IF IT WALKS, QUACKS AND LOOKS LIKE A DUCK, IT MUST BE A DUCK!

From Borderland Beat:

SHOULD MEXICAN CARTELS BE LABELED TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS?
By Doris Gómora

El Universal
January 16, 2011

The Mexican government should call a meeting of the General Assembly of the United Nations and ask that the cartels of Los Zetas, La Línea and other major drug trafficking groups be included in the list of known terrorist organizations. "That way all the countries in the world can develop a set of protocols to attack the finances of these 'terrorists' and freeze their accounts", said Edgardo Buscaglia, a fellow at the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico (ITAM).

During an interview with EL UNIVERSAL, Buscaglia said the attacks that have been perpetrated by criminal groups in Mexico against the authorities and the civilian population could fall into the category of terrorism that the United Nations put forth during one of its international conventions.

“The definition establishes that these are acts of physical and psychological violence against the civilian population are meant to cause a regime change. Los Zetas and other groups are trying to change the structure within the Mexican state in order to put their own people in power," said Eduardo Buscaglia.

The academic assured EL UNIVERSAL that, “we have been under siege by narco-terrorism, or a mafia style of terrorism for a very long time. The inflection point started during the grenade attacks in Morelia, Michoacán, on September 15 2008. That was an act of terrorism, as the per the definition of the U.N."

The security expert said the president Felipe Calderón and his administration "refuse to take the case against the groups of narco-terrorists to the U.N. Security Council because of the implications of negative political impact it could have back home."

Once the cartels are defined as terrorist groups, their armed branches "would be targeted by international anti-terror agencies, who are enormously sophisticated when it comes to neutralizing threats."

"They would shine a spotlight on Los Zetas and the Sinaloa cartel. These agencies would break the cartel in short time, the financial mechanisms and bank accounts of these criminal organizations would immediately be targeted."

He further gave strength to his argument by pointing out that the number of car bombings and attacks on police and civilians in the border region that has even caused Mexico's neighbor to the north to refer to the cartel problem as a "narco-insurgency."

Based on the judicial outcomes of certain cases against the members of organized crime in Mexico, Eduardo Buscaglia assured EL UNIVERSAL that the cartels are gathering strength by supporting political parties and candidates for office in the upcoming elections of 2011 and 2012.

"In the case of Los Zetas, they are trying to change the structure of the Mexican state, in order to put their own people in power. all the mafia-terrorists are attempting to manipulate the elections and candidates to assure themselves protection within the political and judicial system."