Petition, Pleas Don't Sway Judge Two of the Holy Smoke four were sentenced Tuesday for drug trafficking. Akka Annis and Paul DeFelice will do jail time. The outcome of the trial held approximately two weeks ago saw Annis heading to Nelson's holding facility for 40 days during weekends, while DeFelice faces 12 months in Kamloops Regional Correctional Facility. "My sentence was a little bit of a relief, since I'll be in Nelson," said Annis. "I'm not happy, but I'm a little relieved," he reiterated. [continues 476 words]
Aftermath Of Botched Drug Raid. Thorough Gun-Registry Check Could Have Saved Life Of Investigator Slain In Brossard Home, Agency Says A thorough check of the gun registry before Laval police carried out a botched drug raid could have spared the life of Constable Daniel Tessier, the provincial workplace health and safety board says. Tessier was killed on March 2, 2007, after he and a small group of fellow officers stormed a Brossard home. He was fatally shot by Basil Parasiris and another Laval police officer was wounded, but an investigation by the Commission de la sante et de la securite du travail of the incident has determined neither would have been inside the house that morning if they knew Parasiris had a registered firearm. [continues 464 words]
The Laval police department failed, miserably, to provide its officers with the training and support they need to do their jobs properly. As a tragic result, Constable Daniel Tessier was killed on March 2, 2007, and a fellow officer wounded, in a raid on a private home. This week the provincial workplace health-and-safety board hammered that message home: Daniel Tessier would still be alive if he or his fellow officers had acted more prudently, notably by checking the provincial gun registry before raiding the Brossard home of Basil Parasiris. The suspected drug dealer, whose wife and children were in the home at the time of the raid, said later he thought he was being attacked by home invaders. [continues 298 words]
Vicodin, OxyContin, Adderall, Valium. They come in bottles with child-proof lids and prescription labels. They relieve pain, treat attention deficit disorder and relax muscle spasms. But some Duke students have discovered other uses for the pills in their medicine cabinets. Li-Tzy Wu, an associate research professor of psychiatry and behavioral science, found that 7 percent of adolescents aged 12 to 17 use prescription drugs without prescriptions, examining data from the 2005 and 2006 National Surveys of Drug Use and Health. Although no such study has been conducted on Duke students, Wu wrote in an e-mail that other studies have found a similar prevalence of prescription drug abuse among college students. [continues 541 words]
The possession of an ounce or less of marijuana will be decriminalized, dog racing will banned by 2010, and the state income tax isn't going away, Massachusetts residents decided on Tuesday when they voted on three state-wide ballot questions. When the law governing marijuana goes into effect in November or December, people will not be arrested for the possession of small quantities of marijuana, said Whitney Taylor, the chairwoman of the Committee for Sensible Marijuana Policy, an advocacy group that supports decriminalization. [continues 678 words]
Last Tuesday's yes vote on marijuana decriminalization was resounding, yet puzzling considering recent history. Just two years ago Bay State voters rejected a measure that would have simply allowed the sale of wine in supermarkets. Tuesday they approved a measure that makes the penalty for the possession of up to an ounce of marijuana the equivalent of a speeding violation. The measure also presents some interesting questions about just how it will be enforced. The intent, according to backers, was to change the law so that those caught with a small amount of the drug intended for their personal use would not be tarred with a criminal record for the rest of their lives. That wasn't happening anyway, at least not to first-time offenders; but the fact that marijuana possession was a crime served as a significant deterrent to drug use. Given its broad public support, the new measure deserves a chance to work. It has been tried in a dozen other states with varying results. Yet those in law enforcement are already grappling with questions as to how the new civil penalties will be administered. [continues 195 words]
The Government Plans to Reclassify Cannabis and to Prosecute Men Who Pay for Sex. It Should Stand Firm Despite Libertarian Jeers Kingsley Amis once said, truly: 'Nice things are nicer than nasty things.' On this hangs all morality. It is because we know that some things are intolerable, and other things are admirable, that we can talk confidently about violations of human rights, or of a better society. It is only because we have this knowledge that we can teach small children to put themselves in other people's shoes, to sympathise with those who are unfairly treated, or who are suffering, and so, in turn, they can avoid treating others unfairly or doing harm. Because we have this knowledge, we can teach children the elements of morality. [continues 1122 words]
Dan Harmon is not celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act. Harmon chairs the Drugfree Workplace Legislative Work Group, which wants the state Legislature to make substantial changes to the law approved by voters in November 1998. "We are going to push hard this next session," Harmon told members of the Albany Area Chamber of Commerce last week. One of the first orders of business, Harmon said, is to reintroduce Senate Bill 465, which would exempt employers from having to accommodate medical marijuana users, no matter when or where they use the drug. The Senate approved the bill in 2007, but it couldn't clear the House. [continues 161 words]
Re “Obamajuana” by R.V. Scheide (SN&R Race to the Bottom, November 6): Kudos to R.V. Scheide for this outstanding column. We need to imagine what it would be like without drug prohibition. Imagine if the United States was once again the “Land of the Free” instead of the most incarcerated nation in the history of human civilization. Imagine if the American people could feel safe and secure in their own homes and on the streets of our cities and towns throughout America. Imagine if we had no “drug-related crime.” Imagine if our overall crime rate was a small fraction of our current crime rate. [continues 144 words]
I'm writing about Robert Sharpe's thoughtful letter: "Drug war fuels crime" (Oct. 9). Beyond the fact that our so-called war on drugs is counterproductive and a complete waste of money, what about the right of adult citizens to be left alone - especially in the privacy of our own homes? We don't punish those who attempt suicide and survive. So why do we punish those who consume the wrong (politically selected) recreational drugs? I don't want my government attempting to protect me from myself. I want my government to protect me from those who want to harm me against my will. [continues 51 words]
It is ironic that Mr. Byron in his Nov. 22 Saturday Soapbox letter used the 75th anniversary of the ending of prohibition of alcohol to advance the decriminalization of street drugs. I presume that this includes cannabis, cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and combinations thereof -- a notion that is either naive, wantonly self-serving or just plain galactically stupid. While decriminalization might magically transform criminals into law-abiding citizens, it would not so magically transform addicts. Forget making "fewer criminals"; let's make fewer addicts. [continues 90 words]
This year, we will celebrate the 75th anniversary of the end of alcohol prohibition. Prohibition lasted from June 16, 1920, to Dec. 5, 1933. Between those dates, the manufacturing, wholesaling and retailing of alcoholic products was in the hands of criminals. Criminals regulated and controlled an illegal alcohol market. They provided all of the alcohol that could be consumed by anyone who wanted to buy it. People did not go without. On Oct. 27, 1970, President Nixon signed the Controlled Substances Act. He claimed that we could control cocaine, heroin, marijuana and other street drugs by prohibiting their use. Instead, just like alcohol, we have given up control of these substances to criminals. [continues 86 words]
Observers Fear the Deployment Will Hurt Democracy and Civil Institutions, but They See No Alternative. Nuevo Laredo, Mexico -- Although the Mexican army has been able to quiet drug violence in some hot spots, political observers say the deployment of thousands of soldiers could undermine civilian institutions and jeopardize Mexico's evolving democracy. Critics say the military lacks the training and sensibilities for such work, and fear it will trample on the rights of ordinary Mexicans. [continues 577 words]
In case decapitating their victims and dumping the heads in picnic coolers didn't make the point, the killers left a note. "This is a warning," it said, listing an alphabet soup of Mexican police agencies and the noms de guerre of several well-known drug figures. "You get what you deserve." The message, scrawled on a poster in black ink, accompanied four severed human heads that Mexican authorities recently found on a highway in the northern state of Durango. [continues 798 words]
12 SLAIN IN BRAZEN MEXICO ATTACK In Daylight Near the Center of Sinaloa's Capital, Gunmen Kill Nine at a Shop and Three Pursuing Officers. Mexico City -- Gunmen shot 12 people to death in broad daylight near the center of Culiacan on Thursday, marking one of the more bloody and brazen recent attacks in the capital of a state beset by drug trafficking and violence. The Sinaloa state prosecutor's office said armed men opened fire in an auto repair shop about 11:20 a.m., killing six people inside and three more just outside the doors. Fleeing in sport utility vehicles, the gunmen then traded fire with police officers who gave chase in a busy commercial area filled with stores and fast-food restaurants. [continues 351 words]
As Drug-Related Violence Escalates, Tijuana Is Losing Its Taste for Songs That Glorify Gangsters. TIJUANA -- The whiskey is flowing at La Cantina when Calor Nortena kicks out the accordion jams for a homage to gangster Arturo Villarreal, who rose from drug cartel protege to crime boss in a six-year reign of mayhem and murder. "The law calls me a dangerous [criminal] so don't dare take me on because I have bullets to spare," the band members sing, as beer-swilling youths shout and long-nailed women twirl on the dance floor. [continues 1192 words]
Sergio Aponte Polito Is Relieved of Duty in Baja California and Sonora States. He Has Won Public Praise for His Effectiveness but Also Criticism From Officials for His Accusations Against Them. ENSENADA -- In Mexico's drug war, Gen. Sergio Aponte Polito racked up crime-fighting credentials worthy of the Dark Knight, making record seizures of drugs and weapons and forcing out top Baja California law enforcement officials he accused of corruption and of having links to organized crime. [continues 1005 words]
Question One of my patients is currently using methadone for maintenance of opioid dependence. She wants to breastfeed. Is breastfeeding safe for her infant? Answer The exposure of infants to methadone through their mothers' breast milk is minimal. Women using methadone for treatment of opioid dependence should not be discouraged from breastfeeding. The benefits of breastfeeding largely outweigh any theoretical minimal risks. [end]
Licensed Weapons Dealers Are Abundant Near the Border. 'Straw Buyers' Assist the Traffickers. SIERRA VISTA, ARIZ. -- High-powered automatic weapons and ammunition are flowing virtually unchecked from border states into Mexico, fueling a war among drug traffickers, the army and police that has left thousands dead, according to U.S. and Mexican officials. The munitions are hidden under trucks and stashed in the trunks of cars, or concealed under the clothing of people who brazenly walk across the international bridges. They are showing up in seizures and in the aftermath of shootouts between the cartels and police in Mexico. [continues 2011 words]
The Victims Include Two Top Commanders in Michoacan, a Senior Investigator in Chihuahua and a Deputy Chief in Quintana Roo. MEXICO CITY -- A deputy police chief and another commander in western Michoacan state were slain, authorities said Tuesday, in the latest signs of violence in which at least half a dozen officers have been reported dead across Mexico in the last two days. The victims include a senior investigator gunned down in the border state of Chihuahua and a deputy police chief in the Caribbean state of Quintana Roo, shot dead along with a bodyguard. [continues 350 words]
Chihuahua Leader Asks Federal Authorities to Reform Their Strategy After 13 People Are Killed in a Shooting. Mexico City -- The governor of violence-torn Chihuahua state on Monday urged President Felipe Calderon to revamp his anti-crime strategy after a weekend shooting there killed 13 people, including a baby. Gunmen opened fire Saturday on a family gathering in the northern border state, which has become Mexico's most violent spot amid bloody feuding between drug gangs and a government crackdown on them. [continues 398 words]
6 OFFICERS IN MEXICO CRIME UNIT ARRESTED The Men Are Believed to Have Aided Drug Smugglers in Sinaloa State, Officials Say. MEXICO CITY -- Six members of the Mexican government's top organized-crime unit have been arrested on suspicion of leaking information to drug traffickers, officials said Wednesday. An official in the Mexican attorney general's office said a supervisor and five agents are thought to have passed tips to smugglers in the west-central state of Sinaloa for about three months. [continues 486 words]
12 DECAPITATED BODIES FOUND IN MEXICO'S YUCATAN PENINSULA The Discovery Is the First Sign of a Major Outbreak of Drug Cartel Violence in Yucatan. MEXICO CITY -- In a sign of the spreading violence in Mexico, 11 decapitated bodies were found late Thursday near the colonial city of Merida on the Yucatan peninsula, officials said. The bodies bore signs of torture and some were unclothed. Yucatan state officials said a 12th decapitated body was found later about 120 miles south of Merida, a city that is often used as a tourist gateway to the famed Maya ruins at Chichen Itza. [continues 238 words]
President Calderon Proposes New Anti-Kidnapping Squads, Special Prisons, Cellphone Tracking and Aid for Local Forces. MEXICO CITY -- Facing wide public indignation over Mexico's crime epidemic, President Felipe Calderon on Thursday proposed new steps to fight kidnapping and other violent offenses. He called for anti-abduction squads, special high-security prisons with separate areas for kidnappers, closer tracking of cellphones and more aid for local authorities. Calderon summoned governors and police officials from across Mexico to chart a way out of a crisis that has dominated the news and put the nation's leaders on the defensive. [continues 554 words]
Editor, If Alaskans have state constitutional protection to have marijuana, why is marijuana still illegal for the rest of us? Marijuana is still illegal because the judiciary does not recognize marijuana users as persons and does not recognize marijuana as property under other state and federal constitutions. Lawyers and judges deny that the enforcement of the marijuana laws affect individual fundamental rights to liberty and property. Being arrested is not seizure of person. Seizing marijuana is not deprivation of property. The marijuana laws are constitutional because the judiciary claims it is rational to search and seize a person, house papers, and effects for violating the marijuana laws. Only persons and property under the Constitution's Fourth and Fifth Amendments are protected from unreasonable deprivation of liberty and property. [continues 110 words]
On paper, Jim Ramstad -- who is rumored to be Obama's choice for drug czar -- looks like the ideal man for the job . He's a recovering alcoholic himself and a Congressman who championed legislation recently passed to provide equal insurance coverage for addictions and other mental illnesses. To top it off, he's a Republican, giving Obama what looks like a relatively harmless way to make his cabinet more bipartisan. Choosing Ramstad would appear to make a powerful statement about addiction as a medical, not a moral issue. [continues 734 words]
The United States is faced with two large, important, emotion-laden problems. Each has a very simple but extremely controversial solution that will require education of the people to overcome powerful lobbies - governmental and private. Each of these solutions can result in savings of at least $350 billion, which can finance needed changes in our society. Legalize it, tax it The first twin is drug prohibition. Many do not realize that marijuana was America's largest cash crop in 2007 - exceeding corn, wheat and barley added together. If marijuana is legalized, taxed and regulated, at least $350 billion would be diverted from the drug lords into public coffers, according to the Marijuana Policy Project, Citizens for a Sane Drug Policy and the Drug Policy Alliance. It could then be used for education, treatment and myriad other societal needs. [continues 399 words]
This fall, Massachusetts voters will have the opportunity to vote for or against Question 2, an initiative that would decriminalize the possession of less than an ounce of marijuana. But in Israel, reforming marijuana laws goes beyond ballot initiatives and is the foundation of the Ale Yarok (Hebrew for "green leaf") party. Boaz Wachtel, 50, paid the required 13,000 shekels and collected 100 signatures to found the Ale Yarok party in 1999. A former assistant army attache at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., Wachtel earned his master's degree in management and marketing from Maryland University. [continues 340 words]
The Number Is Rising, and the Rich Are Not the Only Ones Targeted. Criminals Sometimes Want As Little As $500. MEXICO CITY -- Perhaps nothing reveals this country's kidnapping dread better than one product now on offer from a Mexican company: a tiny transmitter that is implanted under the skin to beam the person's whereabouts to a satellite. Employing more conventional safeguards, businessmen travel with bodyguards, and children in tony neighborhoods attend classes behind Ft. Knox-like security. The insurance industry has pondered whether to offer kidnapping protection. [continues 1141 words]
A New Law Allows President Felipe Calderon to Give His State of the Nation Report Without Having to Appear Before Congress, a Move That Avoids Disturbances. MEXICO CITY -- There were no shoving matches at the door, no showdowns at the dais. Not a catcall was uttered. Instead, Mexican President Felipe Calderon on Monday delivered the annual state of the union report to Congress only in written form, skirting the sort of pandemonium that had broken out the previous two years. [continues 658 words]
Juan Jose Soriano, Deputy Commander of the Tecate Police Department, Helped U.S. Authorities Find a Drug-Smuggling Tunnel. The Next Morning, Gunmen Shot Him 45 Times in His Bedroom. Tecate, Mexico - A drug-sniffing dog pulled the U.S. Border Patrol agent to a rusty cargo container in the storage yard just north of the Mexican border. Peeking inside, he saw stacks of bundled marijuana and a man with a gun tucked in his waistband. [continues 1409 words]
The Eight Men Arrested in the House Where the Sophisticated Tunnel Began Include a Suspected L.A.-Area Gang Member. Eight men arrested on suspicion of constructing a drug tunnel have been formally charged with racketeering and smuggling, Mexican state and federal authorities say. The men, one of whom was identified as a suspected Los Angeles-area gang member, were arrested this month inside a small house where the well-constructed passageway began. The tunnel, equipped with ventilation, electricity and a rail-and-cart system to ferry material and dirt, stretched 150 yards, ending within feet of the California border. [continues 217 words]
Drug Money and Corruption Have Long Tainted Law Enforcement. but Genaro Garcia Luna, With President Calderon's Backing and the Aid of Technology, May Succeed in Reforming the System, Analysts Say. MEXICO CITY -- Federal police in the northern state of Coahuila had seven drug suspects in hand last week when they met a caravan of gun-toting men apparently intent on freeing the arrestees. The highway standoff quickly turned nasty, and bullets began to fly. When the shooting stopped, one of the would-be rescuers was dead and two were wounded. The federal police arrested 33 more people. [continues 1315 words]
In the Wake of the Deadly Explosions in the Capital of Michoacan State, Mexicans Are Forced to Confront a New Kind of Victim in the Drug Wars: Anyone. Gloria Alvarez never got to shout "Viva Mexico!" The 32-year-old homemaker, cradling her infant son, jostled with the rest of her family and thousands of other people who packed the center of this colonial-era city Monday night to celebrate Mexican Independence Day. Then came the blasts. Alvarez's husband and 7-year-old daughter were seriously injured. The 3-month-old baby, Uriel, somehow escaped unharmed, but Alvarez, gravely wounded, died later in a public hospital. [continues 682 words]
Daniel LaPorte Went to Mexico and Never Came Back. His Parents Didn't Know of His Drug Involvement. Daniel not come home. Linda LaPorte stood in the kitchen of her home in Pascoag, R.I., holding her cellphone. Her son's Thai girlfriend was calling from San Diego, speaking a mile a minute in fractured English. He said call mom if he not come home. Linda and her husband, Joseph, had called their son just days earlier to wish him a happy 27th birthday. He'd said nothing about traveling anywhere. [continues 2321 words]
'I Was Hiding It in My Hands and It Made Me Shudder,' Juan Carlos Castro Galeana Tells an Interrogator in a Videotaped Session About the Deadly Attack in Mexico. 'I Was Desperate to Get Rid of It.' MEXICO CITY -- Slumped at an interrogation table, a gang member accused of participating in an attack that killed eight people at an Independence Day celebration described calmly how he was eager to get rid of the grenade he tossed into a crowded plaza. [continues 324 words]
The Discovery in Tijuana Shows That Residential Areas Are No Longer Safe From the Rampant Drug Violence. Leonor Merino said she was shocked enough Monday to find that what she thought was a pile of rags was a dozen bodies. Then she realized children soon would be passing by the carnage on the way to school. So as class time approached at Valentin Gomez Farias elementary school, Merino and her neighbors blocked the streets. "We closed the streets so the kids wouldn't see all the dead bodies," Merino said hours after the bodies were removed. "Our hearts are trembling right now. We're wondering what's going to happen next." [continues 550 words]
With Dozens of Bodies Found in the Last Week, Some in Law Enforcement See 'The Tail End' Of the Organization. but Others Warn That Elements of the Ruthless Cartel Remain Very Much Alive. TIJUANA -- The birthplace of one of Mexico's most infamous drug cartels looks more and more like its graveyard. Gunmen and associates of the Arellano Felix cartel, rulers of the city's criminal underworld for two decades, are being massacred by the score. [continues 1159 words]
Long a Corridor for Narcotics Headed for the U.S., Mexico Is Now Contending With Its Own Addiction Problem, As U.S. Border Controls Push Traffickers to Look Elsewhere. HUITZILA, MEXICO -- When the dope thugs beat him with a pistol, Rodrigo Sonck decided enough was enough. He cleaned the gashes on his face and went to his father to plead for help: The cocaine life was killing him. A month and a half later, Sonck was cloistered in a treatment clinic in the central state of Hidalgo, relating a tale of addiction that is increasingly familiar as growing numbers of Mexicans sample the drugs that once flowed through their country untouched. [continues 1171 words]
TWO HELD IN MEXICO IN KILLINGS OF 24 The Suspects, a Police Commander and a Security Firm Owner, Are Detained in Connection With the Discovery Last Month of Bodies Piled in a Park Near Mexico City. MEXICO CITY -- Mexican authorities Thursday said they had arrested two suspects in the slayings of 24 men whose bodies were discovered in a wooded area outside Mexico City last month. Federal prosecutors said one of the suspects is a municipal police commander in the state of Mexico, which surrounds the capital on three sides. The other, identified as having led the planning for the killings, runs a security company in the same state, officials said. [continues 367 words]
In Mexico City, He Tells Officials That Aid to Fight Drug Gangs Is Coming and Voices Concern About Violence Spilling Over the Border. Meanwhile, More Than 20 Die in the Latest Toll in Mexico's Drug War. MEXICO CITY -- Amid another round of violence that claimed more than 20 lives, a top U.S. drug official Friday sounded an alarm over the number of killings and kidnappings that spill into the southern United States from Mexico. [continues 291 words]
The Mexican Government's Crackdown on Drug Traffickers Has Sent the Big Players Underground, Along With All Their Free-Flowing Dollars. A ruby-red Hummer glistened idly on the quiet showroom floor, its only visitor a janitor polishing its doors and bumpers. The dealership had no customers. Sales are down here and at scores of businesses across this western Mexico city. But this recession has nothing to do with stock-index dives on Wall Street, the weak peso or collapsing banks. This is a narco-recession. [continues 945 words]
Jesus Zambada Garcia Is Captured After a Gun Battle in Mexico City. He Commanded One of Four Branches of the Sinaloa Cartel, Officials Say. Mexican authorities said Wednesday that they arrested a leading drug figure known as El Rey after a shootout in Mexico City early this week. Jesus Zambada Garcia, the brother of a suspected drug kingpin in the western state of Sinaloa, was among 16 people captured Monday, Atty. Gen. Eduardo Medina Mora said. [continues 562 words]
Eduardo Arellano Felix, an Original Member of a Notorious Cartel, Is Nabbed After a Shootout in Tijuana. One of Mexico's most-wanted drug trafficking suspects was captured Saturday night at his Tijuana home after a fierce shootout with authorities, providing some good news amid the border city's raging drug war. Eduardo Arellano Felix, an original member of the notorious Arellano Felix drug cartel, was arrested in an operation by more than 100 federal and state police officers and soldiers, according to U.S. and Mexican officials. They were acting on a tip supplied by U.S. authorities, who had offered up to $5 million for information leading to the arrest of Arellano Felix, said Eileen Zeidler, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. [continues 466 words]
A Recent Raid in Mexico City Turns Up a Menagerie Filled With Big Cats and a Monkey, Another Case of an Alleged Cartel Boss Collecting Rare Exotic Species. The hippo and crocodiles were statues made of glass and cement. But the lions and tigers were real. It was one of those odd things drug traffickers do. Like decorating their assault rifles with gold and diamonds. When Mexican authorities raided a secluded mansion on the outskirts of the capital recently, they did more than capture 15 alleged traffickers. They also discovered a mini-menagerie in a faux-jungle complex of caves, pools and pagodas. [continues 569 words]
The Government Sees Nothing Nefarious in the Crash That Killed Interior Minister Juan Camilo Mourino and 13 Others, but Mexicans Are Convinced Foul Play Was Involved. The Investigation Continues. The plane crash that killed Mexican Interior Minister Juan Camilo Mourino this week made one thing clear: No matter how the government explains what happened, few Mexicans are likely to believe it. Authorities insist they have no evidence of foul play in Tuesday's fiery rush-hour crash, which also killed former top anti-drug prosecutor Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos and 12 other people. They have taken pains to portray an open and thorough investigation and brought in American and British crash specialists to bolster confidence in the inquiry. [continues 592 words]
The Mayor Still Pushes His Seaside City As a Cut-Rate Paradise. 'Tourists Are Not Targeted,' He Says. But Violence Linked to the Drug War Has Made It a Harder Sell. Mayor Hugo Torres has always pitched his seaside city as a cut-rate paradise. But even this relentless hometown booster is stumped these days: How do you sell the Mexican good life in the midst of a drug war? The city's bustling main drag, Benito Juarez Boulevard, has been the scene of two shootings since September, including a drive-by slaying of a 15-year-old boy and three others in a pet store filled with frenzied puppies and canaries. [continues 1033 words]
500 POLICE OFFICERS REPLACED IN TIJUANA Mexican Federal Agents and Army Troops Are Dispatched in a Bid to Rid the Tijuana Police Department of Cops Suspected of Having Links to Drug Traffickers. Mexican federal agents and army troops fanned out across this besieged border city Tuesday to replace 500 police officers, the latest move by the government to purge the troubled force of corrupt and incompetent cops. Last week, 21 officers, including two deputy chiefs, were detained on suspicion of having ties to drug traffickers and flown to Mexico City for questioning by Mexico's anti-organized-crime unit. [continues 310 words]
Five Federal and State Police Agents Are Killed in an Ambush in Culiacan As Drug Gangs Try to Fight Off a Government Crackdown. The Day's Toll Is 10. The fourth corpse pulled from the bullet-shattered pickup truck didn't have the benefit of a body bag. Only the face was covered (with a useless bulletproof vest). The victim's red shirt was even redder, soaked with blood. His bare arm hung limply from a gurney as he was lifted to a wagon from the morgue, the toes of his boots pointed skyward, at odd angles. [continues 553 words]
The New Posture on Extradition Signals President Felipe Calderon's Determination to Combat Violent Smuggling Groups Through Closer Collaboration With U.S. Authorities, Officials and Analysts Say. The government of President Felipe Calderon is extraditing drug suspects and other fugitives to the United States at a record pace, reflecting a quiet but seismic shift in Mexican policy that many analysts say could help dismantle trafficking gangs. Calderon's administration has handed over more than 150 criminal suspects since coming to power in December 2006. [continues 917 words]
