narco news

A Summary of Our Online Networks as of August 30, 2010

August 30, 2010…

On Facebook:

Click to "like" Narco News, here.

Free Email Alerts Lists:

English: 3463 subcribers

Spanish: 459 subscribers

667 Twitter Followers

63 Twitter Lists Following

Narco News TV Ratings:

Jodido México 2010

Trending! 89,078 viewers since July 1, 2010

F**cked Mexico 2010 with English Subtitles

1,637 viewers since July 16, 2010

Torture in Egypt

14,657 viewers since February 26, 2010

¿Donde están Los Mayas?

Trending! 4,695 since June 16, 2010

Where Are the Maya?

Trending! 3,422 viewers since June 16, 2010

536 viewers since August 10, 2010

Recent Featured Reports:

August 24, 2010, by Erin Rosa

August 30, 2010, by Fernando León and Erin Rosa

August 30, 2010, by Al Giordano

Un resumen de nuestras redes en línea hasta el 30 de agosto de 2010

30 de agosto de 2010

En Facebook:

Dar clic aquí para la opción "me gusta" Narco News.

Listas para recibir correos de alertas gratuitas

Inglés: 3463 suscriptores

Español:  459 suscriptores

667 Seguidores en Twitter

63 Listas de Twitter siguiendo a Narco News

Ratings de Narco News TV:

Jodido México 2010

¡Marcando tendencia! 89,078 visitas desde el 1 de julio de 2010

F**cked Mexico 2010 con subtítulos en inglés

1,637 visitas desde el 16 de julio de 2010

Tortura en Egipto

848 visitas desde el 26 de febrero de 2010

¿Donde están Los Mayas?

¡Marcando tendencia! 4,695 visitas desde el 16 de junio de 2010

Where Are the Maya?

3,422 visitas desde el 16 de junio de 2010

La aventura mexicana de Al Gore

302 visitas desde el 17 de agosto de 2010

Recientes reportajes destacados:

La narcoviolencia en Juárez marcada por la excepción a las maquiladoras

25 de agosto de 2010, por Bill Conroy

30 de agosto de 2010, por Erin Rosa y Fernando León

By Brenda Norrell

Photo: Mike Wilson at water station for migrants on Tohono O'odham land, where a large number of migrants die each year of dehydration. Photo Brenda Norrell.

ARIZONA -- Mike Wilson, Tohono O'odham who puts out water for migrants on Tohono O'odham land as humanitarian aid, responded to an e-mail threat of poisoned water.

The anonymous e-mail said, "F you. I hope some real Americans will step up and put poison in the water. I hope you are the first to drink."

The e-mail threat, on Aug. 29, was sent in response to the article, "Tohono O'odham Nation surrendered its will to the Border Patrol." http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2010/03/mike-wilson-tohono-oodham-nation.html

Wilson said, "I'm not surprised by the threat, it is certainly expected and no one is immune. Humane Borders has received these threats for the last ten years, including the writing of 'veneno' (poison) on the sides of its water barrels in the desert.
"The subject government of the Tohono O'odham Nation, its elected leaders and its Imperial master, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, continue to deny and denigrate hundreds of migrant deaths in Indian Country. The B.I.A. is complicit in the decade long (2000-2010) humanitarian crisis on O'odham land. Continuing a legacy of selective neglect of American Indians, the B.I.A. feigns ignorance and silence when it comes to Latino and Indigenous People dying by hyperthermia and dehydration on the Tohono O'odham Reservation.

"This calculated silence by the B.I.A. in Washington, D.C. and in Sells (capital of the Tohono O'odham Nation) is an attempt to inoculate itself against the charge of willful complicity and to wash migrant blood from its hands.

"According to the Pima County Medical Examiner's Office, of 58 migrant deaths in the month of July, 44 were on the Tohono O'odham Reservation. This B.I.A. policy of silence is a self-fulfilling prophesy in the making, in that it achieves its own intended purpose of plausible denial. This deafening B.I.A. silence now assumes the legal consent and approval of migrant deaths on Tohono O'odham tribal land by the Tohono O'odham Nation, BIA, the Department of Interior and the Federal Government of the United States. Blood runs deep.

"Brady McComb's SPECIAL REPORT: DECADE OF DEATH was published in the Arizona Daily Star (Sunday, August 22, 2010). Also, author and reporter Margaret Regan's story, D.O.A., came out in the Tucson Weekly last Thursday, August 26, 2010.

"Both compelling stories are moral indictments against the Government and elected leadership of the Tohono O'odham Nation. The Tohono O'odham Nation continues its futile defensive strategy of presumed isolation and insulation.

"However, as both stories clearly demonstrate, tribal Chairman Ned Norris, Jr., Legislative Council Chairman Verlon Jose and Baboquivari District Council Chairwoman Veronica Harvey cannot insulate themselves against the stretch and scope of a free press.

"No amount of spin from the Tohono O'odham Nation's hired PR firm in Phoenix can protect the Tohono O'odham Nation from its culpability for Latino and Indigenous migrant deaths.

"Neither can the elected tribal leadership insulate itself against the putrid stench of another hundred decomposing migrant bodies on O'odham lands. The Government of the Tohono O'odham Nation needs to purchase Biological Hazard suits for when its leaders leave the reservation, if they can't smell the stench on themselves, others can."

More water,
Mike Wilson
Tohono O'odham  

Ofelia Rivas, traditional O'odham living on the border, released a statement to the National Guard, who are to arrive on the US/Mexico border in Arizona on Monday.

Photo by Jason Jaacks.

To the United States National Guard arriving in O'odham Lands,

We are not compliant people, we are people with great dignity and confidence. We are a people of endurance and have a long survival history. We are people that have lived here for thousands of years. We have our own language, we have our own culture and traditions.

You are coming to my land, you may find me walking on my land, sitting on my land and just going about my daily life. I might be sitting on the mountain top, do not disturb me, I am praying the way my ancestors did for thousands of years. I might be out collecting what may be strange to you but it might be food to me or medicine for me.

Sometimes I am going to the city to get a burger or watch a movie or just to resupply my kitchen and refrigerator. Some of us live very much like you do and some of us live very simple lives. Some of may not have computers or scanners or televisions or a vehicle but some of us do.

The other thing is that some of us are light-skinned O'odham and some of us are darker-skinned O'odham. Some of us spend a lot of time indoors or outdoors. Sometimes my mother might be of a different Nation (refers to different tribal Nation) or sometimes our father is Spanish or we may have some European grandmother or grandfather.

If you want to question who we are, we all have learned to carry our Tohono O'odham Nation Tribal I.D. Card. It is a federally-issued card which is recognized by the federal government which is your boss. This card identifies us and by law this is the only requirement needed to prove who we are. We do not have United States passports because most of us were born at home and do not have documents, but that does not make us "undocumented people." Your boss, the Department of Homeland Security, and the government of the Tohono O'odham Nation have negotiated an agreement which is, our tribal I.D. card is our identification card and no other document is required.

The O'odham, (the People) as we call ourselves, have been here to witness the eruption of volcanoes that formed the lands we live on. We have special places that hold our great-great-great-great-great great grandparents remains, our lands are a special and holy place to us. Some of us still make journeys to these places to pray. Some of these places hold holy objects that maintain specific parts of our beliefs. When you see us out on the land do not assume we are in the drug business or human smuggling business.

Sometimes we are out on the land hunting for rabbits or deer or javelina to feed our families. We may be carrying a hunting weapon please do not harm me, my family loves me and depends on me.
When you are out on our land, be mindful that you are visitor on our lands, be respectful, be courteous and do not harm anything.

Sometimes you may see us gather all night long, dancing and sometimes we are crying loudly, do not approach us or disturb us in anyway, we are honoring a dead relative and preparing them for burial. Sometimes we are conducting a healing ceremony out on the land, do not approach us or disturb us. Sometimes we may be singing and dancing all night long, these are our ceremonies that we have conducted for thousands of years. We are not behaving in a suspicious nature, this is our way of life.

As original people of the lands we honor everything on our lands and we regard all as a part of our sacred lives, do not kill any plants and animals or people on our lands. Do not litter our lands with your trash. When we visit other peoples lands and cities and homes we do not litter or leave behind trash.

We might be driving our cars, sometimes old, sometimes very new, do not try to run us off the roads or tailgate me. I value my life and my family, I might have a newborn in my car or my grandmother or my mother and father, my brothers and sister or my aunts and uncles or my friends. These are all important people to me and I do not want to see them hurt or dead.

If I seem like I do not understand what you are saying, please call the Tohono O'odham Police and ask for an O'odham speaking officer to come and assist you. I might be laughing at you if you talk to me in English, I don't know what you are saying and I am laughing out of nervousness and fear because you are armed.

If you are afraid of us and draw your weapons on me, I am more afraid of you because I am unarmed and my family is in the vehicle with me or they are in my house when you come into my house. Sometimes my house might be in poor condition but it is my home, it is my sanctuary, be respectful. Sometime there are elders in my house that are already afraid of armed people in our communities such as the border patrol and other federal agents.

There are some people that do drug business or human smuggling business but we are not all doing that, we are not all criminals. Do not treat us like criminals.

We might call you killers and murderers as you just came from killing people. To the O'odham you are a dangerous person, to walk onto our lands bringing fresh death on your person is very destructive to us as a people. You may have diseases we do not know, illnesses of your mind that you might inflict on us. Please do not approach us if you are afflicted with fresh death.

Remember we do not want you on our lands, we did not invite you to our lands.

Do remember that we have invited allies that will be witnessing your conduct on our lands and how you treat our people.

From the the O'odham Lands
Ofelia Rivas 

While the US is kicking and screaming about Wikileaks posting data, no one pays attention to the documents already posted by the US Army itself, including the Special Operations manual that describes the extensive support to guerrillas (terrorists) by US military special operations to carry out violence. Among the US goals is to destabilize governments and keep wars going.

Wikileaks exposed that the US has been paying the Taliban and resistance forces.

Already online, posted by the US Army itself, is: "A Leader's Handbook to Unconventional Warfare." It describes in detail how the US military supports guerrilla movements (terrorists): http://www.soc.mil/swcs/swmag/Assets/SWCS%20Publications/Leaders%20Guide%20Final.pdf

Among the legal and moral questions this raises: Where did the weapons and ammunition come from that were recently used to murder volunteer doctors in Afghanistan?

How many US, British and others have been killed because of the US support given to the Taliban and others?  

Under the guise of the drug war in the south, how many Americans have been killed and tortured as a result of the training at the US School of the Americas and the US weapons provided?

Why isn't the media asking the questions.

By Brenda Norrell

Photo: California border by Brenda Norrell.

Updated Sunday, Aug. 29, 2010

The 72 people murdered at a ranch in Tamaulipas State, about 100 miles south of Brownsville, Texas, were migrants. Thirty-one of those murdered were identified on Friday, Aug. 27. They were 14 Hondurans, 12 Salvadorans, four Guatemalans and one Brazilian.

On Sunday, bomb attacks hit Tamaulipas, as police were investigating the mass murder of the migrants. Four devices exploded in just 24 hours, injuring at least 17 people. The  lead investigator in the mass murder case, and one police officer, have been missing since Wednesday. Bombs also exploded outside a television station and police station in Tamaulipas during the investigation.

Mexican police suspect the Zetas of the mass murder of the 72 migrants. The Zetas were trained by the United States as special forces, according to School of Americas Watch.

"Many of the Zeta leaders have been identified by Mexican officials as former members of an elite paratroop and intelligence battalion known as the Special Air Mobile Force Group, formerly assigned to the state of Tamaulipas, which borders southern Texas, to fight drug traffickers," according to SOA Watch.

The Mexican government confirmed that several of the Zetas were trained at the School of the Americas in Fort Benning, Ga., now known as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation.

A core of 31 US trained former battalion members are thought to lead the Zetas. Several members deserted the Special Air Mobile Force Group in 1991, aligning themselves with drug traffickers and establishing their own smuggling routes into the United States, according to SOA Watch.

The 72 murdered migrants were mourned throughout the Americas this week. The lone survivor in the attack of mingrants, from Ecuador, was shot in the neck, pretended to be dead, then escaped and reached military forces who stormed the ranch.

Most migrants are Indigenous Peoples from Central and South America. They have nothing and are walking north through Mexico trying to survive. They are often kidnapped and help for ransom. Those who have no way of paying the kidnappers are shot, one by one, or tortured in front of the others. They are asked to give a phone number of a person in the US that can pay the ransom, if they have no one, they are killed. This is revealed in the new documentary "The Invisibles," which just premiered in Tucson.

The US fails to admit that it is the US appetite for drugs that creates the drug war in Mexico.

No one tells this part of the story.

The US media fails to tell another story. It is the truth of the displacement of Indigenous Peoples, primarily corn farmers in Central and South America, from their homelands by NAFTA and other trade agreements. The corporate takeovers of their lands for dams, energy development and corporate enterprises, using military and paramilitary units, have created homelessness for masses of Indigenous Peoples.

US corporations, including Chiquita Bananas in Colombia, have admitted in US court that they use assassins to eliminate Indigenous Peoples and poor farmers from their land.

Those who walk north are desperate people trying to survive. 

US State Department Claims Blackwater Corporation Gave Military Training in Colombia Without Agency's Permission

Blackwater, a corporation that specializes in providing military-style training and support to other businesses and governments, recently entered into a $42 million civil settlement with the State Department this month after the agency found that the company violated international arms trafficking and export regulations no less than 288 times.

The settlement is mainly focused on the company's business dealings in Iraq and Afghanistan, but within a 41-page document (PDF) of the State Department's findings on the case, the agency also claims that Blackwater provided at least one unauthorized military training in Colombia in 2005, allegedly in violation of International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR).

According to the findings, Blackwater (which changed its name to Xe Services in 2009 after earning an ugly reputation for its mercenary work in Iraq) provided “military training to foreign persons from Colombia” before “obtaining required authorizations” through the State Department.

The company failed to get approval of what is called a DSP-5 license, which specifies key details (PDF) about trainings that are to be conducted abroad, the findings say. This fact was not confirmed by the State Department until the agency sent out "disclosure requests" to Blackwater in October 2008, according to the State Department document. Such a license would describe the location and subject of the training.

What is known is that the 2005 training was related to an agreement between Blackwater and the agency in Colombia, where “foreign persons were trained and deployed as third-country nationals in support of a contract with the US Department of State.” Blackwater responded to the State Department by stating that the training was held without the agency's permission due to a “general misunderstanding” over licensing, although the department notes that there were many violations committed while Blackwater was “servicing US Government programs or providing training to US allies.”

Also in the document, under the heading “Unauthorized export of technical data and provision of defense services involving Military/Security training (conducted internationally),” the State Department goes into more detail about the training, stating that “between April 2005 and May 2005” Blackwater “without authorization provided security training to Colombian foreign persons.”

The details of this “unauthorized” training are made more disturbing when considering how the Colombian military and paramilitaries in the country continue to participate in well-documented human rights abuses, including assassinations, massacres, and political intimidation, mostly by using the drug war or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC in Spanish initials) guerillas as an excuse.

There were “aggravating factors in determining what charges to pursue” according to the agency document, including the findings that Blackwater's “historic inability to comply with ITAR controls were systemic failings,” when considering “the frequency and nature of [the company's] violations.”

In other words, the revelation that Blackwater was actively training forces in Colombia, and the fact that the company allegedly went rogue on the State Department to provide an unauthorized military training to unspecified forces in Colombia, raises more serious human rights questions for a corporation that is still considered to be one of the US government's top contractors.

By Brenda Norrell

Updated Aug. 24, 2010

It appears no one was listening at the US State Department’s Listening Conferences this year, when Native Americans offered testimony on human rights for a report to the United Nations.

The US Periodic Review on Human Rights released Monday, Aug. 23, shows the Obama Administration giving itself a glossy, positive review on the issue of Native Americans and human rights to the United Nations Human Rights Council.

However, the release of the final document proves Russell Means was accurate when he described the Listening Conferences as a “Smokescreen.”

“Once again, the occupation government of the United States of America has trotted out its dogs and ponies to provide a smokescreen and diversion from its continuing crimes against the indigenous peoples and nations of the Western Hemisphere,” Means said in March.

The US report to the UN fails to describe the ongoing environmental genocide, where corporations in collusion with the US government target Indian country with power plants, coal mines and oil and gas wells.

The United States does not address the uranium mining that now threatens water supplies of Navajos or Lakotas, nor of the proposed Desert Rock power plant that threatens the health of Navajos. There is no mention of the so-called Navajo Hopi land dispute that resulted in the relocation of 14,000 Navajos on Black Mesa. It was manufactured by attorneys, Congressmen and Peabody Coal to make way for Peabody Coal mining. The report does does not mention the Forgotten Navajos of the Bennett Freeze zone, where development was frozen by federal legislation.

The US report does not address the poisoned groundwater of the Tohono O'odham from mining, nor the conditions on South Dakota Indian lands. It does not address the violations of the rights of the Western Shoshone as gold mining targets sacred Mount Tenabo. There is no mention of how the use of recycled sewage water on sacred San Francisco Peaks will affect American Indian Nations.

There is no mention of the radioactive spills and radioactive tailings strewn across the Navajo Nation or the live Cold War bombs in the Badlands on Pine Ridge, S.D. There is no mention of the genocide of uranium mining, leaving behind a legacy of cancer and death, in Acoma and Laguna Pueblos. There was no mention of testimony to protect Zuni Pueblo sacred places.

The US Periodic Review fails to address the widespread abuses by the US Border Patrol of Indigenous Peoples traveling in their own territories, or the violations of NAGPRA and other federal laws during construction of the US/Mexico border wall. This included Boeing digging up the ancestors of the O'odham.

There is no mention of the physical abuse of Haudenosaunee and others on the northern border by border agents. The US fails to describe the racial profiling that has become acceptable for police and border agents in the US. There is no mention of the destruction of ceremonial items by border agents.

The US does not address the violations of fishing and hunting rights of Native Americans in violations of Treaties. There is no mention of the loss of water rights.

The report fails to describe the targeting of American Indians by police during traffic stops, the longer prison sentences issued by courts for American Indians or the ongoing hate crimes in Indian country bordertowns. The US fails to admit to the denials of American Indian religious freedom in US prisons.

While giving a sweeping rosy report of the United States in regards to Native Americans and human rights, the US says it is considering passage of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The US fails to point out that it is trailing all the other countries in the world in adoption of the Declaration.

The US is currently attempting a flim-flam approach to the adoption of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. But Indigenous Peoples say that US laws of "Discovery" and "Conquest" can not supersede the UN Declaration.

Tonya Gonellaa Frichner, Onondaga, said the US House of Representatives submitted Resolution 1551.1H to Congress and referred it to the House Foreign Affairs Committee on July 22. Frichner is the North American Regional Representative to the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. ...

"The resolution expresses the sense of Congress that the United States should 'promote respect for and full implementation of the provisions of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples consistent with US law,'" she said.

"As positive as this wording of the resolution may seem, the phrase 'consistent with US law' is highly problematic because US law with regard to American Indian nations and peoples is premised on unacceptable doctrines such as 'discovery,' 'conquest,' and 'plenary power,' and on a presumption of United States supremacy over Indigenous peoples.

"The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is an international human rights instrument that recognizes the individual, collective, and group rights of Indigenous Peoples, including the right of self-determination, and the right of Indigenous Peoples to give or withhold their free, prior, and informed consent when it comes to the exploitation of their Indigenous lands, territories, and resources.

"It is incumbent upon the United States government to fully endorse and implement the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in a manner consistent with international standards of human rights, and in keeping with the recognition of the individual, group, and collective rights of Indigenous Peoples," she said.

 Meanwhile, in the Periodic Review to the UN, while applauding freedom of expression in America, the US fails to point out that spying on private citizens is nearing the Cold War spying level. There is no mention of ongoing US war crimes.

The ACLU, in its response to the US Periodic Report, stressed the US abuse of the rights of prisoners and migrants.

Although Window Rock, Ariz., on the Navajo Nation was one site of the testimony at the Listening Conferences, there are no specifics of Navajo testimony in the final report.

Although written testimony was presented on behalf of Leonard Peltier, there is no mention of Peltier in the final report.

Means said, in his statement in March, “As we can see, many indigenous people have been duped to participate, yet again, in a lying and duplicitous process of the United States. The United States has absolutely no interest or intention of admitting to the world its human rights record that is neither justifiable nor defensible. In particular, the record of the United States with regard to historical, and ongoing, violations of over 370 treaties that were negotiated and signed with indigenous nations must be, but will not be, addressed by the United States.”

The ACLU listed the shortcomings of the report and made recommendations today, stressing the United States abuse of the rights of prisoners and migrants:

http://www.aclu.org/files/assets/upr_submission_20100419.pdf

View the US Periodic Review to the UN Human Rights Council:

http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/146379.pdf

What the US State Department doesn't want you to hear: Leonard Peltier

http://censored-news.blogspot.com/2010/08/what-us-state-department-doesnt-want.html

Violations of Native American Religious Freedom in US Prisons: What the State Dept. doesn't want you to know:

http://censored-news.blogspot.com/2010/08/violations-of-native-religious-freedom.html

A Summary of Our Online Networks as of August 23, 2010

August 23, 2010…

On Facebook:

Click to "like" Narco News, here.

Free Email Alerts Lists:

English: 3458 subcribers

Spanish: 456 subscribers

621 Twitter Followers

60 Twitter Lists Following

Narco News TV Ratings:

Jodido México 2010

Trending! 82,861 viewers since July 1, 2010

F**cked Mexico 2010 with English Subtitles

1,180 viewers since July 16, 2010

Torture in Egypt

14,308 viewers since February 26, 2010

¿Donde están Los Mayas?

Trending! 4,405 since June 16, 2010

Where Are the Maya?

Trending! 3,303 viewers since June 16, 2010

Recent Featured Reports:

August 17, 2010, by James Jordan

August 19, 2010, by Erin Rosa

August 21, 2010, by Bill Conroy

August 22, 2010, by Bill Conroy

Un resumen de nuestras redes en línea hasta el 23 de agosto de 2010

23 de agosto de 2010

En Facebook:

Dar clic aquí para la opción "me gusta" Narco News.

Listas para recibir correos de alertas gratuitas

Inglés: 3458 suscriptores

Español:  456 suscriptores

621 Seguidores en Twitter

60 Listas de Twitter siguiendo a Narco News

Ratings de Narco News TV:

Jodido México 2010

¡Marcando tendencia! 82,861 videntes desde el 1 de julio de 2010

F**cked Mexico 2010 con subtítulos en inglés

1,180 videntes desde el 16 de julio de 2010

Tortura en Egipto

828 videntes desde el 26 de febrero de 2010

¿Donde están Los Mayas?

¡Marcando tendencia! 4,405 videntes desde el 16 de junio de 2010

Where Are the Maya?

3,303 videntes desde el 16 de junio de 2010

Recientes reportajes destacados:

“La Tramacúa”: El Abu Ghraib de Colombia

20 de agosto de 2010, por James Jordan

20 de agosto de 2010, por Erin Rosa

Mexican Border Town’s Industrial Parks Have Become a “Green Zone” in the Drug War

The screaming headlines and shocking images that invade our lives daily from south of the U.S. border might lead many of us to believe that Juarez, Mexico, is a dying city bleeding out from a thousand cuts of daily narco-war violence.

The Mexican border city has seen more than 1,900 murders so far this year alone and in excess of 6,200 since January 2008, when the violence escalated with the arrival of the Mexican military to provide “protection” to the residents of the city.

But if Juarez is truly being killed off by the bloodshed spawned by the narco-trafficking trade, then why is that violence not affecting the entire city – where some 10,000 small businesses have closed their doors since 2008 due, in large part, to a wave of burglaries, kidnappings, extortion and murders that has washed over the city during the past two and a half years?

There is often an exception to most rules, and in the case of Juarez, the rule of violence does not extend to its industrial zones, which are home to some 360 maquiladora factories that employ more than 190,000 people.

In fact, according to a report provided to Narco News by the El Paso Regional Economic Development Corp., or REDCO, between January 2008 and June of this year, there was only one homicide carried out in the maquila industrial zones of Juarez.

That’s right — just one murder in this huge swath of Juarez that is dotted with maquila plants operated by huge corporations such as General Motors, Delphi, Motorola, Visteon, TECMA and Honeywell. Maquiladoras, also known as twin plants, are Mexico-based factories owned and/or operated by foreign companies that benefit from the cheap labor and favorable tax treatment.

The reality is, despite the violence afflicting the rest of Juarez, the city’s maquila industrial parks are flourishing, according to the report put together by REDCO — a nonprofit maquila booster group funded by private-sector donors.

Over the first three months of this year, the report shows, some 11 companies have notified REDCO of their intentions to locate or expand in Juarez. Between June 2009 and June of this year, REDCO reports that the maquilas in Juarez have added 24,401 new jobs — in the midst of a lingering recession no less.

How is that possible?

Seeking Answers

Narco News attempted to get an answer to that question by scheduling an interview with REDCO President Bob Cook. Unfortunately, REDCO officials later cancelled that interview due to a “scheduling conflict.”

Narco News also attempted to get some insight from officials at El Paso, Texas-based TECMA, which operates some 17 maquila plants in Juarez. Company officials at TECMA were not available for comment.

However, TECMA officials did talk on camera earlier this year with El Paso’s ABC TV station KVIA. Toby Spoon, an executive vice president with TECMA, told the TV station the following with respect to why the maquila industrial zones have been seemingly immune from Juarez’s bloody drug war:

If they [the narco-trafficking organizations] got the maquila industry, or American companies or foreign companies, if they became targets of this, it would just take it to a whole different level, and nobody wants that.

So it would appear, based on that comment, that the narco-trafficking organizations, the Mexican government and the maquila factory owners have some sort of unspoken alliance of convenience that assures protection for the maquila factories and their professional employees — some 3,400 of whom live in El Paso, just across the river from Juarez, according to the REDCO report.

Clearly, the Mexican government, and its executive business class, have reason to assure the protection of the maquila industry on economic grounds. REDCO reports that in 2008 and 2009 [as the Juarez drug war raged] foreign direct investment, due in large part to the maquila industry, totaled nearly $2 billion in the state of Chihuahua — most of that going to Juarez.

And the maquila industry also helps to assure a robust northbound commercial corridor for the area, with nearly 2,000 trucks crossing into the U.S. daily from Juarez, according to the REDCO report. And that trade is produced, to a large degree, by maquila line workers in Juarez who are paid a few bucks a day in wages – a fraction of what workers in the U.S. make for similar work.

So it seems U.S. and Mexican business interests, as well as the Mexican government, all have a considerable economic stake in assuring the maquila industrial zones in Juarez are not sucked into the violent fury of the media-dubbed “cartel” turf war affecting the residential neighborhoods and other business districts of Juarez.

That might explain why, according to media reports, at last three security zones have been set up in Juarez that are guarded by Mexican soldiers who assure safe passage for Maquila executives commuting from El Paso to the Juarez factory sites. In addition, the maquila industrial zones themselves, according to media reports, are under the close watch of Mexican state police as well as private security guards employed by the maquilas.

That all makes sense, except that the same Mexican cops and military also are supposed to be providing protection to the rest of Juarez and, to date, have failed miserably, resulting in thousands of murders — including homicides among their own ranks due to gun battles and assaults carried out by cops and soldiers allegedly on the payrolls of competing drug-trafficking organizations.

But if they are killing each other elsewhere in the city (and are otherwise incapable of preventing murders, kidnappings and extortion) how is it possible that these same cops and soldiers, and their commanders, are working together effectively to essentially prevent crime in the maquila zones — where, according to the REDCO report, between January 2008 and June 2010 there have been only 335 reported crimes, mostly thefts, and only one homicide?

Falling Flat

Now, there are some explanations that may mitigate the crime figures a bit — such as the fact that industrial areas tend to have lower crime rates than other areas of a city and, in the case of the maquilas, most of the high-wage earners who might be ideal crime targets happen to live across the border in El Paso.

But even if we take these factors into account, the crime figures, particularly the murder rate, in the maquila industrial zones still seems extremely low when compared with what’s happening in the balance of Juarez – again, more than 6,200 murders in Juarez since 2008 and only one of those in a maquila industrial zone.

As far as the myth that being a commuter from the U.S. offers some high level of protection, it is necessary to recognize that commuters can be, and have been, targeted by narco-criminals, as evidenced by the slaying in Juarez of a U.S. consulate worker and her husband earlier this year. Both victims were trailed by a hit team and later shot while in their vehicle as they were attempting to head back to El Paso.

And there is past evidence that criminals have targeted workers in Juarez’s industrial zones. In the 1990s and early 2000s, hundreds, of young women in Juarez, many of whom worked at the maquila factories, were abducted, many brutally raped and tortured to death — their bodies later dumped like garbage in fields or along roadsides.

Those gruesome homicides, clearly linked to the maquila factories, have since been dubbed the Juarez Femicides.

Following is a cable sent in March 2000 from the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City to the U.S. State Department that verifies the relationship between the maquilas and the female victims. (The cable was obtained by professor Keith Yearman of the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, Ill., via a Freedom of Information Act request and can be found, along with numerous other documents related to the Femicides, at this link.)

What is clear, however, is the vulnerability of the social class in which most of the murders have occurred. These women come from a group that is physically, socially and economically frail. They are made more vulnerable through a cultural upbringing that reinforces their sense of personal inferiority and resulting submissiveness. Most of these women have been forced to migrate to Juarez because of poverty in their native southern states. Drawn to the border to work in maquiladoras, they must live both on the outer limits of the city as well as on the fringes of society. [Emphasis added.]

Another possibility that has to be considered, since the crime figures in the REDCO report due come from the Mexican government, is that the murder figures are being purposely under-reported to avoid a panic that would prompt a mass exodus of maquila factories from the city.

But even this explanation seems to fall flat, given that murders or kidnappings of high-profile maquila executives, or high rates of crime on maquila factory sites, would be very difficult to keep under wraps since such crime would have a major impact on the families of the victims as well as U.S. business interests, which are closely monitored by the U.S. media and government. So it’s possible that some crime is being kept from public view, but it is highly unlikely that it would be anywhere near the level of crime that is being experienced and reported elsewhere in Juarez.

So if we eliminate those factors — lower rates of crime in industrial areas generally, a large number of potential crime targets who commute and crime stat under-reporting — as the total explanation for the extremely low crime rate in the maquila zones within a city that is deemed to be among the most dangerous in the world, then what might account for the maquilas seemingly being immune from the Juarez drug war violence?

It’s the Economy Stupid

Well, according to several law enforcers and other legal experts familiar with the Juarez narco-trafficking scene, all of whom asked not to be named, the ultimate explanation revolves around economic interests.

“There’s probably a lot of money behind the reason for the maquilas relative safety,” says one law enforcer.

That money could be in the form of protection payments to the key drug organizations or their government operatives [i.e., corrupt law enforcers or military commanders] to assure that the cops and soldiers charged with guarding the factories and maquila executives actually carry out that job.

“It would be easy to keep problems away from the maquila factories, if that was the goal,” the law enforcer explains. “Whenever a suspicious car comes through, you stop it, pull the people out and check them out thoroughly.”

Now, there is no kown evidence that any of the 360 or so maquila factories are paying protection money to criminal organizations to assure safety, but it is clear, according to the REDCO report, that there were at least five reported extortion attempts made in the maquila industrial zones last year.

And there is precedent elsewhere in Latin America for large corporations paying protection money to criminal organizations. In 2007, Chiquita Brands International coughed up a $25 million fine as part of a settlement with the U.S. Justice Department over the company’s admission that it paid some $1.7 million in protection money over a seven-year period to a violent, rightwing Colombian paramilitary group that has a history of involvement in narco-trafficking.

But there is yet another potential explanation for the low rate of crime occurring in the Juarez maquila zones.

“The first thing that comes to mind,” says another law enforcer, “is that the cartels have money invested in the area, so they want to protect that investment.”

That may seem like a shocking suggestion to some who are not familiar with the nature of the drug business, but that possibility has been advanced by others, even in the mainstream press.

A report earlier this year in the Wall Street Journal included a warning from a security expert, Alberto Islas of Mexico City, who contends that narco-trafficking organizations have the ability to infiltrate maquilas by getting their people hired as employees. Once inside the maquilas, these individuals, particularly if they are at a supervisory level, can use the company’s resources, such as warehouses and trucks, to advance their drug-trafficking operations.

However, according to one government watchdog group — the Washington, D.C.-based Project on Government Oversight (POGO) — the corruption problem with respect to border commerce has far deeper systemic roots than a few bad-apple employees. POGO suggests the root of the corruption problem stems from U.S. free-trade policies designed to foster the fast movement of goods across borders.

Major criticisms, for example, have been raised about U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s reliance on self-regulation under programs such as “C-TPAT,” which allows qualifying private-sector companies (including maquila factory operators such as General Motors, Delphi, Motorola and Visteon, among others) to oversee their own shipment security. In exchange, these C-TPAT-approved companies are granted a reduction in cargo examinations as well as expedited processing when their shipments are selected for examination.

The rational for such programs is that it allows U.S. border enforcers to better allocate scarce resources toward monitoring the immense volume of goods moved by shippers who have not been prescreened through C-TPAT and similar self-regulation programs.

Over the first six months of fiscal 2009, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, goods shipped via C-TPAT and a sister program called Importer Self Assessment (ISA), accounted for about half of all U.S. import value for the period — some $454 billion worth of goods.

POGO, in a letter sent to members of Congress late last year, pointed out some serious flaws in this self-regulation model.

From the POGO letter:

… Specifically, POGO has received insider information that importers non-compliant with trade laws and regulations have been approved and are applying for the C-TPAT and ISA programs.

… It must also be noted that a number of the known C-TPAT companies have committed serious trade violations in the past, yet have been granted membership into C-TPAT and ISA, without testing to verify their problems have been corrected.

… The adequacy of the self-policing programs was questioned recently in a congressional hearing.  In early December [2009], Senator Mark Pryor (D-AR) asked DHS Secretary Napolitano the following question: "There's been some news reports recently that have been critical of the … [C-TPAT] Program, and the gist of these news reports is that some Mexican gun and drug smugglers are actually using this program because it allows the trucks to get through the border quicker and I guess with less security. Are you aware of that?  Are you aware of those news reports?" Secretary Napolitano replied that she was "not aware of those news reports." [Emphasis added.]

Well, it seems Secretary Napolitano might be well advised to take some time to check out those reports, and given the safe nature of the maquila industrial zones in Juarez, she should have few worries about personal safety if she began such an inquiry in that region of the border.

Good for Business

The reality is, that despite the increased militarization of the U.S./Mexican border through programs like the $1.4 billion Merida Initiative, the drugs continue to flow across that border.

Those drugs are being shipped in large quantities via truck and car across the same bridges that are used to transport the legal cargo being hauled by vehicles serving the maquila factories in Juarez.

The only way to know whether a particular truck or car is carrying legal goods or an illegal shipment of drugs is to check the truck or car, which clearly isn’t being done in most cases in Juarez due to the immense volume of traffic – some 2,000 trucks and 34,000 cars crossing from Juarez into El Paso daily, according to the REDCO report.

The net result of this conflict between free-trade and illegal trade is reflected in the State Department’s 2010 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report:

Despite some progress, however, corruption remains a significant impediment to counternarcotics efforts in Mexico. Cartels combine threats of violence with promises of financial gain (“plata o plomo”) to influence law enforcement and government officials. Their influence is greatest among lower paid municipal and state police who have had historically lower hiring standards and fewer controls in place to check for corruption. This is a significant problem given that these police organizations represent roughly 90 percent of Mexico’s total police force.

… Production of methamphetamine takes place in clandestine labs. The two areas in the country with the highest concentration of labs are Michoacan and Jalisco. While it is difficult to estimate levels of production for the drug, it is believed to be large and growing.

… Despite the efforts of the GOM [Government of Mexico], drug cultivation rose significantly in 2009 according to U.S. government agencies’ estimates. Opium poppy cultivation more than doubled to 15,000 hectares (ha) as of September 2009 from 6,900 in 2008 — the highest level of production ever estimated in Mexico and all of Latin America combined. Cannabis production increased 35 percent to 12,000 ha from 8,900 in 2008 — the highest level since 1992. … Mexico is not considered a significant producer of cocaine, although DTOs [drug-trafficking organizations] continue to transit the drug through the country. [Emphasis added.]

Given the billions of dollars at stake in the game of moving drugs across the U.S. border, it should not be a surprise to anyone in a position of power that the maquila industrial zones in Juarez have become essentially a “Green Zone” within that city’s long-running narco-turf war?

Even in the highly unlikely scenario of there being absolutely no corruption within the maquila business community in Juarez — no payment of protection money or harboring of illegal drug-trafficking fronts — the U.S. and other foreign corporations who profit from the cheap labor of the maquilas, the Mexican government that earns tax revenue off of those factories, and the drug-trafficking organizations that cloak the movement of their prohibited products within the legal flow of maquila-produced goods appear to have a mutually aligned business interest in keeping that stream of commerce safe from harm.

In a cynical twist of the old saying about General Motors, when it comes to cross-border commerce, it seems that what is good for the maquila industry in Mexico is also good for Chapo Guzman & Co.’s Narco-Trafficking Inc.

In Juarez, it is those outside that protected zone who do the dying.

Stay tuned …. 

The REDCO report can be found at this link.

CIA Acquired the Pirated Software for Use in Drone Program, Lawsuit Claims

A small Massachusetts tech company scored a significant victory in court this week in a lawsuit in which the CIA has been accused of purchasing pirated software code for its Predator Drone program.

A judge in Suffolk County Superior Court in Boston ruled that a breach-of-contract claim filed against the company, Intelligent Integration Systems Inc., or IISI, by Marlborough, Mass-.based computer maker Netezza Corp. should be dismissed. In fact, the judge’s ruling states, it was Netezza that improperly terminated its contract with IISI.

In addition, the judge ruled that IISI was not required to develop software for a new data-warehouse computer that Netezza had allegedly sold to the CIA for use in the agency’s drone program.

The lawsuit, filed in November 2009, revolves around a series of claims and counterclaims related to a sophisticated, analytical software program, known as Geospatial, that was developed by Boston-based IISI and is capable of integrating at high speeds spatial data, such as maps and visual images, with non-visual data, such as names and phone numbers.

The essential argument in the lawsuit between Netezza and IISI boils down to whether IISI was required to create another version of its Geospatial software for a new high-speed data-warehouse computer product that was launched by Netezza last year and ultimately sold to a major government client, which IISI pleadings allege is the CIA. Both parties in the case agree that IISI did sell a version of Geospatial to Netezza that was designed to operate on that company’s prior data warehouse platform, called the Netezza Performance Server.

However, IISI argues that, per a contract agreement between the two companies, it was not required to develop a new version of its software to operate on Netezza’s latest hardware product, dubbed the TwinFin — unveiled publicly in 2009.

Netezza claimed otherwise and allegedly, according to IISI’s pleadings for summary judgment in the case, unilaterally cancelled its contract with ISSI and also “hacked” ISSI’s Geospatial source code “and created a version of Geospatial that ran on the TwinFin, though very imperfectly, which it delivered to the CIA in October 2009, and which the CIA accepted.”

[See this link for a previous Narco News story detailing the entire case.]

Following are excerpts from the judge’s ruling, issued yesterday, Aug. 20:

The Court concludes that IISI was not contractually obligated to make its Geospatial software product work on Netezza’s TwinFin appliance [computer]. Because Netezza thus has no reasonable expectation of proving its claim that IISI breached an obligation under the Agreement by refusing to make its Geospatial software operate without error on the TwinFin appliance, summary judgment shall enter for ISSI on Netezza’s breach of contract count.

… A judgment shall also enter … declaring that Netezza Corp. did not have good cause to terminate its 2008 Purchase and Distribution agreement with Intelligent Integration System Inc.

Several additional claims made against Netezza by ISSI are still pending before the court, including a request for an injunction “prohibiting Netezza from continuing to manufacture, distribute or market” any products that are “derived from, in whole or in part, any one or more of (or any portion of)” ISSI’s products.

The judge is expected as early as next week to address those claims as well as the question of whether there will be additional discovery in the case, sources tell Narco News.

The stakes for the publicly traded Netezza (NYSE-NZ) with respect to those unresolved legal claims appear to be significant, based on information revealed in its fiscal year 2010 report to security holders, which is filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission:

We have history of losses and we may not maintain profitability in the future. We have been profitable for the last three fiscal years generating net income of $4.2 million in fiscal 2010, $31.5 million in fiscal 2009 and $2.0 million in fiscal 2008, but we had not been profitable in any prior fiscal period As of January 31, 2010, our accumulated deficit was $43.4 million.

…. Nearly all of our revenue is derived from sales and service of our data warehouse appliance product family [such as the TwinFin] and we expect that this product family will account for substantially all of our revenue for the foreseeable future. If the data warehouse market declines or our data warehouse appliance products fail to maintain or achieve greater market acceptance, we will not be able to grow our revenues sufficiently to maintain profitability.

…. In November 2009 we filed a lawsuit against Intelligent Integration Systems Inc., former solutions provider to Netezza that we refer to as IlSi, alleging that IlSi breached an agreement with us…. In January 2010, IlSi filed an answer and counterclaim in response to our complaint in which IlSi alleges that we breached our contract with IlSi…. In its counterclaim lISi seeks unspecified monetary damages, an injunction requiring us to return its trade secrets and proprietary information, costs and attorneys fees. We intend to vigorously defend ourselves against IlSis counterclaims However the prosecution of our lawsuit against IlSi and the defense against IlSi’s counterclaims may require significant investment of time and financial resources.

So it seems clear the outcome of the litigation with ISSI has important implications for Netezza’s future business prospects.

What isn’t so clear at this point is how ISSI will address any possible misappropriation of its intellectual property (specifically, the alleged acceptance of the “hacked,” and faulty Geospatial software) by the U.S. government via the CIA for supposed use in the Predator Drone program, which involves the use of unmanned aircraft to target and kill people in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

A judge in the state of Massachusetts court system would appear to have little power to address that broader federal question, though it seems to be a matter which raises implications that should be of real concern for a far larger constituency than ISSI.

The judge’s ruling in the ISSI/Netezza lawsuit can be found at this link.

Stay tuned …. 

On the heels of the Mexican president’s recent statements favoring a debate to examine drug legalization, Felipe Calderón today reiterated that the current policy of having the Armed Forces enforce the drug laws will continue until his term ends in late 2012.

The daily El Universal quotes the president from a speech at the military base known as Campo Marte as saying:

"What we need is that once this policing stage is over, is for the federal and local authorities to have the strength and the force to be there in absence of the Army. Today, unfortunately, that can't be done…

“My commitment to security will remain until the last day of my government, and if to fulfill that commitment I have to order the Armed Forces as mandated by the Constitution, I will continue doing so.”

Speaking at Campo Marte in Mexico City, Calderón stated that the Mexican Army is likely to continue to battling drug trafficking groups in the country until his term ends in November 2012.

Since 2006, Calderón has deployed the Armed Forces in drug enforcement and drug war related violence has correspondingly increased. An estimated 28,000 people have been killed as casualties of the war on drugs since Calderón took office, and 2010 is could be the deadliest year yet, with more than 7,000 lives lost since January 1. That's almost the total casualty rate for 2009. In fact, the only place in the country that has been immune from the rapid surge in violence is Mexico City, a federal district where the Army is prohibited from law enforcement activities.

Narco News has also reported that there have been more human rights complaints against the military during Calderón’s administration than every before. Out of the 4,035 complaints that have been reported since 2006, 56 members of the armed services have been disciplined since that time.

A Summary of Our Online Networks as of August 16, 2010

August 16, 2010…

On Facebook:

Click to "like" Narco News, here.

Free Email Alerts Lists:

English: 3458 subcribers

Spanish: 456 subscribers

595 Twitter Followers

59 Twitter Lists Following

Narco News TV Ratings:

Jodido México 2010

Trending! 78,483 viewers since July 1, 2010

F**cked Mexico 2010 with English Subtitles

1,014 viewers since July 16, 2010

Torture in Egypt

13,896 viewers since February 26, 2010

¿Donde están Los Mayas?

Trending! 4,178 since June 16, 2010

Where Are the Maya?

Trending! 3,168 viewers since June 16, 2010

Recent Featured Reports:

Tech Firm Claims Its Software “Hacked” in CIA’s Quest for Drone Code

August 8, 2010, by Bill Conroy

Border Patrol Looking To Expand Unmanned Air Drone Operations With Department of Defense

August 9, 2010, by Erin Rosa

Around the Newsroom:

¡We welcome the new tool in authentic journalism: Narco News TV!

this week feautures:

by Sebastian Kolendo

Un resumen de nuestras redes en línea hasta el 16 de agosto de 2010

16 de agosto de 2010

En Facebook:

Dar clic aquí para la opción "me gusta" Narco News.

Listas para recibir correos de alertas gratuitas

Inglés: 3458 suscriptores

Español:  456 suscriptores

595 Seguidores en Twitter

59 Listas de Twitter siguiendo a Narco News

Ratings de Narco News TV:

Jodido México 2010

¡Marcando tendencia! 78,483 videntes desde el 1 de julio de 2010

F**cked Mexico 2010 con subtítulos en inglés

1014 videntes desde el 16 de julio de 2010

Tortura en Egipto

806 videntes desde el 26 de febrero de 2010

¿Donde están Los Mayas?

¡Marcando tendencia! 4,178 videntes desde el 16 de junio de 2010

Where Are the Maya?

3,168 videntes desde el 16 de junio de 2010

Recientes reportajes destacados:

Al Gore provoca controversia, esta vez en México

6 de agosto de 2010, Por Erin Rosa y Fernando León

Alrededor de la sala de redacción:

¡Le damos la bienvenida a la nueva herramienta en periodismo auténtico: Narco News TV!

esta semana nos ofrece:

La aventura mexicana de Al Gore por Sebastián Kolendo

By Brenda Norrell

Photo: The Invisibles

TUCSON -- The women and children are raped. They are kidnapped. Those who can not remember the names of their relatives in the United States with money, have the tips of their tongues cut off. Those who can not pay the kidnappers are tortured, chopped into pieces and their bodies burned in boiling pots of diesel oil. Some are still alive when they are thrown in.

The Mexican government knows this, but does nothing to stop it.

These are the “Invisibles.”

These are the stories of migrants traveling on foot from southern Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. They are traveling north through Mexico, risking their lives to help their families.

Their stories are told in “The Invisibles,” which premiered on the campus of the University of Arizona on August 15.

With striking cinematography, and powerful stories, this is the reality of the death walk. The filmmakers execute the four short films in perfect style, weaving stories of struggle and tragedy, while revealing the face of humanity.

A 17-year-old tells of her family being robbed. Then she was raped. More than half of the women migrants are raped. A man in a hospital bed tells of being thrown from a train. Along the train route, kidnappers hide waiting to kidnap the migrants.

Why? As one young mother put it: There is no work at home and everything is expensive. When her children needed school supplies and she could not buy them, she made the decision to travel on foot from Central America, risking all for a job in the US.

Filmmaker Marc Silver answered questions about the film after the screening. Silver described his early interest in resistance efforts, which led to the profound truth of the deaths of migrants in the Sonoran Desert in Arizona. Amnesty International learned of the project and is now sponsoring the effort to bring about education.

When asked if migrants were reluctant to tell their story, Silver said that they were glad to have an opportunity to tell their stories, to share the horror of the abuse they had suffered in Mexico.

The four-part “The Invisibles,” is co-directed by Silver and actor Gael Garcia Bernal, star of “The Motorcycle Diaries.” The four segments are part of a feature length film now being filmed which will include the story of migrants dying in the Sonoran Desert.

Silver said he was pleased with the cooperation he has received in southern Arizona. “No one wants to see more people die in the desert.”

When asked what could be done, Silver recommended helping Tucson-based humanitarian aid organizations, including No More Deaths, the Samaritans and those who put out water for migrants at Humane Borders.

But Silver said what is needed is systematic change, change that encompasses trade and economies.

The Spanish language four-part series, “The Invisibles,” with English subtitles, will be shown on Mexico television to bring awareness to the abuse and torture of migrants ongoing in Mexico. The four part series is expected to be available on YouTube in the fall.

Silver said telling these stories has been empowering to the migrants who suffer abuse. It is also empowering to those who hear their stories, stories of resilience and courage.

Silver said there are also acts of kindness by those who try and make a difference in Mexico. These include volunteers at migrant shelters, who are also targeted with abuse for helping migrants.

Then, there are also village women who throw bags of oranges or tortillas to those migrants riding on top of trains.

brendanorrell@gmail.com

Declassified documents from the Nixon government reveal the tactics used to free one of its officials

Yesterday the National Security Archive, an independent organization devoted to shining a light on information related to national security in the United States, released a series of declassified documents from the Richard Nixon administration, which show the strategy that was was used to try and avoid the death of its United States Agency for International Development (USAID) director Dan Mitrione in Uruguay, by threatening to kill guerrilla leaders of the Uruguayan National Liberation Movement -Tupamaros (MLN in Spanish initials).

Mitrione had been kidnapped by the MLN on July 31, 1970. The guerillas accused him of training the  Uruguayan police and military in counterinsurgency warfare, which the South American country had lived through since the late 1960s. That day, the guerrillas kidnapped him at his home while pretending to be workers with the telephone company who had come to repair a phone line. In exchange for the liberation of  Mitrione, the MLN demanded the release of 150 of their own prisoners.

In the years prior to his arrival in Uruguay, Mitrione had been in Brazil instructing Brazilian coup security forces in torture techniques. The Brazilian coup of 1964 was the first in a long list of South American dictatorships, which were brought together under what was called Operation Condor, and which resulted in the persecution, detention and disappearances of tens of thousands of people for political reasons.

Mitrione went to Uruguay with the same purpose as in Brazil: to train Uruguayan security forces in torture techniques. John Stockwell, an ex-CIA agent, wrote in 1991 in his book The Praetorian Guard that in training sessions “Mitrione would order the kidnapping of beggars from the streets to be used as guinea pigs.”

After the kidnapping of Mitrione, the Nixon administration—through the State Department—ordered the Uruguayan government of  Jorge Pacheco Areco to threaten to kill the guerrilla prisoners, especially MLN member Raúl Sendic, if the guerillas didn't release the US torturer alive. On August 9, 1970, Secretary of State William Rogers sent a telegram to Charles Adair, the American ambassador in Montevideo, saying that the Uruguayan government had considered “use of threat to kill Sendic and other key MLN prisoners if Mitrione is killed.” And in the case “this has not been considered, you should raise it with the [Uruguayan government].”

A day later, Mitrione was found dead in the trunk of a car. The declassification of these documents shows how the Nixon administration—in addition to keeping officials who trained security forces in torture—threatened MLN members with death and promoted the bloody “dirty wars” in South America, which ended the lives of thousands of people in the region.

Translated by Erin Rosa

Son desclasificados documentos en donde el gobierno de Nixon revela la táctica usada para la liberación de su agente

12 de agosto de 2010

El día de ayer, el Archivo en Seguridad Nacional (NSA, por sus siglas en inglés), organización independiente que se dedica a esclarecer información sobre seguridad nacional en los Estados Unidos, dio a conocer en  una serie de documentos desclasificados del gobierno de Richard Nixon (1969-1974) donde se revela  la estrategia utilizada para tratar de evitar la muerte del director de la Oficina de Seguridad Pública de la Agencia para el Desarrollo Internacional de los Estados Unidos (USAID, por sus siglas en inglés), Dan Mitrione, en Uruguay, mediante la amenaza de matar a dirigentes de la guerrilla uruguaya Movimiento de Liberación Nacional- Tupamaros (MLN)

Mitrione había sido secuestrado por el MLN el 31 de julio de 1970. La guerrilla uruguaya lo acusaba de entrenar a la policía y militares uruguayos en la guerra contrainsurgente que el país sudamericano vivía desde fines de los años 60. Ese 31 de julio la guerrilla lo secuestró en su hogar fingiendo ser trabajadores de la compañia telefónica que venían a reparar la línea telefónica. A cambio de la liberación de Mitrione, el MLN pedía la excarcelación de 150 presos tupamaros.

En los años previos a su llegada a Uruguay, Mitrione había estado en Brasil entrenando en técnicas de tortura a las golpistas fuerzas de seguridad brasileñas. El golpe de Estado de 1964 en Brasil fue el primero en la larga lista de dictaduras sudamericanas que se aglutinaron bajo el denominado Plan Cóndor, y que significó en la persecución, detención y desaparición de decenas de miles de personas por motivos políticos.

Mitrione llegó a Uruguay con el mismo propósito que en Brasil, capacitar a las fuerzas de seguridad uruguayas en técnincas de tortura. El ex agente de la CIA, John Stockwell, escribió en 1991 en su libro “La Guardia Pretoriana” que en las sesiones de entrenamiento “Mitrione ordenaba secuestrar limosneros de las calles para usarlos como conejillos de indias.”

Luego del secuestro de Mitrione, el gobierno de Nixon, a través del Departamento de Estado ordenó al gobierno uruguayo de Jorge Pacheco Areco que amenazara con matar a los tupamaros presos, especialmente al dirigente Raúl Sendic, en caso de que la guerrilla no entregara con vida al torturador estadunidense. El 9 de agosto de 1970, el Secretario de Estado, William Rogers, envió un telegrama al embajador en Montevideo, Charles Adair, en donde dice que el gobierno uruguayo ha considerado “amenazar con matar a [Raúl] Sendic y a otros prisioneros del MLN si Mitrione es asesinado.” Y en caso “de no haber sido considerado, deberías de abordarlo de inmediato con el gobierno uruguayo.”

Mitrione fue hallado muerto un día después en la cajuela de un auto. La desclasificación de los documentos muestran como el gobierno de Nixon al amenazar de muerte a miembros del MLN—además de mantener agentes que capacitaban a las fuerzas de seguridad en técnicas de tortura—promovió la sangrienta guerra sucia en los países sudamericanos y que terminó con la vida de miles de personas en toda la región.

While a recent Narco News report states that the Central Intelligence Agency may be using faulty “hacked” programming code made for operating its unmanned Predator drone aircraft, there's also the matter of the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency, which is seeking to strengthen its partnership with the Department of Defense (DOD) to better monitor the US-Mexico border with surveillance drones.

Retired Air Force Major General Michael C. Kostelnik, who is now assistant commissioner to the Border Patrol's Air and Marine office, stated before a House of Representatives subcommittee last month that three specific DOD programs “are being tested or adopted” by the Border Patrol to enhance homeland security operations.

The first program, according to Kostelnik, “would provide CBP with a radar capability with active, near-real time vehicle and dismounted change detection, to support border ground operations, especially in areas subject to high levels of border violence.” In other words, the agency would be able to use DOD radar for its drone aircraft to better see what's happening on the ground.

The second tool would provide better navigation for the drones, with DOD “enhanced signals direction-finding capabilities that could be used both over land and during coastal and long range maritime operations.”

Third, there's a DOD “information and video” network, which will be relayed from a “variety of aviation platforms and sensors” and be used to provide the CBP with “detailed analysis” and the ability “coordinate aviation mission assignments” for “broad border area campaigns and major events.” The network is based off of a system used by the Air Force, according to the assistant commissioner. The first CBP “cell” in the network is expected be located at the agency's Air and Marine Operations Center n Riverside, Cailf. and be operational by the end of the year.

The Border Patrol has worked with the armed forces before—most notably with the Coast Guard, which partnered with the CBP in obtaining a more advanced “Guardian” drone, an offshore version of the Predator craft. The two agencies also share resources, including office space and aviators, according to congressional testimonies.

However, the most recent plans by the Border Patrol to use these DOD resources represents a new terrain in drone technology for the US-Mexico border.

More on the Border Patrol drone program:

• The agency has used Predator drones for more than 5 years, and over 6,500 flight hours have been logged so far. The drones can be airborne for approximately 20 hours at a time. Unlike other models, the Border Patrol states that these drones do not carry missiles.

• The Border Patrol currently operates six drone aircraft—five are for land operations and the other one is used for maritime operations. A second maritime unit is expected to be delivered before the end of the year, and the President's 2011 budget calls for a third one.

• Since 2005, the main operating base for the drone program has been the US Army's Fort Huachuca, near Sierra Vista, Ariz. Three drones are located there.

• Two aircraft are located at Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota to monitor the US-Canada border.

Al Gore went to great lengths to avoid the press when he traveled to Mexico to give a speech last week—so much so that journalists trying to cover the event were given a memo with 7 commandments drafted—reporters were told—by Gore's representatives to block the media from getting anywhere near the lecture.

The speech took place in the state of Mexico's capital city of Toluca, where Gore was invited by state Governor Enrique Peña Nieto, a main contender in Mexico's 2012 presidential elections and a member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI in Spanish initials), which until 2000 had ruled the country for 7 decades.

The Narco News Team was in the press room in Toluca, and obtained the memo, which was originally written in Spanish and included in press packets given to journalists trying to cover the event.

In English, the press advisory states:

In response to the policies established by Mr. Al Gore's office for the given conference, it is reported that:

• Those who carry press or photojournalist badges will not have access to the forum or alternative venues.
• Only the first five minutes of the keynote address will be transmited to the press room.
• There won't be any transmission of the address through any media after the first 5 minutes, neither live or in recorded form, by radio, TV or through the Internet.
• There will not be a transcribed version of this address, save for the first 5 minutes of it.
• There will be no interviews or press conferences with Mr. Gore.
• The Coordinating General of Public Relations with the Mexican State Government will make  photographs of Mr. Gore's appearance in the state of Mexico available to the press on the website www.edomex.gob.mx.
• The Coordinating General of Public Relations with the Mexican State Government will make audio and video copies of the first five minutes of the keynote address available to the press.

We appreciate your understanding of these rules.

Gore should be worried about questions—and not for reasons relating to massage therapy. He was paid to speak in Toluca by private sponsors, but state officials refuse to say how much he was paid and by whom. Then there's Peña Nieto, who in 2006 used his state police to viciously rape dozens of women and kill residents in the town of San Salvador Atenco. Gore failed to acknowledge those inconvenient truths during the first five minutes of his speech, when he praised Peña Nieto, saying, “I admire your leadership.”