Fausta's Blog

No, he wasn’t making 99 and 44/100% pure anything; Paul Frampton just got duped by a babe in bikini* into carrying a whopping 4 pounds of cocaine.

I linked to the story six months ago,

Today Instapundit has an update: Frampton’s been sentenced to four years and eight months of jail.

Here’s a bit of advice: Do not do anything involving drugs of any kind when traveling. You don’t have any rights other than what the host country may or may not grant you.

If I’m not making myself clear, watch Midnight Express.

UPDATE,
* It’s not quite clear whether he actually met the aforementioned babe in bikini.

AND,
I do mean all drugs. Always carry a prescription for any medications you have to take in your trip. Stay away from everything else, and of course, never take any packages, luggage, etc. that are not yours.

Cross-posted at Liberty Unyielding.

Last week the US House of Representatives Homeland Security Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, and Management issued a report updating its 2006 A Line in the Sand findings.

The new report (pdf file), A LINE IN THE SAND: COUNTERING CRIME,
VIOLENCE AND TERROR AT THE SOUTHWEST BORDER found (emphasis added):

 Although the United States tightened security at airports and land ports of entry in thewake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the U.S.-Mexico border remains an obvious weak link in the chain.

 Despite the near doubling of Border Patrol personnel, the Government Accountability Office found that only 44 percent of the Southwest border was under operational control.

 In 2012, National Guard presence on the Southwest border was reduced to 300 soldiers.

 Since October 2008, 138 Customs and Border Protection officers or agents have been arrested or indicted on corruption related charges.

 The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) reports that there have been 58 incidents of shots fired at Texas lawmen by Mexican cartel operatives since 2009.

 Experts believe the Southwest border has become the great threat of terrorist infiltration into the United States.

 Iran and Hezbollah have a growing presence in Latin America.

 Hezbollah has a significant presence in the United States that could be utilized in terror attacks intended to deter U.S. efforts to curtail Iran’s nuclear program.

 Latin America has become a money laundering and major fundraising center for Hezbollah.

 Hezbollah’s relationship with Mexican drug cartels, which control secured smuggling routes into the United States, is documented as early as 2005.

 If Iran’s assassination plot against the Saudi Arabian ambassador in Washington, D.C. had been successful, Iran’s Qods Force intended to use the Los Zetas drug cartel for other attacks in the future.

Long-term readers of my blog are certainly not surprised by this information, as I have been blogging on the subject for years. Neither would the readers of Jon Perdue’s excellent book, The War of All the People: The Nexus of Latin American Radicalism and Middle Eastern Terrorism.

The Mexican government, however, strongly denies the report’s findings: Mexico disputes House GOP report alleging Iran, Hezbollah are using Mexican drug cartels

A spokesman for Mexico’s ambassador to the United States, Arturo Sarukhán, told The Daily Caller his country’s government disputes a recent House GOP report alleging that Iranian and Hezbollah terror operatives are using Mexican drug cartels as a conduit to infiltrate the United States.

As Matthew Boyle points out, on October 11 last year, two men were arrested in New York and charged with taking part in an Iranian plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the US. You can read the full details of the plot in the Department of Justice’s report.

While its government denies these findings, Mexico is the deadliest country on earth for journalists.

Also last week, the head of Mexico’s organized crime unit stepped down on Thursday, just weeks after announcing that members of his team had been charged with having links to the Sinaloa drug cartel.

Cross-posted at Liberty Unyielding.

Colorado and Washington have legalized marijuana for recreational use.

The argument for legalization runs like this: “the flow of money to the cartels is dramatically slowed down” by legalization.

Let me posit the following:

Suppose you have an organization that produces a commodity, but they can not legally market commodity in the area where its main consumers reside. Up to now the organization has been marketing the product through a black market. The business, up to now, is carried on a cash-only basis.

The organization has vast wealth at its disposal, in the billions of dollars, and therefore, a ready means for access to the best legal and business advice money can provide.

Now the previously closed market is open for legal business. Users can legally purchase it and pay with the credit cards. The target market is in an area where it is relatively easy (at least easier than in the organization’s country) to open a business. Banks welcome profitable businesses.

Do you really believe the organization is going to stay away? To not buy a bank? To not have lobbyists in Washington?

UPDATE,
Linked by Victory Girls. Thank you!

ARGENTINA
Argentina supermarket roof collapse kills at least two

Ruling Hits Argentina Bonds

BAHAMAS
Hurricane Sandy Makes Landfall in The Bahamas

BOLIVIA
Bolivia vs. Venezuela’s Debt: What Are Investors Smoking (or Chewing)?

BRAZIL
Brazil’s north-east
The Pernambuco model
Eduardo Campos is both modern manager and old-fashioned political boss. His success in developing his state may make him his country’s next president

Brazil Hit By New Blackout

Boycott on Google News leads to 5% loss in web traffic: Brazilian newspapers

COLOMBIA
Cuba-supported Terror Group, FARC, Speaks with a Forked Tongue

Colombia to Develop Its Own Drone Program to Combat Drug-Trafficking

Financing the Colombian War

CUBA
THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS @50: A RECONSIDERATION

How Castro Held the World Hostage

Seven Proposals After Hurricane Sandy

Peter Hitchens: The Guardian interviews me. And some Thoughts in Passing on Cuba and DNA, via Carlos Eire.

Fidel Castro reflections fade to a shadow

ECUADOR
Reporter threatened in Ecuador after airing report on drugs and guns in schools

MEXICO
Pocket Litter: The Evidence That Criminals Carry

Mexico’s Drug Lords Ramp Up Their Arsenals with RPGs

Mexican Drug Gangs on “Verge of Collapse”?

The global Mexican
Mexico is open for business

Case of blonde girl beggar rescued from streets strikes nerve in Mexico; activists see racism, via Gates of Vienna.

PANAMA
Colon Free Zone: Panama debates land sale law repeal

Security Message for U.S. Citizens: Ongoing protests in Panama with possible violence

Day Two of dealing with hospitals in Panama.

PERU
Tense calm follows Peru market clashes

PUERTO RICO
These Bond Portfolios Invest 25% Or More In Puerto Rico

Humor: No Habrá Más Preguntas En Debates; Candidatos Solo Hablarán M**rda Por Dos Horas

VENEZUELA
Venezuela’s Future Up in the Air

The Venezuelan brand of democracy

The week’s posts:
Is the Obama administration planning to release two more convicted terrorists?

The WaPo finds 900,000 Puerto Ricans in Florida

Argentina: High-end retailers leave the country

Last month I posted that “Blind Sheikh” Omar Abdel Rahman may be sent to Egypt. Now two other convicted terrorists may be sent to their countries after the elecion- increasing the possibility that they may be freed (h/t Joe Lima),

Colombian newspaper El Espectador (The Spectator)reported on October 19 that the United States and Colombia are in “advanced” talks about releasing Ricardo Palmera and Nayibe Rojas Cabrera to Colombia where they would likely be  freed.  To our knowledge, no U.S. media outlet has reported on any of this as of yet.

Ricardo Palmera, who is best known by his nomme de guerre “Simón Trinidad” is a high-ranking rebel leader and former finance director of the leftist Colombian insurgent terrorist organization FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forced of Colombia), which is responsible for thousands of kidnappings and murders in Colombia, including businessmen, politicians, women, children, and even a female presidential candidate.

On February 13, 2003 the FARC extended its terrorist activities to America when its guerrillas shot down an unarmed single-engine plane carrying American Vietnam Veteran and Bronze Star recipient Thomas Janis, three other Americans, and a Colombian official over a remote, FARC-controlled region of Colombia. Janis was conducting anti-narcotic intelligence work at the time and despite surviving the crash, he and the Colombian were cowardly shot execution-style by FARC guerrillas. The three other Americans aboard the plane were held hostage for five years in gruesome conditions under orders by Trinidad.

Trinidad was eventually caught and extradited to the United States where he was tried and convicted for his role in conspiring to kidnap and hold the three Americans as hostages. During the trial, witnesses testified how he ordered the kidnapping of any American visiting Colombia. A former FARC guerrilla member who was called in as a witness in the trial described it the following way:

The instructions given to us [by Simón Trinidad] is that any gringo tourist, official, or whatever, should be kidnapped. None could be allowed to escape.

He is currently serving a 60-year sentence at the Florence ADX US Penitentiary, which houses federal inmates who are deemed the most dangerous and in need of the tightest control.

Despite a terrorist past that has cost the lives of American citizens and countless Colombians, Trinidad and another high-ranking FARC terrorist and convicted drug trafficker Nayibe Rojas Cabrera are currently being seriously considered for release by the Obama Administration presumably at the urging of the Colombian government, which is naively trying to arrive at a peace agreement with the terrorist group.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos has largely abandoned his predecessor Alvaro Uribe’s hard-line (and effective) policy of hunting down the FARC, and has instead opted for sitting and negotiating with the terrorist group (read: appeasing).

The FARC has since seized the opportunity to demand Simón Trinidad’s release and participation in the negotiations as a condition to make any headway. In fact, earlier this month, the FARC officially designated the terrorist Trinidad as one of the group’s chief negotiators with the Colombian government for “peace talks” that were set to begin in Oslo a few days ago.

As such, it appears President Santos has been applying pressure on Washington to release the terrorist Trinidad to appease the FARC in hopes of making progress during their so-called “peace talks,” which in the past only served to embolden the terrorist group.

According to the El Espectador article:

[Trinidad's] return would occur in the second half of November and the idea, El Espectador has learned, is that if the peace talks with the FARC make progress and achieve concrete agreements toward demobilization, Simón Trinidad would  become the first [high-ranking FARC official] to be allowed to reinsert himself in [Colombia's] political process…

Essentially, the idea is that the Colombian government would grant the terrorist Trinidad a reprieve of his past crimes to return to Colombia without penalty, become active in politics and perhaps even run for office.

Ricardo Palmera a.k.a “Simón Trinidad” is a high-value prisoner; so much so that, on the first day of peace talks in Oslo, the FARC’s negotiator replaced his own name card with a handwritten sign bearing Trinidad’s,

The FARC is looking to become a political party in Colombia, presumably not allowing anyone accused of violent crimes to become a member.

*Without a Z

This post could also be titled, Weird News from the Mexican Drug War.

Mexico Strikes Back Against Cartel
Navy Says It Killed Leader of Vicious Zetas Drug Gang—Then Armed Gunmen Steal His Corpse; U.S. Awaits DNA Proof

The Mexican Navy said its marines killed the leader of the country’s most ruthless drug cartel in a gunfight, identifying him by his fingerprints. But in an embarrassing twist, a state prosecutor on Tuesday said gunmen later burst into a funeral home and stole the dead man’s body.

The corpse’s theft raised doubts that the cartel leader, Heriberto Lazcano, had been slain. A U.S. official said the U.S., which had a $5 million bounty on Mr. Lazcano, was checking DNA samples provided by Mexico to confirm his identity.

Mr. Lazcano, known by his nicknames as “Lazca” or “el Verdugo,” (the Executioner), deserted an elite Mexican army unit and rose to head the Zetas, which is considered to be Mexico’s most brutal cartel.

The fingerprints matched, while Mexico’s navy said Wednesday that its personnel had no idea they had killed the leader of the country’s most-feared drug cartel until after his body was stolen from a funeral home in this border town.

If it really was him, Mexican Zeta Kingpin’s Demise Is Good News For America, Too. The Economist is optimistic, too.

However, Mex Files has his doubts:

Jorge Zepeda Patterson, viewing the widely distributed photographs[1] of the presumably dead Herbierto Lazcano Lazcano noticed something weird… the guy has no ears.  Side photos of the corpse clearly show he DID have ears, but in the head shot, they appear to have been cropped off… or they were photoshopped out.  As it is, there’s a lot missing… not the least being the body itself.  Lazcano Lazcano, according to the Drug Enforcement Agency, stood 1.72 meters tall; the body on the slab was was measured as being 1.60 meters.  Obviously, someone should have taken a closer look, or checked again… but for unexplained reasons the body was released to a funeral home before the autopsy… which is mandatory under Mexican law when the suspected cause of death is homicide or suicide.

The missing corpse (and his missing six inches… and missing ears) are the least hinkey thing about this whole story.

---

[1]  If you’re into dead gangster photos, they’re at:  Semar difunde imágenes del presunto cuerpo de Heriberto Lazcano Lazcano, líder de los Zetas

Which comes to show that posting on Latin America is not only a testament to my hard-headedness (since it doesn’t drive a lot of traffic), but also that there are ample reasons why magical realism is so popular in the region.

Due to a prior commitment, I couldn’t watch Univision’s broadcast of their Fast and Furious investigation last night. Univision has the videos here, where you can watch the entire series without English subtitles. Among their findings,

• Some of the Mexican authorities knew about F&F, which contradicts statements from Mexican functionaries saying they had no knowledge of the program.
• An ATF source asserts that Operation Castaway, launched in Florida, allowed weapons to end up in the hands of  drug cartels in Honduras, Colombia and Puerto Rico.
• Lawyers of ICE agent Jaime Zapata, who was murdered in a Mexican highway, state that the weapons were used by a gang being investigated by the ATF on a separate investigation.

Sooper Mexican has video with subtitles of part of the show:

Bob Owens:

The hour-long Univision report revealed the existence of another 57 guns recovered by Mexican authorities, including some of those used in the mass-murder at a party just one year after Obama’s inauguration...
…
These 57 recovered weapons discovered are in addition to the 122 weapons referenced in a congressional report. It is chilling to learn that each weapon recovered was dumped at the scene of a crime by cartel members who had attempted, and in most cases completed, the crime of first-degree murder. It is even more disturbing to know that American Department of Justice officials knew that most of the weapons walked over the border would only be discarded by the police and recovered by Mexican authorities after they were used in a crime, and that they were indifferent to the body count being racked up, callously noting that to make an omelet, eggs had to be broken.

Additionally,

While the Univision report focused on guns the DOJ ran to Mexican cartels, there is enough evidence to suggest other Obama administration-sanctioned gun-walking plots arming domestic criminal gangs, such as the so-called Gangwalker plot in Indiana, which supplied Chicago street gangs, and similar rumored operations in California, North Carolina, northern Florida, and elsewhere, which provided weapons to gangs in U.S. cities. Nor has the Univision report focused on weapons that have found their way to cartels via the State Department or the Department of Defense.

More captioned video at ABC:

Plus the Daily Caller:

And a question from Bob Owens: Will Romney mention Fast and Furious during the debates, to help force an issue to the surface that the palace guard MSM are “unexpectedly” reticent to discuss?

UPDATE,
In today’s WSJ,
Bullets Follow Guns to Mexico
Ammunition Is Easier to Buy and Hide Than Weapons; Smuggling Is Harder to Stop

Part 1.

Part 2:

Part Three: Murder in Reynosa

By a 54-46 margin, Puerto Rico Voters Reject Constitutional Amendments, To Reduce Legislature Size And Limit Bail In Certain Cases (h/t Puerto Rico eNews),

With just over 86 percent of polling places reporting, officials said 54 percent of the 669,990 votes counted rejected the legislative measure and 46 percent favored it. Fifty-four percent opposed the bail measure and 46 percent supported it.

The politicians in the legislature were frantic about losing their jobs (and those of their families, friends and cronies hired as assistants, consultants, and staff), but here’s the important part,

The referendum’s results mean Puerto Rico remains the only place in the Western Hemisphere where everyone is entitled to bail regardless of the alleged crime.
…
The bail amendment would have granted judges the right to deny bail to those accused of premeditated murder, killing a police officer or killing someone in a public space or during a home invasion, sexual assault or drive-by shooting..

Puerto Rico – already a transport point for drugs to the USA and the EU – thereby remains particularly attractive, not only for its geography, to enterprising drug lords who know they can always get out, intimidate witnesses, kill again, and jump bail even when they kill a cop, if caught.

Related:
13 Alleged Gang Members in Puerto Rico Indicted

U.S. Attorney Rosa Emilia Rodriguez says the suspects are charged with five murders, two attempted murders and drug trafficking.

Cross-posted in The Green Room.

The UK’s Daily Mail has this today,
Is the U.S. sending Seal Team Six to capture top drug cartel kingpin? American military ‘plotting military operation similar to bin Laden mission’

It’s an extraordinary story in many levels, not the least of which is this,

Mexico’s Procesor magazine (English translation) reported that a new plan to get Guzman was hatched by Mexican President Felipe Calderon, who felt the only way to catch him was through a military raid.

But when Calderon was turned down by Mexico’s army and naval forces, he turned to the U.S. government, which has made catching or killing Guzman a priority.

Sources told Procesor that the U.S. has grown increasingly more frustrated with Mexico’s failure to bring Guzman to justice – especially after a joint effort by U.S. agencies provided the information needed to catch him.

The original article on Proceso is based on unnamed sources in the US and Mexican military. Apparently the mission has been delayed because the US insists on going alone, which the Mexican Marines and Army flatly rejected. Felipe Calderón will soon be out of office as Mexico’s new president, Enrique Peña Nieto, is scheduled to take office on December 1, 2012,

And then there’s the fact that the politicians in Washington are running for re-election. Who’s going to want to stir another hornet’s next now?

In all, color me skeptical.

UPDATE,
Linked by The Mex Files. Thanks!
(“The far right-wing Latin American website”? Hah!)