We have reported about the flights that go between Tehran and Caracas and the fact that there are inaccurate passenger lists (or none at all) and many times no cargo lists. This violates international law. I have been told by our connections in Venezuela that this cooperation is only growing and now this report: 

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have agreed by telephone to meet soon to boost cooperation on several levels, the Venezuelan foreign ministry said .
“Presidents Ahmadinejad and Chavez agreed to meet as soon as possible to continue boosting their industrial, scientific and technological development plans in benefit of their two nations,” the ministry said in a statement Sunday.
The two leaders have often met, the last time was in November in Tehran. They share a profound hatred of the United States and both their countries are members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Keep Reading …

As a reminder and as we have reported recently, the United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights has been lobbying Mexican President Felipe Calderon to pull his troops out of Mexican cities in favor of police forces, many of which have either been corrupted by the drug cartels, or depleted due to fear. Now this..Seventeen Mexican drug gang members were killed near the U.S. border on Saturday, their bodies scattered along a road after one of the deadliest shootouts in Mexico’s three-year narco-war.

Rival factions of the Arellano Felix drug cartel in Tijuana on the Mexico-California border battled each other with rifles and machine guns in the early hours of the morning, police said.

Fourteen bodies were lying in pools of blood on a road near assembly-for-export maquiladora plants on the city’s eastern limits. The corpses were surrounded by hundreds of bullet casings and many of their faces were destroyed. Keep Reading …

As many of you know, we have interviewed the Mexican Attorney General on two occasions in the past 6 months or so. He has always expressed the concern about drug cartels and the power of corruption in the northern border areas. I got the impression as President Calderon and his administration battles to win back security in the country, the last frontier of the fight will be the northern border areas where violence continues to rage. Now we see the very clear example that the cartels are snubbing their nose at the Mexican President. According to the AP, hitmen tied to Mexico’s Gulf cartel appear to be boldly seeking recruits by posting help-wanted signs in the border city of Nuevo Laredo, including a giant banner hung across a thoroughfare. I have been to Nuevo Laredo in the past and the place isn’t one of the safest.
The banner appeared over the weekend and said “Operative group ‘The Zetas’ wants you, soldier or ex-soldier. We offer a good salary, food and benefits for your family. Don’t suffer anymore mistreatment and don’t go hungry.” While some people are criticizing Calderon, using this example, I take a different view. I think the Mexican government is making some headway and now cartels are having to fight and now even advertise to gain recruits. By the way, I took this picture during our undercover operation with Mexican drug officials. This man is a drug lookout.

We know from our trips to Mexico City and our interviews with the Mexican Attorney General Medina-Mora, that the Calderon administration is committed to fighting the cartels.

In fact, from his first day in office back in 2006, President Calderon has sent nearly 25,000 federal troops into cities like Tijuana, Nuevo Laredo and Ciudad Juarez. These are places that just a few years ago were filled with tourists, but nowadays can look more like a war zone.

But now the United Nations has stepped into the battle and is pressuring the Mexican government to pull out the troops. That worries many on both sides of the border, who have seen security and cooperation improve with the troops arrival and the corrupt or afraid police forces removed. This picture was taken during our recent trip to Mexico when we went with their officers on undercover drug raids.

ATF Special Agent in Charge Bill Newell tells me:

Any gains that we have made collectively, not only U.S. and Mexico in addressing the violence by the drug cartels, I would say they would be very very reluctant to go back to past days and we are going to make sure here at ATF to everything we can to keep that from happening.

Also, U.S. Border Patrol Deputy Chief Robert Boatright says:

On the day that they draw out, you may have an influx. We will prepare for that. That’s good actionable intelligence that we base our operations on to make sure that information is in the hands of the front line troops as it happens and as close to as it happens.

Keep Reading …

In recent days we have learned that support for Hugo Chavez is slipping in Venezuela and that he claims the free media is terrorizing his country and so-called socialist reforms. Just one month removed from the standoff with Colombia, now we are continuing to learn that Chavez has intentions to spread unrest to the rest of Latin America. The latest information comes from an article in the Christian Science Monitor and includes some of this information.In 2006, Hugo Chavez described then-President Alejandro Toledo and the current President Alan García, as “caimans from the same sewer.” The same type of rhetoric he has launched at the United States, Colombia, Mexico and Europe. Keep Reading …