Inteligencia y Seguridad Frente Externo En Profundidad Economia y Finanzas Transparencia
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Inteligencia y Seguridad  
 
12/03/2010 | Corruption on the border - Assets on the other side

The Economist Staff

Mexico’s drugs gangs are getting ever more clever

 

ONE case that sticks out, says Jay Abbott, is that of Margarita Crispin. Mr Abbott is the assistant special agent in charge of the FBI’s El Paso bureau, and Ms Crispin was a customs agent working at the busy port of entry between El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juárez, in Mexico. The FBI had been tipped off in 2004 that Ms Crispin was crooked, so they started to watch her. Once, in 2006, a van ran out of petrol in her lane, and the driver ran away. It turned out that there was almost 6,000 pounds (2.7 tonnes) of marijuana inside. The next year the FBI had enough evidence for an indictment. The strange thing, says Mr Abbott, was that Ms Crispin had no interest whatsoever in a plea bargain. He reckons the Mexican drug-traffickers had made it clear to her that giving evidence against them would not be a wise move.

Was the Crispin case an aberration, or a sign of things to come? Most of America’s foreign-grown marijuana comes from Mexico, and most of the cartels’ profits come from the American market. In a speech last March the Mexican president, Felipe Calderón, argued that here was evidence of vexing hypocrisy: “How can you account for such a large drug market in the US, the biggest in the world, without corruption of American authorities? I’d like to know which high-ranking officials, like the ones I’ve put in jail, have even been investigated there.”

The most recent statistics from the Drug Enforcement Administration show that seizures of marijuana have soared in recent years, from some 357 tonnes in 2007 to 661 in 2008. This presumably reflects improved border security, particularly along the more isolated stretches of the border. And it suggests why a corrupt American agent is an increasingly valuable asset. As it becomes harder to smuggle through the desert, the legitimate ports of entry become a more attractive avenue.

Corruption does not have to be widespread to matter. Individual officers have enormous discretion at the ports of entry. They make the call about whether a truck should be waved through the lane or diverted for secondary inspection, often in a matter of seconds and based on nothing more than a quick look and their practised intuition.

Corruption is often blamed on plata o plomo—meaning silver or lead, bribes or threats. This seems to have applied in the Crispin case. But for the most part, American agents are less vulnerable to physical threats. The drug gangs are anxious to avoid creating spillover violence, which would invite more attention from the American side. Some experts say that the American formulation is more like plata o sexo, or both. Scott Stewart of STRATFOR, a global intelligence company, recalls a case in which an agent was taking bribes from the drugs people to buy gifts for his girlfriend, who was herself a honey trap.

Few investigators will venture an estimate about the prevalence of corruption in the various law-enforcement agencies, though most agree that it is increasing. For one thing, the agencies keep their own lists of investigations, which do not completely dovetail. And the lists include some investigations of misconduct other than corruption. A good chunk of the increase may be attributed to the sharp rise in law-enforcement numbers on the border. The Border Patrol, for example, has grown from 9,000 agents in 2001 to nearly 20,000.

All that said, customs spokesmen admit that the rise is worrying. Many of the agents are new, and the cartels are eyeing them up. The drug-traffickers used to focus on agents who were already in uniform, particularly those with financial difficulties. Now they are becoming more ambitious, and recruiting future agents before they even apply for the job.

The Economist (Reino Unido)

 


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27/09/2009|
22/09/2009|
20/09/2009|
18/09/2009|
18/09/2009|
18/09/2009|
16/09/2009|
16/09/2009|
16/09/2009|
08/09/2009|
07/09/2009|
06/09/2009|
06/09/2009|
05/09/2009|
05/09/2009|
26/08/2009|
21/08/2009|
19/08/2009|
19/08/2009|
15/08/2009|
15/08/2009|
15/08/2009|
11/08/2009|
11/08/2009|
11/08/2009|
11/08/2009|
19/07/2009|
19/07/2009|
18/07/2009|
18/07/2009|
27/03/2009|
22/03/2009|
22/03/2009|
27/01/2009|
27/01/2009|
27/01/2009|
17/01/2009|
17/01/2009|
17/01/2009|
17/01/2009|
17/01/2009|
17/01/2009|
11/01/2009|
06/12/2008|
06/12/2008|
06/12/2008|
06/12/2008|
23/11/2008|
23/11/2008|
16/11/2008|
16/11/2008|
04/11/2008|
04/11/2008|
03/11/2008|
03/11/2008|
24/10/2008|
24/10/2008|
24/10/2008|
24/10/2008|
15/09/2008|
15/09/2008|
15/09/2008|
15/09/2008|
15/09/2008|
15/09/2008|
06/09/2008|
06/09/2008|
05/09/2008|
05/09/2008|
05/09/2008|
05/09/2008|
01/09/2008|
01/09/2008|
01/09/2008|
01/09/2008|
22/08/2008|
22/08/2008|
17/08/2008|
17/08/2008|
16/08/2008|
16/08/2008|
28/07/2008|
28/07/2008|
28/07/2008|
28/07/2008|
28/07/2008|
28/07/2008|
19/07/2008|
19/07/2008|
24/05/2008|
24/05/2008|
03/05/2008|
03/05/2008|
29/04/2008|
11/02/2008|
05/01/2008|
09/12/2007|
18/11/2007|
10/11/2007|
10/11/2007|
06/11/2007|
06/11/2007|
06/09/2007|
26/08/2007|
25/08/2007|
11/07/2007|
16/06/2007|
16/06/2007|
10/06/2007|
10/06/2007|
19/05/2007|
19/05/2007|
19/05/2007|
19/05/2007|
24/04/2007|
24/04/2007|
14/04/2007|
14/04/2007|
05/04/2007|
05/04/2007|
05/04/2007|
28/02/2007|
28/02/2007|
05/02/2007|
05/02/2007|
04/02/2007|
04/02/2007|
04/02/2007|
04/02/2007|
04/02/2007|
04/02/2007|
29/01/2007|
29/01/2007|
29/01/2007|
29/01/2007|
11/01/2007|
11/01/2007|
11/01/2007|
11/01/2007|
27/12/2006|
27/12/2006|
27/12/2006|
27/12/2006|
27/12/2006|
27/12/2006|
20/12/2006|
20/12/2006|
17/11/2006|
30/09/2006|
28/07/2006|
12/04/2006|
12/04/2006|
12/04/2006|
06/03/2006|
21/02/2006|
17/02/2006|
31/01/2006|
10/01/2006|
28/12/2005|
31/10/2005|
26/09/2005|
29/08/2005|
11/08/2005|
08/08/2005|
24/06/2005|
24/06/2005|
24/06/2005|
03/04/2005|
03/04/2005|
03/04/2005|
03/04/2005|

ver + notas
 
Center for the Study of the Presidency
Freedom House