Post by The Big Dog on Dec 28, 2008 14:25:51 GMT -5
Northern Mexico is, quite literally, a war zone. The narco trafficantes have so thoroughly corrupted every level of government that they operate with impunity and leave nothing but the headless corpses of those who cross them. The pre-Christmas Eve arrest of a well known and popular beauty queen, travelling with a half dozen heavily armed street soldiers of one of the cartels, should demonstrate clearly just how pervasive the culture of corruption is.
The bigger picture here, of course, is what all this means to the western US, which is rapidly being over run by gangsters who want to affiliate and do business with these evil people.
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'Narcos' have made their way into government, business and culture in this Pacific state, where kids want to grow up to be traffickers.
By Tracy Wilkinson
The Los Angeles Times
December 28, 2008
Reporting from Culiacan, Mexico -- Yudit del Rincon, a 44-year-old lawmaker, went before the state legislature this year with a proposition: Let's require lawmakers to take drug tests to prove they are clean.
Her colleagues greeted the idea with applause. Then she sprang a surprise on them: Two lab technicians waited in the audience to administer drug tests to every state lawmaker. We should set the example, she said.
They nearly trampled one another in the stampede to the door, Del Rincon recalled.
<< snipped >>
Sinaloa state legislator Oscar Felix Ochoa also denied criminal activity after his three brothers were arrested in June, allegedly holding nearly 40 pounds of cocaine, weapons and cash. At the same time, the army discovered a safe house harboring gunmen implicated in the slaying of federal police, with more than $5 million stashed in a strongbox. The house had belonged to Felix Ochoa, the army said.
Del Rincon, the crusading legislator, used to lead the charge against Felix Ochoa. One day, someone sent a funeral wreath to her home with her name on it.[/quote]
The bigger picture here, of course, is what all this means to the western US, which is rapidly being over run by gangsters who want to affiliate and do business with these evil people.
[/size]
'Narcos' have made their way into government, business and culture in this Pacific state, where kids want to grow up to be traffickers.
By Tracy Wilkinson
The Los Angeles Times
December 28, 2008
Reporting from Culiacan, Mexico -- Yudit del Rincon, a 44-year-old lawmaker, went before the state legislature this year with a proposition: Let's require lawmakers to take drug tests to prove they are clean.
Her colleagues greeted the idea with applause. Then she sprang a surprise on them: Two lab technicians waited in the audience to administer drug tests to every state lawmaker. We should set the example, she said.
They nearly trampled one another in the stampede to the door, Del Rincon recalled.
<< snipped >>
Sinaloa state legislator Oscar Felix Ochoa also denied criminal activity after his three brothers were arrested in June, allegedly holding nearly 40 pounds of cocaine, weapons and cash. At the same time, the army discovered a safe house harboring gunmen implicated in the slaying of federal police, with more than $5 million stashed in a strongbox. The house had belonged to Felix Ochoa, the army said.
Del Rincon, the crusading legislator, used to lead the charge against Felix Ochoa. One day, someone sent a funeral wreath to her home with her name on it.[/quote]