Pubdate: Thu, 26 Jun 2008
Source: Spectrum, The ( St. George, UT)
Copyright: 2008 The Spectrum
Contact: http://www.thespectrum.com/customerservice/contactus.html
Website: http://www.thespectrum.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2483
Author: Tad Trueblood
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/area/Mexico
Note: Tad Trueblood has more than 20 years in the U.S. Air  Force and 
the national security community. He blogs at  www.thiscouldgetinteresting.com.

SOME 'GOOD GUYS' IN DRUG WAR

Last week I provided a basic overview of Mexico's major 
narco-cartels, i.e the "bad guys." Naturally, the next  step is to 
outline the "good guys" (at least they're  supposed to be good), i.e. 
the law enforcement and  military units combating the traffickers.

Well that's no small task. Mexico's highly bureaucratic  and 
secretive government has created a messy alphabet  soup of police 
units and "special" military forces that  defies quick explanation.

This is partly due to President Calderon's aggressive  approach to 
countering the cartels and sweeping  attempts at reform. 
Consequently, there are many new  organizations involved in the drug 
wars, making it hard  to sort out the organizational chart. Here's a 
stab,  but learn more at www.thiscouldgetinteresting.com.

There are four different levels of law enforcement in  Mexico: 
municipal (2,400 cities and rural districts),  state (31 states), the 
"federal district" (Mexico City  and its more than 8 million people), 
and federal  (national). At each level, police come in two 
flavors,  "preventative" (basically uniformed cops) and  "judicial" 
(plainclothes investigators).

This labyrinthine setup, with an estimated 350,000  personnel in 
3,000 police units/departments, breeds  jurisdictional disputes.

The most prominent police organizations fighting the  drug wars are:

PGR (federal attorney general's office) oversees  several key 
agencies (see below) but also has several  thousand of its own 
plainclothes police.

AFI (federal agency of investigations), under the PGR,  is Mexico's 
equivalent of the FBI with a strong focus  on organized crime and 
drug trafficking. The AFI  replaced the earlier PJF (federal judicial 
police),  which was notoriously corrupt.

UEDO (special anti-organized crime unit), also under  PGR, is another 
entity exclusively dedicated to  targeting and breaking up the 
narco-cartels. It may be  part of the AFI.

FEADS (special prosecutor for crimes against health),  apparently 
separate from PGR, was created to replace  another corrupt agency. It 
is also deeply involved in  the drug wars and runs the UECLD (special 
anti-money-laundering unit) and the Border Rapid  Response Groups.

PFP (federal preventative police), established in 1997,  is the 
product of another broad reform to create a  reliable, national 
police force. Initially, it combined  the Federal Highway Police, 
Fiscal Police and the  Immigration Police. Since then, it has added a 
Brigade of Military Police and officers from the 
national  intelligence agency, the Center for Research and  National 
Security (CISEN). The PFP is essentially a  uniformed para-military 
force for combating the cartels.

Calderon has also committed thousands of soldiers to  fight the 
narco-insurgency, but the bulk of the Army is  under-trained and ill 
equipped for anything more than  checkpoint duty. There are, however, 
Mexican special  operations units that are capable and no doubt 
heavily  involved. These include the FES (Naval Special Forces) 
specializing in amphibious and riverine operations, and  the BFP 
(Infantry Parachute Brigade) of the Mexican Air  Force.

The special units most involved in targeting and  eliminating cartel 
members belong to the Army's  secretive GAFE (special forces 
airmobile group). GAFE  commandos reportedly receive training 
worldwide, specialize in counter-terrorism tactics and have 
taken  down some of the top Mexican cartel leaders.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom