Showing posts with label mexico. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mexico. Show all posts
Saturday, July 11, 2015
Saturday, July 06, 2013
Another Fast & Furious Rifle Turns Up
It was used to kill a Mexican police chief. Thanks, Barack Obama and Eric Holder!
update: bad link before, fixed. Thanks to Brock Townsend for noticing.
update 2: Screwed up the link to Free North Carolina. I'm definitely not paying attention to detail, something that was emphasized to me in Navy boot camp lo those many years ago.
update: bad link before, fixed. Thanks to Brock Townsend for noticing.
update 2: Screwed up the link to Free North Carolina. I'm definitely not paying attention to detail, something that was emphasized to me in Navy boot camp lo those many years ago.
Thursday, March 28, 2013
"Only the People Can Restore Order"
The armed "vigilante" movement in southern and western Mexico.
Thousands of armed vigilantes have taken over a town in Mexico and arrested police officers after their 'commander' was killed and dumped in the street.
The self described 'community police' and arrested 12 officers and the town's former director of public security, who they accuse of taking part in the killing of Guadalupe Quinones Carbajal, 28, on behalf of a local organised crime group. The 1,500-strong force has also set up improvised checkpoints on the major road running through Tierra Colorado, which connects the capital Mexico City to Acapulco, a coastal city popular with tourists less than 40 miles away.
The takeover comes amid a growing movement of 'self defence' groups in the region, which claim to be fighting against drug cartels.
The Tierra Colorado vigilantes have also been searching people's homes and are reported to have seized drugs from some properties.
The arrested former security official and police officers have been handed over to state prosecutors, who agreed to investigate their alleged links to organised crime.
The group's 'commander' Carbajal's body had been found dumped in the street in a nearby town on Monday.
The force's spokesman, Bruno Placido Valerio, said: 'We have besieged the municipality, because here criminals operate with impunity in broad daylight, in view of municipal authorities.
'We have detained the director of public security because he is involved with criminals and he knows who killed our commander.'
One of those arrested by the group was Juan R. Escudero,police chief of the municipality. The vigilantes are part of regional umbrella group Union of Peoples and Organizations of Guerrero State. The Union is made up of residents in Tierra Colorado, as well as neighbouring towns such as Ayutla de los Libres, Teconoapa and San Marcos.
In January, hundreds of armed vigilantes made a series of arrests and imposed curfews in Ayutla de los Libres and Teconoap.
They also manned checkpoints and claimed they had arrested at least 30 suspected criminals. One of the masked vigilantes said: 'They kill, extort, rape. You do [sic] know if they are drugs dealers, thugs, who want to grab everything.
'We want to return peace and tranquility to the entire population. Only the people can restore order.'
If a government fails in its primary duty to protect its citizens, vigilante movements will always spring up. The wise government will seize the opportunity to purge its ranks of the corrupt and the inept and re-assume its duty, at which point the vigilantes usually disband. The unwise government will try and suppress the vigilantes rather than work with them.
Thousands of armed vigilantes have taken over a town in Mexico and arrested police officers after their 'commander' was killed and dumped in the street.
The self described 'community police' and arrested 12 officers and the town's former director of public security, who they accuse of taking part in the killing of Guadalupe Quinones Carbajal, 28, on behalf of a local organised crime group. The 1,500-strong force has also set up improvised checkpoints on the major road running through Tierra Colorado, which connects the capital Mexico City to Acapulco, a coastal city popular with tourists less than 40 miles away.
The takeover comes amid a growing movement of 'self defence' groups in the region, which claim to be fighting against drug cartels.
The Tierra Colorado vigilantes have also been searching people's homes and are reported to have seized drugs from some properties.
The arrested former security official and police officers have been handed over to state prosecutors, who agreed to investigate their alleged links to organised crime.
The group's 'commander' Carbajal's body had been found dumped in the street in a nearby town on Monday.
The force's spokesman, Bruno Placido Valerio, said: 'We have besieged the municipality, because here criminals operate with impunity in broad daylight, in view of municipal authorities.
'We have detained the director of public security because he is involved with criminals and he knows who killed our commander.'
One of those arrested by the group was Juan R. Escudero,police chief of the municipality. The vigilantes are part of regional umbrella group Union of Peoples and Organizations of Guerrero State. The Union is made up of residents in Tierra Colorado, as well as neighbouring towns such as Ayutla de los Libres, Teconoapa and San Marcos.
In January, hundreds of armed vigilantes made a series of arrests and imposed curfews in Ayutla de los Libres and Teconoap.
They also manned checkpoints and claimed they had arrested at least 30 suspected criminals. One of the masked vigilantes said: 'They kill, extort, rape. You do [sic] know if they are drugs dealers, thugs, who want to grab everything.
'We want to return peace and tranquility to the entire population. Only the people can restore order.'
If a government fails in its primary duty to protect its citizens, vigilante movements will always spring up. The wise government will seize the opportunity to purge its ranks of the corrupt and the inept and re-assume its duty, at which point the vigilantes usually disband. The unwise government will try and suppress the vigilantes rather than work with them.
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Vigilantes In Mexico Force Government To Take Action Against Cartels
There comes a time when lawlessness and government indifference to it triggers a populace to take up arms and handle the situation themselves.
That point has been reached in two towns near Acapulco:
Several hundred civilians have taken up arms in two towns in a southwestern Mexico state and are arresting people suspected of crimes and imposing a curfew, leading authorities to promise to reinforce security forces in the area.
People wearing ski masks or bandanas and carrying small arms this week began manning checkpoints on roads into the municipalities of Ayutla de los Libres and Teconoapa in Guerrero state's Costa Chica area about 75 miles southeast of the Pacific resort of Acapulco. Leaders said they were acting against crime and insecurity.
Guerrero Gov. Angel Aguirre Rivero responded Friday by announcing that security in the region would be bolstered by sending in Mexican soldiers and marines and federal and state police officers.
People in the area said about 800 residents were participating in the armed groups acting as unofficial police. The vigilantes ordered a 10 p.m. curfew for the two towns and are looking for suspected criminals. Schools have suspended classes.
This is what happens when a government fails in its primary duty, which is to ensure the safety and security of its citizens. It's not just a phenomenon from history. It happened in UK a few years ago, causing the government to promise reform and hastening Labour's downfall. A government that fails to keep its citizens safe from criminals swiftly loses legitimacy.
That point has been reached in two towns near Acapulco:
Several hundred civilians have taken up arms in two towns in a southwestern Mexico state and are arresting people suspected of crimes and imposing a curfew, leading authorities to promise to reinforce security forces in the area.
People wearing ski masks or bandanas and carrying small arms this week began manning checkpoints on roads into the municipalities of Ayutla de los Libres and Teconoapa in Guerrero state's Costa Chica area about 75 miles southeast of the Pacific resort of Acapulco. Leaders said they were acting against crime and insecurity.
Guerrero Gov. Angel Aguirre Rivero responded Friday by announcing that security in the region would be bolstered by sending in Mexican soldiers and marines and federal and state police officers.
People in the area said about 800 residents were participating in the armed groups acting as unofficial police. The vigilantes ordered a 10 p.m. curfew for the two towns and are looking for suspected criminals. Schools have suspended classes.
This is what happens when a government fails in its primary duty, which is to ensure the safety and security of its citizens. It's not just a phenomenon from history. It happened in UK a few years ago, causing the government to promise reform and hastening Labour's downfall. A government that fails to keep its citizens safe from criminals swiftly loses legitimacy.
Friday, July 29, 2011
Thursday, June 16, 2011
If True, Then...Horrible.
The ATF's "gunwalker" scandal may have been responsible for as many as 150 deaths of Mexican law enforcement officers?
Not how you treat a neighbor, I'm thinking.
Not how you treat a neighbor, I'm thinking.
Friday, July 09, 2010
Monday, November 23, 2009
What If Your Culture Sucks?
The mayor of Mexico City, Mexico, is trying to clean up the city's crime and dirt problem by employing the same tactics that Rudy Giuliani used to clean up Times Square in New York.
MEXICO CITY — The world's second-largest city has a lot of problems: kidnappings for ransom, drug-related murders, severe poverty. But if there's one thing that really sets off Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard, it's chewing gum.
He's serious.
"When you throw your gum on the ground, you're saying, 'I don't care about my quality of life,' " Ebrard says. "The idea … is to change our civic culture."
Since taking office three years ago, the liberal, Paris-educated mayor has initiated broad quality-of-life measures more fitting for a genteel European city than rough-and-tumble Mexico.
He is also working to tackle some of the city's major problems — crime and water shortages — but his quest for civility garners the headlines.
Some residents are less than thrilled with the mayor's efforts.
Maximiliano Díaz, 45, had been selling handmade flutes and drums for 22 years from a booth in Coyoacán plaza. His sales have fallen by 80% since August, when the city forced him to move to a market built for vendors that is hard to find, Díaz says. "There's this fever to civilize Mexico, but in the process we're losing our rights to our public spaces," Díaz says. "I understand the mayor wants to modernize us, but he's taking away a bit of our culture."
MEXICO CITY — The world's second-largest city has a lot of problems: kidnappings for ransom, drug-related murders, severe poverty. But if there's one thing that really sets off Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard, it's chewing gum.
He's serious.
"When you throw your gum on the ground, you're saying, 'I don't care about my quality of life,' " Ebrard says. "The idea … is to change our civic culture."
Since taking office three years ago, the liberal, Paris-educated mayor has initiated broad quality-of-life measures more fitting for a genteel European city than rough-and-tumble Mexico.
He is also working to tackle some of the city's major problems — crime and water shortages — but his quest for civility garners the headlines.
Some residents are less than thrilled with the mayor's efforts.
Maximiliano Díaz, 45, had been selling handmade flutes and drums for 22 years from a booth in Coyoacán plaza. His sales have fallen by 80% since August, when the city forced him to move to a market built for vendors that is hard to find, Díaz says. "There's this fever to civilize Mexico, but in the process we're losing our rights to our public spaces," Díaz says. "I understand the mayor wants to modernize us, but he's taking away a bit of our culture."
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