Caballeros Templarios enter Guerrero
Sunday, October 2, 2011 | 
Citizens of this municipality, you are notified that from this day forward los Caballeros Templarios are present in Jose Azueta (Zihuatanejo). Our work here is against any and all kidnappers and extortionists.
Establishing the people's order and tranquility. "Thank you"
Sincerely, Caballeros Templarios
Caballeros Templarios
We do not kill innocents, only those that hurt the people will die
With the familiar vigilante message reminiscent of previous banners hung in Michoacan, los Caballeros Templarios (CT) announced their entry this past Wednesday into Guerrero's Costa Grande tourist zone of Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo.
In all, three banners were hung from pedestrian overpasses over thoroughfares in the city of Zihuatanejo.
In the early morning hours of Sunday the CT followed up on their pledge with
the murder and public display of seven men that banners left at the scene identified as criminals preying on the public.
The men, discovered at a bus stop on the highway connecting Zihuatanejo to the beach resort if Ixtapa, died of multiple gunshot wounds and were all tied together by their legs.
The Costa Grande is the Pacific coast region that extends from the border of Michoacan to the outskirts of Acapulco. This area of Guerrero with a history of violence has recently descended into a state of extreme lawlessness with shootouts, murders, kidnappings and robberies, especially in the areas around the municipalities of Petatlan and Tecpan de Galeana.
The criminals may be remnants of Beltran Leyva cells, known as "pelones", once controlled by Édgar Valdez Villarreal "La Barbie", and diehard Familia Michoacana members.
There are rumors that the fight by the CT for the Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo plaza is the first step in a bid to takeover organized crime and drug trafficking in the Costa Grande and Acapulco.
Another view is that this is the work of a paramilitary death squad, financed by drug cartels and unnamed groups within government and the business community.
According ta a Sedena spokesperson, the battle for the Costa Grande plaza began in March 2011 with banners hung in Zihuatanejo signed by La Familia Michoacana accusing El Mudo of kidnapping, extortion and murders. A string of violent clashes engulfed the region and El Mudo was forced to leave in July after several cells under his command defected.
El Mudo was reportedly in Cancun attempting to reorganize his cells when he was detained.
After El Mudo fled, the remainig criminal organization turned on the population with a vengeance, committing even more brutal extortion, kidnapping and robbery.
This cycle of worsening violence and insecurity has yet to be broken.
sources:
http://puebla.milenio.com/cdb/doc/noticias2011/e5a108a2f02cf40dd19b4ecee91624d3
http://www.vozihuatanejo.com.mx/index.php?news=6422
http://www.agenciairza.com/2011/09/aparecen-3-narcomantas-en-zihuatanejo-se-las-adjudican-%e2%80%9clos-caballeros-templarios%e2%80%9d/
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New Fast and Furious Docs Released by White House
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By Sharyl Attkisson
CBS
CBS
Late Friday, the White House turned over new documents in the Congressional investigation into the ATF "Fast and Furious" gunwalking scandal.The documents show extensive communications between then-ATF Special Agent in Charge of the Phoenix office Bill Newell - who led Fast and Furious - and then-White House National Security Staffer Kevin O'Reilly. Emails indicate the two also spoke on the phone. Such detailed, direct communications between a local ATF manager in Phoenix and a White House national security staffer has raised interest among Congressional investigators looking into Fast and Furious. Newell has said he and O'Reilly are long time friends.
Newly-released White House documents (pdf)
ATF agents say that in Fast and Furious, their agency allowed thousands of assault rifles and other weapons to be sold to suspected traffickers for Mexican drug cartels. At least two of the guns turned up at the murder scene of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry last December.
ATF Manager says he shared Fast and Furious with the White House
The email exchanges span a little over a month last summer. They discuss ATF's gun trafficking efforts along the border including the controversial Fast and Furious case, though not by name. The emails to and from O'Reilly indicate more than just a passing interest in the Phoenix office's gun trafficking cases. They do not mention specific tactics such as "letting guns walk."
A lawyer for the White House wrote Congressional investigators: "none of the communications between ATF and the White House revealed the investigative law enforcement tactics at issue in your inquiry, let alone any decision to allow guns to 'walk.'"
ATF Fast and Furious: Who at the White House knew?
Among the documents produced: an email in which ATF's Newell sent the White House's O'Reilly an "arrow chart reflecting the ultimate destination of firearms we intercepted and/or where the guns ended up." The chart shows arrows leading from Arizona to destinations all over Mexico.
Newell email (09.03.10) (pdf)
Arizona Gunrunner Impact Team chart (pdf)
In response, O'Reilly wrote on Sept. 3, 2010 "The arrow chart is really interesting - and - no surprise - implies at least that different (Drug Trafficking Organizations) in Mexico have very different and geographically distinct networks in the US for acquiring guns. Did last year's TX effort develop a similar graphic?"
O'Reilly email (09.03.10) (pdf)
The White House counsel who produced the documents stated that some records were not included because of "significant confidentiality interests."
Also included are email photographs including images of a .50 caliber rifle (above) that Newell tells O'Reilly "was purchased in Tucson, Arizona (part of another OCDTF case)." OCDTF is a joint task force that operates under the Department of Justice and includes the US Attorneys, ATF, DEA, FBI, ICE and IRS. Fast and Furious was an OCDTF case.
An administration source would not describe the Tucson OCDTF case. However, CBS News has learned that ATF's Phoenix office led an operation out of Tucson called "Wide Receiver." Sources claim ATF allowed guns to "walk" in that operation, much like Fast and Furious.
Congressional investigators for Republicans Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) have asked to interview O'Reilly by September 30. But the Administration informed them that O'Reilly is on assignment for the State Department in Iraq and unavailable.
One administration source says White House national security staffers were "briefed on the toplines of ongoing federal efforts, but nobody in White House knew about the investigative tactics being used in the operation, let alone any decision to let guns walk."
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Perry Open to Military Intervention in Mexico’s Drug War
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By Rich Oppel
The New York Times
The New York Times
Gov. Rick Perry of Texas said on Saturday that as president, he would consider sending American troops into Mexico to help defeat drug cartels and improve border security. He indicated that any such action would be done “in concert” with the Mexican government.
“It may require our military in Mexico working in concert with them to kill these drug cartels and to keep them off of our border and to destroy their network,” Mr. Perry said during a campaign appearance here.
“I don’t know all the different scenarios that would be out there,” he said. “But I think it is very important for us to work with them to keep that country from failing.”
Sending soldiers into Mexico — even with the approval of the Mexican government — would represent a far more aggressive policy than the one employed by Washington in recent years, despite the stepped-up surveillance and logistical aid that has been provided to Mexican authorities.
The idea would also almost certainly be a nonstarter with Mexican authorities. Mexico lost half of its territory to the United States in the 1850s, and ever since it has been very sensitive to the idea of any involvement by American troops in its territory.
Mr. Perry’s comments seemed to be his latest effort to show that he is tough on border security and illegal immigration after being painted by rivals for the Republican presidential nomination as being soft on the subject.
His stance on that issue appears to have cost him in some polls, especially after his statement during the last debate that those who disagree with his immigration position were heartless. He later backpedaled and said that the description was inappropriate.
Mr. Perry made the comments about potentially sending troops into Mexico while describing his hopes for increased cooperation with the Mexican government, and he said that if he were elected president, he would work hard to “create a very trusting relationship” with his counterpart in Mexico.
His comments also suggested that he might pursue a far more interventionist military and foreign policy in Mexico, one that is much more expansive that even the widened approach that the Obama administration has sought.
The United States has already been sending drones deep inside Mexico to gather intelligence about drug trafficking. And the Obama administration has also let Mexican authorities mount cross-border operations against drug traffickers from inside the United States. But Mexican President Felipe Calderon kept those operations secret in order to avoid legal and political protests from his opponents.
Deputy Secretary of State William J. Burns recently said that the scope of the American cooperation with Mexico would be strictly limited and defined.
“There are clear limits to our role,” Mr. Burns said. “Our role is not to conduct operations. It is not to engage in law enforcement activities. That is the role of the Mexican authorities. And that’s the way it should be.”
A Perry campaign spokesman, Robert Black, emphasized that what Mr. Perry was talking about was a cooperative arrangement with Mexican officials and that he wanted to “look at all options to work with the Mexican government.”
Asked whether Mr. Perry would ever consider sending American troops into Mexico without that government’s consent, Mr. Black said: “That’s way big hypotheticals. He’s going to work with the Mexican government to do what is necessary.”
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Arizona Sheriff Implicates ATF, Eric Holder as Accomplices to Murder
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Answer: Accomplices.
Arizona Sheriff Paul Babeu doubled down last night on CNN. The sheriff implicated the ATF, Eric Holder and the Obama Justice Department as accomplices to murder involving weapons used in Operation Fast and Furious.
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Editorial: Texas as combat zone in the narco-wars
Saturday, October 1, 2011 | 
Jesus Alcazar/AP
Published: 30 September 2011
The Dallas Morning News
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2 Powerful Cartels Dominate in Mexico Drug War
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By E. Eduardo Castillo and Katherine Corcoran
Associated Press
Associated Press
Five years after President Felipe Calderon launched an offensive against Mexico's five main drug cartels, the nation is now dominated by two powerful organizations that appear poised for a one-on-one battle to control drug markets and trafficking routes.
The government's success in killing or arresting some cartel leaders has fractured most of the other gangs to such an extent that they have devolved into quarreling bands, or been forced to operate as subsidiaries of the two main cartels. That has often meant expanded territory and business opportunities for the hyper-violent Zetas and drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman's Sinaloa cartel.
"They are the two most successful cartels, or at least they have been able to expand in recent years," said drug trade and security expert Jorge Chabat.
Mexican federal authorities, who asked not to be named for security reasons, told The Associated Press that the Zeta and Sinaloa cartels are now the nation's two dominant drug traffickers. One or the other is present almost everywhere in Mexico, but officials are braced to see what happens next in a drug war that has already claimed an estimated 35,000 to 40,000 lives. So far, the signs are not hopeful.
In the Gulf coast seaport of Veracruz, 35 bound, tortured bodies were dumped onto a main thoroughfare during the height of rush hour on Sept. 20. The killers are presumed to be aligned with the Sinaloa cartel, while the victims were apparently linked to the Zetas, who took hold of the important seaport in 2010. In a clash in May, more than two dozen people, most of them Zetas, were killed when they tried to infiltrate the Sinaloa's territory in the Pacific Coast state of Nayarit.
When Calderon took office in December 2006, he said the drug cartels were trying to take over the country. He launched the government's first broad attempt to fight the gangs, deploying thousands of soldiers to capture cartel members and dismantle the organizations.
At the time, the Zetas were not even a separate cartel, but rather an armed enforcement wing of the Gulf cartel, a role created in the late 1990s when they were recruited from an elite army unit. Sometime around 2010, after a falling-out between Gulf and Zeta gunmen, the Zetas split off, ushering in what is possibly the bloodiest chapter of Mexico's narco wars. Within less than two years, the Zetas had taken control of the seaport and most of the Gulf's former territory.
According to Chabat, the two have survived the government crackdown because they have been more skilled than their weaker counterparts. He said the new alignment may make it easier for government forces to target the two big cartels, as opposed to fighting half a dozen of them.
"The question is whether the Sinaloa cartel and Zetas are going to break at some point or not," said Chabat.
"Right now they are very strong, but if in two or three years these cartels are pulverized, they may say that (the drug war) was a success."
Both the "mega" cartels want to control seaports for shipping drugs from South and Central America, and border towns, for getting the drugs into the United States.
Sinaloa has long been based on the country's northwest Pacific coast, with occasional incursions farther east along the border. In recent years, it has spread both east and south, reaching into Central America.
The Zetas, once confined to a stretch of the northern Gulf coast, have grown the most, pushing into central Mexico, and as far south as Guatemala.
Strategies differ. While the Sinaloa cartel is known for forging temporary alliances, officials have said the Zetas are believed to scorn them, preferring direct control of territory. There appears little chance the two groups will ever agree to split their turf; instead, Mexico may be headed into a battle between the two cartels, with each seeking to exterminate the other.
"I see the Sinaloa Federation and the Zetas as being the two polarizing forces in the Mexican criminal system ... and between the two, an array of other smaller groups aligned with one or the other, " said Samuel Logan, director of Southern Pulse, a security consulting firm.
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Mexican Group Takes 'Justice' Into Own Hands
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More on the issue of MataZetas, here Al Jazeera's Adam Raney reports from Veracruz:
A group calling themselves the Matazetas, or 'Zetas killers' in English, has emerged in the Meixcan city of Veracruz.
As the "armed wing of the people", they have vowed to take on the well known Zetas drug gang and proudly claim they were involved in the killing of 49 people last week who they say were associated with the Zetas.
A group calling themselves the Matazetas, or 'Zetas killers' in English, has emerged in the Meixcan city of Veracruz.
As the "armed wing of the people", they have vowed to take on the well known Zetas drug gang and proudly claim they were involved in the killing of 49 people last week who they say were associated with the Zetas.
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