Drug War In Mexico

For John, BLUF:  The drug war in Mexico has grown progressively more brutal.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

Here is a blog column from IVN,♠ by LA County Sheriff John Sullivan, published 25 September, and titled "Barbarization in Mexico Punctuated by Hyper Violence".

Here is the last paragraph of this report:

The need for capacity building for the Mexican security sector is graphically reinforced by a recent uptick in barbarization, in this case a crucifixion.  On Friday, 07 September 2012 a 24 year-old man, Eladio Martinez Cruz was found crucified on a traffic sign in Contepec, Michoacán.  Allegedly he was arrested by municipal police for rape and subsequently taken from their custody, tortured, castrated, and crucified (other barbaric details scrubbed).  This case, while a single incident, follows the trend of increasing barbarization throughout the life of Mexico’s narco conflict.  Actions—such as the Mérida Initiative—to stabilize the threat and contain the reach of the cartels and growth of narcocultura are essential to securing Mexico, the US, and Western Hemisphere.

Now that the cartel is showing that it is the real government, by asserting the right to try and punish alleged wrong-doers.  This should not be taken lightly.  It represents a movement up the stages of Mao's three phases of revolutionary war.

Perhaps the good news is that the cartels may not wish to take over the government, preferring to operate with impunity behind a very weak central government, a government that will acquiesce to the demands of the cartel without providing an excuse for the United States to step in, which would be costly for the cartels.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  "The Independent Voter Network (IVN) is a new kind of news network, an online news platform for communication between independent-minded voters, public officials, civic leaders, and journalists.  The Network is dedicated to providing political analysis and rational commentary in an effort to elevate the level of our public discourse."