Now showing: The Narco-Bogeyman eats Mexico!

The media manipulation continues on the narco-bogeyman front. Here’s the plot as I see it coming into form.

Mexico is heading into a presidential election in 2006. A populist mayor out of Mexico City, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, is emerging as a major contender. A rise in populism in Mexico is not in the interest of the Bush administration or Mexico’s oligarch, so the powers that be have to smear the leading social-reform candidates while at the same time propping up the forces more in line with U.S. interests, neoliberal forces now aligned through the presidency of Vicente Fox.

However, since Fox is technically prohibited from seeking re-election in 2006 under the Mexican constitution, the Bush administration’s task is a bit trickier, as they not only have to disable the emerging popularity of Mexico’s grassroots democracy movement, but also manufacture a suitable neoliberal candidate.

Well, the smear campaign is well underway. Lopez Obrador is now facing the possibility of being barred for running for the presidency because of a plan afoot to charge him criminally over a minor land-use dispute – something about building a road to a hospital over “private property.” If convicted, Lopez Obrador could be barred from making a bid for Mexico’s top government post. Lopez Obrador has said previously, according to press reports, that he believes Fox and his cronies are behind the scheme to frame him on criminal charges to prevent him from seeking the presidency.

So the first part of the script is well underway; paint the populist opposition as criminals.
The second part of the script requires not only making the people -- both in Mexico and on this side of the border -- fear that the popular candidate is a criminal, but also making them believe that his candidacy is a real threat to the stability of the Mexican government in general.

That part of the propaganda war, I contend, is unfolding in the U.S. press now, as part of an effort to gain broad support in this country for more direct U.S. government intervention in Mexico’s affairs – with the unstated policy goal of influencing the Mexican elections to ensure a candidate suitable to U.S. interests emerges as the victor.

The following from a story in today’s San Antonio Express-News demonstrates how the pins are being set at this stage in the game:

MEXICO CITY — The Mexican federal government is investigating whether the feared Gulf Cartel drug-smuggling mafia is armed with surface-to-air missiles as part of a plot to assassinate President Vicente Fox or shoot down a commercial airliner.

"We do not want to alarm the public," Mexican Attorney General Rafael Macedo de la Concha said at a news conference Saturday. "The first thing is to find out if it is true."

Federal agents are trying to determine the source of what may be a U.S. government analysis warning as many as 80 SA-7 Soviet-made shoulder-mounted missiles are on the black market in Nicaragua, he said.

The document — a copy of which Macedo de la Concha declined to release — is said to mention the Pentagon and the State Department, and indicates at least two of the weapons could be in the hands of the cartel's enforcement arm, known as the Zetas and comprised of military deserters turned cartel mercenaries.

The attorney general and his chief organized crime prosecutor, José Luis Santiago Vasconcelos, said they couldn't confirm or deny the document's authenticity. It was unclear exactly how authorities got the document.

But the threat surfaces during especially troubling times in which no threats or perceived threats are being treated lightly.

The document, dated Jan. 31, mentions the missiles were in the hands of the Nicaraguan authorities and were to be sold to drug cartels and paramilitary groups, Vasconcelos said.

"We do not have anything new on this," Vasconcelos said. "We are still investigating."

In addition to Fox, other potential targets include Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and Central American commercial airliners.

So we have a mysterious document surfacing, leaked out by the very government interests that stand to gain from its publication. And what is the gain?

Again, we have narco-bogeymen (much like “terrorists”) trying to assassinate President Fox and to kill innocent Americans (by blowing up commercial airliners) with shoulder-fired rockets acquired from a former evil empire (the Soviet Union).

Hey, could Hollywood do it any better?

Now, you create fear on both sides of the border that a courageous president, Fox, who is boldly confronting the narco-terror threat is himself being targeted by the bogeymen. If that doesn’t play on a patriotic string, I don’t know what does.

All that is necessary next is for Fox to pick his protégé, maybe someone who is equally “courageous” in standing up to the narco-bogeymen threatening the homeland security of Mexico – and now the United States. For some spice, you throw another U.S. government stooge into the mix as a potential target, Uribe of Colombia.

With that misinformation stew, the evil nature of the global narco-terror conspiracy is now planted firmly in the subconscious of a frightened populace. (But please put on the backburner the reality that narco-traffickers have been on the scene for decades, which only casts suspicion on the timing of the new-found urgency and fear-mongering emerging over the problem.)

To build the support of U.S. citizens for our government’s required assistance in protecting Fox and the integrity of the Mexican government, you throw in the commercial airliner angle – to further frighten timid Americans who like to take vacations. But this idea is so over the top that you have to couch the misinformation with a subtle disclaimer, like that used in the Express-News story:

"We do not want to alarm the public," Mexican Attorney General Rafael Macedo de la Concha said at a news conference Saturday. "The first thing is to find out if it is true."

The disclaimer distracts attention away from the fact that none of this conforms to reality, if you really think about it. Readers are left with the impression that the alleged missile plot is serious enough that major governments are actively investigating the alleged scheme.

For the record, I have no problem believing that narco-traffickers may very well attempt to acquire shoulder-fired missiles. But it is quite a leap from that possibility to assume they will turn them on the full might of the Mexican or U.S. military.

It is far more likely the drug organizations, if they did obtain such missiles, would turn them on each other in a bid for power, which actually would take care of some of the dirty work for the Mexican and U.S. military. But that is not what is emphasized in the media coverage, is it?

Anyway, why take out Fox in such a provocative manner, when all the narco-organizations would have to do is outlast him for another year or so, and then he will be out of office?

As far as the commercial airline angle, that needs some further explanation.

More from today’s Express-News story:

A U.S. federal agent, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the cartel is troubled enough to carry out bold attacks.

"These people are desperate," the agent said.

"Is it possible? Yes," he said of a missile attack. "Would it happen? Probably not."

But the agent cautioned the Zetas are not traditional criminals, as they are military trained and take orders.

With Gulf Cartel boss Osiel Cárdenas in prison and authorities taking steps to isolate him from his empire, the situation could play out similarly to what happened when Colombian cocaine king Pablo Escobar was captured and feared extradition to the United States.

"Look what happened in Colombia," the agent said.

"The president starts to talk about extraditing people (Cárdenas) is going to be fighting back."

Colombia saw explosions, assassinations and a bomb detonated aboard a commercial airliner, killing government witnesses prepared to testify against traffickers.

This is great. An unnamed federal agent claiming that the ghost of Pablo Escobar is at the heart of all of this narco-bogeyman hype; this has gone from being a cheap thriller to a full-fledged B horror flick.

And then we get to the line about “a bomb detonated aboard a commercial airliner.” So that’s why the bad guys want to use these shoulder-fired missiles, to blow up commercial airliners that are being used to transport “government witnesses.”

Let’s review what actually happened in the Colombian airliner case referred to by the “federal agent.”

From the book Borderline Security, published by Narco News:

The airline industry put its thrusters on full bore in an effort to comply with government demands to beef up security in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks.

But the same government that feverishly spun out new legislation to strengthen the airline industry’s security web in the war on terrorism may also be the source of a major flaw in that safety network.

According to a Yale Law School professor, that flaw may have already played a role in the destruction of at least one commercial airliner....

The law professor, Steven B. Duke, wrote to numerous federal agencies concerning this flaw as part of his efforts to prove the innocence of one of his clients. His efforts produced little more than agency finger-pointing and a cryptic picture of the shadowy world of undercover law enforcement.

The flaw being exposed by Duke relates to a practice called “controlled delivery.” The practice is used by law enforcement to snare high-ranking members of drug trafficking organizations. In such a delivery, a law enforcement agency allows a shipment of drugs to be transported from one location to its destination, under close surveillance, in an effort to catch drug-syndicate kingpins with their hands in the cookie jar.

In the case of Duke’s client, Gaetano DiGirolamo, some 20 kilos (44 pounds) of heroin were transported on commercial airlines from Pakistan to New York City in an alleged controlled delivery undertaken to advance a major undercover drug operation. Agents with the DEA transported the heroin in December 1990 from Pakistan to Paris, via Air France; and then from Paris to New York City, via the now-defunct airline TWA.

The drugs were then purportedly used to set up a series of stings....

... Duke has made efforts to discover if the Pakistan-to-New York heroin shipment was sanctioned by a government agency. Between 1997 and 2000, he wrote a series of letters to the FAA, the Department of Transportation and the U.S. Customs Service seeking information on their policies concerning controlled deliveries—and more specifically about their knowledge of the heroin transported by DEA agents from Pakistan to New York in December 1990 via commercial airlines.

The Department of Transportation referred his letter to the FAA, which replied by informing Duke that the FAA “does not have authority … to prohibit DEA from transporting narcotics on commercial airlines. ...”

Duke’s letter to (U.S.) Customs, dated March 3, 2000, was addressed to Commissioner Raymond Kelly....

Dear Mr. Kelly,

In a criminal prosecution in the Eastern District of New York in 1993, a DEA agent named Derek Maltz testified that he personally brought 20 kilos of heroin to New York from Pakistan on a commercial passenger airline and that he did so with the approval of not only DEA headquarters in Washington but the United States Customs Service.

I enclose a copy of his testimony on the subject. United States v. Salerno and DiGirolamo, 91, CR. 0395, tr. 514-15. In subsequent proceedings in that case, another DEA agent stated that such importations of contraband for use in sting operations is commonplace.

I find that testimony both incredible and incomprehensible. There can be no legitimate law enforcement need to bring large quantities of heroin into this country when we are already awash in it, and more is surely not needed for sting operations.

There is a substantial risk that such shipments of multi-million dollar packages of drugs will encourage corruption of the agents involved in bringing it here. Moreover, carrying such contraband as a passenger on a commercial airliner risks the safety of passengers, crew and ground personnel, since it is a likely target for robbery and also since the consignors, if they suspect betrayal or law enforcement involvement, may blow up the airplane, as was done to another jetliner headed for New York in 1989. [See “107 Dead in Bogata Jetliner Crash, Los Angeles Times, 11/27/89; United States v. Escobar et al., 842 F. Supp. 1519 (E.D.N.Y., 1994) — prosecution for blowing up plane headed to New York.]

As I read the law, secretly importing large quantities of illicit drugs on commercial passenger airliner is a serious felony, even if conducted by law enforcement officers. ... I can find no statute or regulation authorizing it.

Please tell me whether Mr. Maltz’s claim about Customs authorization is true or false and, in any event, whether you think there is any legal justification for the practices he describes.

The U.S. Customs Service sent Duke a reply on May 2, 2000. The response was prepared by Bonnie Tischler, assistant commissioner for Customs’ Office of Investigations.

Tischler’s letter to Duke:

Dear Mr. Duke,

Thank you for your March 3, 2000, letter regarding the importation of narcotics into the United States by law enforcement officers.

In your letter you cite the judicial testimony of a special agent of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) who received approval from DEA and the U.S. Customs Service to conduct an international controlled delivery. An international controlled delivery is one of many investigative techniques utilized by law enforcement officials to investigate and infiltrate narcotics smuggling organizations.

More specifically, they are a highly effective tool used to further identify and ultimately arrest the high-level members of those organizations. The U.S. Customs Service has specific guidelines that grant such importations provided all precautions have been taken to ensure the security of the controlled substances, the law enforcement officers involved and members of the public.

The specific incident you cite involved the international controlled delivery of 20 kilograms of heroin at the John F. Kennedy (JFK) Airport on Dec. 4, 1990. Our records indicate that while our agency provided assistance in facilitating that delivery through JFK, the entire operation was initiated and coordinated solely by the DEA.

Therefore, I would refer any further questions you my have regarding this matter to DEA Headquarters, 600 Army Navy Drive, Arlington, Virginia 22202.

I appreciate your interest in the Customs Service. If we may be of any further assistance, please contact me....

So if commercial airliners are to be targeted by drug traffickers, it’s not because the narco-bogeymen are trying to take over the world, as the Express-News article might lead us to believe. Rather, it’s likely to occur because our own government allows illegal drugs to be transported on commercial airliners as a part of the so-called war on drugs.

Maybe the solution is to put a higher priority on the lives of innocent passengers and prohibit the government from transporting drugs, or playing out dangerous drug stings, on commercial airliners.

But this isn’t about protecting lives in the final analysis; rather, it’s about promoting power in one of the key country puzzles in the U.S. map of world influence.

If the media can be used to create a nexus of fear between narco-traffickers and global terrorism, then it is no great extension to build on that fear to justify a Plan Columbia for Mexico -- or some other form of direct U.S. intervention to protect “America’s homeland.”

But you have to have your man in power in Mexico to do that, so the narco-bogeyman script continues to be written and played out in the daily newspaper and TV stations across the country. That script is being fed into the propaganda machine (spit out in sequel upon sequel) in an effort -- whether intentional or not on the part of the press -- to mislead the people into voting against their long-term interests, and for the special interests of an elite class of power brokers.

And the script will continue to be played that way until the cogs in the commercial media machine begin to act more like authentic journalists and less like bad B movie producers.

Unfortunately, though, I think were in for a long series of bad flicks in this theater of the “war on drugs.”