This is a great report on the significance of Santa Muerte to criminals. She is definitely spiritual enemy number one! -Matt
Archive for category Mexico
Armed private security is a booming business in many parts of Latin America, and demand for personal protection services in Mexico is growing at least 20 percent a year, driven by foreign and local business executives looking to safeguard their families and employees, according to Robert Munks, a senior Americas analyst with London-based IHS-Jane’s, which tracks global security trends.
Here are two great articles that cover the current situation of security contracting both in Mexico, and on the US side of the border. The bottom line is that business is good for US executive protection providers in places like Texas, and business is good for Mexican security companies on their side of the border.
The first article talks about business on the US side and mentions a few companies that folks can check out if they are interested. The companies listed are Texas Professional Bodyguards LLC, BlackStone Group Security, Reynolds Protection and Sentry Security and Investigations LP. These are all Texas companies and it sounds like all of them have seen an increase in business.
The reason for the increase is pretty simple. Affluent Mexicans that come to the US fear getting attacked by sicarios hired by the cartels. Here is the quote that perked me up.
In Texas, crimes linked to cartels include 25 homicides since 2009 and 120 kidnappings and extortions reported since 2004 that have involved drugs and immigrants unlawfully in the country, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. At least one Austin homicide in the past five years has been cartel-related, police have said.
The second article is a Washington Post article and it describes the private security market on the other side of the border. They basically cover what is already known and that is Mexican security companies are doing well, but US companies are limited because of the firearms restrictions. Although there is a lot of money for training and support related stuff, the reality is that you just won’t see many armed US (or other) security contractors down there because of Mexico’s Article 27 firearms codes.
On the other hand, they do mention a few companies that are operating across the border. They are DynCorp International, Kroll, Spectre Group International LLC, SECFOR, and Robert Oatman.
Personally I think Mexico is foolish for not tapping into this wartime security contracting industry. If the laws were changed and there were provisions that allowed security contractors to be armed and operate in Mexico under some type of SOFA, then you would see this side of the industry getting more involved. I mean if you have entire towns in Mexico that have become vacant because of drug violence, then that might indicate that they do not have enough competent security folks to meet then need. Just saying….
Of course training and logistical support will be there and I expect to see more of that as time goes by. Just look how much money has already been spent according to this quote?
American security aid pays for some of those programs, while other contractors are paid by the Mexican government, whose spending on security jumped from $1.7 billion in 2005 to more than $12 billion in 2011, according to the think tank Mexico Evalua.
There are no precise figures on the number of U.S. security contractors working in Mexico, but the Pentagon and the State Department spent $635.8 million on counternarcotics contracts in Latin America in 2009, a 32 percent increase from 2005, according to an analysis prepared by the office of Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) in June.
That is a lot of cash being dedicated to the cause and the companies will certainly provide whatever services that are needed. -Matt
Private security for Mexican citizens a growing business in Austin, state
By Jazmine Ulloa
Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012
Some private security companies in Austin and across Texas have begun tapping into a burgeoning demand: personal protection services for wealthy Mexican citizens visiting the United States.
The increase over the past two years correlates with a wave of Mexican citizens, typically well-off business owners and entrepreneurs, looking to relocate to Texas in the wake of the bloodshed seething south of the U.S.-Mexico border, and some security businesses have noted the rising need statewide, agents said.
“There is a growing niche for personal protection (among Mexican citizens), but it is a very low-key niche,” said Philip Klein , CEO of Klein Investigations and Consulting and founder of Texas Professional Bodyguards L L C, which has offices in Houston, Dallas and San Antonio. “There are very few of us who can provide these high-end services, and a lot of us don’t talk about it.”
An example of the security trend was revealed this month when the American-Statesman reported that several Austin police officers were paid cash by an affluent Mexican citizen to watch over his daughter while she attends college. Two officers have left the Austin Police Department since federal and local authorities started criminal and administrative investigations into the off-duty employment, police have said.
But an increasing number of Mexican clients are opting for private security companies, which must meet licensing, registration and insurance mandates, private security professionals said.
During the five years since President Felipe Calderon took power and declared war on drug cartels, Mexico has been shaken by 47,000 drug-related murders as well as rocketing levels of kidnapping and extortion.
In the same period, Mexico’s biggest security firm, Multisistemas de Seguridad Industrial, says it has grown by 70 percent.
It now has an army of more than 10,000 private security guards — including many former soldiers — who are licensed to carry guns to protect the company’s 2,500 Mexican clients.
Multisistemas is like the G4S of Mexico? I had no idea it was that big, and I have never even heard of this company before. So that is why I wanted to put this one up in the archives for reference. Also, Multisistemas might be a good company to throw a resume at if you would like to offer your services there. Especially for the high risk PSD type operations.
If anyone has anything else to add about Multisistemas, feel free to do so in the comments. -Matt
Mexico drug war boosts security business
Amid the violence, Mexico’s rich get ID chips, armored cars and gunmen on call.
Ioan Grillo
January 21, 2012
Mexico’s wealthy embed GPS chips under their skin, fatten their SUV’s with bullet proof armor, and hire trucks of gun-toting bodyguards to follow them to the shopping mall.
While Mexico’s merciless drug war has scared off tourists and investment dollars, it has fed one niche industry: private-security services.
Grand Strategic Analysis: In essence, fortified towns (garrison towns) are being established by means of recolonizing (and stabilizing existing populations) in a region of Mexico lost to the de facto rule of the criminal insurgents. This is pretty much an unheard of development with regard to mature, stable, and modern states. Rather, it is characteristic of centralized states expanding into frontier areas (those expanding territorially) and such states losing control over expanses of their lands (those being overrun by raiders and barbarians). This is very much reminiscent of Roman, and later Holy Roman, Empire frontier towns (burgwards et.al.) in Europe during the late imperial and post-Western empire eras. The raiders of those eras, however, were early on based on the Germanic tribes and Huns (Magyars) as opposed to today’s cartel (2nd/3rd phase) and gang (3GEN) groupings [6]. Modern parallels to US firebases in Vietnam may be made but the context and type of insurgency (criminal vs Maoist-inspired) make such contentions highly problematic. The historical parallels to the criminal-soldier threats of the late Roman Empire and Dark Ages appear even more viable in light of the multitude of atrocities committed (torture, mutilations, and beheadings), although in this instance with a post-modern contextual overlay.
Thanks to Dr. Bunker for pointing this one out in his Strategic Note #10. This is very cool stuff and reminiscent of a sort of ink blot counter-insurgency strategy. But Dr. Bunker classified it as Burgward Strategy based off of the Roman method of setting up frontier posts to deal with raiders and barbarians. To basically take back and bring under control the land within the empire.
It is also shocking to know that towns like the one described exist. Here is the quote that perked me up:
In late 2010, nearly all of the town’s 6,300 inhabitants fled to neighboring municipalities and across the border into the United States due to fear of drug-related violence.
Many of them had relocated to a shelter in the nearby city of Ciudad Miguel Aleman.
This is crazy. That would make the illegal immigrants that cross into the US into more of a class of war refugee. So yes, any strategy that includes taking back these towns is mutually beneficial to Mexico and the US.
The other thing I was wondering is how many other towns are like this one? And, for setting up these mobile military bases, I wonder who they are contracting with if any, to help support these operations? I imagine if there are quite a few of these towns that need to be taken back, then I could see the potential for a Mexican type LOGCAP program emerging to support those operations. Although I have not heard of anything like that yet, and I will keep an eye out as Mexico continues to implement this strategy. (I do not know if the Merida Initiative is helping to support this or not?). Interesting stuff. -Matt
Mexico Inaugurates Military Barracks in Violence-Plagued Town
December 10, 2011
Mexican President Felipe Calderon formally inaugurated a military barracks in the violence-racked northeastern town of Ciudad Mier, where he reiterated that the deployment of army soldiers to battle drug-trafficking gangs is a necessary but temporary measure.
He said the new army base will allow time for authorities to recruit and form their own police forces in that town and other areas of Tamaulipas state, saying that the weakness, vulnerability and, in some cases, complicity, of law enforcement had put people “at the mercy of criminals.”
Calderon said Ciudad Mier, a colonial community in Tamaulipas state near the U.S.-Mexico border that was once known as the “Magic Town,” should be a tourist destination but instead was abandoned by its citizens last year because of the presence of criminal gangs.
In late 2010, nearly all of the town’s 6,300 inhabitants fled to neighboring municipalities and across the border into the United States due to fear of drug-related violence.
Many of them had relocated to a shelter in the nearby city of Ciudad Miguel Aleman.
Ciudad Mier, which is located in the “Frontera Chica” region of Tamaulipas, and many other towns in northeastern Mexico found themselves caught up in the war sparked by the March 2010 rupture of the alliance between the Gulf drug cartel and Los Zetas, the cartel’s former armed wing.
This is very intriguing, because we just don’t know who is operating as Anonymous. It could be a legitimate group of do-gooders that want to attack the cartels, or it could be a competing cartel that wants to target the Zetas, and use the Anonymous handle to do this.
But as STRATFOR pointed out, the cartels have their own computer experts, and they will certainly hunt down any threats and make an example of them. They have already hunted down and killed reporters and bloggers, and this new threat from Anonymous will be dealt with in the same brutal and bloody way.
The other thing to remember is that the cartels have a ton of money to hire cyber lance teams. Or basically a team that can hunt people online, and kill or capture them with their armed component. I would not underestimate their ability to assemble such a team, and I am sure they already have such folks working as we speak. This will certainly be a true test of Anonymous’ OPSEC/PERSEC abilities.
This also brings up another concept that I have gone over in the past, and that is fifth generation warfare. A third possibility here, is that either an enemy of the Zetas or of Anonymous, or even of both, has put this whole thing together in order to create a ‘war’ between the two. That third party can constantly and anonymously feed both parties to make that war very bloody and costly, and that third party would benefit–and yet stay completely out of the mess. The question is, who is the third party? (Although I tend to agree with Lind that it is still too early to really define what fifth generation warfare is) But this theory would fit into some of the definitions that are floating around out there. Who knows?
Either way, we will see how this works out. I do know that with this kind of cyber warfare, there will be no limitations or niceties. Both sides will be trying to do massive harm, both online, and in reality. Although I would put my money on the Zetas for putting the lance in ‘cyber lance’. I hope Anonymous is ready to play, because this is when the game get’s very serious. -Matt
Edit: 11-08-2011, So Jester (a certain hacker that is well known for taking on Wikileaks and other folks in prime hacker fashion) has just posted a very interesting deal about this story. He just identified an individual named Barrett Brown who was behind all of this, and that the kidnapping was fabricated–all because he wanted to generate some buzz about Anonymous. The reason? To sell a book. lol Yep. Here is the quote from Jester:
Message to all. The truth of the matter is this, with Brown, it’s not about fighting Mexican injustice, it’s not about a ‘kidnapped’ Anon, it’s not even about him having a problem with the prices he has to pay to get high, it’s not about anything except him generating interest in his upcoming book.
This is a startling revelation, and this just came out in the National Drug Threat Assessment for 2011 I posted earlier. A big hat tip to Small Wars Journal and Dr. Bunker for pointing out this fact and definitely follow the discussion over there if you are following this war.
I also wanted to mention that this weekend Borderland Beat posted a video and story that showed the execution of two men by a cartel execution squad. They cut one guy’s head off with a chainsaw, and the other guy’s head was cut off using a knife. The video was brutal to watch, and I will not post a link to it on this blog, but the imagery is left to your imagination. I have also seen this imagery and type of video elsewhere in the world, and that was in Iraq. Extremists cut off the heads of their captives and filmed it as well.
With both examples, the desired outcome of filming these executions was to send a message of horror and terror. And believe me, I see no difference between how the cartels or terrorists deliver that message.
But the interesting point here that I wanted to make is that Iraq and Afghanistan are ‘over there’, and the war in Mexico is in our backyard. Hell, with this report, the Mexican cartels are on now on the doorstep and seeping through the floor boards of the house. This is the war to be concerned about, and yet there is very little reaction to this in America.
It is like it is too awful to look at or acknowledge, much like the video of the chainsaw execution. But it happened, and the war in Mexico is happening, and we need to come to grips with that reality. Especially as these criminals infiltrate and turn Americans into traitors with their money and product.
Another example is the reaction the US has to a terror cell that is found and arrested on our soil. Politicians and the media get all riled up about such a thing, and terrorism is front and center on everyone’s minds. Visions of 9/11 and a fear of a second attack just freaks people out. That is terrorism.
But how are the cartels any different? They don’t just have one cell, but thousands of cells or groups throughout the US, and they sell drugs that have led to the deaths of thousands of Americans. Those same drugs have created addicts that go on to commit crimes and destroy families, all with a drive to get even more drugs. This addiction cycle has a profoundly negative impact on society, and this drug threat analysis clearly identified those issues.
The cartels profit off of American addiction, and they are infiltrating into this country in order to help create addicts, and then sell to those individuals for the lifetime of their addiction. These cartels find those who will help facilitate that process, and in war, you could actually view these individuals as traitors to this country. To provide a terrorism metaphor, it is a lot like how Al Qaeda looks for individuals that they can turn or convert into human weapons. Al Qaeda uses religion as the drug to make those individuals members of their cause, and the Cartels use drugs to make individuals ‘members of their cause’. The problem though is that it is far easier for a cartel to achieve their goals, compared to groups like Al Qaeda. That is the war, and that should trouble anyone that cares about the safety of their country. -Matt
Mexican Cartel Strategic Note
by Robert Bunker
September 25, 2011
Mexican Cartels (Transnational Criminal Organizations) Now Operating in Over 1,000 US Cities; Up From 195 US Cities
The recent publication of the US Department of Justice National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC), National Drug Threat Assessment 2011 (http://www.justice.gov/ndic/topics/ndtas.htm#y2011) (August 2011) provides an important strategic insight into Mexican cartel penetration into the United States. On p. 8 of the document, a single sentence states:
Mexican-based TCOs were operating in more than a thousand U.S. cities during 2009-2010, spanning all nine OCDETF regions.
The corresponding note (g) is as follows:
Included are traffickers who purchase illicit drugs from TCO associates and distribute them on their own, cells that function as an extension of the TCO to traffic illicit drugs in the United States, and cells that provide warehousing, security, and/or transportation services for the TCO.
“I never thought we would contemplate the day when ‘true believers’ from a Mexican cartel would start looking a lot like jihadists fighting for Al Qaeda—instead representing a perverted form of Christianity—but such a day appears very close at hand.” -Dr. Robert Bunker, House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere
This is a fascinating testimony about the strategy, or lack there of, for the war in Mexico. That quote up top came from Dr. Bunker and his assessment of what is going on down there, and it does make you pause. The cartels are just as awful as jihadists, and sometimes worse. The violence going on down there is truly hellish and horrific. This is also on the US border and not in Iraq or Afghanistan! Dr. Bunker also mentioned that the drug war and cartels/gangs in the Western Hemisphere are a larger threat to the US than islamic extremists. (Very bold statement.)
I would also add one little thing to Dr. Bunker’s testimony, and that is he forgot to mention an area of study that will help to understand the cartels a little better. That would be the market of force or privatized force in war. Or to even delve into the new area of study that I have mentioned in the past called Offense Industry. States and non-state actors alike, all use Offense Industry to achieve their goals. The Sicarios and how they are bough/sold/used are a prime example. And especially the similarities between the early Condottieri /free companies in 14th Century Italy and these current cartels. Or the history of pirates and how their business and war fighting has evolved, or remained the same. Money and how it guides the actions of these combatants, must be understood so we can develop strategies for stopping them.
The other thing I would like to hear in these testimonies is the manpower issue. If this is viewed as a narco insurgency, then a realistic assessment must be made to find out how many and what type of forces would be needed to counter such a thing? The same type of deal was applied to Iraq and Afghanistan, and we need to know how short the Mexican’s really are with ‘trusted’ and capable security forces. We also must look at the utility of all and any available sources of manpower–to include private industry and/or the Mexican people. (like promoting and assisting a Mexican Spring?) Hat tip to Small Wars Journal for this one. -Matt
The training for people with weapons permits in Garcia is part of a phase of Rodriguez’s security program aimed at “involving the citizens in defense of the region.”
“Many of them want the training and knowledge … to defend their families and their heritage,” he said.
In addition to the weapons course, the project also includes broader training in its “urban defense” goals.
“Imagine if there is someone wounded and no one in the neighborhood knows what to do. It’s happened to us that in the street there is someone who’s been shot and the (paramedics) don’t come,” Rodriguez said.
So far, about 3,000 people from Garcia and nearby cities have signed up for the course, including engineers, teachers, housewives and retired military.
Ok, this is awesome. This is what I have been hoping and praying for in Mexico. The citizenry there needs to realize that they cannot entirely depend upon the police or military to protect them. And the government needs to realize that the citizenry can certainly be an effective tool to counter the cartels. So programs like this are a great start, but they also need to do this right in order to increase their odds of success.
It is also important to note that if you look at the rebels of Libya, that they were once civilians, yet were able to transform into a force that defeated a standing army. With a little motivation and some training/experience, a citizen force can certainly do some damage. The war against the cartels is a righteous war that must be fought and won, and I really think the citizens of Mexico can rally around defeating these scumbags. The people interested in such a program just needs to be empowered by the approval of it’s leaders, and given a little training to be effective.
It would really be cool to take this a step further and send some SF teams down to Mexico and help train these 3,000 folks that have signed up for this program. Or for this town to receive the funding necessary to get a training company down there to help out. If any contractors are looking for a way to contribute to the fight down there, you could probably get in your car and drive to this town and offer your services pro bono?
One thing though that needs to be mentioned about such a program. This is a declaration of war against the cartels. So this program needs to be conducted in an intelligent and secure manner. Training sites or gun ranges will be targets of the cartels. Folks who participate will be targets as well. The cartels will also do their best to infiltrate the program and subvert it, much like what they have done with government or police. So it will be up to the participants of this program to ‘cleanse’ itself of all cartel scum.
It also reminds me a lot of the Soviet Partisan warfare against the Nazis during WW 2. The Soviet’s at the time realized that if citizens are going to fight, that they need a basic ‘how to’ manual to fight and survive in their occupied homeland. These manuals also discussed how to defeat the Nazi anti-partisan forces intending on destroying this civilian threat. But the partisans kicked ass and certainly helped in the overall war effort. The point of all of this is that these partisan forces certainly did a number on the Nazis, and civilians can certainly play an effective role in a war.
Another example of the power of partisan guerrillas is the story of Wendell Fertig in the Philippines during WW 2. This guy was a stud, but he was also just a regular guy and engineer who was caught behind enemy lines when we pulled out of the Philippines. Wendell decided to lead a guerrilla war against the Japanese as a result of his predicament, and he was able to organize and build an effective force with very little. He was highly motivated and a smart problem solver, and his force was able to do some serious damage upon the Japanese.
Mexico needs the same type of innovative and dedicated leaders in their towns and cities to lead a guerrilla war against the cartels. So bravo to Jaime Rodriguez Calderon for taking the initiative and ‘doing something’ about the problem. Hopefully Mexico and the US will support this town in it’s efforts, and identify and help other ‘real’ leaders with similar goals. -Matt
Edit: 08/13/2011- It looks like another town is taking up arms in Chihuahua. Very cool and I hope this spreads! Quote:
“One small northern Mexico community, surrounded by Cartel thugs, is taking matters into their own hands.
The people of Uruachi, Chihuahua have begun to arm themselves in a last attempt to protect themselves against a group of 12 armed men surrounding the community, Mayor Aldo Campos said.”
Mexican city plans to train citizens to fire guns
Javier Estrada
September 7, 2011
Officials in a northern Mexican city plagued by violence say a new course will take a fresh approach toward protecting citizens: Training people to handle and shoot guns.
The aim of the approach, says Garcia Mayor Jaime Rodriguez Calderon, is putting a stop to crime in the 40,000-person city in Nuevo Leon state.
“Many people call me because their son or their husband has been kidnapped, or some family member’s car has been stolen. I said to myself, ‘Wow, how can we, the citizens, defend ourselves,’ ” Rodriguez told CNNMexico.com.
Twice this year, gunmen have tried to assassinate Rodriguez, who has earned the nickname of Bronco for his strong personality.
