CF - I go for the company and for more beer options. And I often end up at Zen after intending to go to W.A. But they are getting better at the wings game. Diego - I like your style man. I may have to find another place. It is a cause of great concern. And Zen is not a big place. Maybe 6 or 8 at the sushi bar and maybe 40 more seats at tables. The public area is about 10m x 10m. Not a lot of room so very good point. I had no idea that it was "case closed" but it makes perfect sense. There will no doubt be retaliation but where is anyone's guess.
TJ: Same here - I do WA for the international beers Regarding the shooting: Ive heard 3 different stories(amount of bullets, etc.) in the news. One stated that the get away car was a crappy and banged up Tsuru, with Jalisco plates. Have no clue whats correct, jaja.
At this point this is yesterday's news. To the Fed's someone did the work for them, to the local police they killed a paying customer. This guy was in his comfort zone and if he was really connected as alleged then he was taken out by his own network, they either sold his location or did it themselves. It wont be investigated but it will be vindicated by at the very least his surviving brothers, not to mention the main boss, assuming the main boss was not the the money man behind the hit... This guys sometimes pay with their life for confiscated shipments despite how much they are already worth... If you dont want to be eaten by a shark, dont swim in shark infested waters...If you do, they disclaimer is....swim at your own risk...
The overall problem is, as I see it, is that since Calderon's crackdown, the cartels have been hurting for "membership," if you will. So just like Hitler and the Japanese of decades ago, they have had to resort to using younger and younger kids to do their dirty work. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to imagine how a 11-17 y.o. boy who has been beaten down by the socio-economic system in Mexico, feels when he is now given an AK-47, M-16, or (as was the case in Veracruz**) a grenade. NOW he has power that he can wield over all who "oppressed" him in the past and he revels in that new-found power. Add to that, that he doesn't fully know how to use his "power" and that is how innocent bystanders get killed. Shootings and killings have been going on here for decades. But in the past they were much more precise. A tourist or Gringo was never the target and had nothing to fear, unless he had it coming to him/her by involving him/herself in that kind of illicit practice. Oh, and it (almost) never happened in a tourist area, like Cancun, Acapulco, or Puerta Vallerta. Unless you read the paper every day, you might not even know about it. Times have changed. ** It was believed that it was a "kid" (15-17 y.o.) who threw the grenade that killed one tourist and injured his 2 kids. It is also believed that he was aiming at the military vehicle that was chasing them....not at people on the sidewalk. So it is not known if said grenade caromed off a sign or light pole....or if his aim was just bad. Point is, this is what will happen when children are given deadly weapons, never mind if they are trained on how to use them. But gone are the days of precision. Now they just toss and pray.....or spray bullets in the general direction and hope for the best (for them, that is).
Actually, what the Calderon crackdown did was splinter 4 major cartels into several dozen coupled with other up and coming criminal gangs, mexico probably has 3 or 4 dozen significant groups all fighting for routes control. The govt needs to reach a compromise with the Pacific, Juarez, Gulf and Zetas including the Leyva gang in the discussions. Let the cartels put out the emerging groups and forging a working relationship to stop the fighting over routes. Its the only solution to stop the bloodshed. The cut the head of the snake strategy does not work with criminal enterprises. You remove the leadership and you leave the infrastructure all fighting for a piece of the pie $$$$$ and it splinters. Between, weed, meth, coke, heroin, border crossings, local drug plazas, local extortion, kidnappings, robberies we are talking about a $10 to $15 billion dollar a year industry, everyone wants a piece of that. The only solution is to allow the most powerful to continue trafficking in exchange for a considerable reduction in domestic crime.
I was talking to a perfect stranger last night at the ball game, a Mexican with his family. His take was basically, "Who cares? It was "Es un chico malo matando a otro malo. Cada vez es uno menos malo." Doesn't sound too bad, except for the occasional collateral damage. Where is Bruce Willis when we need him?
T.J., I think this is just people trying to make the best of a bad situation. Somehow, though this man was known to be heavily involved in the drug trade, and had been indicted in the U.S., still there did not seem to be an image available of him (check the Treasury Dept link, above), so the authorities may have needed a tip to be able to close in on him. Many would have known who he was, really, but he was using an assumed ID here, and it seems to have worked for him until just recently.
Close associate The Prosecutor General for the Republic of Mexico has asserted that their investigation, so far, into the death of Miguel Rodriguez Olivera has lead them to believe that Jorge Jimenez Contreras, assassinated at the same shopping/dining complex in November last year, were "close associates," according to Por Esto. Diego, your comments reflect an understanding of the situation involving the drug trade in Mexico, but don't reflect the full range of possibilities; for example, This doesn't "work" as either a short or long term solution of the problem because it, 1) leaves the criminal enterprise in place; 2) implicates the government in it, by giving a governmental "imprimatur" to the activity; 3) suggests that the government is powerless to deal with it; 4) accepts the permanent powerless of the government to control the country, for the benefit of its citizens; 5) fails to recognize the degree to which the criminal enterprise here has been disrupted by governmental action over the last four years; 6) fails to reward the sacrifices that politicians, police and military have made to make this happen, including giving their lives in the effort; and, 7) fails to consider alternatives. The problem has to be addressed on both sides. Mexicans should, for the sake of their country, give up this easy source of money. It's not the leading lights of Mexico who engage in this activity; in fact, the only requirement is ruthlessness. Americans should forego their fondness for drugs, legal and illegal, for the sake of Mexicans. Will either of them do it? Not unless someone leads them to a realization that none of this is necessary, is extraordinarily selfish, and is damaging to both countries. Speaking of alternatives, the U.S. has been tireless in its attempts to impose anti-drug policies around the world, and it has a forty year history of failure to show for it: fair consideration of alternatives is in order. Treating drug use in the U.S. as a public health matter, and taking it out of the category of a criminal matter, is the beginning. ________________________
Woah! Some analysis...could work...in a perfect world.... The US Govt made secret deals with the Italian Mafia during WWII and at other times in order to get things done. Mexico in the past had favored one cartel over the other, I forget which one. It's easy to say Mexican's should do this or that....in the meantime they starve...secondly, it's not as simple as no thank you mister, I am not interested. You may be born in a outskirt town where they criminals rule and its join them or die. This topic can go on and on.... Anyone in this world that thinks that any given government can stomp out Mafia's is a dreamer. It just wont happen, there is not enough work for everyone and survival is at stake, people will figure out how to make money even if its illegal. Anyone that thinks trafficking of anything can be stomped out is also a dreamer, us, human beings have been smuggling since before currency even existed. The US has actually made very significant strides to fight drug trafficking...laws have been enacted, borders have been tightened, traffickers eventually fall and everything is confiscated or most of it. Gone are the days that you can take your private yatch from Florida to a Caribbean Island without being inspected and hit mainland with half a ton on board, gone are the days when the capos had the freedom to travel to the States for meetings and inspections of their networks. Once upon a time you can find anyone dealing in the streets of Queens, particularly in the 80's, when you could enter the States with 10 kilos in your luggage and you walked right thru. If the Mexican Government wants some peace and tranquility they will have to make a secret deal with someone and tackle one cartel at a time. Going after all the cartels simultenously is messy as you can see. You kill or capture one guy and the network is still alive. I will leave you with this example of why it never ever ends....When Pablo Escobar was killed, in the process the bounty hunters killed all of his lawyers, accountants, money launderers, stash house guards, they killed the entire network in a matter of months, dozens upon dozens, upon dozens....so you would think his network was abolished...well it wasnt, some made deals with other cartels and went underground, others paid their debts and left the Country for a few years... The networks are so large that they can never capture everyone and there is too much money involved. A few weeks ago, a woman was captured in Colombia, accused of working with Chapo. Who is this woman, they sister of a little known pilot that worked for Pablo in the 80's and in 30 years was never captured, arrested and amounted a hugeeeee fortune... You cut the head of the snake and the body will keep moving and moving, kept alive by cold hard cash. You can't abolish it, when the problem is as big as it is in Mexico, you have to do what the CIA does. The CIA makes secret deals, they favor one government or tribe over another, they arm it, the opposition is overtaken and in a few years the US Govt undoes the deal by again replacing the leadership of said State....Afghanistan, Lybia, African Countries, you name it.. It's not a lifetime deal, its a strategy, you let some criminals work as long as they are helping you maintain stability, you take care of them as well at a later date.... Its the only way to stop the murder of thousands of innocent people...The end...
Diego, it seems you're arguing for the status quo ante, when there may be perfectly reasonable alternatives to an approach taken by the U.S. Government, and others, for about the last 50 years. Quoting me: People on both sides of the border, and the human race as a whole, have wanted to get high since they first discovered substances that would do the trick. Across the board criminalization of this practice is a relatively new development, starting about fifty years ago, in most cases. My great aunt spoke of using marijuana before the U.S. Government criminalized its use, for example. A great many famous people used cocaine more than one hundred years ago, and wrote about it, publicly. It's only a lack of imagination and will which leaves us in this uncomfortable middle ground, with our people wanting to use drugs, and the only response our governments can offer is to say they cannot. ________________________
