Latin America: The Invisible War on the Press

A couple of weeks ago I was in New York, meeting with network television producers about a series they wanted to run about a story my production team and I have been reporting for more than five years: the narco-insurgency currently wreaking havoc on the U.S. and Mexico.

Just as we all sat down around the conference table, my cell phone rang. Given the importance of the meeting, I normally would have let the call go to voice mail, but when I looked at the number I knew I had to pick it up. This person would not be calling unless it was an absolute emergency. I opened the phone and didn’t even get the “Hello” out of my mouth before a shaken and somewhat scared voice said, “Rusty when can you be here?”

The caller was my most trusted source in Mexico. Slightly stunned by the abrupt nature of the call, I responded inquisitively, “Pretty soon, I should wrap up here in New York in a couple of days, why?”

“We have to talk right away, we have a huge problem down here and you’re in the middle of it,” he exclaimed. (more…)

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Tags: drug cartel, drug war, journalism, kidnap, media
Posted Sep 12th 2009 at 6:47 am in Featured Story, Politics | 21815832 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/rfleming/2009/09/12/latin-america-the-invisible-war-on-the-press/Latin+America%3A+The+Invisible+War+on+the+Press2009-09-12+13%3A47%3A56Rusty+Fleming

The Consequence of ‘Come On, It’s Just Pot’

It was a little after midnight when I crossed over the bridge from Laredo, Texas into the sister city of Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. After having my car searched I was cleared through the Mexican Customs’ check point where the military was staged and drove towards my destination. I had a source of mine, a local reporter, call me four hours earlier to tell me to meet him at a specific restaurant at 1 a.m. because he had some photographs and information I was looking for pertaining to a specific series of brutal murders that had taken place in the Laredo corridor.

This wasn’t all that unusual-most of the investigative journalists in Mexico work under intense circumstances given that they often come into information relating to the drug cartels that they either can not, or will not, report on because it would be a death sentence for them, so they give the information to someone like me who will get it aired or published in way that does not connect them.

I arrived early to the restaurant and since the weather was so pleasant, I decided to take a seat on the patio and have a glass of tea. I sat there for a few minutes when my source arrived and sat down, ordered a drink and handed me a large white envelope. He told me this was everything I had been asking his editor about the day before and that I should be careful how I use them. I thanked him, (by paying him) and we talked for about twenty more minutes and he asked if I could give him a ride home. (more…)

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Tags: Border, drug war, El Paso, legalize drugs, marijuana
Posted Aug 5th 2009 at 4:41 pm in Politics | 199506127 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/rfleming/2009/08/05/come-on-its-just-pot/The+Consequence+of+%27Come+On%2C+It%27s+Just+Pot%272009-08-05+23%3A41%3A23Rusty+Fleming

Narco-Terrorism: American Style

On a hot summer evening, in a bar in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico just across the bridge from Laredo, Texas; a thirty year-old man, on his knees, surrounded by a dozen armed guards, can be heard begging for his life, he cries for one more chance to make it right with the boss, one more chance to see his family—one more chance at life.

His boss happens to be the man who dictates the life and death of every soul in the Laredo corridor, listens to the pleas but has already made up his mind. He stands as judge and jury in this court and it’s clear, he’s heard enough. So he pulls a diamond studded, pearl handled pistol from his belt and slowly hands it over to one of his newest recruits. He tells the recruit to put a bullet in the condemned mans head as he sobs uncontrollably—and so, without hesitation the young man pulls the trigger four times over. (more…)

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Tags: automatic assault rifles, bombs, grenade launchers, heavy-caliber machine guns, Laredo
Posted Jul 6th 2009 at 8:51 am in Politics | 17465475 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/rfleming/2009/07/06/narco-terrorism-american-style/Narco-Terrorism%3A+American+Style2009-07-06+15%3A51%3A52Rusty+Fleming

Without A Trace: Kidnapped from the Border

As she sat on her couch looking back at me, she wipes the tears from behind her glasses and tries to tell me about the night her youngest daughter of 18 years was suddenly and violently taken, never to be heard from again.

Her trembling hands and shaking legs speak volumes of the pain she suffers day-in and day-out, wondering about the fate of her little girl. “Is she alive? Is she dead? Is she cold and hungry? Have they hurt her? If they did kill her, where is her body?” These thoughts race through the grief stricken mind of this single mother a hundred times a day.

Consuelo (not her real name), a 49 year-old mother of four, can hardly speak her daughters’ name before her face flinches with pain and her eyes fill with tears again. “Today is my baby Paula’s 20th birthday [not her real name either]. It’s been over two years and we’ve heard nothing.” With a breath of exasperation, frustration, and more than a hint of resentment she exclaims, “And no one has helped us. No one.”

As horrific as this sounds, this story has been played out hundreds of times in the last five years all across the U.S./Mexican border. Sometimes it ends with the return of the loved one, in some cases alive but in most cases not. Sometimes, like in Consuelo’s case, it never ends. (more…)

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Tags: Drug trafficking, Drug wars, kidnapping, Mexican/American border, Mexico
Posted Jun 19th 2009 at 6:41 am in Politics | 1615663 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/rfleming/2009/06/19/without-a-trace/Without+A+Trace%3A+Kidnapped+from+the+Border+2009-06-19+13%3A41%3A17Rusty+Fleming

Change? Not so Far: Our Border Drug War Still Rages

The year 2009 has been hyped by the media and political elites as the year of “change” in America. I’ve been filming and reporting on the drug war being waged in Mexico and along our southwest border for over four years and as far as the first six months of 2009 go, even though a lot has happened in that time, not much has changed. On the surface it would seem progress has been made and indeed positive steps have been taken by both the U.S. and Mexican governments. But looking beyond the stories and stats reveals something uglier and more severe that has even the experts questioning the current strategy.

One thing I’ve learned in documenting the drug war is that statistics alone don’t tell the story and for a true picture you have to dig beyond the numbers and the hype to draw a real conclusion of whether progress is being made or not.

The current death toll for this year in Mexico’s war against the cartels just peaked over 2,400. This is about the same number of narco-executions as last year at this time and at this pace we will probably exceed last years toll of 5,400. No real change there. But if you drill down on this number what you find is staggering as it relates to the number of law enforcement officials in the execution tally. Though the exact number of local municipal police is not known for certain because many of the narcos dress up like police to conduct operations, it is reported by intelligence sources that over 1/4 or 600 of these executions have been local, state and federal law enforcement agents. Since the first of the year, thirty-one active federal agents alone have been killed in Mexico. (more…)

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Tags: drug war, Immigration, Mexican President Calderon, Mexico, Obama
Posted Jun 15th 2009 at 8:25 am in Politics | 158326One Commenthttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/rfleming/2009/06/15/change-not-so-far/Change%3F+Not+so+Far%3A+Our+Border+Drug+War+Still+Rages2009-06-15+15%3A25%3A22Rusty+Fleming

The Russians, Arabs, Drug Cartels and our Southern Border

On June 3rd Sara Carter and the Washington Times reported, “Al-Qaeda Eyes Anthrax Attack On U.S from Mexico.” The story is based on an Al-Qaeda recruitment video first broadcast back in February on Al Jazeera.  In it, Kuwaiti dissident Abdullah al-Nafisi tells a roomful of people that Al-Qaeda is currently casing the U.S. border with Mexico to see how they could smuggle weapons through border tunnels and into the U.S. (Relax fellas, you don’t need to crawl through tunnels. I can show you whole unguarded roads that go across the river and into the U.S. … unless you really like crawling.)

[Click to enlarge]

Border Ranchers and Texas Law Enforcement have been warning of such a threat for years. For a long while now, ranchers and sheriffs have been reporting incidents of Middle Eastern human smuggling. For some Texas ranchers, stumbling upon Somalis, Eritreans, Bangladeshis or Iraqis is no longer surprising. Zapata County Sheriff Sigfried Gonzales had to reach out to the Israeli Mossad in order to identify Jihadist mercenary patches that were sewn into the inside of clothing recovered in the Texas brush.  (more…)

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Tags: Bangledesh, Border, border patrol, border security, drug cartels
Posted Jun 8th 2009 at 6:41 am in Military, Politics | 1534583 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/cburgard/2009/06/08/the-russians-arabs-drug-cartels-and-our-southern-border/The+Russians%2C+Arabs%2C+Drug+Cartels+and+our+Southern+Border2009-06-08+13%3A41%3A00Chris+Burgard

Daily Gut: Betsy Perry’s Mexico

So a marketing consultant who works for Mayor Bloomberg just resigned after getting into hot water over some stale jokes she made about Mexico at the Huffington Post.

Now, to be clear: the jokes that Betsy Perry made in the post were about Mexico. Not Mexicans.

There is a difference, people.

The jokes included a bit about “drinking the water,” a line about as old as Montezuma, and his revenge. She also brought up the drug gang problems, as well as the kidnappings and, of course, the swine flu. Now, the stuff she said about all this was neither particularly insightful or funny – but the last time I checked, that is not a cause for losing your job. If that were the case, Janeane Garafalo would be living under a bridge. (more…)

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Tags: Betsy Perry, Betsy Perry resigns, Huffington Post, Mayor Bloomberg, Mexicans
Posted May 6th 2009 at 11:40 am in Daily Gut | 129018One Commenthttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ggutfeld/2009/05/06/daily-gut-betsy-perrys-mexico/Daily+Gut%3A+Betsy+Perry%27s+Mexico2009-05-06+18%3A40%3A03Greg+Gutfeld

“NewsBusted” 5/05/09 — Fake News from the Right

In this episode, “NewsBusted” covers: Swine Flu, Mexico, Supreme Court Justice David Souter. Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Arlen Specter, President Obama’s press conference, Chrysler, George Stephanopoulos, Sean Penn, and Daily Show Host Jon Stewart.

YouTube

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Tags: Arlen Specter, Chrysler, Daily Show Host Jon Stewart, George Stephanopoulos, Mexico
Posted May 5th 2009 at 7:47 pm in Media Criticism, Political Humor, Video | 127282One Commenthttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/newsbusters/2009/05/05/%e2%80%9cnewsbusted%e2%80%9d-50509-%e2%80%94-fake-news-from-the-right/%E2%80%9CNewsBusted%E2%80%9D+5%2F05%2F09+%E2%80%94+Fake+News+from+the+Right2009-05-06+02%3A47%3A07NewsBusters

Daily Gut: Open Borders

So I`ve been thinking that this whole immigration issue is like Easter Sunday at my family`s house. A bunch of people start showing up – a lot of them, mind you, I really don`t want to see. But the reason why I don`t want to see them has nothing to do with race, it has to do with being human. Human beings are weird creatures in that we resist things that aren`t comfortable – so when someone drops by unannounced, or perhaps with a date you immediately assume is pompous, stupid and covered in cheap cologne – you take an instant dislike. Essentially, we’re an irritable bunch, and the people we take it out on are the those unfamiliar types that show up without a proper invite.

But here`s what I know about parties: I`ve thrown a crapload of them, and yes, most of the time I’ve been drunk. But the key to a good party is accepting people into the throng not because of what they can do for you, but because they can`t do anything for you…yet.

You just never know. (more…)

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Tags: "Let Them In: The Case for Open Borders", illegal immigration, Immigration, Jason Riley, Mexico
Posted May 4th 2009 at 3:14 pm in Daily Gut | 126354No Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ggutfeld/2009/05/04/daily-gut-open-borders/Daily+Gut%3A+Open+Borders2009-05-04+22%3A14%3A21Greg+Gutfeld

A Republican Platform For The 21st Century

I have been a proud conservative Republican my entire life. My father and Jimmy Carter saw to that. My first vote ever was for Ronald Reagan in 1980, and I have never voted for a Democrat. Ever. Even today, the reasons for my being so have not changed, despite the media’s and liberal Democrats’ tireless efforts to discredit my belief system. Though the times may change, core principles never do. I have also served this nation proudly in uniform for six years, and don’t regret a minute of it.

In the early 1980s, my military service brought me to some of the darker corners of the world. I spent time in South Korea and Marcos’ Philippines when both countries were under martial law. Knowing I could be shot just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time really woke me up to what exactly it is we have here in America. Seeing a thousand Vietnamese Boat People pulled out of the South China Sea in one day only reinforced my belief in America, Sweet Land of Liberty.

Today, the Party of Lincoln and Reagan appears to be in political disarray, which is why I am writing this OpEd now. Yet many promising developments, along with some huge mistakes by Congress and the Obama Administration, have opened many new doors for us. If only we will enter. (more…)

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Tags: abortion, Africa, Al Franken, amnesty, apology tour
Posted May 2nd 2009 at 3:13 pm in Featured Story, Politics | 12196215 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jtsimpson/2009/05/02/a-republican-platform-for-the-21st-century/A+Republican+Platform+For+The+21st+Century2009-05-02+22%3A13%3A08John+T.+Simpson

Dear Mr. President: Send Us Your Junk and the Texans Will Stand Tall!

The first time you face armed, foreign troops on American soil, something inside you changes. You experience a cold, hard sensation deep in your core. There is an internal shift as the reality sinks in that despite having the strongest military in the world, there are Americans who are not safe on their home soil.

Obama and Mexican President Calderón

I experienced that shift on a cold October night in 2005, when, at a distance of approximately 21 yards, we filmed armed, uniformed soldiers escorting a mule train into the United States.

Guardsmen from Tennessee experienced it in the same location 15 months later when soldiers from Mexico advanced on their observation post. The foreign troops twice attempted to flank the Guardsmen. The Guardsmen were twice ordered to observe and fall back until reinforcements arrived. (more…)

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Tags: Border, Brooks County, drug cartels, Hudspeth County, John Boehner
Posted Apr 16th 2009 at 3:11 pm in Military, News, Politics | 107910No Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/cburgard/2009/04/16/dear-mr-president-send-us-your-junk-and-the-texans-will-stand-tall/Dear+Mr.+President%3A+Send+Us+Your+Junk+and+the+Texans+Will+Stand+Tall%212009-04-16+22%3A11%3A29Chris+Burgard

Drug Wars: Deterioration Turns to Demoralization

In times past there was a prevailing wisdom that the violence stemming from the drug war equated to just one drug dealer killing another and after they finished killing each other off, things would go back to being peaceful and all would be well— this theory is no longer valid. The escalated violence and corruption the cartels are exhibiting today are quickly eroding Mexico and its democratic institutions to the point that they have caused a serious shift in the entire geopolitical landscape and represent the greatest threat to national security to both the U.S. and Mexico.

One of the more disturbing aspects of the narco-insurgency in North America is the effect it is having on the free press in Mexico. Our own history has proven that exposing the truth in a free press has done more for positive change in government and corporate accountability in our nation than perhaps any other single component, but that simply does not fit in the world of terror that the narcos create and perpetuate. Hardly a single Mexican media outlet in the country operates freely and without fear when it comes to reporting on the narcos and their activities. (more…)

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Tags: cartel, Drug wars, free press, Juarez, lead
Posted Apr 2nd 2009 at 9:22 am in News | 9497876 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/rfleming/2009/04/02/deterioration-turns-into-demoralization/Drug+Wars%3A+Deterioration+Turns+to+Demoralization2009-04-02+16%3A22%3A25Rusty+Fleming

‘Scarface’ For Real On The Border

I’ve been documenting the Mexican drug cartels and their operations in Mexico and the U.S. on film and in print for the past four years. I’ve contributed to magazines, newspapers and presented segments on network news, I’ve written a book on the subject and meet regularly with intelligence agents from every three lettered agency in the alphabet. I’ve had a front row seat to one of the most violent and brutal uprisings in the history of our two countries and still I am amazed that so few people, especially within our government comprehend this problem and haven’t a clue as to the true effects it is having on our own society, economy and geopolitical landscape.

The flow of illicit narcotics into the United States from Mexico is nothing new and neither is the fact that the Mexican DTO’s (Drug Trafficking Organizations) are running the entire show. Up until recently it was believed that they were earning somewhere in the neighborhood of $40 billion dollars a year from that enterprise and for the past two decades the U.S. government has been content with the lackluster results of their interdiction efforts evidenced by the fact that nothing has really changed in that time span. (more…)

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Tags: drug cartels, Drug trafficking, Juarez, Mexi, Mexico
Posted Mar 11th 2009 at 5:12 pm in Featured Story, News, Politics | 7228233 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/rfleming/2009/03/11/scarface-for-real-on-the-border/%27Scarface%27+For+Real+On+The+Border+2009-03-12+00%3A12%3A48Rusty+Fleming

This War is not the Answer

I believe it is long past time to end the War on Drugs.  That’s not because I approve of drug use nor have any desire to encourage it.  But this particular war has already gone on longer than the ones in Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq, put together, with no end in sight and far less to show for it. 

I would not only decriminalize drug use, I would give it the same legal status as tobacco and alcohol, and with the same age restrictions.  For one thing, this would provide a great source of new tax revenue.  Also, it would free up jail space for non-drug related crimes.

With the legalization of drugs, the profits that currently accrue to dealers, who use a portion of their ill-gotten gains to pay off politicians, judges and corrupt cops, could go to American companies and American workers.  (more…)

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Tags: Drug wars, legalize drugs, Mexico, taxes, war on drugs
Posted Mar 1st 2009 at 6:13 am in Featured Story, News, Politics | 69082279 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bprelutsky/2009/03/01/this-war-is-not-the-answer/This+War+is+not+the+Answer2009-03-01+14%3A13%3A00Burt+Prelutsky

Gran Issue Approaching

Leave it to the out of touch boneheads in Hollywood to exclude the best movie of the year, “Gran Torino” with Client Eastwood, from it best picture nominations.  If you have not seen it yet, then you should before Sunday’s Academy Awards-if for nothing else, to see what Hollywood missed.  While there is nothing overtly political about the movie, I am convinced there is something below the surface, something a little too Americana for the Academy’s liking.  And while watching the movie, I could not help but feel reminded of the explosive immigration issue that will surface again soon.  

To make that reminder more poignant, a recent U.S. Joint Forces Command report warns of a “rapid and sudden collapse” in Mexico because “the government, its politicians, police and judicial infrastructure are all under sustained assault…by criminal gangs and drug cartels.”  In other words-to cut through the political correctness-America has a third world nation on its southern border that is compromised by corruption and violence and an implosion would likely cause teams of illegal immigrants streaming into southern U.S. states.   (more…)

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Tags: Border, Clint Eastwood, Gran Torino, illegal immigration, Mexico
Posted Feb 16th 2009 at 5:15 am in Entertainment, News | 5093432 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bjoshpe/2009/02/16/gran-issue-approaching/Gran+Issue+Approaching2009-02-16+13%3A15%3A38Brett+Joshpe

The True Face of Hollywood

This week’s Washington Times column:

Sometimes I just don’t get the Republican Party.

Back in 2004, a smart, good-looking moderate Republican Hispanic ran for Congress. At the time Victor Elizalde was just under 40 years old and working as an executive at a big-time Hollywood studio. As an ethnic minority, a family man and a rare open conservative in an industry dominated by liberals, Mr. Elizalde represented hope and change for the Republican Party.

Yet because he was running for Henry A. Waxman´s safe seat, Mr. Elizalde got no support from the Republican Party . In fact, no one in the party´s leadership took notice of him. As a result Mr. Waxman trounced Mr. Elizalde with 71 percent of the vote. (more…)

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Tags: australia, Bush administration, California, Canada, Center For Entertainment Industry Data and Research
Posted Feb 1st 2009 at 6:39 pm in Entertainment, Featured Story, Politics | 3840673 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/abreitbart/2009/02/01/the-true-face-of-hollywood/The+True+Face+of+Hollywood2009-02-02+02%3A39%3A25Andrew+Breitbart