Saving lives and billions of dollars
Monday, November 17th, 2008 at 4:50 pm | By: Radical Russ
Saving lives and billions of dollars | The San Diego Union-Tribune
In case you haven’t noticed, there’s a low-level civil war under way south of the border, and the bad guys seem to be winning. In the 24 months since President Felipe Calderón launched an offensive against Mexico’s drug cartels, over 6,500 soldiers, narcos, cops, judges and innocent bystanders have been gunned down, beheaded or blown up.Absolutely no one is safe. In May the country’s top law enforcement officer was riddled with bullets after his bodyguards dropped him off at home. The assassins were waiting on the other side of the door – literally an inside job.
Incidents like this make it painfully clear that Mexico’s police agencies have been thoroughly infiltrated, but last month the staggering extent of the dry rot got everyone’s attention. Two of the country’s top anti-narcotics officials were charged with spying for the cartel they were supposed to be prosecuting. Thirty-five of their subordinates are under investigation.
How is it possible for the most sensitive units within the Attorney General’s Office to be so easily penetrated? Simple. The amount of cash afloat in the illegal drug market is almost beyond imagining. Even the low level officials in this debacle were taking home $150,000 a month – and apparently had been for years. Their bosses, drawing three times that amount, had become double-digit millionaires.
This is from an opinion piece by CSDP’s Mike Gray. It’s worth reading the whole thing.
