- Tuesday - 10 - The Way Things are Downtown

2 weeks now. I'm on a roll here. Lets see now..

Nothing was done today. New drawing but nothing special...yet. My little brother had his birthday today and I'm glad. Also met his friend. A good fellow.

Now let's continue.

We last left off in the start of the so called drug war in Mexico. New elected president Felipe Calderon was quick to act in order to wipeout the carteles. Sending 6000 troops to registered hot spots of narcotrafico. At first no one knew if this would even be successful. By 2006, the strongest of the carteles had gain so much power over Mexico that they literally owned most of the police forces in the nation. During the course of the last past 6 years. Many police officers fell under investigation and as a result the majority were either fired or placed under arrest due to corruption or lack of obedience. Mexico's AFI: Agencia Federal de Investigacion (Federal Investigation Agency) was eventually disbanded and reconstructed. Becoming PFM: Policia Federal Ministerial (Federal Ministerial Police).
That meant that no one could trust or depend on the police to help
Years go by and the war showed mixed results. Several carteles are taken down by the army, unexplained shootouts take place at random hours of the day, riddled corpses with dismembered parts would appear at public places, people would go missing only to never be heard from again unless they recovered the body.
Its a horrible scenario but thats how it had to turn out. Things got critical for the carteles when the the president declared war against them. To this day, many have criticized Felipe's desicion but this war is mostly between the carteles themselves. No need to blame the president for all this abrupt violence. The carteles would pay people in order to protest against the government and the president. Alas, many bonds were broken inbetween citizens that were linked to the narcos. Fearing of punishment from both sides. Many of these "links" fled their homes. Only becoming a memory to those that knew them.
¿Why not surrender to the Mexican army? Surely they'll show mercy. Well if it was like that, Mexico wouldn't have so many deaths to this day. Sicarios (Hitmen or men of hire for the carteles) experience the worst of this war. Same goes for police officers. Alot of them quitting because of a secret hitlist that carteles would make; targeting selected officers and their families. As for the sicarios, death was their only option. Word has it that any sicario that surrenders to the army is executed on site.
¿Which side suffered more casualties? Mostly the sicarios of the narcos. Although equipped with Cuerno de Chivos(AK-47s) and Chanetes (M4 Carbines) with grenade launchers. Along with kevlar armor and assorted firearms plus grenades. They are poorly trained. Relying on surpise attacks and full auto fire to hit their targets. On the other hand, the Mexican army are a true terror to these guys. Just check out this armory. Nothing really compared to our nieghbor to the north but it gets the job done.

I think that just wraps up this part of the blog. Tomorrow I'll finish writing down my personal experience in this aweful mess. You may be surpised. Now if you will excuse me, I'm off to candy mountain and across the universe