Mérida Initiative takes off in Maryland

By Edward V. Byrne for The Yucatan Times
October 18, 2011

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The Mérida Initiative is an agreement between the United States and Mexico which contains provisions for the training and equipping of Mexican police forces, as well as for intelligence gathering and sharing. The name derives from meetings held by former President George Bush and President Calderon in Mérida in 2007.

The U.S. State Department announced October 14 that a group of over 400 Mexican state police officers will begin receiving "professional enhancement" training soon at a Maryland facility. The officers were selected from Mexico's 31 states and federal district. "These participants will be trained (in techniques) useful for confronting the threat presented by drug cartels along the border," said a State Department press release.

Last April U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Mexico's Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa held a meeting in Washington to review the Mérida Initiative. They agreed that the primary focus now should be on training state police forces, which are at the forefront of the war against organized crime. The Mexican armed forces are trained internally, and local police departments are much less actively involved in offensives against the drug cartels. Local police in many areas are infiltrated by criminal elements, and state police spend considerable time and resources weeding out corruption in their ranks.

More on the Mérida Initiative: http://mexicogulfreporter-supplement.blogspot.com/2011/11/new-us-ambassador-to-mexico-stands.html

Could "domino theory" apply to Central America?

By Edward V. Byrne The Yucatan Times
October 18, 2011

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The domino theory was popular in the 1950s and 1960s when many in the West, especially in the Untied States, feared a worldwide communist takeover. The theory held that if one nation fell, its neighbors would soon follow. The phrase was coined when then president Dwight Eisenhower, referring to Asia, told an April 1954 press conference:

"Finally, you have broader considerations that might follow what you would call the 'falling domino' principle. You have a row of dominoes set up, you knock over the first one, and what will happen to the last one is the certainty that it will go over very quickly. So you could have a beginning of a disintegration that would have the most profound influences."

Could such a thing happen in Central America -- with the threat this time being drug traffickers instead of communists? Some say it's a very real possibility.

A meeting of Latin American foreign ministers convened today in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, capital of the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, to focus on the issue. Mexico’s Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa Cantellano said that organized crime presents the single greatest threat to governments in the region today. Drug traffickers and others seek to destabilize the area, and "to destroy democracy itself," she argued.

Espinosa Cantellano said that in the face of this threat, countries must work together to preserve their mutually dependent security. She urged her counterparts from several nations to “reject absolutely” any and all destabilizing forces, and to aggressively confront transnational organized crime.

The countries participating in the conference are Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Belice, Panamá, Colombia, the Dominican Republic and México.

Texas School Children Recruited by Mexico´s Drug Cartels

 Says Texas Dept. of Public Safety

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Mexican drug cartels actively recruit U.S. secondary school students to work with them and support their trafficking operations on both sides of the border, says the Texas Dept. of Public Safety. In a warning to parents of adolescents, officials said they have been aware of the problem since 2009, but several recent events involving students have heightened their concern.
DPS says that drug traffickers employ youngsters to carry drugs across border bridges connecting Mexico with Texas. Because the kids speak both Spanish and English, and live in the area, "they are naturals for the work". They blend in well, and their young age makes them less likely to be suspected by law enforcement agents.

Federal Court Awards $9.3 billion Judgment Against al-Qaida for 9/11 Attacks

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In 2003, a group of insurance companies which had been required to satisfy property and casualty claims arising out of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks filed a civil indemnification action in a New York federal court against al-Qaida. The shadowy international organization of course never responded to the lawsuit, and a default judgment was entered against it in 2006.
In recent months a damage hearing was held on the claim, and today a magistrate recommended that judgment be entered against al-Qaida for $9.3 billion USD. The magistrate found the actual damages to be $3.1 billion, but at the plaintiffs' request he tripled them, as allowed by federal law. The magistrate's ruling now goes to a U.S. district judge, who likely will approve it as a matter of course.
Unless assets traceable to al-Qaida are discovered, the judgment will be worth no more than the paper on which it's printed. But civil judgments in the United States never expire, provided they are periodically renewed.

Ladies in White Founder Dies in Havana From Dengue Fever

By Lic. Edward V. Byrne View Edward V. Byrne's profile

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The Ladies in White ("Las Damas de Blanco") of Havana is a loose knit organization started almost a decade ago by a group of women protesting the detention of 75 men arrested during a wave of political repression in 2003. They have frequently clashed with Cuban authorities over the years, and at times have been roughed up on the streets by Castro regime agents and sympathizers. The group was originally composed of immediate family members of the 75 detainees, but eventually morphed into a much broader organization, espousing the political and civil rights of every Cuban, and demanding the release of all political prisoners. Because of their nonviolent resistance, they have proved themselves a formidable adversary -- and a major headache -- for the Old Men of Havana.
Yesterday (Oct. 14) one of their founders, 63 year old Laura Pollan, died after a week long battle with Dengue fever. Dengue is a tropical, mosquito born illness which afflicts much of the world, including the Yucatán, where there have been a number of deaths in recent weeks.  Most people experience milder forms of Dengue, and statistically very few actually succumb to the illnes. Pollan died in a Havana hospital, where she was admitted after developing severe respiratory problems.
Pollan's husband, one of the original 75, was just released in February.

Cuba Rejected One for One Prisoner Swap, says AP

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The Associated Press reports this morning that Cuba recently rejected a possible swap of Maryland contractor Alan Gross, who is serving a 15 year sentence in Havana for state security crimes, in return for the release to Cuba of convicted spy René González. González, 50, was released from a federal prison on October 7, after serving 13 years for conspiracy and failing to disclose that he was a Cuban agent. Under the terms of a conditional release order, he must remain in the United States under parole supervision for another 36 months. González is a U.S. born citizen, but also holds Cuban citizenship.

Alan Gross family

AP said its story is based upon information provided by U.S. officials, who spoke on the condition of

Mexico Drug Cartels Present Greater Threat to U.S. Security Than Iran: Says U.S. State Dept.

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Only 48 hours after U.S. authorities announced the disruption of an Iranian plot to assassinate the Saudi Arabian ambassador in Washington, a State Department official told Congress today that Latin drug cartels present a greater threat to the security of the United States than does Iran.
William Brownfield, assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, testified today before the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
“Our greatest threat is now in Central America, from where drug cartels and criminal gangs move 90% of the cocaine which arrives in the United States,” said Brownfield. He told legislators that the situation presents a serious danger to all governments in the region.
The Republican committee chair said that the potential for internationally linked terrorism should be of great concern to the U.S., since one of the arrested Iranians had tried to hire someone he believed to be a Mexican drug cartel sicario (hit man) to carry out the planned assassination. The hit man was actually an undercover DEA agent.
The senior Democrat on the committee said that the United States should view its “neighbors (in Latin America) not as threats, but as opportunities” to enhance U.S. security.
More on the Iranian plot here.
More on Latin drug cartels and their U.S. operations here.

$39 billion USD - all of it dirty money - washed every year by drug traffickers

By Edward V. Byrne for The Yucatan Times

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Testifying today before a U.S. congressional committee, Daniel Glaser, undersecretary of the Treasury for Anti-Terrorist Activities, said that money laundering by Mexican and Colombian drug gangs poses the primary threat to the integrity of financial systems in Latin America and other developing regions. Glaser said that drug profits washed and then invested in legitimate businesses worldwide are estimated at about $39 billion USD annually. “A lot of that money crosses our (U.S.) border and circulates through our own financial system,” he added.

Glaser delivered his testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee. He told legislators that president Obama has intensified efforts to stop the flow of dirty money.
Glaser said that efforts against Colombian traffickers have been the most successful so far, resulting in the seizure of over $1 billion USD.

French Prosecutors Drop Strauss-Kahn Sex Assault Case

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Source-AFP photo

It looks like a clean sweep for former International Monetary Fund director Dominique Struss-Kahan.
Last month state prosecutors in New York abandoned attempted rape charges against him, arising out of a May incident in which a hotel maid says she was attacked. But that wasn't the end of his problems. After the first case was filed, French writer Tristane Banon suddenly surfaced and said that she too had been attacked by Strauss-Kahn, in 2003. Banon (pictured) claims that Strauss-Kahn tried to rape her when she interviewed him for a book she was writing.
Prosecutors in Paris investigated the Banon case, but decided not to pursue it. Reports indicate that they concluded the evidence was closer to assault -- a very different crime than attempted rape -- and the statute of limitations had expired on the latter charge. Strauss-Kahn is suing Banon for slander in a French court.
Although Strauss-Kahn's criminal problems in the U.S. are over, the New York City maid still has a civil action pending against him. The sexual assault allegations brought his immediate political plans to a swift end. Strauss-Kahn was widely thought to have been interested in mounting a bid for president of France, which will hold an election next year. Strauss-Kahn was a popular pre-candidate, and he remains influential in French politics.
In a September television interview, Strauss-Kahn admitted to a "consensual" sexual encounter with the NYC maid, which he characterized as "moral fault" on his part. He said that his behavior was "inappropriate," but denied that it involved "violence, constraint or aggression."

Amnesty International demands that Canada arrest former U.S. president George W. Bush

By Edward V. Byrne View Edward V. Byrne's profile
George W. Bush will visit Canada on October 20, and Amnesty International wants hims cuffed on arrival. A.I. says its demand is based upon Bush’s "global crimes," including torture.

"In accord with its international obligations, Canada is required to arrest and process the former president, given his responsibility under international law for crimes such as torture," said a spokesperson for the organization today. "Since up to this time U.S. authorities have not brought the president to justice, the international community must act. Canada’s failure to act [by arresting Bush] would violate the United Nation’s Convention against Torture, and demonstrate disrespect for fundamental human rights."

Amnesty International says that it sent a detailed memorandum to the Canadian government on September 21, outlining human rights violations allegedly committed by Bush between 2002 and 2009, when he was in the White House. Many of the details focused on so-called "secret renditions" carried out by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Under rendition procedures then in place, the CIA handed over an unknown number of suspected terrorists to other countries, generally in the Middle East, where they could be tortured or submitted to "extraordinary interrogation techniques" without fear of violating U.S. laws and constitutional guarantees against cruel and unusual punishment.
One of the torture techniques specifically mentioned in A.I.’s submission to the Canadian government is.... Read More in Mexico and Gulf Region Reporter

U.S. Busts Iranian Plot to Assassinate Two Ambassadors -- Using "Mexican hit men"

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The U.S. F.B.I and DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) today announced the disruption of an Iranian plot to assassinate the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the United States (pictured below). One man was arrested on September 29, and has supposedly confessed to the details. Officials said that president Obama has been aware of the case since June. The investigation and arrest were disclosed today during a Justice Department press conference. FBI Director Robert Mueller said the plot was like the script for a Hollywood movie. "It illustrates that we live in a world where borders and boundaries are increasingly irrelevant," he added.

U.S. Issues World Wide Alert, Warns Citizens Living and Traveling Abroad

By Edward V. Byrne for The Yucatan Times
October 12, 2011

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Less than 24 hours after announcing the breakup of an Iranian plot (see my post below) to assassinate one or more foreign ambassadors in Washington, D.C., the United States has issued a world wide alert for its diplomatic personnel and for citizens living or traveling abroad.

The U.S. State Department issued the alert Tuesday evening (October 11). It will remain in force until Jan. 11, 2012.

"Citizens should be aware of the possibility of actions against the United States, following the dismantling of an Iranian plan to commit terrorist acts within the U.S.," said the State Department. "The United States government believes that the Iranian backed plan to assassinate the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the U.S. may indicate a more aggressive focus by the Iranian government, with the possibility of terrorist attacks against diplomatic officials in several countries, including the United States."

The notice added that U.S. nationals living abroad should take "precautionary measures” which will be established by the State Department.