Some 1,680 Mexican army special forces soldiers have deserted in the past decade, the Milenio newspaper reported, citing Defense Secretariat figures.
The army does not know where the deserters are or whether some of them went to work for organized crime groups as happened in the past, documents obtained by the newspaper from the Federal Institute for Access to Information, or IFAI, show.
The best known case of special forces soldiers who went to work for criminals is Los Zetas, a group of elite troops who signed on as hired guns for the Gulf cartel in the late 1990s.
Defense officials have “lost track” of 125 special ops soldiers in the past two years, a period marked by a wave of drug-related violence that left thousands of people dead, the secretariat said.
Some 50,000 soldiers have been providing security and fighting drug traffickers across Mexico since December 2006, when President Felipe Calderon militarized the conflict with the country’s cartels.
Human rights activists have filed numerous complaints against soldiers allegedly involved in abuses.
The desertions have continued even though the government has increased soldiers’ pay by 115 percent since the end of 2006, Milenio said.
The deserters include snipers, paratroopers, survival experts, intelligence analysts and rapid reaction specialists, the newspaper said.
The Mexican press has reported previously about U.S. concerns that deserters who went to work for the cartels may have possessed security information obtained from U.S.-Mexican cooperation programs.
U.S. specialists have trained police and military personnel in Mexico as part of the $1.4 billion Merida Initiative, a security cooperation pact aimed at fighting drug trafficking and other forms of transnational organized crime.
Information about Mexico’s special forces units is classified, and the army currently lacks a program to track deserters, Milenio said.
Source: EFE
F@ck it .. bring in blackwater
ReplyDeleteI say blame it on the americans.
ReplyDeleteF@ck you
DeleteBLACKWATER time
ReplyDelete"Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteI say blame it on the americans."
TYPICAL.
It's a no brainer...when you entice these young soldiers with crazy salary increases over their standard military pay...you can expect desertions. The U.S. needs to change their policy with regards to offering specialize training to foreign militaries. Time and time again the U.S. has been caught with "egg on the face." Understand...the intentions are good but the countries involved (training) are questionable.
ReplyDeleteThe Zetas defection occurred back in the '90s, so..this is nothing new..because of that why in the world would you continue to offer specialize training to the Mexican military. The only viable solution is to have the U.S. military involved in the fight directly or indirectly..even though it's not a popular idea among the Mexicans. Think about it...the U.S. military would not be affected by the level of corruption in Mexico. Bottom line...if your going to blame the U.S. for the "lion share" of the problems...then give them the opportunity to correct the problem by asking for direct assistance.
'Some 50,000 soldiers have been providing security and fighting drug traffickers across Mexico since December 2006, when President Felipe Calderon militarized the conflict with the country’s cartels.'
ReplyDeleteSo why did this US puppet, F. Calderon, militarize a situation when he and the US had no other programs in place to fight poverty and unemployment? If you don't want a society where employment is mainly lacking in many regions of the country except for trafficking and therefore it is criminal organizations that give people jobs... then shouldn't you FIRST provide a stable and functioning economy that employs people rather than just letting them sit destitute, way way BEFORE militarizing the country?
Nice, and yet Mexico still has the gall to complain that US agencies don't readily share info with them. Why should they when it would be just easier to call up the cartels directly, after all that's where the information would end up if shared with Mexican authorities. The country's government is corrupt on a level that would only make sense in a comic book. I feel for the Mexican people.
ReplyDeleteLA MAFIA LES PAGAN Y ELLOS DISPARAN NO PUEDEN FALLAR!!!
ReplyDelete170 a year ..thats enough to keep the core group of bad guys going...just great...train em but don't pay em enough to keep them around...what a miserable disaster
ReplyDeleteIf there's anyone to blame it on its the Mexican government, it's a corrupt system. While the country suffers from drug related violence, the politicians enjoy life by stealing $millions$ for themselves. The US got involved with the intention of protecting its own borders from the drug flow, which makes sense. But you know, money and power can corrupt the most innocent heart. It shouldn't fall as a surprise to know how much of Mexico hates its own government and why. By the way don't doubt that more and more service men will keep deserting in the future.
ReplyDeleteIRAN $10,000,00 FOR CANADA
ReplyDeleteEU AMRY military
ReplyDelete