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KLMNO THE WORLD LETTER FROMMEXICO An appeal
to the masses Citizens asked to help fight drug cartels
by William Booth in mexico city
n unusually somber re- marks, President Felipe Cal- derón told the Mexican peo- ple Wednesday that crimi- nal organizations were seeking to topple the state, vio- lence was growing worse, kid- napping and extortion were ram- pant, and the government needs their help. It was something that most
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Mexicans already knew. “Their business is no longer just the trafficking of drugs,” Cal- derón said. “Their business now is to dominate everyone else.” Calderón warned that criminal
mafias were extorting citizens and businesses, demanding “war taxes” that allowed them to buy more powerful weapons to over- whelm government forces. Another car bomb exploded
Thursday, this time in the park- ing lot of a police station near the state capital of Ciudad Victoria in the northern border state of Ta- maulipas, where rival drug car- tels are fighting over the billion- dollar trafficking routes into the United States. No one was in- jured in the blast.
Although the Mexican govern- ment and U.S. ambassador were wary of describing a previous re- mote-controlled car bomb in Ciu- dad Juarez in July as an act of ter- rorism, officials appear to be changing their minds as more bombs are found. “There are methods that are being used by criminals who have no scruples, who wish to in- timidate, which of course seek to terrorize the people,” said Interi- or Secretary Francisco Blake. On Friday, criminal gangs hi-
jacked tractor-trailers and erected a “narco-blockade” on a major highway in Monterrey that leads to the international airport. Dozens of flights, including trips to the United States, were de- layed or canceled. “The behavior of the criminals has changed and become a defi- ance to the state, an attempt to replace the state,” Calderón said at the close of three days of pub- lic meetings that were remark- able for their blunt assessments. The head of the national intel-
ligence service, Guillermo Valdes, revealed that 28,000 peo- ple have died in drug violence since Calderón began his mili- tary-led, U.S.-backed fight against the drug cartels in De-
TOMAS BRAVO/REUTERS The bodies of 33 people, most of them killed in drug-related incidents, were buried in Monterrey on Friday.
cember 2006. The number repre- sents 3,000 more dead than the government reported in July. Valdes said more than 84,000 weapons have been seized, many bought in the United States and smuggled across the border. There have been 963 clashes be- tween criminal gangs and federal forces since Calderón took office, or about one every day. The latest occurred Saturday on a highway in the state of Michoacan, where federal police tried to stop a con- voy of luxury vehicles that might have been carrying leaders of the hyper-violent La Familia drug cartel.
Valdes conceded that the Cal- derón administration has made little progress controlling money laundering and reforming cor- rupt police. He also said that al- though the U.S. government has promised more than $1.4 billion in aid, it has been slow to arrive. “We have an organized crime and a disorganized society,” Cal- derón said. He pleaded with Mexicans to report “prosecutors, judges, police, mayors or gover- nors” on the take. “I am inter- ested to know. And I know that society knows,” he said. Many Mexicans are afraid of their own police officers and sol-
diers, and charges of human rights abuses by the military — including torture and murder — have soared under Calderón’s watch. On Friday, Genero García Lu- na, secretary of public security, revealed that criminal organiza- tions were supplementing the salaries of 165,500 municipal po- lice officers with $1.2 billion in payoffs each year. García Luna has been saying that local police are hopelessly corrupt and so poorly trained that their forces should be abolished and replaced by 32 state police agencies. Calderón said that he heard
UNITED STATES MEXICO 0 MILES
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Mexico City
THE WASHINGTON POST
the voices who called for new strategies to fight organized crime and agreed that his gov- ernment should do more to com- bat the social ills of joblessness, addiction and poor education. But he did not signal any major shift, and he vowed that the mili- tary would continue to lead the fight.
“But if the government were to
stop fighting the criminals, there are those who think this would end the violence. I doubt it,” Cal- derón said. “Are you really saying to me, ‘Mr. President, don’t mess with the criminals, and let them just do what they want to the Mexican people’?”
Calderón surprised his audi- ence by saying that he thought Mexico should have a debate on the question of drug legalization. “You have to analyze carefully the pros and cons and the key argu- ments on both sides,” he said. Three former Latin American presidents, Ernesto Zedillo of Mexico, César Gaviria of Colom- bia and Fernando Henrique Car- doso of Brazil, said that mari- juana should be legalized in the Americas and that the U.S.-led war on drugs has failed. After his public remarks, Cal-
derón’s press office clarified his position, stating that he re- mained opposed to legalization.
boothb@washpost.com
400
Gulf of Mexico
SUNDAY, AUGUST 8, 2010
Castro gives first speech to parliament in 4 years
Former Cuban leader calls on Obama to avoid nuclear war
by Will Weissert
havana — A lively and healthy- looking Fidel Castro appealed to President Obama to stave off global nuclear war in an emphat- ic address to the Cuban parlia- ment Saturday that marked his first official government appear- ance since emergency surgery four years ago.
Castro, who turns 84 in a week, arrived on the arm of a sub- ordinate who steadied him as he walked. The nearly 600 lawmak- ers present sprang to their feet and applauded as he took the po- dium, grinning broadly and wav- ing. “Long live Fidel!” they chant- ed.
JAVIER GALEANO/ASSOCIATED PRESS Fidel Castro’s first government appearance since 2006 raises questions about how much of a leadership role he is ready to reassume. DIGEST SAUDI ARABIA
Data access deal to avert BlackBerry ban
Saudi Arabia and the makers of the BlackBerry have reached a preliminary deal on granting ac- cess to users’ data that will avert a ban on the smart phone’s mes- senger service in the kingdom, Saudi officials said Saturday. The agreement would probably
involve placing a BlackBerry server inside Saudi Arabia to al- low the government to monitor messages and allay officials’ fears that the service could be used for criminal purposes, the telecom regulatory officials said. Bandar al-Mohammed, an offi-
cial at the Saudi Communications and Information Technology Commission, said BlackBerry maker Research in Motion has expressed its “intention . . . to place a server inside Saudi Ara- bia.” That will guarantee the king- dom’s ability to see communica- tions and data exchanged on BlackBerry handsets, he said. He said talks were ongoing and de- clined to provide more details pending an announcement, which he said was expected soon. The deal could have wide-rang- ing implications for several other countries, including India and the United Arab Emirates, which have expressed similar concerns
over how RIM handles data. Saudi security officials fear the
service could be used by militant groups to avoid detection. The kingdom has been waging a crackdown for years against al- Qaeda-linked extremists. It also enforces heavy policing of the Internet, blocking sites for politi- cal content and obscenities.
IRAQ
10 dead, 35 injured in Basra market blasts
Two explosions killed at least 10 people and wounded 35 Satur- day in a downtown market in Iraq’s second-largest city. Officials differed over the cause of the blasts, which came within minutes of each other, at al-Ashaar market in Basra, 340 miles southeast of Baghdad. Two police officials said a road- side bomb and a car packed with explosives caused the explosions. A health official confirmed the number of casualties, which was matched by an Associated Press count of bodies taken to three city hospitals. The three officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the news media. But Police Chief Adil Daham said the explosions were caused by a malfunctioning power gen- erator. Such differences are com-
Obamas visit Hemingway haunt in Spain: First lady Michelle Oba- ma and daughter Sasha, 9, visited Saturday the picturesque south- ern Spanish city of Ronda, once a favorite haunt of author Ernest Hemingway and actor-director Orson Welles. Their group — which included an unknown number of Obama’s friends — had driven into the hilltop city in a motorcade and later stopped for lunch at Del Escudero restau- rant, set in a baronial-style 19th- century villa.
Smog over Moscow worsens:: A suffocating smog from wildfires hung over Moscow, raising the concentration of dangerous pol- lutants to a new high as exasper- ated residents donned masks and dozens of flights were delayed or diverted at the Russian capital’s airports.
Pakistan braces for more heavy rain: Authorities evacuated thou-
mon in the immediate chaotic af- termath of explosions in Iraq. The explosions marked the end of a violent day that saw the kill- ings of seven policemen around Iraq — the latest spate of attacks on security forces as all but 50,000 U.S. troops head home by the end of the month. — Associated Press
sands of Pakistanis living along expanding rivers Saturday as forecasts predicted even more heavy rain could deepen the country’s flood crisis. As the prime minister appealed for na- tional solidarity, hard-line Islam-
ists rushed to fill in the gaps in the government’s aid effort.
Chretien undergoes brain sur- gery: Former Canadian prime minister Jean Chretien is recov- ering after successful brain sur-
gery in Montreal. Officials at the Jewish General Hospital said Sat- urday that the 76-year-old former Liberal leader had the surgery Friday and is expected to be re- leased in the coming days. — From News Services
Castro has been warning in opinion columns for months that the United States and Israel will launch a nuclear attack on Iran and that Washington could also target North Korea — predicting Armageddon-like devastation. “Eight weeks ago, I thought
that the imminent danger of war didn’t have a possible solution. So dramatic was the problem that I didn’t see another way out,” Cas- tro told the National Assembly. “I am sure that it won’t be like that and, instead . . . one man will make the decision alone, the president of the United States.” His address, along with a spate of recent appearances after a four-year absence from public view, is likely to raise more ques- tions about how much of a leader- ship role he is ready to reassume. The speech lasted barely 11 minutes — possibly a record for the man who became famous for his hours-long discourses during his 49 years in power. He took a seat after his speech and was briefly approached by his wife, Delia Soto del Valle. In the past, the couple rarely ap- peared in public together, but So- to has been seen with Castro more frequently of late. It was Castro’s first appearance in parliament or at a government act since shortly before a health crisis in July 2006 that forced him to cede power to his younger brother Raúl — first temporarily and then permanently. — Associated Press
MICHAL CIZEK/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE VIA GETTY IMAGES
CZECH REPUBLIC A German tourist carries his children through a flooded street in Chrastava, about 60 miles north of Prague. Heavy rain in northern Bohemia has caused floods that killed at least four people..
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