - The incidents during the visit of President Felipe Calderon to Juarez in February 11, 2010.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon faced public anger during a visit to his country’s most violent city, Ciudad Juarez, on the border with the US.

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Calderon Visits Ciudad Juarez

Another coverage of the visit from Mexican President Felipe Calderon to Ciudad Juarez.
In the traumatized border city, he talks of social programs aimed at boosting the fight against drug cartels.

Los Angeles Times

Cidad Juarez, Chih - Facing intense political pressure and demands that he resign, President Felipe Calderon traveled Thursday to Mexico's deadliest city to defend his troubled fight against drug cartels, which critics charge has only intensified the violence.

Angry crowds greeted Calderon as he arrived in a heavily guarded Ciudad Juarez. The president said it was time to launch a much-discussed expansion of the drug war to include efforts aimed at tackling social issues, such as unemployment and addiction.

"I am convinced we have to review what we are doing," Calderon said. "We need a much more integrated approach . . . wider actions . . . of a social nature. Police and military action alone is not enough."

To underscore the point, Calderon took with him an unusually large contingent of Cabinet members, including the ministers of health, education and public security. However, he was short on details and, in initial remarks, did not earmark money for new programs.

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We Are Not Standing Idly

Calderón: We Are Not Standing Idly By in the Fight Against Crime.

Presidencia de la República

President Felipe Calderón leads the 21st Meeting of Mexican Ambassadors and Consuls.

President Felipe Calderón stressed that the battle his administration has waged against crime and organized crime is designed to preserve the security and tranquility of citizens.

He also pointed out that it should not be assumed that this problem will be solved by standing idly be, as some people hope.

“This is a serious problem in which the President will take the lead and will involve heavy costs in terms of time, because it cannot to solved in the short term; and money, which is why we have virtually doubled the budget for the country’s security and unfortunately, human lives,” he said.

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Outsmarted by Sinaloa

Why the biggest drug gang has been least hit.

The Economist

IT MIGHT seem incongruous to see Felipe Calderón, who has bet his presidency on fighting organised crime, accused of sheltering Mexico’s top drug lord.

Yet across the country banners hanging from highway overpasses suggest he is in cahoots with Joaquín El Chapo (“Shorty”) Guzmán—the leader of the Sinaloa “cartel” and, according to Forbes magazine, the world’s 701st richest man. “Mr Narco-President,” began one seen in Veracruz state in 2008. “If you want to end crime, stop protecting drug traffickers like El Chapo.”

The banners are placed by rival drug mobs. But they hint at a paradox. The Sinaloa organisation (named after a north-western state) is responsible for around 45% of the drug trade in Mexico, reckons Edgardo Buscaglia, a lawyer and economist at ITAM, a Mexico City university.

But using statistics from the security forces, he calculates that only 941 of the 53,174 people arrested for organised crime in the past six years were associated with Sinaloa. An official disputes those numbers, and notes that several close relatives of Ismael Zambada, the co-head of the Sinaloa mob, were arrested on drug charges last year.

Nevertheless the government crackdown seems to have fallen mainly on other mafias. The Arellano Félix gang, featured in “Traffic”, a Hollywood film, has splintered into warring factions after six of its seven founding brothers were captured or killed. Police often arrest senior leaders of La Familia, a newer mob specialising in methamphetamines.

In December marines surrounded and killed Arturo Beltrán Leyva, who split from the Sinaloa mob in 2008, and six of his henchmen. This month one of his brothers was arrested in Culiacán, the capital of Sinaloa.

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No Return No Deposit; Merida Initiative

Mexico City - Washington DC - Mexico is currently engaged in a vicious drug war that according to last year (2009) statistics, it is losing miserably. It has become a bloody conflict that has claimed the lives of 7,724 people throughout the country, 2,657 in Ciudad Juarez alone.

This drug war that is being waged in the streets of Mexico has cost the U.S. taxpayers $465 million so far through the Merida Initiative Agreement that was signed by former U.S. President George Bush and Mexican President Felipe Calderon. So now, the United States has a stake in Mexico's brutal drug war for it will  provide $1.4 billion over the next three years .

On the surface it does not appear we are getting our return in our investment. It is fair to say that the $465 million has really not done enough to help reduce the violence that is crippling Mexico and the border cities like Juarez.

The crime statistics are not good enough results to merit the continual of blind spending, because if we look real closely, we can see that the violence is beginning to cripple Juarez. I am starting to believe that the U.S should not spend another dime until the U.S. makes an assessment on why the Mexican government has failed to slow down the violence.

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Mexico Still Waiting for U.S. Aid

MEXICO CITY — The United States government has spent only 2 percent of the more than $1 billion it has pledged to help Mexico win its battle against drug traffickers, according to a government study released Thursday.

Despite vows by the Bush administration, and now the Obama administration, to help President Felipe Calderón of Mexico in his three-year-long assault against drug cartels, actual spending totaled only about $24 million by the end of September, the Government Accountability Office said.

Carlos Pascual, who became the American ambassador to Mexico in august, said the 2 percent figure is misleading and does not capture hundreds of millions of dollars that is in the process of being spent. “The logjams have been broken,” he said in a telephone interview Friday, indicating that five bell helicopters would be delivered to Mexico next week.

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