The War You Haven't Heard Of...

Spore

<TL;DR Mexico's drug war dwarfs any war in the Middle East and yet gets no press>

We all know about Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan, Egypt, the West Bank etc. etc. But what about the war that eclipses all the above in terms of fatalities, savagery and global reach? Just over 4,000 perished in Iraq in 2010 that’s less than a third of the death toll for the same period in this particular war…

And the war? The Mexican Drug War.

Roughly there are seven main cartels both at war with each other and with the Mexican state since President Felipe Calderón started a military confrontation with the drug gangs back in 2006. The gangs are the Gulf Cartel, The Sinaloa Cartel, The Zetas, La Familia, The Juarez Cartel, The Beltran-Leyva Syndicate and the Tijuana Cartel.

As I write I’m struggling to keep up with the sadistic brutality of the killings. Every day it gets worse. Some recent items include the deaths of two men from being skinned alive and having their hearts gouged out with blunt instruments – the images are too shocking to even post a link to (you can find it on borderlandbeat). A video of a woman slowly beheading a man as he begs for his life only to be then butchered methodically over the space of 15 minutes by her gang of sadists. It’s chilling to hear the insistence of the camera man to keep the butchery in shot and focus. The wholesale slayings of busloads of migrants desperately snaking their way through the killing fields of Mexico to reach the promised land of the USA – one particular lot of 72 men were shot to death a few months ago. Why? Because they refused
to work for one of the most savage of the Mexican Drug Cartels, the Zetas (Los Zetas).

Women and children aren’t safe any more. Even in Iraq these soft targets are generally off-limits. A recent escalation has seen the deliberate targeting of the children of rivals and law enforcement agencies to spread terror and force truces. A young girl was shot in the head whilst being cradled in her grandmother’s arms recently. The rest of the family were found riddled with automatic fire.

Indiscriminate grenade attacks on bars, nightclubs and crowed town squares. Car-bombings. The coercion of news organisations. The emergence of Narco-Banners and Narco Corridos (Narco-banners are large banners hung from highways and overpasses in prominent places that spread the Cartel’s warnings [usual accompanied by headless, tortured copses dangling alongside the ominous messages]; Narco Corridos are folksongs praising local druglords and their crimes). The terror and the drug-dealing penetrate every facet of Mexican society, from the lowly peasant who now sows marjuina instead of corn, to the top state officials who often turn renegade under the plata or plomo (silver or lead i.e. bribes or death) ultimatums of the drug lords. The very worst of the cartels, The Zetas, were formed, unbelievably, from an entire unit of Elite Mexican Army Rangers designed to combat the drug mafias. 30 highly trained soldiers defected and brought with them the tactics and methods of modern elite counter-terrorist units to the Cartels. Sadism doesn’t quite cover their methods of murder…

The US are worried, very worried. A potential game-changer happened two months ago with the merciless slaying of ICE agent Zapata by (who else) The Zetas. Unarmed, pleading for his life in English and Spanish, his body was practically obliterated with eighty rounds from a submachine gun. Turns out it was a case of mistaken identity, not that the Zetas care. The US cares, however. The US have called up the National Guard in Texas and other border states and have mobilised thousands of border agents in a preventative measure in case the drug war spills over the border. There’s evidence that a recent spike in home invasions in US border cities has suggested that the war has already come to America. The US have deployed an array of measures to counteract the increasing sophistication of the cartels over the border, who have migrated from clumsy air dropped drugs caches to developing narco-submarines and re-routing shipments through central American countries slowly spreading their terror and corruption throughout the region. First comes the bribes. Then the bullets. Then the bodies start turning up bearing signs of unimaginable torture. Cartels have been known to retain doctors to prolong the lives of the poor bastards that get picked up by these thugs.

Why is any of this of any relevance for us here in little ol’ Ireland? Apart from the fact that there’s no oil to be got from bolstering Mexico’s fragile democracy? Cocaine. If you’ve tried coke once in the last five years there’s a 50% chance it’s passed through one of the Mexican drug cartel’s distribution channels. If you’re a habitual user the chance tends towards 100%. The cartels have spread their influence far beyond Mexico, infiltrating every state in the US and Canada, recently infesting Central America and west African states, and have been known to operate in Britain, Spain and Italy (among other European nations).

In other words the Mexican drug war is as big a global threat as Al-Qaeda and yet gets no press…

For anyone interested there are two very good websites continuously updated:
http://projects.latimes.com/mexico-drug-war/#/its-a-war and
http://www.borderlandbeat.com/

Be warned, the latter site can be very NSFW. Some of their items are un-sourced but I find it very credible as a lot of the information it provides turns up on more reputable news channels days later. Some of these reporters risk their lives to bring us this information as Mexico is now one of the most dangerous countries in the world in which to report the news.

Just thought I’d share…

El Horseboxo

I'm Mexican and i'm actually sick of people bringing this up to me every time i meet mates or even strangers that ask what my background is. A lot more people know about it than you give credit for. Been a few threads on here bout it too.

Dunjohn

Umm, everybody's heard of this war.

seanybiker

Where have you been hiding? I thought that was well known about

Nodin

Wars that are less likely to be heard of include West Papua, Western Sahara and a few ongoing attempts for independence within India....

Biggins

Been following this war for a long time now.
Its shocking the many, many thousands that have been killed - even in their own back yards during parties and weddings.

Oranage2

Is Mexico somewhere in north Africa cause nobody cares about about africa!

Pwindedd

I haven't heard of it - thanks OP - for giving me more to worry about as if redundancy, imminent bankruptcy, ill health and a teenage daughter weren't enough to worry about.

Lone Stone

its well known

flash1080

As long as it's not happening on people's own doorsteps they don't care, they'll continue to use these illegal drugs regardless.

Biggins

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-10681249

Lone Stone wrote: »

its well known

To some, yes.

El Weirdo

Even Ross Kemp has made an episode of his Sky1 programme about it.

Killer Wench

If I remember correctly, there were more Americans killed in the Mexican Drug War than there were American military killed in Iraq in 2010.

discus

Listen, I have great respect for Ross Kemp, particularly that he has gone to some real danger spots. But I doubt that he got anywhere close to the worst parts of Mexico.

El Horseboxo

discus wrote: »

Listen, I have great respect for Ross Kemp, particularly that he has gone to some real danger spots. But I doubt that he got anywhere close to the worst parts of Mexico.

He was in Juarez and most of that city is pretty bad. It was bad enough when i was last there but in recent years even parts that were considered safe enough are bad. Most of the cops are crooked but in fairness they don't really have a choice. Well they do. Plata o plomo. Which means take the money or get the lead. But that threat extends to family members and some young pandillero won't have no problem carrying out the task for them. While i'd say Ross Kemp was protected to extent it would have been still dangerous as his protectors could have been easily bought. But i reckon he got word from some cartel member that he would be cool if he just followed their script for filming.

Dangerous Man

It's on the news here every day. Funnily enough, the Mexican tourist board is pumping out the ads lately too.

Yakult

Who provides these criminals with guns? Only look above of Mexico and you have your answer The US of A.
Infact, I remember reading something about how they will give them guns with specially marked serial numbers and ammunition so they can trace they crimes back to the owners. One case where a US agent was shot dead by a gun given to the gangs by the USA.
Funny that.

mike65

Thought this was about Korea.

El Horseboxo

A lot of the weapons do in fact come from police weapons depots in the US. It was same during the height of the crip and blood wars in LA. You'd have to wonder why it's so easy for police armories to be regularly robbed.

Big Nasty

I wonder how Colombia compares in comparison?

El Horseboxo

MCMLXXV wrote: »

I wonder how Colombia compares in comparison?

If you are talking about the time of the Cali and Medellín cartels Mexico is nowhere near as bad. The part that makes México seem a lot worse than it is is due to how close to the US the drug trade murders occur and the fact that many civilians have been killed. Whereas in Colombia there was a very low civilian death rate. Don't get me wrong, México is bad but Colombia was worse in the 80's and 90's. There they were fighting for production and smuggling routes whereas in México it's just for smuggling routes. I've been to Colombia a few times and felt very safe all over the country except for maybe areas close to Venezuela.

Big Nasty

I thought parts of Colombia would be much worse!

WoollyRedHat

I was actually going to read the OP properly but you basically summarised the whole post at the start so I didn't bother

TL;DR Put this at the end,not the start.

Biggins

Yakult wrote: »

Who provides these criminals with guns? Only look above of Mexico and you have your answer The US of A.
Infact, I remember reading something about how they will give them guns with specially marked serial numbers and ammunition so they can trace they crimes back to the owners. One case where a US agent was shot dead by a gun given to the gangs by the USA.
Funny that.

Definitely sad and ironic.

Herb Powell

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxYrjWMvmdg

aligator_am

Biggins wrote: »

Been following this war for a long time now.
Its shocking the many, many thousands that have been killed - even in their own back yards during parties and weddings.

Same here, heard nearly 30,000 killed in the past few years, it's an awful state of affairs, and one that has the potential to become much worse, the Americans are now patrolling their border region with UAVs / drones and there's a group to really look out for called Los Zetas, a drug gang made up of ex Mexican military commandos, they've got some serious equipment and aren't just some gang of shams.

Many reports coming in recently indicating that they're crossing the border and wrecking towns in the U.S. although I'm unsure how valid these reports are, if true then this could turn much uglier very soon

Latchy

The war we haven't heard off ......jasus give us some credit , it's not exactly breaking news and being going on for years now ,it's just that the body count has gone up and multiplied yes last two years or so ...big time but there's being other threads covering it last year or so to

anotherfinemess

flash1080 wrote: »

As long as it's not happening on people's own doorsteps they don't care, they'll continue to use these illegal drugs regardless.

If all drugs were legalised, like alcohol and nicotine are, the sale of them could be carried out without all the mayhem and taxed, like alohol and nicotine.

HalloweenJack

What about the war in DR Congo?

Spore

Latchy wrote: »

The war we haven't heard off ......jasus give us some credit , it's not exactly breaking news and being going on for years now ,it's just that the body count has gone up and multiplied yes last two years or so ...big time but there's being other threads covering it last year or so to

Sorry, boardsies and net savy people know, but a lot of people I've talked to, even people planning trips to Mexico, haven't a breeze. Thought it a bit mad, like a conspiracy by the Mexican tourist board or something. I just think its one of the most horrific ongoing news stories at the moment that doesn't get enough media exposure.

Spore

anotherfinemess wrote: »

If all drugs were legalised, like alcohol and nicotine are, the sale of them could be carried out without all the mayhem and taxed, like alohol and nicotine.

I used be very against the idea of legalising drugs... but yes, it would cut the cartel's income at one fell swoop (robberies, extorition, kidnapping would probably explode overnight also). It's never going to happen though.

jackiebaron

Spore wrote: »

<TL;DR Mexico's drug war dwarfs any war in the Middle East and yet gets no press>

We all know about Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan, Egypt, the West Bank etc. etc. But what about the war that eclipses all the above in terms of fatalities, savagery and global reach? Just over 4,000 perished in Iraq in 2010 that’s less than a third of the death toll for the same period in this particular war…

And the war? The Mexican Drug War.

Roughly there are seven main cartels both at war with each other and with the Mexican state since President Felipe Calderón started a military confrontation with the drug gangs back in 2006. The gangs are the Gulf Cartel, The Sinaloa Cartel, The Zetas, La Familia, The Juarez Cartel, The Beltran-Leyva Syndicate and the Tijuana Cartel.

As I write I’m struggling to keep up with the sadistic brutality of the killings. Every day it gets worse. Some recent items include the deaths of two men from being skinned alive and having their hearts gouged out with blunt instruments – the images are too shocking to even post a link to (you can find it on borderlandbeat). A video of a woman slowly beheading a man as he begs for his life only to be then butchered methodically over the space of 15 minutes by her gang of sadists. It’s chilling to hear the insistence of the camera man to keep the butchery in shot and focus. The wholesale slayings of busloads of migrants desperately snaking their way through the killing fields of Mexico to reach the promised land of the USA – one particular lot of 72 men were shot to death a few months ago. Why? Because they refused
to work for one of the most savage of the Mexican Drug Cartels, the Zetas (Los Zetas).

Women and children aren’t safe any more. Even in Iraq these soft targets are generally off-limits. A recent escalation has seen the deliberate targeting of the children of rivals and law enforcement agencies to spread terror and force truces. A young girl was shot in the head whilst being cradled in her grandmother’s arms recently. The rest of the family were found riddled with automatic fire.

Indiscriminate grenade attacks on bars, nightclubs and crowed town squares. Car-bombings. The coercion of news organisations. The emergence of Narco-Banners and Narco Corridos (Narco-banners are large banners hung from highways and overpasses in prominent places that spread the Cartel’s warnings [usual accompanied by headless, tortured copses dangling alongside the ominous messages]; Narco Corridos are folksongs praising local druglords and their crimes). The terror and the drug-dealing penetrate every facet of Mexican society, from the lowly peasant who now sows marjuina instead of corn, to the top state officials who often turn renegade under the plata or plomo (silver or lead i.e. bribes or death) ultimatums of the drug lords. The very worst of the cartels, The Zetas, were formed, unbelievably, from an entire unit of Elite Mexican Army Rangers designed to combat the drug mafias. 30 highly trained soldiers defected and brought with them the tactics and methods of modern elite counter-terrorist units to the Cartels. Sadism doesn’t quite cover their methods of murder…

The US are worried, very worried. A potential game-changer happened two months ago with the merciless slaying of ICE agent Zapata by (who else) The Zetas. Unarmed, pleading for his life in English and Spanish, his body was practically obliterated with eighty rounds from a submachine gun. Turns out it was a case of mistaken identity, not that the Zetas care. The US cares, however. The US have called up the National Guard in Texas and other border states and have mobilised thousands of border agents in a preventative measure in case the drug war spills over the border. There’s evidence that a recent spike in home invasions in US border cities has suggested that the war has already come to America. The US have deployed an array of measures to counteract the increasing sophistication of the cartels over the border, who have migrated from clumsy air dropped drugs caches to developing narco-submarines and re-routing shipments through central American countries slowly spreading their terror and corruption throughout the region. First comes the bribes. Then the bullets. Then the bodies start turning up bearing signs of unimaginable torture. Cartels have been known to retain doctors to prolong the lives of the poor bastards that get picked up by these thugs.

Why is any of this of any relevance for us here in little ol’ Ireland? Apart from the fact that there’s no oil to be got from bolstering Mexico’s fragile democracy? Cocaine. If you’ve tried coke once in the last five years there’s a 50% chance it’s passed through one of the Mexican drug cartel’s distribution channels. If you’re a habitual user the chance tends towards 100%. The cartels have spread their influence far beyond Mexico, infiltrating every state in the US and Canada, recently infesting Central America and west African states, and have been known to operate in Britain, Spain and Italy (among other European nations).

In other words the Mexican drug war is as big a global threat as Al-Qaeda and yet gets no press…

For anyone interested there are two very good websites continuously updated:
http://projects.latimes.com/mexico-drug-war/#/its-a-war and
http://www.borderlandbeat.com/

Be warned, the latter site can be very NSFW. Some of their items are un-sourced but I find it very credible as a lot of the information it provides turns up on more reputable news channels days later. Some of these reporters risk their lives to bring us this information as Mexico is now one of the most dangerous countries in the world in which to report the news.

Just thought I’d share…

You might want to think about the hideous conflict in Congo. It is now the bloodiest effort since World War 2. Almost 5.5 MILLION people have be slaughtered. Don't read much about that, do you? This revolting carnage kicked off only a few short years ago.....and it goes all the way up to your mobile phone, your Playstation. This massacre is so blacked-out, it's amazing.

Overheal

It's not that the US doesn't care, but you have our close neighbor to the south, and it gets very personal. Hence, you have people on the right who want to clamp down on the border tightly and put strict, even fascist controls on immigration. And on the other hand you have Democrats who are oppossed to that, they're more interested in Amnesty programs and such.

When it's the guy across the street and the wife and the husband can't decide how best to respond, not a whole lot gets done.

Cork boy 55

I think most people(the ones that can read and watch news) have heard about it

What most people might not be aware of is the scale of violence and the savagry. It beggars belief the type of acts being carried out.

from wiki

62 killed in 2006[14]
2,837 killed in 2007[14]
6,844 killed in 2008[14]
9,635 killed in 2009[14]
15,273 killed in 2010[15][16]
1,575 killed in 2011[17]
Total killed: 36,226 (December 2006–March 2011
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_Drug_War


If we take the peak year 15,273 and divide that by the population 112 million.

We get 7354 per murder/year person

In Ireland in 2006 there where 19 killings (gangland)
so thats a 236842 per murder/year person

If ireland had same problem we would have 611 gangland murders a year approx.

Spore

I remember reading about acts of sadism in Hemmingway's 'For Whom the Bell Tolls' acts that chilled my blood because they were based on fact... This is actually happening right now in Mexico

---

A Nightmare of the Massacre in San Fernando
Monday, April 18, 2011 | Borderland Beat Reporter Buggs

Editor Note: Ok, for the readers who might be confused, this story is making its rounds around the internet. To this point we have not been able to confirm its validity, we publish it for information purposes and for you to formulate your own conclusions. I felt regardless if fiction or not, it has some value in light of all the atrocities we have seen in the last couple of months in the region .

The bus of the ADO line was making its regular stop in the city of San Fernando, Tamaulipas on a destination to Reynosa. They arrived at the terminal unloading two people and boarding four, making a total of 15 passengers onboard the bus. The bus departed the terminal to follow the route; it was 8:30 in the evening of March 25, 2011. They quickly left the small village as they did not want to become victims of the criminals who operate in the city, however, that night would be the last they would fear, because they were already sitting in wait for them.

The streets in San Fernando empty at about 6 pm. The small town is a ghost town after dark, no one leaves their homes, and everyone protects themselves for fear of Los Zetas. Only the luxurious SUVs are seen travelling through the empty streets, no one wants to run into them.

The bus was just leaving the village when the driver saw a truck in the distance blocking the middle of the road and hooded men wielding AR-15s, at that moment he knew that all was over. The armed men ordered him to stop the bus; the driver was forced to stop. The men approached the bus pointing their long guns and shouting; "Open the door mother****er, move it son of a bitch if you don't want me to shoot you in the ****ing head." Shaking the driver opened the door of the bus, and instantly the armed men boarded the bus, one of them struck the driver on the face with his rifle while the others went inside shouting at the passengers, "You all just got ****ed mother ****ers." The passengers on board were terrified, the women were crying while the children were hugging their parents, and also crying. Everyone was in panic, they thought it was just a robbery, but it was not.

They ordered the driver to continue driving, taking him a several feet along the road until they reached a ditch, where they ordered him to get off the road there and go another 6 miles on a dirt road. This seemed to be the longest ride in the lives of the passengers. They reached a very wide open field in the middle of nowhere, a plot of some kind, it was very dark. At the location were approximately 20 luxury trucks, and 3 other buses from several different bus lines, some had visible bullet holes with flat tires and broken glass.

One of the armed men told the driver to stop the bus, then they separated the men and women and then they ordered all the men to get out of the bus. They forced about 8 men out of the bus who ranged from 15 to 50 years old. They lined them up next to the bus where several armed men approached them and they started to separate them again by removing the old or weak. They removed two old men and two others that looked sick. They tied their hands and feet, and took them to another group of men that also seem to be old and weak. The ones who remained back were told to remove their shirt and to wait there.

Some of the armed men went to one of the SUV's parked nearby and shouted "call the comandante." It is when the presence of this man was made known, who was dressed in all black commando style, wearing a bulletproof vest and pouches all over his clothes; they all called him "Comandante 40." The man approached the men without shirts that had been forced off the bus and told them in a loud military tone type of voice, "Lets see mother ****ers, who wants to live, tell me now," but no one dared to answer. Everyone was looking toward the ground; they were unable to look up frozen in fear.

A young man around 15 years of age urinated on his pants from the sheer fear while visibly trembling all over his body as if he was cold and a flood of tears ran down his cheeks. El 40 drew his handgun from his holster and without hesitation shot him in the forehead. The boy collapsed to the floor dead in an instant, while the other men also started to tremble in fear. "Who else is a fag here?" asked the El 40. No one dared to answer. "I will ask one last time mother ****ers, who wants to live?" This time he was yelling loud and clear, and suddenly all the men immediately raised their hands. "Good, we will give you a test to see how badass you all are, the ones who succeed will live, the ones who do not will get ****." With that he ordered several of his men who were sitting inside another SUV to bring the sledgehammers and the men gave a sledgehammer to each man. "Ok listen up assholes, the trick is this, we are going to pair you in twos, and you are going to **** up each other with the sledgehammers, and the one who survives will join us in our work and you get to live, while the one who does not survive, well you get ****ed," he said sarcastically making his men laugh out loud. The passengers were stunned by the instructions from a narco who resembled more a nazi than anything else, they could not believe this was happening to them. Everyone grabbed their sledgehammer and took their position with their pair. They stared at each other with a look of pure fear. "Ok, **** each other up," ordered El 40.

One of the passengers came begging to him, saying, "Please sir, I do not want to do this, I will give all my money and my home if you let us go." El 40 looked at him straight in the eye, took his sledgehammer and said, "Okay ****ing ******, go." As soon as the man turned to leave El 40 hit the man in the head with the sledgehammer using brutal force. The man fell to the ground bathed in blood and El 40 just went crazy hitting the man on the head with the hammer until his head was smashed in to pieces. "This is what you all have to do son of a bitches, use your balls, anyone who does not want to do this tell me now and I will **** you up," all men then began to fight against each other.

The bus driver was still inside the bus with the man who had intercepted them along with all the women and children. Several armed men got on the bus and forced all the women out of the bus who they felt were the prettiest. They were yelling at them; "Move whore," all crying and screaming as were the children. One of the armed men gave an ordered, "OK bitches, give me your young ones" and while weeping, the mothers took their children on their arms, which ranged from newborn to 8 years old. The children clung to their mothers while the sicarios snatched one at a time. They got everyone out of the bus and took them away, while some of the sicarios beat the women who remained on the bus.

The young women that had been forced off the bus were taken to a beat up hut where other young women were waiting there. Inside it was dark and filthy, and one could hear screams and moans. There the sicarios tore the clothes off the women and began to rape them. Inside the hut were approximately 30 women being raped, others were torn up on the floor.

The children were taken to another location where there were tanks filled with acid, and there they threw them inside the tanks. Little by little the cries of terror began to fade in to the night. The only sound left was from the sicarios who were laughing out loud, one of them shouted to the others; "the soup is almost ready."

The armed man ordered the driver to turn on the bus, and directed him to drive the bus to the location where they had placed all the men who were old and weak, they were lying on the ground in a single line tied to their feet and hands. "Drive your bus over them," ordered the sicario to the driver. The driver looked at him stunned, he could not believe what he just ordered him to do. "I said drive your bus over them or I will place you along with them so you can get ****ed too idiot," the sicario yelled at the driver who felt he had no other choice but to comply. While driving his bus he could feel as if he was going over bumps, except the only difference was the screams from the people underneath. The women who remained inside the bus were crying uncontrollable after witnessing such horrible act. The sicarios inside the bus were just laughing. Not until he was finished driving over all of the bodies did they order him to stop.

It was then that the sicario shot the driver in the head and began to shoot the women who were inside the bus. The sicarios got out of the bus and set it on fire.

Comandante 40 gathered all the Zetas and said, "that is all for fun and game for tonight cabrones. Bring me all the winners" and they brought all the men who had killed their partner with the sledgehammer and El 40 said," Welcome to the Special Forces of the Zeta, the other military."

al28283

Spore wrote: »

... a lot of people I've talked to, even people planning trips to Mexico, haven't a breeze. Thought it a bit mad, like a conspiracy by the Mexican tourist board or something. I just think its one of the most horrific ongoing news stories at the moment that doesn't get enough media exposure.

It gets plenty of media exposure, almost every day or 2. It can hardly be considered a conspiracy. More likely these people you mention just don't keep up with the news