Unprecedented numbers of U.S. law enforcement agents work in Mexico and high-profile arrests occur monthly. More than 35,000 people have been killed in drug trafficking violence since President Felipe Calderon launched a crackdown four years ago, and the killing of a U.S. agent last month prompted the U.S. Congress to schedule hearings into the role of American personnel.
The U.S. agents generally provide intelligence and training to the Mexican military. Neither side will say exactly how many agents are in Mexico, citing security concerns, but the Associated Press was able to identify several hundred using the Freedom of Information Act, federal budget requests, government audits, Congressional testimony and agency accountability reports. Earlier this month, members of Mexico’s Congress were infuriated to learn that U.S. agents had allowed hundreds, possibly thousands, of guns to be smuggled into Mexico in undercover operations aimed at busting cartel bosses.
Drug trafficking organizations are now in possession of high-powered munitions in vast quantities that can’t be explained by the gun-show loop hole. The State Department cables released recently by WikiLeaks support Narco News’ reporting and also confirm that our government is very aware of the fact that U.S military munitions are finding their way into Mexico, and into the hands of narco-trafficking organizations, via a multi-billion dollar stream of private-sector and Pentagon arms exports. Regardless of the growing relationship between the US and Mexican military it has done nothing to curtail the drug war related violence or deaths.
Title: “US law enforcement role in Mexico drug war surges.”
Author: E. Eduardo Castillo and Martha Mendoza
Source: Associated Press
URL: HYPERLINK “http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110320/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_drug_war_us_cops_in_mexico_2″http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110320/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_drug_war_us_cops_in_mexico_2
Title: “Pentagon Fingered as a Source of Narco-Firepower in Mexico.”
Author: Bill Conroy
Source: The Narcosphere
URL: http://narcosphere.narconews.com/notebook/bill-conroy/2011/02/pentagon-fingered-source-narco-firepower-mexico
Title: US Teaching “Counterinsurgency” Courses To Mexican Military in Drug War.”
Author: Erin Rosa
URL: http://narcosphere.narconews.com/notebook/erin-rosa/2011/02/us-teaching-counterinsurgency-courses-mexican-military-drug-war
Student Researcher: Erica Chavez
Faculty Advisor: Ronald Lopez, Sonoma State University