U.S.retiredpeople


				LEFT: Bob and Carol Dawson say friends and relatives are reluctant to visit them in Baja California, scared by reports of drug violence. (Sachi Cunningham/Los Angeles Times)
						Mexico Crime War a Blip in Lush Life of Retired Americans Los Angeles Times 12/16/09 - ROSARITO BEACH, Mexico - Bob and Carol Dawson love living in Baja California, but the region’s violent reputation has put them on the defensive. They have been called delusional and reckless - all because they choose to live in an oceanfront gated community about 40 miles and a world away from the US border. Full Story

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Specific Incidents

Mexico Wide Trends/Analyses

PICTURE LEFT: Irma Cordova, right in the green dress, the mother of the Mexican marine killed in a commando raid, and his aunt, Josefa Angulo, at his funeral in Paraiso in the state of Tabasco. The two women were among family members killed by gunmen the next day. (America Rocio / Associated Press / December 21, 2009)

Four stories relating to Mexican Navy elite squad that killed the top drug lord is directly below. Alas, we at "WatchingMexico.com" realized its importance and feared the consequences, but could never foresee the brutal rampup in the drug war that the cartels would take.

Mexican Govt Forees Kill Top Drug Dealer

How it happened and analysis of what it means for drug war - Separate stories below.

SLAUGHTER OF THE INNOCENTS

Los Angeles Times 12/23/09 - Reporting from Mexico City -

The young marine received the highest military honors that the Mexican state could offer. Killed during a raid that ended the life of a notorious drug lord, the marine was buried a hero, ushered to his grave by an honor guard of commandos in camouflage, his mother awarded a folded flag.

Hours later, the grieving mother, the marine's sister, his brother and an aunt were mowed down by gunmen in a revenge attack that sent a chilling message to the Mexican military combating drug traffickers.

The slaughter of Melquisedet Angulo Cordova's family early Tuesday horrified Mexicans seemingly inured to a drug-war brutality that has claimed more than 15,000 lives in three years of spectacular violence. The killing, especially, of a mother seemed to violate the most basic code of conduct that even coldblooded hit men and traffickers obeyed. Full Story


	Top Mexican Drug Cartel Dealer Killed Holtsville Tribune, Imperial Valley, Calif 12/20/09 - By Mario Conde One of the top Mexican drug cartel dealers was killed last Wednesday in a bloody shootout in Mexico that left three dead. Arturo Beltran Leyva died Wednesday in a shootout with Mexican Authorities were other five suspected members of the Sinaloa based cartel were also killed along with a Mexican Navy Commando. The shootout took place in an apartment complex in Cuernavaca, the capitol of Morelos, and lasted over two hours and included drug gang members tossing grenades at the troops. FULL STORY

	Mexican drug lord: Why Arturo Beltran Levya's death matters Christian Science Monitor 12/17/09 - Mexico City The Mexican military killed one of the country’s most powerful drug traffickers late Wednesday, handing the government a badly needed victory in its three-year war against drug traffickers. Full Story

		A drug lord falls By GEMMA CRUZ-ARANETA Dec. 21, 2009 Manila Bulletin (Phillipines) - After last week’s blood and gore, Cuernavaca might never be the same again. On Wednesday past, the Mexican Marines conducted an audacious lightning raid on the hideout of Arturo Beltran Leyva, the dreaded drug lord, “Jefe de jefes” (chief of chiefs) of the Sinaloa cartel who figured in the black list of most hunted criminals on planet Earth. With his brothers Hector and Alfredo, they controlled the lucrative drug trade in Mexico D.F. and nine states (provinces), namely, Guerrero, Chiapas, Queretaro, Quintana Roo, Sonora, Sinaloa, Tamaulipas, Estado de Mexico, and Morelos where Cuernavaca is located. For decades, the brothers Beltran Leyva were staunch allies of Joaquin Guzman Loera, alias “El Chapo,” whose cartel extended its lugubrious shadow over Columbia, Mexico and the seemingly impregnable United States of America. Full Story

		Mexican Navy Finds Beltran–Los Zetas–Tijuana Cartel Ties La Crónica de Hoy - 12/21/09 Evidence of Beltran Leyva cell links with the Zetas, the armed branch of the Gulf Cartel, and with the Arellano Felix organization [aka Tijuana Cartel], were found in the condominium where Arturo Beltrán Leyva, "El Barbas," died [on December 16] in Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico. In-depth look at tangled web drug traffickers wove.Full Story

Provided by website-hit-counters.com .


	Bodies of 8 men found in burned truck in Mexico (AP) 11/19/09 MEXICO CITY — The bound and burned bodies of eight men were found in the central Mexico state of Queretaro in suspected drug-related violence, prosecutors said. Full Story

		Drug-related killings soar in Tijuana Los Angeles Times 12/17/09 - Reporting from San Diego - More than 45 people have been killed in Tijuana since Saturday in grisly drug violence that appears to signal the end of a nearly yearlong truce between rival crime bosses, according to Mexican authorities. Full Story

Grammy winner detained on suspected cartel ties By ALEXANDRA OLSON (AP) – 12/18/09 MEXICO CITY — A Latin Grammy winner rounded up during a raid on a Mexican drug cartel's Christmas party last week is being held on suspicion of organized crime ties, his attorney said Wednesday. Photo below. Full Story



			FILE - In this June 12, 2008 file photo, Mexican singer Ramon Ayala gestures at the BMI Latin Awards in Los Angeles. Ayala was rounded up during a raid on a drug cartel's Christmas party on Dec. 11. A spokesman for the federal Attorney General's Office said Monday that Ayala was released after being questioned Saturday following a military operation that is part of the government's campaign to crack down on drug gangs. (AP Photo/Dan Steinberg, file)


			LEFT: Julian Leyzaola, Tijuana's top police officer, restored some normality, until a recent killing surge. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times / November 24, 2009)


	Tijuana's Police Chief Faces Assassination and Rumors of His Own Involvement with Drug Cartels Los Angeles Times 12/20/09 - Reporting from Tijuana - Since he took over one of the most troubled police departments in Mexico, Julian Leyzaola has slapped the face of a corpse, led shoot-'em-ups on the street and ordered suspected crooked cops to stick close to his office in downtown Tijuana -- he wanted them as human shields. Full Story

ABOVE: Soldiers patrolled the streets and searched vehicles for drugs and weapons in Culiacan, Mexico.
Adriana Zehbrauskas for The New York Times

Along U.S.-Mexico Border,
a Torrent of Illicit Cash

New York Times 12/25/09 - LAREDO, Tex. — The streets of Laredo are awash in money, stacks of grimy bills tainted with cocaine residue, wrapped in plastic and stowed in secret compartments built into the trucks, buses and cars that flow south over the Mexican border daily like a motorized river. Full Story

WATCHING MEXICO has been created to focus on the latest up-to-date news on Mexico's drug cartel, crime and corruption events, espeically kidnapping and narcotic-realated violence against Mexicans and foreigners. The site also carries frequent analysese of these events and their relationship to Mexico at large, i.e. politics and the economy, and towards its closest neightbors and global ramificaons.

Inside are pages that concentrate on.the special problems of taxi crime and kidnapping, car driving, street crime, con games aimed at foreigners and specific, current situatons to major cities and resorts, as well as rural doings.

Our audience includes Mexicos from all classes, when even farmers have laptops to download latest news that could affect crops, as well as foreigners in Mexico for busienss or pleasure, and those who married Mexicans or just fell love with the country, not a hard thing to do at all.

We recognize that Mexican culture is far more subtle and sophisticated than 99% of Americans have even a clue. Also, those of us who do have that clue still have little hope of penetrating the strong and supple veneer most Mexicans present to the outside world. Our Mexican associates can assist with that.

Mexicans themselves are the most vulnerable victims of the confluence of forces that has brought the drug and corruption wars to their homeland, and only they can win the struggle.

We want to make www.watchingmexico.com partially a kind of Mexican-focused Drudge Report, bringing links to the latest news articles from Spanish and English language media on Mexico, and the Mexican drug war, border problems, narcotics mafia, the kidnapping gangs often led by active duty police officers, but also the business successes and opportunities of living and working in Mexico. The second part will consist of analyses of major news, as well as in-depth looks at parts of Mexico and how it relates to current events, and advice from insiders on how to succeed in Mexico, not only in business and just living there, but avoiding kidnapping gangs, even the petty ones who use taxis to find victims to empty their ATM accounts over a period of days.

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