What has a society become, if it is forced to militarily occupy its own community to “control” the youth? A police state.

I thought I’d just post the CNN file, so that you’d believe me.

U.S. Army soldier and two other men have been charged with capital murder in the contract killing of a midlevel Mexican drug cartel official who was also a U.S. informant.

I posted a few days ago regarding the Zetas, one of the most feared Mexican drug cartels, being trained by the US governement. Now it looks like the long arm of the cartel has reached active US military soldiers.
Just thought it interesting. No big commentary on this one.

Obama And Calderon

The effect of US foreign policy has always been to destabilize all other countries, when and if direct control is too costly either financially or politically. This is the only rational policy for any country whose ambition is control and dominance. In the political theory called “zero sum,” “realism,” or “realpolitik,” the idea is that there is only a fixed amount of power in the world. This fixed amount of power does not really increase, and so the only way for a player to increase his power is to take power from others. To put it another way, if you were locked in a room and given a set amount of food and no other way to produce more, the only way to stay alive is to take other people’s food, and then eventually to perhaps, well you get the idea. These so-called Masters of The Universe are trained in this school of thought the world over.

For the guy simply trying to eat his own share of food, realism is simply not an issue at first. However, for the guy who harbors the ideology of realism, all others are rivals or potential rivals. The realist believes that he simply must weaken his rival, either to eat his food or to make sure that his rival does not eat his. This basically sums up the ideology behind US foreign policy, and the perspective of the US propaganda machine known as the press, especially with regard to international relations. With respect to international relations, the difference between liberals and conservatives is whether to weaken other countries through hard or soft means. [Incidentally this perspective reaches all the way back to our colonization. Liberal Spaniards wanted to weaken us through assimilation and psychological warfare, where conservative Spaniards wanted to weaken us using brutal force.]

Today, Obama met with Felipe Calderon, President of Mexico. They discussed in detail the drug problem in Mexico. In preparation, CNN did a report on Los Zetas, in which they basically portrayed this gang as having caused the most problems on the drug front. CNN’s on-air report went into detailed descriptions of Los Zetas.  The report described Los Zetas as having a sophisticated military background, and made the analogy that the history of Los Zetas would be similar to having a group of Green Berets going rogue in the US and setting up a drug cartel.

I found it halfway surprising that CNN failed to mention that Los Zetas were trained by the United States in Georgia at the School of The Americas. The School of The Americas is the “premiere officer training school for Latin American military,” according to one report by NPR (or maybe Pacifica, can’t remember). Future officers are trained in Spanish.

It is said that you can tell someone’s character by the fruit they bear. In addition to the fine gentleman of Los Zetas, other School of the America alumni include, General Romero Vasquez, who recently lead the coup in Honduras, several military commandos who committed massacres in El Salvador, death squad leader Angel Sauni of Peru, and many of Augusto Pinochet’s henchman. Pinochet assumed power after the assassination of Salvador Allende, an assassination in which the CIA acknowledges involvement. Allende was the first democratically elected socialist in the Americas. I am sure the readers know of many other graduates of the School of The Americas.

So as much as the US complains about the drugs coming in from Mexico, their boys, Los Zetas, seem to be in control of the situation. They fit the model of US foreign policy-destabilize other countries at the lowest cost. Or to use the metaphor I used earlier-make the other guy sick, so he can’t eat his own food.  Then move in and eat his. Remember, compas, there is no such thing as a free trade.

I first learned about Alex Sanchez’s story on a documentary about a gang called MS-13. Mostly anyone growing up in Houston in the nineties had at least heard about the gang (if they didn’t know or know of some members), but I guess in the early part of this decade, the gang slowly began to catch the attention of the national press. I guess about a year or two ago, one of those documentary series did a special on MS-13, and I first saw Alex Sanchez on this documentary. Alex Sanchez was actually a co-founder of MS-13, but had chosen to reform. He explained how the brutality of the gang had been fueled by the intense political fighting in Central America, and a nearby civil war funded heavily by the Reagan administration through his support for the Contras. The documentary highlighted how Alex Sanchez had been working with Homies Unidos, a non-profit organization focused on gang intervention and prevention. Many individuals and organizations have voiced their support and solidarity for Alex Sanchez.

The board of Homies Unidos writes:

To all our supporters, allies, community, and everyone in the movement, The Homies Unidos Board stands united in full support, behind our executive director, Alex Sanchez and his family. For the past 11 years, Alex has been committed to helping bring about change in his community. He is an exemplary leader, respected colleague and dedicated husband and father. Just as we are confident in Alex’s innocence, we are confident that Los Angeles and the nation will remember that an indictment is an allegation only.

As stated in the FBI press release, “Every defendant is presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in court.” We have sought another path, a peacemaker’s path, through intervention and prevention, and we remain committed to it. We appreciate the tireless work of peacemakers in all these arenas and the danger that sometimes accompanies it.

Nativo Lopez is the President of MAPA (Mexican American Political Association). I started to pay attention to the group when I found out that they had reversed what I had assumed was a perpetual marriage to the Democratic party and endorsed a green party candidate. The following announcement was made:

Nativo Lopez — who made the dramatic disclosure an formally re-registered Green at the Secretary of State’s office Wednesday — said he is traveling throughout the state urging MAPA members and Latinos statewide to also re-register Green and to form MAPA/Green organizations.

MAPA also endorsed Kucinich in the last presidential election, who was the only person who could have gotten me to vote Democrat in the presidential election. Incidentally, it seems that MAPA also endorsed a third-party candidate in addition to Kucinich.

I don’t have the resources to do my own investigation on either case, but I can’t say it better than Union del Barrio’s letter of solidarity for the two:

…there exists an extensive and well-documented history of the FBI, LAPD, and other so-called law enforcement agencies of actively conspiring and participating in slayings, extortion, and assaults. Since it was founded, one of the principle functions of the FBI has been to contain and disrupt independent political struggles. And this history has been especially aggressive when so-called law enforcement is looking to neutralize effective community organizers…

This is not conspiracy theory. This is conspiracy fact. If you doubt it, I urge you to do some brief research into the COINTELPRO program, and you should be outraged.

I haven’t found any requests for support for Nativo Lopez just yet, but I did find some for Alex.

- We need signed letters of support. These letters should focus on Alex’s character, accomplishments and importance to his community. Mr. Bensinger [his attorney], suggested and I agree, that we refrain from bringing up the apparently organized effort to derail Homies and the broken system that has allowed for the epidemic of gangs. Keep the letters focused on the intent of getting Alex out on bail. You should know that any letter you present to the court will become public record.

You can forward them to the Homies Unidos office, or just email em to me, and I can forward them. I would not doubt that this is a coordinated effort to keep BOTH of them locked up, and to derail us from progress. If we are too bogged down and can only focus on one, the other remains locked up. Plus, due to our limited resources, this will force us to derail our attention from our other focused efforts. The only way to overcome this is if this inspires new people to involve themselves in organized action.

Nativo Lopez on Fox News

Alex Sanchez

Nationally recognized ‘gang peacemaker’ arrested in gang
sweep<http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/06/nationally-recognized-gang-leader-arrested-in-gang-sweep.html>
10:13 AM | June 24, 2009

[image: Sanchez]<http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/.a/6a00d8341c630a53ef011571523a5a970b-pi>A
nationally recognized anti-gang leader was among those named in a federal
indictment targeting several Mara Salvatrucha gang members who authorities
said today have been involved in multiple slayings, extortion and assaults.

Alex Sanchez, executive director of Homies Unidos <http://homiesunidos.org/>,
was taken into custody by FBI agents this morning at his Bellflower home.
Sanchez and several members of MS-13, one of the nation’s most ruthless and
notorious gangs, were named as a co-conspirators in the indictment, which
will be unsealed later today, said FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller.

The indictment alleges that the gang terrorized the Lafayette Park area.

The case of Sanchez, who admitted to being a member of the MS-13 gang
<http://articles.latimes.com/2000/jun/03/local/me-36892>as
a youth but said he had sworn off the gang lifestyle, became a cause celebre
early in the decade when authorities attempted to deport the self-described
gang peacemaker.

In 1994, Sanchez was deported to his home country of El Salvador because of
a decade-old auto-theft conviction and a subsequent parole violation for
possessing a firearm. A year later, he returned illegally to the U.S. and
eventually helped form the local chapter of Homies Unidos.

Sanchez was granted political
asylum<http://articles.latimes.com/2002/jul/12/local/me-asylum12>
after
successfully arguing that he was a victim of harassment by the Los Angeles
Police Department, and his case was highlighted by police critics during the
Rampart corruption scandal.

Among those who championed Sanchez’s cause was former state Sen. Tom Hayden
(D-Los Angeles), <http://articles.latimes.com/2000/jan/26/local/me-57932> who
befriended Sanchez five years ago and testified on his behalf.
Nationally recognized ‘gang peacemaker’ arrested in gang
sweep
10:13 AM | June 24, 2009

[image: Sanchez]A
nationally recognized anti-gang leader was among those named in a federal
indictment targeting several Mara Salvatrucha gang members who authorities
said today have been involved in multiple slayings, extortion and assaults.

Alex Sanchez, executive director of Homies Unidos ,
was taken into custody by FBI agents this morning at his Bellflower home.
Sanchez and several members of MS-13, one of the nation’s most ruthless and
notorious gangs, were named as a co-conspirators in the indictment, which
will be unsealed later today, said FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller.

The indictment alleges that the gang terrorized the Lafayette Park area.

The case of Sanchez, who admitted to being a member of the MS-13 gang
as
a youth but said he had sworn off the gang lifestyle, became a cause celebre
early in the decade when authorities attempted to deport the self-described
gang peacemaker.

In 1994, Sanchez was deported to his home country of El Salvador because of
a decade-old auto-theft conviction and a subsequent parole violation for
possessing a firearm. A year later, he returned illegally to the U.S. and
eventually helped form the local chapter of Homies Unidos.

Sanchez was granted political
asylum
after
successfully arguing that he was a victim of harassment by the Los Angeles
Police Department, and his case was highlighted by police critics during the
Rampart corruption scandal.

Among those who championed Sanchez’s cause was former state Sen. Tom Hayden
(D-Los Angeles), who
befriended Sanchez five years ago and testified on his behalf.