Mexico's Criminal Cartels Divide the Spoils
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Down in Mexico, the drug barons are negotiating how to divvy up the dead carcass of the once-charming country.

What do they think they are, the Mafia?

Leaders from the Sinaloa and Gulf cartels are negotiating over carving up the critical northern states of Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas, both of which border Texas, intelligence officials said.

Meanwhile, according to these sources, the Zetas, a violent enforcement group formed by highly trained military deserters, would share the state of Tamaulipas with their old bosses, the Gulf cartel. Negotiations over other states could follow, including Michoacan, Guerrero and Veracruz, the officials said. [...]

The talks include some local, state and federal officials in Mexico, Mr. Valle and authorities said.

"The realignment under way is not just within the cartels, but also with some members of the government," said Mr. Valle. "That's the only way any pact can work because of the vast corruption within sectors of the government." [Mexican Cartels in Talks to Split Turf, Dallas Morning News 7/1/07]

This article assumes a rather bizarre viewpoint, in that it assumes criminal gangs arranging territory among themselves is a fine thing. That attitude, clearly shared by Mexican officials, is an admission of failure, that the Mexico City government cannot return cartel territories to the rule of law.

Furthermore, the DMN notes, "In the past six years, nearly 10,000 people have been killed in every imaginable way — from beheadings to being tossed from planes." That's a lot of bodies laying about, even if most of them are professional criminals.

The problem has been the cartel guys' irrational exhuberance with their murder behavior, taking it to the beaches and the newspaper offices, to the point where news coverage about narco-crime has dropped off considerably. After all, Mexico is considered to be the most dangerous place on earth for a journalist, after Iraq.

Do we have the world's worst neighbor, or what? Hey, Washington, build the darn fence already!

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