By Jeff Bliss
Bloomberg
U.S. authorities arrested 100 people and seized more than $4 million in a nationwide sweep against Mexican drug cartels sparked by the killing of a U.S. immigration agent last week, Drug Enforcement Administration officials said.
The operation also “dovetails with our primary mission” of shutting down networks for illegal drugs, said David Levey, a DEA spokesman, in an interview. The crackdown, which is being coordinated with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, began yesterday and is continuing, DEA officials said.
Yesterday, the Mexican army detained a main suspect and five others tied to the Feb. 15 killing of ICE Special Agent Jaime Zapata in San Luis Potosi state.
The suspects, led by Julian Zapata Espinoza, were captured in a safe house and belong to the organized-crime gang known as the Zetas, said Ricardo Trevilla, a spokesman for Mexico’s Defense Ministry, in a televised news conference yesterday in Mexico City.
U.S. President Barack Obama spoke with President Felipe Calderon of Mexico late yesterday and thanked him for the efforts to investigate the case and the arrest of suspects, the White House press office said in a statement. Calderon is scheduled to meet Obama in Washington during a trip next week.
Jaime Zapata was driving an armored sports utility vehicle along Mexico’s Highway 57 when 12 to 15 armed men in two vehicles forced him to stop, according to Representative Michael McCaul, chairman of a U.S. Homeland Security subcommittee who was briefed on the incident. After Zapata and Avila identified themselves as U.S. agents, the gunmen opened fire and fled, said McCaul, a Texas Republican.
Its unfortunate theleaders had to wait until a tragedy to start doing there job. Many lives would have been saved if the had taken actions before.
ReplyDeleteGod bless our Police and Troops on both sides of the border
RELATED NEWS:
ReplyDeleteFrom the Associated Press (Alicia Caldwell):
"The sweep, which is being mirrored this week in Brazil, El Salvador, Panama, Colombia, and Mexico, is being coordinated by DEA and ICE."
"By Thursday morning, thousands of law enforcement officers in areas including Atlanta, St. Louis, Denver, Detroit, San Antonio, San Diego, Chicago, Newark and Miami had seized more than $4.5 million in cash and nearly 20 guns, arrested more than 100 people and confiscated about 23 pounds of methamphetamine, 107 kilograms of cocaine, 5 pounds of heroin and 300 pounds of marijuana at several hundred locations."
"Carl Pike, assistant special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration's special operations division, said the sweep is a direct reaction to the shooting death of Customs and Immigration Enforcement agent Jaime Zapata in Mexico last week.
'We are taking a stand and we are sending a message back to the cartels that we will not tolerate the murder of a U.S. agent, or any U.S. official,' Pike said. "...For the lost agent's memory it's important, but we're also in a bully situation. If we don't push back, some other 18-year-old cartel member is going to think, 'They didn't do anything, so all U.S. citizens are fair game.'"
http://www.startribune.com/nation/116809133.html
This raid is similar in scale to the 2009 raid on La Familia Michoacana, which in the end produced negligible results:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.borderlandbeat.com/2009/10/us-arrests-hundreds-in-raids-on-drug.html
Judging from Pike's comments and the proximity between this operation and the murder of U.S. agent Zapata, this raid seems to be a more reactive move on the part of the US.
Also, it's interesting that the DEA and ICE are touting their partnership two days after President Calderon raised concerns that the agencies "don't coordinate with each other." In an interview with El Universal he alleged that the two "were constantly trying to outdo each other while evading responsibility."
http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2011/02/mexican-leader-slams-us-coordination-in.html
Pancho all I heard is blah blah blah and some more blah. I'm sorry but just like Kiki Camarena, this shit ain't going to change shit. Lets get real.
ReplyDeleteWTF
ReplyDeleteWe are taking a stand and we are sending a message back to the cartels that we will not tolerate the murder of a U.S. agent, or any U.S. official,' Pike said. "...For the lost agent's memory it's important, but we're also in a bully situation. If we don't push back, some other 18-year-old cartel member is going to think, 'They didn't do anything, so all U.S. citizens are fair game.'"
= They found the cartel members and all these drugs so quickly after and as a response to the murder of Agent Zapata.
How about finding them anyway?
Taking a stand....ffs, taking a fekin stand.
Some one has to inform the brilliant and very special Mr Carl (the enormous one) Pike that arresting criminals and seizing drugs and guns are ALL part of the job description of every police officer, it has zero to do with "taking a stand" whatever that bit of enlightened wisdom is supposed to mean.
Proof positive the DEA is not an institution for anyone with an I.Q. reaching the dizzy heights of double figures.
Maybe some different people needed to find the drugs.
No one need apply as the government are not looking to hire brain, they just want the brawn.
Too bad it took this much to get everyone on the same page. When will Calderon get tired of seeing kids under the age of 15 gunned down in the streets?(Michoacan and Juarez) And all the kids that are orphans now (Laredo) as a direct result of his "bullying" for the Sinaloa Cartel and their "Franchises" (CDG,LFM,Milenio). Is the money really that good Mr. Calderon? Carlos Salinas De Gortari and Vicente Fox became wealthy men from similar arrangements. But I bet the average Mexican will spit in their faces if they had the opportunity to do it...
ReplyDelete777
Today an officer was shot 3 times while raiding a Zeta house here in Houston! The war is here in the U.S.!
ReplyDeletethe feds will not even make a dent on the gangs.
ReplyDeleteEl Regio, have you considered changing your name to Houston Oiler instead? I mean as a naturalized US citizen of course...
ReplyDelete'El_Regio said...
Today an officer was shot 3 times while raiding a Zeta house here in Houston! The war is here in the U.S.!'
A little late but nice that this is happening finally. They should have done this months ago, and every week since.
ReplyDeleteGet 'em all. This isn't Mexico. They will turn each other in now lol. GJ
ReplyDeleteI hate these stories, they offer no details. What cartels were hit? Where were they detained? Had they been under surveillance? This is all show, no substance.
ReplyDeleteEl regio is right. This war is spilling over to the U.S. The U.S. is sending the right message NOW. Keep your dirt on your side of the country or else. And don't mess with Americans!
ReplyDelete@
ReplyDeletefeb 24th 12:07 p.m
Bla, Bla bla your mother asshole.
Go ask the fuck up traitor Rafael Caro Quientero if the shit changed for him , because he fucked with Kiki, and the U.S. or not.LOLOLOL!!!!!
Isn't this what we're supposed to be doing anyway?
ReplyDelete@February 24, 2011 8:05 PM
ReplyDeleteOh DFL what an intelligent comeback, how mature. Just face it American Agents dead in MX: 2, Narcos making money from drugs: Infinite. This war is lost and those two agents died for nothing. Just go ask Kiki and Zapata? Oh wait, Oh wait...they are dead hahaha!!! And what is happening today? Millions and millions of Americans continue to get their fix. I end my case.
@Ajulio and DFL
ReplyDeleteWhere the hell have you two been? The cartels have been here operating right under the nose of the U.S government all this time and this operation is just all show. So much for your statement of fucking with the U.S; Their already here and been here. Get real.
AS LONG AS THE DEMAND IS THERE! THE DRUGS WILL KEEP COMING! AMERICA KEEP CONSUMING YOUR DRUGS!
ReplyDeleteThe American government think they are really funny.
ReplyDeleteThe tell us we won't tolerate the murder of a US agents but we will tolerate you gangs bringing tons of all types of drugs every year to poison and destroy our citizens lives.
Prescribed drugs kill more people than illegal drugs.!!! Guess who owns the pharmacitical drug Industry?? The Rockefellars.!!!Goal of major corporations is to keep people stupid, repeat same stories in CNN and FOX news, occupy people with football, britney spears, anything, to distract us from seeing the truth. KNOW THE TRUTH AND THE THRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREE..the big players use the little unfortunates like Obama, example in 2008 unemployment in New Mexico was 12,000, today 55,000. (to fool the majority of the people, in believeing everythings going to get better)..The elite own everything...They continue with their agenda, and yes they use the gangs, and police to do their beadding, and again fool the people to believe that's it going to get better...Still it is a good thing that they are arresting and making some people accountable....Elites are in the WIN/WIN game, but GOD won't be mocked, their time is coming TOO>
ReplyDelete@Ajulio and and DFL. Don't worry about the "monkey worshippers", they need to vent and 'always be right"> In the u.s., we have more righteous people, and more people who make a STAND FOR WHAT'S RIGHT!!!
ReplyDeleteIn practice they have no trouble tolerating the death of an American citizen. Many American citizens have been killed by cartels in Mexico but apparently a federal officer is worth more then the life of a worker, missionary, woman or student. If the feds would have pushed back when anyone of the others was killed Agent Zapata might still be alive.
ReplyDeleteyeah fuck the almighty cartels...fuck around and lay around ..i just bought a 20 guage automatic shotgun..it shoots great....got a good deal ..150.00...still lookin for a real deal on a 45 auto...
ReplyDeletebelieve me how much i would enjoy shootin up a big fat suburban full of the malo pinche madre narcos...please make my day..come on girls ..i need a new pair of boots
Mx people do drugs also.this is how they get up the courage to butcher their victems,evn the women & children...I wish we would have started a year ago when the 15 yr old American boy was killed & the 11 year old child that was kidnapped & tortured & dumped beside the road dead.I hate it that Zapata had to give his life for ODUMBA to FINALLY react..all I can sayis "It's about time"
ReplyDelete5:16 - Now there's a post for you. This vato has a real spin on things doesn't he? The "elites" continue with their agenda and use the police to do their "beadding". And they own everything but they're gonna get their's 'cause God won't be mocked. TOO> forgot to take his finger off Shift.
ReplyDeleteYa gotta love it. Shit I wish I had it all figured out like that. The vato is someone I can trust.