At Tijuana, Mexican army makes record cannabis seizure

*Updated May 18*
Guadalajara -
Mexico's Dept. of National Defense (SEDENA) announced yesterday the largest drug decommission to date during the 16 month old administration of president Enrique Peña Nieto.

Federal military units deployed in Baja California, assisted by BC state police and Tijuana municipal officers, confiscated over 41 tons of marijuana in a neighborhood just blocks from the international border. "This seizure is the most important yet during the present administration," a SEDENA press release noted, which added that all of the cannabis was destined for the U.S. market.

The marijuana, divided and prepackaged for distribution by U.S. wholesalers, was located in a drug warehouse in a residential area after a tip from neighbors.

During the 2012 presidential campaign, many in the United States predicted that Enrique Peña Nieto would scale back if not abandon the drug interdiction policies of his predecessor, former National Action Party president Felipe Calderón. In a June 10, 2012 article on the impending election, the New York Times wrote that the candidates - especially Peña Nieto - had "signaled a major shift in the drug war." But Peña Nieto proved the prognosticators wrong, holding fast to Calderón's military dependent strategy and even expanding upon it with a national gendarmerie which will debut in July, all while going after some of Mexico's most powerful cartel bosses. Nor have spreading drug legalization efforts north of the border caused a reduction in narcotics seizures in this country, in which the government continues to invest substantial resources. Mexico's incoming PRI administration pays little attention to marijuana legalization efforts in U.S..

May 17 - Survey: Mexicans remain overwhelmingly opposed to marijuana legalization, by 70% margin

May 18 - Last week Mexican military forces burned 55 tons of drugs, primarily consisting of cannabis, cocaine, methamphetamine and a few others. The marijuana seized in Tijuana which was the subject of this report accounted for 72%. Mexico is serious about northbound drug interdiction and seizure.

June 11, 2012 - New York Times got Mexican presidential candidates' drug war strategies wrong.
Feb. 19, 2013 - New York Times finally figures it out: in Mexican drug war, Enrique Peña Nieto = Felipe Calderón Hinojosa

2013
July 28 - Mexican armed forces arrest 4,760 drug traffickers in first eight months of PRI administration
May 17 - Mexican military still at vanguard of the drug war
Mar. 31 - Mexican drug traffickers find ready assistance in mules carrying American passports
Jan. 13 - Mexican drug cartels operate in 1,286 U.S. cities
Jan. 7 - Peña Nieto: no option but to follow Calderón strategy

Apr. 4, 2014 - DEA tells Congress, Mexican drug cartels hard at work in Colorado and Washington
Apr. 30, 2014 - Senior American military commanders call U.S. drug policy hypocritical

© MGR 2014. All rights reserved. This article may be cited or briefly quoted with proper attribution or a hyperlink, but not reproduced without permission.