Don't Go to Monterrey Mexico!!

#cablegate

According to a State Department cable, the police in Monterrey Mexico are firmly controlled by the Zeta drug gang. Recent attacks on the police in Monterrey are a signal from a rival gang, the Gulf, that the police should switch loyalties to the Gulf. Makes you feel warm and cozy, doesn't it? Let's not forget, however, that it is American drug use that is really causing the drug violence in Mexico.

See 2010 Monterrey 66.

Meanwhile, Nuevo Leon Secretary General Javier Trevino Cantu is insisting the attacks are retaliation for the successful anti-drug work of the Mexican police, a line which clearly does not convince AmConsulate Monterrey. See below.



UNCLAS MONTERREY 000066

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
DS/IP/WHA, DS/IP/DEAV, AND DS/PSP/DEAV
WHA/MEX

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ASEC KCRM SNAR CASC PGOV MX
SUBJECT: Grenade Attacks Against Monterrey Police; Feb. 26 and 28th
EACs

REF: 10 NUEVO LAREDO 56

¶1. (SBU). Late in the evening of February 27, hooded men
conducted simultaneous grenade attacks against the facilities of
five municipal police forces within the Monterrey metro area. At
police stations in the working class suburbs of San Nicolas and
Cadereyta, the grenades exploded, injuring two and causing
significant property damage; in Guadalupe, Escobedo, and Apodaca
the devices did not detonate. Law enforcement sources, but not the
press, report a sixth attack in the city of Santiago, south of
Monterrey, and there are sketchy indications of a seventh attack in
Sabinas-Hidalgo, about an hour north of Monterrey. The authorities
have arrested two attackers and recover three unexploded grenades
and one grenade spoon. ATF Monterrey is in the process of
obtaining access to the recovered physical evidence. Although
there were civilian witnesses to the San Nicolas explosion, no one
is likely to come forward to present evidence or testify. Law
enforcement sources report that the police present when the
stations were attacked fled their posts. It is now clear that the
ongoing war between the Gulf and Zeta drug trafficking
organizations (DTOs) has reached Monterrey.

Nuevo Leon Spin Control

------------------------------

¶2. (SBU). While Nuevo Leon Secretary General Javier Trevino Cantu
has characterized the coordinated attacks as a reaction by
organized crime to the state government's security efforts, this
explanation is not persuasive as the state's programs are still
notional at best. Neither the recently-announced
military/federal/state plan to install roadblocks (68 checkpoints
in 19 cities) along the Monterrey to Reynosa, Tamaulipas corridor
nor the state's new plan to install checkpoints in 11 Monterrey
metro area municipalities to stem car theft have begun. Given the
thorough penetration by the Zetas of the police forces in those
municipalities that were hit, a much more likely explanation is
that the attacks were a signal from the Gulf cartel to the police
to cease/desist their support of the Zetas and switch sides. Other
plausible theories exist as well -- such as the attack was an
attempt to "heat up" the Monterrey plaza -- but none involve
organized crime responding to "effective" state government
enforcement efforts.

Public Worried and Distrustful

------------------------------------

¶3. (SBU) Locally, the Monterrey public is worried as citizens
fear that if the war between the cartels were to hit the city in
earnest, Monterrey could experience the rampant violence seen at
the border. The continuing wave of car-jackings/car thefts -- the
DTOs appear to be using the stolen cars to fulfull their
transportation needs -- has many on edge. Citizens are curtailing
trips to the border, and several bus companies are cancelling runs
to outlying cities in the state. Indeed, if high-value targets
fleeing Tamaulipas take up residence in Monterrey and nearby
Saltillo, Coahuila, violence here between the cartels and between
the cartels and the military (both army and navy) will increase.
During the previous week reliable witness reported carloads of
gunmen, with automatic weapons hanging out the window, retreating
to Monterrey along the highways linking the city to Reynosa.
Indeed, DEA confirms a rolling confrontation between the military
and retreating Zetas on February 27 in the Nuevo Leon
municipalities of Zuazua and Pesqueria, both to the north and east
of Monterrey.

¶4. (SBU). A recent poll done by the Monterrey-based Grupo Reforma

-- publishers of the influential local daily "El Norte" -- revealed
that 58 percent of Tamaulipas respondents had seen or heard gun
battles or violent acts that the media/government had not made
public. From here, it looks as if Nuevo Leon residents share this
view. Indeed, post law enforcement has learned that six died
during the Zuazua/Pesqueria shoot-out, an incident which has not
been reported in the local press. The rumor that Tamaulipas
Governor Eugenio Hernandez had been kidnapped flew around among
Monterrey elites at light speed on February 26. The comparative
silence of Nuevo Leon Governor Rodrigo Medina on security issues in
general has only heightened suspicions.

February 26 EAC Meeting and February 28 Follow-up

--------------------------------------------- -------------------

¶5. (SBU) Prior to the grenade attacks, Consulate General
Monterrey's Emergency Action Committee (EAC) met on February 26,
2010 to discuss the current wave of narco-related violence and its
potential impact on Consulate security and operations. The EAC was
chaired by Consul General with the presence of MGT, RSO, CONS, POL,
CLO, FBI, ATF, DEA, ICE, PD and OPAD. Among items discussed was
the continued increase in car-jackings and stolen cars. During the
previous evening, a local car lot was hit by a DTO and as many as
10 SUVs were taken. The group also kidnapped the owner and two
other family members. It was reported that local police seen in
the area did not respond to distress calls from the family.

¶6. (SBU) RSO relayed Unclass reporting that the Los Zetas leader,
Miguel Heriberto Lazcano-Lazcano is believed to be hiding in
Monterrey and was planning for counter-offensive strikes against
the Gulf Cartel in Tamaulipas. This information dovetailed with
reporting from other sources and the members of post's Law
Enforcement Working Group elaborated that Saltillo, Coahuila would
likely be considered a safehaven by the Zetas.

¶7. (SBU) The CG and RSO discussed obtaining further protective
equipment for the Local Guard Force. RSO will submit a request for
an emergency shipment of ballistic helmets and rifle grade body
armor from DS/PSP/DEAV.

¶8. (SBU) At a February 28 follow-up session of the Law Enforcement
Working Group, committee members discussed the probabilities of
further Gulf Cartel retributions against Zeta controlled police
departments in the Monterrey area. Various EAC members believe
that the next targets of attack by the Gulf cartel might be the
Monterrey and Santa Catarina police or Nuevo Leon state police
facilities. On February RSO office distributed a security notice
to Consulate employees reminding them of the need to remain
vigiliant.
WILLIAMSON

Mexican Military Seeks U.S. Assistance in Drug War

Mexican Defense Secretary Galvan complained about civilian police corruption giving away vital information ton the drug gangs in Mexico. He want USG help in Mexico's drug war


¶1. (S/NF) Summary. DNI Dennis Blair met with Defense
Secretary General Guillermo Galvan Galvan on October 19 on
the heels of meetings with President Calderon and members of
his national security team (ref a and b). The discussion
focused largely on the military's role in the
counternarcotics fight, with Galvan lamenting a likely
lengthy domestic mandate, the need for improved translation
of intelligence into operations, and his mistrust of other
GOM security elements. Galvan is clearly seeking cooperation
from the USG to strengthen his institution's capacity to
fight drug trafficking organizations, but will try to keep
military actions in its own channels rather than working more
broadly with Mexico's law enforcement community. End summary.

¶2. (S/NF) To open the discussion with General Galvan Galvan

Video: Mexican Drug Shootout

This on-the-spot video of being in a Mexican drug gang shootout is very real. The video was linked in a New York Times story on the killing of a Mexican drug boss, Antonio Ezequiel Cardenas Guillen. And I'm sure that many lives and dollars/pesos were spent on getting this creepy guy, and I don't want to minimize that in any way, but isn't he just going to be replaced by someone else?

The problems in Mexico are systemic. As in, very rich gringos live in the country to the north and pay for the drugs being transited through Mexico. And as long as the United States consumes illegal drugs, there is going to be another drug dealer and his gang to transport and sell them to us.

So I leave you with the prefect prescription for ending the Mexican drug war; stop using the drugs they sell and stop selling them the guns to shoot at each other. Just saying.

Virginia is for Drug Dealers

The drug war devastation in Mexico is being directly linked to gun dealers in the United States. Those fun gun dealers are located in gun-friendly states like Virginia.

While drug addiction may be costing Mexicans their lives and Americans their families, we need to keep in mind that more than just drugs dealers are making money. Gun dealers are, too.

The Administration's proposal to search vehicles going into Mexico as well as coming from Mexico is a good one. Depriving the Mexican cartels of guns will take away much of its power and certainly reduce the harm to innocent bystanders. The drug wars themselves will not stop, just the form they take right now.

Aside from all that, if Americans stopped using drugs, there would be no drug war at all. Another idea is to decriminalize drug addiction and treat it instead. It's a good thought, especially since arresting people and putting them in prison hasn't worked since we started doing that in the 1950s. Treating addiction would do at least something towards addressing American demand for drugs. Not much, but at least something.

My idea is that everyone who is arrested for buying illegal drugs more than once has everything they own confiscated. Yes, that would unfairly burden the more affluent. But wouldn't that be a nice change for once?

Mexican Drug War, American Drug Use

Finally government officials are getting real about the cause of the drug trafficking coming through Mexico. It's the drug users in the United States.

If the United States would make American-grown pot legal, then a whole lot of people would not have to die. Yes, there are more drugs being trafficked from Mexico than pot, but that would be most of it.

I can't believe I've come to this conclusion. For years, I would snort with derision as some kid stood at a polling place on election day asking if I'd sign a petition to have pot legalization on the ballot.

And let's not forget the American guns used in all this Mexican killing (thank you, Virginia). And the American cash used to buy the drugs.

The Mexican drug war has its roots in the tastes and habits of the American people.

Mexico, Texas and the Death Penalty

I want everybody in Texas to stop for a moment and just feel good about themselves. Breathe deeply and think of your sense of outrage and corresponding superiority. Think of your penchant for killing people. Dwell there a moment, because it won't last.

If the state of Texas is going to insist on killing a Mexican citizen while ignoring his right to contact his government for help, Texans need to prepare for something: that Mexico is going to do the same to you.

As excited as you are about another dead human being, you will be outraged that a Texan will be sentenced to life in prison without access to a Consular representative from the U.S. Embassy in Mexico. And all those feelings you have right now will be had by Mexican citizens, and the outrage will be yours.