Monday, March 15, 2010

Outrage: Americans assassinated in Mexico!

This is an interesting article from http://www.alipac.us/ about an assassination of Americans in Juarez. This follows this post about similar events happening worldwide. Of course an effective way to dry up money rogue states like these is to allow domestic offshore oil drilling which sends revenues to nations like Iran and Venezuela and everybody concerned about anti-American violence in Mexico should support this. For more posts like this click here.


Outrage: Americans assassinated in Mexico!
3 people associated with U.S. consulate killed in Mexico March 14, 2010 1:31 p.m. EDT (CNN) -- Three people connected to the U.S. consulate in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, were killed in a drive-by shooting in the violent border city, a senior White House official told CNN Sunday. One of the victims was an American employee at the consulate. Her husband and the husband of a Mexican employee of the consulate were also killed. The shooting happened Saturday afternoon, the official said. Details of the killings were not immediately available, but the news had reached the White House. "The President is deeply saddened and outraged by the news of the brutal murders of three people associated with the United States Consulate General in Ciudad Juarez," National Security Council spokesman Mike Hammer said in a statement Sunday. "He extends his condolences to the families and condemns these attacks on consular and diplomatic personnel serving at our foreign missions. In concert with Mexican authorities, we will work tirelessly to bring their killers to justice." In response, the U.S. State Department authorized the temporary relocation of employees' families working in border-area consulates. The families of employees at U.S. consulates in Tijuana, Nogales, Ciudad Juarez, Nuevo Laredo, Monterrey and Matamoros are allowed to leave for a period of 30 days "in response to an increase in violence along the Mexican side of its border with the U.S.," State Department spokesman Fred Lash told CNN. After 30 days, the authorization can be renewed, depending on a review, Lash said, adding that this was not a mandatory evacuation. Ciudad Juarez is one of the frontlines in Mexico's war against the drug cartels that operate in its territory. Juarez, located on the border across from El Paso, Texas, has become a focal point of Mexican President Felipe Calderon's anti-drug efforts after the January 31 killings of 15 people there, most of whom were students with no ties to organized crime. The incident sparked outrage across Mexico. The government has not released official figures, but national media say 7,600 Mexicans lost their lives in the war on drugs in 2009. Calderon said last year that 6,500 Mexicans died in drug violence in 2008. Meanwhile, farther south in Mexico, at least 25 people were killed in a series of violent incidents in the western Mexican state of Guerrero on Saturday, state officials said. The bodies of 14 people, including nine civilians and five police officers, were found in various parts of the resort city of Acapulco, the official Notimex news agency reported, citing Guerrero Public Security Secretary Juan Heriberto Salinas. In the small city of Ajuchitlan del Progreso, 10 civilians and one soldier were killed in two shootouts that started when federal officials tried to carry out search warrants on two locations, Salinas said. Police in the state were on a heightened security alert, he said. ----U.S. official, husband killed in Ciudad Juarez President 'outraged;' families of consulate staff along border urged to leave Interactive: Mexican drug cartels Learn more about how Mexican drug cartels are extending their reach farther into the U.S. msnbc.com staff and news service reports updated 50 minutes ago Two Americans, a U.S. consulate employee and her husband, were killed in a drive-by shooting in Ciudad Juarez, the Mexican border city wracked by drug violence, the White House said Sunday. President Barack Obama "is deeply saddened and outraged by the news of the brutal murders," National Security Council spokesman Mike Hammer said in a statement. A third person, the husband of a U.S. consulate employee, was also killed in the shooting Saturday night. The White House did not indicate what steps it might take, but Hammer said the administration would "continue to work with Mexican President Felipe Calderon and his government to break the power of the drug trafficking organizations that operate in Mexico and far too often target and kill the innocent. " Simultaneously, the State Department authorized all U.S. government employees at six U.S. consulates in northern Mexico to send their family members out of the area because of concerns about rising drug-related violence, including the post in Ciudad Juarez. And travelers were warned against visiting northern areas of Mexico. "Recent violent attacks have prompted the U.S. Embassy to urge U.S. citizens to delay unnecessary travel to parts of Durango, Coahuila and Chihuahua states and advise U.S. citizens residing or traveling in those areas to exercise extreme caution," the State Department said in a bulletin. "Drug cartels and associated criminal elements have retaliated violently against individuals who speak out against them or whom they otherwise view as a threat to their organizations." Calderon has deployed tens of thousands of troops to drug-trafficking hotspots across Mexico in an effort to root out cartels. Gang violence has surged since the crackdown began three years ago, claiming more than 17,900 lives. 24 killed in, around Acapulco Also Saturday, 13 people were killed in and around the Mexican beach resort of Acapulco, with four victims found beheaded, security officials said. Another gunbattle in the state left 11 people dead. Five of those killed were police officers whose night-time patrol was ambushed by gunmen early Saturday in Tuncingo, a rural area on the outskirts of the Pacific coast resort city. The bullet-riddled bodies of eight other men were discovered in different areas around Acapulco in apparent drug-related killings, officials said. Two of the decapitated men were found on a scenic road packed with nightclubs. The violence occurred as thousands of U.S. college students started arriving in the area for spring break. Any resurgence in violence would be bad news for the country's tourism industry. Last June, at least 18 people were killed in a shootout between drug gangs and soldiers in Acapulco, which is home to around a million people. Shootout with soldiers More violence apparently linked to drugs flared later Saturday in Guerrero state, where Acapulco is located, with Mexican soldiers exchanging fire with gunmen, the newspaper Reforma reported. One soldier and 10 gunmen were killed in the shootout in the town of Ajuchitlan del Progreso, the newspaper said. Valentin Diaz, director of the Guerrero state investigative police, said the gunfight erupted in the middle of the day in the center of the town as it was full of bystanders. Several cartels are fighting over drug-dealing turf and trafficking routes in Guerrero. Gang violence occurs almost every day in the state, but Saturday was unusually bloody. Farther to the south in the state of Chiapas, which borders Guatemala, a grenade explosion inside a car killed one man and wounded another. State prosecutors said the dead man was holding the weapon when it exploded. Investigators believe the victim belonged to the Zetas drug gang and had been about to throw the grenade at federal police offices in the state capital, Tuxtla Gutierrez.
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