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Is the Drug Prohibition War Creeping into Mexico City?

Localização: 
Mexico City, DIF
Mexico
This week the Mexican military pursued drug prohibition-created trafficking suspects in operations smack in the middle of the sprawling capital. Marines raided a hotel and a home in the middle-class districts of Napoles and Del Valle, arresting one suspected member of the Zetas drug trafficking organization. On Wednesday, army units searched homes in the Iztacalco borough. Is something changing?
Publication/Source: 
Los Angeles Times (CA)
URL: 
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/laplaza/2011/01/drug-war-zetas-mexico-city-army-marines-creeping.html

US Churches Divided on Sending Missionaries, Volunteers to Deadly Juarez

Localização: 
Ciudad Juárez, CHH
Mexico
The deadly drug prohibition war in Ciudad Juarez and Mexico has some U.S. churches and ministries divided on whether or not to continue to send missionaries and volunteers across the border.
Publication/Source: 
KVIA (TX)
URL: 
http://www.kvia.com/news/26643793/detail.html

Former Brazil Fire Chief Accused of Killing Drug Users in Alleged Retaliation to Son's Killing

Localização: 
Curitiba, PR
Brazil
Drug prohibition feeds negative stereotypes of those who use drugs, making them targets for many kinds of abuse. A former fire chief in Brazil, Jorge Luiz Thais Martins, is suspected of killing at least eight drug users in the neighborhood where his son was shot dead in a robbery attempt. "Police are investigating the possibility the crimes were committed as vengeance," said Giovani Santos, a spokesman for the public safety department. He said Martins is being investigated in part because a drug user who survived a recent attempted killing identified Martins as the shooter.
Publication/Source: 
The Canadian Press (Canada)
URL: 
http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5hmytE3Is2SMuRXKazVK1S8umC4kg?docId=5780002

US Missionary Possibly Killed by Drug Prohibition Gang in Mexico Over Truck

Localização: 
Mexico
An American missionary couple who were allegedly attacked by drug prohibition gunmen in a dangerous part of Mexico may have been targeted for their expensive pickup truck, because drug gangs covet the vehicles, police said. Sam Davis told investigators that that he and his wife were driving near the city of San Fernando, about 70 miles south of the Mexican border city of Reynosa, when gunmen in a pickup truck tried to stop them. When the Davises sped up, the gunmen fired, shooting Nancy Davis in the head.
Publication/Source: 
MyCentralOregon.com (Oregon)
URL: 
http://www.mycentraloregon.com/news/national/533912/Police-US-missionary-possibly-killed-over-truck.html

Drug Prohibition's Cocaine Traffickers Have Proven Both Vicious and Resilient

Localização: 
Since the beginning of the drug prohibition war, the drug trade has ballooned, spreading violence and corruption across large parts of the globe. Despite billions spent on combating them drug traffickers have for decades outwitted the authorities, keeping consumers in North America and Europe supplied at a price and purity that remains remarkably consistent despite law enforcement officials around the world frequently heralding the dismantling of trafficking networks.
Publication/Source: 
The Irish Times (Ireland)
URL: 
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2011/0127/1224288397713.html

Ex-World Leaders Form Global Drug Policy Commission

A group of world political leaders, intellectuals, and businessman Richard Branson have formed a Global Commission on Drug Policies in a bid to boost the effort to achieve more humane and rational drug laws. The commission is headed by former Brazilian President Henrique Cardoso and builds on the work Cardoso and former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo and former Colombian President Cesar Gaviria did with the Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy.

https://stopthedrugwar.org/files/latinamericacommission.jpg
Latin America Commission panel, 2009, President Gaviria on left (courtesy comunidadsegura.org)
The commission's goals include reviewing the basic assumptions, effectiveness and consequences of the 'war on drugs' approach; evaluating the risks and benefits of different national responses to the drug problem; and developing actionable, evidence-based recommendations for constructive legal and drug policy reform. The commission will issue a report in six months.

The commission will examine the current international drug control regime, conduct a global overview of drug policies and laws, examine the drug production and supply chain, address criminal justice challenges, study the lessons learned from harm reduction, treatment, and prevention campaigns, and examine the economic and political ramifications of the massive illicit global drug trade.

In addition to the three Latin American ex-presidents, commission members include former US Secretary of State George Schulz, writers Carlos Fuentes and Mario Vargas Llosa, former European Union official Javier Solana, former Swiss President Ruth Dreifuss, and former UN High Commissioner for Refugees Thorvald Stoltenberg.

"There is a growing perception that the "war on drugs" approach has failed," the commission said in a statement as it announced its existence in Geneva this week. "Eradication of production and criminalization of consumption did not reduce drug traffic and drug use," the commission said.

The harm from corruption and violence resulting from prohibition "largely exceeds the harm caused by drugs," the statement says.

We will be looking forward to seeing the commission's report this summer. The report from the Latin American Commission helped stir debate and advance the cause of reform, and this should, too.

Geneva
Switzerland

Mexican Mayor Accuses Police Over Bodyguard's Death

Localização: 
Ciudad Juárez, CHH
Mexico
The mayor of Ciudad Juárez has accused federal police of killing one of his bodyguards in an incident that underlines the growing tension between the different authorities in Mexico's drug prohibition war capital. "My bodyguard, accompanied by another, identified himself, raised his hands and was shot in the head," Héctor Murguía Lardizábal told reporters. "That's a murder." The mayor said that when he went to the federal police base in a nearby hotel to demand an explanation, he received a volley of insults an had a gun pointed at him.
Publication/Source: 
The Guardian (UK)
URL: 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/26/mexico-mayor-bodyguard-killing-police

Where's the Outrage Over 'Wrong-Door' Drug Raid? (Opinion)

Localização: 
Spring Valley, NY
United States
Bob Goldberg opines on the surprise early morning raid by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and the Spring Valley police which terrorized an innocent Spring Valley family asleep in their home.
Publication/Source: 
The Journal News (NY)
URL: 
http://www.lohud.com/article/20110126/OPINION/101260312/1076/OPINION01/Where+%27s%20the%20outrage%20over%20+%27wrong-door+%27%20drug%20raid

Mexico's Business Capital Fears for Future Amid Drug Prohibition Violence

Localização: 
Monterrey, NLE
Mexico
Monterrey, Mexico's business capital and third-largest city, is being pushed to the breaking point by a drug prohibition war that has left about 80 people, including 14 police officers, dead this year alone and pushed authorities to the limit. The city, home to more than 50,000 corporations, including some of the largest multinational businesses in Mexico, fears for its future if the prohibition-caused violence is not stopped. "This is a very difficult time, perhaps the most difficult in the recent history of Nuevo Leon" state, Gov. Rodrigo Medina said.
Publication/Source: 
Fox News (US)
URL: 
http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2011/01/25/mexicos-business-capital-fears-future-amid-drug-violence/

Border Patrol Agent Fired for Views on Drug Legalization (Press Release)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 25, 2010

CONTACT: Tom Angell - (202) 557-4979 or [email protected]

U.S. Border Patrol Agent Fired for Drug Legalization Views

Agent Sues to Defend First Amendment Rights

EL PASO, TX -- Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), a group of police officers, judges, prosecutors and federal agents, is standing in support of a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent who was fired for saying in a casual conversation that legalizing and regulating drugs would help stop cartel violence along the southern border with Mexico.  After sharing his views with a colleague, the fired agent, Bryan Gonzalez, received a letter of termination stating that his comments are "contrary to the core characteristics of Border Patrol Agents, which are patriotism, dedication, and espirit de corps."  Last week, with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico, Gonzalez filed a lawsuit seeking damages.

"There's no doubt that the so-called 'war on drugs' is a gigantic failure and that it causes violence, hurts our economy and forces dedicated law enforcers to risk their lives in the line of fire for a lost cause," said Terry Nelson, a former U.S. border patrol agent who is now a board member for LEAP. "But whether you think we should legalize drugs or not, you have to support the right of brave law enforcers like Bryan Gonzalez to exercise the First Amendment and share their views on policies that impact them on a daily basis."

Gonzalez, the fired agent, specifically mentioned LEAP and its website - http://www.CopsSayLegalizeDrugs.com - as a part of the conversation that led to his being fired.

To read Gonzalez's complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, visit: http://aclu-nm.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/GONZALEZ_COMPLAINT_FILED.pdf

Previously, in a separate case, one of LEAP's pro-legalization police speakers, Jonathan Wender, sued the Mountlake Terrace, Washington police department after having been fired for expressing his views on the failure of the "war on drugs." In January 2009, the department settled, reinstating Wender and giving him back pay and full benefits.

Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) represents police, prosecutors, judges, FBI/DEA agents and others who want to legalize and regulate drugs after fighting on the front lines of the "war on drugs" and learning firsthand that prohibition only serves to worsen addiction and violence. More info at http://www.CopsSayLegalizeDrugs.com.

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Localização: 
El Paso, TX
United States

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