Mexicans have a constitutional right to bear arms. Yes, well, the federal government is the country’s only legal gun dealer and the federales have a strict family and friends policy. Which leaves three main groups with firearms: the Mexican armed forces, local police and members of the drug cartels. There’s a name for the average citizen’s status: indefenso. It’s getting worse. The feds and the drug lords are squeezing out the cops. Mexican President Calderon is busy replacing local law enforcement with military troops; he recently deployed 7,500 soldiers in war-torn Ciudad Juarez. Meanwhile, the drug lords are corrupting and/or terrorizing local cops out of the game (and confiscating their guns BTW). To wit:
msnbc.msn.com reports that the entire police force of a small northern Mexican town quit after gunmen attacked their recently inaugurated headquarters.
Los Ramones Mayor Santos Salinas said nobody was injured in Monday night’s attack, during which gunmen fired more than 1,000 bullets at the building’s facade, according to Noroeste newspaper’s website. Six grenades, of which three detonated, were also flung at the building, the newspaper reported . . .
All 14 members of the force reportedly resigned Tuesday. Nobody answered the phones at Salinas’ offices, according to The Associated Press.
It was the second attack in less than a week against police installations in the state of Nuevo Leon. On Oct. 19, two grenades were thrown at a police shelter in the town of Sabinas Hidalgo, Noroeste reported.
There is only way to stop the Mexican drug lord’s reign of terror, and the increasing incursion of federal troops into northern Mexico: arm the civilian population. Local people can no longer rely on the local police for their personal protection. Depending on the feds does nothing for their democratic rights or their security.
Click here for some bang bang footage from sunny Acapulco, a conflict between the federales and criminals that left 18 people dead. Bottom line: the average Mexican is caught in the crossfire between criminal gangs and “over-zealous” federal troops (“mistakes” have been made). Someone needs to give the power to the people.
What’s the bet that the Mexican gun smugglers hounded by the hapless ATF (and seven other U.S. federal agencies) are attempting to do just that? Or were, before the U.S. turned up the heat. Do you think Calderon knows where those “assault rifles” are really headed, and demanded action to protect his power play in the war-torn border areas?
