U.S. Embasies penetrted by drug lords (The Independent, UK)

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The narcos have penetrated the US embassy in Mexico City (as they had previously the one in Colombia’s capital, Bogota), their funds allowing them to siphon out a stream of intelligence about future operations against the narcos.

The INDEPENDENT

By Hugh O’Shaughnessy March 21

A multiplicity of US government agencies, some of them deeply infiltrated by narcos with their deep pockets, are falling over themselves in efforts to bring order to a chaotic situation: the Department of Customs and Border Protection, the Transportation Security Administration, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

A century ago, President Alvaro Obregon used to say, “There is no general who can withstand a cannonade of 50,000 pesos.” Though the US media are reticent in their references, it is clear that the habit of generalised corruption has moved northward. Dr Tony Payan, of the University of Texas in El Paso, said the effect of a heavy charge of dirty money is the same on both sides of the line.

The narcos have penetrated the US embassy in Mexico City (as they had previously the one in Colombia’s capital, Bogota), their funds allowing them to siphon out a stream of intelligence about future operations against the narcos.