MEXICO: Without Shame, Sinaloa Flaunts Narco Roots...And Raises More Questions About Calderon Strategy.

AP/ A.Olson 


   The state of Sinaloa is the birthplace and home of some of Mexico's most infamous narcos.
   So, many ask, why President Felipe Calderon hasn't tried to clean it up during his 5-year war on narcos.
   There are only a couple hundred federal police there...while thousands were sent to Chihuahua and his home state of Michoacan.
   Even a member of Calderon's own party is outraged. "It has been a safe state for organized crime to live there and work there and develop with total tranquility," Congressman Manuel Clouthier charges.
   Notorious narco capos Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman and Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada are thought to be  protected by corrupt officials and hiding in its or Durango's mountains.
    In Sinaloa "part of it is the perception that legal activity and illegal activity has become so blurred. There is pressure from the legitimate economic interests who don't want their economic interests to be touched," an observer said. "There is a broad sense that there is a lot of money laundering and visible activity related to drug trafficking that has not been fully addressed or combated."

MEXICO: Bus/Tanker Crash Kills 32 In Sinaloa.

LAHT/
      A bus traveling from Guadalajara to the north in Sonora collided with a fuel truck near Palmillas in Sinaloa, killing 32, including several children.
    The diesel fuel truck driver ran from the accident and has not been located.

MEXICO: Drug Ties Don't Seem To Hinder Candidates; What Can You Do For Us Is More Important.

LAT/    The front-runners in Sinaloa state and Ciudad Juarez have been linked to drug gangs but voters seem to care only about what services they'll provide as narco gangs continue their steady penetration into Mexican political power. "Narco-politics is the greatest threat to Mexico's incipient democracy," said federal congressman Manuel Clouthier Carrillo, who represents Sinaloa for the National Action Party, or PAN. "If federal authorities don't fight it now, the damage will be irreversible."
   "People don't look at the ethical or moral origins [of a candidate] but at the services they can receive," said pharmacy owner Lauro Melendrez, and Vizcarra supporter. "We don't have the luxury to demand pie-in-the-sky ethical values. A society in crisis is less demanding."  (Foto of Jesus Vizcarra Calderon)

MEXICO: Drug Thugs Stitch Actual Face Of Dead Rival...On Soccer Ball.

AP/MIAMI HERALD/ Lead story... plus weekly violent crime summary/

Approaching a new level of brutality, a drug gang in Sinaloa skinned a rival's face and stitched it onto a soccer ball after kidnapping him in Sonora. The rest of the body of 36-year-old Hugo Hernandez was left in seven pieces in the streets of Las Mochis.

Wall Street Journal Profiles Mexico's notorious "El Chapo."

Few newspaper reports are considered "must reads."

But if you are interested in Mexico's drug wars...today's weekend edition of the " Wall Street Journal" has a must read.

It's a long but easily digestible profile of "El Chapo," Joaquin Guzman Loera, Mexico's most notorious drug trafficer ...by David Luhnow and Jose de Cordoba.

Guzman has been sought for eight years...with a $5 million USD reward for his capture.

In the print edition...this two and one quarter-pager with photos and a map/chart ...profiles the growth of Mexico's drug violence...thru the life story of the fugitive narco folk hero known as "El Chapo"... from his birth in Badiraguato, Sinaloa... to his escape from a luxurious Mexican prison cell in 2001.

It reports that Guzman pioneered the building of underground tunnels to transport drugs under the US/Mexican border...and details the now common gruesome drogista practice of decapitation.

Amazingly... it's now online... and worth the time.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124484177023110993.html