Mexico/United States Border - Corruption and the War on Drugs
ERRI Summary/Review; as of February 25, 1997

Excerpted from ENNFAX, Vol. 2, No. 100, 04/09/96

Continued Border Problems; Great S.W. Report
By: Paul Copher, ERRI CT Analyst-At-Large

Southwest United States...

ENN has received some intelligence from the southwest portion of the United States. The United States Border
Patrol is now reporting that several hundred illegal immigrants are now entering the U.S. through Douglas, Arizona,
instead of Nogales, Arizona, which now has steel fences and an increase in personnel guarding that area.

Shooting targets have been found hung to a fence along the U.S./Mexico border. The targets depict the head of a
caucasian (officer/agent?) with many holes shot through it. This is being thought of as a warning to Border
personnel.

A highly secretive anti-narcotics team has discovered that their identities may be known to drug dealers. Even
though great care has been taken to keep the identities of the agents secret, highly sophisticated transmitters have
been found underneath their vehicles.

Border problems continue to escalate, with threats coming from both drug dealers and those trafficking in illegal
immigrants.

Excerpted from ENN Intelligence Report - 02/04/97 - Vol. 3, No. 035

SMALLER DRUG GROUPS SPRING UP IN MEXICO ...
By Steve Macko, ENN Editor

One of Mexico's top law enforcement officials recently said that new drug cartels have popped up all over Mexico. Some of these drug traffickers ship tons of narcotics to the U.S. and are moving in on the territory of the older, larger drug gangs.

Last Friday, the head of Mexico's National Institute for Drug Combat (INCD) told reporters that smaller groups have sprung up while Mexican authorities concentrated their efforts on investigating the larger drug lords.

"We have detected that while the resources and the efforts are all directed against the capos, there are a series of smaller drug groups which are growing and growing each day," said General Jesus Gutierrez Rebollo, who is best described as General Barry MacCaffrey's counterpart in Mexico. McCaffrey heads the White House Office on drugs and drug abuse.

Mexico is said to have three major drug cartels. The largest is called the Juarez cartel that is headed by the infamous Amado Carrillo Fuentes, AKA "Lord of the Skies." Fuentes got the nickname because he is known to fly very big Colombian cocaine shipments into the United States. Carrillo barely escaped arrest in January in the northern Mexican state of Sinaloa. Mexican federales knew that he was going to his sister's wedding, but apparently Carrillo was tipped-off and escaped capture.

The other two large drug cartels in Mexico are the Gulf Cartel, whose leader Juan Garcia Abrego received a life sentence in a U.S. federal court last week, and the Pacific cartel that operates in the area around Tijuana. The Pacific cartel is run by the infamous Arellano Felix brothers.

Gutierrez said that the newer, smaller, drug trafficking groups "ship tons rather than kilos" of various narcotics. Their combined traffic may equal as much as the Juarez cartel.

The Mexican general would not say where in Mexico these newer gangs are operating from. However, he did say that one of the Mexican regions "might be" the Yucatan peninsula.

What is now happening in Mexico does sort of reflect what occurred in Colombia after the Medellin and Cali drug cartels were brought down. There was a fragmentation of "mini-cartels" that are now operating from smaller provincial towns in Colombia.

ERRI analysts say that more attention should be given to the southern border of the United States. The amount of drugs that continues to pour into the U.S. is by no means slowing down. Drug use in the United States begins to rise again and a major effort is needed to stem the flow of the smuggling, as well as better educating young people about the dangers of using the drugs.

02/09/97-Agence France-Presse Report

"WASHINGTON, Feb 9 (Feb 9, 1997 1:01 p.m. EST) - Hundreds of Mexican officials are helping a major drug mafia that operates in Mexico and the United States, The Washington Post said Sunday.

Citing documents filed by Mexico in a U.S. federal court, the paper said the cartel pays the officials for a vast array of services ranging from assassinations to information about investigations.

In one case, a military officer in President Ernesto Zedillo's security detail reportedly hired soldiers to help unload planes transporting cocaine from Colombia. That officer also is said to have played a role in the murder of a counter-narcotics chief.

Mexico filed the court documents in a bid to extradite two men: Emilio Valdez Mainero, 32, and Alfredo Hodayan Palacios, 25, two alleged hit men for the Arellano Felix brothers. The brothers, based in the border city of Tijuana, are reportedly reponsible for most of the cocaine, marijuana and methamphetamines that enter California from Mexico.

The paper says the revelations could affect the Clinton administration's decision next month on whether to "certify" that Mexico is doing enough to fight drug trafficking." -- Copyright © 1997 Agence France-Presse

02/19/97- ENN Emerg. Servc. Rpt. - Vol. 1, No. 050

MEXICO CITY (ENN) - Mexican law enforcement authorities have arrested its anti-drug chief after discovering connections between General Jose Gutierrez Rebollo and reputed drug lord Amado Carrillo Fuentes -- said to be Mexico's biggest drug trafficker. Fuentes is said to be the head of the Juarez drug cartel.

Gutierrez had just been named to head the National Institute for the Fight Against Drugs in December of 1996. A very upest Mexican Defense Minister Enrique Cervantes, who personally recommeded Gutierrez to his post, denounced Gutierrez and said the general had "deceived his superiors and defrauded the trust placed in him."

Cervantes said that Gutierrez gave the appearance of doing an efficient job in the capture of several drug dealers, but "We now consider that he acted deliberately and consciously in the interests of, and to, strengthen other groups." In other words, Gutierrez was assisting in arresting the drug trafficking competitors of Fuentes.

ERRI criminalists say that the corruption of Gutierrez is just the same old story that plagues Mexico. However, Mexican authorities should be given credit in their swift handling of this serious case.

02/20/97 - ENN Intel. Rpt. - Vol. 3, No. 051

MEXICO CITY (ENN) - General Jesus Gutierrez Rebollo, the army general that was appointed to bring integrity to Mexico's war on drugs has been arrested on suspicion of taking bribes to protect a leading drug trafficker. This case reportedly shocked Mexico's military and political establishment and Gutierrez' U.S. counterpart General Barry McCaffrey (ret.). When authorities confronted Gutierrez with the charges, he reportedly suffered a heart attack.

02/21/97- ENN Emerg. Srvc. Rpt. Vol. 1, No. 052

WASHINGTON (ENN) - The arrest of Mexico's chief of the Institute to Combat Drugs on suspicion of taking bribes from a powerful Mexican drug trafficker has raised disturbing questions about whether sensitive U.S. intelligence has been compromised in U.S.-Mexican drug operations.

General Jesus Gutierrez Rebollo, age 62, is accused of taking money from Amado Carrillo Fuentes, AKA "Lord of the Skies," who is the reputed head of the powerful Juarez drug cartel.

In her weekly press conference, U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno said on Thursday that she was not previously aware of any problems with Gutierrez until after the arrest had been made by Mexican authorities. She said that the United States was trying to determine if any classified intelligence had been compromised or if any U.S. drug informants have been placed in danger.

Reno said, "I am very disappointed in what happened, but I am impressed that the Mexican government responded so quickly and indicated so affirmatively that it was not going to put up with corruption."

At a meeting of ERRI analysts on Thursday, concern was expressed by the apparent growing power and influence of the Mexican drug cartels. The situation is bearing remarkable similarities to what had occurred in Colombia in the past. In Colombia, there were a number of years that were extremely bloody with drug cartel violence. It is feared that the same thing could happen in Mexico and that the violence could spill over the border into the United States. ERRI is closely monitoring this situation.

02/22/97 - ENN Intel. Rpt.Vol. 3, No. 053

EL PASO, TEXAS (ENN) - U.S. Customs officials are warning about a new form of amphetamines. In a drug seizure that occurred Friday at the U.S.-Mexican border, small, pink, heart-shaped pills were discovered in a car.

A Customs Service spokesman said that hundereds of thousands of the pills were found by a drug-sniffing dog in the car's dash- board. The spokesman said, "I've never seen anything like it. Thousands of pink little heart pills. No one even knew what it was at first."

The Mexican driver of the car was arrested. Chemical tests later determined that the pills were amphetamines, also known as "speed." The Customs Service said that the raw chemicals used to make amphetamines is often seized at the U.S.-Mexican border, but rarely in already-prepared pill form.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration says that amphetamine use in the United States is on the rise. More and more amphetamine labs are being built in Mexico.

Instant Analysis of : 02/24/97

By: Paul Copher, ENN Counter-Terrorist-Analyst-At-Large

Although well known for two years that the Cali and other Colombian drug cartels have moved substancial resources into Sonora Mexico and have nearly all police, federales, and government personnel on the payroll, the news hit the papers for the first time. AZ papers are shocked although most street officers in border towns tried to spread the story. The potential loss of a free trade border worried business people on both sides.

Although processing and storage facilities for drugs are situated all along the border with Mex and AZ, nothing has been done by Mexican local police. Various anti drug agencies had many raids foiled in the past two years when Sonoran Mexican police were often put on alert to PROTECT the narcotics.

The drug dealers often live in the US while running businesses at the border. Many mercenaries from all over the world are assigned security details and training for the cartels. Many US ex military SpecOps are paid very well to conduct electronic sweeps and run border infiltrations.

Now that the US papers have disclosed this to the general public, it remains to be seen what the US authorities will do.

See some earlier ENN Articles on This Issue:

08/24/96-12:00CDT--Latin American Security Issues; Crime and Drugs
08/07/96-14:00CDT--Drug Dealers Invade Eagle Pass, TX
05/03/96-10:35CDT--Nationwide Drug Sweep Nets 150 Arrests; Mexico/Cali Connections

(C) EmergencyNet News Service, 1997. All rights reserved; redistribution without permission is prohibited.

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