There was the Yellow Peril. Then there was the Red Menace. And now there's
the threat of Mexico and its culture of violence and criminal activity
contaminating our own nation. A cordon sanitaire should be placed around
Mexico as it morphs into the Darfur Region / Zimbabwe / Chechnya of the
Northern Hemisphere.
By Lizbeth Diaz
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsMaps/idUSN0531742620080515?pageNum...
TIJUANA, Mexico (Reuters) - A decade ago, economists hailed Tijuana
as a place where cheap Mexican labor and U.S. financing could meet,
attracting Asian firms eager to set up manufacturing plants to
export to the United States.
Now, that vision is slipping away, a victim of drug violence that
has been exploding this side of the U.S.-Mexico border for the past
three years.
Once a freewheeling city that has served Americans cheap tequila
since the U.S. prohibition era, Tijuana is at the center of a three-
way drug war between rival gangs and Mexico's military. Drug-
related murders are a daily occurrence.
The violence is scaring away tourists who came for everything from
prostitutes and dental work to medicine. A lively artistic
community is also dwindling.
While most assembly-for-export businesses, or maquiladoras,
continue to operate normally, drug violence is such that they risk
losing new investment to competitors like China. Other businesses
are seeing their livelihoods disappear.
Just a few years ago, downtown Tijuana was bustling and the main
drag, Revolution Avenue, was a busy thoroughfare. But today, it is
deserted, lined with "For Sale" and "For Rent" signs.
"Many big companies are pulling out and many small companies are
going bankrupt. Business isn't enough to even pay the rent for the
shops and factory space," said Manuel Cesena, 57, who owns a shoe
shop on Revolution Avenue.
Cesena, who has seen his sales fall fivefold since 2005, said it is
crucial for him to end his day before nightfall or face being
robbed or kidnapped. After 30 years in the shoe business and
exporting to the United States, Cesena is considering closing for
good.
DEATH TOLL RISES
More than 1,000 people have died so far this year across Mexico in
battles between drug gangs and security forces, the highest murder
rate since bloodshed escalated in 2006.
Tijuana is one of the most violent cities in Mexico. A group of
gangs from the Pacific state of Sinaloa have set out to destroy the
Tijuana's Arellano Felix cartel and to take over lucrative
smuggling routes into California.
The feud between the Sinaloans and the Arellano Felix gang has not
only scared away tourist dollars.
Business people face daily telephone threats of extortion.
Kidnappings to finance narco gangs have jumped this year, creating
a climate of fear and scaring away new investment.
"Those of us who remain only stay because we have properties we
don't want to leave. We are very afraid and have to be careful not
to get kidnapped," said Andres Mendez, 46, who runs an arts and
crafts business in downtown Tijuana.
In Tijuana this year, drug gangs have killed more than 200 people,
with cartel hitmen and soldiers spraying bullets on busy city
avenues, outside shops, schools and kindergartens.
Seventeen drug hitmen were killed in a shooting in April. Even
children have been murdered.
"Overcoming this insecurity is the single biggest issue for Tijuana
right now," said Jorge Cruz, a business leader in the city's
maquiladora industry.
In March, a plant in Tijuana assembling Panasonic electrical goods
for export closed with the loss of 3,000 jobs. Plant managers
declined to comment on the closure, but a city official said
insecurity was a big factor.
Days before the Panasonic closure, soldiers in Tijuana made one of
the biggest arms seizures in Mexico after raiding a house,
uncovering grenade launchers, machine guns and other weapons
encrusted with golden images of skulls.
LOST OPPORTUNITY
The exodus of businesses is painful for Tijuana, as many people had
high hopes that it could move beyond its seedy roots and become a
key trade, manufacturing and service center, given its proximity to
the United States.
But a dozen local building companies closed over the past year,
putting infrastructure development on hold. "Many were sick of the
threats of kidnapping and extortion," said Sebastian Lanz, who
heads a group representing local construction companies.
Tijuana hoped to position itself as a car and truck manufacturing
center by attracting Chinese-owned automakers and setting up a rail
link from plants to the border. But the project collapsed, largely
because of insecurity.
Some business owners who have chosen to keep operating in Tijuana
have moved to live over the border in San Diego and only cross back
into Mexico with bodyguards.
One prominent restaurant chain owner said he had swapped his flashy
sports utility vehicle for a beaten-up sedan. "I call it my
antikidnap vehicle. It is the way not to attract attention," said
the businessman, who asked for anonymity for the sake of his
safety.
Mexico's federal government says it is doing everything it can to
restore security to Tijuana and other cities in Baja California,
one of Mexico's most violent states.
Since January last year, thousands of troops patrol Tijuana's
streets and highways, and are engaged in a daily battle to destroy
the Arellano Felix and Sinaloa drug cartels and clean up the
corrupt police forces that ally with them.
But winning the fight will not be easy. As the Arellano Felix
cartel weakens, the gang is increasingly relying on kidnapping and
extortion.
A bid to introduce closed-circuit televisions in the city has
meanwhile failed, as gangs sabotaged cameras and corrupt police
switched them off to allow crimes to be committed.
(Reporting by Lizbeth Diaz; Writing by Robin Emmott; Editing by
Eddie Evans)
Feds: Drugs made at kosher meat plant
http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/breaking/108541.html
Federal authorities charged that a methamphetamine laboratory was
operating at the nation's largest kosher slaughterhouse and that
employees carried weapons to work.
The charges were among the most explosive details to emerge
following the massive raid Monday at Agriprocessors in Postville,
Iowa.
In a 60-page application for a search warrant, federal agents
revealed details of their six-month probe of Agriprocessors. The
investigation involved 12 federal agencies, including the Drug
Enforcement Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and
the departments of labor and agriculture.
According to the application, a former plant supervisor told
investigators that some 80 percent of the workforce was illegal.
They included rabbis responsible for kosher supervision, who the
source believed entered the United States from Canada without
proper immigration documents. The source did not provide evidence
for his suspicion about the rabbis.
The source also claimed to have confronted a human resources
manager with Social Security cards from three employees that had
the same number. The manager laughed when the matter was raised,
the source said.
At least 300 people were arrested Monday during the raid, for which
federal authorities had rented an expansive fairground nearby to
serve as a processing center for detainees.
The search warrant application said that 697 plant employees were
believed to have violated federal laws.
Agriprocessors officials did not return calls from JTA seeking
comment.
Overgrown weeds lead police to drop house
May 16th, 2008 @ 2:20pm
by KTAR Newsroom
http://www.ktar.com/?nid=6&sid=839520
Phoenix police discovered eight undocumented immigrants in a west
Phoenix drop house.
Police went to the house in the 4300-block of N. 79th Drive after
neighbors complained about overgrown weeds on the property.
Once there, they discovered the immigrants inside.
ICE was contacted.
http://www.ktar.com/index.php?nid=6&sid=839237
ICE fugitive operations team arrests 39 illegals
May 16th, 2008 @ 11:06am
by Jim Cross/KTAR
More than three-dozen illegal immigrants have been arrested in the
Valley during an operation of Immigration and Customs Enforcement
agents.
Officers from ICE, the U.S. Marshal's Office and the Maricopa
County Sheriff's Office fanned out to arrest people who have
ignored final orders of deportation or who have returned to the
United States illegally after being deported. Seven of those
arrested had criminal histories.
``They've been in the wind for several years. We've been looking
for them for several years. It can be kind of tough, when you're
talking about fugitive operations, to follow up on leads, find
these people," said Vincent Picard with ICE. ``It's a huge job."
He added, ``We're going to do it one step at a time, one day at a
time, one arrest at a time. I think nationally, certainly, and here
in Phoenix, we are having success with that approach, with the help
of our partners like the marshals and Maricopa County."
Picard said that so far this fiscal year, the ICE fugitive
operations team in Phoenix has made 371 arrests.
For the first time in history last year, he said the number of
immigration fugitives in the U.S. dropped to slightly under
573,000, a decrease of more than 59,000 since October 2006.
``What that speaks to is an increasing effectiveness of applying
resources, by Immigration and Customs Enforcement," he said. ``What
we're doing is focusing on those areas where we believe we can make
a difference."
Most of the immigration violators were from Mexico, but the group
also included foreign nationals from Honduras and El Salvador.
illegal immigration
May 16th, 2008 @ 2:35pm
by KTAR Web
http://www.ktar.com/index.php?nid=6&sid=839554
There sheriff made news when he set up an illegal immigration
hotline. Now he's set up another one to help fund his efforts to
fight it.
Earlier this week, the governor cut money more than $1 million from
the sheriff's budget to fund a statewide task force to hunt
...
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