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[CT] Quick Mexican Martial Law check

Released on 2012-10-17 17:00 GMT

Email-ID 1553608
Date 2011-06-23 20:21:40
San Antonio Express-News

April 24, 2010 Saturday

Economics a weapon against narco-terrorism

BYLINE: David Hendricks


LENGTH: 536 words

In 1999, no fewer than three heavily armed drug-trafficking terrorism
organizations held control of large portions of Colombia.

More than 100 mayors couldn't even work in their own cities. The murder
rate hovered at about 80 per 100,000 people per year and at a higher rate
of more than 100 in the city of Medellin. Corruption was rife within the
Colombian government. The United States feared Colombia would become the
first narco-terrorist state.

If it sounds familiar, it should. Parts of Mexico are under martial law as
rival drug cartels and organized crime groups endanger the general public
with attacks using military-style weapons.

Eleven years later, no one can say Colombia is free of the drug trade.
Colombia is often cited, however, as an example of a country that has
managed to restore order and the rule of law, returning from the brink of
violent chaos.

Colombia didn't do this alone. The United States has pumped about $6.5
billion in security and social programs since 2000 to help Colombia turn
around its prospects.

A series of microeconomic programs that encourage the impoverished
communities to turn away from the narcotic trade has been the key.

Some of those programs recently were listed by Brian Nichols, deputy chief
of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Bogota, during a recent visit to San
Antonio, where he spoke at a Free Trade Alliance San Antonio conference.

One program offered incentives to poor farmers near the Ecuador border to
grow cacao beans, sold to Europe and Japan for chocolate products, instead
of growing coca plants, used to produce cocaine.

The farmers still could have made more money with the coca plants, but the
program paid well enough that the farmers switched to cacao just to escape
the stress of dealing with the drug lords, Nichols said.

In cities, displaced Colombians escaping to cities with only the clothes
on their backs entered programs where they were taught job and
entrepreneurial skills. In east Colombia, near Venezuela, Colombian women
were taught sewing and wood product-making techniques, making products to
support their families.

Another effort, called the family park rangers program, paid families
living in Colombia's national parks to monitor and report to authorities
any illegal crop activities. The stipends were enough to help families
educate their children properly, Nichols said.

Inside Colombia's government, U.S. programs helped teach officials how to
vet their own hires, through background checks and polygraph tests, to
fight corruption.

U.S. programs also trained Colombian police and military in special-forces

These and other programs added up to make a difference. Colombia's
murder-and-kidnapping rate is now at a 30-year low. The murder rate has
fallen to 35 per 100,000 people a year.

Mexico, of course, is different. Mexico has a population approaching 120
million and shares a 2,000-mile border with the United States. The U.S.
and Mexico must work better together to stop the flow of guns and money
that fuels Mexico's narcotic and crime wars.

Mexico also needs the reforms and the microeconomic steps necessary to
turn its population away from illegal activities. Colombia is proof of
that necessity.

April 4, 2009 Saturday 9:40 AM GMT +4

Calderon salutes Obama's "constructive attitude" against drugs


LENGTH: 455 words

Mexican President Felipe Calderon saluted Friday the "constructive
attitude" of the new US administration in the fight against drug gangs.

As he hosted US Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and US
Attorney General Eric Holder in Mexico City, however, Calderon also
expressed his "concern" over the fate of millions of Mexicans who live and
work illegally in the United States.

Mexico's Foreign Ministry said that an agreement was reached with
Napolitano to create a High-Level Taskforce on Migration to look for more
efficient ways to deal with the phenomenon.

"The group is set to evaluate and formulate public policy on issues such
as facilitating legal migration, protecting the rights of migrants,
proceeding for repatriation and informing the population about the risks
of crossing the border without suitable documents, among others," the
ministry said.

Napolitano, who attended a forum on the illegal traffic of weapons in the
Mexican town of Jiutepec, said Thursday that her country would launch
measures to punish employers who hire illegal migrants, particularly in

Calderon was said to have "acknowledged the constructive attitude shown by
the government of President [Barack] Obama to strengthen border security
and tackle the problem of organized crime, under the principle of shared
responsibility," the Mexican presidency noted.

In 2008, more than 6,300 murders in Mexico were blamed on drug cartel
conflicts, including the deaths of more than 500 police and military

Calderon has deployed 45,000 army troops to combat the scourge, and cities
like Juarez, near the US-Mexico border, are under martial law.

Holder's high-profile meeting with Calderon underlined the efforts of the
Obama administration to get on good terms with the US' southern neighbour
after years of soured relations.

Obama himself is to visit Mexico on April 16-17 on his way to the Americas
summit in Trinidad and Tobago.

US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, on a visit to Mexico last
week, made the first-ever public admission by the US that it must accept
part of the blame, for the drug-related violence that is ravaging Mexico,
because of the "insatiable demand" for illegal drugs in the US.

Also last week, Washington launched a major new effort to crack down on
the cartels by beefing up drug and weapons agents along the border and
sending help into Mexico in the form of trainers for the justice system
and equipment such as helicopters.

Mexican cartels are major suppliers of methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin
to the US.

More than 90 per cent of guns used in violent crimes in Mexico are brought
in illegally from the United States, the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,
Firearms and Explosives says.

Chicago Tribune

July 12, 1986 Saturday, SPORTS FINAL EDITION


BYLINE: From Chicago Tribune wires.


LENGTH: 379 words


The acting mayor said this border city was under a state of siege
after Mexican soldiers wielding bayonets took over the city police
amid tensions over a disputed election.
"We are under a state of siege, an undeclared martial law. This is
unconstitutional," said acting Mayor Miguel Agustin Corral.
Corral is a member of the National Action Party, or PAN, which has
alleged government-instituted fraud in last Sunday's Chihuahua state

The party held a mass demonstration and parade Friday night.
There were no major incidents, officials said, even though unofficial
crowd estimates ran as high as 60,000.
The federal government said Friday in Mexico City that martial law has
not been declared.
Army soldiers in Juarez, across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Tex.,
control of the police department Thursday "at bayonet point," said City
Manager Sergio Conde Varela.
"These are totally arbitrary measures," Corral said. "This is a very
questionable situation for the Mexican federal government that in times of
peace, armed soldiers are patrolling the streets of a peaceful city."
Juarez, a city of more than 400,000 people, is the largest in
and the largest along the U.S. border.
It has been under PAN control since 1983. The Institutional
Party, or PRI, which has long dominated Mexico, claims it won this week's
The results of the elections, to choose a governor, 67 mayorships and
state legislative seats, are to be announced Sunday.
The city council on Friday examined a crushed ballot box, stacks of
ballots and formal electoral documents allegedly found in the trash. The
council voted to file a complaint with the state government.
"This goes to show the lack of honesty on the part of the elections
authorities," Corral said.
U.S. Consul General Mike Hancock advised U.S. citizens that "there's a
strong possibility of political demonstrations. Americans should exercise
caution and avoid concentrations of people that might turn into political
demonstrations." However, Hancock stressed he was not advising tourists to
stay away from Juarez.