RR Phantom
Location : Wasted Space
Job/hobbies : Cayman Islands Actuary
 |  Subject: ANCAPS Good News: Free Market Expands- Drug cartels advertise for recruits  Thu May 08, 2008 7:52 pm | |
| THE job offer was tempting. It was printed on a five-metre-wide banner and strung above a busy road in the Mexican border city of Nuevo Laredo, and called out to any "soldier or ex-soldier".
"We're offering you a good salary, food and medical care for your families," it said.
But there was a catch: the employer was Los Zetas, a notorious Gulf of Mexico cartel hit squad formed by elite Mexican Army deserters. The group even included a phone number for job seekers linked to a voice mailbox.
Outrageous as they seem, such drug cartel messages are becoming increasingly common along the violence-savaged US-Mexican border and in other parts of the region. As soldiers wage a huge campaign against drug trafficking across Mexico, they are encountering an information war managed by criminal networks operating with near impunity.
The cartels' appeals, which authorities generally believe to be authentic recruitment efforts, seem designed in part to taunt the military, from which at least 100,000 men and women have deserted in the past eight years.
The cartels are known for the bravado and a dash of humour they use to gain supporters.
"The cartels are very good at this: they've had songs written about them, they put up these signs, they make themselves out to be Robin Hoods," said Carlos Martinez, a Nuevo Laredo school principal and community activist.
The banners appeal to many poor Mexicans who respect the brashness of the cartels, which provide food, clothing and toys to win loyalty.
Marcelino, a 74-year-old pensioner, said he had been wronged many times by police but drug traffickers had given him a sturdy mountain bike.
"I trust the Zetas more than the thieving police and soldiers," he said. "The police are rats."
Cartels have long been known for showy displays, though their public campaigns have become more audacious.
Last week, clowns entertained 500 children and handed out presents at a party in Acuna. A banner said the party was sponsored by Osiel Cardenas Guillen, a cartel kingpin in jail on drug trafficking charges in the US.
But there are darker messages, including threats carved into the bodies of victims. In January, drug cartels are suspected of having left a banner with the names of 17 "executable" police officials on a monument to fallen officers in Ciudad Juarez. At least nine of the men have since been assassinated.
Nearly all these messages get big play in local media. Journalists say local drug chieftains often demand that photographs of cartel banners and victims be displayed prominently. The threats carry weight: Mexico trails only Iraq in journalist deaths.
Some military officials fear they are losing the information war, that the cartels are getting the public on their side and recruiting soldiers.
A former general, Jose Francisco Gallardo, said some soldiers did not intend to join criminal groups after deserting, but had found it almost impossible to gain legitimate employment.
LNK |
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CovOps
 Location : Ether-Sphere
Job/hobbies : Irrationality Exterminator
Humor : Über Serious
| | Subject: Re: ANCAPS Good News: Free Market Expands- Drug cartels advertise for recruits Thu May 08, 2008 8:04 pm | |
| | Good Stuff! |
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