Malaysia's OLD drug war strategy

MGR's view

May 16, 2012 - Three Mexican brothers sentenced to die on rope for Malaysian drug crimes
Apr. 24, 2013 - U.S. drug czar releases "new strategy," focused on treatment and prevention

© MGRR 2013. All rights reserved. This article may be cited or briefly quoted with proper attribution or a hyperlink, but not reproduced without permission.

On eve of Obama visit to Mexico, U.S. drug czar releases "new strategy," focused on treatment and prevention

MGR News Analysis -
"An intelligent way to combat drug trafficking"

*Updated Aug. 29*
Guadalajara -
President Obama will arrive in Mexico next week - his first official visit since Enrique Peña Nieto took office Dec. 1 - and in advance of the trip Washington is busily advertising what it has billed as a new approach to combating drug usage in the United States.

The timing is not coincidental. The president has acknowledged that U.S. drug demand is responsible for damage done to Mexico and other Latin American nations. And a recent report by the U.S. Center for Investigative Reporting found that drug cartels regularly recruit U.S. nationals to haul their illicit merchandise across the border. Mexican drug traffickers find ready assistance in mules carrying American passports.

Six Lake Chapala police officers ordered to stand trial in kidnapping and attempted murder case

Linked to organized crime, prosecutors say

Guadalajara -
Six Chapala police officers have been bound over for trial on charges they kidnapped two men in that city and then turned them over to gunmen, who shot the victims and left them for dead.

Lake Chapala is 45 minutes southeast of Guadalajara. The neighboring community of Ajijic is home to thousands of expatriates, primarily Americans and Canadians.

Guadalajara's mayor: "I'm worried about security"

"Not the results we wanted . . ."


Guadalajara -
Mayor Ramiro Hernández García didn't mince words today when he candidly admitted that Guadalajara's rising level of violence concerns him.

"Security here is a worry. It's our job to look for ways to deal with the problem of insecurity in the city. From our first day in office we've focused on that issue, but we've not had the results we wanted."

Mexico's House of Deputies proposes dramatic change in rules regulating foreign ownership of real estate

"One if by land, two if by sea"

Puerto Progreso, Yucatán, January 2008

Guadalajara -
By an easy majority this afternoon, Mexico's lower legislative chamber, the Cámara de Diputados, approved a bill which would entirely eliminate restrictions on the foreign ownership of land close to the country's international borders, or along its vast coastlines.

The roll call was 356 in favor and 119 against, with two abstentions.

Peña Nieto administration names Mexico's ambassador to Canada

Career foreign service diplomats tapped for two consul general posts in United States


Guadalajara -
The Institutional Revolutionary Party government of president Enrique Peña Nieto was busy naming diplomatic personnel today, and one of them was Mexico's new ambassador to Canada. He is Francisco Suárez Dávila.

Suárez was an undersecretary of the Hacienda during the administration of PRI president Miguel de la Madrid (in office 1982-1988; died 2012). The Hacienda is Mexico's tax collection and budget planning agency.

Mexico's Secretary of Defense: 158 narco gunmen killed by troops in first 90 days of Peña Nieto administration

Guadalajara -
Mexico's Secretary of Defense (SEDENA) has reported that during the first 90 days of the PRI administration of president Enrique Peña Nieto, federal troops killed 158 sicarios while repelling drug cartel and organized crime attacks.

A sicario is a gunman or hired executioner, often in the service of one of this country's 60-80 cartels.

Mexican drug cartels "have their tentacles in Canada," reports Montreal newspaper

Guadalajara -
Mexican drug cartels are rapidly expanding their influence in Canada, worrying the Ottawa government that more violence on national territory and and more dead Canadians involved with international narcotics trafficking will be the inevitable result.

Such were the conclusions Friday of La Presse, a prominent French language daily. Founded in 1884 and published in Montreal, the paper is owned by a subsidiary of the Power Corporation of Canada. The Apr. 19 La Presse report is here: Les cartels mexicains étendent leurs tentacules au pays.

Mexican Supreme Court releases Canadian Cynthia Vanier, once again on narrow legal technicalities

Florence Cassez, reloaded

*Updated Apr. 27*
Guadalajara -
In a stunning rebuke to federal prosecutors, Mexico's Supreme Judicial Court today ordered the immediate release of Canadian national Cynthia Ann Vanier, who was held in custody for almost 18 months on charges she tried to smuggle one of the sons of the late Muammar Gaddafi into Mexico as his father's Libyan regime collapsed in 2011.

The court also freed an accused co-conspirator, a Mexican citizen, one of the four defendants in a curious case which angered Mexican officials and embarrassed Canadian ones.

Guerrero erupts as angry teachers besiege state capitol

Union activists occupy legislature, intimidating representatives and bringing planned session to a halt


*Updated Apr. 24 - Guerrero on verge of civil meltdown, as teachers riot

Chilpancingo de los Bravo, Guerrero -
A long simmering feud between a powerful school teachers' union and the Guerrero congress broke into outright violence Thursday, as union activists completely shut down a major highway through the region and forced their way into the state legislative chambers.

The union, Coordinadora Estatal de Trabajadores de la Educación de Guerrero (CETEG), has been marching along the famous Autopista del Sol for days, wreaking havoc with traffic and local commerce alike as it carries its complaints to the street. An Acapulco tourist workers' union said last week that blockades on the four lane have cost their industry at least 100 million pesos this season - about $8.3 million USD, and money which the hard hit resort can ill afford. Teachers in three states again form picket lines.

Enrique Peña Nieto is one of world's most 100 influential leaders - TIME

"This is a leader to watch."

Guadalajara -
Time Magazine has named Mexico's Institutional Revolutionary Party president Enrique Peña Nieto one of the world's 100 most influential people.

In a brief post, former New Mexico governor and United Nations ambassador Bill Richardson wrote, "The U.S. shouldn’t treat Peña Nieto like a patsy. He combines Reagan’s charisma with Obama’s intellect and Clinton’s political skills. This is a leader to watch."

Highwaymen assault ADO bus on Yucatán peninsula, leaving 30 passengers furious while police "just laughed"

Bandits to passengers: "It's the government's fault, we're poor and there's no work"


Mérida, Yucatán -
Thirty passengers riding on a first class bus from Cancún to Veracruz were robbed by an armed commando team near Champotón in the Mexican state of Campeche early last Wednesday morning (Apr. 10), news sources have reported.

Champotón is a a Gulf city about 130 miles southwest of Mérida. The bus passed through this city shortly before the attack.

Guadalajara newspaper hit by grenade attack

Guadalajara -
Facilities belonging to Mural, a major Guadalajara newspaper, were attacked about 3:30 a.m. today at its suburban Zapopan location.

The Jalisco state prosecutor confirmed the at least two hand grenades were lobbed at the building from a passing vehicle. No suspects have been identified, he said.

Police intelligence officer executed in Guadalajara

"Plata o plomo" is the message


Guadalajara -
A 29 year old officer assigned to the intelligence division of the Jalisco State Police Dept. was assassinated in front of his home by a lone gunman yesterday.

The eight year veteran joined the force in 2005, and was assigned to a unit known as SIGMA, which monitors and investigates drug trafficking, the weapons trade and organized crime.

Eight found executed in Cancún; taxi drivers suspected

Three drug pushers, including two cabbies, arrested hours later - with probable links to Gulf Cartel


*Updated Apr. 16*
Cancún -
Eight people were found executed in this city today, all apparent victims of continuing drug war violence along the Riviera Maya in Quintana Roo state.

In the first incident a dead male was found in a residential neighborhood. He was bound and gagged, and his body had been wrapped in sheets and left on a street. Authorities have not released a cause of death or other details.