Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Mexico: Army deserters aid drug gangs

According to the Mexican government, over 100,000 soldiers have deserted from Mexico’s armed forces over the past seven years and some of them have helped armed gangs.

During a legislative hearing, Sub-secretary of Defense Tomas Angeles Dahuajare admitted that gangs recruited soldiers, and blamed low salaries and a lack of benefits for the high number of desertions. However, he claimed that it is not a national security risk:

(Dahuajare) rejected that the military desertions, which included members of the Navy…impacted national security since most of them involve troop personnel. [ed. – personal translation]

Dahuajare’s remarks come on the heels of a U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency report stating that drug cartels based in northern Mexico have established bases of operation in Mexico City. Still, police captured a high-ranking drug smuggler on Monday and eleven hitmen yesterday.

Sources (English)- Associated Press, UPI

Sources (Spanish)- RCN, Milenio

Image- BBC News (1998 photo of Mexican army troops in Chiapas)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I AM TIRED OF THE CRUD FROM SOUTH OF THE BORDER AND OUR OWN GOVERNMENT ( PUSSY FOOTING) AROUND WHILE THIS COUNTRY GETS LOWER ON THE SOCIAL SCALE. TAKE A HARD LOOK AT WHAT WE ( THE U.S.A.) HAS BECOME. A REVOLVING DOOR FOR ALL THE POOR, UNEDUCATED , UNSKILLED, SLOP IN THE WORLD.

Maegan la Mala said...

I know! And to think that it started with all those damned Europeans infected with VD! If only that had been stopped it wouldn't have spiraled out of control.

Erwin C. said...

Speaking of "Uneducated, Unskilled" have you ever heard of the Shift key?