[NYTr] US "takes steps" against Mexico drug cartel
 
Date: Thu, 13 Dec 2007 22:24:16 -0600 (CST)

Via NY Transfer News Collective  *  All the News that Doesn't Fit
 
[What a hoot. "Front companies" for drug dealers... imagine. Haven't
we all seen this a hundred times before? Usually the fronts have fronts,
for the more corrupt within the DEA and the CIA. The ones "targeted
must have pissed off the Gangsters in Chief in Washington, DC. Maybe
Calderon himself pissed off the gangsters by criticizing The Wall and
the racism in the US.  Will any of those implicated in the mysterious
Gulfstream flights be "targeted?"  Not if they have Miami connections,
most likely.-NYTr]

sent by Milt Shapiro (mexnews)

Reuters - Dec 13, 2007

U.S. takes steps against Mexico drug cartel

The United States, seeking to bolster its counternarcotics 
cooperation with Mexico, on Wednesday slapped financial sanctions on 
companies and people it said were involved in money laundering and 
other activities linked to a major Mexican drug cartel.

The Bush administration said it had targeted 23 people with alleged 
links to drug smuggling and 19 businesses accused of serving as 
"front companies" for the Sinaloa alliance of drug gangs that is 
considered Mexico's most powerful cartel.

The label blocks those individuals and firms from doing business with 
Americans and from using the U.S. financial system.

"With this designation, the United States is exposing and sanctioning 
a principal money laundering organization and attacking the financial 
underpinnings of the Sinaloa drug organization," the White House said 
in a statement.

During a visit to Mexico by President George W. Bush in March, the 
two countries launched the so-called "Merida Initiative" to discuss 
ways to crack down on narcotics trafficking.

Combating the drug trade has been a key priority of Mexican President 
Felipe Calderon amid a surge in murders related to the drug trade.

Calderon's year-long army crackdown on drug gangs along the border 
and throughout much of Mexico has disrupted smuggling routes and 
forced up the price of cocaine on U.S. streets, but drug-related 
killings have continued.

Turf wars between drug cartels smuggling South American cocaine and 
other illegal drugs have killed around 2,350 people in Mexico this 
year.

The Bush administration, hoping to halt the flow of narcotics across 
the border, has asked Congress for $500 million for counternarcotics 
efforts in Mexico.

That money would be the first installment of a total of $1.4 billion 
that Washington has pledged over three years toward a cooperative 
effort with Mexico to go after drug gangs.

Among those targeted by the sanctions was Blanca Margarita Cazares 
Salazar, whom the Bush administration accused of being a money 
launderer with a widespread network of activities.

Also known as Blanca Cazares Gastelum, she is the sister of alleged 
Mexican drug kingpin Victor Emilio Cazares Salazar, according to a 
statement from the U.S. Treasury.

"Blanca Cazares' money laundering organization operates throughout 
Mexico and in California, and is run by members of her immediate and 
extended family," the statement said.

(Reporting by Caren Bohan; Editing by Mohammad Zargham)

Copyright B) 2007 Reuters

                                 *
=================================================================
 NY Transfer News Collective     *    A Service of Blythe Systems
           Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us
            Our main website:   http://www.blythe.org
   List Archives:       http://blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/
   Subscribe:     http://blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr
=================================================================