Richard Grabman (in Mazatlan, Sinaloa)Jul 16th, 2008 - 06:12:39

Geeze, guys. The copper killed here in Mazatlan (at a convenience store around the corner from my house) was no 'senior official' -- just a low level officer who happened to be working on the side for one of the several bands of gangsters who supply the endless need for narcotics in the United States.

There weren't 40 people taken hostage at a shopping mall. A few gangsters -- after the above execution -- took refuge in a restaurant and pulled out a gun -- leading to a massive show of force by the Federal Police, but it wasn't anywhere near the tourist shopping mall as reported, nor were anywhere near 40 people involved.

You can see the problem we have here in Sinaloa. The United States has a massive appetite for narcotics, and -- our agricultural sector being nearly destroyed by U.S. farm and export subsidies -- has to find alternative ways to survive. Marijuana and opium poppies have always played a small part in our rural economy, but -- with the addition of cocaine distribution (coca doesn't grow anywhere near Mexico, but we're ideally located for distribution) and methampetimines (a cottage industry well suited to isolated rural communities) this is an unfortunately lucrative industry. Financed by the United States -- and with weapons provided by U.S. suppliers -- the rural exporters have been fighting it out for some time. So... given the U.S. failure to control their narcotics problem using a police and prison methodology, the U.S. government is pumping funds into my state to repeat their failed control method.

One thing here. Any killings are international news. U.S. citizens killed in their drug war are lucky to be mentioned in passing on the local television news.

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