USA War against Drugs

Our behind the news look this week is the war going on against drugs.South America,Afghanistan,Mexico and the U.S border and how even celebrities like Paris Hilton are being brought down by the cocaine, the cartels supply.

    Drug Gang Massacre

    On August 26th 2010 work began under heavy security of the gruesome task , identifying the bodies of 72 Central and South American migrants killed in Mexico's biggest drug-gang massacre only 100 miles from the U.S border. The bodies were found blindfolded and slumped against a wall at a remote ranch near San Fernando.

  A lone survivor, 18-year-old Luis Freddy Lala Pomavilla, staggered wounded to a marine checkpoint on a highway and told authorities about the slaughter

  His family said that Lala left his remote town in the Andes mountains two months ago in the hopes of reaching the U.S.

"I told him not to go but he went," one of his brothers, Luis Alfredo Lala told Ecuavisa television from Lala's home town.

  Lala's parents already live in the United States and send money home to the family, and Lala had been the primary caretaker for his eight siblings and his grandmother.

   In its most recent study, the National Human Rights Commission estimated nearly 20,000 migrants are kidnapped each year based on the number of reports it received between September 2008 and February 2009 — numbers the federal government has dismissed as unreliable.

In an April report, Amnesty International called the plight of tens of thousands of mainly Central American migrants crossing Mexico for the U.S. a major human rights crisis.

 Some Success

Successful arrest and gun seizure Mexico

August 1st 2010 there was some success for authorities.When  in Mexico City we saw the gunning down during a U.S military raid of Ignacio "Nacho" Coronel Villareal, a principal leader of the Sinaloa drug cartel, Coronel, had gotten his start in criminal activity working for Amado Carrillo Fuentes, who was responsible for sending drugs from Central and South America to the U.S. market.

The U.S. State Department and the FBI were offering $5 million for information leading to Coronel's capture,

Although the Ignacio Coronel Villareal Mexican Drug Trafficking Organization is based in Mexico, the scope of its influence and operations penetrate throughout the United States, Mexico, and several other European, Central American and South American countries," according to the FBI, which lists Coronel among its most wanted. Coronel was indicted by a federal grand jury in Texas in 2003. That year, a U.S. federal arrest warrant was issued for Coronel charging him with conspiracy to possess a controlled substance with intent to distribute and conspiracy to import a controlled substance.

 La Barbie Charged

        Federal authorities have charged alleged drug cartel leader Edgar Valdez-Villarreal -- known as "La Barbie"  and five other defendants with trafficking thousands of kilograms of cocaine from Mexico into the United States between 2004 and 2006, according to an indictment unsealed in federal court Friday. Valdez-Villarreal, who remains at large, is alleged to be a top member of the Arturo Beltran-Leyva cocaine cartel.

Authorities have issued a $2 million reward for information leading to his capture. He is currently believed to be in Mexico, a Justice Department statement noted.

Colombian Drug Cartel




 Celebrities And Cocaine

Paris Hilton

US socialite Paris Hilton was arrested last night in Las Vegas for possession of cocaine. The hotel heiress was a passenger in a vehicle which was stopped by police outside Las Vegas' Wynn Hotel

It was stopped when officers saw what they thought was marijuana smoke coming from the car.The driver - a friend of Hilton's - was arrested for DUI pertaining to drugs, not alcohol.

  After further interaction between Hilton and authorities, it was discovered she was in possession of cocaine, police said.

Hilton was detained and released from the Clark County Detention Center at around 2:30am local time Saturday and was released on her own recognisance.

Lindsay Lohan

Lohans previous charge on possessing cocaine a couple of years ago.

After Lohan  failed a field sobriety test. During a prebooking search, police found cocaine in one of her pant pockets, according to Sgt. Shane Talbot, a spokesman for the Santa Monica police.

  The 21-year-old actress was booked on two misdemeanor charges of suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol, driving on a suspended license, and on two felony charges of possession of cocaine and transport of a narcotic.

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George Michael

It was the latest in a string of bizarre automotive and drug-related mishaps that have raised fears for Michael's safety.

He was charged after plowing his Range Rover into a branch of Snappy Snaps in Hampstead, north London, in the wee hours of July 4. The dent in the wall is still visible, and someone has added one word of graffiti: Wham.

 Afghanistans Poppy Fields

Guarding the Poppy Fields

Working in the Poppy Fields

  

President Obama's new strategy for Afghanistan calls for continuing the destruction of poppy fields, although experts and his top envoy to the region have called the practice counterproductive.

The dilemma of Afghanistan's poppy production has long  been a thorn in the side of civilian and military strategists. The crop makes up 90% of the world's opium, which is used to make heroin, and a third of the nation's gross domestic product, according to the United Nations. Opium profits fuel the insurgency, but so does destroying the poppy crops of poor farmers.

    The military also began targeting opium traffickers, as opposed to growers. Former Afghanistan counternarcotics coordinator Thomas Schweich says that formula succeeded in driving down opium production by 6% last year, and the number of acres under cultivation dropped 19%.