Mexican bloodbath: Drug cartel ambushes cops during Napolitano visit

Mexican bloodbath: Drug cartel ambushes cops during Napolitano visit

·         Homicide

·         July 25, 2013

·         By: Jim Kouri

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Mexico's new memorial for victims of drug cartel violence is the latest acknowledgement of the drug war.

Credits: 

Police and Security News

In what some observers are calling an ironic twist to Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano's visit to Mexico on Tuesday and Wednesday to build more alliances between American and Mexican law enforcement, the Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto received word from his federal police officials that beginning and Tuesday and continuing on Wednesday his police officers were being victims of multiple ambushes.

With the capture of Los Zetas' capture, Miguel Angel Trevino Morales, still fresh in the minds of cops on both sides of the southwest border, Pena Nieto is once again facing the harsh truth that his nation's drug war is far from over and Secretary Napolitano's rhetoric isn't changing a thing, according to Mike Baker, a political strategist.

On Tuesday, armed Mexicans allegedly working for one of Mexico's numerous cartels conducted a series of ambushes on the convoys protected by the Mexican federal police (Federales).

With the cartels continuing their assaults on Wednesday, five federal police officers were wounded in Michoacan district.

On Tuesday, the gunfights left 20 cartel members and two Federales dead, with 15 civilians wounded in the crossfire.

Two months ago, President Pena Nieto deployed thousands of military troops and federal police to the same district in order to regain control from the cartel known as the Knights Templar. As a result of that show of force, citizens who formed self-defense groups to protect themselves and their families agreed to be disarmed by the Pena Nieto government. But the peace didn't last once the troops left.

"What surprises me the most is that Napolitano's silence is deafening. She usually has a lot to say about the success of securing the U.S. border, but her Obama-provided talking points are useless on the bloody streets of Mexico," said former narcotics officer Jennifer Bodgett.

"President Pena Nieto said he wished to concentrate his administration's resources on economic and fiscal issues, but like his predecessor he's finding that security is a must in order for a nation to prosper," said Bodgett.