Violence in Mexico:

1
Violence in Mexico Border Threats to the United
States
2
Energy Security in Mexico

• Organized crime and militant groups as primary
  threats The leftist guerrilla group Popular
  Revolutionary Army (EPR) has conducted a series
  of successful attacks within the past year on
  PEMEX petroleum pipelines in central Mexico.
  PEMEX labor union leaders have also become the
  victims of kidnapping plots associated with
  organized crime. The general decline in law and
  order and the deteriorating security situation
  associated with the country's powerful drug
  cartels also represents a significant threat in
  general.   Vulnerabilities remain, while
  tensions heighten Although PEMEX has increased
  security at many of its facilities, the 2007 EPR
  bomb attacks on remote sections of oil pipeline
  demonstrated that it is impossible to protect all
  of the industry's infrastructure. The explosions
  resulted in no casualties, but caused a
  significant disruption in pipeline flow,
  affecting many factories and businesses,
  including several American company facilities for
  up to a week. Recent debate in Mexico City
  regarding energy reform --opposed by EPR -- has
  the potential to spark a new round of attacks.
• Pipeline network most difficult to protect Even
  with improved security, pipelines are notoriously
  difficult to protect. For example, Iraq averaged
  10 pipeline attacks per month between 2003 and
  2006, despite a high security priority for
  coalition forces.

3
Kidnapping Capital of the World

• Kidnapping for ransom is a multi-million dollar
  industry Mexico is often described as the
  kidnapping capital of the world. The actual
  number of abductions is unknown since the
  overwhelming majority of the crimes go unreported
  to authorities, but most estimates put the number
  at more than 5,000 per year. Many victims are
  poor and are kidnapped for just a few hundred
  dollars ransom. Many business persons are often
  targeted, and held for much larger ransoms.
• PEMEX not immune Three Pemex labor union leaders
  were abducted along with other Pemex workers by
  armed men near a refinery close to the industrial
  northern city of Monterrey in Janunary 2007. The
  ransom initially demanded was 1.2 million per
  leader, though the actual amount paid is not
  known.
• Other Pemex kidnappings? A Pemex labor union
  leader and his brother went missing in the same
  area in May 2007, in an incident that was widely
  attributed to the Gulf drug cartel. The two men
  are still missing.

4
Rising Violence

• Violence in Mexico is brutal and often
  misunderstood Mexico is often thought of as
  having a high crime rate, but the volume and
  brutality of the violence is misrepresented for a
  number of reasons. The reality is that the
  countrys warring drug cartels and gangs
  regularly conduct targeted killings of rivals, as
  well as of police, military and civil officials.
  The current cartel war has included tactics such
  as beheading, dismemberment, execution, burning,
  torture, kidnapping, and the killing of family
  members to send a message. Firefights and attacks
  involving assault rifles, grenades, LAAW rockets,
  and rocket-propelled grenades occur on a daily
  basis.   Drug cartel violence continues to
  increase Despite the launch in December 2006 of
  ongoing large-scale security operations involving
  the military and federal police, organized
  crime-related homicides continue to reach record
  levels. The 863 killings in the first three
  months of 2008 represent a 70 increase over the
  same period last year. At this rate, Mexico will
  end 2008 with 3,452 homicides.

5
Mexicos Volatile Cartels

• Cartels in control Organized crime exists in
  nearly every corner of Mexico, and ranges from
  large sophisticated drug trafficking
  organizations to small kidnapping and extortion
  gangs. It is these larger drug cartels, however,
  that hold the real power in the country.
• Shifting alliances and mergers Mexicos powerful
  drug cartels have acquired their power by
  aligning with smaller criminal organizations.
  Local gangs often have operating agreements with
  the cartels.

6
Importance of Geography

• Geographical trends of violence Violence is
  widespread around the country, but tends to be
  concentrated in northern and coastal states that
  are of strategic value to drug traffickers.
  Hotspots over the last year have included
  U.S.-Mexico border cities such as Tijuana,
  Juarez, Nuevo Laredo, and Reynosa coastal ports
  where maritime drug shipments are received, such
  as Acapulco, Lazaro Cardenas, Mazatlan, Cancun,
  Merida, Veracruz, and Tampico and cities and
  states that contain federal highways useful for
  moving drugs from intake points to the northern
  border, including Monterrey and Sinaloa state.

7
Cartel Presence along U.S. Border

• Cartel control of the border Mexican drug
  cartels operate some level of control over ports
  of entry between the two countries, in order to
  efficiently transport drugs into the United
  States. Control of the ports of entry is the
  responsibility of cartel leaders known as
  gatekeepers, who also are believed to collect
  fees from other groups in the area.
• Corruption on both sides of the border Due to
  the enormous amount of money involved in the drug
  industry, cartel members been able to
  successfully bribe police and government
  officials in Mexico in order to operate
  effectively. Recent allegations of corruption
  among local, state, and federal officials in the
  U.S. assigned to the U.S.-Mexico border suggest
  that the problem is not unique to Mexico.

8
Movement into the US

• Networks in the U.S. The recent case of a
  high-ranking Gulf cartel member arrested in the
  Texas border town of McAllen illustrates the
  potential ease with which these criminals move
  across the border. There is also the likelihood
  that the cartel member had a network of safe
  houses, money laundering capabilities, security,
  clandestine intelligence capabilities, logistical
  support and infrastructure in Texas.
• Cartel hitmen in the U.S. Former cartel members
  in prison in the United States have testified
  that several cells of Zetas -- Gulf cartel hitmen
  -- were deployed to Laredo and other towns to
  acquire resources and conduct at least one
  murder.
• Public health concerns (TB, bird flu, SARS)
  Special Interest Aliens
• Infiltration of al-Qaeda or other jihadists into
  the United States WMD, RDD, dirty bomb, anthrax

9
Border Cartel Activity

• Violence crossing the border There are now
  indications that the trends of violence
  associated with organized crime in Mexico have
  entered the southwestern United States. A list of
  such illicit activities common in Mexico includes
  the following    1. Drug trafficking    2.
  Threats to journalists    3. Extortion    4.
  Kidnapping gangs    5. Government and police
  corruption    6. Money laundering    7. Weapons
  trafficking    8. Human trafficking   9.
  Firefights in the streets  10. Extreme level of
  violence  11. Gun, grenade and RPG attacks on
  government installations  12. Targeted killings
  of police and government officials  13. Killing
  of journalists   A disturbing trend Of the 13
  items listed, we have already seen the first nine
  in the United States, primarily in Texas and
  California.

10
Emerging Trends

• Cartels begin shift to more insurgent-style
  tactics Outgunned and outnumbered by the
  military, a trend involving insurgent-style
  tactics has emerged over the past six months. A
  booby-trapped body clutching a fragmentation
  grenade was discovered by authorities searching a
  safehouse following a firefight in Cancun last
  year. A failed attempt Feb. 15 to place an IED
  under the car of a Mexico City police official
  was conducted by Sinaloa cartel operatives.
  According to Mexico's Secretary of National
  Defense, the Juarez cartel has plans to undermine
  the military's credibility by conducting rapes
  and other violent crimes against the population
  while dressed in military uniforms, and then
  anonymously distributing videotapes of the acts
  to the media.   Increasing risk of collateral
  damage While smaller kidnapping gangs have been
  known to target foreigners or wealthy business
  executives, Mexico's largest and most powerful
  drug cartels are selective in their targeting --
  focusing their efforts against rival criminals or
  law enforcement, and ignoring anyone not involved
  in the drug trade. The expanding cartel war and
  the possibility of further bomb attacks, however,
  creates further potential for civilian bystanders
  to become caught up in the violence.
• Increasing cartel presence in Central America
  Incidents in February and March 2008 involving
  Mexican drug traffickers killed during firefights
  in Guatemala indicate that Mexican drug
  traffickers are increasingly using Central
  American countries as a transhipment points for
  large quantities of narcotics, which are then
  trucked across the Guatemala-Mexico border. The
  Guatemalan and Honduran governments also believe
  that Sinaloa cartel leader Joaquin "El Chapo"
  Guzman Loera is in hiding in Honduras.
  Previously, the majority of South American drugs
  entered Mexico via maritime and airborne
  shipments. The shift is likely due to new tigher
  controls and monitoring of vessels and aircraft
  entering Mexico.