Many individuals in the United States celebrate Cinco de Mayo without really understanding the significance behind the holiday; so I thought I’d write a quick explanation of what the holiday means to Mexicans. Cinco de Mayo is simply Mexico’s notice to the world that no matter how difficult it is Mexico will never again allow its sovereignty to be taken away from it.

Such was the arrogance of the French invaders that General Ferdinand Comte de Lorencez, commander of the invading army, had sent a dispatch to his Minister of War declaring that the French were so “superior in race, organization, discipline and morality” that as of that moment he owned the Republic of Mexico, even before firing his first shot.

He did not count on the will of the Mexican people, the leadership of President Benito Juárez and General Ignacio Zaragosa who ultimately forced him to retreat in disgrace from the battlefield.

On May 5, 1862, the French invaders saw firsthand the determination of the Mexican lines as the French soldiers met death at the foot of Loreto each time they tried to submit the Mexican defenders. Three times the French attempted to pierce the Mexican lines until Mexican General Porfirio Diaz forced a humiliating French retreat.
To understand the significance of Mexico’s victory, it is important to remember that the Mexican people had been at war since the 1800’s. Mexico had declared its Independence from Spain in 1810, a war that lasted until 1821. In 1835, the Guerra de Texas, as it is known in Mexico, or The Texas War of Independence, was fought between the Texas rebels and the Mexican Army. That war lasted for a year, until 1836. Then, from 1838 to 1839, the French attempted to intervene in Mexico in a war now known as the Guerra de los Pasteles, or the Pastry War. That was the first French intervention of Mexico.

A complete timeline of Mexican conflicts can be found here.

The American Intervention

Between 1846 until 1861, Mexico and the United States fought two full scale wars and some border skirmishes. In a war that started in 1846 and ended in 1848, Mexico lost over half of its national territory to the United States in what is now referred to as the First American Intervention of Mexico. In 1853, William Walker invaded Mexico in an attempt to establish a colony in Sonora. In 1859 and 1861, Mexican irregulars from Tamaulipas and Matamoros fought the United States Army and Texas Rangers in border skirmishes. In Mexico the border skirmishes are known as the “Primer Guerra de Cortina” for the 1859 skirmishes and the “Segunda Guerra de Cortina” for the skirmishes in 1861.

The Second French Intervention

In 1861, The French, along with Spain and England invaded Mexico. England and Spain withdrew shortly after the invasion of Veracruz. At that time, the French were a World Power with the capability to wage war across the Atlantic with its superior force projection capability. Analogous to today, the French capability to wage war extraterritorially then is similar to the United States’ ability to project a military force to the Middle East today. The French were considered one of the superior armies of the time.

Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, or better known as Napoleon the III, led the French from 1852. This period in French history is known as the Second Republic. Napoleon had embarked on the expansion of France’s sphere of influence across the world. He used Mexico as a launch pad for French control of the Americas.
Meanwhile, Mexican president Benito Juárez had suspended payment on debt service to Britain, France and Spain on July 17, 1861 for two years to allow the country to recover from the massive debt accumulated over the many years of war. In late December of 1861; Britain, France and Spain responded by landing troops in Veracruz.

After negotiations concluded between the belligerents, Britain and Spain withdraw their forces. France, on the other hand, used the debt payment suspension as a pretext to establishing a beachhead in the Americas for Napoleon’s world influence doctrine. The French mobilized towards Mexico City in order to assume control of Mexico.

The “Ejército de Oriente”, composed of about 4,000 soldiers, under the command of General Ignacio Zaragoza, marshaled defensive positions in Puebla in order to repel the 6,000 French invaders. The French army was repelled three times before they retreated in defeat towards Orizaba at 5:00 in the afternoon. This was the first defeat of the French Army in 50 years. Cinco de Mayo began the four-year battle to secure the Mexican borders against an invading army.

During the war, President Benito Juárez established his capital in El Paso del Norte, today’s Cd. Juárez Chihuahua, which was later renamed in honor of him. The French established Fernando Maximiliano of Habsburg as the Emperor of the Second Mexican Empire. By 1867 the French had been expelled and Maximiliano was executed by the victorious Mexicans.

Thus Cinco de Mayo represents the victory of overwhelmed Mexican forces against a well-armed and well-trained invading French army. Cinco de Mayo put countries around the world on notice, that as Mexicans we may differ and bicker among ourselves but when it comes time to defend our national territory we will put our differences aside and assert Mexican sovereignty no matter the cost. On May 5, 1862, the world took notice that Mexico will never again surrender anymore national territory to any invader.

So as you down your beers this Cinco de Mayo, take a moment to raise your beer mugs up high and proclaim; ¡Viva Mexico!

En Español

Cinco de Mayo, es más que una fiesta en estos tiempos tan importantes para México
Este Cinco de Mayo, cuando estemos celebrando la victoria contra los invasores del suelo Mexicano, es importante recordar que este día es cuando dimos aviso a todos los países con interés de imponerse dentro de nuestro país que jamás volveremos a perder un solo centímetro más de nuestro territorio nacional.

Con la arrogancia del imperio antiguo de Europa el general Fernando Comte de Lorencez, dirigente del ejército invasor, comunico a su alto mando que desde este momento se adueñaba de la república mexicana con su “superioridad intelectual, disciplina y ética”.

Solo que no contó con el heroísmo y el coraje de los personajes tan importantes en nuestra historia como la de Don Benito Juárez, los generales Porfirio Diaz y Ignacio Zaragoza entre todos de los que dieron de su esfuerzo, humanidad y en muchas ocasiones de sus vidas pare defender el territorio nacional.

El cinco de mayo de 1862, los invasores franceses se enfrentaron con muerte a la punta de las espadas mexicanas. Tres veces intentaron someter al ejército mexicano hasta que el general Porfirio Diaz los forzó retirarse de la escena de batalla humillados y vencidos.

Para entender el significado de esta victoria mexicana hay que hacer un poco de memoria de nuestra historia como país. En ese tiempo, hay que recordar que el pueblo mexicano tenía años sufriendo la guerra. México sufrió guerra tras guerra desde el momento que declaro su independencia de España en 1810. Una guerra que duro hasta 1821. En 1835, la Guerra de Texas interrumpió al pueblo mexicano de nuevo. En 1838, Francia intento de apoderarse del pueblo mexicano durante la guerra denominada como la “Guerra de los Pasteles”.

Aquí esta una lista de las guerras que sufrió México en su historia.

Las intervenciones norteamericanas

De 1846 hasta 1861, Estados Unidos y México se enfrentaron en dos guerras y varias intervenciones. Entre ellas, México perdió más de la mitad de su territorio nacional durante la primera intervención norteamericana en México. En 1853, el norteamericano William Walker intento tomar Sonora y en 1859 y 1861 se enfrentaron contra el ejército americano y tropas de los Texas Rangers guerrilla mexicana en enfrentamientos ahora conocidos como la Primera y Segunda Guerras de Cortina.

La segunda invasión francesa

En 1861, los franceses, España e Inglaterra invadieron suelo mexicano de nuevo. España e Inglaterra se retiraron un poco después de la invasión. En ese tiempo hay que recordar que los franceses eran una potencia mundial con un ejército altamente equipado y capacitado. En comparación, nuestros tiempos, los franceses tenían el poder militar que hoy tiene Estados Unidos para imponer su deseo en cualquier parte del mundo. Los franceses contaban con uno de los ejércitos más poderosos de esa época.

Louis Napoleón Bonaparte, mejor conocido como Napoleón III era dirigente de los franceses desde 1852. En Francia su imperio es conocido como la Segunda República Francesa. Napoleón soñaba con establecer la influencia francés a través del mundo entero. Con ese fin, se dirigió a México para establecer un punto de entrada para establecer doctrina francés en el continente americano.

Al mismo tiempo, el presidente mexicano, Don Benito Juárez se enfrentaba con una deuda externa sumamente sofocante para el pueblo mexicano. En fin de poder recuperar, Don Benito Juárez suspendió los pagos a la deuda por dos años el 17 de abril de 1861. Para diciembre de 1861, Francia, Inglaterra e España habían invadido Veracruz. Después de negociaciones entre los gobiernos involucrados se retiraron del territorio nacional los ingleses y los españoles. Francia rechazo la paz y su ejército empezó su marcha hacia la capital mexicana con el fin de apoderarse del pueblo mexicano.

El Ejército de Oriente, bajo el comando del General Ignacio Zaragoza se enfrentó contra los invasores franceses en Puebla. Los 4,000 mexicanos defendieron terreno mexicano para impedir el paso a los 6,000 integrantes del ejército francés. Tres veces, los franceses intentaron derrotar al ejército de Zaragoza hasta que a las 5:00 de la tarde dieron marcha hacia Orizaba, derrotados por primera vez en 50 años. Así empezó los cuatro años necesarios para expulsar a los franceses del suelo mexicano.
Durante esos cuatro años, el presidente mexicano se vio forzado a establecer la capital mexicana en el norte del país, primero en la ciudad Paso del Norte, ahora Cd. Juárez y luego en la ciudad de Chihuahua. Los franceses, por su parte, con ayuda de algunos mexicanos, establecieron el Segundo Reino Mexicano encabezado por Fernando Maximiliano. Maximiliano fue derrotado en 1867.

Durante el Cinco de Mayo se celebra la victoria mexicana en Puebla contra un ejército que no había sufrido una derrota en cincuenta años. A la misma vez, México anuncio al mundo que no importa la diferencias internas, entre nosotros, cuando nos enfrenta una amenaza contra nuestro territorio nacional ponemos nuestras diferencias aparte y nos unimos como mexicanos para defender nuestro país sin importancia nada más. El 5 de mayo de 1862, el mundo noto que México jamás volverá a regalar ni un centímetro más de territorio mexicano.

Este Cinco de Mayo, tómense un momento para brindarle al pueblo mexicano su unidad nacional con un grito de ¡Viva México! alegre y lleno de orgullo, especialmente en estos tiempos peligrosos para nuestro país.

Screen capture of mobile version of the article

Yesterday at about four in the afternoon the El Paso Times published an article titled; “El Paso lawyer in DA primary wants inquiry into allegations against Jaime Esparza”. Within half an hour the article by Times’ reporter Diana Washington Valdez had been pulled from the Internet. This action by the El Paso Times raises many questions regarding El Paso Corruption, journalistic integrity, manipulation of the electorate and possible criminal wrongdoing.

The published article, that was later removed, states that District Attorney candidate James D. Lucas “asked the FBI and two state agencies to investigate his allegations against District Attorney Jaime Esparza which he had posted on a website this week”. The article that was removed by the Times, quotes Lucas as stating that the reason he asked for the investigation “is that I wanted people to know about the expenditures in the district attorney’s office”. Lucas added, according to the retracted article that; “(t)he expenditures are all a form of taxpayer money”.

Google results for the article

The removed article adds that Lucas had sent letters asking for an investigation of Jaime Esparza to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Texas Attorney General Office and the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. The article quotes FBI Special Agent Martha Terrazas, a spokeswoman for the FBI office in El Paso as stating that “agents are looking at the website”, adding that they have nothing further to say”.

Times search results for the article

The article further adds that the State Attorney General’s Office has the letter from Lucas and the “matter is under review”. According to the now removed article, no one from the comptroller’s office was available to comment.

The article, before it was removed by the El Paso Times quotes Jaime Esparza as stating that he saw the website on Tuesday, May 1, 2012 and denies the allegations. Esparza is quoted by the article as stating that the allegations levied against him by Lucas are “not true” and that they are “political” in nature.

The now removed article seems to comply with the basics of journalism integrity as it presented both sides of the issue, the topic is relevant as it involves a political race about to be decided in the next few weeks, it quotes sources that have confirmed the accuracy of an initial probe of the allegations against a sitting district attorney by at least two investigative agencies, the FBI and the State Attorney General and most important it involves allegations of public corruption in a city involved in a far-reaching corruption investigation.

El Paso Times removes the article

The censoring of the article by the El Paso Times begs the question, why was it removed?

All elements of a public need to know are present in the article that is written by a well-respected journalist and it is current and relevant information important to the community. Who benefits from the censoring of the article and more importantly who caused the Times to censor its own article?

The El Paso Times is a private corporation that, in my opinion, has the right to choose what they report and how they do that. The problem is that the action of self-censoring raises questions about whether the El Paso Times is an unbiased reporter of information for the citizens of El Paso or is it an editorial vehicle for vested interests in the community. Not only does the censoring of the article raise the question of whether the El Paso Times has the integrity to be the newspaper of record for the city but also whether the censoring of the article is, in itself, a corporate donation to a political activity, a violation of Texas law?

On August 13, 2011, the El Paso Times reported that District Attorney Jaime Esparza disclosed that he had launched an investigation into allegations that Pastor Tom Brown may have violated a Texas State law during the attempted recall of Mayor Cook. The Texas Election Code referenced in the allegation states that corporations are prohibited from making a political contribution or political expenditure in connection with an election. The El Paso Times is a corporation.

The article, which has now been removed by the El Paso Times, involves two candidates involved in a political race about to be decided by voters of the community. It appears that someone within the El Paso Times, a corporation, decided to censor an article that would have an impact on the upcoming election results. The article itself meets all the requirements of fairness in that it reports information relevant to the community, it expresses facts about the status of an investigation and it gives both sides an opportunity to state their relevant positions, yet it was removed, for no apparent reason other than because it seemed to hurt one candidate directly.

As a corporation, has the El Paso Times not influenced the outcome of an election by first choosing to publish an article and then remove it? Would this action not be a violation of the Texas Election code relevant to corporations contributing to political causes in Texas?

Who is tasked with investigating a violation of the Texas law in question? Who makes the determination of whether an action warrants an investigation for this law?

Jaime Esparza makes the determination on whether an investigation is launched against a corporation for violations of the Texas election laws. Notwithstanding the recent Supreme Court ruling in regards to corporate political participation the Texas law has recently been employed to launch an investigation on at least one occasion. It stands to reason that Jaime Esparza was most likely to be hurt by the publication of the article that has now been removed.

Is there likely to be an investigation launched against the El Paso Times for a possible violation of the law? Probably not, as the likely investigator would be the very same person that may have benefited by the activity that allegedly would be a violation of the law in the first place.

Regardless of whether an investigation is ever launched what is more important to El Paso is whether the El Paso Times can be trusted to inform the community ethically and without outside undue influence.

How many articles has the El Paso Times chosen to censor? What reasons are used to make the determination of whether the community should be informed about current and relevant information? Who makes that determination? Who instigated the removal of the article? Does this mean that the El Paso Times allows itself to be influenced by outside forces as to what issues it covers or not?

Is this the type of news coverage the citizens of El Paso deserve? Can you trust the El Paso Times to report unbiased news free of outside influences important to the community, especially in light of the multiple corruption probes going on in the city today? Likely not as the El Paso Times self-censors articles whenever it likes.

Visit their website here for more information.

Show them some El Paso hospitality!

El Paso does not deserve a boxing match! That’s it. Forget the indignant attitude and the allegations of collusion. It comes down to a simple truth; El Paso officials are not to be trusted to safeguard the taxpayers of the community.

I know many of you are rallying around the cry of “it’s not fair” and “it’s about the money another city will make off this event”, but stop for a moment and think about the facts surrounding the city and the event.

Not only are El Paso’s public officials embroiled in an ever growing public corruption scandal but El Paso is also in the middle, and I argue complicit in the ongoing drug cartel wars. The ongoing corruption scandal did not start with the investigation of NCED in 2005 and will not end with the pending court cases.

I’ve been doing research on the current scandal and the very same people being implicated and whispered about are the very same people who were involved in corruption scandals in the 80’s and the 90’s. Remember Maury Kemp, El Paso Electric’s Evern Wall and Tad Smith who were indicted in 1991? Former El Paso Mayor Raymond Telles, Jr. was also indicted, in 1990, based on the Kemp investigations that had started in 1987. The same law firms and people were also quietly whispered about back then as they are today.

In doing my research for my upcoming book; Narco War; The Rise and Fall of the Mexican Drug Cartels – a pattern is starting to develop that puts El Paso squarely in the middle of the ongoing cartel wars. Do you remember Jimmy Chagra?

The Juarez Cartel, coincidently, or maybe not so coincidently, began to assert itself at about the same time the Chagra case became public knowledge. The rise of the Juarez Cartel correlates closely to El Paso’s economy.

Remember George De Angelis who alleged cartel influence in Carlos Leon’s police department in the 90’s?

The city’s political establishment quietly whispered but no one stood up and demanded accountability. In the end, George De Angelis was exonerated even though the city’s political machine tried to marginalize him and Carlos Leon was reprimanded by then Carlos Ramirez, the city’s mayor. But no investigation was ever conducted publically or transparently into the drug cartel influence alleged by De Angelis.

The same department involved in the fiasco with the same figure heads is the same department that gets its drug lab decertified. Who benefits from a decertified drug lab? This is also the same police department embroiled in the ticket fixing scandal that is seeing, rank-and-file police officers prosecuted for offenses that could not possibly have been conducted in a vacuum without upper echelon involvement. It is a continued pattern of feeding the populace something to chew on while the management continues to be insulated.

Meanwhile, all indications suggest that El Paso continues to be a major transit point for drugs, as it was back in the days of the cartel rise to challenge the Mexican state.

As if that wasn’t enough, look at the names of the people implicated, jailed or awaiting trial in the latest scandal. LKG Enterprises was incorporated in 1991. Robert Jones takes control of NCED in 1995 and begins manufacturing chemical suits for the military in 1997, under the Javits-Wagner-O’Day Act. Cirilio Madrid forms New Beginnings of Texas in 1996. In 1999, Carlos Leon is appointed Police Chief and almost immediately it is alleged that there is drug cartel influence within his immediate hierarchy while NISH has serious concerns about NCED.

In 2003, EPISD started to unload the Blue Flame building, a taxpayer debacle. Look at the names involved in that transaction. Does Access Administrators, Mena, Roark and Tafoya sound familiar? How about Robert Jones?

Bob Jones didn’t just appear on the El Paso scene out of the blue in the early 90’s. He had been chased out of Houston for malfeasance, but the El Paso elite was so eager for money to be doled out to them that they either didn’t care or kept it quiet. They even named Robert Jones, the “Entrepreneur of the Year” in 2005. Is the timeline starting to make sense now?

That’s just ten percent of the timeline I’ve developed so far!

El Paso’s modus operandi has and continues to be to marginalize or outright threaten people when they dare question the obvious. El Paso’s elite even goes so far as to embrace the crooks as long as the monies continue to flow into their pockets.

Remember Hector Villa and Villafam? Convicted right across the border in New Mexico and immediately embraced in El Paso. The El Paso Housing Authority is involved in scandal after scandal with the State threatening to step in. Yet, not one serious local investigation is initiated. The local school districts spend the local taxpayer’s money in one scam after another and the only thing that goes up, are the taxes.

I haven’t even mentioned the debacle of Shrode, the former medical examiner, and the numerous payouts of taxpayer monies to settle citizen demands for a better police force and the cases of drug trafficking levied against political and security forces. Does former police officer Alberto Madrid and former County Commissioner Willie Gandara ring a bell?

Madrid is hired to provide security for a wedding party and then allegedly steals the wedding gifts? What kind of police department employs someone willing to steal wedding gifts? Gandara, on the other hand, is alleged to be dealing drugs while a sitting county commissioner. What kind of community elects someone to office that is alleged to be a drug dealer? Is it the same community that elects Susie Byrd and Beto O’Rourke, whose own mother pleads guilty on behalf of her company to money laundering, to office while they publicly condone drug legalization?

And now the city, the very same people involved in protecting those dolling out money to them, are the same people once again floating the idea of a taxpayer funded sports arena? Guess who gets to fund that? And guess who stands to make millions from it?

It’s a revolving door; the taxpayers fund the playgrounds of the elite.

Now ask yourself, do you trust your city officials to safeguard and secure your home while the fight is on? Allowing the fight to happen at UTEP is putting the citizens of the community in the hands of the same people who can’t keep their own house in order and also have a history of looking out only for themselves instead of the community.

Anything that happens at the event will ultimately be paid for by the taxpayers of El Paso.

Remember the One-percent Doctrine? If there is even a one percent chance that something may go wrong then it is incumbent upon those who are tasked to protect the community against the danger.

The truth is, if something were to happen, the very same people demanding that UTEP hold the fight will be the very same people asking for someone’s head on a platter, not from among the elite, but from the everyday grunts that work in the community. The power elite have conditioned El Paso to blame everyone else except themselves. And that is exactly what is happening today. So stop the whining already and do something for yourselves.

The economic nexus for El Paso is clear; corruption and drugs. A boxing match is only a publicity stunt to placate the masses and give the elites something else to play with.

You want change El Paso? Rise up and demand accountability, not from Austin, but from your own official’s malfeasance. Until then, El Paso will just remain the same, a transit point for drugs heading north and guns heading south. That’s the simple truth of why El Paso does not deserve the boxing match.

It is an interesting read.

El Paso has been dealing with numerous criminal investigations around the notion of public corruption for the last seven to ten years, and by my most recent research even longer. The phrase “public corruption” is in everyone’s vocabulary yet the political gamesmanship continues unchallenged.

Case in point, yesterday I received my El Paso water bill. Besides the fact that an empty house in El Paso, with no winter grass watering actually costs me more than a fully occupied house with grass watering in Florida, there was an insert from our illustrious El Paso County Tax Assessor-Collector, Victor Flores.

Flores’ does not break any rules or laws as the brochure provides information about the “vehicle registration program”, one of the services provided by the County agency. But the timing and the design clearly serves an ulterior motive.

The brochure’s cover is a glossy, full color picture of Victor A. Flores, the current incumbent, along with his full name, the seal of the County of El Paso and other contact information. In politics there is one primary goal that needs to be accomplished to get elected. Create positive name recognition.

This is especially true for political offices that are overshadowed by other more glamorous offices or controversy. Most voters are too overwhelmed to pay attention to all of the political races so for the smaller competitions the voter just goes down the ballot and picks the name they recognize over the one that they don’t.

This is why elections are so expensive and why the “pay-to-play” mentality came into being.

I have two significant problems with Flores’ glossy insert. First is the fact that it was paid for by public funds, money that the taxpayers of the community paid through registration and other fees. Second, and more important, is the fact that it is a thinly disguised politically motivated, self-serving shenanigan that serves only one person; Victor A. Flores. Contrary to what Flores may claim, the fact is that the information contained therein is of little interest that most water utility customers will, at most, open the brochure to peek inside and then discard of it. That is after being bombarded with the image of Flores and his name, in the midst of an election campaign.

In other words, the taxpayers of the community paid twice to help Victor Flores get elected. First they pay taxes, or fees, to Flores’ entity which then takes a portion of that as an administrative fee to run his office. This money was used to design, prepare and print the insert. To add further insult to the taxpayer, the brochure is inserted into the water bills of the very same taxpayers that already paid for its production so that the taxpayer can once again pay for its deliver to their mail box. The postage and envelope were paid by the water utility, another taxpayer funded entity.

As with all political shenanigans, follow the money. In this case who stands to benefit the most from this insert?

The taxpayer?

Stop laughing as that is what Flores is arguing. How about Victor Flores? Does he stand to gain from the name recognition he has just reinforced with the insert?

Of course he did!

It is no wonder the general public is apathetic and uninvolved in the political process. Too many games are played with the public’s money they are forced to pay for that they have become disenchanted with the system.

This is an issue that is played by most, if not all political stakeholders one way or another and by all political parties. Not one is immune. The political system is a self-perpetuating corrupt machine that skirts the intent of the law, sometimes crossing it, all in the name of election results.

And for what? To get a pay check from the taxpayers of the community.

It’s disheartening and destructive for the taxpayers but unfortunately as disinterested, un-participating spectators each election cycle, we only have ourselves to blame because we know better yet we are not willing to demand accountability. We keep electing them either by not participating or voting based on a specific issue important to us rather than for the betterment of the community. We see the corruption, and the corruption is us.

Sigh. Just when one thought that the El Paso Times in the midst of a dying industry had discovered the true meaning of journalism with powerful investigative pieces like this one by the journalist Diana Washington Valdez, it takes three steps back and practically goes to cut & paste and fails to dig deeper than the press release by  Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).

First, it is important to point out that despite the misleading phrases in the opening paragraph of the story, CREW is not in any way associated with or appointed by the Congress of the U.S. It is an independent non-profit  watch dog group with its own dubious ethical lapses. Link

While the EPT quotes Congressman Reyes stating the fact that this is strictly within the law, it also miserably failed to go further in conducting its own due diligence– and report on it– by further clarifying that fact that not only were taxpayer funds were NOT ever involved.  These are campaign expenditures funded by campaign donations.

As far as hiring family members and relatives as trusted members of your staff and reimbursing them for expenses or paying them a salary, this is not something new and exclusive to Congressman Reyes. The New York Times also featured a story on the study and responsibly reiterated on its own that, “Most of these practices do not appear to violate any laws or House ethics rules. And it is extremely common for lawmakers to use campaign funds to reimburse themselves for expenses related to a re-election bid.”

I wonder if former President Bill Clinton and his daughter, Chelsea, funded their own expenses while campaigning for Hillary Clinton during her 2008 presidential campaign. I also wonder if George W. Bush was paid a salary by his father, George H. Bush, for serving as his campaign manager during Bush, Sr.’s 1988 presidential campaign. I wonder how many present and former elected officials have hired family members or covered their expenses when participating in official campaign events throughout modern campaign history.

Some may not like it, but it did not involve misuse or use of the taxpayer’s dime and did not violate any laws. Perhaps, politicians prefer to trust family members and choose to remunerate them for giving up part of their lives to campaign for their loved one. Maybe it’s just as simple as complying with federal campaign laws and reporting any expense, activity or work on behalf of the campaign.

The story ends by quoting Mr. O’Rourke stating that, “Reyes is working for himself, his family and those close to him.” Well, according to O’Rourke’s own campaign reports from his current campaign for the Democratic nomination to the U.S. House of Representatives as well as reports for his for Congress paid his own media company, Stanton Street Technology Group, presumably for work provided to his campaign.

If we look at the 2012 race for TX House District 16, Mr. O’Rourke paid his own company, Stanton Technologies Group $8,025 and he reimbursed himself for a bit over $1,600 in expenses from July to December 2011.  Link

And in prior campaigns for city council, he also paid Stanton Street Technology Group for campaign services.  He even reimbursed Ms. Amy O’Rourke $1,300 during his 2007 campaign for another term on El Paso’s City Council.  Granted, the amount must be taken in the context of a  small time local campaign certainly not a federal campaign for a seat on the United States Congress.

Given these facts, one would have to ask the editors and reporters at the El Paso Times, what’s the different standard here? Surely it can’t be the EPT displaying bias or merely lazy “reporting.”  After all, if it was biased and wanted to report on ethical lapses by local politicians, it would fail or decline to report on the instances where Mr. O’Rourke refused to recuse himself while a member of the El Paso City Council from voting on measures that might benefit his extended family’s business interests, such as decisions on eminent domain right?

And as far as Mr. O’Rourke himself, if he is appalled at ethical lapses involving less than arms length relationships, he should speak out against Citizens United and the havoc and lack of transparency it is causing on political campaigns and further eroding the public’s trust in government.

He might also want to read and ponder about Ms. Washington Valdez’s article (link provided above) before pointing out the alleged speck in Congressman Reyes’ eye.

After all, Mr. O’Rourke would not want to appear to be working for himself and those close to him, no?

There is an adage in criminal justice that goes like this: a community gets the kind of law enforcement it demands; not the kind it deserves. I keep reminding my students of this in just about every course I teach about law enforcement and criminal justice because it rings true from my many years of related experience. I urge my students to become involved in their community and don’t gravitate to the sidelines. Sidelines are reserved for spectators. The community needs takers and shakers. Those that will step up and take on some civic responsibility and leadership and then shake up the status quo of the local criminal justice system. Never before has the time been more urgent than now.

The news has been filled with disappointing reports of police misconduct over the last eighteen months. The misconduct allegations involve supervisors which add another degree of seriousness to an already worrisome problem. Besides the allegations, we have a police department that is seriously understaffed and underequipped to serve a jurisdiction the size of El Paso. If that wasn’t enough, the Department has to continuously tight walk the incessant sales pitch that we live in the safest city with a population of 500,000 population or more. The Chief of Police has not been allowed to run his Department because apparently, El Paso has a police commissioner in the persona of City Manager Joyce Wilson and Deputy City Manager David Almonte.  Between them both they have zero law enforcement experience. Yet, Mr. Almonte oversees the police and fire departments, and of course, Ms. Wilson oversees the universe.

When scandals erupt, and corruption is exposed, citizens must not forget to look at the total picture.  The accountability just doesn’t extend to the police department. It must extend to city hall to include Mayor Cook, council, and city manager Wilson and Deputy City Manager Almonte.  Citizens must get on their feet and start demanding better law enforcement.  Sitting back and watching is the same as giving City hall your tacit approval of their “fine work.”  Demand that public safety become a city priority. Don’t listen to the standard response of inaccurate statistics that the city has prepared to counter any such arguments.  The fact remains that things are not good within the police department. And when things are not good in the police department, they are not going to be good for the community either.

George  DeAngelis

Imagine my surprise when one of the first tidbits to hit cyberspace wrapped all of my major interests into one little morsel for me to enjoy. That little morsel of digital text had me salivating from the very first word. That is, until I realized that it was nothing more than gossip wrapped in a cheesy cloak-and-dagger story plot.

This created a situation where one small blog posting would not do justice to the discussion of this disclosure. So, you will all have to bear with me as I bring you along this journey of sexual intrigue, geopolitics and the Mexican UAV’s that supposedly might have participated in the Georgian-Russian conflict of 2008. Oh, and let’s not forget that Israeli UAVs have supposedly being compromised by the Russians.

Before I get to the juicy parts I think it is important that I set the stage for those that do not necessarily follow geopolitics, intelligence agencies and cyber-activists.

The major protagonists in alphabetical order are:

Anonymous
Anonymous has been making headlines recently through the intervention, disruption and access to private and governmental computer systems and websites. Anonymous is a loose-knit community of computer hackers that sometimes, in mass or in small groups, act in concert with each other to circumvent computer security or intervene on websites. To this date they do not seem to represent a specific agenda and do not seem to espouse a specific doctrine. One of their most recent system interventions was the access and public disclosure of over 5 million internal emails from STRATFOR, an Austin-based private intelligence gathering and analysis firm operated by George Friedman.

STRATFOR
Strategic Forecasting, Inc., or more commonly known as STRATFOR, is a pioneer in information gathering and online distribution of intelligence and analysis of geo-political information, or so I was led to believe. For all intents and purposes, STRATFOR operates as a private intelligence agency, spying and analyzing information for private and governmental entities. STRATFOR was founded by George Friedman in 1996. Friedman is an author and self-described political scientist.

Friedman and his company, STRATFOR are often cited by the media in regards to the ongoing War on Drugs in Mexico. I and many others have questioned their portrayal of the dynamics of the drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) against the empirical evidence on the ground as disseminated and commented on by STRATFOR. In my opinion, STRATFOR’s intelligence briefs, the ones made publically available and those circulated by the media seem to revolve around the worst-case scenario with nothing more than dire-predicting headlines. STRATFOR briefed that Mexico was on the verge of becoming a failed-state in 2008.

With the secretive nature of STRATFOR’s access, gathering and analysis of the data they use to make their assumptions and the necessary need for Mexican and US government security over threat analysis it is difficult to determine how accurate their intelligence analysis is. The unintended access to their work product via Wikileaks should give us an insight into their methods and access to the actionable information they use to create their analysis.

Wikileaks
Wikileaks is best known as the disseminator of information surrounding the US Embassy cables and US Army Private Manning’s ongoing Court Martial in regards to those. Julian Assange is currently fighting extradition to Sweden on a sexual assault charge. Wikileaks is publishing the STRATFOR documents on its website.

The intrigue that is just starting out threatens to significantly change my, and possibly our understanding of private security and intelligence firms, government backed data collection and investigative agencies and reveal to the world a clearer picture of the geopolitics of today’s world. With that in mind and hoping that the intelligence continues to pour in, I will be creating a section on this blog about the STRATFOR morsels I expect to further soon devour. These will be interposed between my continued irreverent commentary and observations of the El Paso political drama that never ceases to amuse.

Is Mexico becoming a weapons exporter? UAVs for Chavez and Georgia?

In August of 2008, former Soviet satellite Georgia preemptively started a war against Russia by shelling a Georgian breakaway province, South Ossetia, in order to put International pressure on the Russians.

According to an email recently released by Wikileaks purporting to be from STRATFOR, from Reva Bhalla to a STRATFOR internal dissemination list, Georgian government officials were looking to purchase Mexican UAV’s in their upcoming war against Russia.

Some readers will remember that a Mexican operated Isreali UAV was lost in El Paso Texas. On December 2010, the world first became aware of Mexican operated unmanned aerial aircraft (UAV) that had been deployed against the drug cartels when a Mexican UAV inadvertently descended into the backyard of an El Paso home. The media has erroneously referred to the uncontrolled descent as a “crash”, but all indications, although unconfirmed, are that the aircraft deployed its emergency parachute when it lost contact with its operator.

On August 2010, the Latin American Herald Tribune reported that the Mexican government had purchased an unknown number of Israeli Hermes 450 unmanned aerial aircraft (UAV) to patrol the Mexican border with the United States. According to the publication, the information was attained from a response to an open records request filed with the Mexican government. The number of UAV’s deployed or purchased was not confirmed, although unconfirmed reports have speculated that at least two aircraft are currently operating. This is the UAV that is presumed to have unintentionally parachuted into the El Paso backyard.

A Mexican company, Hydra Technologies, has been developing and deploying the S4 Ehecatl, which is presumably the one being discussed by the email. The S4 Ehecatl, which according to specifications revealed during the 2007 Paris Airshow, is capable of 8-hour missions at an altitude of 15,000 feet. The Ehecatl has a wingspan of 12 feet (3.7m) and a cruising speed of 38 knots. According to public sources, the Ehecatl is being marketed to the Mexican Federal Police.

The email, disclosed by Wikileaks, goes on to describe a clandestine swap between Israel and Russia whereby Georgian operated Israeli UAVs were compromised by the Russians, therefore rendering them ineffective for the Georgians. This disclosure has many in the intelligence community either confirming their suspicions of Israeli compromised UAVs or asking if this was the case. Regardless, this is the first time the notion of Israeli compromised UAVs has entered the realm of public discussion.

As discussed below, there are many questions regarding the veracity of this information.

A first take on Friedman’s and STRATFOR’s intelligence gathering and analysis.

I am not impressed. For all the public posturing of STRATFOR as a significant private intelligence gathering firm, the initial exposure of their emails shows a company acting as an authority on international security, but in reality is nothing more than a sophisticated news gathering organization selling news. Actionable intelligence requires analysts that understand not only the information they are gathering but also the ability to needle-down into the gem hidden within the extravagant information shared by informant’s whose motives, by their nature, must be understood in order to glean the actionable intelligence from their utterances.

In the specific case of the email reference above (#64027), the author appears to be Reva Bhalla based on the email address information included in the disclosed email. According to a LinkedIn profile under the name of Reva Bhalla, she is the Director of Analysis at Stratfor. According to the profile, Bhalla is a graduate of Georgetown University and her area of expertise is the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Latin America.

From her online picture she is an attractive lady.

Before anyone starts to assume anything, let me explain the relevance of the last statement. Sources of information, especially those cloak-and-dagger sources of clandestine information are usually motivated to open up via money, sex or a need to stay out of jail. This has been true since intelligence gathering became a science.

I am sure it is the same for all males in many countries, but in the case of Mexican males, and yes, I am one of those, a pretty lady creates the need to exaggerate and attempt to please the woman flirting with us. It is part of our culture, although many of us will deny it.

Intelligence analysis requires that we take the masks off and deal with information in its rawest and purest form therefore we must be honest about the information. In the case of the Mexican male I must acknowledge that we are like the peacock which must flutter our feathers to attract the lady in the room.

When I first read the email “INSIGHT – Russia/Israel/Georgia/Mexico – defense deals and swaps” I was intrigued and excited. Here was proof of Mexico’s rightful place in the geopolitical intrigue of the world and its capability. But it bothered me.

The email reads like a school girl email to a friend rather than an intelligence brief for insertion into the data repository for further analysis and integration into the other sources of data. It seemed like gossip. Of course all intelligence is gossip but this just seemed like office gossip between two colleagues rather than intelligence data. The “dude is getting shadier by the day” probably stands out the most.

The email thread makes it clear that the source for Bhalla is a former Mexican police officer who is attending a school in the United States, possibly in the Washington area who is collaborating with Jane’s, a weapons analysis publication publisher. The source is a male who most likely met a lady in a bar. Most likely he fluttered his peacock feathers in order to attract the lady’s attention. So far, this is common tradecraft.

The problem I see is that the plier of information should have the basic knowledge of the topic at hand in order to be able to pry the appropriate information from the target.  In the case of this email, and based on this email only, Ms. Bhalla has little or no knowledge of Mexican culture, the language and especially weapon systems.

Bhalla’s email clearly shows this. First, she refers to “6.22 mm rounds” and NATO standard without clearly understanding that the most likely round the source was discussing was the 7.62 mm round. Anyone, with basic understanding of ammunition would have made the point that they may have heard “6.22” but it was clearly either the 7.62, or 5.56 chambered by Mexican security forces, especially after mentioning the Chinese as the source of the ammunition that needed to be replaced.

Why is this important? In order to glean the most effective information from a talkative informant it is important to know enough of the subject matter in order to control the conversation. The information gatherer never knows if there will be another opportunity to gather more information from that source.

The other troubling aspect about the email is that, although Ms. Bhalla lists one of her areas of expertise as Latin America, she clearly does not speak Spanish. In her email, Bhalla refers to “Idra” as a private Mexican company manufacturing UAVs. A Spanish speaker and someone with a rudimentary understanding of weapons systems would have known enough to refer to “Idra” properly by its actual name: Hydra Technologies.

To me the email is clearly gossip from an overzealous analyst supplying information from pure gossip. The source is obviously trying to garner Bhalla’s attention by providing information that is unreliable at best and an outright fabrication at worst. Bhalla, on the other hand, is clearly out of her element and is unable to properly control the conversation to produce actionable intelligence. In the end, it is nothing more than gossip without a foundation from where to glean actionable data from.

For STRATFOR, the loss of 5 million emails, including customer credit card information does not give it the credibility it has created via the careful manipulation of a public persona operating in the nether world of intelligence. As the emails continue to be made public, if the information contained therein continues to show that their sources of intelligence data is nothing more than college kids playing at the spy game then the “analysis” the media relies on to report on the conflict areas of the world needs to be seriously questioned. Right now, STRATFOR looks like nothing more than a façade of intelligence want-to-be attempting to play in the big leagues.

Were Georgian’s looking to deploy Mexican UAV’s in their war against Russia? Highly unlikely. Is it likely that a former Mexican cop would have access to knowledge that Israeli UAV’s have been compromised through a Russian and Israel swap? Very unlikely. In the end, just gossip and nothing more.

Too bad, it would have been cool to be able to write a blog entry detailing Mexican UAV operations in the 2008 Georgian/Russian conflict.

I have been writing for many years that the notion that El Paso is somehow immune to the neighboring drug war is nothing more than a smoke screen designed to hide the obvious, El Paso’s participation in the drug transit of drugs into the nation. Local police forces and politicos have notoriously publicly postured that the drug war is south of the border and that drug dealers are not among us. Incredulous, some have even pronounced that drug henchmen are too afraid of the local police forces! I can’t even keep from laughing out loud as I write this.

A few days ago, the Police Chief once again pronounced the city safe after a woman was hit by a stray bullet supposedly discharged in the Mexican side. This, even before an investigation was started! It’s the standard political mantra, the violence is on the Mexican side. At this point, the bullet likely made it from Mexico but that is not conclusive and an investigation still needs to be concluded before pronouncing the case solved.

Late last year, the city’s drug testing lab, a local police run entity, was put on suspension for failing basic security protocols designed to ensure the integrity of drug prosecutions. Numerous corruption trials are ongoing or have concluded. The County government, including County prosecutors even defended, until the bitter end, the lying of a medical examiner who’s job it is to be honest in order for juries to determine the innocence of an accused.

In every case, the local county government, led by County Judge Veronica Escobar, has been nowhere to be found in either the investigations or the prosecution of wrongdoing in the community.

“It makes me very sad for his children. Obviously, he is innocent until proven guilty and he will have an opportunity to plead his case and want to assure the public this has nothing to do with the county of El Paso and county government,” said County Judge Veronica Escobar.

That statement says it all, the local County officials see no evil and hear no evil!

Not to be left behind, Police Chief Greg Allen is quoted as reiterating that El Paso remains one of the safest cities in the nation after the shooting incident downtown. Mayor John Cook reinforced that notion as well. Curiously, both Sheriff Wiles and the region’s prosecutor, Jaime Esparza have been quiet.

And now a County Commissioner is accused of drug related crimes.

It has been acknowledged publicly that current Congressional Candidate Beto O’Rourke, sitting city representative Susie Byrd and County Judge Veronica Escobar are friends and are ardent political allies.

Congressional Candidate Beto O’Rourke and Byrd recently published a book on legalizing drugs. Escobar, as the sitting County chief has not once asked the simple question, how come local law enforcement and prosecutors have not once investigated and brought charges against the corruption permeating the county? Why is it that all of the prosecutions and investigations are led by out of town agencies?

It’s not like it is one investigation or two, or that the community never whispers about the ongoing corruption in the community. It’s numerous investigations. The under-current in the community for decades has been that you “must pay to play”.

Let’s recap the three amigos; Byrd, Escobar and O’Rourke. Byrd and Escobar actively support O’Rourke both personally and professionally. O’Rourke takes the position that drug legalization will solve community issues. O’Rourke’s mother plead guilty, on behalf of her company, to money laundering. Escobar, as the County leader, supports and defends a disgraced medical examiner who is a proven lier. Escobar has never publicly challenged or even asked why is it that her government entity’s law enforcement agencies have not brought a single charge in any one of the numerous criminal investigations permeating County government?

Likewise, city official Byrd proclaims government accountability, yet co-writes a book about legalizing drugs and has never once demanded accountability by the police department she governs over, even after numerous police officers are indicted for corrupt practices and numerous allegations of abuse against the police agency are levied?

George DeAngelis, a former police chief, levied corruption charges against his own police department and the department responded by harassing him instead of proving their innocence.

Throughout out all of this undercurrent, we are now witnessing the prosecution of a sitting county official for drug crimes.

Let’s examine the latest case. Willie Gandara, Jr. is a current County Commissioner and a candidate for State Representative. As of this morning he sits in County lockup. His father, former Mayor of Socorro, Willie Gandara Sr., was arrested and charged in August 2010 with committing fraud as a school board member, by federal agents. He is accused, along with 10 others, of using bribes to secure multi-million dollar contracts.

Former Socorro city councilman and politically linked to the Gandara family, Luis Varela plead guilty to drug charges. He was arrested in November 2011 in possession of 27.5 grams of cocaine and 44 pounds of Marihuana.

In January, Willie Gandara’s uncle, Jesus Gandara Sr., was arrested and charged in California on corruption charges involving the Sweetwater Union High School District. He is also charged with accepting bribes.

Willie Gandara, Jr., was quoted in the news media as stating, “My family is my family and I won’t waver. At this point,  I don’t know everything because there’s a lot of allegations. It’s a bunch of hearsay and I’m going to wait till I get together with family and figure out what’s actually going on.”, in reference to his uncle’s arrest.

Willie Gandara’s father’s case is related to the ongoing public corruption case in El Paso that was started by an investigation of Bob Jones’ tenure as CEO of one of the largest employer’s in the city at the time. Jones currently sits in federal prison a convicted felon. Bob Jones was a darling of the city’s politicos and establishment while he was doling out money.

What about the local business and non-profit community?

The local non-profits were more than happy to take the monies proffered over by Bob Jones not once publicly questioning his ethics. The Chamber of Commerce and tourism boards, then, as today, would rather continue to play dumb and see no evil and hear no evil, as long as the corrupt money continues to flow.

What is corruption?

Contrary to popular belief, corruption is not just about taking money or making quid-pro quo deals between parties. It is also about not performing the job someone is paid to do. Now, let’s examine the actions of the three amigos, Byrd, Escobar and O’Rourke.

City representative Susie Byrd, as one of the government officials of the city of El Paso is in a position and I would argue, has the duty to demand an explanation from the city’s police department’s actions when it comes to the expenditure of the taxpayer’s monies. For example, the city of El Paso has paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to settle cases of numerous allegations of police brutality. The police department is currently embroiled in allegations of corruption within its ranks for ticket fixing. The police department had its drug lab suspended for protocol violations. And, allegations of drug baron influence over the police department has been levied against it by a former police chief and not once has Susie Byrd demanded answers, instead she has publicly defending the agency.

Byrd even co-wrote a book with Congressional candidate O’Rourke on the merits of drug legalization. Likewise, O’Rourke, also defended the local police force during his tenure as city representative.

Judge Escobar, on the other hand, sits in a position and I would again argue has the duty to demand accountability from the Sheriff’s department and the county prosecutors. Yet, she will defend a lying medical examiner who’s job is to tell the truth in order to determine if people should go to jail. Even at the expense of the taxpayers footing the liar’s salary.

Where are the local prosecutors and police agencies?

There are numerous local corruption investigations ongoing in the community. El Paso sits on the border with one of largest transit points of drugs entering the United States. Throughout all of this, the local prosecutors and police agencies have yet to mount a credible and successful corruption prosecution, not one. Not one day goes by where the community’s undercurrent whispers about rampant corruption. And the investigations?

None.

On the other hand, three cases of bullets crossing the international border in five years of open conflict against drug dealers on the Mexican side, with many lives lost, and the three amigos and the local law enforcement and government offices rapidly proclaim El Paso is the second safest city in the country!

Not one ever asking where do the drugs that make it over the border end up?

What about the local media?

Since 2008, there has been an ongoing open battle between Mexican law enforcement and drug dealers with thousands of Juarez citizens loosing their lives. It is universally acknowledged that the battles are about control of one of the most significant drug routes into the United States.

There have been a few reported cases of drug violence, in the form of kidnappings in El Paso with bodies turning up on the Mexican side of the border. The undercurrent commentary is that there are many more that are not documented because the local law enforcement agencies conveniently argue that it’s outside of their jurisdiction.

Throughout all of this, the local media has been noticeable absent when it comes to reporting the ongoing Drug War that has captivated the world.

Why is it that the BBC and The San Diego papers have better coverage of the ongoing battles for control of the drug corridors? And the local media just regurgitates reports from others?

Rather, the local media would rather continue to spoon feed the notion that the city is the second safest in the nation instead of asking where are the investigations? It’s as if everyone is in cahoots and no one wants to admit it.

Who benefits?

Money is the driving force behind the drug war and for someone to benefit from the huge amounts of monies that feed the drug cartels doesn’t mean that, that individual needs to be directly involved with drugs. Money juices the bureaucracy that conveniently allows shipments to go unimpeded and investigations to never get started. Money flows from the top to the bottom and eventually engulfs a community that remains oblivious to the obvious.

In the case of El Paso, no public official has ever had the courage to ask; “what happens to the drugs once they make it over the border?” A simple question and one that is not asked and much less investigated.

Those that would argue that the majority is captured by law enforcement ignore the obvious fact that if the city of El Paso was not a lucrative gateway for drug transit to the nation then the drug war in Juarez would not exist. Local law enforcement has even argued that the drugs do not stay for long in El Paso. As if that excuses the apparent lack of local law enforcement investigations.

It’s simple, if the majority of the drugs didn’t make it to the rest of nation then Juarez would not be a battle ground. If El Paso did not look the other way, then drugs would not make it out in significant quantities to feed the habits of the users.

The three amigos, Byrd, Escobar and O’Rourke have banded together around the notion that they are weeding out corruption and are acting in the best interest of the community, yet when in the position to ask the simple question, why aren’t those that I wield some authority over not prosecuting corruption?, the answer is…. nothing.

Like the rest of the community, Byrd, Escobar and O’Rourke see no evil and hear no evil. The conspiracy theorist in me asks, could it be that they benefit by not asking the questions that need to be asked? Corruption is also inaction when it comes to doing your job.