Gunmen target Mexico rehab centre

[The Pink Ninja]

Gunmen stormed into a drug treatment clinic in northern Mexico, lined patients up against a wall and killed at least 17 of them, officials say.

Several others were injured in the attack in Ciudad Juarez on the Mexico-US border, where more than 1,000 people have died in drug violence this year.

Drug clinics in Juarez have been hit before with traffickers accusing them of protecting dealers from rival gangs.

In other violence, a senior police officer was killed in western Mexico.

Jose Manuel Revuelta, deputy police chief in the state of Michoacan, was killed by heavily armed men in two cars who intercepted the vehicle he was driving. His two bodyguards and a bystander were also killed.

Mr Revuelta, 38, was killed blocks away from police headquarters in the state capital, Morelia. He was appointed to the post just two weeks ago.

Michoacan, the home state of President Felipe Calderon, is the base of one of the country's most violent drug gangs, known as the Family or La Familia.

Wednesday's killings in Ciudad Juarez are the latest evidence of the vicious inter-gang drug war that has seen some 1,400 drug-related deaths in the city so far this year.

According to security officials, hooded gunmen burst into the drug clinic, forced patients into a corridor, lined them up and shot them.

At least 17 died and several were hurt in the attack, which was one of the deadliest in Ciudad Juarez since Mr Calderon launched his crackdown on the drug gangs in late 2006.

Thousands of extra police and troops have been deployed in Ciudad Juarez to try to stem the violence.

Rehabilitation clinics in Juarez have been targeted before. Last year, eight people were killed when gunmen forced their way in.

Cartel members who know they are on a hit list are understood to use such facilities as a safe hiding place, says the BBC's Stephen Gibbs in Mexico City.

Earlier this week, the state security minister, Victor Valencia de los Santos, said that rehab centres had become the breeding ground for criminal gangs.

"In this type of places, the drug cartels are recruiting youngsters from 17 to 23 years of age," he was quoted as saying by Mexico's El Universal newspaper.

The killings came as President Calderon used his annual state of the union address to defend his government's battle against the drug gangs.

"As never before, we have weakened the logistical and financial structure of crime," Mr Calderon said.

His government was dealing a "hard blow" to organised crime, Mr Calderon said, detailing that under his administration, some 80,000 people with presumed links to drug gangs had been detained, including 70 top traffickers.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8235101.stm

Will the USA end up with a failed state on it's border?

13, 000 have died in the Mexican Drug War since 2006.

[Mael]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8235101.stm

Will the USA end up with a failed state on it's border?

13, 000 have died in the Mexican Drug War since 2006.

God I certainly hope not.

For starters, waves of immigrants will come pouring in more than they already are, prompting political turmoil and all those lovely people with guns who feel like the Minuteman Project is not doing enough. Shit will go from bad to worse.

Drugs and violence will also pour into the US border and thus that will prompt possible federal agency/military action. I can only feel bad that US drug habits to an extent helped fuel this nonsense and the US/Mexico's incompetence in all this will only make these bad Mexicans feel more emboldened to strike harder. Do I think they'll be taking claims in American terriroty? Most likely not since our response would probably be more heavy-handed. But will this outright kill amnesty to illegal immigrants. It's starting to lean in that direction.

[Hi Im God]

Will the USA end up with a failed state on it's border?


Other than a drug war easily solved by de-criminalization or less pressure made by the US on the eeeevil drugs. What the hell other kind of reasons would lead someone to assume Mexico is a failed state?

Because some took yer jabs?

[MunchKing]

Dear Vishnu, you are on a roll.

I don't see it coming to an end any time soon. Is Calderon considering a military intervention? It seems the police aren't up to it.

[Kunoichi no Kiri]

"Drug war" is a bit too glamorous a title for the wanton killing of police forces and random acts of violence perpetrated by the cartels. I reckon it's time for Mexico to call down the clans and wage a real, no-shit war on drugs. Respond to cartel violence with the Ejercito, and give them orders to shoot on sight.

[The Space Cowboy]

Other than a drug war easily solved by de-criminalization or less pressure made by the US on the eeeevil drugs. What the hell other kind of reasons would lead someone to assume Mexico is a failed state?

Because some took yer jabs?

Legalizing drugs wouldn't do shit at this point except force the cartels to make money in other ways. They're too powerful and too big. Heck some of em make their money stealing oil from pipelines.

The cartels are basically the Taliban now.

[Altron]

Dear Vishnu, you are on a roll.

I don't see it coming to an end any time soon. Is Calderon considering a military intervention? It seems the police aren't up to it.
Mexican army soldiers are also getting killed along with generals, mayors, etc.. So they are kinda already using the military who are having a hard time fighting against cartels that are as well equipped or even better equipped than the Mexican military.

You know shit has hit the fan if even the cartels are able to easily pick off soldiers and maintain a vast array of weapons much more sophisticated than the ones being used by the government.:zaru

[-= Ziggy Stardust =-]

http://www.shopncsx.com/images/products/detail/revoltech_tengen_toppa_wx.jpg poor mexicans :(

[Mael]

And Gurren Lagann has to do with Mexico...how? :zaru

[-= Ziggy Stardust =-]

And Gurren Lagann has to do with Mexico...how? :zaru
Gunmen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Gurren_Lagann_mecha). :edu

[Megaharrison]

Legalizing drugs wouldn't do shit at this point except force the cartels to make money in other ways. They're too powerful and too big. Heck some of em make their money stealing oil from pipelines.

The cartels are basically the Taliban now.

Pretty much, it's pretty sad you still have the pro-pot gang whining about drug legalization. As if that would do anything. Now I'm not even against legalizing pot, I just feel that mixing some hippy movement BS with what is essentially a rebellion by armed gangs is naive and overly simplistic. These are massive and heavily armed criminal syndicates and they're directly challenging the collective Mexican government, and legalizing some pot won't just make them go away. Not to mention that with products such as Cocaine (who any sane person would want to keep illegal, if you don't you've never seen a real coke addict) they can still thrive. And ss demonstrated here, they're prepared to go to extreme lengths to make sure people continue to use their products anyway.

Unfortunately the only real way out without ending up a failed state is total war on these gangs. This is a guerrilla war against a vicious, competent, and heavily armed enemy and Mexico as well as the world in general needs to stop treating it as some police drug busting operation. As such they need to start treating Cartel members as enemy soldiers instead of common criminals. These measures are obviously extreme and I do not take them lightly, but sometimes a nation and a people have to fight to preserve their society, and for Mexico this is one of those situations.

[Utopia Realm]

Things are gonna get a whole lot worse before they get better it seems.:(

[Sama'el]

Mega, it would be silly to not use legalization even of cocaine as part of a comprehensive plan of action against the drug gangs. While crack cocaine is highly addictive, pure cocaine itself is not physically addictive, and is quite a bit safer than the crap you're likely to get from a drug gang anyway.

Attacking their economic base may not make them go away completely. Afterall, they'll still be trying to avoid taxes on their economic activity, but it will weaken their ability to organize, recruit and arm themselves.

[Altron]

Mega, it would be silly to not use legalization even of cocaine as part of a comprehensive plan of action against the drug gangs. While crack cocaine is highly addictive, pure cocaine itself is not physically addictive, and is quite a bit safer than the crap you're likely to get from a drug gang anyway.

Attacking their economic base may not make them go away completely. Afterall, they'll still be trying to avoid taxes on their economic activity, but it will weaken their ability to organize, recruit and arm themselves.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8237121.stm

Well you kinda have another whole new problem when cartels start recruiting willing American teenagers. :zaru

[Megaharrison]

Mega, it would be silly to not use legalization even of cocaine as part of a comprehensive plan of action against the drug gangs. While crack cocaine is highly addictive, pure cocaine itself is not physically addictive, and is quite a bit safer than the crap you're likely to get from a drug gang anyway.

Attacking their economic base may not make them go away completely. Afterall, they'll still be trying to avoid taxes on their economic activity, but it will weaken their ability to organize, recruit and arm themselves.

The market and demand for crack cocaine will always be there due to its highly addictive nature, and again you'd have to be insane to legalize it. My brother was on the stuff for a while, it's pretty horrible to see someone get addicted to that stuff.

Moreover try to compete with the cartels in a rival drug trade (even legally) by this point and they'll just go after the distributors, sellers, and buyers of the "legal" drugs. Want a Dutch coffee shop in Mexico? It'll get blown away the first week. At the end of the day the fact you have to militarily destroy these people is still there.

[Mael]

Cruise missiles in Mexican villas? :zaru

Maybe not such a bad idea. :LOS

[dummy plug]

drug problem is so hardcore over there but im still surprised at what i read :uwah

[Mael]

You shut your whore mouth. :pek

[Cirus]

You know if it is really such a problem why don't they just mobilize their military and take care of it in one big swoop? Problem will be solved in a week. Or at least a big portion of it because the government would then be sending the signal that the drug cartels shit is no longer going to be taken and they are going to be hunted down.

[Kunoichi no Kiri]

pure cocaine itself is not physically addictive, and is quite a bit safer than the crap you're likely to get from a drug gang anyway.
What

Wait...

What

You obviously read counter-culture publications and absorb a vast number of lies from them, that much is obvious from your posts. But I'd think with your level of intellect you'd be able to see through a lie as pathetic as "pure cocaine is not addictive".

[Tsukasa009]

Man... everytime i hear about Mexico it seems to keep getting more and more fucked up

[Cardboard Tube Knight]

"Drug war" is a bit too glamorous a title for the wanton killing of police forces and random acts of violence perpetrated by the cartels. I reckon it's time for Mexico to call down the clans and wage a real, no-shit war on drugs. Respond to cartel violence with the Ejercito, and give them orders to shoot on sight.

Too many people in Mexico profit from the drug war for there to be any real actions made against it.

[Kunoichi no Kiri]

Too many people in Mexico profit from the drug war for there to be any real actions made against it.

That's crap. A handful of cartel kingpins are making all the profits; the henchmen are just trying to get by, like the farmers and workers and honest citizenry that make up the vast, vast majority of Mexico's populace. Make it worth their while to find another profession - by blowing their heads off on sight, perhaps - and the tide can be turned.

[~Ageha~]

Juarez is bad right know people are scared of going there know. just a couple weeks a 4 year was shot and 4 teen from EL Paso Texas who went there. it has been over a thousand people that have been killed in Juarez this year. i used to go there when i was younger to bar hop but know it would be stupid. the college i go to is about 40 miles from the Mexican border and even one received an email to resist from going there. when i was younger and used to visit my mothers family in Chihuahua, it was not that bad but know even in the small town where there from people are getting shot. and the government does nothing. i heard in the new that mexico has 7 of the most dangorous places in the world. due to the cartels.

[Sama'el]

What

Wait...

What

You obviously read counter-culture publications and absorb a vast number of lies from them, that much is obvious from your posts. But I'd think with your level of intellect you'd be able to see through a lie as pathetic as "pure cocaine is not addictive".

Your body cannot become physically dependent on cocaine. It's a well established medical fact.

You can, however, become psychologically dependent on cocaine, just like any other habit. If psychological dependency is the standard by which we'd ban things, we'd have banned sex long ago.

[Cardboard Tube Knight]

That's crap. A handful of cartel kingpins are making all the profits; the henchmen are just trying to get by, like the farmers and workers and honest citizenry that make up the vast, vast majority of Mexico's populace. Make it worth their while to find another profession - by blowing their heads off on sight, perhaps - and the tide can be turned.

I have to agree with that last part but it seems that some of the cartels are getting better and better armed and seeming more and more well off.

[Kunoichi no Kiri]

Your body cannot become physically dependent on cocaine. It's a well established medical fact.

You can, however, become psychologically dependent on cocaine, just like any other habit. If psychological dependency is the standard by which we'd ban things, we'd have banned sex long ago.

Yeah.... except no, that's completely wrong, and comparing cocaine to sex is ludicrous.

Cocaine is, very very simply put, a dopamine reuptake inhibitor - that is, it prevents the neurotransmitters associated with pleasure from being recycled, and they build up to extreme levels. This is in stark contrast to the natural, comparatively tiny amount released during orgasm and sex. The excessive levels of dopamine can and absolutely do form powerful and nearly immediate physiological dependence, and a cocaine user coming off of an addiction can expect to experience everything from depression to schizophrenia to muscle weakness, headaches, and dizziness.

Physiologically speaking, continuous cocaine intake makes brain cells adapt to the powerful imbalances of transmitter levels in order to compensate for the dopamine extremes. Receptors appear or disappear from the cell surface, or they change their susceptibility for binding partners (ligands) – a mechanism called up or down regulation. That's the definition of physical addiction.

And crack cocaine is the same thing as cocaine, but made more bioavailable by putting it in a form that can be inhaled.

So what you should do now is throw away whatever book you read this in, or delete the bookmark, because this is a really, really absurd and harmful untruth.

[Cardboard Tube Knight]

Dude what are you talking about? Cocaine is better than sex...it makes sex better.

[Kunoichi no Kiri]

Dude what are you talking about? Cocaine is better than sex...it makes sex better.

Because the very same neurotransmitters that cocaine blocks from reuptake are generated in large quantities during sex.

It's like dumping a big bucket of water in a plugged up sink. :hmm

[Cardboard Tube Knight]

Because the very same neurotransmitters that cocaine blocks from reuptake are generated in large quantities during sex.

It's like dumping a big bucket of water in a plugged up sink. :hmm

I actually don't know anything about cocaine, never done it. But from what I understand of the drug, it should be addictive. Even then medically addictive is kind of a loose term because people can become addicted to things and their own reaction can release chemicals in their body. That's the way I understood addictions to things that were generally seen a nonaddictive.

People who are cutters, for instance, need the feeling to feel good. Couldn't that be considered an addiction.

[soulnova]

The ssad thing is, you can't tell a member of a Cartel from a civilian. Is not like they have this sign on their shirt "Hi, I'm Narco".

As an example, a Cartel member lived next door from my house. Yeah. The only thing that stroke me as odd was that they had several SUV and parties at night. It was the whole family: Grandma, children, teenagers, the adults, etc. Two years after I moved out from there, we learned they owned a place where 10 people were beheaded and buried.

There's a proverb saying "He who doesn't owe, doesn't fear". As long as you stay out of their business you are hardly of interest for them. There was even a manual of what to do if police (Cartels in disguise) stopped your car. Just comply, show your ID, stay calm and drive away slowly, because you are not the guy they are after.

We can't have open war because it would mean even MOAR civilian casualties. You try that in one of your cities.

[Cardboard Tube Knight]

The ssad thing is, you can't tell a member of a Cartel from a civilian. Is not like they have this sign on their shirt "Hi, I'm Narco".

As an example, a Cartel member lived next door from my house. Yeah. The only thing that stroke me as odd was that they had several SUV and parties at night. It was the whole family: Grandma, children, teenagers, the adults, etc. Two years after I moved out from there, we learned they owned a place where 10 people were beheaded and buried.

There's a proverb saying "He who doesn't owe, doesn't fear". As long as you stay out of their business you are hardly of interest for them. There was even a manual of what to do if police (Cartels in disguise) stopped your car. Just comply, show your ID, stay calm and drive away slowly, because you are not the guy they are after.

We can't have open war because it would mean even MOAR civilian casualties. You try that in one of your cities.
The thing is, if you just lay down and let them do what they are doing because "they're not bothering you if you stay out of their business" you're just letting them grow, gain power and kill others. People who aren't in their business willingly will be killed.

Eventually the problem has to be face down, better now than later.