Informer tells of corrupt Mexico

I find it very odd that the Immigration Dept. needs to deport this person, who has done a great service to US law enforcement and helped put some very corrupt people in jail. It kind of makes you wonder if the only government officials tainted by drug money are in Mexico, or if their cash has bought influence on our side of the border too.

An informant who worked for U.S. authorities for more than four years says government, police and military authorities in Mexico have been corrupted by drug smugglers, often carrying out kidnappings and killings on the orders of drug cartel bosses.



The accusations are outlined in sworn testimony before a U.S. immigration judge by Guillermo Eduardo Ramirez Peyro, a former Mexican police officer who was paid $224,000 for information U.S. anti-drug agents used to convict dozens of high-ranking Mexican drug traffickers.



Ramirez told U.S. Immigration Judge Joseph R. Dierkes in Minnesota that cartel bosses made "arrangements" with "high-level government people," including Mexican military, politicians and police officials, to protect the drug gangs and their smuggling operations.



He said he witnessed two Mexican police officers kill one drug-cartel rival at the behest of Heriberto Santillan-Tabares, a top lieutenant in the Vicente Carrillo-Fuentes drug cartel in Ciudad Juarez, and helped supervise the burying of others whom Mexican police officials tortured and killed.



The killings, he said, took place between August 2003 and January 2004 at 3633 Calle Parsioneros in Ciudad Juarez, known as the "House of Death." Twelve bodies have since been unearthed in the back yard of the two-story residence.



"Well, the police, well, they would kill them there and then they would leave and then I would go to check to make sure the people would bury them," Ramirez said, adding he tape-recorded one of the torture-and-killing sessions and turned the tape over to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents for whom he worked as an informant.



Earlier this month, Judge Dierkes blocked Ramirez's forced deportation, saying he faced being killed by drug cartel members or complicit Mexican government officials.



The ruling, subject to review by the Board of Immigration Appeals, came at an Oct. 11 hearing. Ramirez's testimony about Mexican authorities was part of an effort by his attorney, Jodi Goodwin, to overturn the deportation order.

Informer tells of corrupt Mexico - - The Washington Times, America's Newspaper

White House pledges $1.4B for Mexico drug war - USATODAY.com

Cheap if it works!

MEXICO CITY — The White House pledged $1.4 billion Monday to aid Mexico's crackdown on drug-related crime that has spread across the border into the USA.
The package includes a wide range of logistical assistance and equipment, including training for troops, surveillance planes, helicopters and X-ray machines.

The aid will not include U.S. troops.

The Bush administration asked Congress for the initial $500 million in a supplemental budget request, along with an additional $50 million for Central American countries.

"We are at a particular moment in which organized crime presents a very real threat to the stability and well-being of democratic states in Mexico and Central America," said Thomas Shannon, assistant U.S. secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere.

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White House pledges $1.4B for Mexico drug war - USATODAY.com