BY MICHAEL WEBSTER: Syndicated Investigative Reporter. March 4, 2009 at 3:00 PM PST

Mexican Federal Police personnel arrive in Ciudad Juarez to carry out an anti-narcotics operation. (Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP/Getty Images)

THE EL PASO/JUAREZ METRO-BORDERPLEX , Mexico-Thousands of Mexican Army troops and federal police heavily armed have moved into the city of Juarez searching for members of the Mexican drug cartels and thousands more are expected later this week according to sources in the Mexican military. The Massive show of force by the Calderon administration is an all out effort to prevent a total collapse in law and order in Mexico’s bloodiest city just south of the U.S. border and adjacent to El Paso Texas.

Two of Mexico’s deadliest drug cartels have reached a combined force of 100,000 foot soldiers, wreaking havoc across the country and threatening U.S. border states, the U.S. Defense Department told The Washington Times.

The cartels rival the Mexican army in size and have both Mexico and the U.S. in crisis mode as they deal with what they fear is a coming insurgency along the border.

“It’s moving to crisis proportions,” an unidentified defense official told The Times. The official also said the cartels have reached a size where they are on par with Mexico’s army of 130,000.

Sirens blared as the army staged its biggest troop build-up ever in Ciudad Juarez, where violent murders and beheadings occur nearly on a daily bases as the bloody war between the Mexican Drug Cartels and the Mexican Government continues to raise havoc and death to its terrified residents.

Ciudad Juarez is engulfed in the worst drug violence in Mexico as cartels and corrupt cops and other officials fight over one of the country’s most profitable drug and human smuggling routes. Four or more Mexican Drug Cartels (MDC’s) have join forces and are now fighting to control Ciudad Juarez by taking away the Mexican Army’s current hold on the city. While, at the same time roving criminal gangs made up mostly of unemployed youths have joined the battle extorting businesses, kidnapping their owners and just plain residents and robbing banks and hiring out as hit men for the MDC’s.

Member of the local police of Ciudad Juarez, Chihuhua state, in northern Mexico that borders with the US, check the body of a beheaded person found on January 20, 2009. Four other men were assassinated in different locations of Ciudad Juárez, a convulsed (J. Guadalupe Perez/AFP/Getty Images)

More than 1500 people have been murdered so far this year and over 6,000 in the area over the past year. Last week MDC’s flexed their mussel by forcing the city’s police chief to resign with a threat to keep killing police officers until he quit.

“We’ve got to show we can achieve security in Juarez, for Mexico’s sake, for its economy, for people’s lives, for our international reputation,” said Victor Valencia, the Chihuahua state governor’s representative in Ciudad Juarez.

Chihuahua state which includes Ciudad Juarez is prime real estate about in the center of the 2,000 mile U.S. Mexican border with road and rail links deep into the United States. The Pacific-coast Sinaloa gang, led by top fugitive Joaquin “Shorty” Guzman, is one of several fighting for control of the city.  

Mexico’s law enforcement are corrupted to the highest levels by drug money, while President Felipe Calderon stakes his reputation and future that his army will win the war.

According to high ranking army sources Cd. Juarez is the central war zone in the battle for ground and important smuggling routes north.

“The solution is with the military. The federal, state and municipal police are infiltrated by organized crime,” Said one Mexican official.

 The Catholic church through their bishops run ads in the local papers pleading for an end to the killings that are “staining the state with blood”.

The army expects to have 7,500 soldiers and federal police stationed in Ciudad Juarez by the end of the week, with a further 2,000 troops in the rest of Chihuahua. Troops rolled past U.S.-style shopping malls in Ciudad Juarez Tuesday to set up checkpoints at bridges running over the border and at the city’s international airport, briefly shut last week after bomb threats.

Calderon has about 50,000 soldiers across Mexico fighting cartels but has never before sent so many troops to one city.

“Juarez is prisoner to an infinity of groups fighting for the territory, and others who are making the most of the confusion for easy money,” said army spokesman Enrique Torres.

Guzman, Mexico’s most-wanted man, wants to seize Ciudad Juarez from local drug boss Vicente Carrillo Fuentes, and officials say the shadowy La Linea cartel from the western state of Michoacan and the feared Zetas hit men from the Gulf of Mexico cartel have been at war. But now the cartel bosses say its time for a truce among the cartels and they must now focus their attention on getting the army out of Juarez and show the President who is really in charge, said a protester at last weeks march near the international bridges.

The jump in killings in the city to around 10 a day in February has put Calderon under intense pressure.

U.S. officials publicly are asking whether Mexico is becoming a failed state and voiced concern about the spillover of executions, kidnappings and extortions into the United States.

Last month, gunmen killed two city councilmen and forced out Ciudad Juarez’s police chief by killing his deputy and vowing to murder an officer every 48 hours until he stepped down. Reportedly the city’s mayor and family now lives across the border in El Paso since a series of death threats.

During the same week a former soldier attacked a convoy carrying Chihuahua’s state governor and killed one body guard and wounding another in what many believe was an attack linked to drugs.

“The drug hit men are in control here. Things are out of control, there’s so much death,” said textile salesman Valente Salazar in Ciudad Juarez’s main square as troops swept past in Humvees. “At six o’clock I go home and I don’t go out at all after that. There are so many killings.”

By Michael Webster: Investigative Reporter May 15, 2008 8:00 AM PST

As reported executively in the Laguna/El Paso Journal the Calderon administration was expected to rush more Mexican Army troops to the border cities of Juarez, Tijuana, Mexicali, Palomas and others. The first leg of that troop enforcement became an reality yesterday — Hundreds more Mexican army soldiers arrived in Juárez under the cover of darkness as part of Joint Operation Chihuahua, intended to augment the Mexican governments war against the Mexican Drug Cartels operating in Mexico. Juarez has been particularly hard hit with 300 plus murders that has rocked the city since the beginning of the year. Click on or Google:  Mexico’s National Security Cabinet expected to declare a state of emergency

It is estimated that Mexico has 36,000 troops fighting the Mexican drug cartels and their Para-military units throughout the country. With the expected injection of more soldiers being sent to the U.S. Mexican border cities those troops will number near 40,000.

Calderon is seeking U.S. military aid under the provisions of the Merida Initiative, a multiyear $1.4 billion anti-narcotics package proposed by President Bush. Click on or Google: Merida Initiative Will It Work?

In recent months, and after Mexican president Caldron dispatched the Mexican army and federal police to many interior cities and to Mexican cities on the Mexican U.S. border the level of violence has risen substantially, with some of it spilling into the United States. According to Jayson Ahern, the deputy commissioner of Customs and Border Protection.

“It’s almost like a military fight,” Ahern said. “I don’t think that generally the American public has any sense of the level of violence that occurs on the border.”

As the cartels fight for territory, this carnage spills over to the U.S., Ahern said — from bullet-ridden people stumbling into U.S. territory, to rounds of ammunition coming across U.S. entry ports.

At least Three Mexican border city police chiefs barely escaping with their lives have requested political asylum in the U.S. as violence escalates on the U.S. Mexican border where the Mexican drug wars are spilling across the U.S. border, a top Homeland Security official told The Associated Press.

In the past few months, the police officials have shown up at the U.S. border, fearing for their lives, according to Ahern.

They’re basically abandoned by their police officers or police departments in many cases,” Ahern told AP.

Ahern said the Mexican officials — whom he didn’t name — are being interviewed and their cases are under review for possible asylum.

U.S. humvees retrofitted with steel mesh over the glass windows patrol parts of the border to protect U.S. Border Patrol agents against guns shots and large rocks regularly thrown at them. At times agents are pinned down by sniper fire as drug and human smugglers try to illegally cross into the U.S.

In the last few weeks, the Mexican government began military operations on its side of the border against Mexican drug cartels and their gangs who are engaged in smuggling drugs into the United States.

LAGUNA JOURNAL ARCHIV

Michael Webster:Investigative Reporter

Quoting anonymous federal and local officials the Mexico City newspaper El Universal, reported in Saturday’s editions that Friday’s bomber intended to plant the homemade device in the 12-story police headquarters but accidentally detonated it 200 yards away.

The massive explosion blew out windows in apartment buildings, damaged several cars and caused panic in the American La Rosa area of Mexico City.

El Universal identified the Sinaloa cartel, led by Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán and the Beltrán Leyva brothers, as the “intellectual authors” of the botched attack.

Suspicion is that this was a type of terrorist attack by a possible suicide bomber and the dead man was the cause of the explosion. Mexico City Police Chief Joel Ortega, during a television interview late Friday, said the man killed in the blast was wearing a dress suit over a sweat suit. He said the bomber probably planned to plant the device and then take off the dress suit to fool people monitoring security cameras.

A 22-year-old woman believed to have accompanied the bomber was seriously injured in the blast and could hold the key to the investigation, Chief Ortega added.

Mexican media said the woman lived in a neighborhood awash in illegal drugs and near a Sinaloa cartel operative arrested last week by Mexico City officials.

Mexican officials was not certain that this bomb attack was a suicide attack or just a terrorist bomber. According to bomb experts suicide bomber is an attack on a military or civilian target, in which an attacker intends to kill others, knowing that he or she will either certainly or most likely die in the process. Most suicide bombers attach bomb vests to their body and detonate the bomb. This means of attack have included vehicles filled with explosives, passenger planes carrying large amounts of fuel, and individuals wearing vests filled with explosives. Synonyms include suicide-homicide bombing, martyrdom operations, predatory martyrdom. Strictly speaking, an attack may not be considered a suicide attack if the attacker is not killed (although they might hope and plan to be), or if there is some question as to whether their intention is to be killed even if the attack is certain to kill them.

A top Mexican military official has ruled out the use of soldiers to reinforce security in the Mexican capital, because he believes it was apparently a bungled attack on police headquarters by the suspected bomber who blew himself up and injured his female accomplice.

Navy Minister Francisco Saynez discounted speculation that drug gangs orchestrated the attack in response to a series of raids against them in Mexico City, which had been relatively immune from cartel violence.

“They don’t attack strategic installations,” Mr. Saynez told reporters after a Navy ceremony. “They use other methods.”

But Arturo Yañez, who trains Mexico City detectives and has worked in federal law enforcement, said the bombing attempt looked too amateurish for sophisticated drug cartels, which have carried out surgical strikes against top law enforcement officials.

A more likely suspect is the Popular Revolutionary Army, or EPR, Mr. Yañez added.

The EPR declared a campaign against government installations last year, demanding that two of its leaders be released from federal detention. Even though federal authorities say they are not holding the two men.

In the mean time violence continues in Mexico City and to the border cities to the north. In La Jornada Local legislators have asked the governor of Baja California to urgently revise the “Public Security State System” due to the levels of violence in this border area.. Deputy Carlos Barboza pointed out that business people and non-governmental organizations complain about the increase in kidnappings in Tijuana, Juarez, Mexicali and other border towns. He added that this growing violence harms society and families. “No one is safe from its repercussions.” Further, that law and order have been overwhelmed and thus it is urgent to find a solution with the participation of various sectors of society and politicians. He labeled as “alarming” the week about to end, during which there have been a number of kidnappings, shootouts and homicides.

Today in La Cronica Mexicali, three Mexican Federal Agents who had just arrived in Tijuana were kidnapped and their bodies were found at dawn yesterday by a dirt road on the outskirts of Tecate, Baja Calif.; the three had their arms tied behind their back and their heads had been wrapped with tape. They had all had been shot in the head and the empty cartridges by the bodies are of AK47 combat rifle casings.

The Chief of Police of Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Juan Jose Muniz Salinas, was arrested by Mex. federal police and has been taken to Mexico City. Though not yet formally charged, his arrest is based on the belief that he was protecting the “Zetas” thugs. The police facility’s radio frequencies were also believed to be compromised and are being investigated.

Sources:

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FORMER BORDER PATROL OFFICERS

Dallas Morning Star

Laguna Journal

Mexican Government

Mexico City Police Dept.

The new episode that is found on this disk is called The Ballad of Gay Tony. In this episode, you will play as a bodyguard named Luis Lopez. Lopez is also a business associate of Gay Tony, who is constantly looking out for the title character’s interests. Tony owns two of the top nightclubs in Liberty City, but has recently gotten himself into trouble with shady individuals and needs your help in straightening things out. If you have played GTA IV, you will recognize some of the happenings in the city while Lopez’s story is playing out, as these video games do not have a little bit of overlap. As Lopez, you will be forced to deal with upper class problems, as he does not deal with street hoods the way that many other GTA characters do.

An example of this comes from a mission where Luis Lopez has to lean on the owner of Liberty City’s professional hockey team, since a Russian crime lord named Bulgarin wishes to purchase the team and the owner refuses to sell. As with everything else in high society, everyone has a price, so it is up to Luis Lopez to find that price in order to get people what they want. If they will not sell out, as is the case with the hockey team’s owner, Lopez is forced to kill them, as is customary in the GTA video games.

Some of the new features in this episode feature more helicopter and other stunts, as the high profile nature of these dealings ensure that Lopez is constantly making daredevil maneuvers. There are also a number of new weapons included with these games, as Lopez has more of a budget than GTA characters have had in the past. Other unique features like planted electrical charges allow Lopez to take care of people remotely, so he does not even have to be in the area to get even with someone. An example of this occurs when some police officers get a little too close to Lopez and Bulgarin. In this scene, the two of you and one other gangster hide while some police officers are blown up while searching Bulgarin’s car. As is prevalent in these video games, the police then swarm the area and you are forced to escape and hide. This scene alone makes these games well worth a purchase because it is unique to Grand Theft Auto: Episodes of Liberty City.

If you feel like you are ready to step into white collar crime, then this game is definitely something you should play. You will deal with some high level crooks in these video games, who have the resources to make you disappear very quickly. Lopez even has the chance to practice running the nightclubs through a series of mini games, which make Grand Theft Auto: Episodes of Liberty City something that is worth checking out.

The other episode that is included with this game is The Lost and the Damned, which is part of the original GTA IV game. In this episode, you will play Johnny, who is a reformed biker gang member who finds himself in the middle of a turf war. Johnny deals with the lower end of criminals, which is much different from the story of Luis Lopez. The good new is that since you will get both of these video games on one disk, you can experience all levels of crime through these games. This two disk set is available in stores or through Xbox Live on October 29 and every GTA lover will definitely love these video games because they perfectly add to the legacy that GTA has put forth in the past.

Here’s why. In Brooklyn alone there are 17 thousand cases of child abuse with a 48 percent high school drop out rate. Of about 30 thousand students, 15 thousand are dropouts. One out of every three families lives below the poverty line. Believe it or not, some of the children even wear sandals during the cold winter. There are drugs, disease, gang violence and crime, along with about a thousand deaths annually.

Four years ago Rocco Basile was seeking volunteer his time to a charity that helps children in need and decided to join the Board of this organization to help do something about these statistics. Why? Because the problems were happening right in his own back yard in Sunset Park. The charity work that this wonderful charitable foundation did was a perfect fit for Rocco Basile.

“Hundreds of people are in need of intervention, including families in need of counseling and children that need educations. Our motivational quote is that Children of the City is an organization making a difference,” said Basile.

However this year, the annual toy drive ran into an unforeseen obstacle course when scheduling problems caused a benefactor to push back the delivery date on a pledge for 300 toys. This year’s toy drive had secured many donations and so they had organized events for gift wrapping. Most of the toys were scheduled to arrive by a certain day, when a dozen volunteers from NYCares were supposed to help wrap the toys. It was carefully planned so that each volunteer would have plenty to do.

Unfortunately, Mother Nature had other plans. Stormy clouds and snow, sleet and rain hit the tri-states causing delays. Not even half of the deliveries made it to the charity’s headquarters in time for the events. Sixty willing and able gift wrappers from Volunteer NYC, Old Navy, and several high school students, patiently waited for the toys.

Just in time Rocco Basile’s family car pulled up like Santa’s sleigh with a numbger of hot toys and 12 Razor scooters purchased by the Basile Builder’s Group business associates,family and friends. Rocco Basile spent the prior weeks soliciting toys from anyone who would listen.

Volunteers were happy to get busy and wrap up Barbie, Bratz and Hannah Montana dolls that would be handed out to the children.

More than eight companies and organizations gave toys, while there were 89 people volunteering to wrap gifts over a three day period. A total of 890 new toys were donated, and there were 100 bags of assorted groceries to distribute to those in need.

400 children ages 4-15 attended the annual holiday event which included 76 volunteers who were visiting from Virginia and Ohio. At the charity event the children learned that gifts are not just charity donations that are items purchased with money. They were encouraged with motivational sayings to see themselves and their unique talents, abilities, time, and acts of service as gifts to the ones they love and to the world. They were also encouraged to forge ahead amidst their many challenges; to believe in themselves and to make the right choices to positively affect their lives and their community.

Unbelievably, most sexual assaults happen with the assailant known to the victim. Stranger rape, obviously, is with an unknown assailant and is usually accompanied with a weapon making it life threatening.

This scenario, while specific to Colorado Springs, is replicated in many towns and cities throughout the country-maybe even your town. It is suspected that most of these assaults are gang related-not good news.

Recently the police department issued some guidance on how to avoid such attacks. They fall in the category of DUH! Well excuse me they are also called no-brainers especially if you live in the bad part of town wherever that is. Every town has at least one where gangs seem more prevalent.

WALKING. If walking anywhere like the store, out for some exercise, anywhere at all try to do it in daylight hours or if at night stay in well lit areas. And if possible don’t go alone. Go with a friend. Walk confidently too, head up and briskly always aware of your surroundings.

RIDES. I remember back in my high school days in Cleveland many moons ago I had to hitchhike about 18 miles to get close to home then walk another mile for the last leg of the journey. I wouldn’t think of doing that these days. For folks at bus stops or wherever DON’T accept rides from strangers.

ALWAYS CARRY. Always have some self defense products with you. A stun gun, pepper spray, personal alarm, or a combination thereof works best. They are inexpensive, easy to use and effective as can be

Self defense products like stun guns, pepper sprays and personal alarms allow you time to escape. They will give you from 3-15 minutes to escape to get help or just escape and survive.

They are not the answer for every situation but having a self defense product and knowing how to use it develops a sense of confidence that in and of itself can be a life saver. Get some today and learn how to use them-they could save your life.

Stun guns are not legal in some states. Some cities and states have restrictions on pepper sprays. Check with your local police department.

“WHEN YOU CARE ENOUGH TO STUN and SPRAY THE WORST”

Jack Krohn is the #1 author of Home Security Articles in the country. He owns SECURITY SOLUTIONS a one stop resource that provides solutions and answers for all your self defense and home security problems.

“My Mom just loved it,” said David. “To hear that someone was willing to grab her four kids and take them for a Saturday morning … well, she agreed to that.” Soon thereafter, David and his siblings made this community organization their second home.

Serving the children and families of Southwest Brooklyn, the group has done this for about twenty years. Families have overcome welfare and poverty, substance abuse, plus lifestyles of violence and gang activities. And many of them are are now pouring their own time back into the community and volunteering.

Once he was a teenager himself, David began volunteering. He wrote and performed rap music with value-based lyrics that reiterated the principles that he learned from programs like the organization’s Future Safe Program.

One out of three Brooklyn, New York families today lives below the poverty line. With more than 17 thousand cases of child abuse in Brooklyn, and a 48 percent high school drop out rate, community organizations like this offer hope for help. Out of 30 thousand students, 15 thousand are high school dropouts. There are drugs, disease, gang violence and crime, as well as about one thousand deaths per year.

“I decided eight years ago to join the Board of Children of the City to help do something about these statistics,” said Rocco Basile. “All of this is happening in Sunset Park, and there are thousands of kids in need of education and intervention, and families in need of help and guidance.” Those who volunteer agree with Basile that kids at risk can be quite resilient if they are given the right education.

This volunteer-based organization is making a difference by connecting people in need with basic services, education, employment training, health care services, counseling, and even food.

During the recent 2007 holidays starting with Thanksgiving, voluteers like Basile went to different food distributors and asked them to donate turkeys and canned foods. Enough food was obtained to feed about 800 people, which they helped deliver.

During the holidays, 89 volunteers spent three nights gift wrapping with the help of 89 other volunteers from a number of out of state organizations. There were more than 44 volunteers from Ohio and Virginia who helped the charity make visits to over 745 kids.

Now 36 years old with a family of his own, David provides tech support for a living, and credits what he learned in his childhood with helping him learn the principles for success that helped him rise above the effects of poverty that surrounded him as a child. He broke through the perils of a gang infested neighborhood, learned to have perseverance, hope, and most important of all, he learned to believe in himself.