Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación

Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) is presently under attack in Colima State by the Mexican Army. At this point they have cleared Colima City, Tecoman of the Sinaloa Federation (CJNG) and Los Caballaros Templarios have moved in to fill the void. The Army also moved into Manzanillo, but not as hard and CJNG still retains a presence there.

Ruben Osegevera Cervantes (El Mencho) runs CJNG and his headquarters in the Autlan de Navarro and El Grullo area of southwestern Jalisco. It is also being heavily pressured by the Mexican Army (SEDENA). 

It's not really news to the people in Guadalajara where literally ALL of the narcos with any stroke at all left town about a month ago in anticipation of rough times. Some went to homes in San Antonio, Texas (where many of the Guadalajara narcos maintain residence), others with warrants for their arrest either went to Costa Rica or over the hills to Puerta Vallarta. They plan to return home after February when the Mexican Army will be discontinuing its offensive in that area.

There are two principal factions of the Sinaloa Federation in Guadalajara. CJNG is run by El Mencho. He's the one being hit. Ismael Zambada Garcia (El Mayo) is not being pressured. He is more closely allied with Joaquin Guzman Loera (El Chapo) than El Mencho is.

Jenni Rivera

Forty-three year old Mexican-American singer, Jenni Rivera, known for her work within the banda and norteña music genres died when her Learjet crashed near Iturbide, Nuevo Leon yesterday.

The Learjet 25, number N345MC, took off from Monterrey at 3:30 a.m. local time and was reported missing about 10 minutes later. It was registered to Starwood Management of Las Vegas, Nevada, according to FAA records. It was built in 1969 and had a current registration through 2015.

She began recording 1992, and her recordings include many topical songs and material dealing with social issues, narcos, infidelity, and relationships. Her tenth studio album, Jenni in 2008, became her first number-one album in the Billboard Top Latin Albums chart in the United States.

Though drug trafficking was the theme of some of her songs, she was not considered a singer of "narco corridos," or ballads glorifying drug lords like other groups, such as Los Tigres del Norte. She was better known for singing about her troubles in love and disdain for men. 

Even though her billboard success was more noteworthy in the US, her fan base was very solid in Mexico, where, in 2009, Mexican officials forgave her for smuggling $52,000 through the Mexico City Airport. 

Jenni had a rocky career, had just ended her third marriage, and was getting by as best she could when the aging private jet augered into a hillside. It was her personal tragedies that endeared her to her Mexican fan base. And she didn't really end on a high note.

Iranian Agents operating in Mexico

A little housekeeping, for the record:

Yes, Iranian intelligence agents work out of the Iranian Embassy in Mexico City and yes, their primary collection target is the United States of America. Yes the Revolutionary Guard Qods Force maintains people as "illegal" (meaning not under diplomatic cover) agents in Mexico. They speak Spanish and they have access to competent cartel murderers (Chino Anthrax and crew being one of many). Questions still remain about the fumbled Arbabsiar Plot.

The Arbabsiar Plot and the Mexican Drug Cartels

Revisiting the plot

Manssor Arbabsiar

Manssor Arbabsiar and Ali Gholam Shakuri were charged on October 11, 2011 by the US Justice Department for an alleged plot to assassinate the Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the United States. You can read the indictment HERE.

Shakuri is a member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Qods force, a foreign special operations element tasked with promoting the IRG's interests outside of Iran. Shakuri sent $49,000 to an undercover FBI bank account inside the United States to facilitate the assassination. USGOV was aware of the plot from the beginning, and while one might congratulate them for fine police work, one might also wonder whether or not Manssor Arbabsiar may have been entrapped (just a little bit).

Once the FBI took Arbabsiar into custody, they had him make consensual telephone calls to Iran (source DOJ) 

"Arbabsiar made phone calls at the direction of law enforcement to [Gholam] Shakuri [a member of Qods Force] in Iran that were monitored. During these phone calls, Shakuri allegedly confirmed that Arbabsiar should move forward with the plot to murder the Ambassador and that he should accomplish the task as quickly as possible, stating on Oct. 5, 2011, '[j]ust do it quickly, it’s late.' " 

Because the Obama Administration was under fire for Operation Fast and Furious, some have floated the opinion that the Arbabsiar plot was a smokescreen by USGOV to obscure the Congressional investigation into the misconduct of Attorney General Eric Holder and possibly of President Obama, himself.

I have no idea whether this is a USGOV smokescreen to obscure their Operation Fast and Furious fiasco or not because I have no first hand information. However, on the stupid scale, isn't 'walking' 2,000 firearms to the Sinaloa Federation Drug Cartel just about as goofy as Iranians working with Los Zetas proxies to assassinate a Saudi Ambassador in the US?

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Why didn't the Iranians vet their "Mexican assassin" - an FBI operative - more carefully? You can chalk it up to amateurish Iranian work, but the Iranians aren't usually that stupid. That the Iranians were stupid doesn't mean that they didn't plot the work to be done. As they learned, a truck bomb in the basement of the World Trade Center didn't bring the tower down. It took Al Qaeda and jet liners filled with innocent passengers and fuel to make that happen.

The only thing that has kept the Islamic Republic from committing atrocities is their political calculus of the repercussions. With the Obama Administration's commitment to the Lloyd George school of diplomacy, what would those repercussions be? A harshly worded letter to the Supreme Leader of Iran wouldn't dent his armor or resolve.

The government’s complaint [.pdf] outlines an almost outlandish comedy of errors. Now we’re finding out that the administration itself had “expressed concern that the plot’s cartoonish quality would invite suspicions and conspiracy theories.” 

Corruption in the Mexican Government

This is hardly news to anyone who follows the situation in Mexico but I'm re-posting it here simply for the sake of context with my other contributions to the digital record.

Context

Edgar (La Barbie) Valdez Villarreal

Edgar (La Barbie) Valdez Villarreal (DOB 11 August 1973 - in Laredo, Texas) rose through the ranks of the Beltran Leyva Organization (BLO) and became head of one faction of that cartel after it split following the death of Arturo Beltran Leyva in 2009. La Barbie was a particularly vicious and bloodthirsty narco, specializing in torture and decapitation on video tape. The Mexican Federal Police arrested him near Mexico City on August 30, 2010 and he faces charges in both Mexico and the United States.

On 27 November 2012, Erendira Joselyn Guerra Gutierrez, a lawyer representing Edgar Valdez Villarreal, submitted a letter to Reforma signed by his client. The letter was included in the 28 November edition of the paper and was translated as follows:

Principal Content

First of all, I want to make it clear that I did not agree to become a protected witness. Furthermore, I categorically deny the statements made by the arresting officers regarding the manner in which I was actually arrested. The truth regarding what really happened is as follows:

My arrest was the result of a political persecution carried out by Felipe Calderon Hinojosa. He began harassing me after I refused to participate in an arrangement he was making with multiple organized crime groups. He (President Calderon) conducted a series of meetings with organized crime group operators to discuss the agreement. After this, he (President Calderon) and Juan Camilo Mouriño ordered General Mario Arturo Acosta Chaparro to hold meetings with two La Familia Michoacana leaders, Heriberto Lazcano, Miguel Angel Treviño, aka El Z-40, Arturo Beltran Leyva, aka El Barbas, and El Chapo Guzman.

General Mario Arturo Acosta Chaparro,
bag man for Presidente Filipe Calderon Hinojosa

Calderon wanted to form a truce with Los Zetas, the Gulf Cartel, the Juarez Cartel, Vicente, Mayo, El Chapo, and myself. I refused to be part of the truce because I did not want to be connected to any other cartel. For this reason, he (Calderon) began pursuing me. He ordered police to raid several of my properties without a legal search warrant during which time they stole cash, jewelry, and vehicles from me.

Genero Garcia Luna

I attest that I paid bribes to the following individuals: 

- Genaro Garcia Luna, Head of the SSP (Secretary of Public Security) since 2002 

- Armando Espinosa de Benito, Regional Chief of Investigation for the Federal Police

- Luis Cardenas Palomino, Regional Chief of Investigation for the Federal Police 

- Edgar Eusebio Millan Gomez, Commissioner of the Federal Protective Police

- Fracisco Javier Garza Palacios, Secretary of Public Security for Colombia

- Igor Labastida Calderon, Commander, Agency for Federal Investigation (PGR)

- Facundo Rosas Rosas, Commissioner of the Federal Police

- Ramon Eduardo Pequeño Garcia, Chief of the Anti Drug Division of the Federal Police

- Gerardo Garay Cadena, Chief of the Federal Protective Police

I know that police were ordered to kill me, not arrest me. My arrest was carried out at the residence reported by media sources (an area known as La Cañada de Alferez in the Salazar village of Lerma, Mexico State). Police stated that no shots were fired during my arrest but that is a lie. The police officer that transported me that day encouraged me to run so that he could shoot me. In that manner, authorities could say that I attacked them and that they had to shoot in self-defense. This is how they killed Aron Arturo Gines Becerril; officers shot him in the back after he fled from them near the Perisu shopping center.

Genaro Garcia Luna still holds his position despite the fact that he has been accused of criminal activity before the American government, during discussions regarding the Merida Initiative, and through statements made by Mateo, a protected witness (Sergio Villarreal).

Federal police do not report seizures during arrests of items including drugs, vehicles, etc. On the contrary, SEDENA and SEMAR personnel are a bit more honest, they carry out arrests and report seizures.

I am guilty of my crimes, but they, the government officials that I mention here, are also part of the organized crime structure in this country. 

Signed, Edgar Valdez Villarreal

Commentary

It's really no secret that President Calderon shook down the cartels for money shortly after his election. The only people who seem to deny the fact is the leadership of the United States Government, who would rather look the other way where heads of state are involved.

It's also no secret that President elect (President as of 5 days ago) Enrique Pena Nieto had similar meetings between his election and his installation as President of Mexico. The United States Government is reluctant to accept even PHOTOS of these meetings because to do so would undermine their diplomatic efforts with the new Mexican President. It's traditional for Mexican Presidents to conduct these high level meetings to arrange for taxes to be paid by the cartels to the government for the personal enrichment of its leadership. Thus the commonly held statement - you enter the Mexican Presidency as a millionaire and leave a billionaire.

Liquid Meth - in Tequila Bottles

No, you don't have to put your liquid methamphetamine in a tequila bottle to pass it through US Customs from Mexico, but if it's included in a larger shipment of tequila, the chances that US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will pick up on it is minute because the factory-sealed bottle is proof against discovery. Even half a dozen bottles mixed in with a hundred tequila bottles improves the value of the imported goods many times. It's even more effective if it's being shipped from a "Trusted Facility" under the aegis of CTPAT.

The comparatively new liquid form of methamphetamine was first produced by Los Caballaros Templarios in Michoacan but it's now being produced nationwide since the 'cook was turned' by the Sinaloa Federation.

Oddly enough, it started as a project to supply methamphetamine to prisons (for profit and as a service to comrades behind bars). Even prisoners need a pick me up - and so do guards who are in need of taming. Letters were sent to Amaloya and other maximum security institutions wherein the paper inside of the envelopes were dosed in liquid meth. It didn't take long to get from there into the tequila bottles.

Liquid packages of meth are very easy to "kiester-stash" in the rectum of the transporter, and nearly impossible to detect. If the packaging fails, the transporter will immediately die, but most don't and they're packing upwards of two liters per passenger - pack the car six deep and do the math. CPB can put the dogs on the car and the people but the 'mules' usually make it through. From what I've heard, it's easier to body pack it than solid meth because it can be manipulated into the colon and/or vagina easier in its liquid form. Never having personally participated, I have to take people's word for it.

Best of all, liquid meth is considerably "stronger" than crystals. Well, that's what they say. However 96% pure crystal meth is likely about as potent as the crystals in solution. The quality of the acid-washed crystal meth coming out of Mexico is very pure and it's 'crystal clear'. It can be injected or simply consumed orally. Both will give you a considerable punch. If the process doesn't include an acid injection process, the solution will be amber...the color of much of the tequila that you'll find in your local market.

Hecho en Mexico!

I hear your question. "How can US Customs determine whether the bottle contains pure liquid methamphetamine or tequila?" 

The obvious answer is that they need to break the seals (and ruin) every bottle crossing the border. With the North American Freed Trade Act (NAFTA) in place, that's not practical. And the lawsuits which surely result if they don't find what they are looking for... 

Please don't think that Mexico only supplies the US with liquid meth. Tequila exports from Mexico to Spain are up 500% in the last six years.

But it's really even better than that for the business of narcotrafficking. On January 17, 2006, in Washington DC, U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) - Ambassador Rob Portman and Mexico’s Secretary of Economy Sergio Garcia de Alba signed an historic agreement on cross-border trade in tequila. This signing ceremony was the culmination of two years and 10 rounds of negotiations between the United States and Mexico.

Tequila is an alcohol beverage distilled from the agave plant and has been given worldwide recognition as a distinctive product of Mexico. As such, while ‘Tequila’ can only be produced in Mexico, bulk shipments of finished tequila, destined for bottling abroad, had been allowed. In August 2003, the Mexican Standards Bureau announced a proposal that the official standard for tequila would be amended to require that all tequila be ‘bottled at source’, in order to be labeled as tequila. This would have created a de facto ban on exports of bulk tequila.

If the draft standard had been adopted, it would have threatened the huge investments U.S. companies have made to build bottling plants and develop brands in the United States. Prompt action by the USTR and the cooperation of Mexican officials allowed tequila to flow uninterrupted for two years during the negotiations. In addition, during the signing ceremony, Ambassador Portman stated, "I want to thank the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau of the Department of Treasury, as well as the Departments of State and Commerce, for their invaluable assistance in these negotiations."

The U.S.-Mexico tequila agreement will ensure that bulk exports of tequila from Mexico to the United States, valued at $400 million per year, continue without interruption. The U.S. is Mexico’s largest export market for tequila, accounting for 50 percent of Mexico’s total production.

If you have any questions regarding this agreement please contact the International Trade Division, US Department of the Treasury, Alcohol Tax and Trade Bureau. (MOU between Mexico and the US)

ABC News Report on a recent arrest 

Alcalde Maria Santos Gorrostieta

Dr. Maria Santos Gorrostieta MD, age 36, was a former mayor of the small Mexican town of Tiquicheo (2008-2012) and became famous for her refusal to be cowed by the drug gangs battling for control of the western state of Michoacan. Los Caballeros Templarios (LCT) abducted the mayor in front of her young daughter, they tortured and eventually murdered her and the LCT Cartel dumped her mutilated body by the side of the road as a message to any future politician who would stand up to them.

Did their tactics work? The answer is a resounding YES!

During her term as mayor, she survived at least two assassination attempts, including one that killed her husband Jose and another that left her body peppered with bullet holes and scars.

Although Mexico has been a producer of, and transit route for, illegal drugs for decades, in recent years the country has found itself caught up in violent turf wars between powerful and well-financed cartels. In 2006 Mexico’s newly-elected President Felipe Calderon launched a military assault on the gangs. But although some key players have been killed or captured, the carnage has continued. Indeed some claim it has got worse, due to splits between formerly allied cartels. Official estimates say 50,000 people have been killed since the crackdown began, but others put the toll at twice that. (Daily Mail)

The unassuming hamlet where Dr. Santos presided sits on the smuggling route between the Port of Lazaro Cardenas and the Mexican interior. Most Cocaine and methamphetamine precursors that land on Mexico's West Coast pass through the ports of Manzanillo and Lazaro Cardenas. LCT controls Lazaro Cardenas and jealously guards it's transportation corridors.

In October 2009 a group of gunmen shot her at least seven times in an ambush in which her husband was killed. Three months later, another armed gang opened fire on her brother’s car while she was in the passenger seat. Shortly afterwards she made the front pages after she went public with photographs of her wounds in Tiquicheo’s municipal newsletter. “I wanted to show you my wounded, mutilated body,” she wrote, “because I’m not ashamed of it. It’s living testimony that I am a strong and righteous woman, and despite my wounds, I’m still on my feet.”

The Mexico City Daily has also said that there were at least two other assassination attempts that she never reported.

On November 12, according to the newspaper El Universal, Maria Santos Gorrostieta was driving her young daughter to school in the city of Morelia when she was ambushed by a gang of armed men who pulled her from her car and beat her up in full view of passers-by. Witnessess described how she begged the men to leave her child alone and then got into her abductors’ car, leaving her daughter, screaming but unharmed, in the road.

Five days later the badly mutilated body of a woman, who had evidently been tortured before she was killed, was found dumped by a roadside. It was later identified as Maria Santos Gorrostieta.

"Her brave defiance may have cost the mother-of-three her life. The official cause of death was a blow to the head but she had been stabbed, her legs and hands had been bound and her waist and chest were covered in burns, suggesting she had been tortured." (Gateway Pundit)

Granularity-

I have asked people who I know in LCT why they (the cartel) tortured and murdered Alcalde Dr. Santos, who was the mayor when they abducted, tortured and murdered her. (There are accounts out there that she was a former mayor and that's not the case) The simple reply was, "She didn't agree to play ball. We offered her money and she refused. We didn't treat her any worse than we treated anyone else who didn't go along with the reality. We tried to explain it to her again and again. Finally we did what we had to do."

Over the next while, I'm going to see what else I can find about the motivation for this murder, but I think that I understand why LCT had to eliminate her. Cartels rule (particularly in Michoacan and Gurrero) through fear. If somebody, particularly a woman, stands up against them, and prevails, their grip on the area vanishes. MEXGOV has boasted that La Familia Michoacan has been eliminated, but it's obvious that LFM, and it's child, LCT, has not. LCT can put between 2,000 and 3,000 fighters in the field on short notice, carrying a mixture of military and civilian weapons. They know Michoacan and they are very difficult to eradicate.

It's also possible that Dr. Santos' murder was somehow approved (US Military Slang: Fragged) by the local MEXGOV people in Michoacan who had been taking pay-offs from LCT all along. Dr. Santos made them look bad. If that's true, don't hold your breath for a resolution to the kidnap-torture-Murder.

The Methamphetamine Market in France

Mexican Methamphetamine

Mexican methamphetamine has a clearer, glassier appearance than more crudely produced formulas and often resembles ice fragments, usually with a clear or bluish-white color. It often has a smell people compare to ammonia, cat urine or even burning plastic. There was a time when the Mexican cartels had to import meth into Europe, but that is quickly becoming a thing of the past.

La Familia Michoacan/Los Caballeros Templarios cook in Africa (in five locations) and ship to France, Spain, The Netherlands and Great Britain. The Sinaloa Federation (El Mencho Faction) has done that one better by setting up clandestine laboratories in Europe to service the European market. France is home to some of the larger and more sophisticated cooking operations. I do understand that the French may be insulted by this revelation, but that doesn't change the fact that it's the case.

Having been to Interpol Headquarters (Lyon, France) as a guest on more than one occasion, I understand that France together with The Netherlands (Europol) hosts the international crime fighting efforts against such things. The Mexicans, with a substantial bankroll to back up their expansion, sought out the most corrupt and likely unemployed segment of French society to help them with both security and distribution. Yes, the French Muslim Community was and remains committed to the cause. The vast sea of unemployed inner city youths are both willing and able to help the Mexican drug cartels.

France has a well established, well trained, well paid, and highly professional police force. And if you ask them how all of the methamphetamine (90%+ purity) arrived in their nation, many would tell you that it's smuggled in. That may have been true once. Not so much these days.

The marketing format follows a well-established pattern. By simultaneously increasing the purity and cutting the price, the cartels get people hooked and create a new customer base. By including the locals in the profit making, they expand by forming alliances, taking advantage of existing distribution networks.