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| Caribbean-Latin America |
| U.S. Moves Against Top Mexican Drug Cartel |
| 2009-02-26 |
| PHOENIX — Calling Mexican drug trafficking organizations “a national security threat,” Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. announced Wednesday that federal authorities had mounted their biggest assault against one of Mexico’s most powerful drug cartels. More than 750 people nationwide have been arrested, tons of cocaine and marijuana have been seized and the distribution of drugs has been disrupted through a series of raids and arrests as part of an investigation begun under the Bush administration 21 months ago, Mr. Holder said. The operation comes at a time of rising concern over Mexico’s drug violence and the reach of trafficking organizations into the United States. It has focused on the Sinaloa cartel and culminated with a wave of arrests, unsealed indictments and seizures on Tuesday and early Wednesday in California, Maryland and Minnesota. The Sinaloa organization, based in Sinaloa State in northwest Mexico, is one of the oldest cartels and has been blamed for a large share of the spiraling violence in the country that has left more than 6,000 people dead in the past year amid turf wars and a government crackdown on their operations. “From Washington to Maine, we have disrupted this cartel’s domestic operations,” Michele M. Leonhart, the acting administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration, said in a statement before a news conference in Washington with Mr. Holder. The investigation, known as Operation Xcellerator, included the arrest of 755 people, among them leaders of the cartel’s cells based in the United States that helped transport and distribute drugs, Ms. Leonhart said. She said the arrests had also “seriously impacted” the cartel’s Canadian operations. Agents confiscated 149 vehicles, 3 aircraft, 3 vessels and 169 weapons, the officials said. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #10 Yawn. Over many long years I've heard the government make announcements like this time and time again. It never seems to make any difference. Meanwhile Mexico has devolved into a lawless narco state. When the border is lined with heavily armed troops who have orders to shoot to kill, I'll believe the government is getting serious. Until then the stench of corruption is sickening on both sides of the border. |
| Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2009-02-26 12:44 |
| #9 I just got through watching a prescient musical docudrama on this administration last night, dating from 1933. The Mexican kerfuffle is explained in the last verse: "If any form of pleasure is exibited Report to me and it will be prohibited I'll put my foot down, so shall it be This is the land of the free The last man nearly ruined this place He didn't know what to do with it If you think this country's bad off now, Just wait 'til I get through with it The country's taxes must be fixed And I know what to do with it If you think you're paying too much now Just wait till I get throught with it *whistle* I will not stand for anything that's crooked or unfair. I'm strictly on the upper knot, so everyone beware! If any man's caught taking graft, and I don't get my share, We stand'im up against the wall and pop!Goes the weasel." http://www.lyricsdownload.com/groucho-marx-laws-of-the-administration-lyrics.html |
| Posted by: ebrown2 2009-02-26 10:18 |
| #8 Las word in numa6 should rea "on-going." |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2009-02-26 07:14 |
| #7 One is indeed forced to wonder, given mention in the last few days of taxing marijuana sales. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2009-02-26 07:08 |
| #6 Yes Frank, watching Holder step up to the mike and brief the nation on an investigation and program that has been on-going for nearly two years was particularly galling. The cynic in me must ask, did he just make public and conclude a program that was designed to be ongong? |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2009-02-26 07:06 |
| #5 note that all of the legwork and investigation took place before Holder was in place |
| Posted by: Frank G 2009-02-26 05:31 |
| #4 When we have Apache's and Abrams on our border, then I will know it's time to kick butt! |
| Posted by: Omolugum Prince of the Platypi2692 2009-02-26 03:24 |
| #3 Well, that should do it! Problem solved. |
| Posted by: gromky 2009-02-26 02:10 |
| #2 lets see how they stand up against a few abrams since thehave a few trainig out in the deserrt b[near nevada or newmexico, and the hell with ROES |
| Posted by: rabid whitetail 2009-02-26 00:39 |
| #1 RUMORMILLNEWS > ITS A WAR NOW [Arizona + Texas likely in the crosshairs for Pan-Mexi Drug Violence border spillover]. YOOHOO, LTC. ROBERTO USMCR [New Mexico], I'M A'LOOKING AT YOU KIDDO - YOU'RE UP! |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2009-02-26 00:18 |