The film will be in theaters September 18, 2015 and it will star Emily Blunt, Benicio Del Toro, Josh Brolin, Victor Garber and Jon Bernthal. It has already shown in the Cannes Film Festival and it did really well. –Matt
In the lawless border area stretching between the U.S. and Mexico, an idealistic FBI agent [Emily Blunt] is enlisted by an elite government task force official [Josh Brolin] to aid in the escalating war against drugs.
Led by an enigmatic consultant with a questionable past [Benicio Del Toro], the team sets out on a clandestine journey forcing Kate to question everything that she believes in order to survive.
A Lionsgate presentation, a Black Label Media presentation, a Thunder Road production, a Denis Villeneuve film.
Interesting news and this goes along with the continuing drug war strategy down south. Earlier I posted a deal about FOB’s being set up in Honduras. Central America is a choke point for drug traffickers, so it makes sense to focus on trying to block it. We will see how it goes? –Matt
200 US Marines join anti-drug effort in Guatemala
Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2012
By MARTHA MENDOZA
A team of 200 U.S. Marines began patrolling Guatemala’s western coast this week in an unprecedented operation to beat drug traffickers in the Central America region, a U.S. military spokesman said Wednesday.
The Marines are deployed as part of Operation Martillo, a broader effort started last Jan. 15 to stop drug trafficking along the Central American coast. Focused exclusively on drug dealers in airplanes or boats, the U.S.-led operation involves troops or law enforcement agents from Belize, Britain, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, France, Guatemala, Honduras, the Netherlands, Nicaragua, Panama and Spain.
“This is the first Marine deployment that directly supports countering transnational crime in this area, and it’s certainly the largest footprint we’ve had in that area in quite some time,” said Marine Staff Sgt. Earnest Barnes at the U.S. Southern Command in Miami.
It was 50 years ago when the U.S. military last sent any significant aid and equipment into Guatemala, establishing a base to support counter-insurgency efforts during a guerrilla uprising. That movement led to 36 years of war that left 200,000 dead, mostly indigent Maya farmers. The U.S. pulled out in 1978.
Guatemalan authorities say they signed a treaty allowing the U.S. military to conduct the operations on July 16. Less than a month later an Air Force C-5 transport plane flew into Guatemala City from North Carolina loaded with the Marines and four UH-1 “Huey” helicopters.
Honduras is the latest focal point in America’s drug war. As Mexico puts the squeeze on narcotics barons using its territory as a transit hub, more than 90 percent of the cocaine from Colombia and Venezuela bound for the United States passes through Central America. More than a third of those narcotics make their way through Honduras, a country with vast ungoverned areas — and one of the highest per capita homicide rates in the world.
The drug war is definitely heating up in Honduras. The strategy seems pretty simple, and that as you can see with the quote up top, Honduras is a main smuggling route on land and the US plans on helping to stop that. Also, the amount of land to cover is smaller and you could consider Honduras a choke point that US and Honduran forces plan on blocking. Or at least trying to.
Below I have posted two stories in regards to the efforts in Honduras. The first is about DEA’s FAST teams working with the Hondurans on operations, and the second is a story about the US applying lessons learned in Iraq towards operating bases in Honduras.
What is cool is the whole ‘outpost’ concept that is being applied to the effort. To get folks closer to the smuggling routes, as opposed to making long trips back and forth. You can also stay closer to the cities next to smuggling routes, and do more patrols that way as well. In comparison to Afghanistan–this is moving the guys off the FOBs and out into outposts so they are closer to their AO’s.
In past drug operations, helicopters ferrying Honduran and American antinarcotics squads took off from the capital, Tegucigalpa, whenever an intelligence task force identified radar tracks of a smuggler’s aircraft. The three-hour flights required to reach cartel rendezvous points did not leave much idle time to spot airplanes as they unloaded tons of cocaine to dugout canoes, which then paddled downriver beneath the jungle canopy to meet fast boats and submersibles at the coast for the trip north. In creating the new outposts — patterned on the forward bases in Iraq and Afghanistan that gave troops a small, secure home on insurgent turf — spartan but comfortable barracks were built. Giant tanks hold 4,500 gallons of helicopter fuel. Solar panels augment generators. Each site supports two-week rotations for 55 people, all no more than 30 to 45 minutes’ flying time from most smuggling handoff points.
No word if any contractors are helping to set up these outposts or do work in the outposts, and I will be keeping my eye open for any jobs related to Honduras.
They are currently looking for a country that would sponsor this charter city, and so far no one has taken a bite. But if someone were to sponsor it, then that city would provide work for the region. The hope would be to bring immigrants south, and they would work in the RED to make a life, instead of them running to places like the US and Canada illegally.
That kind of dynamic would not bode well for the drug cartels either, just because they depend upon immigrants delivering their drugs up into the US. Or at least taking advantage of the massive flow of people crossing the border every year–because it overwhelms law enforcement. A charter city like the RED would also require excellent law enforcement/security in order to keep drugs and crime out.
Now one idea for Honduras is to let the US know that if they want to operate in Honduras for the drug war, that they should help out with the Charter City concept. Either the US could become that sponsor, or the US could help apply some leverage to get a country to jump on board? I would think that if both Canada and the US is wanting to clamp down on illegal immigration, that providing an alternative like this charter city, would be an option to help alleviate that problem. Especially if Honduras is willing to do this, and businesses are drawn to the RED because it is such a good deal.
Interesting stuff, and lots of things going on in Honduras right now. –Matt
D.E.A.’s Agents Join Counternarcotics Efforts in Honduras
By Charlie Savage and Thom Shanker
May 16, 2012
A commando-style squad of Drug Enforcement Administration agents accompanied the Honduran counternarcotics police during two firefights with cocaine smugglers in the jungles of the Central American country this month, according to officials in both countries who were briefed on the matter. One of the fights, which occurred last week, left as many as four people dead and has set off a backlash against the American presence there.
It remains unclear whether the D.E.A. agents took part in the shooting during either episode, the first in the early hours of May 6 and the second early last Friday. In an initial account of the second episode, the Honduran government told local reporters that two drug traffickers had been killed and a large shipment of cocaine seized; he did not mention any American involvement. Several American officials said the D.E.A. agents did not return fire during the encounter.
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.
