Mexican troops swoop on police HQ - Cancun

[Heracles 417]

I thought (as stated by others here) this only happened in the "bad non-coastal areas".

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Mexican troops have detained the police chief and 36 other officers in the resort of Cancun in connection with the murder last week of an ex-army general.

Soldiers swooped on the police HQ and took police chief Francisco Velasco to Mexico City for questioning.

Former general Mauro Enrique Tello, who had just taken command of a squad to tackle crime in Cancun, was tortured and shot by suspected traffickers.

Some 5,400 people were killed in drug-related violence in Mexico in 2008.

In a surprise operation, dozens of heavily armed soldiers swarmed on the police station in the municipality of Benito Juarez, which includes Cancun.

Soldiers stripped the police chief and his officers of their weapons to check the registration of the guns.

Chief Velasco was flown to the capital for questioning in connection with Gen Tello's murder.

Gen Tello, who retired from the army earlier this year, had been sent to Cancun to lead a new force intended to break up the influence of drugs cartels.

He and two other men with him were abducted on a local main road, then driven to a remote location where they were tortured and then shot.

No boundaries

The BBC correspondent in Mexico, Stephen Gibbs, says the general's death, the day after he arrived to take up his new job, is being blamed squarely on corrupt police and drugs cartels.

Drug-related violence in Mexico is soaring, as criminal gangs fight both each other for control of the trafficking routes from Colombia to the US, and fight federal forces deployed against them.

Some 40,000 soldiers and police have been deployed since December 2006 against the cartels.

Much of the violence to date has been concentrated in Mexico's northern border cities, while Cancun, which attracts millions of tourists every year, has largely been spared.

Our correspondent says the general's killing is another sign that Mexico's drug war has no boundaries.

Story from BBC NEWS:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/7880741.stm

Published: 2009/02/10 14:24:30 GMT

I thought (as stated by others here) this only happened in the "bad non-coastal areas".

Edited February 11, 2009 by Aficionado

[Ban Hammer 13,644]

[peejay 327]

More fear mongering. Everybody knows that Mexico is a bonafide Garden of Eden. It has to be according to a preponderence of Mexicans in Texas running around with Mexico motif clothes and Mexican flags hanging off the rear view mirror of their pick-up-trucks. You would think that Mexico hung the moon in the sky. Too bad they refuse to live there.

[Heracles 417]

More fear mongering. Everybody knows that Mexico is a bonafide Garden of Eden. It has to be according to a preponderence of Mexicans in Texas running around with Mexico motif clothes and Mexican flags hanging off the rear view mirror of their pick-up-trucks. You would think that Mexico hung the moon in the sky. Too bad they refuse to live there.

Funny that hey

I am just waiting to see what excuse or most likely insult they will have for me this time. if a freakin ex General cannot be safe in a country then who the hell can. They also beat on about previous murders being in bad areas and how coastal areas are so safe. This happened in Cancun.

Edited February 11, 2009 by Aficionado

[Ban Hammer 13,644]

More fear mongering. Everybody knows that Mexico is a bonafide Garden of Eden. It has to be according to a preponderence of Mexicans in Texas running around with Mexico motif clothes and Mexican flags hanging off the rear view mirror of their pick-up-trucks. You would think that Mexico hung the moon in the sky. Too bad they refuse to live there.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

What do you want Boo-Yah - a statement of the obvious?

Yes, Mexico has problems. Noone has denied this.

[Jasman0717 9]

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

More fear mongering. Everybody knows that Mexico is a bonafide Garden of Eden. It has to be according to a preponderence of Mexicans in Texas running around with Mexico motif clothes and Mexican flags hanging off the rear view mirror of their pick-up-trucks. You would think that Mexico hung the moon in the sky. Too bad they refuse to live there.

Funny that hey

I am just waiting to see what excuse or most likely insult they will have for me this time. if a freakin ex General cannot be safe in a country then who the hell can. They also beat on about previous murders being in bad areas and how coastal areas are so safe. This happened in Cancun.

Calm down and think it through.

It sounds like the General was specifically targeted for death by the cartel because he threatened the established order of corruption in the local police force.

In that respect he was much more "at risk" than a tourist, who are most likely the target of street robberies than assassination.

In many countries with this sort of institutional corruption and organised crime - if the mafia sets out to get you, they will - no matter where you are.

[Heracles 417]

What do you want Boo-Yah - a statement of the obvious?

Yes, Mexico has problems. Noone has denied this.

Correction America has a problem as this stuff is spilling onto American streets. But since it apparently happens everywhere of course we should just do nothing.

Can you tell me where you live so I can send some of these types to live next to you? After all it happens everywhere, therefore is as normal as paper delivery.

Edited February 11, 2009 by Aficionado

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

What do you want Boo-Yah - a statement of the obvious?

Yes, Mexico has problems. Noone has denied this.

Correction America has a problem as this stuff is spilling onto American streets. But since it apparently happens everywhere of course we should just do nothing.

Can you tell me where you live so I can send some of these types to live next to you? After all it happens everywhere, therefore is as normal as paper delivery.

Sure - there is a spillover. Not denied that either.

Nor did I say that it "happens everywhere". That's something you pulled out of your a$$.

[Heracles 417]

Sure - there is a spillover. Not denied that either.

Nor did I say that it "happens everywhere". That's something you pulled out of your a$$.

Maybe you meant Palm island..

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I can't argue with broken logic.

[pedroh 21]

More fear mongering. Everybody knows that Mexico is a bonafide Garden of Eden. It has to be according to a preponderence of Mexicans in Texas running around with Mexico motif clothes and Mexican flags hanging off the rear view mirror of their pick-up-trucks. You would think that Mexico hung the moon in the sky. Too bad they refuse to live there.

Funny that hey

I am just waiting to see what excuse or most likely insult they will have for me this time. if a freakin ex General cannot be safe in a country then who the hell can. They also beat on about previous murders being in bad areas and how coastal areas are so safe. This happened in Cancun.

because he was a general.. and was trying to stop them.. there's a general rule against drug cartels.. if you don't mess with them, they won't mess with you, me as many others have lived safely in Mexico for years.. at least I and a lot of people I know who I studied with, never had a 'hollywood' like scenario, like the ones you like to show here..

yes.. mexico is bad, there's a big trouble with druglords.. but what's the purpose of generalizing? or making it see like ALL Mexico is dangerous.. those guys you consider dangerous, will never be caught, they are colluded too with US authorities, or do you think US is corruption free? and those ####### drugdealers, are not the little guys who are caught every night and deported on the border..

not all people are drug cartel related, nor like them.. and your generalizations are offensive to those who don't like it, or have been affected by their crimes...

[EstebanTrabajos 7]

seriously guys you need to get a life,

You've got a serious case of ####### and oral fixation on Mexico and Mexicans,

Not even we the people who live in the border are so obsessed with everything that's going on between Mexico and the US.

Edited February 11, 2009 by TävôLuDô

[Chica Yeyé 41]

More fear mongering. Everybody knows that Mexico is a bonafide Garden of Eden. It has to be according to a preponderence of Mexicans in Texas running around with Mexico motif clothes and Mexican flags hanging off the rear view mirror of their pick-up-trucks. You would think that Mexico hung the moon in the sky. Too bad they refuse to live there.

Funny that hey

I am just waiting to see what excuse or most likely insult they will have for me this time. if a freakin ex General cannot be safe in a country then who the hell can. They also beat on about previous murders being in bad areas and how coastal areas are so safe. This happened in Cancun.

You guys have some serious fixation of the Fatal Attraction type with my country it seems. That, thankfully, if YOUR problem. I told you yesterday BY, just don't go there. God forbid something happens to you.

I am very much aware -way more aware than you ever possibly be- of what goes on in Mexico. I know about the government corruption, the dereliction of duty of public officials who serve to not-so-clean special interests. I know about the poverty of a high percentage of my paisanos. About rampant sexism that still has women in very anachronistic gender roles. Also about violence and really sad stuff that is occurring more often. And no, I am not proud of all of this --- but the day this blinds me to see the good things about the country that gave me an education, a loving extended family, strong family values, etc.; it would be the day I have changed into something I do not want to be. The day I paint all Mexicans with the same brush could compare with the day I paint all Australians with the brush I describe you. Not happening.

If you feel entitled to judge, attack, belittle other people (specially Mexicans) go ahead and enjoy yourself-- that says much more about both of you than it says about me, about Mexican, or about Mexico.

Peace out.