Small Wars Journal

El Centro

Gangs and the Military Note 4: The Role of the East Coast in the Development of Military-Trained Gang Members

Sat, 02/15/2020 - 1:43pm
This research note reviews the state of military-trained gang members (MTGMs) in the Eastern United States. In each wartime era since the Revolutionary War, there have been MTGMs who engaged in criminal activities in civilian communities. The earliest MTGMs in the United States received their training in the colonial militia. One group started as a New York City street gang, received military training and experience in Mexico during the Mexican-American War, and were released from active duty in San Francisco, just before the Gold Rush of 1848. An individual MTGM started as a well-known crime boss in New York and joined the military to fight in World War I. Contemporary MTGMs challenge military discipline and threaten community security.

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A Cry for Help: Vigilantes Enlist Children to Fight Mexican Cartels

Thu, 02/13/2020 - 12:01am

A Cry for Help: Vigilantes Enlist Children to Fight Mexican Cartels by Juan Montes - Wall Street Journal

AYAHUALTEMPA, Mexico - At age 13, Luis Gustavo Morales barely knows how to do basic math, but he already knows how to handle a shotgun nearly as tall as he is.

“We are surrounded by the bad guys, so we have to prepare ourselves to defend our town and our families,” he said while holding a yellow spinning top with one hand and a 20-gauge shotgun with the other.

This indigenous village in the rugged mountains of southern Mexico is enlisting some of its own children to help fight criminal gangs, in particular a ruthless cartel that has waged a bloody turf war.

Some 31 children ages 6 to 15 are training to become vigilantes, although for now only five are handling real weapons…

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Gangs, Criminal Empires and Military Intervention in Cape Town’s Crime Wars

Tue, 02/11/2020 - 1:59am
The challenges to governance and states posed by gangs are increasingly recognized as a global concern. No longer just local, turf-oriented groups of local youths, seeking protection and forging a common identity, gangs are involved in the drug trade and other illicit economic interests. These ‘third generation gangs’ protect their markets and align with a range of transnational criminal organizations.

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2019 National Drug Threat Assessment: Mexican Cartel Related Excerpts & Sections

Thu, 02/06/2020 - 7:43am
Fentanyl and other highly potent synthetic opioids— primarily sourced from China and Mexico—continue to be the most lethal category of illicit substances misused in the United States. Fentanyl continues to be sold as counterfeit prescriptions pills as traffickers—wittingly or unwittingly—are increasingly selling fentanyl to users both alone and as an adulterant, leading to rising fentanyl-involved deaths. Fentanyl suppliers will continue to experiment with other new synthetic opioids in an attempt to circumvent new regulations imposed by the
United States and China.

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Gray Zones and Crime Suppression: Between International Human Rights Law and International Law of Armed Conflicts

Wed, 02/05/2020 - 5:19am
Our country [Brazil] has not been involved in international armed conflict for a long time, but could, or can, it be experiencing a non-international armed conflict (NIAC), considering the confrontations against violent organized crime and between these same groups of criminals? That would be the only hypothesis, as there are no cases of armed political insurgency in our territory. In other words, the very common phrases seen on the news, such as: we are experiencing a real war; in Brazil, more is killed than in many wars; Rio de Janeiro is witnessing a war on drugs, among others, are these expressions merely rhetorical or would they, in fact, express a situation that fits the concept of NIACs

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El Chapo Bin Laden? Why Drug Cartels Are Not Terrorist Organisations

Tue, 02/04/2020 - 3:54pm

El Chapo Bin Laden? Why Drug Cartels Are Not Terrorist Organisations by Paul Rexton Kan – International Centre for Counter-Terrorism – The Hague

Drug cartel violence in Mexico took an ominous turn late last year. Mexican authorities captured Oxidio Guzman Lopez, the son of imprisoned Sinaloa drug cartel kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, but were forced to release him after the cartel unleashed a wave of violence in the city. Heavily armed cartel enforcers took soldiers hostage, attacked the living quarters of their family members, torched vehicles and took over roads while prisoners in a nearby penitentiary rioted and escaped. The daylong siege left eight dead and gave a black eye to Mexico’s new president. A few short weeks later, a different drug cartel ambushed an American Mormon family in northern Mexico, killing six children and three women.

The increase in the scope and intensity of the violence in Mexico has led to stronger calls to label drug cartels as foreign terrorist organisations. US President Donald Trump said that he would “absolutely” designate Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organisations. “You know, designation is not that easy, you have to go through a process, and we are well into that process,” Trump said in a November radio interview. President Trump is not alone. Ioan Grillo, a journalist and longtime observer of Mexico’s drug violence agrees that drug cartels have crossed over into terrorism: “[Cartels] kill innocent civilians for broader goals, including pressuring the government and controlling political territory.” Although President Trump ultimately decided against designating Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organisations, 2019 was not the only time that there was momentum for labeling drug trafficking organisations as terrorist groups. In 2011 and 2012, bills were introduced in the US House of Representatives seeking to designate seven Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organisations…

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SWJ El Centro Book Review—Mexican Cartels: An Encyclopedia of Mexico’s Crime and Drug Wars

Thu, 01/30/2020 - 12:38am
The specialized encyclopedia on the Mexican cartels written by David F. Marley is described by the publisher thus: “This comprehensive reference work offers a detailed exploration of the vicious drug organizations that have enveloped Mexico in extreme violence since the 1980s.” The work holds much promise given the author’s background and expertise.

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Gangs and the Military Note 3: The Role of the West Coast in the Development of Military-Trained Gang Members

Wed, 01/22/2020 - 7:35am
This note reviews the current state of military-trained gang members (MTGMs) in the United States military. MTGMs, whether from Street Gangs, Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs (OMGs), or Domestic Terrorist Extremist (DTE) groups, have endangered U.S. communities since before the birth of the country.

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Iran’s Strategic Penetration of Latin America: Consequences for U.S. Foreign Policy and National Security

Mon, 01/20/2020 - 1:01am
This essay explores why Latin America is of paramount strategic importance for Iran, and what factors or events gave Iran access to the region so it could pursue its classic rampant penetration of other nations’ governments and cultural institutions.

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