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Mexican police chiefs flee to U.S. for safety

dallasnews.com — WASHINGTON – Drug cartel attacks against Mexican police have become so violent and so common that some Mexican police chiefs are seeking safety in the United States.

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  • Surferess, on 05/16/2008, -2/+44The situation in Mexico is totally out of control.
    • ordig, on 05/16/2008, -8/+17...thanks to the war on drugs
    • StopOurDrugWar, on 05/16/2008, -7/+8This is what I was going to say. If there were no war on drugs Mexico would be a mostly peaceful country. Because of the war on drugs you have cartel members cutting the heads off of guys in one state, and rolling the heads into a bar in another.
    • jer2eydevil88, on 05/16/2008, -2/+4If we made drugs legal (to some extent) we would have a better Mexico and in my opinion it would also lead to less of a police army and more of a keep the peace corp.

  • rlray216, on 05/16/2008, -1/+14"Congress considers whether to approve the Merida Initiative, the Bush administration's plan to provide Mexico up to $1.4 billion in military equipment, training and other resources over the next three years to help the country in its fight against drug cartels."
    • scrtyfrk, on 05/16/2008, -0/+9Oh right... So all that equipment ends up in the hands of the mercs working with the cartels any way... The US has already trained them any way.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Zetas
    • nekochan, on 05/16/2008, -0/+7you know what happened last time we supplied weapons and training to another country...
    • mike17032, on 05/16/2008, -2/+1***** that idea.

      We should offer to roll our own troops in, but ***** giving them weapons.
  • thechr0nic, on 05/16/2008, -6/+56This is yet another example of how the war on drugs has been lost.
    If we in the US actually legalized these drugs that create such vast profits for these Mexican drug lords. Maybe the police there would have a fighting chance.
    History serves as a perfect example of this actually working. When we prohibited alcohol, bootleggers made vast profits and organized crime enjoyed the massive profits - read Al Capone. Once we lifted prohibition, the bootleggers could no longer compete with cheap legal alcohol. Getting rid of Prohibition did not solve the 'drug problem' it solved the 'crime and violence' problem.

    We must realize that prohibition creates a crime and violence problem due to the black market that invariably springs up.. We cannot even begin to address the drug addiction problem until we have solved the crime and violence problem created by the black market.
    We must also admit that no matter how much we dont want people to use these drugs, that there will ALWAYS be those, who will use them no matter how illegal it is. And since these drugs only get more expensive the more we 'attempt' to enforce this prohibition, there will ALWAYS be someone willing to take the risk to supply the market in search of massive profits.

    We keep trying to treat the symptom and not the actual problem. We need to dry up the ability for these drug lords to make ASTRONOMICAL profits, supplying our demand for drugs. We need to learn from history and end prohibition.
    • LewP, on 05/16/2008, -14/+5A very good post, but I respectively disagree. Why do you compare drugs to alcohol? Drugs can be much more detrimental than alcohol on the body. I don't know of many pimps on school playgrounds offering needles to shoot up alcohol.
      • thechr0nic, on 05/16/2008, -1/+12quickly stating the obvious: alcohol is a drug.

        as to which drug is more or less detrimental to the body is not the point I am making here. That point can be saved for when we have to deal with the VERY difficult drug problem. We cannot even being to deal with the drug problem UNTIL we deal with the crime and violence problem created by the black market, which is created by prohibition.
        I compare drugs to alcohol because of the parallels with prohibition. The reason why you dont see people selling alcohol on the playground, is because it is LEGAL, and thusly we can control: Who sells it, Where it is sold, and Who it can be sold to, what time of day it can be sold etc etc etc... we can control those, because it is legal. Since it alcohol is legal, we can control the quality and purity, thus you can see on the label of every single bottle, the alcohol by volume in the bottle.
        Before alcohol prohibition, there was no quality control, people simply made it however they wanted in stills, and sometimes the moonshine was strong enough to kill in a matter of sips and sometimes it was watered down, you never knew. Also, there were no rules as to who could sell it, or whom it could be sold to. To make matters even worse, organized crime used this to generate profits, which they then had to protect from rivals, thus creating a crime and violence problem. These problems were solved by ending prohibition.

        You can draw the same conclusions with other illicit drugs that are currently being prohibited. Sure the drugs are bad, and no-one 'should' use them. However, we must understand that no matter how much we dont 'want' someone to use them, there will be those who will continue to use them no matter how many laws are past outlawing it. These people will pay a premium to get their drugs, and the harder it is to get them, the higher the premium paid.
        Now take for example a kilo of cocaine: you can produce it in columbia for lets say hypothetically $1,800. All you have to do is get that kilo accross the border and then you can sell it for upwards of $30,000.. do the math, thats $28,200 in profit that goes straight to that ruthless drug lord in Columbia PER kilo. The point I am making is no matter how illegal we make it here, at that profit margin, they will FIND a way to get it here.
        http://www.narcoticnews.com/Cocaine/Prices/USA/Coc ...

        bringing this back to the focus of the article, the Mexican police cannot possibly compete with the drug lords, because the drug lords have MOUNTAINS of drug proceeds. Even if we give them 100 billion to fight the drug lords, the drug lords have more and will win anyways. The only way we can truly combat these drug lords, is to dry up the black market to where they draw their profits. The only way to dry up the black market, is to legalize, regulate and tax these drugs ourselves.
        Once these drugs are legal, we then can start the very difficult work of dealing with drug addiction. We can do the same things we do with alcohol and tobacco (which kill WAY more people every single year than all illegal drugs combined) we can offer treatment programs, we can offer counseling, we can offer support groups.

        Please check out www.leap.cc (law enforcement against prohibition) - I am not involved with them what so ever, but I do borrow more than a few of my talking points from them.
      • Elderon, on 05/16/2008, -0/+5Alcohol is a drug. It also has a pretty nasty withdrawl, one of the few that can kill if you drink enough.
      • StopOurDrugWar, on 05/16/2008, -0/+5Some people can use alcohol in moderation others can not. Some can use drugs in moderation, others can not. How many people die from smoking marijuana in a year? None. How many alcohol related deaths are there per year? Alcohol absolutely belongs in the discussion with other drugs.
    • DaDrake, on 05/16/2008, -9/+3Mexico has legalized small quantities of "hard" drugs and its doing no good.
      • StopOurDrugWar, on 05/16/2008, -0/+6There is little to no demand for hard drugs in Mexico. All of the demand is from the US. Hence, no drop in violence.
      • absurdist, on 05/16/2008, -0/+1Wrong. Mexico was _considering_ legalizing small quantities of hard drugs, until the U.S. leaned on them hard. Then the idea was shelved.
    • duckyinc, on 05/16/2008, -9/+1Erm we legalised alcohol because it was legal before not because it's a drug. Oh and are you a drug user?
      • thechr0nic, on 05/16/2008, -0/+2am I a drug user? I guess so, I do drink alcohol on occasion, I use aspirin when I get a headache and I do vaporize cannabis. I dont smoke cigarettes but you should remember that they are a drug too. But then again, I would be willing to bet you have used some of these same drugs.
        Also keep in mind that alcohol and tobacco ALONE individually have killed more people than ALL illegal drugs combined with a pretty healthy margin.

        It sounds to me that you need to do some research into prohibition, let me help get you started:
        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prohibition_in_the_Un ...

        here is a nice blurb that illustrates my point:
        "Many social problems have been attributed to the Prohibition era. A profitable, often violent, black market for alcohol flourished. Racketeering happened when powerful gangs corrupted law enforcement agencies. Stronger liquor surged in popularity because its potency made it more profitable to smuggle. The cost of enforcing Prohibition was high, and the lack of tax revenues on alcohol (some $500 million annually nationwide) affected government coffers. When repeal of Prohibition occurred in 1933, organized crime lost nearly all of its black market alcohol profits in most states (states still had the right to enforce their own laws concerning alcohol consumption), because of competition with low-priced alcohol sales at legal liquor stores."
      • duckyinc, on 05/16/2008, -2/+1I don't take drugs :P or alcohol/cigarettes, do you know why alcohol kill more people than illegal drugs? Because it's legal, you can get it anywhere from stores to pubs, so more people get it on average than illegal drugs. If we legalise it, it's going to kill more than alcohol and tobacco together.
        • thechr0nic, on 05/21/2008, -0/+1What you fail to realize, is that while alcohol is dangerous, before we legalized it (ended prohibition) it was FAR more dangerous.

          -There were no treatment programs (aside from prison or the grave)
          -organized crime made massive fortunes bootlegging it (much the same as modern day drug lords)
          -There was no quality control before prohibition, two sips might kill you in one bottle while drinking a gallon of another may not even get you drunk.
          -Huge amounts of tax revenues were not collected
          -Taxpayers had to pay for the increase in prisons, prison populations and salaries of guards

          isn't it amazing that these all apply to our current batch of prohibited drugs?

          We are now making good progress in helping people with their alcohol addictions, but we were not even able to start making progress until we ended prohibition.

          I wish that you had enough common sense to realize how destructive and unnecessary prohibition is.
    • bokep, on 05/16/2008, -8/+1I don't think legalizing everything here because there are problems in other countries is a good solution.
      • thechr0nic, on 05/16/2008, -1/+2oh, dont be confused, prohibition causes several problems here as well. It just so happens that not only does it cause problems here, but it also causes problems all over the world.

        This war on drugs, is a miserably failed policy.. If we would just pay attention to history, we would understand that prohibition causes far more (much worse) problems than its supposedly trying to prevent.
    • JointVenture, on 05/16/2008, -4/+2Anyone who thinks you should legalize coke has never done coke or is currently doing coke.

      Personally I'm glad its illegal.

      Weed is another story.
      • thechr0nic, on 05/16/2008, -0/+2disclaimer:
        yes I have done coke, and no I dont use it now or even within the last few years. I dont intend on using it anytime soon.

        These drugs are not good for you, im not saying that at all. The problem here, is we have at least a two-fold problem. Crime/violence (caused by the black market) and then the actual drug addiction problem.
        You cannot even begin to address the addiction problem UNTIL you have addressed the crime and violence problem.

        bringing this back within the focus of this article: Giving the Mexican government 1.5 billion dollars to fight against these drug lords is joke. What is 1.5 billion dollars compared against the hundreds of billions of dollars these drug lords have as a direct result of supplying the black market that we have created through prohibition? It will be a losing fight even if we give them 100 billion dollars. We need to address the actual problem instead of the symptom.

        You being glad that these drugs are illegal, only helps perpetuate this failed war on drugs. It does nothing but raise the profit margins for these ruthless drug lords who fight to protect their turf.

        You will tell me that heroin should be illegal, but morphine (made from the same source) should remain legal and doctors able to prescribe it. You will notice that morphine is legal, its purity is assured, and we regulate it heavily and just in case you get addicted we have treatment programs for you INSTEAD of prison.
    • kemp34, on 05/16/2008, -0/+5The foolish, small-witted comments in reply to the above post are indicative of a lack of insight into how the drug trade in America has created a massive international black market with huge profits for outlaws. Ending the war on drugs would end the crazy profits for the thugs and curtail the violence. Clearly the war on drugs hasn't ended drug use and that won't happen no matter what. The question is, how do we deal with this social problem? Via war or education and treatment? Only one of these two options makes sense and I'll give you a hint, it's the one we're NOT using currently. The war on drugs needs to go and fast.
    • imacommi, on 05/19/2008, -0/+2The ignorant posts above are exactly the problem with the way people think in this country. As long as there is demand for these products there will be supply. Especially considering the inelastic nature of their demand. These drugs will not go away whether they are legal or not, the question you must ask yourself is, would you rather legalize the drugs or put up with the violent crime, huge black market profits, and an over-packed prison system. I think I know what I would choose, especially considering the fact that if the U.S. government just stopped the prohibition and taxed these "drugs" they would make a substantial amount of revenue that we could use to treat abuse problems and educate people about the effects of these drugs.
  • zombird, on 05/16/2008, -2/+49Not that long ago Vincente Fox wanted to change the Mexico's drug policy. Can you guess which country was against it?
  • bincoder, on 05/16/2008, -6/+16Legalize, tax, and produce here. If the cartels are busy begging for food on the streets, they will have little time or money to purchase and use weapons and even less energy to use them. Making the country turn its back on its marxist idea that only the gov. should own and control the oil would help too. Mexico has oil, Houston has oil. Mexico is a slum and they all want out, Houston has plenty of jobs and the real estate boom is still in full swing. The difference? Houston doesn't take your land and oil away for 'the greater good'. An oil field worker in Houston is not poor, by any standard. Any kind of worker in Mexico is always poor, by any standard. Both have oil and the tech to get it, the only difference is politics. The few mexicans who are doing well have no interest whatsoever in moving into the US, nor in dealing drugs.
    • LewP, on 05/16/2008, -4/+4Wow, that was an excellent post!
      • kowalzki, on 05/16/2008, -0/+2the new comments system definitely improved the qulity of posts.
    • orph3us, on 05/16/2008, -1/+1Agree about legalizing here to take control away from them, but not so sure about privatizing oil. How would a handful of people controlling the profits differ from the government controlling it? Both feed back into the economy right? I really am naive about it though, would it really change anything? Would I be wrong to say Texas has a better economy because of work ethic and tighter law regulation? Mexico needs to police themselves, although it seems in their culture to be more laid back. I hope that I am not being racist in saying that, maybe its an outdated/hearsay thing to say. It's all in the culture?
  • DarkoKun, on 05/16/2008, -14/+1I knew juan was hiding something.
  • GorfTron, on 05/16/2008, -15/+3Also, they would just like to live in the USA.
  • highlyhigh, on 05/16/2008, -20/+4oh good. more pigs.
  • roosterjack, on 05/16/2008, -0/+8It's a world turned upside down there right now...
  • skemindee, on 05/16/2008, -9/+1I dont understand how CHIEFS are running from cartels. First off, what kind of message does that send off? I think if its getting this serious, there's not other thing to do but to wage a war on terror in mexico. LOL
    • thegsa, on 05/16/2008, -0/+2wage a war on terror on the sandy beaches of Acapulco!

      Great Idea!
  • TheTruthHurts, on 05/16/2008, -4/+15will Americans ever stop Using Drugs?
    • starmanfalls, on 05/16/2008, -2/+4no way Jose
    • JointVenture, on 05/16/2008, -2/+2Yeah, only Americans do drugs, they dont do drugs in the shooting galleries the government provides in Canada.
    • saisumimen, on 05/16/2008, -0/+1Gee, I wonder who the number one customers (the ones making the Mexican drug lords fat and rich) are... that's right, Americans!

      USA! USA! USA!
  • Wacer, on 05/16/2008, -2/+13So much for Mexico's strict gun control laws. Another example of how they don't work.
    • Netik09, on 05/16/2008, -3/+3It won't work with out the cooperation of the US. Where to you think they get all their weapons?
    • peligro18, on 05/16/2008, -2/+2the thing is wacer...that all imports come from US becuase there any dumbass can have one so they import BIG...but when they arrive to the guy who do the nod to all shipments and they say "ok here are 1 millon dollars...u can have it..." if they refuse they are dead...so there is no way u are go nna acept otherwise... u have to feel what it is to have someone point a gun to ur face... is not that they dont work.... besides i read somewhere that 8 out of 10 dollars have cocaine leftovers on it... 8 out of 10 americans? another example of how much coke they use
  • thespudmall, on 05/16/2008, -9/+1Legalize here but keep importation illegal. for the following reasons.
    1) respect other nations laws on the drug
    2) keep american money from going overseas
  • lymanchandler, on 05/16/2008, -2/+14I live in Mexico, and a family close friend got kidnaped yesterday
  • Yout, on 05/16/2008, -0/+4That's some fine police work there, Lou.
  • username484767, on 05/16/2008, -6/+3keep your nasty ass brick weed, stupid mexico...
  • starmanfalls, on 05/16/2008, -2/+2Would those Police escaping to America be illegal aliens? Or refugees??
  • Shaman760, on 05/16/2008, -2/+5Wow, prohibition is really working.
  • hellotyler, on 05/16/2008, -3/+7Mexico is ***** HARD. Legalize and end the violence. If people are going to hurt themselves with drugs, there is nothing you can do to stop them. You can however reduce the violence for people not involved with the situation at all by taking the drug dealing gangsters out of the mix.
  • gnixon70, on 05/16/2008, -0/+3Wow, sometimes I think we should just annex Mexico and get it over with. Perhaps I think they would welcome their new overlords.

    I know, I'm just blowing smoke outa my ass, but clearly something has got to be done with this situation as the Mexican government has neither the will or resources to deal with it themselves. And we won't even get into central and south America.
  • UCFartstudntJON, on 05/16/2008, -6/+4Mexicans, get your act together.
    • saisumimen, on 05/16/2008, -0/+1Americans, stop making the Mexican drug lords rich.
  • buffyangel108, on 05/16/2008, -3/+2How the tables have turned. Oh wait...
  • crenshawj, on 05/16/2008, -2/+4Can we invade Mexico instead of Iran?

    I think they would appreciate it more : /
  • happyseamonster, on 05/16/2008, -2/+4"Mi country, Su country" What's a few more?
  • secondfiddle, on 05/16/2008, -5/+0The war on drugs is like putting a fence to keep illegals from crossing the border or like Hillary winning the nomination or like...WAKE THE F#CK UP!
    • Barackalypse, on 05/16/2008, -0/+1The statistics on border apprehensions in zones with a fence disagree with you. From the first article below "apprehensions here are down 95 percent, from 100,000 a year to 5,000 a year, largely because the single strand of cable marking the border was replaced by double -- and in some places, triple -- fencing."
      From the second article below, "Bernacke, the patrol agent, says that since the triple fence was finished in October, there has been a 72 percent decline in illegal migrant apprehensions in the 120-mile swath of the US-Mexican border known as the Yuma sector."
      http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?story ...
      http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0401/p01s05-usgn.htm ...

      BUILD A WALL, DEPORT THEM ALL.
  • Barackalypse, on 05/16/2008, -2/+1A well-secured border is necessary to help stop this violence from spilling into our country. I'd also suggest a free market approach to eliminating the problem is to simply legalize the less dangerous drugs and allow pharma companies to supply them at prices no Mexican drug cartels could ever hope to match.
    • thechr0nic, on 05/16/2008, -0/+1so the problem still exists, because the cartels still supply (at a HUGE profit) these other 'harder drugs'.
      Add that to the sobering fact that people here (and everywhere else for that matter) will continue to use drugs no matter how illegal you make it. What that means, is there is a market (a black market in this case) that people will continue to find a way to supply because of the massive profits.
      They will also create a huge crime and violence problem when they fight to protect their turf.

      This is all pretty much learning from history and understanding basic common sense.
  • lynxminus, on 05/16/2008, -2/+2The issue of drug prohibition is far too complex and intricate for me to make a fair and comprehensive argument here. However, I fully agree with previous posters who have stated the need for legalization and government oversight of the trade. And no I am not a user myself, other than occasional use of pot. Simply put, the toll of violence both in our country, (USA), and our southern neighbors is far too great to not atleast reasses our current stance on the issue. Even if we are to believe that keeping drugs illegal is the correct position we have got to realistically project the future of the drug trade. In a country where the desparity between the rich and the poor continues to grow, the niche, (or not so niche I guess), market for drug trafficking will only continue to grow as more and more people look for alternative ways to find income. And in a world market in which many countries GDP is matched or even dwarfed by their drug exports the battle seems like a foolish one.
    I personally cant imagine being a Mexican police officer trying to fight a doomed battle. Outside of a massive uprising by the citizenry, the prospects for any sweeping changes in the region seem highly unlikely, even with a stronger US commitment. And that brings me back to my central point: How much are we really willing to invest in a war that cant be won, especially when winning said war requires uniform cooperation and allocation of our resources to numerous other countries? This is a world war that we have to fight in Mexico, Central & South America, Afghanistan and so many other places. In my opinion, yes MY OPINION, its a war that has become so misconstrued and tanted by moraity issues of teh merits of drugs that we have lost the ability to be truly objective. I hope for all of us that future leaders will have the foresight and objectivity to examine this issue outside of the parameters that we currently employ.
  • make7upyours06, on 05/16/2008, -3/+2I think the media, and americans really get the wrong view from Mexico. All I ever read on DIGG comments about México is a constant "Let's just take over their country", or the classic "wow, mexico is ***** up" . . . i think it's unfair to label something by what the media tells you, without actually being there. I live in Baja California, and although you can see the Mexican Army efforts to put a rest on the drug cartels, if you are a normal, hard working citizen, you really don't ever see any drug related crimes of any sort. It's obvious these police chiefs and whatnot are all of the corrupted sort, it's no wonder they are being hunted down. Think of it this way, if you don't look for trouble, trouble won't look for you. It's a real shame people have this terrible view of México, and sometimes it dissapoints me that our culture doesn't do anything to change the stereotype, but in reality, México has made massive improvements and a remarkable recovery economicaly to [hopefully] shape up a better country for our citizens and tourists alike... :)
    • HyperVirt, on 05/16/2008, -0/+1Wow. Just Wow. With an attitude like this, it is no wonder Mexico is so damn messed up.

      From my perspective from living in Tucson, AZ all my life and going to Mexico all the time, the people of Mexico tolerate corruption and oppression from their government with nary a complaint. They are nothing more than mindless sheep that are unwilling to rise up against their corrupt government and hold people accountable.

      But no worries, the citizens of the USA are starting to reflect the same mindless sheep-like behavior, and soon their will be no real difference between Mexico and the USA.
  • caponumen, on 05/16/2008, -4/+2This is the war we should finally finish, those poor people deserve something better.
    They will never be able to end the endemic and rampant corruption on their own.



  • bunnytrigger, on 05/16/2008, -1/+3from the article:

    " The requests come as Congress considers whether to approve the Merida Initiative, the Bush administration's plan to provide Mexico up to $1.4 billion in military equipment, training and other resources over the next three years to help the country in its fight against drug cartels. An initial installment of $400 million is included in the emergency spending bill to pay for combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan."

    And in which hands do you think is that military equipment gonna end up???? For the record, I was raised in Mexico till age 17.
  • SteelChicken, on 05/16/2008, -3/+2Bush sure likes to flush good money down rotten toilets, doesn't he.
  • Armando57, on 05/16/2008, -2/+1We all know that Bush is purposely funding the drug cartels to undermine our citizens and gain public support so that he can invade Mexico and seize our oil!
  • Kamacurus, on 05/16/2008, -1/+1for the love of god Mexico please figure it out!! your country is killing us, either stay in your country and get your act together or sell us your country. one or the other
  • jmdajr, on 05/16/2008, -1/+1A good friend of mine got kidnapped over there
  • kemp34, on 05/16/2008, -0/+3Just another reason to end the thug-enriching war on drugs.
  • lymanchandler, on 05/16/2008, -0/+130 billion dollars of illegal weapons are imported from EUA to Mexico annually
  • Rizzob23, on 05/16/2008, -0/+1I wonder if certain people would be so enthused about open borders if the cartels started dueling with automatic rifles and RPGs on the streets of American cities. These cartels practically rule Mexico. Their police force is ineffective and has serious legitimacy issues. It is only a matter of time before the explosive carnage makes its way across the border into America. We could help them by ending the war on drugs, and we could help protect ourselves by taking some of the saved drug war money and building a real border security system.
  • Culero, on 05/16/2008, -0/+2Being Mexican myself, its a damned shame to see the cartels having such control down there. They should all die...horribly.
  • SkoGoody, on 05/16/2008, -0/+1Reading this article is pretty damn scary... It's like a real life San Andreas. Umm... yeah... and people wonder why I said to NO to the vacation to Mexico... now they know.

    Oh and I completely agree... the war on drugs is a complete and utter cluster *****... and nothing more then a waste of money and most importantly... people's lives. There's so much under the table corruption involved in the governments I can't even fathom...

    Now if you excuse me... Time to insert myself back into the mindless matrix that is "normal" life.
  • Brianguy2000, on 05/19/2008, -0/+1ay dios mio!
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