Monday, May 14, 2007

Mexican Drug Cartels are Taking On the Military

By Allan Wall

On May 7th, 2007, an Army unit was sent to a crowded city center, in tanks and Humvees. The soldiers were sent to capture a group of wanted individuals who holed up inside a house.  They cordoned off a nearly five-block area, to prevent anyone outside from going in the area, and anyone inside from escaping.

But the people in the house refused to surrender, and they were well armed. A two-hour gun battle ensued, as the soldiers’ foes fought back by tossing grenades and firing bursts of AK-47 rounds.

The soldiers won in the end, punching their way into the house with a Humvee-mounted MK-19 grenade launcher. The casualty count was enemies four dead and three captured; and soldiers three wounded.

Is this the description of a recent engagement in Iraq, with the U.S. Army or Marines vs. Iraqi insurgents?

No, the scene described above did not occur in Baghdad or Mosul or Anbar Province.  It was in Mexico, the city of Apatzingan, in Michoacan State. It was one of the most recent battles between Mexican security forces and the narco-cartels.

The objective of the operation (of a combined military and police force) was to detain narcotraffickers in downtown Apatzingan, who were in a house rented by a 26-year old woman named Alejandra. The neighbors said she was a quiet girl.  If they thought she was minding her own business, they were right, but her business turned out to be the narco-business.

Alejandra and her six male companions were surrounded in the house. A soldier announced that “Somos ejercito mexicano. Tiran sus armas y salgan con las manos en alta” (this is the Mexican Army. Throw down your weapons and come out with your hands up).

The encircled would-be-detainees, however, had no intention of surrendering. They were well armed, and held off the army for two hours with their AK-47s and grenades.  When it was all said and done, the Army had killed four of them and detained the other three.  Alejandra had been blazing away with the rest of them, and died with an AK-47 at her side.

If it hasn’t been done already, I suspect that Alejandra’s saga may soon be made into a narcocorrido — a narco ballad that sings of the exploits of narcotics smugglers and other cartel operators.  Her death exemplifies the kind of tragedies that result from the narco life.  At 26, Alejandra was only a few years older than my university students. Somewhere along the way she had taken a wrong turn, gotten mixed up in the narco business, and now she’s paid for it.

But many of the Mexican soldiers who face drug cartels are the same age as my students. And they are being targeted more than ever.

On May 1st, in Michoacan, Mexican Army troops were ambushed in Caracuaro.   Their attackers were armed with rifles and grenades, and five of the Mexican soldiers were slain.

At the beach resort of Ixtapa on May 9th, a vehicle carrying a naval officer was fired upon, killing a Marine bodyguard.

On May 11th, in Veracruz, the entourage of children of the governor of the State of Mexico was attacked, and four bodyguards were killed. This was followed up by a cartel threat on May 2nd, at a military headquarters in the Veracruz tourist zone.  At the front gate of that HQ, a box was delivered. Inside the box were two grenades, a message and a severed head.

As those of us who travel in Mexico know, motorists may be stopped at various Army checkpoints.  On May 9th, near Huatulco, Oaxaca, such a checkpoint (joint military/police) was attacked. One of the attackers was killed whereas the others escaped on foot.

It sounds like Iraq, doesn’t it?  A recent cover of the Mexican magazine Proceso was emblazoned with the title “Narco — Calderon’s Iraq.”

In the narco-cartels, the Mexican military has a formidable foe. Military analyst Javier Ibarrola says, “I doubt that the narcos are as well-organized as the army, but in terms of firepower I think they are about equal.”

As far as the possible outcomes, Ibarrola has this to say: “For me, there are two possible scenarios: The federal government's use of the army is working, and the [traffickers] feel cornered and forced to fight back, or it's not working, and the narcos have turned their attention to the most visible force fighting them."

Let’s hope the former scenario is the correct one.

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Allan Wall, a MexiData.info columnist, recently returned from a tour of duty in Iraq.  He currently resides in Mexico, where he has lived since 1991. He can be reached via e-mail at allan39@prodigy.net.mx.