Falcon Lake ‘pirate’ murder: Is beheading ‘message to the Americans’? – CSMonitor.com
Mexico
Getting Closer – The War to Our South (Texas)
The War to Our South – 10/2/2010
The War in Mexico 08.21.10
The brutality of the conflict is escalating. Alleged gang hit men broke into the home of a Chihuahua state policeman this week and strangled to death his 4-year-old brother, authorities said. Across the country, mutilated and decapitated bodies turn up virtually every day, sometimes hanging from bridges.
The War in Mexico – Prisoners as Hitmen
Hitmen behind Mexico massacre were prisoners: government | Reuters
This news piece is a little aged but linked here in case you missed it.
And Yet Another Reason Why The War in Mexico Bothers Me
Gunmen Kill 17 at Party in Mexico – NYTimes.com
Across northern Mexico, there have been increasing reports of mass shootings at parties, bars and rehab clinics.
In the worst such massacre this year, gunmen raided a drug-rehab center in the northern city of Chihuahua and killed 19 people last month. In January, gunmen barged into a private party in the border city of Ciudad Juarez and killed 15, many of them high school or university students. Relatives say the January attack was a case of mistaken identity, while state officials claim someone at the party was targeted, although they have not said who it was.
The killings in Torreon came three days after the first successful car bombing by drug cartels, an attack that introduced a new threat to Mexico’s raging drug war.
War Dead Nearly 25,000 in Mexico
Mexico car bomb: ‘Colombianization’ of Mexico nearly complete – CSMonitor.com
Mexico had already overtaken Colombia in terms of kidnappings. The public has long gotten accustomed to a censored press, threats to politicians, and grisly violence that includes decapitation and bodies hanging from highway overpasses. Now, it appears, Mexico has moved even closer to the kind of violence that plagued the South American nation in its darkest days.
A well-orchestrated car bomb exploded in Ciudad Juarez late Thursday, across from El Paso, Texas, killing at least three and sparking panic among the Mexican population. It is the first known use of a car bomb against authorities and the local population, and marks a troubling new level of violence as traffickers seeking to control the drug trade battle one another and Mexican authorities.
One Veggie Burrito with Salmonella Please
I had a burrito with guacamole and salsa for lunch today. Serious!
The incidents accounted for 4.1% of all restaurant-related food borne illnesses from 1998 to 2008, more than double the 1.6% incidence from 1984 to 1997.
Of the 5,560 salsa or guacamole-related illnesses reported, 33% were attributed to Salmonella, 18% to Norovirus, 15% to Shigella, 10% to other infections, and 24% due to unknown causes. The infections resulted in a combined 145 hospitalizations and three deaths.
Of the outbreaks, 95 were traced to salsa and 36 to guacamole. Reported reasons for contamination included improper storage time or temperature (30%), contamination by food handlers and preparers (20%), and contaminated equipment or cross-contamination.
The raw ingredients used to make the popular condiments — including tomatoes, hot peppers, and cilantro — have also been implicated in past outbreaks of foodborne illnesses, Kendall noted.
The study concluded that training materials should be devised for the healthy preparation and storage of salsa and guacamole.
The CDC began collecting data on foodborne illnesses in 1973, but the first recorded incidents related to salsa and guacamole occurred in 1984.
The War to Our South – 5/25/10
The War in Mexico – Update 4/5/2010
New adversary in U.S. drug war: Contract killers for Mexican cartels – washingtonpost.com
A cross-border drug gang born in the prison cells of Texas has evolved into a sophisticated paramilitary killing machine that U.S. and Mexican officials suspect is responsible for thousands of assassinations here, including the recent ambush and slaying of three people linked to the U.S. consulate.
The heavily tattooed Barrio Azteca gang members have long operated across the border in El Paso, dealing drugs and stealing cars. But in Ciudad Juarez, the organization now specializes in contract killing for the Juarez drug cartel. According to U.S. law enforcement officers, it may have been involved in as many as half of the 2,660 killings in the city in the past year.
The special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in El Paso, Joseph Arabit, said, “Our intelligence indicates that they kill frequently for a hundred dollars.“
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