‘Welcome to America!’ Captured Drug Lords Choose: Snitch or Suffer

Under pressure from the Trump administration, Mexico turned over 55 cartel leaders in a pair of cloak-and-dagger missions

MEXICO CITY—Dozens of Mexico’s most dangerous prisoners, cuffed hand and foot, boarded army jets under heavy guard this year, a rogue’s gallery of cartel leaders responsible for smuggling tons of heroin, fentanyl, cocaine and methamphetamine to insatiable U.S. buyers.

The men were rousted from prisons, where money and corruption provided them with weapons, cocaine, booze, women and phones to run their lucrative underworld empires from behind bars, coordinating drug shipments as well as ordering killings and kidnappings, U.S. and Mexican officials said.

The prisoners had no idea of their destination.

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US accidentally invades Mexico

Mexican marines react to US border incursion

The US accidentally invaded Mexico after confusing it with Texas.

A group of Pentagon contractors installed signs on a beach in north-east Mexico on Monday declaring it a “restricted area” that was under the control of the US department of defence.

They apparently believed they were in Texas but had accidentally travelled 12 miles south of the border to Playa Bagdad, not realising their mistake until they were intercepted by the Mexican navy.

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Seven bodyguards arrested over Mexican mayor’s murder

Seven bodyguards have been arrested over their alleged involvement in the murder of a popular Mexican mayor, authorities have said.

Carlos Manzo, the mayor of Uruapan and an outspoken critic of cartel violence, was shot dead on 1 November at a public event marking the Day of the Dead.

The office of the attorney general of Michoacán state said in a brief statement that the public servants had been detained “for their probable participation in the crime of aggravated homicide, in commission by omission” in relation to Manzo’s killing.

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At least 120 hurt in gen Z protests over corruption and drug violence in Mexico

At least 120 people were injured as thousands of gen Z protesters took to the streets of Mexico City and across the country to voice their anger at corruption and the drug violence that claims tens of thousands of Mexican lives each year.

​Saturday’s rallies, which took place in dozens of cities from Tijuana in the north to Oaxaca in the south drew large crowds, with some demonstrators carrying the One Piece pirate flag that has become a global symbol of the youth movement.

“We need more security,” said Andres Massa, 29, a business consultant who was among those carrying the flag.

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Gen Z protests against Mexico president turn violent amid anger over mayor’s death

Mexico – One Piece Flag

At least 120 people, mostly police officers, were injured as thousands marched through Mexico City to protest against the government of Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum.

The demonstration on Saturday was organised by members of generation Z, but ended with strong backing from older supporters of opposition parties.

“For many hours, this mobilisation proceeded and developed peacefully, until a group of hooded individuals began to commit acts of violence,” said Pablo Vázquez, the security chief for Mexico City.

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Mexico about to blow …

“Sombrero Skull Flag” or “Mexican Skull Flag,” of the resistance.

Good vid links

NEXT UP OTTAWA.

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Trudeau Liberals Opened The Door To Mexican Cartels With Visa Removal

In December 2016, despite intelligence warnings that lifting visas would “facilitate travel to Canada by Mexicans with criminal records,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ended the visa requirement for Mexican visitors.

They would include “drug smugglers, human smugglers, recruiters, money launderers and foot soldiers,” the Canada Border Services Agency’s Intelligence Section wrote in a report dated April 2016, two months before Trudeau announced the visa exemption.

h/t SC

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Canada and Mexico Turn to Trains and Ports to Skirt U.S. Tariff Wall

This week I joined Prime Minister Mark Carney on his whirlwind trip to Mexico City to meet the Mexican president, Claudia Sheinbaum.

We were in Mexico for only about 25 hours. But as I wrote with Emiliano Rodriguez Mega, my colleague who is based in Mexico City, Mr. Carney apparently succeeded in one of his key objectives: winning back Mexico’s trust while the two countries grapple with President Trump’s tariff chaos.


I can’t wait to see what Trump has in store for Carney when CUSMA is renegotiated, he and Mexico will stick it to him I suspect.

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Carney strikes deal with Mexico on trade, energy, and crime; Poilievre says he got nothing

Prime Minister Mark Carney says Canada and Mexico are entering a “new era of co-operation” after announcing a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership during a visit to Mexico City.

Carney stood alongside Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum Thursday, pledging closer ties in trade, energy, and security as both countries seek to make North America “the most competitive, dynamic, and resilient economic region in the world.”

(Incognito)

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What to Know About the North American Summit Taking Place Without the U.S.

The leaders of Canada and Mexico, the United States’ two largest trading partners, will meet on Thursday — without their U.S. counterpart — after eight months of chaotic trade talks and threats of tariffs.

The talks, between Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada and President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico, are expected to focus on trade, as well as investments in areas like mining, agriculture and natural gas.

Both leaders will also discuss preserving their free trade partnership with the United States, which has so far limited the effect of President Trump’s tariffs on their economies. On Tuesday, the three countries opened public consultations on the trade pact, the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Free Trade Agreement, or the U.S.M.C.A., the first step in a review of the agreement.

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U.S. Treasury Warns of $312 Billion in Chinese Laundering For Mexican cartels

… As reported previously by The Bureau in coverage of a sweeping FinTRAC warning on Chinese underground banking in Toronto, FinCEN is now raising similar alarms. The Treasury said so-called “money mules” often rely on falsified jobs and identities to gain access to the banking system, disguise unexplained wealth, and buy residential properties. In cases where these mules opened accounts, they frequently listed occupations such as “student,” “housewife,” “retired,” or “laborer” — roles that would not normally involve large volumes of financial activity — yet the accounts showed high-value deposits and transactions consistent with laundering.

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Mexico expels 26 cartel figures wanted by US officials in deal with White House

Mexico has extradited 26 high-ranking cartel figures to the US in the latest major deal with the Trump administration as US authorities ratchet up pressure on criminal networks sending drugs across the border.

Authorities sent 26 prisoners who were wanted in the US for ties to drug-trafficking groups, Mexico’s attorney general’s office and security ministry said in a joint statement on Tuesday. The transfers were carried out after a promise from the US justice department that prosecutors would not seek the death penalty in any of the cases.

Those being handed over to US custody include Abigael González Valencia, a leader of “Los Cuinis” a group closely aligned with notorious Jalisco New Generation cartel or CJNG. Another person, Roberto Salazar, is accused of participating in the 2008 killing of a Los Angeles county sheriff’s deputy, the person said.

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This Mexican city had one of the world’s highest homicide rates — so it fired most of its police

CELAYA, Mexico — On a sunny spring day last year, a young attorney named Gisela Gaytán kicked off her campaign for mayor in this gritty Mexican city.

Under her blouse she wore a ballistic vest.

Celaya had become the epicenter of a bloody cartel war, with one of the highest homicide rates in the world, and a local police force that appeared powerless to stop it.

“We must recover the security that we so long for,” Gaytán, 38, wrote on social media before setting out that day.

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