The Notebook of Carlos Moore

I’ve been following the ATF’s Project Gunrunner and wondering if I need to keeping an eye on some of the local firearms dealers. Apparently a significant number of guns used in drug-related killings in Mexico were purchased legally in the United States and smuggled into Mexico. The guns come mostly from Texas, but with things escalating here I don’t see why it can’t be happening in Arizona. Follow the guns, you’ll find people working either side of the border. Not the best lead, and I certainly don’t have the manpower to follow this with the attention to detail it requires, but it’s something to bear in mind in my travels.

What bothers me is that the two guys sentenced so far only received 37 months and 48 months, respectively. I don’t know why they don’t RICO the guys and charge them as accessories to the murders committed with the guns they smuggled. Maybe that’s in the pipeline. Maybe it’s because the murders were in Mexico and the victims were Mexican, fine, RICO won’t stick here. So extradite them to Mexico, let them be charged and serve in a Mexican prison. That ought to be some sort of deterrent. Unless, of course, they’re connected to the Preventative Police and will just get sprung once they cross the border south. I know this shit sounds paranoid, but there are too many people playing both sides of the fence to know who to trust and how far without gathering some reliable intel first.

In 2007, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives reported 6,532 firearms recovered in Mexico and traced them to the United States. They included:

# 149 weapons were recovered in connection with homicides; 4,146 are being investigated.
# The greatest number of traced weapons were pistols, 3,214, followed by 1,804 rifles, 987 revolvers, 482 shotguns, 22 machine guns, 16 derringers and seven other weapons.
# Texas was the largest supplier state with 1,131, followed by California with 436 and Arizona with 238.
# The greatest number of traced weapons recovered by Mexican law enforcement were in the state of Michoacan, 825, followed by border states Tamaulipas, 667; Sonora, 664; Chihuahua, 441; and Nuevo Leon, 420.

I read on the BBC website that the U.S. is giving Mexico $197 million for anti-drug funding. They’re at least wise enough to not give cash, which would disappear into the pockets of corrupt officials. It’s a donation of equipment, including helicopters and surveillance aircraft. Hopefully it’s surplus equipment that was due to be replaced anyway, but I suspect some part of it will still end up in the hands of drug cartels via their allies in the Preventative Police. This is like Homeland Security giving aid to the Taliban to help fight al Qaeda. Near the end of the article it reads “There is plenty of evidence that Mexican law enforcement agencies have been extensively infiltrated by the cartels”. There’s an understatement.

Anyone with half a brain knows that the Mexican government is behind both the drug problem and the illegal immigrant problem, but we’re not willing to deal with them the way we’ve deal with Iraq or North Korea. It’s about the money and the corporations, that’s all. We don’t deal with Mexico for the same reason we lifted trade restrictions with China: some U.S. politician’s making money from the arrangement.

$197 million to Mexico. We act like it’s a Third World country but it’s the 12th largest economy in the world. Canada is 13th. Australia is 17th. That should put things in perspective. If they wanted to fix their economy and stop shipping their poor North, they could. If they wanted to put resources into stopping the drug trade, they could. $197 million to Mexico when the Border Patrol and other police organizations are under-funded. Hell, when our schools are under-funded and our infrastructure like roads and power grids are under-funded. How many flak vests for soldiers would that buy? There are better ways we could be spending money other than giving it to Mexico. If we really wanted to halt the problems with Mexico. Which we obviously don’t.

In the past month I’ve put six drug dealers behind bars and I’m not even a cop any more. It’s not a question of throwing money at a problem. It’s a question of pulling your head out of your ass. It’s a question of having the will to see things through and do what goddamn needs to be done.