Does The U.s. Recognize The Threat From The South

Home | Columns | Media Watch | Reports | Links | About Us | Contact

MEXIDATA . INFO

Column 022706 Brewer

Monday, February 27, 2006 Does the U.S. Recognize the Threat from the South? By Jerry Brewer Other than the 9/11 attacks in the United States, have there been other viable threats to the nation recently? Sure there are concerns of other terrorist type attacks, like high-rise building bombers and the potential of suicide bombers. After all, al-Qaeda messengers frequently threaten the people of the U.S. with death and destruction. But are we taking a real, ominous, and visible threat from our southern border with Mexico serious? Let’s be clear on the threat. The danger is from organized and sophisticated drug traffickers, and paramilitary trained enforcers and assassins with sophisticated firearms and explosive munitions. These insurgent types are coming from throughout Latin America, and they are exhibiting strategic espionage styles of “trade craft” such as surveillance and countersurveillance, as well as cover and concealment styles of movement. While many citizens and vigilante types in the U.S. scream at the horror of migrants infiltrating from the south, the insurgents are delivering the contraband to feed the US$26 billion drug habit in the U.S. And they are delivering the goods by air, sea, and land. The escalating rates of murder and violence along the

U.S.-Mexico border are indicative of an ever-increasing threat to the U.S., as organized criminals fight for control of northbound narcotics shipping routes. Plus they are not being deterred by knee-jerk attention given to the migrant problem, or by the threat of walls. What is particularly disturbing, are the largely ambivalent attitudes of officials and citizens in border towns regarding the violence. One Nuevo Laredo, Mexico resident who typifies others was quoted recently rationalizing that the violence is solely between people involved with drug trafficking, and “between people involved in something wrong.” Tell that to the chiefs of police and many police officers murdered in Mexico, and the ongoing threats against their families. In the City of Laredo, Texas, across the border from Nuevo Laredo, Mayor Elizabeth Flores has disagreed with that ambivalence, recognizing the potential threat to her community. “They’re well prepared, they’re mean guys, there is a lot of money in drugs.” She obviously sees the writing on the wall and recognizes violence is approaching her city from just across the Laredo international bridge. The City of Laredo Police Department has added manpower and equipment in a proactive move to “stop it here and keep our community safe.” Evidence of the sophisticated “trade craft” being used by the armed insurgents is rampant. Border Patrol officials in Arizona, as well as Texas border area law enforcement officials, have described strategic movements of camouflaged paramilitary groups along the border. Many spotted with communications equipment, and using cover and concealment techniques to avoid discovery. Texas law enforcement officials, testifying in a House subcommittee hearing in Washington, D.C. just weeks ago, spoke of threats against their families. One described a situation in which his wife was approached and warned about her husband’s work along the Rio Grande. In another, a deputy’s wife was warned and shown evidence of where their children go to school and the attendance schedule. In Nuevo Laredo, during a violent shootout last year where automatic rifles and grenade launchers were used, photographs, addresses, and work schedules of police officers were found in a home of one of the criminals. All of those threats, with credible evidence of collected

intelligence information, are generally the result of hostile surveillance performed against law enforcement officers, government officials, their families, and other targets. They obviously pose a clear and present danger to all, for most successful terrorist attacks worldwide have been, and are, preceded by an intense period of surveillance by the attackers and their handlers. Awareness, risk and peril assessment, and analysis among the general public usually come from news reports and media exposure of incidents and/or threats. As a result, northern Mexico has become one of the most dangerous areas in Latin America for journalists. According to published reports, more journalists have been killed in Mexico than in any other Latin American country in recent years, with other media voices being silenced through intimidation and thus self-censorship. It is time for Mexican and U.S. officials at the highest levels to truly unite in the common cause of taking control of the shared border. The intense threat posed to both sides of the border could not be more real. The death tolls continue to rise in Mexico and in many U.S. cities due to inabilities or apathy among policymakers, and there is obviously more needed than just law enforcement actions. —————————— Jerry Brewer, the Vice President of Criminal Justice International Associates, a global risk mitigation firm headquartered in Miami, Florida, is also a columnist with MexiData.info. He can be reached via e-mail at [email protected] [email protected]